I love it when agents give away books on Twitter–especially when I win! A few weeks ago I won Tamar Rydzinski’s contest for the first two books in Sarah Mlynowski’s middle grade Whatever After series. Often when I win a book (or books) I will pass them along to my readers, but my three and…
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YA Series Recommendation: The Liar Society by Lisa and Laura Roecker
First of all, happy birthday to my husband, Greg! We’re out celebrating today, but I promised to announce the winner today of the paperback copy of I SO DON’T DO MYSTERIES by Barrie Summy. And the winner is … Julie Deguia! Congratulations, Julie! I’ll be in touch to get your info. I also have a…
MMGM: I SO DON’T DO MYSTERIES by Barrie Summy with a giveaway!
I promised you all that I would do my first giveaway from my Scholastic Warehouse Sale haul in the New Year, so I’m excited to kick off my first MMGM of 2014 with exactly that. The details are at the bottom of the post. I picked up I SO DON’T DO MYSTERIES by Barrie Summy…
My Favorite Reads of 2013
This year I read 115 books. 115! Although I didn’t set a specific goal for 2013, I expected I would end up at a similar number to 2012, which was 83. Imagine my surprise when I realized I had read 32 more books than last year. At first I was puzzled as to how I…
The Scholastic Warehouse Sale AKA Heaven on Earth
This must be heaven, I thought as I walked into the Scholastic Warehouse Sale in suburban St. Louis. Tables piled high with picture books, middle grade, young adult, and even adult best-sellers. Shelves lined with books and activities marked with stickers as low as $1. Long aisles with three or four levels of boxes filled…
YA Series Recommendation: DIVERGENT by Veronica Roth
I came to this series later than most. I didn’t read the first book until September, but I’m actually glad because then I didn’t have to wait very long for the final installment. To be honest, I wish I could do this for all series–particularly those that deal in cliffhangers–but sometimes I get hooked in…
YA Review: THE DREAM THIEVES by Maggie Stiefvater
I read the first book in this series–THE RAVEN BOYS–earlier this year, but when I finished it, I had a hard time putting into words what I liked about it. I think I’ve figured it out, so I’m ready to review the most recent book, THE DREAM THIEVES. While you should read THE RAVEN BOYS…
MMGM: RULES FOR GHOSTING by A.J. Paquette
I picked up RULES FOR GHOSTING after reading a blog post Ammi-Joan Paquette wrote about having several books release within a few months. I’d read one of her picture books but hadn’t read any of her novels. I’m so glad I did. Here’s the description: Dahlia has been the resident ghost at Silverton Manor for…
MMGM: MILLICENT MIN, GIRL GENIUS by Lisa Yee
I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that I heard Lisa Yee speak at the Missouri SCBWI Conference. She was hilarious, and I was sure her books would be, too. Well, I started with her first–MILLICENT MIN, GIRL GENIUS, which earned the Sid Fleischman Humor Award–and am happy to share it as part of Marvelous…
Missouri SCBWI 2013 Conference Recap
On Saturday, I attended the Missouri Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators conference. I would categorize this as more of an inspirational than a working conference. It consists of a series of keynote addresses with one breakout session. There was the option to attend an additional breakout session on Sunday morning, but as I…
MMGM: EXILE by Shannon Messenger with a Giveaway!
It seems appropriate to come back from another break from Marvelous Middle Grade Monday with a review of EXILE by MMGM founder Shannon Messenger. And I have even better news: I get to meet Shannon tonight! She’s doing a signing at a bookstore five minutes from my house, and I’m taking along a middle school…
How to Find Books Agents Represent
Last week’s post about middle grade books agents represent was astronomically more popular than I anticipated. I’m so glad many of you found it helpful, and in light of that, I’m adding a permanent page to my blog listing agents with middle grade and young adult books they represent. I’ll give a few more details…