Shameless Saturday

Oh, but we have been busy this past week!

(left to right) Zu Vincent (THE HAPPY PLACE), Barrie Summy (I SO DON'T DO MYSTERIES), Stacy Nyikos (DRAGON WISHES), PJ Hoover (THE EMERALD TABLET) and Courtney Scheinmel (MY SO-CALLED FAMILY) spoke about "Turning Old Writing Tricks into New Reading Treats" at the California Library Association's annual meeting last Monday. They were amazing and awesome! If we do say so ourselves. (Courtney is missing from the picture.)

There was a time when kids went outside to play, made up imaginary games evoking historical characters and aliens from the future, families went on road trips in search of gold, radiation was still a new treatment for cancer, and cancer was still mysterious. In THE LUCKY PLACE by Zu Vincent, families are becoming visibly dysfunctional through the eyes of Cassie, spanning ten years from age three to thirteen...There are complex relationships rich with emotion, told from a soft, gentle, very human perspective. This book will capture the attention of 5th grades and up.

Read the entire review by Lyda At Tales from the Treehouse.




Ellen Booraem loves Kirkus Reviews, which included THE UNNAMEABLES in its Best Children's Books of 2008 special section. The section recommends 50 kids' books for the year. THE UNNAMEABLES also is on the Indie Bound Kids' Next list for Winter 2008/2009. This is 59 books recommended by independent booksellers.

Wow! Go, Ellen!




From Portrait Magazine: SWIMMING WITH SHARKS is a captivating tale that brilliantly portrays the cruel world of teenage girls. Despite the things she does, Peyton is still a character the reader can relate to and empathize with and the reader is taken on a convincing journey with our heroine and narrator as she finds herself in various challenging situations, leading up to a very dramatic and satisfying conclusion.

There are lessons to be learnt about bullying and prices we all pay for it in this strong second novel from author Debbie Reed Fischer. Definitely worth checking out.

Shameless Saturday

We've got lots to celebrate here at 2k8 with contests and rave reviews. Please give us a woot!

SLEEPLESS author, Terri Clark, is giving away an authentic Navajo dream catcher on her blog. For your chance at sweet dreams and for a sneak peek of her paranormal thriller, click here.

Also, Terri is pleased to announce that her essay in FLIRTING WITH THE MONSTER, an anthology about Ellen Hopkins and her work, will be published by BenBella books in May of '09.

PJ Hoover celebrated the launch of her middle grade science-fiction novel THE EMERALD TABLET! THE EMERALD TABLET received a great review from Brianna over at Balanced Steps. Brianna compares THE EMERALD TABLET to Harry Potter and says this: "Anyone who enjoyed discovering the world of magic with Harry Potter will enjoy diving into a different magical world with Benjamin Holt and his friends...for you Potter fans, the experience is TOTALLY different from Harry's." Thanks, Brianna!

Tasha at And Another Book Read gave THE EMERALD TABLET a fantastic review! She had this to say: "I loved every minute that I was reading it, and I feel like I want to reread the book over and over again. ... While reading the book I kept thinking that in a way it was almost like a myth that was being told and how cool it would be if it was actually true... Fans of Rick Riordanʼs PERCY JACKSON series will particularly enjoy this book."
Thanks, Tasha!

And Book Chic also gave THE EMERALD TABLET an awesome review including this tasty morsel: "This is a wonderful beginning to a fantasy middle-grade trilogy. Hoover's writing is extremely compelling and makes the book hard to put down." Thanks, Book Chic!

And speaking of Book Chic, this has been one busy reviewer. He's also written a great review for THE OPPOSITE OF INVISIBLE by Liz Gallagher and plans to feature Courtney Sheinmel as November's Fresh New Voice in YA and Barrie Summy as December's Fresh New Voice in YA!

Cynthea Liu posted a fun interview with Nancy Viau, author of SAMANTHA HANSEN HAS ROCKS IN HER HEAD.

Publisher's Weekly gave Courtney Sheinmel's MY SO-CALLED FAMILY a starred review and called it "smart, original and full of vitality."

Day 5: Party On, Court!

You absolutely CAN and SHOULD have your cake and eat it too!

