IMWAYR

It's MONDAY and what am I reading, you ask?

Some people don't understand how I can read <MANY> books at the same time.

Clearly, those people are not librarians. Or teachers.

I can juggle books with the best of the best.

Right now I'm reading the (so far) excellent YA novel SALT TO THE SEA.
I've always been a fan of World War II books. This one is multi-POV and a different setting from others I've read and I love it.

I am reading the e-book, downloaded via my local library's website, and I'm also on the waiting list for the audiobook. The wise and wonderful Teri Lescene mentioned it (I think) at her talk about recommended books at the Kaigler Book Festival at the University of Southern Mississippi this spring. Or maybe she or her partner-in-reading Karin Perry posted on Facebook or tweeted how great the audiobook is. I rarely both listen and read the actual book, but I'm going to give this one a try. As soon as I finish the words on the page. The page of my Kindle, that is.

I have an ARC of Nancy Cavanaugh's new novel which I started before we began our trek northward, and I'm looking forward to dipping back into this fun book later today.

I'm also reading an adult novel which is intriguing and not at all what I'd normally pick up. But I adore Monica Wood's writing tips and I even blogged about her fun, funky craft books, POCKET MUSE (one and two) on a group blog I once wrote for.  So I'm reading her new novel, recommended to me by a random stranger standing in front of the New Books shelf at my public library. That happens a lot- perfect strangers connecting at the library.

I'm also re-reading at least two writing craft books.

A lovely screened porch in a little cottage on Maryland's Eastern Shore is the perfect place to read. We're visiting, away from the distractions of my house, not cooking much, no weeds to worry about or errands that need running. I'm in reading heaven.

I hope your summer reading is the same!

Check out some of the other Monday Readers, linked HERE 
and also HERE.

Tell me, what are you reading?

Just Like Me

(Is that a perfect book title, or what?)

 
Happy Book Birthday Week to my friend Nancy Cavanaugh's third fabulous book.

I'm beyond excited that she's stopped by to introduce you all to this newest middle-grade novel.

Kick off your flipflops and stay awhile, Nancy. Let's talk!

AUGUSTA:

You've drawn from your own life for your previous novels, is there a little bit about you in this book? Were you a camper? Counselor? Do you love or hate swimming/ canoeing/ hiking/ soccer? As a former camper, counselor, and lover of summer camp, I think you described the camp activities so well.

NANCY:
Summer camp is one of my most vivid childhood memories.  Notice that I didn’t say my “fondest” childhood memories.  My camp memories include the good, the bad, and the ugly.  The “good” was always the active fun of activities with my friends (swimming and boating were my favorites) and enjoying a week of complete freedom away from my parents.  The “bad” was the camp arguments with difficult cabin mates, strict counselors, or the time I got strep throat at camp.  And the “ugly” was that awful camp oatmeal, the really bad bug bites, and the way my clothes felt damp all the time.  (Oh yeah, and the sand that always ended up in the bottom of my sleeping bag when I didn’t brush my feet off well enough before I crawled inside. I always HATED that!) 

In spite of all that, I really did love going to camp, and I think summer camp really changes kids.  At the end of the week, everyone returns home a slightly different person, which is why I chose Camp Little Big Woods as the setting for this story.        

But my daughter and her friends going to summer camp were the real inspiration for JUST LIKE ME.

AUGUSTA: I know Chaylee is proud of her mom!

Tell us a little about the design of this book? I love love love the puzzle pieces at the head of each chapter, the fabulous cover design of canoes, the uber cool little envelopes for page breaks. Who gets to decide what goes where and why? 

NANCY:

I LOVE the way JUST LIKE ME looks too, and I can say that without bragging because I didn’t have anything to do with the way the book looks. Thank goodness for that!  The art design team at Sourcebooks is responsible for how wonderfully creative all my books are in terms of design.  The art team works closely with my editor to come up with a concept for how everything will look and how it ties together with the story.  Throughout their process, my editor does show me the ideas they are working on. She not only asks for my input, but also asks if I have any ideas of my own. It really is such a team effort.   

