This week we’re chatting with author Cynthia Chapman Willis about her writing space. Cynthia is the author of the middle grade novels Dog Gone and Buck Fever. Dog Gone, her first novel, was reviewed by Kirkus as follows:
Willis’s debut novel skillfully navigates the subject of parental loss. Twelve-year-old Dill Macgregor has been hurting since her mother died. She tries to keep her sorrow hidden away, but her grief-stricken daddy, Lyon, and granddad, GD, keep at her to talk about her feelings. Then Lyon goes and gives away all of Mom’s animals except one, Dead End the dog. Now that Mom’s gone, Dead End has started roaming; Dill and GD believe he’s looking for her.… Read the rest
Today we’re stepping inside the creative space of author and illustrator Ruth McNally Barshaw. Ruth is the creator of the Ellie McDoodle series of books which include Ellie McDoodle: Have Pen, Will Travel; Ellie McDoodle: New Kid in School; and the latest Ellie McDoodle book (just out this week!) Best Friends Fur-Ever. These books are the sketchbook diaries of the Ellie McDoodle (McDougal, really, but she was given the nickname because she can always be found drawing.) Of the first Ellie McDoodle book, Kirkus Reviews said; “Part journal, part graphic novel, all fun (with echoes of Harriet the Spy), this is a clever account of a growing-up experience that will be familiar to middle-grade readers.”… Read the rest
This week we’re taking a peek at the creative space of author Sydney Salter. She writes middle grade and young adult fiction and is the author of Jungle Crossing, My Big Nose and Other Natural Disasters, and Swoon at Your Own Risk.
In My Big Nose and Other Natural Disasters seventeen-year-old Jory Michaels is convinced that all will be right in her world if she has a nose job. From the publisher: “that means three sun-and-fun filled months of spending time with her best friends, obsessing over her crush, trying to find something she is passionate about, and. . . saving for a nose job.… Read the rest
This week we’re stepping into the creative space of author Maggie Stiefvater (pronounced Steve Otter). Maggie is the NYT bestselling author of Shiver, the wildly popular first novel of the Wolves of Mercy Falls trilogy. Linger, the sequel, was published this month from Scholastic. (Officially this week, although it was spotted in many stores earlier in the month.) The final installment in the trilogy, Forever, will be published in July 2011.
Maggie is also the author of the Books of Faerie series which includes the titles Lament and Ballad, published by Flux. Lament was her debut novel and was given a starred review from Booklist who wrote: “This beautiful and out-of-the ordinary debut novel, with its authentic depiction of Celtic Faerie lore and dangerous forbidden love in a contemporary American setting, will appeal to readers of Nancy Werlin’s Impossible and Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight series.”… Read the rest
Today we’re stepping inside the workspace of author Rosanne Parry–or rather, I should say stepping outside to the workspace of Rosanne Parry.
Rosanne Parry’s first novel, Heart of a Shepherd, was published in 2009 and is being released in paperback this week. Heart of a Shepherd has earned itself a long list of awards and rave reviews including the Kirkus Reviews Best Books of the Year 2009, Horn Book Fanfare Best Books of 2009, and the Indy Next pick for spring of 2009. It has also been optioned for a movie. Most recently, Heart of a Shepherd was chosen by the Oregon Council of Teachers of English to be the 2010 Oregon Spirit Book Award.… Read the rest
