Back to Blog

After a busy summer, us Blue Rose Girls are committed to posting regularly again. While students and teachers are going Back to School, think of it us as going "Back to Blog"! Thanks to everyone for your patience--if you have any suggestions for future posts or questions about publishing, writing, illustration, or children's books that you'd like to hear our take on, please leave them in the comments.

So, what's been going on with me besides this? Work-wise, that is...

Way back in June (gosh, has it really been that long since I've posted?) I attended the ALA Annual Convention in Anaheim.

I had a book I edited become a #1 New York Times bestseller with The Land of Stories by Chris Colfer--the first #1 for me! Not a bad wedding gift--I found out while on my honeymoon, on a wine-tasting trip. Cheers!

My 13-year anniversary of working at Little, Brown was on August 16. Lucky 13! It's been an amazing run--here's hoping the next 13 years are just as eventful.

Speaking of, I got a fancy new title at work: Executive Editorial Director.

We're gearing up for the publication of Libba Bray's new book The Diviners. Check out the amazingly creepy trailer:


Over at the CBC Diversity blog, we hosted another "It's Complicated" conversation, this one about book covers, and featuring posts by an Art Director, a Sales Director, a former Book Buyer, a bookseller, and an author. Check it out, and participate in the discussion!

I've been busy working on Chris Colfer's new novel Struck By Lightning, pubbing this November. Check out the cover here. I've also been working on Holly Black's new novel, The Coldest Girl in Coldtown, due out next Fall, as well as other books on my Fall 2013 list: a new Ling & Ting by Grace Lin, a new picture book by Peter Brown, a picture book with Bryan Collier, and a picture book with Mordicai Gerstein. After having only having one picture book on my list published this year (Nighttime Ninja by Barbara DaCosta and Ed Young), it feels quite wonderful to be diving into multiple picture books again!

Speaking of Nighttime Ninja, it's already received two starred reviews. The Diviners and Grace Lin's Starry River of the Sky have already racked up three starred reviews each! I'm hoping the stars will keep coming...

I think that sums up my summer pretty well work-wise...more next week! Happy almost Fall, everyone.

Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, before and after

As Grace mentioned, we're in Fresno together for the IBBY regional conference. They asked us to speak together about Where the Mountain Meets the Moon. To prepare, we dug up all of the old drafts of the novel, and also my editorial letters/edits (to my horror, I discovered that although I had saved the different drafts with my edits in Track Changes, I had neglected to save any of my editorial letters, as they had been in emails and not saved as separate documents. Luckily, Grace was able to find them in an old email account. Whew!)

Some of the fascinating (at least to us!) things we found:
The 1st draft was 22,859 words; the final draft was 42,840 words, almost twice as long!
The 1st draft had 26 chapters, and the final book had 48 chapters.
The green tiger was not in the original draft.
In the original draft, the parents didn't try to follow/find Minli.
In the original proposal, Minli was named "Cai" (and then "Kai").
The first working title was God of the West. The next title was Never-Ending Mountain.

I also read a portion of my first editorial letter for the book. As I mentioned at the panel, my letters with Grace tend to be a little more casual than to some other authors who I don't know as well. With Grace, I cut to the chase quickly--but I always start with praise! Here's a sampling:

Hola!

So, I thought I'd get down in writing some of the things we discussed over the phone. But just to reiterate, I loved it. I think overall, it's extremely well crafted with a wonderful story arc. The novel is moving, magical, and engaging. I think this is in really great shape! I have a few main comments, most of which we've discussed:

1) The novel feels a little slight right now, and things overall feel a little too easy for Minli. I'd like to add at least one more big challenge for her, and also make a few of the existing challenges a little more difficult/drawn out. For example, she seems to find the King in The City of Bright Moonlight too quickly--she should struggle with this more. I like the idea you mentioned, of having her spend one night with the boy and the buffalo.

Overall, don't be afraid to put your characters in peril! I don't think I worried once about whether Minli would succeed in her quest, or feared for her safety or her life. This made for a comforting, pleasant read, but I think more conflict overall would go a long way toward making this more rewarding.

...

3) It's not believable that her parents would just wait around for her at home for her to come back--have one or both of them go after her? Or have them send someone else after her? If they do stay behind, you need a convincing reason why, and also her reunion with them at the end needs to be more dramatic. Wouldn't they cry? And what did they do while she was gone? Did they set up a shrine to her? Pray for her every day? Maybe they sent the old man selling the fish after her, or maybe a man from the village, or a kind traveler passing through?

It was interesting looking back at the publication history of this very special book--and we had fun telling the story, too. We should be on more panels together, don't you think?

***

If you're in the Los Angeles area tonight (Monday, October 24), head out to the Mysterious Galaxy Bookstore at 7:30 for Laini Taylor's signing of Daughter of Smoke and Bone. I'll be there.

2810 Artesia Blvd. Redondo Beach, California

Check out the glowing New York Times review here. "[A] breath-catching romantic fantasy about destiny, hope and the search for one’s true self that doesn’t let readers down."

Hope to see you!

What I'm working on now, and book trailers!

I'm in the throes of editing hell...actually, I'll rephrase that--I'm in editing HEAVEN! Just a whole lot of it at once, is all. But the books are SO GOOD, and this is the meaty part of my job that I love the most. Speaking of, I've been meaning to update my "How I Edit" post from almost exactly five years ago, as technology has changed my process somewhat. Perhaps that will be for next week.

