Some people have a favorite     Others have a favorite pair of slippers.
number.

Here, at the Class of 2k8, we have our...

favorite librarians!

Okay, guys, it's your chance to share.

M.P. Barker is waving her hand madly. Yes, we see you. Yes, you can go first M.P.

Thanks! I grew up in Chicopee, Massachusetts, and I remember going to the Aldenville Branch Library once a week (at least!)—one person could check out only four books at a time, so we went back often. There was always a summer reading contest with a free movie at the Rivoli Theater for readers who reached their quota, and I remember what a sense of accomplishment it was to see my marker go around the map or chart or whatever record-keeping scheme they had that year (and how disappointed I was the year they decided to stop doing the movie and just gave out prizes instead).

It was a teeny tiny storefront library, and the librarians were just great. The kids’ section was at the front, and the adults’ section was at the back, and always seemed sort of like a forbidden city. OOOHHH, to some day be grown-up enough to check books out from that section!!

But of all the librarians I’ve known, I didn’t meet my absolute favorite one until I was all grown up. That’s my boss, Maggie Humberston, who’s the head of the Genealogy and Local History Library and Archives at the Connecticut Valley Historical Museum in springfield, MA. And I’m not saying that just because she brings me chocolate, either. She’s unfailingly patient cheerful, goes wa-a-a-ay beyond the extra mile to help our researchers, and has a magic gift for dealing with the…um…eccentrics. You know how most people would like to kill their bosses? Well, Maggie is the kind of boss that I would kill FOR. Some day I hope I can be as good a person as she is…but it’s not likely!

Librarian Maggie Humberston & M.P. Barker, debut author of the historical young-adult A DIFFICULT BOY

And, at the back of the class,Elizabeth C. Bunce, debut author of the young-adult fantasy A CURSE DARK AS GOLD, is holding up a photo of the library where her favorite librarian used to work.



Okay, Elizabeth. We've thrown up the photo. Now tell us about your favorite librarian.

When I was growing up, our local children's librarian was my best friend's mom. She used to let me read the new books before they went on the shelf! I still remember the horror my brother and I felt when we got toothpaste on a brand-new copy of Tamora Pierce's ALANNA: THE FIRST ADVENTURE (that book is still in the library, toothpaste stain and all!). I was lucky enough to have my launch for A CURSE DARK AS GOLD back at my hometown library, and it was so neat to have Mrs. Elbert there to celebrate with us. She's retired now, of course, but I'll always think of her as my personal librarian.




And we leave you with this delightful quotation sent to us by Brenda Eley, Librarian, Beckman High School, Irvine, California:

"Books may well be the only true magic."~~Alice Hoffman

Below are some fascinating Thanksgiving facts. Memorize them before heading off to your Thanksgiving dinner or before opening your front door to your guests. This trivia is guaranteed to make you look smart, fun and interesting!

1. What do you call a female turkey?
2. What sound does she make?
3. How fast can a turkey run?
4. Which state produces the most turkeys?
5. How many feathers does a mature turkey have?
6. What drink did the puritans bring with them on the Mayflower?
7. What do you call a baby turkey?
8. Which vegetable did the Pilgrims decide not to eat for Thanksgiving because they thought it was poisonous?
9. Why is difficult to sneak up on a turkey?
10. What do you call a turkey under 16 weeks of age? How about if it's five to seven months old?





Answers:
1. A hen
2. She clucks.
3. 20 mph
4. Minnesota
5. 3,500
6. beer
7. a poult
8. potatoes
9. Turkeys have a wide field of vision (270 degrees) and a great sense of hearing. Not germane to this answer, but interesting nonetheless, turkeys see in color.
10. A fryer, a roaster

What was that you said? You have a question for us. Go ahead. Shoot.

What's the number of calories in the average Thanksgiving dinner?

Are you crazy? You do not even want to know the answer to that question. You definitely don't want to take that kind of information to a Thanksgiving feast. You'll be shunned. You'll be miserable and lonely. You'll only get passed the pickle tray.

Now, off you go. It's time to celebrate. See you Friday.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING FROM THE CLASS OF 2K8!

(And if you don't celebrate Thanksgiving, HAVE A GREAT DAY!)




Sources:
http://www.creative-baby-shower-ideas.com/thanksgiving-trivia.html
http://home.aristotle.net/Thanksgiving/trivia-index.asp
http://www.thanksgivingnovember.com/thanksgiving-facts.html
http://www.infoplease.com/spot/tgturkeyfacts.html

"You see, I don't believe libraries should be drab places where people sit in silence, and that's been the main reason for our policy of employing wild animals as librarians." ~~Monty Python

We thank Colette Eason, Librarian, Marsalis Elementary School, Dallas, Texas for the above quotation. It's beyond excellent!

Classmate Ellen Booraem, debut middle grade author of THE UNNAMEABLES, has a story about librarians who really know how to woo skittish library patrons.

My partner, Rob, was a childhood victim of one of the Old School of librarians, the ones with real-life “shushing action.” He and his peers called the guy Snagglepuss. Giggling in the stacks was strictly forbidden, and books were sent home with a long list of handling instructions. Heaven help you if brought one back late.

We moved to Brooklin, Maine, which has the world's warmest and loveliest library, with matching librarians. Rob, an avid reader, refused to pass the library’s doors. The then-librarian, Gretchen Volenik, met him frequently at the post office and general store, and did her best to persuade him that he could giggle in the stacks all he wanted. But he persisted in hunting for reading material at yard sales rather than borrowing it from the Evil Place. He wouldn’t even read library books I brought home for him, fearing that he would mistreat them in some way.

Then he became addicted to books on tape, which he played all day long as he painted (he’s an artist). The yard sales soon ran out of fodder. Gretchen saw her chance, and started sending me home with audiobooks she knew would interest him. Sometimes, she would send him donated tapes that hadn’t even been catalogued yet, with no scary due date at all.

Today, Rob’s in the library at least once a week, checking out audiobooks and faithfully returning them on time. A month or so ago, the current librarian, Stephanie Atwater, entrusted him with a box full of uncatalogued tapes and CDs, carrying on the tradition. Take that, Snagglepuss.

The lovely Stephanie Atwater, Librarian, Friend Memorial Public Library in Brooklin, Maine.



And now for some great quotations sent to us from librarians across the country.







