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New for 200
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Digital Lifeline- This fantasy is for readers who surf the web. After Mort's parents are killed in a tragic car wreck, he goes to live with his uncle and cousin. But the family turns out to have powers Mort never suspected. As he follows his digital lifeline and learns how he can change other people's lives, Mort begins to suspect that someone was to blame for his parents' deaths - and to wonder if there's any way he can change their fate.
Ghostwriters - If you like Digital Lifeline, you might enjoy this web mystery as well. When Zach (who plans to grow up to be a famous novelist) gets a C- on his creative writing assignment, he's stunned. Then Zach realizes the story his teacher graded isn't even the one he wrote. Someone substituted a lousy story for his great one! Who could be out to get him? At first he suspects his rival assistant editor, but when both the school computer and his computer at home start acting stramge. Zach begins to suspect there's something more sinister going on.
Ghostwriters appeared in the July 2007 issue of iPulp's Fiction Library, and Digital Lifeline appears in the April and May 2008 issues. Click here to read these suspenseful stories for readers from 10 up for free online, and check out some of iPulp's other great stories for middle graders and teens.
JELP - This chapter book for third graders is the story of two kids who get the worst spelling grades in their class, and despair of writing a book for their school's Young Authors' Contest. But perhaps by working together they can come up with a way to spell success.
Making the Leaves Talk - This chapter book for third graders is the story of Sequoya's struggle to invent a written Cherokee language. When he faces the great chiefs at the national council house with his Cherokee Syllabary, the only one who believes in him is his daughter, Ahyoka. In the end, it's up to her to convince the chiefs.
JELP and Making the Leaves Talk are new in January 2008 as part of Wendy Pye's Award Series.
Recently Published
The Perfect Shot - This young adult mystery just published by Carolrhoda is the story of a high school basketball player, Brian, whose girlfriend has been murdered. The police arrest her father, but Brian isn't sure they've got the right man. He thinks he might know something the police have overlooked When Brian's teammate is arrested for nothing more than being a black kid in a white neighborhood, Brian has to face up to the fact that the justice system isn't working the way it's supposed to. But if he speaks out about what he knows about the murder, will the real killer try for another perfect shot? This time against Brian?
May 2006: ForeWard Magazine named The Perfect Shotthe Gold Medal Winner in its Book of the Year Award for Young Adult Fiction.
December 2005: VOYA named The Perfect Shotto its Top Shelf Fiction for Middle School Readers List.
Previously Announced
May 2004: Indiana students in grades 4-6 chose Ghost Soldier for the 2004 Young Hoosier Book Award in the Intermediate category.
May 2002: The Society of Midland Authors selected Ghost Soldier for their 2002 Award for Children's Fiction.
February 2002: The Mystery Writers of America nominated Ghost Soldier for the 2002 Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Juvenile Mystery.
This middle grade novel published by Henry Holt is the story of a boy who meets the ghost of a teenager who died in the siege of Petersburg, at the end of the Civil War. The boy must help his ghostly companion discover what happened to his family after Sherman's troops marched across their farm.
Click here to read an excerpt from Ghost Soldier.
Ghost Soldier is a Junior Library Guild selection.
Book Signings
Humboldt County Author Festival - 20 October 2007 in Eureka, California. I'll be signing after spending several days visiting Humboldt County schools and talking to students. If you're in Northern California, come by and say hello! Please click here for information about the Festival.
Conference Appearances
Tri-Regions of Southern California SCBWI 2008 Half Day Writer's Workshop - 23 February 2008 in Pacific Palisades, California. I'll be leading a hands-on workshop about plotting and character development in books for young readers, and signing some of my titles. Click here to find out more about this interactive workshop, and come prepared to write!
A Novel Retreat in Three Acts - 26-28 October 2007 in Nebraska. I led Act I of this unique retreat for writers who want to write, revise and publish a novel. In Act I I guided you through the process of coming up with an idea, developing your characters and plotline, pacing your novel, understanding your dramatic throughlines, exploring your theme, working within your genre, and planning out a writing schedule to get you from idea to finished manuscript, and I was with you as Author Darcy Pattison led Act II in April 2008 and led you in revising your novel. I'll be back as editor Alexandra Penfold leads Act III in October 2008 to guide participants in submitting their novel, dealing with editors, and moving on with their writing careers. Please click here to find out more information about this exciting series of retreats.
If you weren't able to join us and make your dream of writing a novel for young readers a reality, I hope you'll consider participating in a future retreat!Kansas SCBWI 2007 Conference - 23 June in Overland Park, Kansas. I'll be leading a hands-on workshop about developing character and conflict in books for young readers, and signing some of my titles. I hope I had the chance to meet you at this wonderful conference!
Soon To Be Published
An Unspeakable Crime - This young adult nonfiction book tells the story of the murder of 13-year-old Mary Phagan in Atlanta in 1913. The teenager went to the pencil factory where she worked to pick up her week's pay, and was found dead the next morning. All Atlanta was horrified by the crime, and turned against the factory manager, Leo Frank, a Jewish Yankee who had come down from New York to manage the plant. Other teenage workers testified that Frank had made inappropriate advances to them, and the prosecution built a case of innuendo against Frank, culminating in a conviction that condemned him to be hanged for Mary's murder. This was overturned by the governor, and Atlanta errupted in riots, attacking Jewish businesses and homes, and the governor's mansion.
Nearly a century later, people are still trying to understand what really happened the day Mary went to get her pay - it has taken a lynching and a frightened witness who was 14 when Mary died, and 83 when he finally came forward to tell the true story of this unspeakable crime.
An Unspeakable Crime will be published by Carolrhoda.
Counterfeit Son News
January 2002: The Society of School Librarians International named Counterfeit Son an Honor Book in the Language Arts, Grades 7-12 Novels category.
May 2001: At their 56th Annual Edgar Awards Banquet at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in New York City, the Mystery Writers of America presented their 2001 Edgar Allan Poe Award for Best Young Adult Mystery to Counterfeit Son.
This YA novel published by Harcourt is the story of the son of a serial killer who poses as one of his father's victims, hoping to find a family and security at last. The novel poses the question: at what point do you stop caring only about your own survival, and accept responsibility for those around you?
ALA nomination for 2002 Best Books for Young Adults.
St. Louis Post Dispatch Best Children's Books of 2000
A 2001 YALSA Quick Pick for Reluctant Young Adult Readers
Optioned for an upcoming film!
