
NCTE Panel Presentations
Thank you, NCTE! I'm happy to announce that I'll be presenting at the annual convention for the National Council of Teachers of English in Houston, TX on November 15-18, 2018. Looking forward to connecting with fellow authors, educators, librarians, and book-loving superheroes from across the country. You can find me on the following panels: Story Architects: Using Design Thinking to Inspire Creative Writing & Build Empathy
Reading & Writing Bravely: Approaching Challenging


Meet me at BookExpo!
I’m so excited to announce that I will be at BookExpo America (www.bookexpoamerica.com) this year to promote The Magic of Melwick Orchard. You can catch me in the Author Autographing area on Thursday May 31 at 3pm where I’ll be signing ARCs. These are early copies of the book that publishers print & circulate for trade reviews, book bloggers, etc to help generate buzz. Come by to scoop up a copy and say hello! More details coming soon… #BEA #BookExpo #ARCs #signing #author #e
Amazon Pre-order Glitch
Hi friends,
Apparently Amazon experienced a widespread “metadata glitch” in late March which impacted several hardcover titles. Unfortunately my book was one of the (un)lucky ones and most pre-orders of The Magic of Melwick Orchard purchased through amazon.com have been voided. (Canadian site seems to be fine). We’ve been told these orders will not be automatically reinstated unless you manually re-order. Major bummer, I know. My publisher is working hard to fix the problem,


Blurbs!
I'm so grateful to everyone who "blurbed" my book. I will be sharing their kind and generous words over the next few months. Thank you so much, Bridget, for this review of my debut novel. You are a gem. And for all you readers out there, check out Bridget Hodder's wonderful book The Rat Prince on her website.


How to support an author beyond buying books
Author and Illustrator Debbie Ridpath Ohi (also known as Inky Girl, or @InkyElbows) has a fabulous website chock full of kidlit resources and advice, as well as info about her own fantastic books and artwork. As much as authors love it when readers buy their books, there are still plenty of ways to show your interest and support for a title without spending a dime. Check out Debbie's helpful post here. YA Author Erin Bowman also posted a great article on Pub(lishing) Crawl ab


The importance of pre-orders
A lot of people have been asking me recently why it's helpful to pre-order a book. Author Kim Hooper has some great insight in her article here, and summarized below: "• If a publisher sees that a book has a lot of pre-orders, they’re likely to increase the print run to meet the anticipated demand. If they increase the print run, they may increase their marketing efforts to sell all the copies. More marketing means more sales. • If a bookstore (online or brick-and-mortar) get


Peg Davol Award Winner
I'm thrilled and honored to announce that my picture book If You Catch a Story has received the 2017 Peg Davol Manuscript Award. Many thanks to the New England chapter of the Society of Children's Book Authors and Illustrators, and judges Jo Knowles, Brian Lies, and Jeannine Atkins, who called it "a poetic manuscript about the many types of stories and the different ways they can be captured." As part of the award, I will be working with a wonderful mentor, the one and only K


Cover Artist
I'm still pinching myself! The cover art for The Magic of Melwick Orchard will be done by the immensely talented Laura Diehl. When my publisher showed me Laura's portfolio it took my breath away. Her luminous and whimsical work perfectly embodies the mood and magic of Isa's story, and I cannot wait to see what imagery Laura dreams up for this book cover. Check out her website here


Title Change
UPDATE: My debut middle grade novel has a new title! It will now be called... drumroll... THE MAGIC OF MELWICK ORCHARD You can add it on Goodreads here


Book Deal Announcement
Huzzah! I can finally announce that my debut novel will be published by Carolrhoda Books, an imprint of the Lerner Publishing Group in 2018. I am so excited to work with Alix Reid, editor extraordinaire. Alix edited Gail Carson Levine's Ella Enchanted, Sonya Sones' Stop Pretending, Elana K. Arnold's What Girls Are Made Of, Julianna Baggott’s The Anybodies, Cynthia Rylant’s God Went to Beauty School, and many other fabulous titles, so I know my book and I are in great hands. C