Author of award-winning, adventurous realistic and historical fiction

Launching The Last Grand Adventure

Apr 11, 2018 | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Time flies when you’re having fun, and when you’re launching a new book. I can’t believe The Last Grand Adventure has already been out for three weeks! It’s been a lot of fun traveling around and talking about Bea and Pidge and Amelia’s adventures. Here’s where I’ve been so far:

I got to share The Last Grand Adventure a little early with readers at Barnes & Noble Neshaminy in Bensalem, PA. Lauren Magaziner, Tae Keller, Jessica Lawson, and I had a lot of fun answering questions and tackling truth-or-dares.

 

On Saturday, March 24, I officially launched The Last Grand Adventure with the help of the fantastic Claire Legrand, at Books of Wonder’s new Uptown store. We had a great talk about writing quietly adventurous MG characters and our own travel experiences. And I turned my book into Rice Krispie treats, because of course.

Airplane dress!

I wonder why we were laughing so hard?

Next I hopped a plane home to Madison, WI, where I met some fantastic young readers at EAGLE School and Thoreau Elementary, my alma mater.

Then celebrated the book’s release with a reading at my hometown indie, Mystery to Me. I forgot to take any pictures at this event other than this “After” one of my book cake. It was the most delicious map I have ever eaten.

You can check out my Instagram for some photos and reposts of Bea and Pidge in the wild. And if you’d still like a chance to have a book signed or meet me in person, I’ll be at The Voracious Reader in Larchmont as well as One More Page in Arlington, VA, this weekend. Check out my Events page for all the details!

 

Adventure around the Web

Mar 22, 2018 | , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

I’ve been busy talking up Bea and Pidge’s grand adventure with fellow book lovers and Amelia enthusiasts online. Here are a few interviews to check out if you’d like to know more about the story and why I wrote it:

Episode 34 of the “Chasing Earhart” Podcast

Interview with MG Book Village

Interview and Fun Facts with YAYOMG!

Straight from the Source: A conversation with Caroline Starr Rose

And here are a few reviews from early and speedy readers! 

“Rebecca Behrens writes a touching and heartwarming story chronicling Bea and Pidge’s journey to not only find “Meelie” but also find themselves.” —Beagles and Books

The Loud Library Lady

“This is just one of those stories that I did not want to end.  The messages it delivers will fill readers with hope – hope for family, believing in the impossible, and finding our true adventurous spirit.  The story and characters will stay with readers long after the book is done.” —Zone 114: The Next Chapter

“The Last Grand Adventure transports family drama into an interesting and vibrant time period and shows us that while fashions, types of travel, and acceptable breakfasts (sugar sandwiches!) have changed over the last 50 years, family ties have not.” –Ms. Yingling, YA Books Central

Thanks for reading!

THE LAST GRAND ADVENTURE begins!

Mar 20, 2018 | , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

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!

 

 

In Case of Emergency

Mar 15, 2018 | , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

So you might have seen some news in Publishers Weekly:

This is why I’ve been neglecting my blog so far in 2018–I wrote another MG novel! In Case of Emergency will be in bookstores in Fall 2019. This book is a little different than the three I’ve published–it’s not a historical story. But it is a bit of an adventure, and one packed full of research (this infamous article in particular was inspiration), a fascinating setting, and kids with lots of moxie. Growing up, my favorite types of books to read were historical fiction and survival stories, like Hatchet and My Side of the Mountain. Plus The Baby-Sitters Club–which sometimes turned into survival stories (remember the super specials?). In fact, I initially pitched this idea to my agent as “Hatchet meets The Baby-Sitters Club“! I had a lot of fun writing this book, and I can’t wait to share it with you.

I’m excited to work with the fantastic team at Sourcebooks again, too! Many thanks to Annie Berger for giving this book a home, to Suzie Townsend for being such a great advocate for my writing, to Cassandra Baim for all her help and encouragement–and especially to readers, who keep us all going.

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