On October 21, 2007 – exactly a year before My So-Called Family was set to be published, my mother invited me and a couple friends of my over for dinner. After we finished our burgers, my mom brought out a cake that said “Happy Book” across the top in bright red letters. As my fellow Class of 2k8 member, Sarah Prineas, observed, the book was -1 years old. It seemed like an important milestone to me; and really, who am I to turn down an excuse for chocolate cake?

My second book, Positively, comes out on September 8, 2009, and on September 8th of this year (the -1st birthday of Positively), I was in Lancaster, PA visiting family. Not to be outdone by my mother, my stepsister bought a cake that said “Positively Successful” in bright orange icing. She even stuck candles in it, and took pictures as her kids and I leaned forward to blow them out. The cake was delicious, and the kids were extremely generous, letting me eat most of the flowers made out of orange icing.

My book party for the official release of My So-Called Family is coming up fast – actually, by the time this blog is posted, it will already have happened. I have been planning this for so long, celebrating negative book birthdays, and not quite believing that this thing I wrote is going to be a real-live book. Almost all of the people closest to me are coming to my party – my family, my friends, my favorite teacher from college, the kids I used to babysit (and their parents too), my dentist, and even a couple members of the Class of 2k8 who live in the New York area. It’s going to be at the art gallery of a family friend; there won’t be cake, because I’m afraid of getting icing on the paintings. But there will be wine and cheese and tons of pictures.

We wish we could all be there! Thank you for spending the week with us, Courtney. Best of luck to you and MY SO-CALLED FAMILY. We look forward to reading your upcoming titles, POSITIVELY and SINCERELY, SOPHIE/SINCERELY! And now, we'd like to unveil the trailer for MY SO-CALLED FAMILY.

Day 4: Courtney's Clique

Courtney feels blessed to have a lot of support, but her BFFs have been her greatest strength.

The acknowledgments section at the front of my book is pretty long – two pages packed full of people who supported me all through the years, and not just when I was writing. But there are four people in particular who mattered a lot during the writing of My So-Called Family: my friends Lindsay, Amy, Jackie and Llen.

Lindsay, Amy and I met during law school; Jackie and I met when we were studying for the bar; and I have known Llen for so long that I barely remember life without her. (Actually, Llen and I overcame incredible odds to become friends; I didn’t invite her to my Halloween party in the fourth grade, but she showed up anyway. The rest is history.)

I had been tossing the idea for My So-Called Family around in my head – I didn’t really know anything about it, other than who the narrator would be. I decided her name would be Leah, and I sat down and wrote a first chapter. Then, not really knowing what to do with it, I forwarded it to four of my friends. I told them they didn’t really have to read it, but in case they were bored and looking for something to do, there it was.

Within a couple of hours, I had heard back from all of them – Lindsay, Amy, Jackie and Llen said they loved it and wanted to see more. To this day, I’m not sure I would have really continued with the story if I didn’t have them rooting me on. They read the whole book, chapter by chapter, as I wrote it. If I took too long between chapters, I would get emails asking for more, pushing me forward.

My So-Called Family is dedicated to my parents – and I think they deserve the honor. But I gratefully acknowledge my wonderful friends for their love, support, and incredible cheer.

Tomorrow is our last day with Courtney, but before she goes buh-bye she shares some celebratory milestones and screens her book trailer.

Day 3: Calling Courtney

Yay! We've got another exciting sale story for everyone. Give a listen to Courtney's "call."

In the fall of 2005, I received two BIG calls from the guy who is now my agent – one offering representation for my book; and another letting me know that Simon & Schuster had officially made an offer to buy it. I had known that Simon & Schuster was considering the manuscript. I’ve been a huge Carly Simon fan for as long as I can remember, and this part of an email I sent to myself on October 27, 2005, the day the offer was supposedly coming in, so I could record what I was thinking:

My palms have been sweating all day today, literally. I listened to Carly Simon music on my commute to work this morning, hoping that she would send luck my way and somewhere some cosmic force would make the connection between my adoration of Carly Simon and my hopefulness about publication by Simon & Schuster -- her father's company.
I'm so impatient. It is one o'clock now. I'm impressed for making it to the other side of morning. How many more hours could it be? What if I don't find out today at all? What if it is bad news? What if I never get published?

