Author of award-winning, adventurous realistic and historical fiction

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MG fun at One More Page

Jul 27, 2016 | , , , , , , , ,

Last Thursday, author-friends Tara Dairman (the All Four Stars series) and Jen Swann Downey (The Ninja Librarians series) and I had a great time meeting readers at One More Page in Arlington, VA. I love that bookstore–not only does it have a wonderful selection of books–with lots of notes from the booksellers to help you pick the perfect read–but it also sells delicious chocolate and wine. Basically, it’s my happy place.

Jen had the great idea to do a different spin on a reading: a “Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me–Bluff the Listener”-style game. We all read three short passages from our latest books, but only one of the three passages was really in our books. The other two? Carefully crafted fakes. A volunteer from the audience guessed which was the real selection–and won a bag of delicious donuts from Jen’s store (Carpe Donut in Charlottesville).

The enthusiastic readers and writers and educators had great questions for us, and it was so much fun to spend the evening with them.

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Tara Rebecca Jen Kicking off Bluff the Listener

Tara Rebecca and Jen Signing books July

Tara Rebecca and Jen July 2016

Summertime

Jul 5, 2016 | , , , , , , , ,

Summer of Lost and Found is out in the world, so I’ve started catching up on some of my favorite summer activities. Like chasing the ice cream truck. They’re not hard to chase in NYC because Mister Softee is ubiquitous, but an old-fashioned Good Humor truck is harder to find.

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And sneaking out to the country, where I can read and write in a backyard cottage. Tiny house = big word count. Who knew?

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In other news, I signed the contracts for The Last Grand Adventure; hooray! I’m excited to dig into this story.

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Coming up in July: I have two bookstore panels scheduled. On July 21, I’ll be in Arlington, VA, at One More Page with author friends Tara Dairman and Jen Swann Downey. Then on July 28, I’ll be in Larchmont, NY, at The Voracious Reader with a bunch of fantastic MG authors: Tara Dairman, Laura Marx Fitzgerald, Lauren Magaziner, and Michelle Schusterman. Check out my Events page for updated info.

Happy summer!

 

 

Celebrating SUMMER at Mystery to Me

Jun 16, 2016 | , , , , , , , , , , ,

I grew up visiting a wonderful children’s bookstore, Pooh Corner, in my hometown, Madison, WI. So I was delighted a few years ago when a new independent bookstore, Mystery to Me, opened on the same block where Pooh Corner once had a home. I try to stop by every time I’m back in town, and last week I got to launch Summer of Lost and Found there. (I wonder if kid-me would believe that adult-me was back on Monroe Street as an author!)

It was so much fun to meet up with family, old friends, former teachers and librarians, and new readers to talk about writing the book–and to sample some scuppernong grape juice and Duck Donuts. Here are a few pictures:

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“Event Today” signs make me happy 🙂

What would a book party be without snacks?

It was a great crowd--so many good questions.

It was a great crowd–so many thoughtful questions.

Signing a book for children's librarian (and friend) Nancy!

Signing a book for children’s librarian (and friend) Nancy!

Probably double-checking the spelling of a name--I've learned that lesson!

Probably double-checking the spelling of a name–I’ve learned that lesson!

Thanks to Joanne Berg and the staff for having me! It was a fantastic day.

 

WI State Journal interview

Jun 6, 2016 | , , , , , , , ,

A couple of weeks ago, I had the chance to chat with Jeanne Kolker of the Wisconsin State Journal about Summer of Lost and Found and my career as an author. I grew up reading the State Journal–starting with the funny pages and eventually cover-to-cover–so it’s pretty exciting to have a chance to talk about my work in its pages! You can read the full interview online here: “Behrens digs into 16th-century mystery in new book for young readers.” Thanks for a great conversation, Jeanne!

And I’ll be in Madison for an event at Mystery to Me this weekend–Saturday at 1:00 p.m. There will be Duck Donuts, scuppernong juice, and plenty of bookmarks and stickers for young readers to take home. Stop by and say hi!

 

 

SUMMER’s launch at Books of Wonder

May 29, 2016 | , , , , , , , , , , , ,

I had a fabulous time celebrating Summer of Lost and Found at Books of Wonder on Tuesday night. Here are some pictures of the festivities:

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It’s always exciting to get to the store and see your cover on the “Event Today!” sign.

 

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Snacks! Real scuppernong juice from Roanoke Island, custom-printed fancy Rice Krispy treats, chocolate artifacts, and more.