 

AUGUSTA: Speaking of teamwork, there's a wonderful subplot about teamwork and helping friends in your book. Is that one thing you hope kids will take away from JUST LIKE ME?

NANCY: 

As a former teacher, I spent lots of years encouraging the students in my classroom to not only get along, but to actually work together. I think it’s one of those things that I’m always trying to impress upon young people because it’s such an important life lesson.    

AUGUSTA: Ah, yes. Life lessons. I love that about books! I know kids will read this novel for fun and they'll get those lessons, because it feels very true. But there's also a serious side to Julia. Was that hard to write? 

NANCY:

Though this book was inspired by my daughter who was adopted from China, the character of Julia is completely fictitious, and finding Julia’s story was quite a struggle. I’m an adoptive mom, but I myself was not adopted. I really had to dig deep into my imagination and emotion to put myself in Julia’s shoes and figure out what her struggles and issues would be. 

AUGUSTA: And you did that so well!

Here's a bonus question, just for fun and because so many writers who aren't lucky enough to be published yet would love to know more about school visits, which you're so great at.
What's the funniest question you've ever been asked at one of your many school visits? (Other than Are you a millionaire?!)

NANCY: 

When I do my school presentation for my book THIS JOURNAL BELONGS TO RATCHET, I bring engine parts and talk about how taking apart an engine and putting it back together again is very similar to how we as writers take apart our writing and put it back together when we revise it. Well, at one school visit a couple years ago, the microphone was acting up during my presentation, and it kept making that really annoying buzzing sound. A student interrupted my talk to ask, “Since you know how to take apart an engine and put it back together again, would you be able to fix the sound system?”  I’ll let you guess what my answer was.

Want to know more about Nancy and her books?
Check out her website, HERE.

And this terrific review:
https://momreadit.wordpress.com/2016/03/24/just-like-me-examines-adoptions-internal-narrative/

Also, when Nancy's first book was born, I asked her about her fashion sense and other important questions, HERE.

Holiday Shopping

 It's that time of year again. 

May I suggest the perfect holiday gift for all the kids on your list? 
A book signed by the author.






My very first signed book came from Frances Parkinson Keyes, given to me when my parents returned from a trip to New Orleans where she was signing Once On Esplanade.
(Whoa. Worth $75? I'd better dig that one off the bookshelf!)


Some clever writers even put a special note in their signatures.

I found a book by fellow Tampa Bay writer, Fred Koehler at Inkwood Books and he added a personal note. 

Authors love to sign at their book events. In fact, if you know where an author lives, give a nearby bookstore a call. They might just have them already signed, waiting for you.

Check this list from Square Books in Oxford. 
It could make a book collector out of you!


Since I LOVE Greg Neri's new Johnny Cash biography, I bought a couple. 
For gifts, of course.

These won't be going anywhere but my own bookshelves. But I'm sure that if you buy a book by either Caroline Starr Rose or Nancy Cavanaugh and email them via their contact info on their website that you'd like a bookmark signed or a bookplate, they'd be happy to send it.

I do it all the time for my own book! 
And I bet lots of other writers would love to make your gift very personal.

For holiday giving or if there's a new baby gift you need, my friend Aimee Reid has offered to send you a signed bookplate for her new picture book, Mama's Day With Little Gray. Check out the link to request a bookplate here:  http://www.aimeereidbooks.com/free-personalized-bookplates/

So make that gift special this year. There's still time if you hurry on over to the authors' websites, Facebook pages, etc.  Happy Shopping to All!


(A few words about autographed books in general can be found HERE.  Kind of reminds me of the 4th grade boy at a school I visited last year who told me all he wanted was my signature. Not his name. He planned to sell it on Ebay soon... Wonder how that worked out for him.)

Come say hello!

 You’re invited

to

The Children’s Authors Panel

at

Discovery Night

Barnes & Noble

213 North Dale Mabry

Tampa, Florida

Friday, November 22

7:00-9:00 p.m.