What I was working on this past weekend specifically was finishing up an editorial letter for the first book in Libba Bray's new four-book series, The Diviners. It's a YA historical paranormal with hints of horror (okay, more than just hints) set in New York City in the 1920s. Flappers, Ziegfeld's Follies, speakeasies, political protests, secret government experiments, cults, ghosts, supernatural powers, and oh yes, a serial killer. It's magnificent, and coming out next Fall.

This past weekend I've also been working on Chris Colfer's middle grade novel The Land of Stories, coming out next August. It's a fantastical adventure to a fairytale land, and it's a page-turner, with unexpected twists and turns, a lot of heart, and best of all it's funny. I was reading it on the subway and found myself chuckling out loud at the dialogue. I'm excited for the world to see that this kid can write as well as he can sing. And boy, do I love his voice (I can listen to his version of Blackbird all day).

So, while I keep editing, I wanted to share with you two trailers that were released recently. The first is for Peter Brown's hilarious new picture book You Will Be My Friend!, starring Lucille Beatrice Bear, who some of you might remember from his last book, Children Make Terrible Pets. You Will Be My Friend launched earlier this month, and on Saturday I attended his book launch party at Powerhouse Studio in DUMBO. And as Lucy would say, OH! MY! GOSH! This is the cutest trailer EVER!



This second trailer is for Laini Taylor's Daughter of Smoke and Bone which officially pubs tomorrow! Happy early book birthday! There's been an incredible amount of excitement and buzz for this book, and the love, especially from bloggers, has been tremendous (and well-deserved, although I may be biased...).



Isn't that cool?

Okay, back to work!

Beyond the Book: FALLING FOR HAMLET by Michelle Ray

Beyond the Book: FALLING FOR HAMLET by Michelle Ray

Happy August, everyone! It's been a while since I've done one of these, and I have a few books that have come out this past Spring and Summer, so I'd better get crackin' if I want to catch up before the Fall releases.

Falling for Hamlet is a contemporary retelling of William Shakespeare's Hamlet from Ophelia's point of view...and in this version, Ophelia doesn't die.

The description:
Meet Ophelia: a blonde, beautiful high-school senior and long-time girlfriend of Prince Hamlet of Denmark. Her life is dominated not only by her boyfriend's fame and his overbearing family, but also by the paparazzi who hound them wherever they go. As the devastatingly handsome Hamlet spirals into madness after the mysterious death of his father, the King, Ophelia rides out his crazy roller coaster life, and lives to tell about it. In live television interviews, of course.

Passion, romance, drama, humor, and tragedy intertwine in this compulsively readable debut novel, told by a strong-willed, modern-day Ophelia.

This novel is the first (and only, so far) book I've acquired that has been published on the Poppy imprint. Poppy is home to our young women's commercial fiction. Originally the imprint only published paperback series, like Gossip Girl, The Clique, the A-List, etc, but in the past year or so the imprint has evolved a bit and also published hardcovers, and stand-alone novels. Another editor had recently acquired a modern retelling of Jane Eyre for the Poppy imprint (Jane by April Lindner) when this novel (then titled Ophelia Live!) was sent to me from agent Ammi-Joan Paquette of the Erin Murphy Literary Agency, and when I read the description I immediately though Poppy would be its perfect publishing home. Now, when this is the case I will sometimes pass the project on to another editor, but the concept appealed to me so much, I wanted to read it myself. At Little, Brown, any editor can acquire for any of our "imprints", because we're a relatively small group, and we all attend the same editorial and acquisitions meetings. Although I don't usually tend to acquire the type of books that Poppy publishes, I've always loved reading their books, and had always wanted to acquire a Poppy book.

I read this book in one sitting, and absolutely fell in love with it. I guess you could say that I was falling in love with Falling for Hamlet. I loved how clever it was in modernizing the story. I loved the narrator Ophelia, who I felt was the perfect "every-teen" of sorts--she was relatable in that she didn't always make the smartest decisions, and she was still figuring out who she was and who she wanted to be. I loved that the book was about growing up in the public eye, and for anyone obsessed with the royal family, Prince William and his then-girlfriend Kate Middleton, etc, this book gives a great peek inside what life close to the royal family might be like, from the paparazzi, the scrutiny, the privilege,  etc. I loved how it was sexy, smart, and full of juicy drama and angst.

The agent was getting other interest for the book, so as soon as I read it I asked for other editorial readers; as I felt Poppy was the right imprint, I specifically asked for reads from some of the Poppy editors, who started reading immediately. One called me an hour later just to tell me how awesome it was and how much she was enjoying it.

The book ended up going to auction, which we won, of course!

Working with Michelle has been a joy. She's a Shakespeare geek, a teacher, wickedly funny, and a great reviser--one of the things we worked on was to flesh out the relationship between Hamlet and Ophelia. She added a key scene where they vacation in Florence, and I think one of the last scenes of the book she added in was of how these two childhood friends started dating in the first place. We also worked on some key scenes from the original play which weren't quite working in the modern context. One of my main objectives was to make sure that the story made sense even for readers not familiar with the original play, and I think we achieved that.

This books was such fun to work on, from the sexy cover design by the amazing Gail Doobinin (the girl's skirt on the ARC was actually even shorter than the one pictured here! We used a little Photoshop magic to make it a little less scandalous. Michelle talks about the cover design process here), to the perfect tagline courtesy of my former assistant Connie Hsu: "First comes love, then comes madness"--I came up with our second choice, which ended up on the jacket flap: "Sometimes love will make you crazy."