From DaShannon Lovin, Library Media Specialist, Blanchester High School, Blanchester, Ohio:

"I really didn't realize the librarians were, you know, such a dangerous group. They are subversive. You think they're just there at the desk, all quiet and everything. They're like plotting the revolution, man. I wouldn't mess with them. "~~Michael Moore

And from Angela Sanders, Librarian, Augusta Elementary School, Augusta, Arkansas:

"My test of a good novel is dreading to begin the last chapter." ~~Thomas Helm

"Anyone who says they have only one life to live must not know how to read a book." ~ ~Author Unknown

"You know you've read a good book when you turn the last page and feel a little as if you have lost a friend." ~~Paul Sweeney

Classmate Lisa Schroeder, author of the Young Adult I HEART YOU, YOU HAUNT ME, shares this about her childhood library:

It's hard being the young child of divorced parents. My life was pretty chaotic for awhile. And that's probably why I loved going to the Salem Public Library in Salem, Oregon with my mom during the summer vacations of my elementary school years. As soon as I walked into the children's area, I instantly felt welcomed and at home. Everything was in its place, and just as it should be. What a comfort this was to me at the time, and I can't even describe how much I loved our bi-weekly trips to the library. When I walked in, I knew right where I could find my good friends Betsy and Star, Encyclopedia Brown, Mrs. Piggle Wiggle, and more.

I remember one summer, when they had a reading program going on, they had a detailed map on a big board sitting horizontally, and each child had a little marker he/she moved around the map. I can vividly remember sitting and admiring that map every time we visited, and it made me so happy to move my marker around as I read books that summer.

I'm so thankful to my mom for taking me to the library, and to the librarians at the Salem Public Library who did such an awesome job making the children's area a fun, welcoming, and friendly place.

And here's a little history from the Salem Public Library's website:

Salem Public Library was founded in 1904 by a group of determined volunteers from the Salem Women’s Club. The first library was housed in a corner of the City Council Chambers for the City of Salem . The library was operated by the Salem Women’s Club until it became a department of the City of Salem in 1912.


Erin Fitzpatrick-Bjorn, a librarian in Gresham, Oregan shares this about her middle school library:

A few years ago I was working on a poetry unit with fifth graders. They came into the library and we looked at great poets and poetry, and they did some of their own writing. Here's a favorite poem I have that a student wrote that year modeled after "i live in music" by Ntozake Shange.



I live in the library
By Kaylie

i live in the library
is this where you live
i live here in the library
i live on fairy tale street
my friend lives on mystery avenue
do you live here in the library
pages fall round me like snowflakes
on other folks
books touch my face
warm as fire and
cool like the winding air
thinking they waz fairy tales
i got fifteen chapter books where other
people got hips
and a thick book for both sides of my heart
i walk around in pages like somebody else be walkin’ on sand
i live in the library
i live in it
sleep in it
i could even hear it
i wear books on my fingers books
fall so fulla words ya cd make a river
where yr arm is and hold yrself
hold yrself in a book.

Librarians and libraries touch our hearts.

We're calling on one of our very own 2k8 classmates, Kristin O'Donnell Tubb, debut author of the middle grade historical AUTUMN WINIFRED OLIVER DOES THINGS DIFFERENT, to spill about her cool librarian story. Think wrinkles and clocks, dear blogger friends. Okay, taaaake it away, Kristin.


When I was in sixth grade at City Park Elementary in Athens, TN, our librarian, Sheila Rollins, held a school-wide reading competition. The prize? The winner got to interview Madeleine L’Engle by telephone! As soon as I heard that, I started flipping those pages, and sure enough, I won! I remember sitting in a tiny conference room that only the teachers were allowed to go into (hee-hee!), and a box the size of a Kleenex container sat in the middle of the table. It was a speaker phone, the first I’d ever seen, and I just knew that this was going to be a memorable day. But honestly, I forget most of what happened. The one thing I do remember, however, helped define my life. Toward the end of the interview, I told Ms. L’Engle that I wanted to be a writer. “Good for you!” she answered. “Keep reading and you can do it.” So thank you to Madeleine L’Engle (forever!) for the great advice, and thank you to Shelia Rollins, SuperLibrarian, who always knew what reading could achieve.

And here's another example of how librarians can affect a life. R. Jean Gustafson from Selah, WA received this letter from a former student:

Mrs. Gustafson, when I was in Jr. High we both know that I read more books in a day then talked to people. Books were my escape and you were the mysterious stranger come to direct me in the right direction (That’s not redundant at all!) You opened the door of Fantasy, from Tamora Pierce to Jack Whyte; you have solidified my love for that genre. Words are not enough to express my gratitude but they are all I have to give, those and this picture. Who knows, maybe one day you’ll be recommending a book to a shy timid student, written by me! Merci beaucoup to librarians everywhere!

Oh, but we have been busy this past week!

(left to right) Zu Vincent (THE HAPPY PLACE), Barrie Summy (I SO DON'T DO MYSTERIES), Stacy Nyikos (DRAGON WISHES), PJ Hoover (THE EMERALD TABLET) and Courtney Scheinmel (MY SO-CALLED FAMILY) spoke about "Turning Old Writing Tricks into New Reading Treats" at the California Library Association's annual meeting last Monday. They were amazing and awesome! If we do say so ourselves. (Courtney is missing from the picture.)

There was a time when kids went outside to play, made up imaginary games evoking historical characters and aliens from the future, families went on road trips in search of gold, radiation was still a new treatment for cancer, and cancer was still mysterious. In THE LUCKY PLACE by Zu Vincent, families are becoming visibly dysfunctional through the eyes of Cassie, spanning ten years from age three to thirteen...There are complex relationships rich with emotion, told from a soft, gentle, very human perspective. This book will capture the attention of 5th grades and up.

Read the entire review by Lyda At Tales from the Treehouse.




Ellen Booraem loves Kirkus Reviews, which included THE UNNAMEABLES in its Best Children's Books of 2008 special section. The section recommends 50 kids' books for the year. THE UNNAMEABLES also is on the Indie Bound Kids' Next list for Winter 2008/2009. This is 59 books recommended by independent booksellers.

Wow! Go, Ellen!




From Portrait Magazine: SWIMMING WITH SHARKS is a captivating tale that brilliantly portrays the cruel world of teenage girls. Despite the things she does, Peyton is still a character the reader can relate to and empathize with and the reader is taken on a convincing journey with our heroine and narrator as she finds herself in various challenging situations, leading up to a very dramatic and satisfying conclusion.

There are lessons to be learnt about bullying and prices we all pay for it in this strong second novel from author Debbie Reed Fischer. Definitely worth checking out.

Barbara Gopas Gubbins send us the perfect quote for these troubling economic times.

"Libraries will get you through times of no money better than money
will get you through times of no libraries."

How true is that! We can’t even imagine a time with no libraries. The horror. But it might make a great topic for a great dystopian ya novel.

We're so thankful to live in a place where the following anecdote is possible. Where a librarian in a school with little funds still manages to put books on the shelves! Thanks Sandi Jones in Arizona for sharing!

"I’m a firm believer in the power of a good book collection. When I started working in my current high school library in a poor rural district two years ago, the fiction section had an average copyright date of 1980. Needless to say, teens couldn’t relate to the books on the shelves, and there were hardly any titles of interest to our diverse student population. One student actually asked me how I could stand working in such a lonely boring place! Seeing the need for change, I became determined to replace all those dusty, never-circulated titles with hot bestsellers. Soon after I started ordering books, a shy senior walked through the door one day and began checking out books. A few weeks later, that same senior—by then a regular patron—admitted in three years of high school she’d never been inside our library.
Today, my favorite part of my job is when a new box of books comes in the door and the students attack the carton like vultures. Kids hang out in the library at lunchtime because they want to and enjoy browsing the shelves. I’ve been told that the "boring" place is the heart of the school now."


