Seven Superfluous Reasons to wrap All the Truth That’s in Me up with ribbon for someone you love

1. It’s shiny.

2. The cover has Christmas colors.

3. Mistletoe is romantic. So is the book. 

4. Sprinkle it with seeds and water, and it becomes a ChiaBook.

5. Before you wrap it, you can read it. She’ll never know unless you spill nacho crumbs.

6. It helps digest Christmas dinner. Flop on the couch with book and Tums.

7. “Crumbs” rhymes with “Tums.”

If you tweet a photo of your new book (at the store! coming out of the package!) and tell where you got it, I will mail you a signed bookplate, possibly smeared with salsa con queso.

 ¡Feliz Navidad! And happy shopping. Don’t forget to love your indie store.

Blog hop: Sarah Albee > Julie Berry > Carol Lynch Williams, Sara B. Larson, & Cal Armistead

A few years ago I attended Kate Messner’s Swinger of Birches writing retreat on Lake Champlain for the first time. Many authors I met there have become writer pals for life. One who leaped out at me (figuratively! Ahem.) was Sarah Albee. Smart, funny, clever, talented, and kind could describe every writer there, but there was something so cool about Sarah. (Don’t you want to hang out with the author of Poop Happened? I do!) She’s a rockstar writer, a jock, a scholar, a fascinating blogger, a living Pantene commercial (check her gorgeous hair), she worked for Sesame Street, and, for kicks, she knows *everyone.* I mean everyone. She’s dined with diplomats and celebrated with celebrities. She puts Kevin Bacon to shame. Next to her, I grew up under a rock. But she didn’t mind meeting maggoty me. I’ve been so slow in joining her blog hop that I’m, perhaps, a blog flop, but here goes.

Sarah Albee is the author of dozens of books for children, across ages, genres, and even names – she writes under several pseudonyms. (Learn why here.) She writes fiction and nonfiction, and she even gets to write about celebrities (told you she knows everyone) like Elmo, Dora the Explorer, Diego, and SpongeBob. Her nonfiction works, including Poop Happened: A History of the World from the Bottom Up (Walker Books, 2010) and her forthcoming Bugged: How Insects Changed History (Walker Books, April 2014), ingeniously blend insightful social history into deliciously disgusting subject matter. Don’t let the comics fool you; Sarah is a rigorous and incisive historian. Check her blog for thrice-weekly doses of the same magic.

Find Sarah elsewhere online: Twitter, Facebook.

Thanks, Sarah, for inviting me!

The rules of this blog hop are that I now need to answer Sarah’s four questions, then pass the baton onto three more writers I love, whom you should get to know. Here goes.

Sarah: What are you working on right now?

I’m working on a new YA for Viking, set in medieval France. It’s got passionate romance, arranged marriage, burning heretics, vengeful clerics, a mystic, a matchmaker, a fortune teller, and a cat. There should always be a pet. I’m also finishing copyedits for my upcoming middle grade called TheScandalous Sisterhood of Prickwillow Place (fall 2014, Roaring Brook).

Sarah: How does your WIP differ from other works in the genre?

The particular chapter in history on which my YA (currently nicknamed Mystique) is based is one that hasn’t been written about much in young adult literature, or, for that matter, adult literature. I’m excited about that aspect of it. But also, I believe the format and voice I’m attempting to use will be, yuk yuk, rather novel.

Sarah: Why do you write what you do?

Mainly because I love to. I feel fortunate in my work in that respect. I get to write the sorts of books I’d like to read. I especially love the research involved. I think I would have enjoyed an academic career. Writing allows me to delve into, learn about, and research any topic that interests me, put my findings to creative use, and then, when I’m done, move on to another interest, possibly one entirely different.

Sarah: What is the hardest part about writing?

Finding time to do it can be really hard. I have four sons, a house to neglect, and an otherwise busy life. I also spend a great deal of time visiting schools, traveling, and speaking at conferences and writing events. Those things can become consuming. Creative inspiration is a fickle thing, too. While I’m a firm believer in writing regularly and not waiting for one’s muse to show up, I do admit that the spark that brings writing to life can be elusive. The challenge is to press on anyway.

 

Enough about me. It’s time to meet three fantastic authors I adore!

