Brooklyn Nine makes the Maud Hart Lovelace Book Award Master List

More good news for The Brooklyn Nine: it's been selected for the 2011-2012 Maud Hart Lovelace Book Award Master List, sponsored by the Minnesota Youth Reading Awards! Minnesota students in grades 6-8 who read and/or listen to at least three titles from the list get to vote. Thanks, Minnesota readers--I hope I can count on your vote!

I'm Alan Gratz, and I approve this message. :-)

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Brooklyn Nine makes Garden State Teen Book Award list

Some good news to share: The Brooklyn Nine has been nominated for the 2012 Garden State Teen Book Award for Grades 6-8. All right! Thanks, New Jersey. Once again, I'm in great company--and once again, students will read B9 along with a lot of other books and vote on their favorite.

The Brooklyn Nine has now been nominated for eight state lists. Thanks everyone, and don't forget to keep reading over the summer!

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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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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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The Brooklyn Nine in Horn Book

My friend Clay Carmichael reports that The Brooklyn Nine is featured in a Good Sports Books guide supplement in the January issue of Horn Book. Thanks, Clay, and thanks Horn Book!

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B9 earns a 2011-2012 Young Hoosier Book Award nomination!

I got great news right before the holidays (and all the snow!) hit: The Brooklyn Nine has been nominated for the 2011-2012 Indiana Young Hoosier Book Award! The Brooklyn Nine is one of twenty books nominated in the Middle Grade category.

Thanks, Indiana Library Federation--and happy reading, Young Hoosiers!

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Google Alerts Round-up

Gather around for a Google Alerts Round-up, troops!

Team Banzai member Janet send in this link to the Learning Through History newsletter, which recommends The Brooklyn Nine as a resource for historical studies centered around baseball, which is kind of a big deal this time of year. Thanks, Janet, and thanks Learning Through History!

Challenging the Bookworm likes The Brooklyn Nine because you don't have to be a sports fan to enjoy it...

Tyler B. at Otto-Eldred Junior-Senior High School writes on BookHooks that he "didn't dislike anything" about The Brooklyn Nine, and is sure "history nerds will like this book." :-)

Donna Woody at Print Matters picked up The Brooklyn Nine expecting a sports story, but feels like she got so much more...

"Like one of those cereals advertised as too tasty to be nutritious," says Doug Smith of the Lockport, New York Union-Sun & Journal, "'Brooklyn Nine' informs in an entertaining style."

And I'm a little late with the news (I was in Japan!), but Something Rotten got a great mention by Regina Brooks at the Huffington Post in an article about adapting classics for modern generations.

 Thanks, everyone!

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Brooklyn Nine at Barnes and Noble

The Brooklyn Nine getting very nice end cap placement at Barnes & Noble this season, around the country.

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The Brooklyn Nine wins a "Blueberry"

 

I was going to include this one in Friday's Google Alerts Round-up, but it was just too awesome not to feature it all on its own. Schechter Day School in New Milford, New Jersey has given The Brooklyn Nine a "Blueberry Honor." From NorthJersey.com:

Twice monthly, since October, the school’s Newbery Club of fifth- and sixth-graders) has been meeting in the library with librarian Beryl Bresgi and teachers Jennifer Weiss and Debbie Bejar.

The participants chose 15 books to read, discuss and review.

During that time, they also posted reviews and continued their book discussions on a blog.
Then they voted on their "best book of the year."

Just like the Newbery Medal, which is awarded annually by the American Library Association for the most distinguished American children’s book published the previous year, the students embarked on a process of creating a "Schechter Newbery" — or what they dubbed the "Blueberry" award.

 The winner was The Dragon of Trelian by Michelle Knudsen, with The Brooklyn Nine and The Year the Swallows Came Early by Kathryn Fitzmaurice as honor books.

Thanks, guys! When's the award ceremony? I'm writing my speech...

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Google Alerts Round-up

It's time for round of my semi-regular ego-boost. It's been a while, so I've got a bit of a backlog. Here we go!

Editor Liz reports that The Brooklyn Nine was named to the 2010 Kansas State Reading Circle Catalog with a starred rating. "The lists are distributed and promoted throughout the state of Kansas during the current year." (Thanks, Kansas!)

The Brooklyn Nine is also now for sale in Scholastic Book Fairs. Here's a brief booktalk they put together for it. (Opens as a PDF.) And here's the featured book page.

Media center coordinator Beth Martin writes a lovely appreciation of The Brooklyn Nine in the Wausau Daily Herald.

Stephanie Dethlefs, writing the Children's Book Corner for the Neighborhood-Kids blog, calls The Brooklyn Nine a championship-level book. 

The Semicolon blog names The Brooklyn Nine as one of the two best sports books of the year.

Angela Craft at Bookish Blather wishes The Brooklyn Nine had at least been a Newbery Honor book.

Doret at The Happy Nappy Bookseller had The Brooklyn Nine picked as a Newbery sleeper candidate...

...as did DaNae at Literate Lives...

...and the Arapahoe Library District...

...and Sarah at The Reading Zone. (Thanks, guys! That would have been incredible!)

