This & That

It's been busy around here both on and off the Imaginary Blog.
Where did April and May go?



Oh yes, things were hopping at Cover To Cover Booksellers in San Francisco with the launch party of my new young chapter book, CINDER RABBIT.

There was the colorful window display,

carrot cake, bunny crackers,


old and new friends of all ages, prizes and the bunny hop!!

What fun.

Thank you all for coming. If you didn't have a chance to make it, you can still get a signed copy of CINDER RABBIT from the wonderful folks at Cover to Cover.

Storytime at Keplers in Menlo Park was also fun. And didn't Kepler's just win an award? I believe they did. Congrats.

Other good news--Publishers Weekly listed SHIFTY, my upcoming YA novel, as one of "the hotly anticipated titles that publishers will be touting at BEA this year."

Sounds good to me.



ShiftyTheBook.com

And I've recently learned that SHIFTY will be published by Allen & Unwin this fall in Australia, too.
Whoo hoo!

I went to Seattle for the Western Washington SCBWI conference and participated in Contra Costa County Library's Reading Festival.


I attended Christina Meldrum's launch party for her debut novel, MADAPPLE.
Christina Meldrum & her sister, Amy Laughlin (another talented novelist)


And here are four members of the Plot Dogs crit group at the Madapapple Book Launch Party:
Lynn Hazen, Sharry Wright, Kristin Howell & Amy Laughlin

Check back soon for an interview with Christina right here on the Imaginary Blog. If you've read MADAPPLE, and have any pressing questions for Christina, just click right there on the comments button and I'll try to include them to my interview.

Eisha & Jules over at 7 Impossible Things Before Breakfast have promised me (and I quote) a "wretched" poem for our Bad Poetry Friday contest. Isn't that a great word--wretched? Can't wait.

Bad Poetry Friday? Here’s how to play

Busy, busy, busy! Note to self: Must not forget to keep working on my new stories.

Susan Taylor Brown over on her blog just announced a contest where she is giving away THREE copies of Jim Averbeck's fabulous new book, In a Blue Room. One chance to win is by collecting clues in a kind of online Scavenger Hunt...and one clue is right near here on the The Imaginary Blog. So put on your spacey-blog-reading-spectacles. You are very, very close. I'm sure my imaginary readers recall that I just interviewed Jim so if you scroll, scroll, scroll...Good luck!

Okay now, raise your hand in an ergonomically correct stretch if you've read Kathi Appelt's new novel, THE UNDERNEATH?
No? What are you waiting for?? Get to the library or your neighborhood bookstore right away! It's the best middle grade novel I've read in a long time. And we have an amazing interview with the amazingly talented Kathi Appelt coming soon right here on the Imaginary Blog.

Forecast: A good chance of discovering what's "Underneath" the Imagination Process of Kathi Appelt. How does she write like that?? Are her fingers on fire?