DID YOU KNOW!!!

Librarians have their own action figure.


This librarian superhero is based on real life librarian Nancy Pearl and caused a bit of controversy amongst librarians keen to change their image. But anyone who loves librarians knows they are so much more than shushers!

I think Paula Poundstone said it best. "It's funny that we think of libraries as quiet demure places where we are shushed by dusty, bun-balancing, bespectacled women. The truth is libraries are raucous clubhouses for free speech, controversy and community. Librarians have stood up to the Patriot Act, sat down with noisy toddlers and reached out to illiterate adults. Libraries can never be shushed."

This week two librarians remind us what a difference books can make.
Pat Vaninwagen in Connecticut says:

"I have been a school library media specialist for going on 4 years but I
will never forget my first year and the boy who showed me that I can make a
difference. He was a second grader and arrived in the library in tears
because his teacher wanted him to take out a book to read during quiet
reading time. "Why are you crying?" I asked. He replied, "I just don't
know what I like to read." So we spent a few minutes talking about what
kind of books he liked and I took him to my favorite author, Dick
King-Smith, handed him Billy the Bird and encouraged him to read it.
Imagine my delight when he arrived in the library the next week, waving the
book and calling out "Have you got any more like this?" He had discovered
the joy of reading and I was reminded that a good librarian can help anyone
find a book that suits his or her style."


And Michelle Yu in Wisconsin tells us her favorite quote by Maya Angelou

“When I look back, I am so impressed again
with the life-giving power of literature.
If I were a young person today, trying to gain a sense of
myself in the world, I would do that again by reading,
just as I did when I was young.”

Thank goodness for school libraries and media centers. What would we do without them?

DID YOU KNOW???

Of the over 130,000 libraries in our country, nearly 99,000 of them are in schools, both public and private.

Nearly two-thirds of Americans have library cards!! Yay! But some of the most frequent users of libraries are parents with young children. Double yay!!

There is a national library symbol/highway sign.


Now all we need is a bumper sticker.


Thanks to ala.org for all the great statistics!

We all know that being a librarian has its perks, but here’s one not many get to experience.
From Karen Yingling in Ohio:

“I usually learn of the Newbery Award winners via a press release. Not so in 2003. That was the year that I got a personal announcement from a winner whom I’d never met. Patricia Reilly Giff called my school library saying that she’d just won the Newbery Honor for Pictures of Hollis Woods. She wanted to share the good news with her grandson who was a sixth grade student. A former teacher herself, Ms. Giff was afraid the school office staff would be unwilling to pull the child out of class, but she knew a librarian would. She was right!”

Wow! Thank goodness she didn’t hang up, thinking it was a prank call!
But hearing from students can be just as exciting as hearing from famous people. Check out this great story from R. Jean Gustafson in Washington. (No pun intended!)


"With only two grades I do not worry about remembering names as much as making connections with my kids. I do not remember the initial meeting with this student, (knowing me, I probably saw her choice and said you don’t want that, try this!) I do remember by the time she left my campus she was a happy teen with a group of friends and not one bit afraid to talk. [This is a letter she sent me.]

'Mrs. Gustafson, when I was in Jr. High we both know that I read more books in a day then talked to people. Books were my escape and you were the mysterious stranger come to direct me in the right direction (That’s not redundant at all!) You opened the door of Fantasy, from Tamora Pierce to Jack Whyte; you have solidified my love for that genre.
Words are not enough to express my gratitude but they are all I have to give, those and this picture. Who knows, maybe one day you’ll be recommending a book to a shy timid student, written by me!'

We never know what students we will reach; many won’t say thanks as she did. Her picture and message sit proudly on my treasure shelf!"

Librarians are changing lives on a daily basis!
But did you know?????
!!!!It's time for LIBRARY FUN FACTS!!!!

Say the word library and most of us picture a cozy building filled with books. Sure there are computers as well, and magazines. Some libraries even have a fireplace. The building might be sprawling or cozy, but really we’re just talking variations on a theme. All over the world, however, some libraries have gotten very creative. Here, we’ll show you what we mean.

Here is a library train in Thailand.

This donkey pulled library wagon brings books to readers all over Kenya.

This library boat travels the world.

This space age library looks like it's from the future, but it's really from California.


What's the most unusual library you've ever visited?

You all know how much the class of 2k8 loves librarians. We love them so much we held a contest dedicated to them! Thanks so much to all who entered touching, funny and thought-provoking quotes and anecdotes, we’re rooting for each and every one of you! But we don’t want to be the only ones whose hearts are touched, whose funny bones are tickled and whose brains are proded, so this week we are going to share some of the great responses!

C. Whisennand in Texas sent in this story:
“People, librarians especially, are always going around complaining that they are taken for granted and that they rarely feel that patrons appreciate them. I was looking up the library record of a student who was checking out, when to my surprise he stopped, turned to his mother and said , ‘This is Mrs. Whisennand, she knows all the books in this library. She can find you any book that you want about anything. I know her from before when she was at my Elementary School.’ It warmed my heart. This student had changed on the outside. He was no longer the cute kindergarten student. He had multiple piercings in his ears and his hat was on backwards. I was sad that I had not recognized him, but in my defense I taught 15 years as an Elementary School librarian and more than 14,000 students came in and out of the library doors during that time. I guess that we do make a difference.”

You certainly do make a difference!
L. Di Sunno in New York sent us this quote:
“An intelligent person is not someone who knows everything, but someone who knows how to find answers to questions about everything."

So, I bet you’d like to know what famous people know how to find answers to questions about everything. Welcome to a feature we’re calling...
LIBRARY FUN FACTS!!

Did you know???
The following people were all librarians at one point in their lives: Mao Tse-Tung, J. Edgar Hoover,
Laura Bush, Madeline L’Engle
Phillip Pullman, and Lewis Carroll..
But wait! There's more!
Benjamin Franklin, Karl Marx, Immanuel Kant, Cassanova, Pope Pius XI, Beverly Cleary, Golda Meir and David Hume were all librarians too!

Here's what Booklist says about Kristin O'Donnell Tubb's middle grade historical, WINIFRED OLIVER DOES THINGS DIFFERENT: "Tubb’s inventive heroine comes across as a female version of familiar characters, such as Gary Paulsen's Harris or Robert Newton Peck's Soup. This homespun tale,f ull of folksy humor and based on historical fact, will appeal to young fans of Deborah Wiles' and Ruth White's books."


Book Chic loves Debbie Reed Fischer's Young Adult, BRALESS IN WONDERLAND. Read the interview here.

SWIMMING WITH THE SHARKS also by Debbie Reed Fischer was given the Gold Star Award for Excellence by TeensReadToo.com. Here is the review.






