Tag Archives: kidsbooks

New book bonanza

My new middle-grade novel Me and Banksy came out a couple weeks ago, so I’ve been visiting bookstores, chatting with book bloggers, and secretly sleeping with copies under my pillow. (Just kidding, but I do feel about new-book smell the same way my husband feels about new-car smell.)

This was a nice surprise at Vancouver Kidsbooks.
And look how many copies they had for me to sign!

Me and Banksy is the first of my books to have an audiobook edition, which I’ve already gushed about here. This week, I got to download and listen to it for the first time. My son, Violence, who has just turned thirteen (!!!) and who’s long been the biggest audiobook fan in our household, hung out with me in the kitchen listening to the first chapter. I think he’s decided I’m now a real writer.

There are reviews posted, including this one from Quill and Quire, one here from Shelf Awareness, and these lovely words from Publisher’s Weekly. Today, the Canadian Children’s Book Centre published an interview with me. I also have guest posts appearing on various book blogs next week, so watch this space for the links.

And thanks to everyone for your kind words and support!

Launched!

Kallie George and I were at Kidsbooks last night to celebrate the release of our new middle-grade novels, Mya’s Strategy to Save the World (Penguin Random House) and Wings of Olympus (Harper Collins).

I stole this photo from Lee Edward Fodi, who launched his own new book this month: The Secret of Zoone, published by Harper Collins. Lee was at the launch with his wife, Marcie, and the world’s most adorable toddler.

It was wonderful to see so many friends there. I felt like I should be renewing my vows or something. Can you renew writer vows?

Kidsbooks was amazing, as always. When Maggie introduced my book , she said readers only needed to read the first paragraph. Then they’d be hooked. Apparently, that was true!

The first paragraph is about snot.
Also, Angela is a spectacular writer, author of Krista Kim-Bap. Look her up!

I talked a little about the inspirations for Mya, including my daughter’s save-the-whales letter from years ago. (That letter was a hit. I think I’m going to subcontract all my writing to Silence from now on.) I talked about how Mya, the young activist in my book, wants to work for the United Nations, win a Nobel Prize, and, perhaps most of all, get her very own cell phone.

Then Kallie took the stage to talk about love vs. might. Wings of Olympus is about a winged-horse race, and about whether the love between one girl and her horse can help them triumph over mightier teams.

Kallie also told us about writing down her ideas for this book in a café. She was thinking about the words, smiling out the window, when a cute boy walked by and assumed she was smiling at him! He came inside to introduce himself. Now, several years later, that cute boy is her husband and Wings of Olympus is published book.

Overall, it was a fabulous night, full of books and cookies. Thank you to everyone who joined us for the celebration!

Cookies! Baked and decorated by Silence. Well, a few were decorated by Min and me (see the blue one in the foreground), but we were quickly fired.

On vikings and the management of expectations

I took my son to see Rick Riordan yesterday.

Rick Riordan seems like a lovely man, and Kidsbooks did a fabulous job of the event. It was held in the Hellenic Hall (which maybe should have been the Nordic Hall for the occasion) and it was packed to the gills.

rrcrowd

My son was SO excited. I can’t properly explain how excited he was. And that, I think, was part of the problem. Because it was a vaguely unsatisfying evening. Which made me think about kids, expectations, celebrity, and the problems with balancing the three.

My son is a super-fan. But he’s also nine and was one of the youngest at the event. So he was thrilled to be pointed toward a free T-shirt table, then crushed to find the T-shirts in adult sizes. And he practically dislocated his arms clapping and cheering when a sword-fighting Viking emerged from the wings and ran around the auditorium. Then he was seriously confused when the Viking took off his wig and turned out to be a thin, bald man.

“Is that him?” he asked me repeatedly, comparing the bald Viking to the author picture on the back flap of The Hammer of Thor.

No, as it turned out. The Viking was a publicist, who — after neglecting to introduce himself — proceeded to give prizes to kids who tried to answer questions such as: How many weeks has Percy Jackson been on the bestseller list? How many countries have rights to Rick Riordan books? How many copies of Uncle Rick’s books have been printed?

The publicist had a strange idea of what might interest young readers.

rr_viking

When the real Rick Riordan finally emerged, he was warm, engaging, and funny. But he spent about twenty minutes on a slideshow which was basically an advertisement for the books released in 2016 and those coming in 2017. Again, my son waved his arms frantically trying to ask a question during the Q&A portion of the evening, but of course only a dozen of the hundreds of kids in the room gained their 30 seconds at the microphone.

rickriorden

Then the event was over, and we all went home.

I was thinking this morning about what would have had to happen for my son to be as ecstatic at the end of the evening as he was at the beginning. First, that sword-waving Viking would have had to be sent to Ragnarok. (Sorry, publicist.) And Rick Riordan would have had to personally shake my son’s hand, look into his devoted little eyes, and say “I’m so glad you love my books.”

I admit, that’s probably unreasonable.

So then I thought about what I expect when I go to see my favourite authors speak. I know I’m not going to get personal interaction. But I go to hear them reading in their own voices. I go hoping to hear wisdom — words that will keep me thinking in the days to come. And I go for inspiration. When I leave, I want to feel eager to start work on my own stories.

Both the overprotective mom and the writer inside me would have liked all those things for my son.

But he went home clutching his signed copy of the new Magnus Chase book, and he read well past bedtime. So maybe he’ll find his wisdom and inspiration in the pages, instead of the performance.

For the record, his question was going to be: “How do you come up with all those amazing chapter titles? They’re my favourite part.”

rrbook

Sighted in the wild

My daughter and I went exploring at the new Kidsbooks location. What a store! It’s absolutely stunning in there. I’m already planning to secretly move in, and hide my sleeping bag between the Star Wars books during the day.

I spotted DNA Detective in the non-fiction section. And no, I didn’t secretly turn it face-out.

It was already like that.

Really.

IMG_0596

Bookish find of the week

I was snuffling around Kidsbooks yesterday, looking for something fun to read to my son. Of course, you only snuffle around for about three minutes at Kidsbooks before some lovely person asks if you need help. Here’s how yesterday’s conversation went.

Me: I’m looking for an easy chapter book for a boy. Sort of Rainbow Magic level, but boyish, and with less rainbow magic-ness.

(I know. I’m articulate like that.)

KB: What kind of boy is he. Is he sporty, or funny? Does he like action?

Me: Maybe… funny? He really likes The Cat on the Mat is Flat.

Well, that was enough information. A few minutes later, I left the store with my very own copy of The Clumsies Make a Mess.

It’s set in an office building and the first character you meet is a middle-aged man. Doesn’t sound very funny, does it?

Well, it is. Somewhere around page three, two mice enter the story. Then there’s the miniature elephant…

Our bedtime reading of the first chapter drew my daughter as well as my son and, I must admit, I may have had a few giggles myself. Bonus: an absolutely fabulous design. You can check it out for yourself, here.