It seems so silly to reread it now. I mean, I still love Carly Simon – but I can’t believe I actually thought listening to her music would determine whether I was published . . . or maybe it did. A few hours after I sent myself that email, I received THE CALL from my agent – the second big call. I was sitting in my office right off of Wall Street in New York City, where I should have been reading legal briefs, or something like that. But instead I was listening to my agent, saying Simon & Schuster was in fact offering representation.

The next month, November of 2005, my sister and I went to Carly Simon’s concert at Lincoln Center. It was absolutely incredible – the perfect way to celebrate everything that had happened.

Now that's a story! And we know you're going to listen to Carly now. ;) Tomorrow Courtney talks about her dedication of MY SO-CALLED FAMILY.

Day 2: All About Courtney

Today we're finding all about Courtney, including where she finds inspiration. Could be you'll find some too!

2k8: So, Courtney, where do you like to do most of your writing?

CS: Usually I sit on my bed with my laptop computer on my lap. Sometimes I bring my computer over to my best friend’s apartment (she lives in the same apartment building, just down the hall) and write over there. I also keep a little pad of paper in my purse so if I have an idea for a book while I’m out of the house, I can write it down before I forget.

2k8: Purse check, everyone! Now that we're prepared for emergency inspiration, tell us how the book came about? What got your started?

CS: The idea came to me in pieces – I have a friend who used a donor to have a baby, and my best friend told me about a movie that featured a number of donor kids. Then one day I was watching The Today Show, and there were a bunch of women being interviewed whose kids all had the same donor. I thought about what it would be like to have siblings you might not even know about, and the character Leah was born.

2k8: It's so awesome when puzzle pieces come together like that. How did you end up finding a publisher?

CS: I have been very, very lucky so far. When I finished my first manuscript, I called one of my professors from law school, who is also a writer. He gave me the name of his agent – I ended up signing with another agent at the same agency a few months later. After a few tweaks to the manuscript, my agent made a list of publishing houses he thought would be a good fit for me and my book, and the offer from Simon & Schuster came pretty quickly after that. The hardest part has been waiting for actual publication – I signed with Simon & Schuster almost three years ago. But it has all been well worth it.

2k8: Whoa! That is lucky. Did anything surprise you or catch you off guard while you were writing MY SO-CALLED FAMILY?

CS: I am pretty good at writing the first couple chapters of a book – it is what comes in the middle that is most difficult for me, and then I am caught off guard when I realize that I’m actually close to finishing – that there is a light at the end of the tunnel.

2k8: That light is lovely, isn't it? Now imagine you have an offer from your dream press to publish your dream book, no matter how insane or unmarketable it might be. What story would you want to write and why?

CS: Each time I start to write a book, it becomes my favorite book – my dream book. I think because I see it as filled with possibility. Right now I am in the beginning phases of a new book, about a New York City girl who has to move away for the summer with her mom and sister, to Lancaster, PA. One of my current dreams is being able to finish it, and to see it also published by Simon & Schuster, since working with S&S has been an absolute dream come true.

Good luck with that Court! We're positive we'll see that story published with S&S.

We're pleased to introduce Courtney Sheinmel

You've heard about Courtney on tour, now here's your chance to better know this debut MG author.

Courtney Sheinmel grew up in California and New York and has always loved to write. She graduated with honors from Barnard College, part of Columbia University, and attended Fordham University School of Law. After practicing law for several years, Courtney left to concentrate on her writing full-time. Her second book, POSITIVELY, will be published by Simon & Schuster on September 8, 2009, and SINCERELY, SOPHIE/SINCERELY, KATIE comes out in 2010.

Leah Hoffman-Ross just moved to New York and she wants her new friends to think she’s a typical thirteen-year-old. But Leah has a secret: she doesn’t have a father, she has a donor. Before Leah was born, her mother went to Lyon’s Reproductive Services and picked Donor 730. Now Leah has a stepfather and a little brother, and her mom thinks that they should be all the family Leah needs.

Despite her attempts to fit in and be normal, Leah can’t help but feel like something is missing. When she finds the link to the Lyon’s Sibling Registry, Leah knows she has to see if she has any half-siblings. And when she discovers that one of the other kids from Donor 730 is a girl her age, Leah will do anything to meet her—even if she has to hide it from everybody else.