Carol Lynch Williams and I met at Vermont College of the Fine Arts in the same incoming class group, and we bonded instantly. She’s raw, real, and hilarious, combining the kindest heart with an uncensored wit. She calls it like she sees it, which I love. She’s prolific, and more importantly, she’s good. Good good. A masterful storyteller with a pitch-perfect ear for honesty in voice.

Carol Lynch Williams is the mother of five daughters and the wicked step-mother to more than 30 books for middle grade and young adult readers. She has an MFA in Writing for Children and Adolescents from Vermont College, teaches creative writing at Brigham Young University and runs Writing and Illustrating for Young Readers (www.wifyr.com), in its 14th year. Her novels include THE CHOSEN ONE, MILES FROM ORDINARY, GLIMPSE and WAITING with four titles forthcoming in 2014: THE HAVEN, SIGNED SKYE HARPER and two titles in the Just in Time series written with coauthor Cheri Pray Earl. You can read about Carol and her newest book sale on her blog www.throwingupwords.wordpress.com. You can also find her on Twitter.

After my first novel, The Amaranth Enchantment, released, I met a pair of bloggers from Utah who wrote to me enthusiastically about it. I traveled to Salt Lake City to do a signing, and Stacey Ratliff and Sara Larson joined me there. We’ve stayed in touch ever since – in fact we now have a traditional dinner date every time I come into town. It’s thrilling to see Sara Larson now on the brink of releasing her first novel with Scholastic, DEFY.

Sara B. Larson can’t remember a time when she didn’t write books, although she now uses a computer instead of a Little Mermaid notebook. Sara lives in Utah with her husband and their three children. She writes during naptime and the quiet hours when most people are sleeping. Her husband claims she should have a degree in “the art of multitasking.” On occasion you will find her hiding in a bubble bath with a book and some Swedish Fish.

Sara is represented by Josh Adams, of Adams Literary. Her debut YA fantasy novel, DEFY, will be published by Scholastic in January of 2014.

Find Sara online:  Twitter, Facebook.

[Back to Julie] One of my favorite local bookstores is Willow Books in Acton, MA. They take such good care of me there and always have plenty of my signed books in stock. I remember meeting Cal Armistead years ago there, and her telling me she was shopping for an agent. Then she had one. Then she’d sold Being Henry David. Then it was in stores, and earning glowing reviews. It couldn’t happen to a nicer person. Here’s Cal:

Cal Armistead has been a writer since age 9, when she submitted her first book, The Poor Macaroni Named Joany to a publisher. Sadly, this literary gem did not make it to print. But Cal continued pursuing her lifelong passion, and wrote copiously for radio, newspapers and magazines (Cal has been published in The Chicago Tribune, Shape Magazine, Body & Soul Magazine, Christian Science Monitor, Chicken Soup for Every Mom’s Soul and others). Although it took years for Cal to try her hand again at fiction writing, her first young adult novel (Being Henry David) was published by Albert Whitman & Co. on March 1, 2013. Cal holds an MFA in creative writing from the Stonecoast program at the University of Southern Maine, works at an independent book store, is a voice-over actress, sings semi-professionally, and lives in a Boston suburb with her amazing husband and a dog named Layla.

Find Cal on Twitter and Facebook.

Check out these brilliant authors and their brilliant books. Thanks again, Sarah!  

Book Blogging & Creative Writing in an Author Community: the Author in Residence Program at Chenery Middle School

            Since 2010, I’ve visited Chenery Middle School in Belmont, MA every year to give author presentations and creative writing workshops to the fifth grade. Belmont rolls out the red carpet for authors! I love the enthusiasm I find there in the teachers, in the administration, in the library, and in the kids.

Over the summer of 2012, Chenery library media specialist Karen Duff proposed we try something different. We met at Starbucks and she outlined for me her vision of a yearlong program that would harness the kids’ enthusiasm for creative writing and sustain it beyond an annual author visit. Together we brainstormed and developed an ambitious author-in-residence initiative to engage and instruct 300 fifth grade students in:

·       Avid, thoughtful, enthusiastic reading

·       Relentless creative writing

·       Revising and preparing their work for publication

·       Peer critiquing skills as part of participation in an author community

·       Digital publishing tools

·       Safe and appropriate social media engagement

We might have been a little crazy. But we believed it was possible. Karen and I wanted the kids to live like authors live for a year – reading the way authors do, writing freely and regularly, revising bravely, critiquing kindly, publishing professionally, and responding thoughtfully. I thought of it as a 5th-grade MFA.