O.W.L. (Outrageously Wonderful Literature from the Middle Grade) has The Brooklyn Nine in their mailbox...

...as does Mallory at Grammar Girl.

While Valerie at the I Should Be Writing Blog has Something Wicked in her mailbox.

Something Wicked has been nominated for the 2010-2011 South Carolina Children's Book Awards. (Thanks, South Carolina!)

Serious about Series plugs Something Rotten and Something Wicked.

Someone at Books for Sale would include Something Rotten and Something Wicked in a YA starter library if he/she was given $1,000 and carte blanche.

Mer at the Harris County Public Library recommends Something Rotten as a great mystery.

A Baltimore English teacher is going to use Samurai Shortstop in a Lit Circle Unit this year (and it's in very good company!)

And the American School in Japan mentions my upcoming visit in their write-up in the 2010 International Schools Special from the Tokyo Weekender.  I can't wait, guys!


And I've joined the Children's Literature Author and Illustrator Booking Service. Here's my author page, including info on how to book me.

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Now on sale: The Brooklyn Nine in paperback!

Now in stores--The Brooklyn Nine in paperback! Here's what da critics had to say, back when it was new in hardcover:

"Gratz builds this novel upon a clever enough conceit—nine stories (or innings), each following the successive generations in a single family, linked by baseball and Brooklyn—and executes it with polish and precision."

Ian Chipman, Booklist (Starred Review)
 

"With an impressively cohesive mix of sports, historical fiction, and family history, Gratz has crafted a wonderful baseball book that is more than the sum of its parts."

The Horn Book
 

"The fictional voice is sure and engaging, polished without being slick—an entertaining and compelling look at the deep roots of our national pastime."

Kirkus Reviews

See? You don't have to take my word for it. Now go, buy a couple dozen! They make excellent coffee table books. Or coffee tables, if you buy enough of them.

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Google Alerts Round-up

It's time for my semi-monthly ego trip! I was busy in the run-up to the holidays, so I have a lot of them stored up. Throw out that first pitch, Chewie*, and let's play ball!

GTC at the BooksForKidsBlog likes that baseball's story is the tie that binds the nine generations of Sniders/Flints together in The Brooklyn Nine...

...and one of Mrs. DeRap's middle school students thinks The Brooklyn Nine was "a perfect amount of pages."

Meanwhile, The Brooklyn Nine appealed to the inner history buff in Sarah at The Reading Zone...

...and was a nominee for the 2009 Cybils Middle Grade Fiction Award. (Even though it wasn't a finalist.)

Karen and Stephanie at Fabulous Reads list The Brooklyn Nine among their Top 100 Books Ever (!) ...

...and Marjorie Ingall at Tablet Magazine: A New Read on Jewish Life thinks baseball fans will plotz over The Brooklyn Nine, and names it one of the best Jewish chapter books of 2009.

BookKids Blog recommended Something Rotten and Something Wicked as great gifts for teens who love mysteries...

...and the Grace A. Dow Memorial Library in Midland, Michigan puts Something Rotten at number 19 on their Tab Fab 50.

Senior Year English teacher Jenny W. plans to use Something Rotten in her classroom study of Hamlet...

...while The Garden Pear thinks Something Rotten is one of the best books ever (!)

Editor Liz e-mails with the news that Something Rotten was named one of YALSA's 2010 Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults: Twists on the Tale...

...and word that The Brooklyn Nine has been chosen as one of the Chicago Public Library's Best of the Best Books of 2009! (opens as a PDF)

The Allen County Public Library named The Brooklyn Nine to its 2009 Mock Newbery list... (opens as a PDF)

...while B9 is a nominee for the 2010 Grand Canyon Reader Award! (opens as a PDF)

Jessica at I Read to Relax! listed Samurai Shortstop among her favorite books read in 2009...

...while Kristine at Best Book I Have Not Read has The Brooklyn Nine in her Middle Grade 2010 To Be Read pile.

Doret at The Happy Nappy Bookseller lists The Brooklyn Nine as one of the 15 best sports books she read last year...

...and finally, Elizabeth Bird of the Brooklyn Public Library and the Fuse #8 blog includes The Brooklyn Nine in her last 2009 One-Sentence Reviews post of the year, saying, "Since I'm not a baseball person I didn't hope to be impressed by this nine generation tale of Brooklyn and baseball, but Gratz makes fine use of the characters and time periods in this oddly compelling little book."

I'll take "oddly compelling" any day of the week! Thanks, everyone, for all the kind mentions and inclusions on your lists. Here's to what's to come in 2010!




*(Did anyone notice Chewbacca is a south paw? Get that Wookiee a contract!)

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For sale on eBay: The Brooklyn Nine

Signing a stack of free, publisher-provided books at a convention or a trade show is a hit and miss venture. Often times, people ask me to personalize the book--they plan to give it to a child they know, or keep it for their own collection, or perhaps donate it to a cash-strapped library. That's all good. Others ask me just to sign the book, without a personal inscription. True book collectors know that this is the best way for a book to retain its value, and so it's not surprising that some folks who want to keep books like this for their own collections ask for a signature only. (Not that my books are going to be worth much in the future, but still.)