Rave Reviews:

"First-time novelist Sheinmel, a PW reviewer, motivates Leah insightfully and sympathetically—readers will understand her conflicts, both petty and major, as she gets to know another daughter of Donor 730 and keeps it a secret from her disapproving mother (“She's not your sister,” her mother insists when she finds out). As narrator, Leah's voice is right on key, whether describing the give-and-take of family life or revelations about what constitutes family. Smart, original and full of vitality." --PW (Starred)

“A thought-provoking and compelling debut, challenging readers to consider: ‘What makes a family?’” – Cynthia Lord, author of Newbery Honor Book Rules

“This story rocks – it’s warm, insightful, and utterly un-put-down-able” – Lauren Myracle, author of ttyl

“[O]ne of the truest self-discovery stories I have ever read” – 5 Stars, Gold Star of Excellence, courtesy of Teens Read Too

ALAN pick, September 2008

Wow! Talk about impressive reviews. Come back tomorrow for our 1-on-1 with Courtney where she'll share what part the Today Show played in inspiring MY SO-CALLED FAMILY.

Shameless Saturday

Jennifer Bradbury (SHIFT) recently sold two more books to Atheneum Books for Young Readers. WRAPPED features seventeen year old Agnes Wilkins on the eve of her debut in 1815 London. The young adult adventure/mystery features mummies, espionage, and plenty of Jane Austen references. WRAPPED will come out in come out in Summer 2010, and its sequel will be available the following year.

~2K8 TOUR~

Five class of 2k8ers have been mini-touring around southern New England this week. M.P. Barker, Ellen Booraem, Marissa Doyle, N.A. Nelson, and Courtney Sheinmel, have been touting the advantages of networking for writers and readers at Barnes & Noble stores in Enfield, CT, and Holyoke & Worcester, MA. Read all about them in the Worcester Telegram & Gazette and the Hartford Courant.

They also squeezed a networking lunch into their schedules with kidlit writers D.Dina Friedman, Jeannine Atkins, Nancy Castaldo, Mellissa Stewart, and M.W. Penn, and assorted readers and friends, sharing the joys and woes of the writer's life. Read about it on Jeannine's blog, and see Jeannine's photos of those bright shining 2k8 faces and their bright shining books.

Come back on Monday to better get to know debut MG author, Courtney Sheinmel. It's her launch week and we can't wait to learn all about My So-Called Family.

Shameless Saturday

Courtney Sheinmel's MY SO-CALLED FAMILY was reviewed on Teens Read Too, and it was given 5 stars along with a Gold Star Award for Excellence!

Instructor Magazine reviewed Jenny Meyerhoff's Middle Grade debut Third Grade Baby (Illustrated by Jill Weber) in their Five Best Back-to-School Reads column. YAY!

The Book Vault Blog has an awesome review up of Brooke Taylor's UNDONE.

Be sure to check out P. J. Hoover's The Forgotten Worlds Book 1: The Emerald Tablet great review on Teens ReadToo where it was given 5 stars along with a Gold Star Award for Excellence and her other great review where it was Highly Recommended by Jen Robinson. Go PJ!!!

Zu Vincent's The Lucky Place is the August pick for ALAN Review! How cool is that? Plus she's scored excellent reviews at SWON Libraries:

"Zu Vincent does a wonderful job of taking the reader into the mind of a child handling the divorce and remarriage of her mother. Vincent delicately handles the emotions children feel as they experience life changes and learn to look at their parents through the telescope of reality. This extraordinary work of realistic fiction should be shared with any child experiencing the divorce and/or remarriage of a parent."

and Metapsychology Online:

"The Lucky Place is an outstanding read for anyone who wants a young child's inside view on divorce and illness. With her optimistic protagonist, Zu Vincent charms the reader and shows us that there is a lighter side to every dark tale."

Cool Contest going on at Laurel Snyder's blog, and the prize is a pre-release signed copy of her new book Up and Down the Scratchy Mountains!! The skinny is you blog about a job for which you'd be unsuitable, and she'll pick a winner! Good Luck!

Day 5: Daphne's Real World Book Launch!

2K8ers love a good blog party, but nothing beats a debut author's first real world launch party!

I had my book party (Alive and Well in Prague New York) at the wonderful Bank Street Bookstore in my neighborhood in Manhattan. Friends and family braved fierce heat to come out and help me celebrate.