Guess what independent booksellers for children across the nation are recommending?

THE MAGIC THIEF by Sarah Prineas and THE POSSIBILITIES OF SAINTHOOD by Donna Freitas
Check out the catalog.


GO GANG!

2k8: Writing is hard. Publishing is harder. On this last day of Stacy A. Nyikos' launch week, let's find out what she struggled with.

Stacy: The hardest part about writing and publishing DRAGON WISHES was the emotion that went into it. I revealed on Tuesday that the story emerged after a near fatal sledding accident my daughters were in. They healed, but I didn’t. I went through all of the stages of grief – which, on a good day, I thought was just plain wrong. They were still alive. I didn’t want to think about what would have happened if they had died. But think about it I did. It haunted me.

Writing out the emotions was the only way I could work through them. That proved rather difficult since I’d sworn off writing, and I’m not much for journaling. At some point, nearing the edge of my sanity, I forced myself to sit back down and take the overwhelming emotion of loss and turn it on its head. What would it be like for a child to go through this? I’m an adult. I’m supposed to be trained by life itself to deal with loss. But a child? What would a child do?

That idea loosened my silent pen. I would turn my loss and fear around. I’d write a story, one that could be a beacon to kids going through the overwhelming craziness of loss that I’d gone through.

2k8: So, then did the story come quickly or slowly?

Stacy: The ideas for the story came pretty quickly, and the writing part went relatively smoothly. It was the revising that was a battle. My critique group pushed me to do better, like all critique groups do. I am indebted to them. Alone, I don’t think I could have done it because they forced me to take on the most difficult scenes – when Alex has to let somebody love her again or drown in her own feelings of loss – and write them until they ached with my main character’s struggles. It made the story so much stronger, but I was a real bear to live with when I was revising certain scenes. I could have thought of a million places I would have rather have been – childbirth, a lecture on international political economics, watching paint dry – than in those emotions, trying to shape them into something positive.

At times, I wondered if I hadn’t actually jumped off the deep end. Who in their right mind tries to shape the emotions of loss? Aren’t we just supposed to figure out how to survive them?



2k8: Now DRAGON WISHES is a real book sitting on the shelf. The writing and revising are behind you. How do you feel?

Stacy: In the end, the story became one I’m really proud of. My characters emotions are real. They are at times raw. The rawness gives them an unmistakable authenticity that I very much hope helps kids dealing with loss find their own path through the darkness.

2k8: Stacy, it's been a great launch week. We've all enjoyed getting to know you better. Thank you so much for sharing. We wish you the very very best in your writing career. We know it's going to soar.

To read an excerpt of DRAGON WISHES, click here.

We're back for Day 4 with Stacy A. Nyikos, debut author of the middle-grade fantasy DRAGON WISHES.

Stacy's gotten really comfortable on the blog. So, today, we're handing the mic over to her and letting her have at it.

"Hey, Stacy. Feel free to just chat away. DRAGON WISHES on the silver screen. Who do you want in it and why?"




The following confession is pretty pathetic, but I actually wrote one of the parts in my book with a particular actor in mind. Reader should now picture author hanging her head like a scolded dog because yes, I wrote Uncle Norbert as a Johnny Depp character. (NOTE: If you’re reading Johnny, please just have your agent get in touch with my agent. I’m sure it will all work out. Uncle Norbert is really written for you.)

Personal fantasies aside, if that ever does happen, believe me, I will so absolutely blog about it.
Still, you may be wondering, why did I do this? Massive star crush perhaps? Only slightly. The bigger reason is because Uncle Norbert is someone eccentric, off the wall, and odd. I kept thinking of some of the amazingly bizarre characters Johnny Depp has played – and there have been a few. I pictured Mr. Depp with rumpled hair, his shirt half untucked, meandering around the house with an old book in one hand, a spongy pastry covered in powdered sugar in the other, and this surprised look in his eyes. He was the big guest star appearance in my book.

As for the others, well, it would be an unusual cast.

First off, the most real and important. Last year while I was doing a school visit I met a student who is the real live Maddie, Alex’s best friend. She goes to a school in a Chicago suburb and is named, no kidding, Maddie. I met her well after the book was finished, but she was, in almost every way, the living version of my character – cheerful, mile a minute chatterbox. If you’re reading, Maddie – which is so much more likely than Johnny Depp – you’d just have to play yourself in my movie, okay? You’re the all time perfect best friend.


The next one I would cast is Mrs. Chen. I’d ask, beg, badger – and pretty much pester nonstop – Amy Tan to play Mrs. Chen. I know she’s not an actress per se, but since I get to do the casting, I’m promoting her to screenstar extraodinaire. She writes such strong female characters, I think she could pull off Mrs. Chen, no problems.

Auntie Ling would have to be played by my best friend, Ching Ling Teng, who guided me through the Chinese world with such aplomb. I know she’s not an actor – she’s a physicist actually – but she is Auntie Ling. That has to count for something.
Mr. Cisneros, the school principal, would have to be played by the illustrator of my picture books, Shawn Sisneros. He’s a starving artist too, but with so much talent. I think he could totally handle the acting thing. Plus, I borrowed his name. There have got to be some sort of royalties on something like that to get him a screenpart.


Mr. Sanchez, the bus driver who rushes Isa to the hospital, would be played by Cheech Marin. I think I had Cheech’s face half the time while I was writing Mr. Sanchez’s character, somebody with a little attitude but a huge heart willing to go above and beyond to help.

My hairdresser has already claimed the part of the art instructor, Degas Rivera. I had no choice, since I’d like for my hair to continue to look halfway decent, but to promise him the part.

Although my book has no official narrator, someone has to read the dragon story. I’d like it to be Mark Twain. Yes, I realize he is no longer among the living, but there’s no other person I know with a better voice.


As for Alex, Isa, and Shin Wa, and the entire soccer team, I would like to have an open casting day for the kids at all of the schools I’ve visited as an author. I’ve met some real personalities along the way, as well as a few drama queens. I think we could have those parts filled in no time flat.

And that's a wrap. Although we're sure Stacy will have cameo roles for all her 2k8 classmates!

Our Stacy A. Nyikos, debut author of middle-grade fantasy DRAGON WISHES,can really spin some tall tales. We love having her in class. Cause ya just never know what she'll come up with!

So...which of the following do you thing are true? And which are not?


Numero Uno: I’ve heard some crazy stories from author’s on the road, but the one I’m about to tell happened to me when I was on author tour for my picture book, DIZZY. It was the last day of a grueling two-week stint. I decided to take my girls–who had come along for the whirlwind ten city tour across the Midwest and down the Eastern seaboard–for a hike in the Shenandoah mountains on the last day of the tour. I’d lived nearby at one point in my life and often gone hiking in the mountains. Never saw anything scarier than the next bend in an endless uphill hike. On this particular occasion, however, nature decided to write her own little story with me as the main character. It all began when a water moccasin slithered into the water right next to my youngest daughter’s foot as she crossed a small stream. If I had known what was going on, I’d have called it foreshadowing. Instead, I called it nature. The next, building “incident” were leeches in the waterfall the girls played in. I kept thinking, when in nature expect to see nature. I wasn’t really ready for the black widow that wandered over our pass as we began to make our way back out of the park. But they were all just building to the actual climax – we ran into a black bear. And by ran into, I mean, we were close enough to touch it. We ran one and a half miles uphill out of the park, no stopping. I’ve never been so scared in my life.