The program that emerged from our planning was made possible with support from the fifth grade teachers at Chenery, the PTO, the Foundation for Belmont Education, and the wonderful students and families themselves, who responded enthusiastically to the program.

            Our author-in-residence initiative kicked off in November with a two-day author visit. I gave a creative writing assembly presentation “Adventures with Stories” that walked through the storytelling process and reviewed the essential elements of fiction. Afterwards, I met with each class for hands-on creative writing workshops entitled “Let’s Make a Story” where they used what they’d learned to develop their own ideas, characters, and plots, step-by-step. Here's a playlist of short clips from the workshop. 

Karen unveiled the new feature for this year’s initiative: blogging between the classes and me about books and creative writing. Over the year I read titles along with the class and composed blog posts about them with accompanying writing prompts, and the students blogged back responses to the book and the prompts. I tried to reply to as many blog posts as I could with individual feedback, but the response to the blogs was overwhelming.  I also posted to a general creative writing blog with periodic musings on the creative process, and more writing prompts. Teachers assigned blog responses as homework for the kids, so they learned how to log into the blog from any location and enter their responses. The classics we discussed together were (links will take you to the blog posts about each title): Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli, Fromthe Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L. Konigsberg, Esio Trot by Roald Dahl, Holes by Louis Sachar, Love that Dog by Sharon Creech, and a collection of folk tales. (Visit the blog at chenerybookblog.blogspot.com. Word to the wise: "CFG" is shorthand for "Chenery Fifth Graders." Do visit the blog links -- these kids' posts will amaze and amuse.)

The blog was kept anonymous and moderated by Karen Duff, who coached students on how to compose respectful, relevant blog comments on the titles and prompts. Students and teachers drew from the blogs to develop new creative stories and to enrich their reading experience as they examined titles from an author’s point of view. In a year-end survey we conducted about the program, more than half of the students called the blogs a high point of the entire program. They loved interacting with an author online.

Author Erin Moulton & a fan, Winter Book Festival.

In early December, we put together a Winter Book Festival and Author Panel for the entire school. We invited other authors to discuss their titles, sign copies, and meet with students and parents at an evening event. Jack Ferraiolo (Sidekicks, The Big Splash, The Quick Fix), Erin Dionne (The Total Tragedy of a Girl Named Hamlet, Moxie and the Art of Rule-breaking), Erin Moulton (Flutter, Tracing Stars, and new release Chasing the Milky Way), Diana Renn (Tokyo Heist), and I rounded out the lineup. Author Diana Renn told me afterwards that the best part of the evening was having so many of the kids tell her, “You’re an author? I’m an author too!” These were fist-pumping moments for Karen and me.

As the winter progressed, students worked on creative pieces derived from our first workshop and the writing prompts. Most students wrote at least four or five pieces, while a few enthusiasts reported writing 20 or more!

Revision workshop in February

In February, I returned to the classroom to give a new revision workshop I developed specifically for this program. The workshop, “The Revision Show,” leads students through a fun, interactive set of worksheets and guided exercises focusing on eliminating confusion and fluff; using stronger, zippier verbs; maximizing word choice; and manipulating the flow of time. This was harder, more cerebral work, but Chenery’s fifth graders rose to the challenge. They turned around and started holding me accountable for following my own suggestions! Brilliant.

Author Tea: Karen & I present awards as parents watch.

Working with the students to develop their own stories encouraged kids to see themselves as strong writers and creative thinkers. Other the year, they got to see their own progression, from their initial pieces, replies to prompts, and efforts in the revision workshop, to honing their editing and self-publishing skills. In the spring, a combined Author’s Tea and end of year party commemorated their hard work over the year as students presented a complete portfolio of their pieces to parents and peers. It was a well-deserved celebration of the kids’ creative growth and animated interest in reading. 

Silliness hoping to inspire a student writers' club. 

