(or honoured, if you happen to be reading this in England) FIVE FLAVORS OF DUMB has been nominated for the 2012-13 Gateway Award. Actual Live Teens get to vote on which book should win, which makes this award particularly meaningful. DUMB was also selected as a 2011 Notable Book for Global Society. Here, the chair [...]
This morning, the ALA (American Library Association) announced that Five Flavors of Dumb has won this year’s Schneider Family Book Award in the Teen Book category. The Award honors a book that embodies an artistic expression of the disability experience for child and adolescent audiences. To be honest, I never imagined I’d be honored with [...]
Awesome blogger Melissa Walker has the inside scoop on the cover for DUMB. It’s all the proof you need that I should stay out of any design decisions, and stick to writing instead!
DUMB’s first official review is in (from mighty Kirkus, no less) and it’s a corker. In fact, it’s a starred review. Here’s what they have to say: “Piper–gutsy, savvy and, yes, deaf–has signed her way into a gig that promises a big, necessary payoff: manager of Dumb, Seattle’s Battle of the Bands winners. Seething with [...]
For all the Brits reading this, Kepler’s is a legendary bookstore in the Bay Area of California. (That’s the region around San Francisco.) It’s a regular stop for touring authors, and everyone raves about it. Well, even though I can’t quite believe it . . . (drum roll, please) . . . They’ve chosen FIVE [...]
I love children’s authors. I mean, LOVE them. Meeting them not only inspires me, it reminds me that I am freakily fortunate to be doing what I’m doing. I read a comment by Sherman Alexie about the difference between the children’s and adult’s book worlds (I can’t find the actual quote, of course, because I’m [...]
Those of you who’ve read the blurb for FIVE FLAVORS OF DUMB might know that it’s narrated by a deaf high school senior named Piper, who aspires to attend Gallaudet University, an excellent liberal arts college in Washington, DC. (Gallaudet is the finest college for deaf and hard-of-hearing students in the world.) Well, it just [...]
See all these galleys for FIVE FLAVORS OF DUMB? They arrived today, and they’re mine, all mine. And yes, they’re absolutely as lovely as they look. Aside from the fact that the cover is just about the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen (and deserves its own blog post), the whole design is simply perfect. [...]
Writing may be solitary work, but the YA community is fantastic. One of the coolest things about being a writer is meeting other authors and watching their progress. Seriously, when you only get to publish one book a year (and that’s being generous) it’s important to have something to cheer for in the meantime. Well, [...]
I’m one of those authors who works in coffee shops. You know . . . the ones who sit at the dark and dusty tables at the back, plugged into a laptop, hoping nobody notices they’ve been there FOUR HOURS ALREADY. But coffee shops are great places to work, I find. It feels like a [...]