Coming up with a new title was a challenge. We didn't feel Ophelia Live! was working, and there was already a YA book of a few years earlier titled Ophelia. We debated whether to put Hamlet's name in the title or not--we weren't sure if that was a selling handle or if it would be a turnoff to teens. Some other title options were: Ophelia + Hamlet; Ophelia loves Hamlet; Crazy Sexy Love; and Mad Love.

Over at the blog Emu's Debuts, they celebrated the launch of Falling for Hamlet with a whole week of posts, including an interview of Michelle, Joan, and me here,

Read more interviews of Michelle here and here (the latter is in the Washington Post!) to see more behind what inspired her to write this story.

Falling for Hamlet just came out last month. It's always exciting when a new book comes out, but even more so when it's a debut, because everything is brand new and exciting. I hope you read and fall in love with Falling for Hamlet--although if you read it, you'll probably find yourself falling for Ophelia instead!

YOU BEGIN: A Poem by Margaret Atwood & An Original Wedding Poem

Last week, my daughter Sara sent me a picture of my first grandchild. I should note that she hasn’t been born yet. Still, It was such a great thrill for me to see my granddaughter’s face.

I’m posting one of my favorite poems today. It’s by Margaret Atwood. It was the inspiration for the wedding poem that I wrote for Sara and my son-in-law Jerry. They got married last July.

You Begin
by Margaret Atwood

You begin this way:
this is your hand,
this is your eye,
that is a fish, blue and flat
on the paper, almost
the shape of an eye.
This is your mouth, this is an O
or a moon, whichever
you like. This is yellow.


Outside the window
is the rain, green
because it is summer, and beyond that
the trees and then the world,
which is round and has only
the colors of these nine crayons.


This is the world, which is fuller
and more difficult to learn than I have said.
You are right to smudge it that way
with the red and then
the orange: the world burns.

You can read the rest of the poem here.

Here is the wedding poem that I wrote:

Wedding Poem for Sara & Jerry

(Inspired by Margaret Atwood’s poem “You Begin”)

by Mom

We begin this way:

this is my hand—

take it in yours,

hold on to it tightly.

Now we are one.

Here is my heart.

It holds rivers of love

that will flow to you freely

this day…and forever.

Outside the church window

summer awaits

with songbirds and sunlight

and shade trees to cool us

when days get too hot.

This is our world—

our family and friends

who know us and love us.

They’re smiling and happy

on our wedding day.

Now we are married…

we’re husband and wife—

we are partners for life.

We will share all our days,

all our sorrows and tears

all our laughter and triumphs

throughout the years.

This is my hand, this is my heart,

this is our world,

ahead is our future

filled with surprises

that we can’t imagine.

It all begins here

with our family and friends

with our promises…vows…

with the taking of hands

and the binding of hearts.

We begin and we end:

Here is my heart.

It holds rivers of love

that will flow to you freely.

This is my hand—

take it in yours,

hold on to it tightly

this day…and forever.

Now we are one.

********************

At Wild Rose Reader, I have an originalmemoir poem titled Backyard Mermaids.

The Poetry Friday Roundup is over at Book Aunt this week.

Sneak Peek at Fall/Winter 2011

A few weeks ago we had our biannual Library Preview. We introduced our Fall/Winter 2011 list to local librarians, reviewers, and educators. As usual, our School and Library Marketing Director/Guru wore amazing shoes for the occasion:

Our super secret guest star was author/illustrator Sujean Rim, creator of Birdie's Big Girl Shoes and the upcoming Birdie's Big Girl Dress. She talked about working in fashion, yet always harboring a love of children's books:

So, since we were talking about Fall/Winter 2011, I thought I'd give you all a sneak peek at the books I've edited on that list. Except as I started writing this, I realized that I had given an earlier sneak peek back in October here. Although, back then we didn't have all of the titles or covers finalized yet. Well, many of the covers are still in progress now (particularly for the YA titles, for some reason), but I thought I'd go ahead and post the covers we do have below. And since I described the books in more detail then, I'll be brief here.

Picture books:

YOU WILL BE MY FRIEND! by Peter Brown (Sept. 2011)
This is a companion book to Children Make Terrible Pets. In this adventure, Lucy the Bear decides that she's going to make a new friend. Of course, this doesn't turn out to be as easy as she thinks it's going to be.

The House Baba Built: An artist's childhood in China by Ed Young, as told to Libby Koponon (Oct. 2011)
This book has been a labor of love for everyone involved--we've been working on it for over two years, and in a sense, Ed has been writing it for his whole life, although in earnest since he became a father. This is an illustrated memoir of his childhood in Shanghai during World War II, living in the house his father (Baba) built to keep his family safe.

Middle Grade:

ok, this isn't the cover...we do have a cover, but I don't have it on my computer at home!
Maybe Grace can help me out and add it?

cover added 4/19!

Dumpling Days by Grace Lin (Jan. 2012)

In this sequel to Year of the Dog and Year of the Rat, Pacy and her family visit Taiwan for a month. As usual, the food descriptions will make you hungry! And it may just make you want to visit Taiwan.

Young Adult:

The Shattering by Karen Healey (Sept. 2011)
An idyllic New Zealand setting. Magic, romance, tragedy, humor, and a possible serial killer. What more do you want?

DJ Rising by Love Maia (Feb. 2012)
A moving debut novel about a boy from a troubled home, his love of music, and a DJ contest.

BOY21 by Matthew Quick (March 2012)
Basketball Diaries-meets-Stargirl, set in a racially charged urban neighborhood. We have a final cover for this one, but once again I don't have it on my computer. I'll update this post later.

cover added 4/19

In the meantime, I present to you the redesigned paperback cover of Matthew's first novel, Sorta Like a Rock Star:

The paperback is out this May.