We hoped they would start to see the vital role author communities play in developing a writer's craft. Few writers work in utter isolation. Critiquing others' work, and having one's own work critiqued, cultivates vital editing skills that help all writers move from ebullient creativity to polished work worth sharing. Plus, it's fun. I urge students everywhere to form writing clubs. It's wonderful to see them popping up in middle and high schools everywhere, led by inspired teachers and librarians. 

By integrating reading, creative writing, and online media, Chenery’s author-in-residence program created a unique overlap between a classical grounding in literature and storytelling and a primer of modern communication skills. The excitement of doing something groundbreaking showed everywhere throughout the year. I was honored to be part of it.

The project team and I will present at the National Council of Teachers of English 2013 Annual Convention this month (November) to discuss the program and how to adapt it for other schools and grade levels. Our presentation, “Book Blogging & Creative Writing in an AuthorCommunity: Integrating reading, writing, digital publishing, and social mediaskills in the fifth grade classroom,” will be Saturday, November 23^rd, from 4:15 – 5:30 p.m..

            We hope to take what we learned in this ambitious pilot year and fine-tune it for future years. I would love to see more schools develop similar programs, and Karen and I would be happy to talk with any schools considering it about what we learned along the way. 

The Next Big Thing blog tour: All the Truth That's In Me

Hannah Barnaby, acclaimed author of Wonder Show (2012, Houghton) was my first graduate school writing mentor. She slogged with me through the jungle of the first novel I ever wrote, one which will never see the light of day, and never once told me to sharpen my skills at my day job. I owe her hugely.

Hannah recently participated in The Next Big Thing Blog Tour, which started in Australia and is now looping its way from blog to blog around the cosmos. She tapped me in her blog post as her NEXT Next Big Thing nominee, so I’ll now answer the questions and pass the baton. But first, a little about Wonder Show. In Hannah's own words, it's the story of a fourteen-year-old girl named Portia who finds herself with very few friends and no family at all, having been deposited in a home for wayward girls that is owned by the nefarious Mister. When a traveling carnival sideshow crosses Portia's path one day, she seizes the chance to run away and follows the Wonder Show folks on their dusty, dismal journey through post-Depression America. Read more about Hannah and Wonder Show here or on my earlier blog post here. 

My upcoming novel, All the Truth That’s in Me, releases September 26, 2013 from Viking – just under a month from now. Judith, a young woman living in a colonial village, has suffered a trauma that left her unable to speak. Years prior, she and her best friend went missing from their small village. Soon after, the friend’s body washed up in a river. When Judith returns two years later, she can’t speak. She’s assumed to bear moral guilt for what’s happened, so she becomes an outcast in her repressive, Puritanical community. All her life she’s been in love with a young man named Lucas, but he’s beyond her reach forever, now. The whole book is written as an address to him – not as a letter, but as an outpouring of all her thoughts to him – as though she’s telling him all that she would, if she could.

Now for the questions.

1) What was the working title of your book?

As I wrote it, I called it Lucas, since it was addressed to him – he was the “you” of the book, and the focal point of Judith’s preoccupation. In hindsight, I’m glad my editor prevailed upon me to choose better.

2) Where did the idea come from for the book?

I was reading a discussion in a craft book about point of view in literature, and I read about the infrequent use of second person narration. I thought, “Hm. I wonder if I could write a second person novel?” So I opened my laptop and let my mind wander. The first line of the novel popped into my head, followed in rapid succession by the entire first (short) chapter. I had tons left to figure out, but I definitely felt I was on to something. As it turned out, what I’d written wasn’t true second person, since the “you” figure was a character within the story (as opposed to the reader). That’s okay. Any prompt that gets you writing is a good one, even if the result isn’t quite what you’d planned.

3) What genre does your book fall under?

It’s definitely young adult. People call it historical, because it’s set in the past, but it’s not affixed to an actual historical period, so I’m not sure that’s quite right. It’s a made-up place and time that feels like Colonial America, but isn’t ever specifically named as such. It’s realistic fiction, and it’s been called a romance, a mystery, and a thriller. A YA romystiller?

4) What actors would you choose to play the part of your characters in a movie rendition?