But from experience--both as a bookseller and as a writer--I know that some of those "sign only, please" books end up being resold, either on a bookstore shelf or online. This is less cool--the publisher has essentially donated 100 or so books for me to sign and give away to people who are fans, or people we hope will become fans, and taking the books merely to resell them is less than scrupulous. But it happens. And there's no real way to stop it. You can't exactly ask people, "So, what do you intend to do with this free book I give you?" And to be honest, Wendi and I get free books all the time that we later choose to sell to a used book store. But that's usually after we've actually read them and made the decision not to keep them. We never grab free books with the intent to go straight out and sell them to someone.

Every time a new person comes up to have a book signed, I ask them, "Would you like this personalized, or shall I just sign it?" If they hesitate, then answer, "just sign it, please," I sometimes ask, "Should I make it out to 'eBay?'" just to get a laugh out of the line. Looks like I should have written that on these two copies of The Brooklyn Nine, for sale by alibris for $10.54 each on eBay. Truth is, they probably began their life as free publisher giveaways, which is a shame. The last time I signed free books at the American Association of School Librarians convention in Charlotte, we were turning people away because all the free books had been handed out...

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Google Alerts Round-up

Time for my semi-regular Google Alerts ego-boost!

Andrea at The Little Bookworm likes the tiara tease in Something Wicked, then finds a way to work Wicked into a title meme.

The McDowell News covers my recent school visit to East McDowell Middle School in Marion, NC, and reports on how I "obtained permission from my wife to write full time"...

The Brooklyn Nine has won a Library Media Connection 2009 Editor's Choice Award. (Opens as a PDF.)

The Brooklyn Nine is one of many terrific middle grade novels nominated for the 2009 Cybil Awards...

And Musings of a Book Addict muses on the connections between the first inning and the ninth inning in a Brooklyn Nine review for the Cybils.

Thanks everyone for the mentions!

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An interview with my editor, Liz Waniewski

Cynthia Leitich Smith, author of the YA gothic fantasies Tantalize and Eternal, and author of the terrific Cynsations blog, ran an interview yesterday with my editor at Dial, Liz Waniewski. Among other things, you'll find out her favorite books as a kid, her favorite recent books for kids she didn't edit, and what she and Mets centerfielder Carlos Beltran have in common. Oh, and she name-drops The Brooklyn Nine! Great interview, Liz!

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Google Alerts Round-up

Time for my semi-regular ego-check! This installment is all about The Brooklyn Nine...

The Brooklyn Nine gets nods in the mock Newbery lists from Kiera Parrott at the Association for Library Service to Children blog; Nan Hoekstra at Anokaberry, the Anoka County Public Library blog; the King County Library System in Washington; the St. Joseph County Public Library in South Bend, Indiana; the Eva Perry Mock Newbery Club at the Wake County Public Library in North Carolina; and the Allen County Public Library in Fort Wayne, Indiana. If I've missed a mention of The Brooklyn Nine on your mock Newbery list, please let me know!

Brooklyn historian John Manbeck includes The Brooklyn Nine in his article about new books set in his favorite borough for the Brooklyn Daily Eagle.

Thanks to everyone for the great mentions--especially everyone who has put The Brooklyn Nine on their mock Newbery lists! From your lists to the committee's ears... :-)

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Google Alerts Round-up

Time for another ego-stroking Google Alerts Round-up, this time, featuring The Brooklyn Nine on the cover of Booklist magazine!

Fellow scribe and poet laureate of Asheville, NC, Allan Wolf, sent me the link to the September edition of Booklist online, which focuses on sports. In addition to the cover, The Brooklyn Nine is featured in the issue's 2009 Top Ten Sports Books for Youth!

Meanwhile, I'm interviewed over at The Secret Adventures of WriterGirl, where reader/writer/blogger writer Heather Zundel asks me, among other things, where all the girls are in Samurai Shortstop. She also posts a very nice review.

And finally, Bruce Duboff waxes nostalgic in a great review of The Brooklyn Nine over at Middler Books and More.

Thanks, everyone!

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Google Alerts Round-up

It's time for my semi-monthly ego check!

country_gal from Decatur, Georgia, was prepared to be bored by Something Rotten, but was won over by Horatio's sarcasm.

Something Rotten also makes the Bookworms Carnival of delights at A Bibliophile's Bookshelf, thanks to this glowing review at Barney's Book Blog.

The North Carolina Literary Festival (of which I am a part) is getting some press.

KL Knight at Knight Reader thinks Something Wicked has a great hook to get kids interested in Macbeth.

And Sarah over at The Reading Zone has a really terrific post about perfect games, The Brooklyn Nine, and building schema.

Thanks everyone! Your affiliate checks will be mailed when you reach $100.

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Google Alerts Round-up

Just a couple of ego checks today:

East Hampton Public Library makes The Brooklyn Nine a Cool Pick for Hot Summer Days...

And Jess at Barney's Book Blog (no, not that Barney) thinks Something Rotten is one of the best young adult novels she's read in a long time.

Thanks, guys!

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Two Brooklyn Nine reviews

Sarah at The Reading Zone gives The Brooklyn Nine a rave review. Thanks, Sarah!

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