And finally:
Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor (Sept. 2011)
Once upon a time, an angel and devil fell in love. It did not end well. But oh, this book is not your typical angel book, not by a long shot. I'm excited to be speaking about this book on the YA Buzz Panel at BEA this year...I hope I can do it justice!

I hope to do a Beyond the Book post about this soon, but just wanted to give a shout out to a novel I edited that just came out officially last week. Andrea Davis Pinkney's Bird in a Box is a middle grade historical fiction about three children growing up during the Great Depression, all facing tragedy and loss, and all finding inspiration in the fights of boxer Joe Louis.

The NY Times says:

“Bird in a Box” isn’t about Joe Louis per se. Instead, with tenderness and verve, it tells the stories of three 12-year-old black children, Hibernia, Otis and Willie, in Depression-era Elmira, N.Y. Hibernia’s mother abandoned her when she was a baby — to sing, she hoped, at the Savoy Ballroom in Harlem — leaving the girl to her preacher father. Otis and Willie grow up in the Mercy Home for Negro Orphans: Otis’s parents are killed driving their truck, and in a drunken fit, Willie’s father sticks Willie’s hands in a pot of boiling grits, reducing them to stumps and ending Willie’s own dreams of glory in the ring.

Inspiring them throughout is Joe Louis. For the three children, as for millions of Americans, Louis’s nationally broadcast fights are communal, semireligious events.

Right now, I'm working on my Spring 12 and Fall 12 lists. I'm working at home today, editing a novel on the Fall 2012 list. But more on that in due time...

Beyond the Book: Dave the Potter by Laban Carrick Hill, illustrated by Bryan Collier

Beyond the Book:
Dave the Potter: Artist, Poet, Slave by Laban Carrick Hill, illustrated by Bryan Collier

To us
it is just dirt,
the ground we walk on...
But to Dave
it was clay,
the plain and basic stuff
upon which he formed a life
as a slave nearly 200 years ago.

Dave was an extraordinary artist, poet, and potter living in South Carolina in the 1800s. He combined his superb artistry with deeply observant poetry, carved onto his pots, transcending the limitations he faced as a slave. In this inspiring and lyrical portrayal, National Book Award nominee Laban Carrick Hill's elegantly simple text and award-winning artist Bryan Collier's resplendent, earth-toned illustrations tell Dave's story, a story rich in history, hope, and long-lasting beauty.

I'm way behind in writing my "Beyond the Book" posts--I have two Fall 2010 picture book I haven't yet written about, and two winter novels waiting in the queue. So, I'd better get cracking.

Dave the Potter, as you probably know by now, just won the Caldecott Honor and the Coretta Scott King Award for Illustration. What you probably don't know is that this book has had a long road to publication. Now, the beginning of this publication story is not my own, so I apologize in advance if I recount any of the details incorrectly. But to the best of my knowledge, here you go.

The author, Laban Carrick Hill, first came to the Little, Brown list with the nonfiction book and National Book Award finalist, Harlem Stomp, which Megan Tingley had acquired in the early 2000s (back when I was still assisting her). When editor Jennifer Hunt joined Little, Brown in 2002, Megan passed the book to her to handle, and Jen finished up the editing, and also acquired and edited Laban's follow-up America Dreaming. Sometime during all of this, Laban told Jen about a slave named Dave who not only made amazing pots, but also wrote poetry. He had first heard about Dave the Potter at a conference on the Middle Passage, and then later saw one of Dave's pots end up on the TV Show "Antiques Roadshow," and his curiosity was piqued.

There wasn't too much known about Dave at the time, but Laban was inspired by what he was able to find. He wrote a poem that honored the spirit of Dave's life. He and Jen went back and forth to refine the text and shape the story.

Apparently our acquisitions committee didn't see the vision at first, because it took two tries before we were able to sign up the text.

I'm not positive on the timing, but I believe it was a good five years later that Jen asked me if I would be open to handling the book going forward. They had approached several illustrators who, for various reasons, were not able to sign on, and Jen, who was now Editorial Director in charge of fiction, wasn't editing many picture books any more and didn't feel she was able to give the project the attention it needed.

I was intrigued, but hadn't read the text before, so I read it before accepting, of course--although, truth be told, even if I didn't like the text, I would have said yes. (Part of your job as an editor is to take on whatever is assigned to you, even after you've risen beyond the assistant/associate editor level.) But thankfully, I found it beautiful, profound, and deceptively simple. I was excited to work on the book.

My first task was to find an illustrator, and as I read the text, I knew it would be perfect for Bryan Collier, an artist I had long admired. I ran the idea by Laban, who told me that Bryan had also been his first choice, but when Jen had initially inquired about his schedule, he had been too booked up to consider new projects. Well, as so much time had passed, I thought it would be worth asking again. After getting the go ahead in-house, I called up Bryan's agent, Marcia Wernick, who said that Bryan was open to start a new project in less than a year, so I sent along the ms. She called a few days later to say that Bryan was really interested in the project, but wondered if there was any back matter material to read. I sent along the rough author's note that Laban had written. A few days later she called again and said that Bryan wanted to know if the author's note was final. I said no, that it was unedited. Bryan didn't want to sign on until it was farther along. Laban was extremely impressed at Bryan's thoughtfulness before committing, and was happy to work on revising. I also talked to Jen about the direction she wanted it to take. We decided to focus on Dave's achievements as an artist and poet, and how he would still be considered an accomplished artist in his own right, that his art transcended his circumstances.

