A Dog-Friendly Town is out in paperback today with a fresh new cover design by the talented Xindi Yan! I love that Sir Bentley, canine celebrity (and owner of the missing jewels!) is front and center on the new cover. It makes me smile every time I look at it. As a kid, I loved the feel of a new paperback in my hands (still do!) and I’m so excited for readers to experience that with my pup-filled mystery!
I was stunned to find out that Not All Heroes made the Bank Street Best Books list this year! Every year, Bank Street Children’s Book Committee compiles a list of books that exemplify “literary quality and excellence of presentation as well as the potential emotional impact of the books on young readers.” I couldn’t be more honored to have my book included!
Not All Heroes made the Kirkus Best Books of the Year list! Hooray! There are so many incredible books on this list…what a happy way to finish out the year! You can see Not All Heroes on both the Best Middle Grade Books of the Year list and on the Best Middle-Grade Novels of 2021 About Growing Up.
The Week Jr. has announced their picks for this year’s Summer of Reading program, and I’m so excited to see A Dog-Friendly Town listed in the mystery section! If you’d like to participate in the Summer of Reading (and enter to win a prize-pack of books) you can learn more at The Week Jr: Summer of Reading. Have fun!
I was floored to see that Not All Heroes received a star from Kirkus Reviews this week! Of course, I always tell myself that if I’ve put my heart into it and if I wrote the book I wanted to write, it doesn’t matter what the reviews say. Still, I have to admit it’s super gratifying when a reader really gets what you were trying to accomplish with a piece of fiction! I feel so lucky that this reviewer connected with Zinnia’s journey and felt like all the threads worked AND that it was fun!
“With its clear, accessible writing, this suspenseful story masterfully juggles many topics: grief; self-assurance; the need for individual, collective, and systemic approaches to ableism, poverty, and other social ills; and the fine line between ‘extreme altruism’ and self-aggrandizement. Never preachy, the story includes a suspenseful and satisfying climax involving a ring of coffee shop thieves, with every thread satisfyingly resolved.”
I’ve printed this one and taped it up to my wall so I can look at it on days when I’m not feeling up to the task. 😉
Read the full Kirkus review of NOT ALL HEROES
In my email newsletter this month, I shared some gift ideas for kids (of all ages) who like to make things. Creating, building, and experimenting are important life skills that help us become good problem solvers (and they are an excellent way to pass the time during a winter pandemic). In my newest book, A Dog-Friendly Town, the McDade siblings love to tinker. Epic’s always experimenting with a circuit or a gadget, Rondo has a stash of homemade detective tools, and Elvis loves to create art and her own yoga moves!
Read the full list of my Gift Ideas for Kids (all ages) Who Like to Tinker.
If you’d like to receive my (mostly quarterly) newsletter, please sign up on my website!