This is me and my super fabulous editor Jill Santopolo, who is an excellent author in her own right. She introduced my reading. I was pretty nervous about it but it was a sympathetic audience and they cheered me on. Afterwards I signed books.

This is my friend Keith Bunin who is a terrific playwright and screenwriter. He was one of a group of friends from high school who came out to show their support. It’s neat to have friend who actually knew me as a teen read my teen book!


Here are some other friends and my awesome-beyond-words agent Alyssa Eisner-Henkin. Writer Kathryne Alfred is in there too along with a couple of other friends. After the signing we headed out for food and drinks at a nearby restaurant.

And here’s another group that came out to support me: some Class of 2K8ers! This is me with Donna Freitas, Courtney Sheinmel and Nina Nelson.

It was so much fun to celebrate my book’s arrival in the world and I’m so grateful to everyone who came!

Thanks for a wonderful week, Daphne!

BEA with Courtney Sheinmel

This was my first time at BEA. I'm somewhat of a camera addict, which drives my family crazy, but at least we have all the important events in our lives for posterity (as well as some not-so-important ones). My 2k8 classmates Donna Freitas and Nancy Viau were at BEA with me, and they didn't seem at all annoyed that I was following them around with my camera . . . but maybe they were just being nice.

Here are a few pictures from the first day at BEA, Friday May 30th (which also happened to be my grandmother's 93rd birthday -- Happy Birthday, Grandma!):

Nancy holding up a copy of our friend Debbie Reed Fischer's book, Swimming With Sharks, which was prominently displayed in the Flux booth.

Donna and me, posing in front of the poster for her excellent book, Possibilities of Sainthood, in the FSG booth, and later Donna signing in the autographing area (the guy in the yellow shirt in the far right is Cheech Marin).

Children's book ambassador Jon Scieszka holds up a copy of my book, My So-Called Family, right after I finished signing copies of my ARC.

Donna met me in the autographing section of the convention hall right after my signing. We went to Nancy's signing for Samantha Hansen Has Rocks in Her Head -- I can't wait to read it! Then we walked back to our hotel together. We meant to take a cab, but there were no cabs, so we carried ALL the books and galleys we had collected over the course of the day. I mean, bags and bags of books. It was about a mile to our hotel, but it seemed like 10 miles. The whole not getting a cab thing was kind of my fault because I made Donna leave through a different exit than the one she wanted to use. But she says she forgives me and that we're still friends. Anyway, it was a great workout.

BEA Up Close & Personal

Who signed in the autograph area?

Forget the TV/movie stars like Brooke Shields, Cheech Marin, and Barbara Walters. The real stars were our debut authors! Signing in the autograph area were:

Nancy Viau, author of Samantha Hansen Has Rocks in Her Head

Courtney Sheinmel, author of My So-Called Family
and
Donna Freitas, author of The Possibilities of Sainthood

That's Donna!

What Class of 2k8 books were spotted?

The Unnameables by Ellen Booraem, The Lucky Place by Zu Vincent, & Swimming With The Sharks by Debbie Reed Fischer

Thousands of terrific books were up for grabs for anyone brave enough to weave through the crowd, stand in line, or fight for floor space. What a great day!

Stay tuned tomorrow we have more from the floor of BEA!

More insight on sites!

A Web site offers fun features.
There is one part on my Web site that I had a lot of fun doing: thinking of my all-time favorite girl and guy characters in YA lit for my Favorites page. I wanted to write YA because I read it all the time. Because much as I enjoy adult novels, I love YA more. Which means I've read, and loved, an awful lot of YA books with some pretty awesome characters. There are some amazing girl characters out there, and some pretty fabulous guys who spring to life off the written page. So who did I choose to feature on my site? Click on the link below to find out!
~Daphne Grab, Author of Alive and Well in Prague, NY,
http://www.daphnegrab.com/


A Web site is proof.
My publisher tells me that kid readers are especially interested in the authors of the books they read. It's as if they can't believe an actual person wrote the book. A website proves an actual person did write the book, and a well-designed site gives extra interesting details about that person, like how many cats she has. It’s a great way for readers to continue to interact with the book.
~Sarah Prineas, Author of The Magic Thief,
http://www.sarah-prineas.com


