Christine Johnson is the first-time author of Claire de Lune (Simon Pulse, 2010). From the promotional copy:
Claire is having the perfect sixteenth birthday. Her pool party is a big success, and her crush keeps chatting and flirting with her as if she’s the only girl there. But that night, she discovers something that takes away all sense of normalcy: She’s a werewolf.
Continue Reading New Voice: Christine Johnson on Claire de Lune »
By Jane Sutton
My friend Fay called after reading my latest picture book. I basked in her praise of its humor and charm until she observed: “All your books have the same message: be yourself.”
I thought, Thanks a lot. You called to tell me I’m repeating myself like a please-continue-to-hold message?
Continue Reading Guest Post: Jane Sutton on Revisiting a Theme »
A boy at a school visit once asked, “What was the hardest part of writing Brendan Buckley’s Universe and Everything In It (Delacorte, 2007)?”
“Everything!” I answered without hesitation.
Wanting to give the boy’s sincere question a more thoughtful and specific answer, I told the students about how a trusted advisor had proposed that the competent draft I’d written—and which I was confident would essentially be The Story—wasn’t the story at all.
Continue Reading Guest Post: Sundee T. Frazier on Starting and Persevering »
Michele Corriel is the first-time author of Fairview Felines: A Newspaper Mystery (Blooming Tree/Tire Swing, 2010). From the promotional copy:
All the cats in Fairview disappeared and only Thomas Weston, newspaperman extraordinaire (and eighth grader) can find them. All the while Thomas battles the never-ending hysterical headlines that pop up in his head!
Continue Reading New Voice: Michele Corriel on Fairview Felines: A Newspaper Mystery »
Happy Thanksgiving to those who celebrate it today! I’m thankful for my very cute husband and co-author Greg Leitich Smith, the children’s-YA literature community, and especially you!
Cynsations will be on hiatus until Monday.
Sandy Fussell is the first-time author of Samurai Kids: White Crane (Candlewick, 2010)(excerpt). From the promotional copy:
Niya Moto is the only one-legged samurai kid in Japan, famous for falling flat on his face in the dirt. The one school that will accept him is the Cockroach Ryu,
Continue Reading New Voice: Sandy Fussell on Samurai Kids: White Crane »
Congratulations to Marc Aronson and Marina Budhos on the release of Sugar Changed the World: A Story of Magic, Spice, Slavery, Freedom, and Science (Clarion, 2010)! From the promotional copy:
When this award-winning husband-and-wife team discovered that they each had sugar in their family history, they were inspired to trace the globe-spanning story of the sweet substance and to seek out the voices of those who led bitter sugar lives.
Jen Cullerton Johnson is the first-time author of Seeds of Change: Planting a Path to Peace, illustrated by Sonia Lynn Sadler (Lee & Low, 2010). From the promotional copy:
As a young girl in Kenya, Wangari was taught to respect nature. She grew up loving the land, plants, and animals that surrounded her—from the giant mugumo trees her people,
Continue Reading New Voice: Jen Cullerton Johnson on Seeds of Change: Planting a Path to Peace »
When I meet math teachers at schools or conferences, they assume that I am a lifelong math lover since my picture book is about Leonardo of Pisa, namesake of the Fibonacci Sequence.
I should come clean. Math teachers, here’s what I’ve been ashamed to confess: When I was a kid,
Continue Reading Guest Post: Joseph D’Agnese on Math Phobia »
James Klise is the first-time author of Love Drugged (Flux, 2010). From the promotional copy:
Fifteen-year old Jamie Bates has a fail-safe strategy for surviving high school: fit in. Keep a low profile. And, above all, protect his biggest secret—he’s gay.
So when a classmate discovers the truth, a terrified Jamie decides it’s time to change.