Numero Dos: I spent my junior Spring Break re-stitching the linen wing on an old plane. Honest to Pete. Here’s how it happened. My grandfather is a pilot, my father is a pilot, three of my uncles are pilots, and my brother is a pilot. You probably won’t be shocked to learn that I can fly too. I’m not sure I’d have been allowed to leave the house without learning. It was more important than driving. Not only did I learn how to fly, I learned all things air and plane related, including how to rebuild a plane. My father was a crop duster part time. He came across an old linen plane in a barn up in Indiana where I grew up. I think something in his heart went out to that old, beaten up plan. When I was twelve years old, he bought it, and we spent most of my teen years rebuilding it. I learned how to stretch the fabric, apply it to the wings and body, and how to cover the frame so the material wouldn’t be ripped off by the wind either on take off and landing, or, god forbid, while flying through the air. The real test came, though, when we took off for the first time. Everything was going really well until we came up upon a flock of ducks. My dad tried to pull up and out of the flock, but one of the birds got confused and collided with the wing, tearing a huge hole in it. We made an emergency landing. As unbelievable as it sounds, the bird, a mallard, got away more unscathed than the plane. Not me. Or the wing. Which is why I spent Spring Break re-stitching it.


Numero Tres: I think I’ve had one of the most unusual visits to the White House. It all came about when I was on the drive out from Oklahoma to Virginia to start my PhD at the University of Virginia. On the way, I spent the night at a hotel in Tennessee. After a long day of driving, I decided get some exercise, so I headed over to the workout room. I had it all to myself except for one other guy. He was pretty nice. We talked off and on as we worked out. I caught about half of what he said because there was music playing. Before he left, he said I should come out and visit him in Washington, D.C., which is pretty close to the University of Virginia. I was in my mid-twenties and thought he was hitting on me, but I said sure. He left to get his business card. When he gave it to me, my jaw nearly hit the floor of the workout room. He was a secret service agent. I asked him what he was doing in Tennessee? He told me he was there on detail for the Vice President. Then, he repeated his offer. If I was ever in D.C., I should call him up and he’d take me on a backstairs tour of the White House. I did. It was shortly after Christmas, and I asked him, how many people I could bring along? As many as I wanted. This was, I have to admit, pre-911. I showed up with my aunt and uncle, my roommates from grad school, a friend from the navy, and another friend who was in the Marines. We didn’t get to see the president, but we did get to see the Oval Office, the Roosevelt Room, a bunch of other rooms, and the old Executive Offices. Afterwards, we took the secret service agent out to eat at a nearby restaurant where we scrounged our pennies together to pay for his meal. And that’s how I got to see the White House.

So, whaddya think, blogosphere friends? Are any of these true? Are they all true? Or what?

2k8: We're back with Stacy A. Nyikos, debut author of the middle grade fantasy DRAGON WISHES. And because we're classmates, we get to ask her pretty much whatever we want. So, here goes.

Stacy, where do you do most of your writing?


Stacy: I do most of my writing in my office. I’ve tried sitting in a comfy chair facing the window, but that was sort of counterproductive, although I was really well rested! Much as I liked that great view, I realized that I’m pretty much a desk person. I guess I need a little bit of discomfort to keep my mind focused. I’m in good company, though. Hemingway wrote standing up. He said that helped him pare down and only write what absolutely needed to be said. I’m glad I don’t have to go to such extremes, but the desk definitely helps me slip into my own imagination and unlock the stories waiting in there to be told.

2k8: What made you begin writing DRAGON WISHES?

Stacy: DRAGON WISHES came to be through a number of factors. The first, and most monumental, was an event. About five years ago, my daughters were in a near fatal sledding accident. When they crashed into the back of a parked horse trailer, my world came to a crashing halt. I stopped writing. I became depressed. My personal life fell apart. Ironically, it was pen and paper that got me through the darkness. The emotions my daughters’ accident left me with had taken on a life of their own. It wasn’t all that productive. I needed to redirect. Turn them into something good, rather than destructive. The heart of Dragon Wishes was born – how do children work through the grief and sadness of loss. Heavy stuff, I know, but that’s where it all started.

2k8: And how did DRAGON WISHES find a publisher? Give us the *real* dirt!


Stacy: I submitted, and submitted, and submitted. I wish I could say there was some real dirt, but it was mostly pure, unadulterated rejection – like high school all over again. Then one day, as I contemplated the ratio of time it would take to burn my manuscript as opposed to the time it took to write it, I got an email from a friend about a regional publisher that was–dare I say it–looking for new works to build its line. It was Blooming Tree Press. I submitted to them. Instead of a rejection letter, I got a call from Miriam Hees shortly before Christmas. Well, okay, it was December 8, and I was actually frantically grocery shopping at Whole Foods (not that I remember exactly what I was doing). Through the clatter of carts, crinkle of plastic and roar of my heart, I heard those words I’d been waiting to hear for soooooooo long – the book had been accepted. It was the best present ever.


2k8: Imagine you have an offer from your dream press to publish your dream book, no matter how insane or unmarketable it might be (though of course it might *not* be). What's the story?


I’m pretty sure I jumped off the deep end a long time ago when I decided to write for a living. I’m a starving artist! I’ve pretty much given in to the insanity of my profession and write whatever I feel most strongly about. I have to have a strong reaction to stay with the labor of creating the story and then the marathon of revisions. So, I’m writing my dream book right now, Pelorus Jack, which is set in late 19th century New Zealand, and is about a boy and a dolphin who become inseparable friends.


What question won't most people know to ask you? What is your answer?

It’s one I’ve heard a few brave–and very wise–children ask. How much do you make? The answer is really easy – less than their teachers. I’d really really really like to make more money at it, don’t get me wrong. If there is an agent out there who can make it happen, please give me a call! But in the end, I write because I am passionate about storytelling. I have the great and elusive gift of being in love with what I do. Without that, I’d go back to my day job tomorrow.


For today, we leave you with a gorgy photo of a two-year-old Stacy. Who knew this cutie patootie would grow up to be a passionate writer!


Click back tomorrow for more on Stacy A. Nyikos and her fantasy middle-grade, DRAGON WISHES!

It's another super exciting week on the blog. We're celebrating the launch of classmate Stacy A. Nyikos' debut middle-grade novel DRAGON WISHES.


Ahhhh....What can we tell you about Stacy?

She has always been a storyteller. When she was little, her parents called her a ham. Why? Because she acted out her stories!

