IN THE WORDS OF JEFF MILLER… Maybe it’s because I grew up near a lake, but I always like to imagine good stories as life rafts. I picture them slowly coasting towards anybody feeling alone or adrift in open water. Maybe that someone is tired from swimming through a difficult time. Or maybe they just […]
Category Archives: Book News
May
12
MIDDLE GRADE MUNCHIES
posted by CBethM
We’ve all been there: it’s the afternoon and you’re a little bit snacky. Do you want something salty or sweet? Maybe you even dip into a few chapters of what you’re reading or a new book while you munch on some popcorn, candy, or fruit. Well, what if you could snack AND chat with your […]
April
20
Omar Rising and Reading Aloud by Aisha Saeed
posted by CBethM
Since childhood, I’ve loved losing myself in stories. Every weekend my parents would cart my brothers and I to our local library and we’d haul home as many books as we could carry. There’s something special about grabbing a good book and diving into a different world all without leaving the comforts of your home. […]
April
08
Cover Reveal: The Edge of In Between by Lorelei Savaryn
posted by CBethM
Check out the excerpt of the middle grade retelling of The Secret Garden, available April 19, 2022 from Viking BYR. Lorelei Savaryn (loreleisavaryn.com) is an author of creepy, magical stories for children. She holds a BA in creative writing and is a former elementary teacher and instructional coach. When she isn’t writing, she spends her […]
February
04
Cover Reveal: HAVEN JACOBS SAVES THE PLANET by Barbara Dee
posted by CBethM
When you’re writing middle grade fiction, there’s one unbreakable rule: Always end on a hopeful note. No matter how serious the topic, you want the reader to close the book feeling inspired, challenged, entertained, enlightened—anything but hopeless or depressed. Except what do you do if you’re writing about the climate crisis? How do you do […]
January
20
Cover Reveal: Nothing Is Little by Carmela Van Vleet
posted by CBethM
I’m a slow writer. For me, stories can take years to simmer before I find the right approach. (One of my picture books took ten years from idea to final manuscript!) And more than any other book I’ve written, this one has evolved the most. But the heart of it has always been my main […]
January
07
WILDOAK COVER REVEAL by C.C. Harrington
posted by CBethM
A few years ago, I saw a photograph of a woman walking a pet cheetah through the streets of London, as if this was the most natural and obvious thing in the world. I had no idea that big cats were sold as pets in the UK throughout the 1960s and early 1970s. Even Harrods, […]
December
03
Cover Reveal & Exclusive Excerpt for THE OGRESS & THE ORPHANS by Kelly Barnhill
posted by CBethM
I started this book by accident. Like many people in this country, and perhaps some of you as well, I found the last handful of years difficult, weighted by heartsickness and worry and chronic rage. I found myself feeling silenced by my own sadness over the state of my country, and I honestly didn’t think I […]
August
26
Cover Reveal of Mama and Mommy and Me in the Middle by Nina LaCour; artwork by Kaylani Juanita
posted by CBethM
When my daughter was three, I was offered a job teaching in a graduate program that allowed me to work from home year-round—with an exception. Each January, I would travel to take part in a residency devoted to the study of children’s literature. The trip would last for ten days, during which my colleagues and […]
July
30
How Colby Sharp, nErDcamp, and the Nerdy Book Club Inspired a Book by Melissa Stewart
posted by CBethM
Back in 2012, I was feeling frustrated. The manuscripts I was writing received good feedback from my critique group, but editors just weren’t interested. In an effort to better understand the wide world of nonfiction children’s books and determine what kinds of manuscripts publishers would be most likely to acquire, I began thinking about ways […]
Nerdy Book Club 