Author of award-winning, adventurous realistic and historical fiction

Scholastic

New Scholastic Fiction

Mar 17, 2017 | , , , , , , , , , ,

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.

 

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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.

 

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If you’ve read either story in your classroom, I’d love to hear what you think!

 

New Short Story: Lost & Found

Jan 27, 2016 | , , , , ,

I’m excited to share that I have a new short story in the February 2016 issue of Scholastic Scope magazine! “Lost & Found” was inspired by some of the research I did for Summer of Lost and Found. Here’s a sneak peek at the first page:

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And here’s a teaser about the story:

A brother and sister find treasure from an ancient shipwreck. The laws say it’s not theirs to keep—but would anyone know if they did?

To find out more about Scope magazine, visit its website here.

Women’s History Wednesday #4: Jackie Mitchell

Mar 25, 2015 | , , , , , , , , ,

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)

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!

New Year, Random News

Jan 9, 2015 | , , , , , , , ,

I’m taking a break right now from revising–although one could argue that a break would be better spent not writing in another form, right? After this post, I’ll find something good to watch on my Netflix queue. But first, a two bits of news:

Scholastic Scope published my Jackie Mitchell short story in its January 2015 issue–retitled as”Girls Can’t Play!” If your school or library has a subscription, check it out.

When Audrey Met Alice got a Recommended review in the November/December issue of Library Media Connection! Here’s an excerpt: “Becoming empowered and independent with the help of Alice’s journal, Audrey creates a bit of mischief and mayhem of her own. Featuring Alice Roosevelt’s fictional journal entries throughout the story supplies an interesting comparison of Alice’s historical time period versus Audrey’s. Readers will enjoy Alice’s antics and cheer for Audrey’s transformation.”–Nick Petrosino, District Library Coordinator, Ravenna (Ohio) School District

Next week I’ll be trading revising under blankets for revising on a beach towel: I’m visiting family in Florida for the week. I do think it might help my work on this summer-set book to be in a place above freezing–descriptions of muggy days and trips to the beach are hard to visualize when it’s 9 degrees outside! It’s a working vacation, but I’m factoring in plenty of time for fun.

Hope you are staying warm with hot tea and a good book somewhere!

Panels and Pitchers

Oct 15, 2014 | , , , , , , ,

I’m taking a break from writing next week for a fun panel at The Voracious Reader in Larchmont, NY with author friends Michelle Schusterman, Laura Marx Fitzgerald, Lauren Magaziner, and Tara Dairman!

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There will be candy. And author dares!

I’m also excited that my historical short story “Thatagirl!” is in this month’s Scholastic Storyworks! If you are a subscriber, you can check it out here: http://storyworks.scholastic.com/issues/11_01_14 Here’s a peek at the art and layout:

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It tells about the amazing baseball game in which Jackie Mitchell, a seventeen-year-old girl pitcher, struck out Lou Gehrig and Babe Ruth. Yes, that really happened!

Okay, back to work. Last weekend I worked my way through a plot riddle–hooray!–and now I am happily back to muddling through this draft.

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