Oh, I am terrible at these questions. I don’t watch enough TV or movies to know who’s who. A disproportionate number of the characters in the movies I do watch are comic book monsters or Orcs. I suppose I can’t cast Lady Arwen and Legolas?  

(I did not just say that, did I?) 

My husband, indie film actor Phil Berry, nominated Chloe Grace Moretz as Judith. As for Lucas, I’m at a loss. Suggestions welcome! 

5) What is the one-sentence synopsis of your book?

"Judith can’t speak, but she can lay down her life to save her village if it offers a hope of survival to Lucas, whom she loves from afar – but doing so resurrects ghosts and secrets better left forgotten, and exacts from Judith a painful price to tell her tale."

Oof, that’s a monster of a sentence. Where’s an editor when you need one?

6) Who or what inspired you to write this book?

See #2.

7) What else about the book might pique the reader's interest?

So far, the international markets have been very receptive to All the Truth That’s in Me, which will appear in 12 other countries or territories outside the US and Canada. Reviewers have been kind, too; the novel has three stars so far. On a more personal level, I think Lucas is pretty swoon-worthy, but then, I might be biased. Check out a 35-page excerpt of the novel here. 

Next on the Next Big Thing blog trail, check out my dear and funny friend Erin Dionne! 

Two Great Books That Eat Well Together

What do picture book The Day the Crayons Quit and middle grade novel Counting by 7s have in common? Absolutely nothing.

Except that they’re both published by Penguin, and that I got to hobnob with illustrator Oliver Jeffers (of Crayons fame) and author Holly Goldberg Sloan (7s) at a promotional dinner at ALA in Chicago. They were witty; they sparkled; between courses, they had the audience in stitches.

Look at Oliver. This should surprise no one. 

Doesn't Holly look like your best friend since forever? That's what meeting her feels like. 

Here, then, for your dining pleasure, are their books.

In The Day the Crayons Quit (a New York Times #1 bestseller! Give a cheer!), Duncan’s crayons have had enough. They’ve been overused and underappreciated, they’ve colored outside the lines, and they dream of different things to draw. Each crayon complains to Duncan through a series of letters accompanied by Jeffers’s illustrations (in crayon, of course). Twelve hilarious crayons create a colorful (ahem) cast of personalities and grievances. Woebegone Black, for instance, pines for a black beach ball to color, while overworked Red and Blue are at their wits’ end. The entire 49-cent box has a swelling sense of empowerment kids will appreciate and parents will giggle at – it’s collective bargaining, Crayola style. Filmmaker/author Drew Daywalt and Oliver Jeffers skewer clichéd coloring with tongue-in-cheek encouragement to think outside the box. Recommended for readers – and artists – of all ages. A fabulous gift for preschoolers through second graders who are sampling the delights – and the power – of drawing and writing. Find it at your local bookstore.

Counting by 7s by Holly Goldberg Sloan was a story I couldn’t leave behind when it ended. I moped around for days, wishing I could go back into Willow Chase’s life for a while. I woke up insanely early on a Saturday morning to finish it before the other inmates of the Berry home could devour my attention, and if you know me, you’ll know how reluctantly I relinquish my Saturday sleep-in. This is a book well worth any sleep it costs you.

In this contemporary middle grade novel, girl genius and middle school outsider Willow Chase’s comforting, orderly world of gardens, diagnosing medical maladies, and counting by sevens vanishes in a moment when her parents’ death by car crash leaves her utterly alone. Grief overwhelms her, but like a stubborn seedling determined to break through tough soil, Willow grows, gradually, almost imperceptibly, as she constructs for herself the unlikeliest of new families.

Willow’s resolve knits together a motley crew, at times most unwillingly. There’s Willow’s fiery older friend Mai Nguyen; Mai’s surly brother Quang-ha, and their force-of-nature mother Pattie; Jairo, the taxi driver trying to pull himself up by his bootstraps; and Dell Duke, a professional underachiever, slob bachelor, and delinquent school counselor. Holly weaves these masterfully specific and memorable characters into a compassionate, warm, at times hilarious narrative. The writing is lovely; the people will never leave you. An engrossing and tender novel for middle schoolers on up through teens and adults; a book that absolutely should top your gift-giving list for young readers. Counting By 7s releases August 29^th, 2013; pre-order it now through your local bookstore.