 

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With the wonderful Kim Liggett

 

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Books of Wonder has an incredible collection of kidlit art

 

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The crowd while I read one of my favorite passages

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Theories attendees submitted about what really happened to the Lost Colonists

 

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Signing time!

 

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With author friend Alison Cherry

 

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Still signing!

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Taking a bite out of my main character 🙂

If you missed it–you can still purchase a signed copy from Books of Wonder. And I’ll be in Madison, WI, on June 11 for another launch event at Mystery to Me!

 

Kidlitpalooza!

May 28, 2016 | , , , , , , , , , , ,

On Saturday, May 21, I got to join a bunch of amazing kidlit authors on Long Island for the inaugural #Kidlitpalooza. And it was a blast.

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We started out by introducing our books to the fantastic group of kids, parents, and educators, then split off into two breakout sessions. I was part of the Book Love group with Sarah Darer Littman (also an Aladdin author with a new book out in September!) and Kat Yeh (author of The Truth About Twinkie Pie). We had a great time talking about the books we love and how they can help us create great stories of our own. The kids in our sessions were so talented!

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The closing ceremonies featured Gae Polisner‘s super fun 60-second reads: one of the first 60 seconds of our titles, and one of our favorite 60 seconds. I almost made it through my favorite 60 seconds, but I got dinged out by the bell with one sentence left. I’ll keep practicing!

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It was a really fun day of learning and book love. If you want the full story–check out Two Writing Teachers’ blog for a Live from #Kidlitpalooza post.

SUMMER is here!

May 24, 2016 | , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

SUMMER_map_StickerFINALSummer of Lost and Found is on shelves today! Hip hip hooray!

I hope readers will have as much fun discovering the past and present Roanoke Island as I did while writing it. Thanks to everyone who helped get this book into the world, especially: my agent, Suzie Townsend, and her assistant Sara Stricker; and my editor, Alyson Heller, publicist, Faye Bi, and the whole team at Aladdin.

If you’d like a signed copy of Summer and you can’t make one of my events, you can order one from Books of Wonder–or send me an email, and I’ll pop a personalized bookplate for you in the mail.

If you’d like to read a little more about the book and my experiences writing it, here are some interviews, reviews, and guest posts to check out:

A conversation with author Caroline Starr Rose

An interview with author Nikki Loftin

An interview in the InkSplat newsletter

A review from Bookshelf Fantasies

A review from Word Spelunking

Interview with YA Reads

Interview with Pop! Goes the Reader

And last but not least–it’s time to announce the winner of the pre-order giveaway! Annette Burns won the beautiful bag of blurber books and school/library donation. Thanks to all who entered.

Happy Reading!

 

 

24 Hours at ALA Midwinter

Jan 14, 2016 | , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Last weekend, I hopped on Amtrak and headed up to Boston for the ALA Midwinter conference. (The ride is actually pretty scenic, as the train hugs the coastline through Connecticut and Rhode Island, so you can see the ocean, ferries and fishing boats, and charming towns like Mystic along the way.)  It was a quick trip–I got in on Friday afternoon and twenty-four hours later I was already chugging back to New York. But what a great twenty-fours hours they were!

On Friday I got to meet up with some fellow New Leaf Literary authors and our agents, Suzie Townsend and Pete Knapp. Here’s Team New Leaf:

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We spent our evening enjoying wine and chocolate at a shmancy party with some fantastic librarians. And I mean enjoying it–the spread involved a make-your-own chocolate crepe bar! But the best part, of course, was getting to talk about books with our librarian friends. I love hearing about what they’re reading, what library life is like, and which books their readers adore.

The next morning, I got breakfast with the Aladdin/Simon Pulse team before heading to the exhibit floor. I’d say being on the floor is like being a kid in the candy store, but as a child my excitement level would’ve been at the same height for a candy store or a bookstore. It was so fun running around seeing all the shiny new titles on display and running into other book people. I gathered enough ARCs that I have a huge bruise on my left shoulder from the tote bag–but it’ll heal, and it’s worth it. (Once I finish them, I have a school librarian in mind to share them with.)

To top it all off, I had just enough time before my train to run into Faneuil Hall and grab a slice of Boston Cream Pie for the road. When in Boston, right? 🙂

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Nov 12, 2015 | , , , , , , , , , , ,

Last weekend I made the trip to Columbus, Ohio (a lovely city!) for the AASL National Conference. My husband and I drove from NYC, and even though we aren’t really car people anymore, it was fun to wind through the Pennsylvania mountains and catch some late fall color. You can see the pretty red leaves behind this shot of a Summer of Lost and Found sampler:

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Which was this gorgeous tree:

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On Friday morning, Gayle Rosengren and I did our presentation, “Making It Real,” for a great group of school librarians. We shared historical-fiction programming ideas that appeal to many different types of learners, and if you’d like to hear about them, send me an email! I’m happy to share our slides and handouts, including a list of recommended MG historical fiction. Here’s an example of the LIBRARY planning template that Gayle created:

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After our presentation, Gayle and I headed over to the Authorpalooza signing booth. I wish I’d thought to have someone take our picture, but sadly I was too focused on chatting with the awesome school librarians. 🙂 I do have some pictures of When Audrey Met Alice at AASL, though!