After a few rounds of revision, Bryan officially signed on officially. Hurrah!

Six months later, Marcia called me to say that Bryan was ready to start working on Dave the Potter. I hadn't been expecting him to start for another six months, so I was surprised, but thrilled. We invited Bryan to come in for lunch to meet the team.

As soon as I met Bryan, I was charmed. I had met him once in passing at a conference, but didn't know him beyond that. But he was warm, friendly, and passionate. And he gave the best hugs! I knew it was going to be wonderful working with him.

Bryan told us that he was planning on taking a trip down to South Carolina where Dave had lived. He had read a book, Carolina Clay: The Life and Legend of Slave Potter Dave by Leonard Todd (incidentally, this book had not been published when Laban had originally written the text). Bryan went down to Edgefield, SC, and met a potter who owned some of Dave's original pots. Bryan took photos, watched several pots being thrown, and toured the town. I loved that Bryan threw himself into the book, and that the research he did complemented the research Laban had done five years earlier.

Speaking of Laban's research, as so much more was now known about Dave and his life than when Laban had first written the text, we had to go back and make a few adjustments. We added to the extensive back matter that talked about Dave's life, and we also added both an author's note and illustrator's note where they both talked about their inspiration and research.

The final book is a real testament to the hard work and passion of its creators. They met for the first time at ALA Annual last year:

As I mentioned in my ALA wrap-up at the time, we had a breakfast in honor of Dave the Potter and had several of Bryan's original pieces on display:

This is one of my favorites, and was in the running to be the cover image:

This is a close-up (bad quality, sorry) of one of the paintings. If you look closely, you can read the hidden message...

It's really some of Bryan's best work. I'm so pleased he and this book was recognized for it.

To be sure, a picture book about a slave potter is probably not the most commercial of subjects for a picture book, and is perhaps not for very young children, but I think kids interested in pottery and poetry will be drawn to this book, and as the NY Times stated, this book can work as "a gentle way for adults to introduce slavery to young children."

Read this entire review in the NY Times.
And read this great interview with Laban in School Library Journal 
To see photographs of Dave's pots and to read his poems, visit Leonard Todd's website.

It was a good ALA (Midwinter 2011)

Yes, it was a good ALA:

Jen and I celebrate with the honored books*

But let me back up. Midwinter was held in beautiful San Diego this year. ALA Midwinter is generally quieter than other conferences--we don't usually bring authors to the conference, because many librarians are busy meeting with their committees to decide the Youth Media Awards. No authors means no "author care" for editors. So, what do editors do at Midwinter? We work at the booth, we meet with agents, we walk the floor and check out our competition, and we sit in on open committee meetings. I sat in on a few sessions of the Best Fiction for Young Adults (BFYA--formerly known as BBYA--Best Books for Young Adults. They changed the committee to only consider fiction, as the list was unwieldy when it included nonfiction. There is a separate YA nonfiction award and list now), and a bit of the Notables committee meeting, too. It's fascinating to hear the members talk about the books, and I especially love it when they get really passionate or emotional about the books. Although, it can also be nerve-wracking when they talk about books that I've edited!

This year, since I was already in Southern California for the holidays, I arrived in San Diego early to help a little with setup:

boxes everywhere

Zoe and I are proud of our tower of power. And no, we did not match on purpose.

enjoying our post set-up treat at Ghirardelli

The food eating and tower of ARC building continued throughout the show:

fish tacos!

Malinda Lo's HUNTRESS

13 CURSES by Michelle Harrison

FALLING FOR HAMLET by Michelle Ray
(the original pile was bigger, but these piles are prettier.)

chocolate souffle

tater tot nachos!

bouillabaisse

But it wasn't all food and building. We also hosted a preview breakfast bright and early Saturday morning (7:30 am!) where we highlighted around 25 of our upcoming titles for 2011. This is what the room looked like:

Our special guest star was debut author Holly Goldberg Sloan. Her YA novel I'll Be There is due out this May. Holly was so lovely and funny and her publishing story was captivating.

And now, on to the awards. ALA Midwinter is always buzzing all weekend with people speculating on and trying to predict the winners of the Caldecott, Newbery, Printz, and more. To be perfectly honest, aside from having fairly high hopes for a Geisel medal of some color for Grace's Ling & Ting, we weren't expecting anything else this year. Not that we ever expect awards, but we've had a little more buzz going into a conference in prior years. (Well, make that last year, and no other year before that....)

A few weeks prior, the Morris finalists (for debut YA) had been announced, so we knew going in that we would have at least one medal for Karen Healey's Guardian of the Dead (yay Karen!).

We found out Sunday morning that we had won the Printz Medal for Ship Breaker. Amazing. Well, I didn't find out till a little later, but suspected when our library marketing director Victoria Stapleton and the editor of Ship Breaker, Editorial Director Jennifer Hunt ran out of the booth together...

We heard about Grace's silver Geisel honor later that afternoon evening. Happy, good news. Of course, we were not to reveal any of this news before the press conference on Monday, so we had to keep poker faces at the booth and not look too happy. But it was a good day, and my colleagues and I celebrated with champagne and Karaoke later that night (speaking of poker faces, I sang Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance" up on a stage. Thankfully, there is no video or photo evidence, to my knowledge.)

On Monday morning, as per tradition, we were to gather in Victoria's hotel room at 6:30 am to see if we were getting any additional calls. At 6 am, as I was getting ready, I received a call from Victoria.

