Mother-Daughter Book Club Guide
My mom and I have been discussing books since I was a kid–not surprising, considering I have always been a reader and she is a former English/Language Arts teacher. Over the years, reading together has helped us understand our own relationship better, see each other as individuals, and find things to talk about other than the piles of dirty clothes on my floor. Now that I live a thousand miles away, we are still using books to connect. We mail each other books after reading and talk about them over the phone. (Some recent shared reads are: The Guernsey Literary and Pota
to Peel Society, Gone Girl, A Death-Struck Year, and Wish You Were Italian. She has a copy of All The Light We Cannot See waiting for me.) The fun my mom and I have discussing books inspired me to write a mother-daughter book club discussion guide for When Audrey Met Alice. Sourcebooks made it into a pretty PDF, and you can find it on my Resources page.
Who do you love to talk books with?
Paperback Day!
I came home to a fun surprise on Tuesday: paperback author copies. The first thing I did with them? Build a White House.
As of today, When Audrey Met Alice paperbacks are now in stores! I stopped by Barnes & Noble to sign a few. It’s fun to see both editions together on the shelf.
On my way home from a morning bookstore trip, I stopped for a couple of celebratory breakfast, of course!
Because happy publishing days pair well with doughnuts. Specifically, Nutella-banana and blueberry-lime. Yum.
Happy Spring!
How is it almost May? Somehow this winter seemed both endless (thanks, snowstorms) and super short. Anyway, I’m enjoying the tulips popping up on NYC sidewalks and planning trips to WI this summer. What else is new?
Bookplates! The lovely Kristin Rae (whose YA debut, Wish You Were Italian, is incredibly charming, and is the perfect read for spring and summer wanderlust) designed some bookplates for me. If you have a copy of When Audrey Met Alice and you’d like a signed bookplate for it, let me know! I’m happy to send one your way.
Speaking of signing books, I’ll be in Arlington, VA, at One More Page bookstore on May 27, with MG author friends Tara Dairman and Jen Malone. So if you live in the DC area, stop by and I can sign your book in person!
I’ll also be at Kids Author Carnival in NYC on Saturday, May 30, at the very cool Jefferson Market Branch of the NYPL.
And I’m excited to share that When Audrey Met Alice was selected for the 2015-2016 Southwest Iowa Battle of the Books. I’m honored to be included among the fantastic titles on the list!
Finally, there’s still time to enter my educator giveaway before the paperback of When Audrey Met Alice releases on May 1: Class Set Giveaway
What’s new with you?
Class Set Giveaway
I wouldn’t be the reader–or the writer–I am today without the influence of many wonderful educators. As Alice Roosevelt would put it, I was “let loose in libraries” from an early age. My childhood teachers and librarians in Madison, WI–at Thoreau Elementary, the Sequoya Library, Cherokee Middle School, and West High–were always putting books in my hands and providing me with a welcoming space to read, learn, and dream.
So to celebrate the paperback release of When Audrey Met Alice, I’m doing a special giveaway for educators (including teachers, librarians, support staff, and administrators). Enter below to win:
- a class set (25 copies) of When Audrey Met Alice paperbacks
- copies of the CCSS-aligned educator guide, Women’s History Month lesson plan, and annotated diary (found here)
- assorted WAMA bookmarks, stickers, and WWAD? rubber bracelets (great for reading incentives!)
The giveaway starts today, April 6, and ends at 11:59 p.m. EST on April 30. I’ll announce the winner on Friday, May 1.
Good luck!
Note: If you have trouble entering through the form below (via the email or Facebook options), feel free to leave a comment and I will manually put in your entry. Thanks!
ETA: Thanks to all who entered and spread the word! Rafflecopter selected Connie LeFever as the winner. Congrats, Connie!
Women’s History Wednesday #4: Jackie Mitchell
It’s the last Wednesday of March, so it’s time for one more Women’s History post!
[One of my favorite things about writing historical fiction is getting to explore the lives of real, and sometimes famous, women—like Alice Roosevelt. When Audrey Met Alice allowed me to spend a lot of time researching the women who have made 1600 Pennsylvania a home in addition to a historic site. (Check out the Resources page of my website for more information on my research, along with a Women’s History Month lesson plan!) But this month, I wanted to devote some words to other female historical figures I find inspiring. Each Wednesday this March, I’m sharing a short post about a fascinating woman in honor of Women’s History Month. I’d love to hear which women interest and inspire you–please tell me in the comments! I’ll (randomly) choose one commenter on each post to win a preorder of the new When Audrey Met Alice paperback. Tweet about the women who inspire you with the hashtag #WomensHistWednesday for an extra entry.]
Last week, I wrote about Nellie Bly. Giora won a WAMA preorder with a comment about Eleanore Marx.
