USED TO BE- The Reveal
The fine people at Simon Pulse are bundling The Education of Hailey Kendrick and Getting Revenge on Lauren Wood into one book that will be available in July. Check out the DIVINE new cover!
Do or Di is now available in ebook format at your favorite store.
Unraveling Isobel is now available from booksellers everywhere.
Fourth Grade Fairy, Wishes for Beginners, and Gnome Invasion are now in stores everywhere.
The Education of Hailey Kendrick is now available from booksellers everywhere.
Getting Revenge on Lauren Wood is now available from booksellers everywhere.
Watch the Getting Revenge on Lauren Wood trailer
Unpredictable is now available from booksellers everywhere.
Random Monday Book Week Catch Up and Family Visits
So people have asked: how was Book Week? Awesome and exhausting, all at the same time. I kicked off the week by having a chance to visit my publisher’s office in Toronto. It was great to meet everyone, not just because they had cupcakes (but the cupcakes were a nice thing).
The idea of doing the school visits and library talks freaked me out. I’d been practicing in front of my dogs, but let me be clear you don’t know fear until you’re facing 200 elementary school kids and told to entertain them. My natural introvert self wanted to crawl under the desk. I went with my go-to plan when I’m freaked out, I pretended that I was the kind of person who is super outgoing. It worked out great. The kids and teens were fantastic. Lots of great questions. My favourite is still: “In your days was there disco?” I considered saying that no, when I was young we didn’t have disco or any musical instruments so we just beat rocks together to make sound.
TD Book Week is one well-oiled book organizing machine. I traveled by plane, train, bus and car. What was shocking is that I didn’t get lost once. Given my near terminal case of being directionally challenged it’s pretty impressive. Huge thanks to my coordinator, Monika who kept me on track, all the librarians, teachers, drivers and students who made me feel so welcome. Authors spend most of our time at home alone just sitting around making stuff up. It was great to feel like a rock star for a week.
My mum and dad are coming for a visit this week. As a result I am running around cleaning the house and making sure to stock the fridge with their favourites. I am convinced that no matter how old you get (and trust me, I’m getting pretty old) you still want your mom and dad to be proud.
Under the heading things that make me happy is this video. It doesn’t matter how many times I watch it, I still smile. Could be because I know all the words.
GCC Welcomes Jessi Kirby!
I’m excited that there are some new GCC YA books coming out! Today Jessi stopped by to tell us about her book, IN HONOR.
About the book:
Honor receives her brother’s last letter from Iraq three days after learning that he died, and opens it the day his fellow Marines lay the flag over his casket. Its contents are a complete shock: concert tickets to see Kyra Kelly, her favorite pop star and Finn’s celebrity crush. In his letter, he jokingly charged Honor with the task of telling Kyra Kelly that he was in love with her.
Grief-stricken and determined to grant Finn’s last request, she rushes to leave immediately. But she only gets as far as the driveway before running into Rusty, Finn’s best friend since third grade and his polar opposite. She hasn’t seen him in ages, thanks to a falling out between the two guys, but Rusty is much the same as Honor remembers him: arrogant, stubborn. . . and ruggedly good looking. Neither one is what the other would ever look for in a road trip partner, but the two of them set off together, on a voyage that makes sense only because it doesn’t. Along the way, they find small and sometimes surprising ways to ease their shared loss and honor Finn–but when shocking truths are revealed at the end of the road, will either of them be able to cope with the consequences?
Jessi answers some questions:
Read more »
Random Monday- TD Canada Children’s Book Week Edition
Remember when you were a kid and you would count down how many sleeps were left until Christmas, summer vacation or your birthday? That’s how I’ve felt about TD Canada’s Book Week. I’ve been sent to Ontario and over this week I’ll be in five cities doing oodles of school and library visits.
There are three main reasons I’m excited about this program.