"You should sit down" she said. For some reason, I thought this meant there was bad news of some sort, although what kind of bad news she could share with me at that day and hour is beyond me.

"Dave the Potter has just won the Caldecott Honor," she tells me.

I'm not 100% sure, but I think the first words out of my mouth were "Holy f*ck" which is saying a lot because I really hardly ever curse. But I think that wrapped up what I was feeling at that moment. For whatever reason, that possibility hadn't been on my radar, not because I didn't think Bryan Collier's absolutely breathtaking art wasn't deserving, but because there had been very little buzz on the book. But...wow.

"Get here as soon as you can!" she said. I hurried to get ready, and while I was in the elevator, she called again. "Dave the Potter has also won the Coretta Scott King Medal for illustration," she informed me. I wasn't alone in the elevator, and in the off chance the woman was a librarian or in publishing, I couldn't give anything away. "That's very interesting. I'm in the elevator. I'll be there in a minute." and then I went to the hotel room and proceeded to jump up and down in glee.

We also found out that Ninth Ward by Jewell Parker Rhodes had won a Coretta Scott King honor for text. Woo-hoo! Room service delivered bagels, pastries, coffee, juice, and champagne, and we toasted our wonderful books with mimosas.

And then it was on to the press conference for the announcements of the awards. We actually got lost trying to find the ballroom in the conference center and missed the very beginning, but we soon settled in. One of the first awards announced was the Stonewall Children's and Young Adult Literature Award. And SURPRISE! Freaks and Revelations by Davida Wills Hurwin won an Honor! The committee hadn't informed us in advance. And, as I found out later when I called Davida, they hadn't called her, either. I was double surprised because the book was published in 2009--but it had published in November, so was eligible. I love this special book so much--read more in my Beyond the Book post. It hasn't seemed to find its audience, so I hope this award will bring a new readership to this powerful book.

Our other winners, adorned with their fancy medals:

For a complete list of the winners, go here.

To be honest, I'm still in shock. After the amazing conference we had last year, this feels a little bit...greedy, somehow. I also can't believe that I've almost achieved my pie-in-the sky goal for 2011 that I posted two weeks ago:

-Win an award for books I've edited in every category: picture book, early reader, MG, and YA

With Dave the Potter, Ling & Ting, Freaks and Revelations, and Guardian of the Dead all winning honors, I "only" have a MG award left to attain. That doesn't seem as daunting a goal as when I first stated it! I can't help but wonder if this is a case of me throwing a wish out into the universe and having it answered.

I do want to say that these awards really are a crap shoot, or, as another editor said, winning is like winning the lottery--who knows what each committee is going to think about any book. There are so many deserving and wonderful books out there, and authors and illustrators who weren't honored last Monday shouldn't feel disappointed. As one author on Facebook said, "we're in good company!" So true. But for those books that do win, it's wonderful when the hard work of the authors, illustrators, editors, designers, production people, copyeditors, proofreaders, marketers, publicists, etc. etc. is rewarded.

And of course winning is happy and giddy--all in all, not a bad start to the year!


*As Freaks and Revelations was published in 2009, we did not have a copy in the booth to display

What I'm working on now

I'm deep into the frantic juggling phase of my Fall/Winter 2011 list. Final drafts of novels are due into copyediting next week, picture books are supposed to be in the mechanical stage now and aren't, etc. etc. For a few months now I've been, juggling juggling juggling. As I said on Twitter, "Edit, revise, repeat. Edit, revise, repeat."

So, here's a sneak peak of what I'm working on now. Three of the books are still untitled, which tells you how much of a sneak peak this is...

Picture books:
The House Baba Built: an artist's childhood in Shanghai by Ed Young
This is an illustrated memoir of Ed's childhood growing up in Shanghai during WWII. His father decided to build a house to keep his family safe, and over the years they took in additional families to help keep them safe, too. This book is a beautiful testament to how times of great hardship and difficulty can also be times of great creativity, and how a child can remain happy during those times. Ed and I have been working with my brilliant fellow BRG, Libby Koponen to help shape the text. It's been a very, very long process, but a rewarding one, and it's going to pay off--it's a beautiful, fascinating look into wartime China from a child's point of view. It's a deeply personal book for Ed.

Untitled picture book by Peter Brown
Peter is working on a follow-up to Children Make Terrible Pets, featuring Lucy the Bear. It isn't exactly a sequel, but more a companion. In this book, Lucy decides that she wants to find a best friend, goes about it the wrong way, and hilarity ensues, of course.

Middle Grade:
Dumpling Days by Grace Lin
Grace is hard at work at the revision right now! This is a follow-up to Year of the Dog and Year of the Rat. Pacy and her family go to Taiwan on vacation for a month in the summer to celebrate Pacy's grandmother's 60th birthday. And yes, there are plenty of mouth-watering descriptions of food.

Young Adult:
Boy 21 by Matthew Quick
This is Matthew's sophomore YA effort, and although it's much different from his first, Sorta Like a Rock Star, it's just as beautifully written, and yes, it made me cry. This is a novel about a boy named Finley, the only white player on his high school basketball team. His coach asks him to take a new kid under his wing, Russ, whose parents have been tragically murdered. The problem is, because of his trauma, Russ calls himself Boy 21 and claims to be from outer space...

Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor
A Romeo-and-Juliet-esque story in which an angel and a devil (of sorts) fall in love. That oversimplifies the book, though--it's so much more rich and layered, unique, unforgettable, and absolutely gorgeous. The novel opens in Prague (very cool) and we meet a lovely and mysterious art student named Karou who has bright blue hair (which just may grow out of her roots that color), a strange (to say the least) family, and the ability to wish things into reality. We signed Laini up to three books (this book, a sequel, and another stand alone) in a huge auction, and I couldn't be more thrilled and honored to be working with her. Plus, she loves revising!
 