Inspiring me today is: Jackie Mitchell
Jackie with Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth (Source: LOC)
Do you know who struck out both Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig during one exhibition game in 1931? A seventeen-year-old girl named Jackie Mitchell. She was playing for the Chattanooga Lookouts, a minor-league team that offered her a contract after seeing her pitch for a local women’s team. There is plenty of controversy about her striking out two of the greatest players in history—some think it may have been a publicity stunt. Regardless, it’s amazing to think of a teen girl pitcher leading to Babe Ruth being pulled off the field in a hissy fit. The baseball commissioner canceled her contract shortly after, saying that the sport was “too strenuous” for women, but Jackie continued playing ball until 1937. Women were officially banned from signing baseball contracts in 1952.
I loved Jackie’s story so much that I wrote about it for two Scholastic classroom magazines: “Thatagirl!” in the November 2014 issue of Storyworks and “Girls Can’t Play” in the January 2015 issue of Scope.
Learn more about Jackie:
The Woman Who (Maybe) Struck Out Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig: a Smithsonian video
Exploratorium’s Science of Baseball: Jackie Mitchell
Historical Women Who Rocked: Jackie Mitchell
The Jackie Mitchell Story: a documentary video
Which women inspire you?
And thanks for helping me celebrate women making history!
Women’s History Wednesday #3: Nellie Bly
It’s Wednesday, so it’s time for more Women’s History!
[One of my favorite things about writing historical fiction is getting to explore the lives of real, and sometimes famous, women—like Alice Roosevelt. When Audrey Met Alice allowed me to spend a lot of time researching the women who have made 1600 Pennsylvania a home in addition to a historic site. (Check out the Resources page of my website for more information on my research, along with a Women’s History Month lesson plan!) But this month, I wanted to devote some words to other female historical figures I find inspiring. Each Wednesday this March, I’m sharing a short post about a fascinating woman in honor of Women’s History Month. I’d love to hear which women interest and inspire you–please tell me in the comments! I’ll (randomly) choose one commenter on each post to win a preorder of the new When Audrey Met Alice paperback. Tweet about the women who inspire you with the hashtag #WomensHistWednesday for an extra entry.]
Last week, I wrote about Jane Goodall. Jennifer Pickrell won a WAMA preorder with a comment about Miep Gies. Thanks to everyone who shared about the women who inspire them!
Nellie Bly in a promotional photo before her round-the-world trip (Source: Wikimedia Commons)
Inspiring me today is: Nellie Bly
Nellie was the 19th-century journalist who famously traveled around the entire world in 72 days—at a time when most women wouldn’t do solo travel anywhere. She’s less famous for some of her investigative journalism, but it’s just as impressive. In 1887 she took on an undercover assignment, for Joseph Pulitzer’s New York World, in which she faked a mental breakdown to get admitted to the Women’s Lunatic Asylum on Blackwell’s Island in New York. She spent ten days in the hospital, successfully convincing all the clinicians that she was mad—and once she got out, she wrote a scathing expose of the abusive and negligent care women were receiving there. Her reporting was turned into the sensational book Ten Days in a Mad-House. Nellie not only wanted to see the world, but make it a better place. Her writing both helped readers vicariously travel the world and gain an awareness of problems at home.
Learn more about Nellie:
Nellie Bly, Daredevil Reporter
Young and Brave: Girls Changing History: Nellie Bly
Around the World in 72 Days, a PBS film
Nellie Bly: A National History Day Documentary (2009)
Which women inspire you?
Women’s History Wednesday #2: Jane Goodall
It’s Wednesday, so it’s time for more Women’s History!
[One of my favorite things about writing historical fiction is getting to explore the lives of real, and sometimes famous, women—like Alice Roosevelt. When Audrey Met Alice allowed me to spend a lot of time researching the women who have made 1600 Pennsylvania a home in addition to a historic site. (Check out the Resources page of my website for more information on my research, along with a Women’s History Month lesson plan!) But this month, I wanted to devote some words to other female historical figures I find inspiring. Each Wednesday this March, I’m sharing a short post about a fascinating woman in honor of Women’s History Month. I’d love to hear which women interest and inspire you–please tell me in the comments! I’ll (randomly) choose one commenter on each post to win a preorder of the new When Audrey Met Alice paperback. Tweet about the women who inspire you with the hashtag #WomensHistWednesday for an extra entry.]
Last week, I wrote about Bessie Coleman. Rachel Sullivan won a WAMA preorder with her comment about nurses like Clara Barton and Florence Nightingale, and strong single working mothers everywhere. Thanks to everyone who shared about the women who inspire them!