Then she learned to write. And we're happy she did.

Besides writing, Stacy loves to travel. In DRAGON WISHES, she flies her readers high above the earth and into the mythical world of Chinese dragons.

Stacy also has three children's picture books under her belt: SQUIRT (2005), SHELBY (2007), and DIZZY (2007).

When she isn’t traveling–either through her imagination or around the globe–Stacy lives in Tulsa, Oklahoma, with her husband and two daughters.

Guess what else? Stacy has a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Virginia. She's one smart cookie.

Okay, Stacy, tell us about DRAGON WISHES and how it came to be.

Eleven-year-old Alex is searching. So is Shin Wa. They both need to find a path out of the darkness that surrounds them. Shin Wa’s journey leads her to the Black mountains of the far north in China. There she discovers more than just the last surviving dragons. She finds a way to save mankind. It all lies in a single pearl of wisdom. The gem is also the key to Alex’s own journey. The pearl travels through the ages to find the struggling young girl and her sister. But it is not until Alex discovers how to use the pearl that she finds a path out of the darkness.

Here's the story behind the story. I wanted to build a strong sense of family into my book. The Asian culture offered that to me. Now, I have to say, I am neither Asian nor did I grow up in an Asian household. I did grow up in a family very proud of its heritage. I am a third generation Hungarian. However, when I moved back to the United States from Germany to start my PhD, my best friend was Ching Ling Teng, from Taiwan. We celebrated holidays together, both Western and Eastern. We cooked ethnic foods. We told stories. She and her extended family took me in and made me feel at home again in the U.S., odd as that may sound.

When I began working on DRAGON WISHES, Ling and I had long conversations about names and what they mean, festivals and their importance, Chinese storytelling, and stories from her childhood. Many of them found a place in my story.

But dragons? I knew next to nothing about Chinese dragons. I began researching. I read books. I combed the Internet. I learned a lot. But I still wasn’t quite ready to write. Then one day, I learned that Asian dragons protect knowledge. And that knowledge is symbolized in a very unusual way, by a pearl.

Many Chinese dragons, both drawn and as statues, have a small pearl around their neck. They are said to guard this pearl of wisdom. For me, it became the key to my story. It became the element that could crossover from the legend into the real world and spur Alex into action. Thanks to the pearl, Alex began to change her life. Granted, she didn’t get it right at first. Does anybody? But she had guidance, a family that loved her, and, finally, the will to move in the right direction.

The pearl of wisdom became more than just magical, or symbolic of knowledge–or even the dragon story–in Dragon Wishes. It became a representation of storytelling in our lives. As such, it led Alex to three things: family, wisdom, and love. I had my story.

Very cool, Stacy. We love hearing the story behind the story.

Join us tomorrow for the inside scoop on how Stacy landed her publishing contract with Blooming Tree Press. We're looking forward to a week learning about Stacy A. Nyikos and her fantasy middle-grade DRAGON WISHES!

Looking for some excitement?
Head on down to Books of Wonder in New York City tomorrow (Sunday, Nov. 9) at 1:00. Nancy Viau and Courtney Sheinmel will be there!


Look how much Bookpage loved Autumn Winifred Oliver Does Things Different:
" Kristin O'Donnell Tubb has written a wonderful debut novel, full of history, excitement and sensitivity. She has done her research well, loosely basing Gramps and Cody's uncle on real people. There is also plenty of action, including a wild ride that Autumn and Cody take in a wooden coffin down a rain-swollen river. Autumn is a funny, likeable and very real character, and readers are treated to many fine glimpses of the Cove's vanishing mountain traditions, such as a visit to a moonshine still and the community 'Syrup Soppin' Festival'."

Read the entire interview .


Holy Texas Longhorns! Jody Feldman's Gollywhopper Games has been placed on the master list for the 2009-2010 Texas Bluebonnet Awards!

It's Friday and time to wrap up our launch week with PJ Hoover, debut author of the middle grade sci fi THE EMERALD TABLET.

We're putting PJ in the driver's seat. She's promised to take us on a tour of some of the settings in THE EMERALD TABLET.

Take it away, PJ....

THE EMERALD TABLET is set in some unique places, some only mythological.
First off, the five kids are from the hidden continent of Lemuria. If you aren’t sure where this continent is, it’s under a giant dome at the bottom of the Pacific Ocean.



In addition to Lemuria, there’s of course Atlantis, the sunken continent in the Atlantic Ocean. I’ve included a map in case you’re curious where these continents are.



Benjamin Holt (our protagonist) and his friends get to travel to some pretty cool places. One place they go is the Royal Palace in Bangkok—to the temple of the Emerald Buddha. And in case you were curious, this is where the picture on the front of The Emerald Tablet is taken from.




Thank you 2k8 classmates for a wonderful, exhilarating launch week on our blog!

You're very welcome, PJ. Our pleasure.

Before you click away, dear bloggy friends, here's what's ahead. Tomorrow is Shameless Saturday where we bring you the week's good news. Then next week is...launch week for Stacy Nyikos, debut middle grade author of DRAGON WISHES. You won't want to miss it.

We're baaaack! It's Day 4 of PJ Hoover's launch week for her debut middle grade sci-fi THE EMERALD TABLET.

Well, well, well. What have we learned about PJ so far?

She writes good books. Proof: THE EMERALD TABLET.

She's fun. Proof: We've got pics of her real-life launch party.

She's brave. Proof: She picks up scorpions with her bare hands.

She's smart. Proof: She designed chip doohickeys for years. More proof: She can solve a Rubik's Cube in two minutes.

Hmmm.....But just how smart is PJ Hoover? Can she fool us? Maybe. Maybe not.

Here's PJ's description of THE EMERALD TABLET

Benjamin and his best friend Andy are different from normal. They love being able to read each other's minds and use telekinesis to play tricks on other kids. In fact, they are getting all set to spend their entire summer doing just that when Benjamin's mirror starts talking. Suddenly, Benjamin's looking at eight weeks of summer school someplace which can only be reached by a teleporter inside the ugly picture in his hallway. And that's the most normal thing he does all summer.

Now we have to guess what happens next. Read carefully. Don't let PJ trick you.


Answer 1: The teleporter takes Benjamin to Mars, along with his best friend Andy, where they must go undercover in a city of mutants to investigate oxygen shortages and corruptness within the government which leads Benjamin to find out he has really been brainwashed and is secretly working for the government and trying to eliminate the scornful mutants.



Answer 2: Benjamin finds himself the new ensign on the Starship Enterprise. Wesley Crusher has been promoted to Chief Engineer, and someone young and new is needed on the bridge. But no sooner does Benjamin teleport to his new post, the Enterprise is attacked by the Q. The Q realize Benjamin’s potential and convince him to join their ranks. Benjamin agrees as long as his best friend Andy can come along also. And so Benjamin and Andy roam the universe, creating havoc and making new friends as they go.


