Bea and Pidge are hitting the road again–this time, in a fancy new trade paperback.
Maybe it’s because I often read on the go, as a traveler and a commuter (so lighter books = more I can tuck in my tote), but paperback is my favorite format as a reader. I’m excited to see what adventures Bea and Pidge tag along on in this new format!
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I love talking about writing about as much as I love writing (so, a lot). And I had a great time talking about historical fiction and the writing life with one of my “Write Nite” pals (and directly-across-the-street neighbor) Gabriela Pereira. We get into:
Check out Episode 215 of diyMFA Radio for our discussion here, and be sure to browse all the wonderful resources on the diyMFA site!
On July 21, I was thrilled to be a part of the Amelia Earhart Festival–the annual celebration of her birthday in her birthplace of Atchison, Kansas. Readers of The Last Grand Adventure will know what a significant place Atchison was in Amelia’s (and her sister, Muriel’s) life. For me, it was a place I came to know, and love, through research. This passage from Muriel Earhart Morrissey’s biography of Amelia, Courage Is the Price, shows why:
“Midsummer evenings have always been a time of mystic spellbinding for the young. The long August twilights wrought their peculiar magic upon Amelia and me when we were little girls in Atchison. I remember the symphony of summer sounds; the chirping of crickets and of the invisible tree-toads . . . As the last carnation and saffron clouds faded, bats began to dart across the darkening sky, and, as if in defiance of these harbingers of the nightfall, fireflies twinkled in the garden and across the way among the peach and pear trees in the orchard.”
Such a lovely description! How can you read that and not want to write about Atchison in the summertime?
While writing When Audrey Met Alice and Summer of Lost and Found, I was able to visit my settings in person. For The Last Grand Adventure, the closest I’d gotten was Google Earth. So it was incredibly meaningful to see the town for myself, and to meet the warm and welcoming people who live there. And what a weekend to visit–the festival draws in thousands of Earhart experts and enthusiasts and leaders in STEM and aviation fields to celebrate not just Amelia’s birthday but her incredible life and accomplishments. I had a great time sharing my book and also learning so much more about her life and legacy.
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The Last Grand Adventure is on shelves today–hip hip hooray!
I have fond memories of the trips I took as a kid and teen, so it surprised me when, a few years ago, I unearthed my childhood travel journal and found it full of worries. From ghosts in New Orleans to grizzlies in Denali National Park, to spiders in New Mexico and seaweed on Coronado Beach. Yes, I was even afraid of seaweed.
Like me, Bea (the protagonist of The Last Grand Adventure) is more of a natural worrier than a natural adventurer. As she heads off on a planes-trains-and-automobiles journey with her strong-willed and eccentric grandmother, Pidge, Bea is constantly faced with the dilemma of whether or not to yield to her fears. Of course, there’s a pretty tantalizing reason for them to keep going, all the way to Atchison, Kansas: the promise of finding Pidge’s long-lost sister, Amelia Earhart.
Travel opened my eyes to the world beyond my quiet neighborhood, showing me about people and places different than those I had known. As Bea’s journey takes her far across the country, she also experiences that feeling of discovery. The best souvenir, though, is the unexpected bravery she finds inside herself.
At its heart, this story is about the power of both an open mind and an open road. I hope readers will enjoy riding along on Bea and Pidge’s adventure.
Thanks to everyone who helped get this book into the world, especially: my agent, Suzie Townsend, and her assistants, Sara Stricker and Cassandra Baim; and my editors, Alyson Heller and Tricia Lin, publicist, Samantha Benson, and the whole team at Aladdin.
If you’d like a signed copy of Adventure 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.
Bon voyage!
It’s no secret that I love history and I love the beach (I mean, it’s right there in my bio, along with doughnuts and laughing). Last week my husband and I explored Bermuda, and I got to combine the two in one fun, relaxing, and inspiring vacation. Here’s a little of what we saw:
The town of St. George, which is the oldest continually inhabited English settlement in the Americas. (It’s also a UNESCO world heritage site.) It was founded after ships on their way to rescue the starving colonists at Jamestown (the colony that followed Roanoke) wrecked offshore. The statue of George Somers reminded me of Prospero in The Tempest–turns out Shakespeare may have been inspired by those “current events” while writing the play! The ship is the Deliverance, called the ship that “saved America” by sucessfully resupplying the colonists at Jamestown. Learning about the colonial history and relationship with American colonists reminded me a lot of Roanoke, and made me think about Summer of Lost and Found. If the Roanoke colony had survived, would it have eventually looked like this?
We also checked out the Crystal Cave, which two twelve-year-old boys discovered in 1907. They were playing cricket when their ball disappeared down an unfamiliar hole in the yard. After getting a rope and a lantern, the boys descended to find a beautiful cave with a 55-foot-deep underground lake. While they explored, the lantern went out–and they were lost in the darkness for hours. They found the rope and made it out–the rest is history. (Let this be a lesson in the bravery of middle-graders!) The stalactites and stalagmites were so cool.
And at the Royal Naval Dockyard, we checked out the Victualling Yard, where crews prepared all the food and drink needed to keep sailors well fed on their long voyages. It was kept guarded, to prevent any pilfering. It was a hot day (no surprise), so we stopped in a pub with lots of books.
