ALA 2016--RUBY LEE & ME

Lots of cool things have been happening to me! I attended the American Libraries Association Conference for the first time ever.

This is a photo of me signing with my friend and fellow Scholastic author, Augusta Scattergood. Several of our Florida SCBWI colleagues gathered to show their support, or maybe just to ham it up!

And I had to snap a photo of my new book beside Augusta's new book!

And this is a stack of our books ready for signing!

In other cool news, I toured the TRIO exhibit at ALA. I was especially interested because RUBY LEE & ME will be part of TRIO in 2017. That means my book will be given to a visual artist and a songwriter. Using RUBY LEE & ME as inspiration, the visual artist will produce a work of art, and the songwriter will pen a song, thus completing the TRIO. The exhibit will debut at the Southern Independent Booksellers' Conference in Savannah.You can learn more by clicking on TRIO.

And finally, I had the opportunity to meet a Louisiana family whose son has been assigned RUBY LEE & ME for summer reading. Here we are at Inkwood Books:

That's all the news that's fit to print. Happy Fourth of July and Happy Summer Reading!

Nerdy Book Club--RUBY LEE & ME

I have written a blog post called, "The Teacher Who Inspired RUBY LEE AND ME." You can read it by clicking on the Nerdy Book Club.

In other news, I'll be presenting to a Middle Grade book club on April 25th at Inkwood Books! Mark your calendars for book club at 6:30, with a signing for the general public at 7:00 pm. The address is 216 S. Armenia Avenue, Tampa, FL.

And I've finally ordered bookmarks! Don't they look spiffy? Contact me if you'd like one!

Holiday Shopping - Judging A Book By Its Cover

On a recent trip to New York City, I ducked into the Scholastic Store. I was looking for a Christmas gift for my niece who's in first grade. Ella Brett loves shoes and this book caught my eye:

Of course I had to buy it. I fell in love with the cover!

I also went shopping at Inkwood Books in Tampa for my friend Cynthia Chapman Willis. Cindy is a middle grade author who adores animals. This is the gorgeous cover that caught my eye: 

Of course I had to buy it. I fell in love with the cover art. 

And finally, I bought myself a book at Barnes and Noble. I bought COUNTING BY 7s because it comes highly recommended and is getting great buzz in the children's book community. But I would never have picked up COUNTING BY 7s if I hadn't already heard about it. The cover wouldn't have caught my eye:

Do you judge a book by its cover? What have been your book buying experiences this holiday season?

Augusta Scattergood's Interview With Me And A Recipe for Chocolate Pound Cake

This picture is of Augusta Scattergood at the launch party for GLORY BE at Inkwood Books.

 I am feeling a bit like a rock star because Augusta has posted an interview with me on her blog. She thinks THE BALLAD OF JESSIE PEARL  would make a good selection for a mother/daughter book club. One of the questions she asked is what kind of food should be served at such a gathering.

In honor of Augusta's interview, I'm going to post my granny's recipe for Chocolate Pound Cake! 

Ingredients: 2 sticks butter (room temperature), 1/2 cup Crisco, 3 cups sugar, 5 eggs, 3 cups cake flour, 1/2 tsp. baking powder, 1/4 tsp. salt, 1/2 cup cocoa, 1 cup milk, 1 tablespoon vanilla

 Preheat oven to 325. Cream together butter and Crisco. Add sugar gradually until well blended. (I use a hand mixer). Add eggs, one at a time until blended. Sift together flour, baking powder, salt and cocoa. Add to the batter, alternating with milk. Stir in vanilla. Grease and flour bundt pan and pour in the batter. Bake for 1 hour and 15 minutes. Cool for 20 minutes in pan before flipping onto a cake plate.

 Chocolate Frosting 1 box powdered sugar, 1/4 cup cocoa, 1/2 cup Crisco, 1 tsp. vanilla, water (less than 1/4 cup)

 Stir together sugar and cocoa. Put in Crisco. Beat it with a little water and vanilla until desired consistency.

I would be honored to send signed bookmarks and do a free SKYPE visit with any book club that reads THE BALLAD OF JESSIE PEARL!