Featuring:

Augusta Scattergood

GLORY BE

Shannon Hitchcock

THE BALLAD OF JESSIE PEARL

Nancy Cavanaugh

THIS JOURNAL BELONGS TO RATCHET

Rob Sanders

COWBOY CHRISTMAS

< Hear from the authors >

<Learn about writing for children >

< Get answers to your questions >

< And get your hands on some great books >

Nancy Cavanaugh, repeat

Okay, folks. This is a duplicate posting from yesterday. It seems a few readers couldn't see the wonderful interview Nancy gave us. So if you read it yesterday, this is nothing new. Feel free to reread. If you couldn't see it before, I hope this works!

(And if anybody has any bright ideas about these blank blog pages, please send your techno-nerd suggestions... I'm copying directly from the word doc Nancy sent me this time, no changing fonts, spaces, etc, and maybe this will work. Fingers crossed!)

I'm excited to have my friend and fellow Tampa Bay writer, Nancy Cavanaugh, here today. Nancy's first middle-grade novel, THIS JOURNAL BELONGS TO RATCHET, launches this week. I loved this book! And apparently, so did a lot of other reviewers.  

   ⇒A star from Kirkus is about as gold as you can get. 

     Pull up a chair. Or a tool bench. And let's ask Nancy about 11-year-old Ratchet and her home-school journal.

Augusta:

I love the journal format of your book.  I’m curious.  Did you write the entries in the order they appeared or did you skip around?  Did they change much as you edited it for publication?

NANCY:

For the most part, I wrote the book in order.  Going from beginning to end is just how my brain works.  There were a few times though, when I’d think of a scene I wanted to have happen later on, so I would jot notes down about that scene, and I’d also decide what type of assignment I would use for writing that scene.  Over the years while I was writing RATCHET, I revised A LOT, and once I started working with my editor at Sourcebooks, Aubrey Poole, I revised a lot more.  So yes, the book changed quite a bit throughout all those revisions.

Augusta:

When and where do you do your best writing?  Do you like music, crowds, food to surround you?  Or are you a solitary writer?

NANCY: My best writing time is probably late at night.  It’s when I know I won’t get interrupted because everyone else is asleep, and it’s nice and quiet.  As for the best place, I’m kind of a writing nomad.  In my house, I write in different places.  Recently, I found this handy dandy carry-all organizer that holds all my stuff.  It makes it so easy for me to take everything with me to any room in the house

Augusta: I love that bag!

I know you’re both a mom and librarian.  Were you inspired by other books you’ve read over the years?  Do you have any favorites?

NANCY: I feel like we’re all inspired by everything we read – the books we think are good and even the ones we think aren’t so good.  In writing RATCHET though, I was inspired by one book in particular – WHAT I BELIEVE by Norma Fox Mazer.  It’s a wonderful story told through free verse poetry, and for some reason that book inspired me to think about writing a book in a different format.

 Augusta:

What’s your fashion sense?  Do you also shop the second-hand clothing stores?

NANCY:

I can sum up my fashion sense in one word – comfort.  My criteria for what to wear is that it be first and foremost comfortable.  That’s why you’ll see me wearing gym shoes about 95% of the time.  As for shopping, I guess I can sum that up in one word too – Kohl’s.  I buy about 95% of my clothes and shoes from Kohl’s.  (They’re not even paying me to say all this; that’s how much I love Kohl’s.)

(Here's Nancy looking quite comfy at her tool bench!)

Augusta: Your writing about Ratchet’s dad’s shop and her helping out is such fun to read and so realistic.  Do you know your way around a toolbox?

NANCY:

I learned all my mechanic skills from my husband.  He was a former industrial arts teacher, and the two of us developed and taught elementary and middle school students a course on small engines.  In the class, we took apart a small engine and put it back together again.  Well, you know what they say, there’s no better way to learn something than to teach it, so that’s how I learned what I know.  My experience became the inspiration for Ratchet’s expertise.

Augusta:

Will we see this character again?  Do you have another book you’d like to tell us about?

NANCY: I don’t have plans for another book about Ratchet, at least not right now.  What you will see from me is more books written in alternative formats.  I love the creative part of figuring out how to tell an entire story in a unique way.

Thanks for chatting with us today, Nancy.

