Book Trailer for Emily Jenkins' Invisible Inkling

Check out the cute book trailer for my friend Emily Jenkins' new book, Invisible Inkling, which goes on sale April 26th.

And reminds me that I should make a book trailer or two as well...

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Google Alerts Round-up

Time for some last-gasp winter Google Alerts from the interweb!

Southwest Middle School won the Gaston County, NC Battle of the Books competition. They had to answer questions about 27 different books--including The Brooklyn Nine! Congrats, guys!

And The Brooklyn Nine has made another state list! B9 was selected for the 2012 Oklahoma Sequoyah Master List! Thanks, Oklahoma. You're OK with me! (Yes, that's a postal abbreviation joke.)

I recently did a Skype visit with students at Upper Dauphin Area High School in Elizabethville, PA, and the local paper wrote up a great article about it. You can read it here.

And I'm starting to get alerts on Fantasy Baseball!

Mr. H at the SMS Guys Read blog loves the Fantasy Baseball poster I sent him...

Zoe posted a great summary/review of Fantasy Baseball at NextHub.com...

...and Ms. Certo at Hope Middle School recommends Fantasy Baseball as an independent reading selection for classrooms.

Thanks, everyone!

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Happy Birthday, William Shatner

Happy 80th (!) Bill Shatner. Stay awesome.

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Fantasy Baseball Launch Tour - Sunday, March 20

Last stop on my whirlwind week of school visits and bookstore signings. Today I'll be dropping by one of our favorite bookstores on the drive home to sign stock and schmooze with the awesome booksellers there. Drop by and say hello if you're in the area!


Joseph-Beth Booksellers
Lexington, KY @ Noon


*Note: This isn't a formal reading/signing, just me signing books the store has in stock. I'd still love to see you if you'd like to stop by! I'll be there for about an hour to an hour and a half.

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Join me today at the LitWorks: Teen READ Workshop

Join me today at the Ridgewood High School LitWorks: Teen READ Workshop! I'll be talking about my process as an author, then signing copies of my books. And I'm just one of the great lineup of authors you'll meet there! Check out who else is coming:

Art Baltazar (we love his comics!!), Brent Crawford, Candace Fleming, John C. Ford, Kristin Walker, Janette Rallison, and Todd Strasser.

The event is open to the public. Teens get in free, adults pay $5. The event starts at 10 a.m. at the Eisenhower Public Library, then shifts over to Ridgewood High School at noon for the breakout sessions with the authors. The autograph party is from 3:30 - 4:00 p.m.


Click here for more information. Hope to see you there!

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Fantasy Baseball Launch Tour - Friday, March 18

Today I'm at just one school, all day long:


Ridgewood High School
Norridge, IL



Tomorrow I'll be a part of Ridgewood High School's LitWorks: Teen Read Conference. The event is open to the public, and features a slew of great YA authors! Click here for more info. Hope to see you there!

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A book is born: Fantasy Baseball!

Now batting: Fantasy Baseball! My new novel goes on sale TODAY!

You've never played fantasy baseball like this before. 

A flying monkey in the outfield. A toad at short. Dorothy from The Wizard of Oz on the mound. Alex Metcalf thinks he’s dreaming, but the Oz Cyclones exist here in Ever After, where storybook characters live on as long as kids in the real world believe in them.

But Alex isn't a storybook. To get home, he and the Cyclones will have to win the Ever After Baseball Tournament and earn wishes from the Wizard of Oz. Trouble is, the Big Bad Wolf wants a wish too.

To win the tournament, Alex and the Cyclones will have to defeat the wolf, play the best baseball of their lives, and find the courage to believe in themselves. But what good is believing in yourself if the real world stops believing in you?

To help me celebrate, I'll be visiting with the students at Ridgewood High School in Norridge, Illinois in the Chicagoland area. I'll also be giving a talk and doing a reading at the Ridgewood High School LitWorks book festival on Saturday, which is open to the public. Come out and say hey! Click here for more info. 

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Fantasy Baseball Launch Tour - Wednesday, March 16

Two school visits and a book signing on tap today in Chicagoland:

Heritage Grove Middle School
Plainfield, IL @ 9:00 p.m.