Answer 3: Benjamin teleports under the ocean to a structurally impossible dome. But the dome hasn’t been created by humans, and Benjamin discovers he’s not really a human after all. He thinks the summer will be a blast until an age old relic convinces him he needs to save the world by finding a way to stop the age old war with Atlantis and restore peace to the earth.

So which is the right answer? What do you think really happens in THE EMERALD TABLET?

My release party was a blast! You'd have thought it was a wedding. Everyone was staring at me. Except there was no big white dress and no flower girls twirling down the aisle.

So many people came out to support me. And I had awesome little pumpkins with candy corn and laminated backpack tags as party favors. See the way I'm thinking, it's much harder to throw away something laminated, especially when it already has a clip on it ready to hang on a backpack zipper.
Oops, just realized I forgot to put these on my kids' backpacks these mornings.


First and most important, Team Emerald Tablet. My son was thrilled to help set up, his specialty being stacking the water bottles.

So what to do at a release party?
First, have lots of candy for the kids. The punch was also a hit.

My awesome editor, Madeline Smoot, introduced me to the over 150 people who showed up (!).

I showed my book trailer (note - I need LOUDER speakers).
And then I gave a presentation featuring tons on pictures, PowerPoint animation (a new skill for me), a reading of the first few pages of The Emerald Tablet, and a quiz with giveaways.

Featured in the prize pumpkins were

• laminated The Emerald Tablet bookmarks
• a notebook and pencil to write down ideas
• glow sticks to stay up late reading The Emerald Tablet
• and t-shirts featuring the cover of The Emerald Tablet and the Lemurian Alphabet.

PJ Hoover enters cautiously and looks around.

2k8: (indicates straight-back, wooden chair in front of her) Have a seat, PJ.

PJ: What's going on? What am I doing here?

2k8: (flips on bright light and pulls out notebook and pencil) It's your Launch Week interview. And we want the scoop. On you.

PJ: Uh, okay.

2k8: (slides large, dark sunglasses up her nose) So, where do you do most of your writing? Photo, please.



PJ: I write in a 7x8 loft. It’s small but cozy, and thanks to shelving from Home Depot, I can keep everything within hand’s reach. It’s funny because our house used to have a double story entry area, but I started eyeing the extra area as more square footage, so we had a small loft put in.
And yes, I do keep my desk that neat pretty much all of the time!

2k8: Seriously? Your desk is always that neat? Wow. (looks at notebook) What made you write THE EMERALD TABLET? How'd the book came about?

PJ: I started writing after both kids were born. It was one of those “I’ve always wanted to write a book” moments, so I headed upstairs, sat down at the computer, and started brainstorming. Really. Just that fast.

2k8: Wow. Impressive. And how did it find a publisher? (lowers voice) Give us the *real* dirt!

PJ: Lots and lots of trying. Revisions. Not being afraid to revise. But finding my publisher almost happened by accident. I decided I wanted to live the writer’s life, so I jet-setted off to NY for a winter SCBWI conference one year. While there I met an editor who offered to read the manuscript and give me feedback to help with my revisions. Her feedback was phenomenal, and I was so excited to revise, I ripped apart the manuscript and sent a revision back to her. Which she read. And I revised again. And she read again.
This happened a couple more times until one day she told me she wanted to acquire the whole trilogy!

PJ with Editor Madeline


2k8: Anything surprise you when you were writing your book?

PJ: How much I had to learn about writing!
How much had to be cut from my first draft!
How awesome the writing community is.
How experienced writers really want to help new writers.
How much I would absolutely love writing!

2k8: What's a question won't most people know to ask you?

PJ and her Rubik's Cube collection!

Question: How long does it take you to solve a Rubik’s Cube?

Answer: Just around 2 minutes. That’s for the 3x3x3. The 4x4x4 and 5x5x5 take much longer – so long I never really time myself. Everyone should learn to solve a Rubik’s Cube.


So, there you have it, folks. The scoop on PJ Hoover, debut middle grade author of THE EMERALD TABLET PJ's just as fun and interesting and creative as we've thought all year long. Although her desk is a little cleaner than we were expecting.

Oh wait, this just in. Another pic...


It's PJ holding a scorpion! Ack!

Well, she's braver than we thought too.

Join us tomorrow to find out about PJ's real-life launch party.

We're cracking open a bottle of cyber bubbly to celebrate our launch week for P.J. Hoover, MG author extraordinaire of The Emerald Tablet

And let us tell you a little about P.J.

P. J. Hoover grew up in Virginia visiting museums and dreaming of finding Atlantis. Prior to writing full time, PJ worked as an electrical engineer in Austin , Texas , where she lives with her husband, two children, Yorkshire terrier, and two tortoises (King Tort and Nefertorti).




















P. J. is the author of the FORGOTTEN WORLDS trilogy, a middle grade science fiction series for kids 8-14. The first book, The Emerald Tablet, tells the story of Benjamin Holt who not only is from a hidden world under the Pacific Ocean , he’s not even human. And he’s stuck spending his summer saving the world.



From the cover flap:
Benjamin and his best friend Andy are different from normal. They love being able to read each other's minds and use telekinesis to play tricks on other kids. In fact, they are getting all set to spend their entire summer doing just that when Benjamin's mirror starts talking. Suddenly, Benjamin's looking at eight weeks of summer school someplace which can only be reached by a teleporter inside the ugly picture in his hallway. And that's the most normal thing he does all summer.



Some great reviews from older reviewers include:

"I enjoyed it as an adult, but I know that I would have adored it as an 11-year-old. In truth, ever since I finished it, The Emerald Tablet has been popping back into my head, as I wonder what's going to happen to Benjamin and his friends going forward. Highly recommended for later elementary and middle school readers, boys and girls, fans of traditional fantasy or not." -- Jen Robinson, Jen Robinson's Book Page

Five Stars - Recipient of the Gold Star Award for Excellence"I loved every minute that I was reading it, and I feel like I want to reread the book over and over again. ... While reading the book I kept thinking that in a way it was almost like a myth that was being told and how cool it would be if it was actually true... Fans of Rick Riordan’s PERCY JACKSON series will particularly enjoy this book." -- Teens Read Too

"Anyone who enjoyed discovering the world of magic with Harry Potter will enjoy diving into a different magical world with Benjamin Holt and his friends " -- Balanced Steps


"This is a wonderful beginning to a fantasy middle-grade trilogy. Hoover's writing is extremely compelling and makes the book hard to put down." -- Book Chic

And let’s not forget the kid reviewers:

" The Emerald tablet was THE best book I read in a long time! It is a great/awesome book and you will NEED to buy it on October, 21,2008! " -- Bookworms' Reviews (Bookworm Number 1)"Step aside, move down, you unworthy Newbery Award winning books, and such! This book qualifies as the greatest, most AMAZING book in the history of books! I couldn't put it down." -- Bookworms' Reviews (Bookworm Number 2)

"This is FREAKING awesome!" -- Eleanor at Present Lenore



Come back tomorrow for the skinny on how PJ found a publisher. Plus some stuff about PJ and working a Rubik's cube at lightning speed. We kid you not.