Untitled DJ book by Love Maia
We're still brainstorming titles, but I think we're close to pinning one down. This is a debut novel about a sixteen-year-old named Marley who dreams of being a professional DJ. I've called this novel Save the Last Dance with DJing, because it has that kind of feel--there's drama, characters you root for, a DJ contest, a sweet romance, tragedy, and gorgeous descriptions of the power of music. I'm so excited to introduce this new author and voice to the world.


Untitled book formerly known as Summerton by Karen Healey
This is Karen's second novel, a follow-up (not a sequel) to Guardian of the Dead. Also set in New Zealand (not--as we sometimes slip up and say--Australia), this book involved an idyllic vacation town, suicide, a possible serial killer, and dark magic. So different from Guardian, but equally fresh, intriguing, compelling, and creepy. I love how Karen features a diverse cast of characters and themes, too. We have a Japanese exchange student love interest, main characters who are Maori and Samoan, a Chinese-New Zealander ex-boyfriend, and themes of sexuality, ethnic identity, religion, friendship, grief, and more. 


And there you go. I hope this gives you an enticing taste of what's to come...stay tuned! Coming to a bookstore near you between September 2011 and March 2012.

And for another sneak peak, check out this uber-cool trailer for You Killed Wesley Payne by Sean Beaudoin, coming out in February 2011.

Sob inducers

A while ago Josie Levitt posted about crying in public over a book on the Publisher's Weekly Shelf Talker blog. I'm proud to say that she was sobbing over one of the books I edited, Sorta Like a Rock Star by Matthew Quick, a book I had also sobbed over in public the first time I read it.

Sorta Like a Rock Star is one of two books that I've edited in my career that have made me more than just cry--they've made me sob. Actual, stomach-heaving sobs. Not just moved, not just having tears well up in my eyes, but really cry. The other book was Rubber Houses by Ellen Yeomans.

I was remembering some of the books I sobbed over as a kid. The ones that stick out in my mind are My Brother Sam is Dead, Where the Red Fern Grows, Charlotte's Web, Summer of My German Soldier, and A Taste of Blackberries. I remember the sobbing, the streaming tears, the nose blowing and crumpled tissues. I remember feeling simultaneously anguished and reborn when I finished the books. God, I loved that feeling. A big cry feels good, particularly if it's not my own life's tragedies that I'm crying at.

As I always tell agents and announce at writer's conferences, I'm a sucker for books that make me cry. I just finished reading a wonderful book, One Crazy Summer by Rita Garcia-Williams. And yes, I had tears streaming down my face while on the train--although no actually sobbing this time, probably because they were tears of joy, rather than agony. But if you want sobbing, The Book Thief is your book.

I marvel at the skill of these authors to write such real characters, so real that I suffer true pain at the loss that the characters suffer, or pain when I lose them altogether. That's something.

What are some of your favorite sob inducers?

Making Readers and Eleven years and counting

I've been on vacation for two weeks, first to CA to visit my parents, and then to CO to visit G's family. G has EIGHT nieces and nephews. Four in each family, all between the ages of 11 months and 11 years. They get excited when I give them books, and they asked me to read them three picture books in a row (Shark vs. Train, I Can Be Anything, and Sergio Saves the Game) but as far as I can see and have been told, none of them are "real" readers, in the sense that I'm sure most of us are real readers, as in, genuinely love reading, and read a lot. Sure, most of them like the occasional book--they're all on a WIMPY KID kick right now. But other than that, they don't seem to like to read for pleasure. They'd much rather watch TV, play video games, or play outside. None are readers, that is, except for one. And what's especially thrilling about that one reader is that the last time I saw her, maybe two years ago, she wasn't a reader. But she is now. Hurray!

It gives me hope that one day, a few of the others will become readers, too. They will if I have anything to do with it!

***

In other news, today is my eleven-year anniversary of starting at Little, Brown. Happy Anniversary to me! If you missed it, here's my look back on my ten-year anniversary, and other "look backs" are here and here.

Some highlights career-wise from the past year:

-Grace won the Newbery Honor for Where the Mountain Meets the Moon, on top of numerous other awards, and also hit the NY Times bestseller list for the first time.
-Peter Brown won the E.B. White Read-Aloud Award for The Curious Garden, as well as Illustrator of the Year, and spent 26 or so weeks (I lost count) on the NY Times bestseller list.
-Shark vs. Train was a NY Times bestseller
-I acquired many amazing books, including Libba Bray's The Diviners series, Laini Taylor's Daughter of Smoke and Bone, Barry Lyga's I Hunt Killers, three books by Grace Lin, Justina Chen's next YA Return to Me, Karen Healey's Summerton, and Matthew Quick's Boy 21, Jerry Spinelli's picture book Mama Seeton's Whistle, plus another YA novel by a debut author that hasn't been announced yet because we don't have a title yet!
-My assistant of over four years was promoted to Associate Editor, and I now have a new Editorial Assistant
-I hired two interns
-I joined Twitter--a year ago yesterday. Happy Twitterversary to me!
-I worked on, edited, and published numerous books that I love and am so proud of.

Will I still be a children's book editor another eleven years from now? Only time will tell.