The Lane School
Hinsdale, IL @ 1:40 p.m.

57th Street Books
Chicago, IL @ 4:00 p.m.

*This isn't a formal reading/signing, just me dropping by to sign stock and say hello. Come by and say hello yourself if you're in the area!

And special thanks to Anderson’s Bookshop for helping arrange the school visits!

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Fantasy Baseball Launch Tour - Tuesday, March 15

 

Two school visits on tap today in Chicagoland:


Roosevelt Middle School
River Forest, IL @ 8:30 a.m.

Percy Julian Middle School
Oak Park, IL @ 2:00 p.m.


Special thanks to The Magic Tree Bookstore for helping arrange these visits!

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Fantasy Baseball Launch Tour - Monday, March 14

Two school visits on tap today in Chicagoland:


St. Francis Xavier School
Wilmette, IL @ 10:00 a.m. 

Sacred Heart School
Winnetka, IL @ 1:00 p.m.



Special thanks to The Book Stall at Chestnut Court for helping arrange these visits!

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Fantasy Baseball Launch Tour - Saturday, March 12

Today I'll be dropping by three Cincinnati-area bookstores to sign stock and schmooze with the awesome booksellers there. Drop by and say hello if you're in the area!

Blue Marble Bookstore
Ft. Thomas, KY @ 2:00 p.m.

Blue Manatee Bookstore
Cincinnati, OH @ 4:00 p.m.

Joseph-Beth Booksellers
Cincinnati, OH @ 6:00 p.m.


*Note: These aren't formal readings/signings, just me signing books the stores have in stock. I'd still love to see you if you'd like to stop by!

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The Official Fantasy Baseball Launch Tour Schedule!

The publication day for Fantasy Baseball is upon us! The official on-sale date is Thursday, March 17 (St. Patrick's Day, apropos of nothing). To celebrate, I'm doing a slew of school and bookstore visits all week, beginning Saturday! Wendi and Jo will be with me on the trip too. If one of these stops is near you, come on out and say hello!

*At all the bookstores, I'll be doing stock signings, not formal readings. We'd still love to see you! It'll just be informal--I'll be signing the books the stores have on hand and chatting with anyone who shows up.

Saturday, March 12

*Blue Marble Bookstore, Ft. Thomas, KY @ 2:00 p.m.

*Blue Manatee Bookstore, Cincinnati, OH @ 4:00 p.m.

*Joseph-Beth Booksellers, Cincinnati, OH @ 6:00 p.m.

Sunday, March 13

Travel day

Monday, March 14

St. Francis Xavier School, Wilmette, IL @ 10:00 a.m. 

Sacred Heart School, Winnetka, IL @ 1:00 p.m.

Tuesday, March 15

Roosevelt Middle School, River Forest, IL @ 8:30 a.m.

Percy Julian Middle School, Oak Park, IL @ 2:00 p.m.

Wednesday, March 16

Heritage Grove Middle School, Plainfield, IL @ 9:00 p.m.

The Lane School, Hinsdale, IL @ 1:40 p.m.

*57th Street Books, Chicago, IL @ 4:00 p.m.

Thursday, March 17

*Fantasy Baseball debuts!*

Ridgewood High School, Norridge, IL @ 8 a.m.

Friday, March 18

Ridgewood High School, Norridge, IL @ 8 a.m.

Saturday, March 19

Lit Works: A Teen READ Conference from 10:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.
Eisenhower Public Library and Ridgewood High School, Norridge, IL

This event is open to the public, and features a great collection of YA authors:

Art Baltazar (we love his comics!!), Brent Crawford, Candace Fleming, John C. Ford, Kristin Walker, Janette Rallison, Todd Strasser, and yours truly!

Click here for more info!

Sunday, March 20

*Joseph-Beth Booksellers, Lexington, KY @ noon

Then home again, home again, jiggity-jig!


Hope to see you on the road this week!

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A reading from The Brooklyn Nine

I recently recorded a brief introduction to and reading from The Brooklyn Nine for TeachingBooks.net. Give it a listen!

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