I’m excited to share that the Children’s Book Award Committee of the Wisconsin Library Association’s Youth Services Section selected ten outstanding children’s and young adult books for 2021, and Alone in the Woods was one!
You can read more about the awards and the other wonderful books being honored here.
I got a fun surprise in the mail the other day–a big box of books. Not just any books, though–advance reader copies of Alone in the Woods!
Of course I had to take them out to the park for a proper photo:
Last week I traveled back to Wisconsin for a couple of book events, and it was perfect timing for fall color:
The view from Ski Hi, my favorite orchard. The pies are amazing!
Hiking at Devil’s Lake
Madison has great coffee 🙂
The famous farmer’s market is at its very best in fall.
Green and gold
The view from my Sunday morning coffeeshop
What’s missing? Photos from my talk at the Reedsburg Public Library and my school visit at EAGLE School. I was so excited to meet with readers and writers that I never quite got around to taking pictures . . . oops! But I had a great time talking about reading, researching, and writing.
Now I’m back in NY, working on short fiction and researching a project, and getting ready for nErDcampLI!
How does fall look where you are?
Last Sunday, I had a great conversation with author-friends Melanie Conklin and Sarah Darer Littman at Bank Street Bookstore. We spoke about writing three very different books all set (or, in my book’s case–partly set) in the big city. It was a great discussion–thanks, Bank Street!
(I loved sharing a shelf with the HRC books)
This week, I’m off to Wisconsin for a great event at the Reedsburg Public Library and a chance to visit some schools. Hoping to get in a trip to the apple orchard and my favorite state park while I’m back, too–there’s nothing quite like autumn in Wisconsin. 🙂
Today it doesn’t feel like summer is over–it’s sunny, 87 degrees, and super humid. (Although, if you go by the calendar, we do have a couple of weeks left of the season.) But some of the leaves are starting to crisp, and kids and teachers are back in school. Believe it or not, even as a slightly fanatical summer-lover I’m glad. Fall is the time for fresh starts, and I’m ready to tackle The Last Grand Adventure edits with fresh eyes. I have a nightstand full of books to help me research a new project, too.
But I will miss my favorite time of year, especially:
Outdoor movies! I saw INSIDE OUT in the park, and it was delightful.
Fire Island sunsets. The hazier and moodier, the better.
Lake life in my hometown, Madison, WI.
In the middle of all my summer adventures, I managed to read eighteen books. I love summer reading–I try to make it all about discovery and pleasure, making sure that the books I pick from May-September I pulled from the shelf purely because of fun and curiosity. That makes reading a vacation itself. I look forward to this kind of reading all year–in fact, I’ve already started my book list for next year.
What adventures did you have this summer, on and off the page?
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.
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!
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!
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.
It often feels like forever until a book comes out (thanks to all those hours spent writing, revising, and revising, and revising). And then suddenly the book’s first trade review arrives and, whoa! You realize publication is only two months away.
I’m excited to share the first two trade reviews for Summer of Lost and Found: Kirkus said, “the mystery of the Lost Colony of Roanoke becomes an engaging backdrop for a preteen experiencing her own losses” and praised, “this blend of history with mystery and fantasy with realism is a good find indeed.” Hooray!
And School Library Journal noted, “Behrens’s deft writing gives the book substance. . . . This intriguing mix of historical and realistic fiction with a dash of the paranormal makes this well-written novel appealing to a wide range of middle grade readers.” Thanks, SLJ!
It’s always a little nerve-wracking to get early feedback, so I’m thrilled that these reviewers enjoyed Summer. I certainly had a wonderful time researching and writing Nell and Ambrose’s story, and I’m excited to share it with readers on May 24.
I’ll have some more news soon–about blurbs and book launches. Stay tuned!
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:
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.
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!
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?
A lot went on in publishing this week,* but this post isn’t about that. Because the week before, I did something that middle-grade me would’ve been over the moon about:
I met a manatee.
I first read about manatees in a random Sleepover Friends super special (Super Beach Mystery) when I was in elementary school. I couldn’t believe that I’d never heard about this “sea cow” creature before, considering how much I loved marine mammals. The more I read about manatees, the more curious I became. They are vegetarians who eat 10% of their body weight daily! They are related to elephants! The communicate with a language of clicks and chirps! I ended up fundraising for the Save the Manatee club (through which I adopted my first manatee, Boomer), and I even wrote my first “book” about them as a school project, MANATEES: PROBLEMS HELPS.
My first book
I am unsure whether I did not know the word “solutions” or whether I didn’t have the right sticker letters for it.
My early nonfiction writing
I even wrote manatee poetry.
But being a kid in Wisconsin, there were no manatees near me. Years went by, I never stopped finding them delightful–but I never had a chance to see one.
Last week, my husband and I were in Florida to escape the cold. We took an hour to drive inland from Sanibel Island and found the Manatee Park. I ran down the path (dodging a very realistic statue of an alligator–you would’ve shrieked, too!) and up to a river, and then I saw my first ever manatee.
Later on in the trip, we took a special tour at the Miami Seaquarium, which is one of three facilities that can rehabilitate injured manatees. (Sadly, part of the reason why manatees are an endangered species is because they are frequently harmed or killed by speeding boats.) That was where I got to meet Julia and Phoenix and feed them some of their favorite treats (sweet potatoes and grapes).
It was so cool to get to interact with them–manatees are friendly, curious, and smart. They are also HUGE. Somehow, all the photos I’ve seen over the years did not do justice to their size.
As a thirtysomething it was a great way to spend an afternoon, but I kept thinking about how ridiculously excited middle-grade Rebecca would’ve been about talking to people who care for manatees–and getting to feel manatees’ whiskers as they gobble up lunch. It reminded me how awesomely curious and passionate kids are–one of the many reasons I love writing books for young readers.
Every grown-up should remember something that they loved fiercely or studied enthusiastically as a kid, and reconnect with it. It’s good for the soul.
*A brief note about the sad news from Egmont USA. Yes, Summer of Lost and Found was affected by the decision to close the US operations. Hopefully, I will be able to share more information on what’s next for my book soon. Until then, I’d like to acknowledge how wonderful it was to be an Egmont author, and what a privilege it was to work with Jordan Hamessley and the rest of the team. Published and Spring 2015 Egmont books will still be distributed by Penguin Random House–go and check them out!