Inspiring me today is: Jane Goodall
Jane and Jubilee (Source: Jane Goodall Institute)
As a child, Jane’s father gave her a toy chimpanzee, Jubilee. It sparked her interest in and love of animals. Jane went on to become an expert primatologist, and now knows more than probably anyone else on earth about chimpanzees. She completed a famous 45-year study on chimpanzee social and family life at Gombe Stream National Park in Tanzania, sharing with the world that other primates can show the personality, emotions, and rational thought that humans do. Today she advocates for animal rights and the environment through the Jane Gooddall Institute. And she still keeps her toy chimpanzee, Jubilee, on her dresser.
Learn more about Jane:
Jane Goodall: A Retrospective (a short National Geographic video)
Jane Goodall’s Journey (an interview with a Scholastic News kid reporter)
Which women inspire you?
Women’s History Wednesday #1: Bessie Coleman
I love March for a few reasons: daylight savings time begins, theoretically it stops being so cold, the Chicago River gets dyed green, and the official start of SPRING! But I especially love that March is Women’s History Month and we get to spend 31 days celebrating daring, genius, funny, complicated, important, strong, wise ladies. One of my favorite things about writing historical fiction is getting to explore the lives of real, and sometimes famous, women—like Alice Roosevelt. When Audrey Met Alice allowed me to spend a lot of time researching the women who have made 1600 Pennsylvania a home in addition to a historic site. (Check out the Resources page of my website for more information on my research, along with a Women’s History Month lesson plan.) But this month, I wanted to devote some words to other female historical figures I find inspiring.
Each Wednesday this March, I’ll share a short post about a fascinating woman in honor of Women’s History Month. I’d love to hear which women interest and inspire you–please tell me in the comments! I’ll (randomly) choose one commenter on each post to win a preorder of the new When Audrey Met Alice paperback. Tweet about the women who inspire you with the hashtag #WomensHistWednesday for an extra entry.
Inspiring me today is: Bessie Coleman
Bessie Coleman and her plane in 1922 (Source)
Maybe you’ve noticed, while heading in or out of O’Hare airport, that you get to the terminals via Bessie Coleman Drive? It’s a fitting tribute to the former Chicagoan, who was the first African American woman to get a pilot’s license. While Bessie worked as a manicurist in Chicago during World War I, she listened to airmen tell stories about their flights, and it piqued her interest so much that she began to study aviation. At the time, no flying schools in the United States would admit an African American woman—so Bessie first attended the Berlitz school in the Loop to learn French, then moved to France. There she learned to fly in just seven months and earned an international pilot’s license in 1921. Upon returning to the United States, Bessie earned a living doing aerial tricks and stunts across the country. She hoped to make enough money to start a school for African American pilots. Tragically, she died at age thirty-four in an airplane accident–but her legacy lives on.
Learn more about Bessie:
PBS: American Experience: Fly Girls | Bessie Coleman
The Ninety-Nines, Inc.: Women in Aviation History | Bessie Coleman
Smithsonian video: Bessie Coleman
Fly High!: The Story of Bessie Coleman by Louise Borden and Mary Kay Kroeger
Which women inspire you?
When Audrey Met Alice–in paperback!
I’m excited to share that When Audrey Met Alice will soon be in paperback! Personally, I love paperback books–they’re so much easier to read on the go (which makes up a lot of my reading time lately) and they are priced right for class sets, book clubs, and babysitting money. Also, it’s fun to see a different interpretation of the story on a paperback’s cover. Speaking of which, here’s the new look for this edition of Audrey and Alice:
I love it! It’s fresh and bold, and Audrey would love the yellow type. The shoes on the back cover mean that every cover for the book–from the ARC to the hardcover to this paperback–has played with footwear past/present, which is a cool unifying detail.
The paperback will be in stores 5/1/2015 for $7.99. Starting next week, I’ll be giving away a paperback preorder every Wednesday in March to celebrate Women’s History Month–check back on 3/4 to enter!
News: SUMMER found a new home!
So you might have seen this in Publishers Marketplace (click to make big!):
That’s right! The Summer of Lost and Found has a new home. And it will still be in bookstores in the first half of 2016 (right now, it looks like a May publication date). I am so excited to be working with editor extraordinaire Alyson Heller and the team at Aladdin/Simon & Schuster. Aladdin is one of the imprints that made a huge impact on me as a young reader–I have fond memories of looking for the colophon on the spines of some favorite books.
(Yes, even as a kid I was into learning about different publishing imprints. It would’ve been tween me’s dream come true to publish an Aladdin book!)
More information to come, but for now I’ll just say how grateful and excited I am that Summer will be on shelves next year.
*And by “I,”of course I mean my fantastic agent, Suzie Townsend. I’m incredibly thankful to her (and everyone at New Leaf Literary) for their support and enthusiasm, and skill at finding perfect homes for their clients’ books.
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