Teens spend time online.
I think it's important to have a personal web site because the world is so Internet-ty! Especially because I write for teenagers, who seem to spend lots of time online and be very savvy, it's the most efficient way to reach out to them, let them know about me and my book, events, news, and whatever else is going on in my book-world. I happen to be a writer who's interested in communicating with young readers, so it's a step to accomplishing that. I think teenagers almost expect the experience of a book they love to go beyond the page. Everything else seems to go online somehow! Look at popular TV shows, like Lost, who are doing webisodes to accompany the television broadcasts. Not to mention message boards!
~Liz Gallagher, Author of The Opposite of Invisible,
http://lizgallagher.com/


A strong Web presence can do amazing things for your career.
It cultivates your readership, creates word-of-mouth interest, gains press, excites your publisher, and more. With that in mind I started researching Web site designers by visiting author sites. I noted what layouts and features I liked, what I didn’t and which designers I could afford. I wanted a website that was user friendly, had teen appeal and that I could build on as my career grew. I thought of it like a starter home. I couldn’t spend $5000 on a site (or even $2000), but I could build an affordable base site and add on to it. And later on, if I wanted to, I could always remodel. My site designer, Barb of Jaleroro Web Designs, did a fantastic job of taking my ideas and making them a reality. I’ve already received positive feedback on my site and it has generated interest in my upcoming books.
~Terri Clark, Author of Sleepless,
http://www.terriclarkbooks.com/


Anybody who’s anybody has a Web site.
I think it's important to have a personal web site because everyone keeps telling me that it is, even though I'm not entirely sure what I should put on it. Frankly, I'm a pretty boring person. If I were all that interesting, I wouldn't be spending my time making upstories, now, would I?
~M.P. Barker, Author of A Difficult Boy,
http://mpbarker.net/


Web sites keep Amazon.com in business.
Personal websites make me want to read more books. Sometimes the websites give the back-story of a particular book, and I feel compelled to go straight to Amazon and order the book right away. I’ve discovered some of my favorite books this way, and I suspect I’m not the only one.
~Courtney Sheinmel, Author of My So-Called Family
http://courtneywrites.livejournal.com

The Best Bookstore in the World (part 1)...

This week we're chatting about our very favorite bookstores. Because even though we live in a wifi world, where Amazon is only a click away, we debut authors LOVE our bookstores. Big and small, dusty and shining, they come in all shapes and sizes...

Today, Courtney Sheinmel, author of My So Called Family, shares her personal fave.

Courtney?

Yep! See, the mother of one of my sister’s closest friends from high school, Caitlin, worked at The Corner Bookstore in Manhattan, which is famous for being the model for The Shop Around the Corner in the movie “You’ve Got Mail.” It was also the bookstore in the movie “The Prince of Tides,” in a pivotal scene when Nick Nolte figured out that his sister was living a double life.

Naturally, Caitlin was a big book person herself, and at some point, I told her about a book I had just finished – Ithaka, by Sarah Saffian. It was a memoir about an adoptee who had been found by her birthparents, and I thought it was wonderful. It had the added distinction of being written by a woman who had graduated from the same high school that Caitlin, my sister and I went to.

Caitlin told her mom, Vikki, about the book. Then, a few weeks later, Sarah Saffian happened to go into The Corner Bookstore. She introduced herself to Vikki, who remembered that I had loved the book. Vikki asked Sarah Saffian to sign a copy for me. I still have it – it is dated December 23, 1998: For Courtney, I’m so glad you enjoyed this! Warmly, Sarah Saffian. I was so excited when Caitlin came over and brought me the book. I couldn’t believe her mom had remembered. It was just the nicest thing. I keep Ithaka on my shelf of signed books.

Years later, my sister called to tell me that Caitlin’s mother had passed away. I didn’t know her well, but I think about her whenever I glance over at my bookshelf and see Ithaka, and some other times too, for no explicable reason. Caitlin is now a writer herself – in addition to countless articles, she co-authored a book called The Best Things to Do in New York (which was very well-received and even reviewed as an “inspiration digest”), and she’s currently at work on her next book. I called Caitlin to ask if I could write about her mom, and she said I could. She also told me something very cool – her brother is now working at The Corner Bookstore.

Yeah, see... these are the kinds of special, personal, real things that happen in those awesome indies, where people actually know one another. Don't you love bookstore people? So great!

And to you, our readers... we pose the same question... what's *your* favorite bookstore?