Beyond the Book: SORTA LIKE A ROCK STAR by Matthew Quick

Beyond the Book: SORTA LIKE A ROCK STAR by Matthew Quick

Here's the description:

Amber Appleton lives in a bus. Ever since her mom’s boyfriend kicked them out, Amber, her mom, and her totally loyal dog, Bobby Big Boy (aka Thrice B) have been camped out in the back of Hello Yellow (the school bus her mom drives). But Amber, the self-proclaimed princess of hope and girl of unyielding optimism, refuses to sweat the bad stuff. Instead, she focuses on bettering the lives of her alcoholic mother and her quirky circle of friends: a glass-ceiling-breaking single mother raising a son diagnosed with autism; Father Chee and The Korean Divas for Christ (soul-singing ESL students); a nihilist octogenarian; a video-game-playing gang of outcasts; and a haiku-writing war vet. But then a fatal tragedy threatens Amber’s optimism—and her way of life. Can Amber continue to be the princess of hope?

With his zany cast of characters and a heartwarming, inspiring story, debut YA author Matthew Quick builds a beautifully beaten-up world of laughs, loyalty, and hard-earned hope. This world is Amber’s stage, and Amber is, well…she’s sorta like a rock star.

I've mentioned this on the blog before before: the first time I read the manuscript for this novel, I was on the subway, and I had just reached a very tragic, very emotional part in the story and found myself suddenly with tears streaming down my face, actually sobbing, tears mixing with snot (no, not a pretty picture). And it was at that very unattractive moment that I realized, I must have this book. I couldn't wait to get off the subway and finish reading.

There's more to the story, though. I was on the subway on the way to visit my boyfriend in Brooklyn, and as when I got to my stop, I was completely lost in thought, caught up in the world of Amber Appleton. As I walked down the street I mptoced there were a bunch of people walking towards me, and I moved out of the way. But then I got caught in one of those situations with one guy where we both move in the same direction over and over and end up in an awkward street dance. But I finally dodge to one side and get around the guy, annoyed to be taken out of my reverie, when he reaches over and grabs my arm, scaring the sh*t out of me, and says...

"Alvina?"

It was my boyfriend. Yes, I was so lost in thought that I didn't even recognize my own boyfriend. Well, he was off to get pizza so I turned around with him apologizing and explaining why I wasn't paying attention, still flustered and emotional from reading the tragic scene, when all of a sudden I hear another male voice say,

"Alvina!"

This time it was illustrator Christopher Myers walking a dog with a friend. Still flustered, I say hi and try to be normal, but at this point I wonder who else I'm going to run into on the street. And I really just want to go up to the apartment and read the rest of the novel!

Anyway, the latter part of this experience doesn't really have anything to do with the book itself, except that I always remember these encounters when I think of falling in love with the novel.

And so, the book. Oh, the book. The second half of the book lived up to the first half, and the next morning I immediately called the agent to tell him how much I loved it.  My editorial readers all loved it, too--in fact, we were all speaking like Amber Appleton for week's after reading the book. True? True. Sucka!

So, let me confess something to you. Sometimes editors can get jaded. And sometimes we guard ourselves for defeat. It's only natural--you get burned, you get hurt, and so you guard your heart. I had gotten used to having books I loved get turned down by our acquisitions committee, and so I had adopted the "hope for the best, but prepare for the worst" attitude. But this time I decided I was going to go all out, I was going to put my heart on the line. I was not going to take no for an answer.

And so as I prepared my presentation for the committee, I decided to compare falling in love with the book with falling in love with a person. I started off with something like, "Although in real life it takes me four to six months to say 'I love you,' in this case it was love at first read." I went on to say that I wanted to marry the book. I also said that whereas in real life you can't really expect the person you fall in love with to change, the great thing about falling in love with a book is that it CAN change, with the help of editing. And on and on. It was a well-received presentation, but then I had to brace myself for the committee's reaction.

Well, there isn't much suspense here, because you all know that we published the book, but I will say that I had to fight off some other members who also wanted to marry the book. Then again, publishing is a polygamist business, so it's all good.

I generally pitch Sorta Like a Rock Star as Juno meets Stargirl. Juno because of the sharp, distinct voice (although truth be told, I like Amber's voice better than Juno's), and Stargirl for its uplifting message of optimism and hope.

Why do I love Sorta Like a Rock Star so much? Let me count the ways. I love it for the character and  voice of Amber Appleton, who truly makes the world a better place. I love it for the fantastic cast of characters, from the Korean Divas for Christ, to the haiku-writing Private Jackson. I love it for touching me to the soul. For making me cry my eyes out, and then leaving me rejuvenated and exhilarated at the end.

I think Justina Chen said it best in her blurb:

“Every sentence in SORTA LIKE A ROCK STAR beats with hope and heart. If there ever was a manifesto for living with your heart wide open, for embracing exuberance, for choosing YES and WHY NOT, this book is it.  And Amber Appleton? She is the ambassador of sassy optimism.  This is a must-read, must-quote, must-hug kind of book, the best kind of book there is.” Justina Chen—author of NORTH OF BEAUTIFUL, and NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH (AND A FEW WHITE LIES)

So far it's received a starred review from School Library Journal, and many glowing blog (and podcast!) reviews.

Watch the trailer here:


Matthew (aka "Q") and his wife, author Alecia Bessette, have started a beautiful new blog called Quest for Kindness, which ties into the message of Sorta Like a Rock Star perfectly.

Seriously: read this book. You'll be better for it. It is "voice-y," for those of you who have trouble with that, but I urge you to stick with it. You won't regret it. Just make sure you have lots of tissues handy.  True.