It's November on the Class of 2k8's blog. And we're starting the month off with a Shameless Saturday.

So, take a deep breath and jump in. Lots of good news blew in this week.

A couple of 2k8ers have signed new book contracts. Wow!

Jennifer Bradbury, author of Shift, recently sold two more books to Atheneum Books for Young Readers. Wrapped features seventeen year old Agnes Wilkins on the eve of her debut in 1815 London. The young adult adventure/mystery features mummies, espionage, and plenty of Jane Austen references. Wrapped will come out in Summer 2010, and its sequel will be available the following year.

From Publishers Weekly: Marissa Doyle's Waterloo Plot, the third book set in the same world as Bewitching Season, in which a young witch must overcome physical and emotional scars while investigating who is attempting to assassinate members of the British War Cabinet, including her father, in 1814-1815, to Kate Farrell at Holt, by Emily Sylvan Kim at Prospect Agency (NA).

The Sierra Magazine took notice of three 2k8 classmates:

"Autumn Winifred Oliver Does Things Different (Delacorte Books for Young Readers), by Kristin O'Donnell Tubb, introduces a headstrong girl who discovers, among other things, an ingenious method of thwarting a stinky flock of geese from eating the family garden. Luka, the 13-year-old hero of Bringing the Boy Home (HarperCollins), by N.A. Nelson,longs to return to the Amazon's Takunami tribe in a journey of self-discovery and courage. Samantha Hansen Has Rocks in Her Head (Abrams), by Nancy Viau, is a tale of a fourth-grader with a white-hot temper and a love of rocks and science."

Kudos from Confessions of a Bibliovore for Swimming with Sharks by Debbie Reid Fischer:

Fischer walks a delicate line in Peyton, managing to keep her sympathetic while making it clear that she is in it as much as the rest of the cheer squad. At the same time, she is victim of a far more subtle bullying pattern than Ellika. Her redemption toward the end feels like our own. Pick this book up for a thoughtful and all-too-probable story about how anybody can bully, or be bullied.


And The Book Muncher said this about Stacy Nyikos' Dragon Wishes:

I was very impressed with Nyikos’ debut middle grade novel and hope she plans to write more in the future. Dragon Wishes can be enjoyed by both younger and older readers, particularly fans of books with Chinese culture or novels with dragons.

For those of you participating in NaNoWriMo, (National Novel Writing Month), we wish you the very best of luck. Not to mention incredibly fleet fingers!

Be sure to check back Monday as we begin our week-long launch for P.J. Hoover's The Emerald Tablet.

It's been a fun week with our Now & Later lists. As you dig into your kids Halloween candy tonight and find those sassy, sweet squares, be reminded of where you've been and where you're going.


PJ Hoover

In 2008, my greatest accomplishments were:

1. Writing 2 new books
2. Releasing my debut novel, The Emerald Tablet
3. Signing with agent Laura Rennert
4. Quitting my day job to write full time
5. Spending more time with the people I care about!

2018 I hope to have:

1. Published 10 more books
2. Met Zahi Hawas
3. A full time housekeeper
4. Someone else to cook my meals (since I rarely do)
5. Regular writing retreats with my awesome critique group

Jen Bradbury

In 2008, my goals were:

1. To revise my wierd mummy book
2. Start our kitchen remodel
3. Blog a little
4. Learn to make really good Chili Rellenos so we don't have to go out for Mexican once a week
5. Not obsessively check my Amazon ranking

By 2018, I hope to:

1. Finish that kitchen remodel
2. Have a new book out every year
3. Have my kids in school so I can maybe teach part time again (we'll need the cash for that remodel)
4. Not hate gardening
5. Have completed a big bike tour with our kids with us on tandems! Europe? New Zealand? We'll see!

M.P. BARKER


Greatest writing accomplishments:


1. Had an actual published book in my hands with MY name on the cover, after 10 years of work and more than 70 rejections!

2. Being a part of the Class of 2k8

3. Pulled off nearly 50 book promotion events (so far!) from signings and discussions at bookstores, libraries and schools, to radio & TV interviews to online interviews and guest blogs--including the Class of 2k8 Southern New England Mini-Tour and slumber party extravaganza all without killing myself (so far, that is)

4. Got good reviews in Publishers Weekly, and School Library Journal, and was featured in Kirkus First Fiction Special Issue

5. Learned how to make a web site.


In 2018, I hope to:


1. Be making a full-time living as a writer, with a new book written every year.
2. Take at least one super-fantastic vacation to another country every year
3. Finish renovating my house and yard!!!
4. Read more books, watch more movies, listen to more concerts
5. Learn to relax and enjoy life and not run around like a crazy person all the time




We'll be seeing you Now and Later. Happy Halloween!

New Year's is always a time of reflection and it's coming quick. As we head toward the holidays we're taking a look at what we've accomplished this year and thinking forward to where we'd like to be in ten years.

MARISSA DOYLE

In 2008, my greatest accomplishments were:

1. Seeing Bewitching Season on shelves and not fainting or doing something else embarrassing.
2. Selling a third book to Henry Holt (erm, well, my agent did but you get the idea)
3. Beginning to learn how to speak in public without too much angst and stumbling over my words. It's a work in progress, though.
4. Learning to navigate in NYC and not be intimidated by its sheer size.
5. This isn't an accomplishment...it's more a source of gratitude...but being co-president of the Class of 2k8!

By 2018 I hope to have:

1. Ten more books out (hey, isn't one a year reasonable?)
2. Learned how to write MG as well as YA because MG readers are soooo cool and just learning how to be truly passionate about books
3. Gotten this public speaking thing down well
4. Three kids successfully through college
5. A smaller dress size

LIZ GALLAGHER

In 2008, my greatest accomplishments were:

1. Publishing The Opposite of Invisible!
2. Realizing that I'm not afraid of public speaking.
3. Balancing a day job and the writing life.
4. Starting my training in kung fu (yes, I spar!).
5. Watching friends publish awesome books!

By 2018 I hope to have:

1. Co-authored a YA novel.
2. Published a few more solo YA books.
3. Stopped needing a day job!
4. Become a blue belt or higher in kung fu!
5. Watched friends publish BUNDLES more books!

TERRI CLARK

In 2008, my greatest accomplishments were:

1. Publishing SLEEPLESS and BREAKING UP IS HARD TO DO
2. Booking author events and speaking engagements.
3. Making a strong online presence for myself.
4. Strengthening the teen programming and attendance I do at my day job.
5. Keeping my kids from killing each other.

By 2018 I hope to:

1. have built a strong, enduring, successful career as an author
2. be more financially stable.
3. stop needing a day job!
4. see my kids happy, healthy and well-adjusted in their lives (they’ll be out of the house then!)
5. have been to Hawaii and taken other great trips with my husband.

Have you met your New Year's Resolutions yet?