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After the conference wrapped up for the day on Friday, I had just enough time to pop over to North Market for celebratory Jeni’s Splendid Ice Cream–which was the perfect finish to a great day. And, of course, I had to pick up one of these for the road home!

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Fall Update: Copyediting, Review Copies, and Columbus

Oct 31, 2015 | , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Happy Halloween!

Fall has been flying by. I’ve been busy with revising a new project (which feels like it might finally be coming together), working on a short story, and copy edits. Apologies to my production editor, but I did end up making quite a few tweaks to the end of Summer:

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But now the copy edits are complete, and Summer is actually available for preorder and digital review copies are up on Edelweiss! You can request a DRC here.

And links to preorder at various retailers are all here, on Simon & Schuster’s website: http://books.simonandschuster.com/Summer-of-Lost-and-Found/Rebecca-Behrens/9781481458962

During copyediting/revising breaks, I’ve been cooking. My husband and I challenged ourselves to eat an unprocessed, plant-based diet for 22 days. It was hard, but we did it–and came away with some new favorite recipes, like this green lentil soup garnished with avocado and tomato. So nice on a chilly fall night–and I found you can get a lot of writing work done in the kitchen, while it simmers.

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This week, I’m heading off to Columbus, OH for AASL 2015. Gayle Rosengren and I have worked hard on our presentation, and we’re looking forward to sharing our ideas about MG historical fiction! If you’re at AASL, please stop by and say hi. I have some shiny new postcards for Summer to hand out, too!

Upcoming Event: AASL 2015

Oct 8, 2015 | , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

webbadge-PresenterI’m going to AASL 2015 in Columbus!

Friend and fellow Class of 2K14 author Gayle Rosengren and I are presenting on Friday, November 6 from 11:20-12:20 (Room C212). Here’s a little about our presentation:

Making It Real, authors Gayle Rosengren and Rebecca Behrens will suggest creative ways for librarians to help bring history to life as they prepare students to meet Common Core State Standards. Strategies include multimedia displays, interactive library programming, writing workshops, author Skype visits, and outreach with local historic sites. The authors will provide tools such as a multimedia planning template that can be filled out for any title, book talks, and recommended media lists.

We’ve had a lot of fun creating this presentation, and hope you’ll join us if you’re attending the conference.

We’ll also be in the Author Signing Booth from 1:00-1:30 on Friday. Stop by and say hi! I’ll have my first pieces of Summer of Lost and Found swag, and plenty of When Audrey Met Alice bookplates, stickers, and more.

D.C. for a Day

May 29, 2015 | , , , , , , , , , , ,

On Wednesday morning I hopped on a bus and headed south so Audrey and Alice could meet some D.C. readers. Once I got into town, I decided to stretch my legs by taking a walk to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

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What Would Alice Do with three free hours in the capital city? Admittedly, she probably would not take a bunch of book selfies. But sneaking onto the roof of the White House wasn’t really an option for me.

Then I took the Metro out to Arlington for a panel event with author friends and fellow 2014 debuts Jen Malone (You’re Invited and At Your Service) and Tara Dairman (All Four Stars and The Stars of Summer) at One More Page, which is the bookstore of my dreams. They have eight book clubs, an awesomely curated selection of books, and incredibly good local and artisanal chocolate. We had a full house for our panel, and the audience asked great questions!

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I also had the chance to meet up with some old friends (thanks for coming, Jocelyn and Lilia!) and to meet writer friend Jennifer Pickrell (who writes wonderful YA) in person, which was great.

Afterward I raced back to Union Station–worrying the whole way because D.C. friends had warned me I wasn’t giving myself quite enough time–and made it with twenty minutes to spare before my train. Unfortunately, my train didn’t make it (it was cancelled) so I had to cool my heels for an hour and a half. I didn’t get back to NYC until after 2:00 a.m., but I had a lot of books to entertain me on Amtrak.

Definitely a day that was worth traveling through five states and D.C., and back–although next time I hope to stick around a little longer!

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