And, of course, here’s the beach. I spent a lot of hours reading on it, under a peppermint-candy-looking umbrella and with lots of SPF.
What have your adventures been this summer?
I wouldn’t be the reader–or the writer–I am today without the influence of many wonderful educators. 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 Summer of Lost and Found on May 23, I’m doing a special giveaway for educators (including teachers, librarians, support staff, and administrators*). Two winners will receive:
The giveaway starts today and ends at 11:59 p.m. EST on May 22. I’ll announce the winners on Tuesday, May 23.
Good luck!
Note: If you have trouble entering through the Rafflecopter widget above, feel free to leave a comment on this post, and I will manually input your entry. Thanks!
*Not an educator? Feel free to enter on behalf of a school or classroom!
I’m excited to share that I have two stories appearing in Scholastic’s classroom magazines this month! The March/April issue of Storyworks has “Lost and Found,” realistic fiction that was inspired by my time in the Outer Banks doing research for Summer of Lost and Found.
I love the artwork and photographs that appear with the story–along with all the great questions and resources on the Storyworks website!
For Scholastic Scope, I wrote “What We Left Behind,” an original short story about the infamous Black Sunday dust storm in April 1935. This was a storm so massive and powerful that it carried dirt and debris all the way from the Plains to the Capitol steps in Washington, D.C. But this is also a story about two sisters who are brave enough to fight against the dust to save their family.
If you’ve read either story in your classroom, I’d love to hear what you think!
So you might have seen some news in Publishers Weekly this afternoon:
That’s right–I wrote another MG book! The Last Grand Adventure will be in bookstores sometime between January-April 2018. Like When Audrey Met Alice, I created a character based on a real, fascinating woman (in this case, Amelia Earhart, whom I’ve been obsessed with since childhood) and like Summer of Lost and Found, my MG protagonist unexpectedly finds herself in the middle of a history mystery. But for the first time, the whole book is historical fiction. It’s an adventure-ful road trip, a love letter to sisters, and a celebration of spunky grandmas. I loved writing this story, and I can’t wait to share it with you.
I’m thrilled to keep working with Alyson Heller and the Aladdin/Simon & Schuster team again, too! Many thanks to them for giving my books a home, to Suzie Townsend for being such a great advocate for my writing, to Sara Stricker for all her help and encouragement–and especially to readers, who keep us all going!
I’m excited to share two wonderful blurbs for Summer of Lost and Found, from two writers whose work I adore.
Jodi Lynn Anderson has written two of my all-time favorite books, Tiger Lily and My Diary from the Edge of the World. Lately whenever I meet up with another MG reader, I immediately ask: Have you read Diary yet?! It’s a story with so much heart and creativity, and it has a collection of lovable and funny and complex characters. It’s poignant and funny and surprising. And I’d follow the Lockwood family just about anywhere.
Caroline Starr Rose wrote May B. and Blue Birds, which is a verse historical novel about a Roanoke Island. Blue Birds was published while I was working on Summer of Lost and Found, and I decided to wait until my book went to copy edits before reading it. It was really the best reward. The book is rich in historical detail, beautiful and moving writing, and a powerful theme of friendship and understanding. I’m really excited that Caroline and I had a great conversation about writing Roanoke–including the research process, the facts we found most fascinating, and our own feelings about what really happened to the Lost Colony. I’ll let you know when we share it on her site in May.
So here are the blurbs:
I’m so grateful to Caroline and Jodi for reading Summer and sharing their thoughts. And if you haven’t already–go get their books!
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:
Which was this gorgeous tree:
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:
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!
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!
On a warm, nearly cloudless day last week, I took a trip out to Sagamore Hill National Historic Site in Oyster Bay, NY. It wasn’t my first time there–I visited in September 2012, shortly after I found out that When Audrey Met Alice was going to become a book. But during that visit, only the grounds of the Roosevelt family’s sprawling estate were open to the public. The inside–the 23 rooms in which the Roosevelts (and their “zoo” of pets) dined, read, learned, and played–was shuttered and empty. Now, after a three-and-a-half-year and multimillion-dollar renovation, people can walk through the house again. I had to go see it!
I don’t have any pictures from the tour inside the house–to protect the priceless artifacts, no photography is allowed. So I’ll have to tell, not show, how exciting it was to see Alice’s bedroom view, the 8,000 books in the library she begged to be “let loose” in, and the dining table at which she had to ask each guest three prepared questions. I loved hearing details of family life at Sagamore Hill from the knowledgeable and friendly ranger leading the tour–like that Alice refused to share a bedroom with any of her siblings, but did let her privacy-seeking brother sublet her closet.
Vintage postcard of Alice’s bedroom at Sagamore Hill
At Sagamore there’s also a museum in the Old Orchard building (where Alice’s brother Ted lived). I took this photo of a “picture letter” that Roosevelt wrote his daughter Ethel while he was away. His sketches are so charming, and I love the thought of the president sitting down to create them when he couldn’t make his 4:00 appointment to play with his kids.
If you want to visit the house: visit the Sagamore Hill NHS site for more information!
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!