Check out Nancy's website,

http://www.nancyjcavanaugh.com http://www.nancyjcavanaugh.com 

Welcome, Nancy Cavanaugh!

 

     I'm excited to have my friend and fellow Tampa Bay writer, Nancy Cavanaugh, here today. Nancy's first middle-grade novel, THIS JOURNAL BELONGS TO RATCHET, launches this week. I loved this book! And apparently, so did a lot of other reviewers.  

   ⇒A star from Kirkus is about as gold as you can get. 

     Pull up a chair. Or a tool bench. And let's ask Nancy about 11-year-old Ratchet and her home-school journal.

 Augusta:   I’m curious about the neat format of this book. Kids will love the poems, letters, research- all from Ratchet. Did you write the entries in the order they appeared or did you skip around?  Did they change much as you edited it for publication?

Nancy:

For the most part, I wrote the book in order.  Going from beginning to end is just how my brain works.  There were a few times though, when I’d think of a scene I wanted to have happen later on, so I would jot notes down about that scene, and I’d also decide what type of assignment I would use for writing that scene.  Over the years while I was writing RATCHET, I revised A LOT, and once I started working with my editor at Sourcebooks, Aubrey Poole, I revised a lot more.  So yes, the book changed quite a bit throughout all those revisions.

Augusta: When and where do you do your best writing?  Do you like music, crowds, food to surround you?  Or are you a solitary writer?

Nancy:  My best writing time is probably late at night.  It’s when I know I won’t get interrupted because everyone else is asleep, and it’s nice and quiet.  As for the best place, I’m kind of a writing nomad.  In my house, I write in different places.  Recently, I found this handy dandy carry-all organizer that holds all my stuff.  

 It makes it so easy for me to take everything with me to any room in the house.

Augusta:    Oh, I love that bag! Very cool, Nancy. 

You’re both a mom and librarian.  Were you inspired by other books you’ve read over the years?  Do you have any favorites?

Nancy:

I feel like we’re all inspired by everything we read – the books we think are good and even the ones we think aren’t so good.  In writing RATCHET though, I was inspired by one book in particular – WHAT I BELIEVE by Norma Fox Mazer.  It’s a wonderful story told through free verse poetry, and for some reason that book inspired me to think about writing a book in a different format.

Augusta: Ratchet, on a limited budget and totally not a girlie-girl, shops in some zany spots. Although this is not a "girl" book, they will just love this part of your story.  Tell us, what's your fashion sense?  Do you also shop the second-hand clothing stores?


Nancy: 

I can sum up my fashion sense in one word – comfort.  My criteria for what to wear is that it be first and foremost comfortable.  That’s why you’ll see me wearing gym shoes about 95% of the time.  As for shopping, I guess I can sum that up in one word too – Kohl’s.  I buy about 95% of my clothes and shoes from Kohl’s.  (They’re not even paying me to say all this; that’s how much I love Kohl’s.)

(Here's Nancy, looking pretty comfy, toiling away at her Work Bench!)

 

Augusta:  Your writing about Ratchet’s dad’s shop and her helping out is such fun to read and so realistic.  Do you know your way around a toolbox?

Nancy:

I learned all my mechanic skills from my husband.  He was a former industrial arts teacher, and the two of us developed and taught elementary and middle school students a course on small engines.  In the class, we took apart a small engine and put it back together again.  Well, you know what they say, there’s no better way to learn something than to teach it, so that’s how I learned what I know.  My experience became the inspiration for Ratchet’s expertise.

Augusta:   Will we see this character again?  Do you have another book you’d like to tell us about?

  Nancy:

I don’t have plans for another book about Ratchet, at least not right now.  What you will see from me is more books written in alternative formats.  I love the creative part of figuring out how to tell an entire story in a unique way.    

  

Thanks for sharing this funny, smart girl and her story with us today. Here's a link to Nancy's website:

http://www.nancyjcavanaugh.com  
While you're there, click on the link to her blog, too.

THIS JOURNAL BELONGS TO RATCHET is available via INDIEBOUND here:

http://www.indiebound.org/book/9781402281068

Click HERE for the book's link to Amazon.