To quote, as I so often do, "Guy" from Galaxy Quest, "I'm just jazzed to be on the show," rubbing elbows on the same list with books like these. Enjoy. And get used to me talking about these books, because that's what I'll be doing everywhere I go this fall.

---

ALA Annual, Chicago, June 29-July 1.

I was lucky to attend the American Library Association Annual Conference in Chicago, IL June 29-July 1. It was my first ALA trip. Big thanks go to Penguin’s school and library marketing team for this opportunity to meet so many librarians and discuss All the Truth That’s In Me.

YALSA panel w/ DJ MacHale & Holly Sloan

My first event was an informal pizza lunch with the YALSA Teen Advisory Board which included a panel with DJ MacHale (author of thriller Sylo) and Holly Goldberg Sloan (author of Counting By 7s). The YALSA Teen Advisory Board is made up of avid, smart, passionate teen readers who give input on galleys for publishers and take part in YALSA Teen Feedback Sessions at ALA conferences. How cool is that? I would have LOVED to be part of something like this at their age.  

They peppered us with great questions.  Q: Do you use an outline when you write? DJ: Definitely.  Holly: No way.  Me: Sometimes? Q: When you write, do you actually think about the themes and symbolism in your story? DJ: No! Holly: No! Me: Uh … sometimes?

With Hannah @her WONDER SHOW signing

After the panel, I met up with my friend Hannah Barnaby, author of Wonder Show, at a new franchise restaurant called Freshii. I hope Freshii finds its way to Boston soon. Loved their healthy-organic-nerdy-type food. Yum! 

That evening I attended a Penguin Blue Ribbon Author Dinner at Bristol Restaurant. Oliver Jeffers (illustrator of #1 NYT Bestseller The Day the Crayons Quit), Holly Sloan and I spoke to a great group of librarians. Oliver was witty and charming, of course, with an accent that slayed all us ladies. Holly was scintillating as ever, and then I got up. Never go last! To meet more people, Oliver, Holly and I switched seats twice throughout the evening. I apologize to anyone whose water I inadvertently drank.

Coffee Klatching w/ YALSA librarians

Next morning, I attended the YALSA Coffee Klatch – a speed-dating event for authors and librarians. Imagine a huge banquet hall filled with round tables, eight librarians at each one. Each author takes a number, sits at that table, talks up his or her book for four minutes, then goes to the next table when the bell rings and starts over.  I ended up at the wrong tables twice. Hearing about new books doesn’t get old for these superstar teen librarians. I’m grateful they’re the ones keeping the reading torch lit for teens nationwide.

Andrea Pinkney and Brian Pinkney 

After that I roamed the trade show floor. I couldn’t resist buying Hand in Hand: Ten Black Men Who Changed America by Andrea Davis Pinkney and Brian Pinkney for my boys – a beautiful and necessary book. I also bumped into several author friends including Sarah Aronson, Carol Brendler, Kelly Barson, Gwenda Bond, Nancy Werlin and her husband Jim McCoy, Tanya Lee Stone, and Jane Kurtz. 

At my signing. 

From 2-3 that afternoon I signed galleys of All the Truth for a long line of new faces, plus some dear friends.            

Tanya Stone, Sarah Aronson, Kelly Barson

That evening, I attended the Newberry Caldecott Wilder Banquet. Caldecott Medalist Jon Klassen’s (This is Not My Hat) heartfelt speech made us all part of his family, sharing in his triumph. (He set many hearts in the room a-flutter.) Newbery Medalist Katherine Applegate (The One and Only Ivan) was funny and poignant. She read from one of her earliest works: a bodice-ripper! Hilarious. Katherine Paterson’s speech on her (richly deserved!) Wilder Lifetime Achievement was a highlight of the evening.

At banquet w/editor Kendra Levin. 

The weekend couldn't end without me embarrassing myself. I met Nathaniel Parker, whom I adore as the voice of Butler in the Artemis Fowl audiobooks. I fangirl-spazzed, and asked him to "talk Butler" to me. (If you've heard it, you know how swoon-worthy it is.) Bless his fuzzy heart, he was a sport about meeting a lunatic like me. 

Thank you, ALA, Penguin, and all of you beautiful librarians for making my weekend in Chicago so much fun! 