1) Yay! Books! Readers! The theme of this year’s Book Week is Read a Book, Share a Story. One of my favourite things in the entire world is reading, a close second is telling other people about books I’ve read. I can’t think of too many things that would be more fun that traveling around getting to talk to people about books. However, if they were willing to hire Colin Firth to be my personal escort on the trip and drive me to events that might kick things up a notch. (I’m open- that’s all I’m saying)
2) Getting to see more of Canada! I’ve lived in Canada since the mid-90′s, but only recently became a citizen. Nothing against all the other great places out there- but let’s be honest- Canada is pretty darn cool. Canada has a great literary tradition and a love for books. I am so honoured to be chosen to be a part of this great program. I’m hoping this is the first step in me getting invited to all kinds of swanky literary parties where I will get to hang out with Margaret Atwood. She’ll tell me to call her Mags and we’ll sit in the corner drinking wine and talking about books.
3) I get to play author! You could argue that I’m not “playing” author. I now have eight books in print and http://www.amazon.com/The-Almost-Truth-Eileen-Cook/dp/1442440198/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1335647352&sr=8-1 comes out in December. The truth is I still feel a bit like I’m faking it. I would not be remotely surprised to roll over one morning and discover the whole thing was a dream. I’ve wanted to be an author as long as I can remember, far longer and even more than I wanted to hang out with Colin Firth and Margaret Atwood. The first time I saw one of my books on the shelf of my local bookstore I freaked out. There are pre-teen girls meeting Justin Beiber that play it more cool than I did. Anytime someone comes to one of my events, sends an email or otherwise tells me that they like my books I have to fight the urge to hug them and say “Really? You liked it? Really?”
In honour of the theme of Book Week- Share what book you’ve read recently that you enjoyed!
Random Monday- Is it Spring yet?
Advanced Reader Copies for THE ALMOST TRUTH are here! I took mine out into the yard and posed it with some spring flowers.
I am gearing up for TD Canada’s Children’s Book Week which starts next week. I’ve prepared my talks, plotted what I will wear, and sorted out what books I’ll bring with me to read on the trip. I also went out and bought several Tide Pens. This product was meant for me. I have the unique ability to spill food on myself with great frequency. It’s sort of like I’ve had a stroke or some tragic condition that resulted in reduced mouth dexterity, but nope, just clumsy. Next week I have long days where I go from event to event and don’t return to a hotel until late in the evening. This means there is a near 100% likelihood that I will spill something on myself. These pens are all that stand between me and public humiliation. Would you want to stand in front of a crowd of 200 seventh graders with sauce on your shirt? Me neither.
If you’re looking for a good read have I mentioned that my good friend Joelle Anthony’s latest and greatest hit the shelves last week? Be sure to check out THE RIGHT AND THE REAL.
I got some great news this past week. I’ve been asked to speak at the National Council for English Teacher’s conference in Vegas in November! This is exciting because I’ll be on a panel with the divine Lisa McMann and good friend Joanne Levy. English teachers! A chance to talk about books! Other authors! Vegas Baby! I’m picturing this like the movie The Hangover only with more literary references.
Random Monday- The Chocolate Making Edition
This past week DH signed us up to take a chocolate making course. You can imagine that for a number of reasons I thought this was a good idea. We learned the history of chocolate, tasted different varieties, and then had a chance to hand-dip our own truffles and decorate them. The picture is a box of my completed handiwork. There is the possibility that there may be handmade truffles this year for Christmas for friends and loved ones. There’s still time to get in my good graces to make the list. We had a ball, both because the instructors were great, but also because we were dealing with molten chocolate. Big thumbs up to Cocoa Nymph who offered the course.
Under the heading real life is stranger than fiction have you seen this fellow? He lives inside a fishbowl. You have to click on the link to get the picture. Just when I think there is a limit to how weird people will get they surprise me once again.
In news that gives me hope for humanity there was this story. This woman who happens to be blind discovered too late that the book she was writing didn’t show up as the pen was out of ink. The Dorset Police used their fancy CSI technology to recover the manuscript for her. Go humanity, go.
Hope you have a great week!
Are you ready for THE RIGHT AND THE REAL?
People who know me- know I adore author Joelle Anthony. Now because we’re friends she’s given me a sneak peek at her new book trailer and is letting me share it with you. Check it out!
Today just happens to be Joelle’s birthday. The best way to celebrate would be to go ahead and pre-order a copy of her book THE RIGHT AND THE REAL. Trust me- you won’t be sorry!