Penguin Young Readers Group booth displays All the Truth beautifully. 

          

Of Ankles, Sisters, and Bookmarks: A peek inside the sausage factory

I love giving away bookmarks at signings, school visits, and events. I insist on illustrated bookmarks, because beautiful illustrations are one of the chief delights of children’s books. There’s no other artist I’d rather collaborate with for something so personal than my sister, Sally Gardner.

Sally and I worked together on the Splurch Academy for Disruptive Boys series of elementary-age books. We have a long history of being partners in crime. People often ask us what it's like to collaborate as sisters. Do we fight? Does one of us try to be in charge?

We thought we'd answer that question by giving you a little peek into our process, vis a vis bookmarks.

Meet Priscilla the Gargoyle, who sneaks a book by moonlight on a castle tower. This bookwormy gargoyle came about in 2009 after Sally and I put on our branding & marketing hats and brainstormed. This bookmark had to give an idea of who author Julie Berry was, and hint at the flavor of her books. I wanted to convey the magic of books for young people, wrapped up in a lightly historical setting with a touch of whimsy. In particular, I wanted a character in the illustration with whom readers could connect. Gargoyles lurk around castles, and castles evoke fairy tales, long ago adventures, and classic stories. Sally saw that (obviously!) Priscilla needed to read a book. Priscilla has been a perfect mascot and pal over the last four years.

This fall marks the release of my new YA title All the Truth That’s in Me. It’s geared towards teens, and will likely find an adult readership. Priscilla, for all her lovable bookishness, is a little young for this audience. She’s not going away – I’ll still use her with younger readers – but I needed a new bookmark, and a new character, to accompany the release of All the Truth.

We repeated the process we had gone through for Priscilla. I called Sally to brainstorm. Our conversation went something like this:

Julie: I need a new image that won’t be a complete departure from the Priscilla bookmark, but will work with All the Truth and any other YA titles I plan to write. We need a new character. I want it to be illustrated, not like the photo that’s on the cover of All the Truth.

Sally: If you were a brand, what words would describe your personality?

Julie: Okay. If I was a YA author brand, and not a badly-dressed housewife, I would be: Older, teen, romantic, poetic, mystery, intrigue, danger, anticipation, possibilities, optimism, beauty, movement, graceful, dynamic, transitional, sober, soulful, dreams, possible tragedy, love of the past, rootedness. Trees, I love the idea of trees. Forests. They’re archetypal. Ya know?

Sally: Okay. Um. How about this:

Julie: I like the tree! But the figure seems too young. That’s an eleven-year-old girl’s ankle; she’s   playing hide-and-go-seek. I want bigger feelings, more danger. Also, the lettering is too old-timey.

Sally: Okay. Um. How about this:

Julie: We’re getting closer! I like the typeface and the forest. It’s mysterious and bold. I also like having her on a journey into the woods – but can we show a greater sense of urgency? Also, I’m not sure if the girl is a zombie. Is that a cloak, or flesh rotting off her face? Her ankles and feet look weird, like she has cloven hooves. Please don’t take that the wrong way.

Sally: Okay. Um. Showing urgency in a cloaked figure with her back to us seems hard. I don’t have a lot to work with. Um.

At this point Sally decided that she needed to construct a model with a cloak, using a fan to create wind. Turns out it wasn’t helpful, but it is funny. Take a look:

Thus inspired by her artistic rigor, Sally went back to the drawing board. Literally.

Sally: Um. How’s this:

Julie: I love it. Romantic, urgent, mysterious, and not a zombie. Superb ankles! Yay, let’s print it!

So that’s the story of my new bookmark and new character. This adventure-bound girl isn’t from All the Truth or any other novel – like Priscilla, she’s not book-specific. She is a manifestation of all the danger, mystery, and romance that I want my brand to represent. This final bookmark will be available whenever I go to an author event. It’s been a little too much fun to develop it, and I hope you enjoy it as much as Sally and I do! As always, if you'd like a bookmark, mail me a S.A.S.E. (self-addressed stamped envelope) and I'll send you one. Address is PO Box 23, Stow, MA, 01775. 

Find more of Sally’s illustration online at www.sallygardner.com.