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Starting 2010 in great company

Sunday, January 3rd, 2010

New Year’s Day brought the announcement of the finalists for the 2009 Cybils (Children’s and Young Adult Bloggers’ Literary Awards), and I’m beyond honored and delighted that The Day-Glo Brothers has made the shortlist for Non-Fiction Picture/Information Books.

The other finalists in this category are:

14 Cows for America, by Carmen Agra Deedy

Down, Down, Down: A Journey to the Bottom of the Sea, by Steve Jenkins

Faith, by Maya Ajmera, Magde Nakassis, and Cynthia Pon for the Global Fund for Children

Life-Size Zoo: From Tiny Rodents to Gigantic Elephants, An Actual Size Animal Encyclopedia, created by Teruyuki Komiya with photographs by Toyofumi Fukuda

Mermaid Queen: The Spectacular True Story Of Annette Kellerman, Who Swam Her Way To Fame, Fortune & Swimsuit History!, by Shana Corey

Moonshot: The Flight of Apollo 11, by Brian Floca

Check out the Cybils site for more details about each of these nominees, and for the shortlists in these other categories:

Easy Readers & Short Chapter Books

Fantasy & Science Fiction (Middle Grade)

Fantasy & Science Fiction (Young Adult)

Fiction Picture Books

Graphic Novels

Middle Grade Fiction

Non-Fiction Middle Grade/YA

Poetry

Young Adult Fiction

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Holy Moses!

Saturday, December 19th, 2009

This weekend, The New York Times has reviewed The Day-Glo Brothers, which all by itself would be just terrific. But better still is this particular piece of the review:

In Barton’s description of the breakthrough moment, which can stand for all such moments, you can almost hear the echo of Moses and the burning bush: “When the billboard came into view that afternoon, what the brothers saw astonished them. From more than a mile away, it looked like the billboard was on fire!”

As someone who spent eight years shepherding this book along, I really thought I had considered every possible angle on the Switzers’ story. Not the Moses one, though.

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“Wow” will have to do until I can manage something more profound

Sunday, December 6th, 2009

This past Tuesday, Susan at Chicken Spaghetti was the first to let me know that The Day-Glo Brothers was named to School Library Journal’s list of the best books of 2009. That piece of wonderful news is still just as surprising today as it was then.

Thank you, Susan, and thanks to everyone who has bought, championed, or otherwise believed in this book.

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Days and years

Sunday, November 29th, 2009

We’re more than two days into the holiday shopping season, so you’re pretty much done, right?

No?

In that case, why don’t you wait a few days before wrapping things up for the year?

This coming Saturday, Dec. 5, I’ll be signing copies of The Day-Glo Brothers at Austin’s Arboretum Barnes & Noble. I’ll be there between 12 noon and 2 p.m as part of the Brentwood Christian School Holiday Book Fair, and if you drop by to say hi during that time, you can also get yourself in the running for a free advance copy of Shark Vs. Train.

***

“Almost four years.” It says here, that’s how long it took author Phillip Hoose to convince civil rights pioneer Claudette Colvin to participate in the book he wanted to write about her arrest for refusing to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama, in March 1955 — nine months before Rosa Parks was arrested for the same.

That not only shows some serious patience and persistence, but it also suggests quite a bit of diplomacy on Hoose’s part — otherwise, it seems Colvin would have been plenty sick of him after all that time. It all paid off pretty well, I’d say.

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Fall Ohio colors

Sunday, November 8th, 2009

Used filters at the DayGlo factory.

When I saw my first-ever jet-black squirrel on the campus of the College of Wooster yesterday morning, I didn’t have my camera with me. But that’s OK — it was only the second most impressive spectacle I witnessed during my two-day trip to Ohio for the Buckeye Book Fair.

The most impressive came soon after I landed at the Cleveland airport. David Wiesenberg, owner of book fair sponsor Wooster Book Company, picked me up joined me for a guided tour of the headquarters of the DayGlo Color Corporation.

My research for The Day-Glo Brothers had never taken me there. The story I tell in the book pretty much leaves off at the point when Bob and Joe Switzer founded the company that exists today, and so my fact-finding had focused on how the brothers had gotten to that point.

But as much fun as it had been getting to know the Switzer brothers on paper, through their original notes on their early experiments, there’s a lot to be said for getting a firsthand look at what continues to this day to result from that experimentation.

It made for one brilliant afternoon.

Imagine how Bob and Joe must have felt to see this color for the first time.

As they say at DayGlo, the dirtier the factory gets, the brighter it looks.

Inside the bright pink belly of the manufacturing process.

Note the footprints; I found this stuff still on the soles of my shoes hours later.

Some of the finished products, ready to ship.

Your author. Photo by David Wiesenberg.

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Come to the Buckeye Book Fair!

Sunday, November 1st, 2009

If you’re a book lover within driving distance of Wooster, Ohio, I hope you’ll consider spending next Saturday at the Buckeye Book Fair. I’ll be there signing copies of The Day-Glo Brothers, and I’ll be in good company. The day’s lineup of children’s/YA authors and illustrators includes:

Anne Kennedy
Anne Ursu
Betsy Snyder
Bobbie Hinman
Carmella Van Vleet
Dandi Daley Mackall
David Catrow
Ellen Schreiber
Jane Morris Udovic and David Udovic
Jeannine Garsee
Lisa Klein
Lynda Durrant
Marcia Christensen
Marlane Kennedy
Michael J. Rosen
Michael Salinger
Michelle Houts
Pat McCarthy
Sara Holbrook
Tammie Lyon
Tiffany Laufer
Tim Bowers
Tony Abbott
Tracie Vaughn Zimmer
Will Hillenbrand

Join us, won’t you?

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“It’s him!”

Sunday, October 11th, 2009

When I showed up for my first school visit this past Wednesday, I don’t think I’d even shut my car door before I heard that holler of recognition. There was a class and their teacher sitting outside reading The Day-Glo Brothers, and my daylight-fluorescent green tie gave me away as the author. What a welcome! And what an omen for the great day that lay ahead.

I delivered a brand-new presentation — Me? Write Science? — to three groups of seventh-graders who had just begun their own writing projects for an upcoming science fair, and it was easily the highlight of my week. (The highlight of the highlight? Hearing my tie described as “beast.”) But there’s been other good stuff lately, too:

The 2009 Teddy Award nominees have been announced by the Writers League of Texas. Congratulations to Dotti, Jenny, Kathi, and Xavier!

Cynthia Leitich Smith posted this IndieBound list of books by Austin authors and illustrators for young readers.

I heard from a friend that my recent SCBWI presentation on biography writing inspired her to get going on one of her own. I had hoped to have that effect on at least one person who was there, but you just never know.

The publication date for Shark Vs. Train has been moved up, from June 2010 to next April. In a business where things always seem to take longer and move more slowly than you hope and expect, this is especially nice.

I’ve seen several roundups of 2009 titles receiving multiple starred reviews, but this particularly well-organized post from The Librariest is my favorite.

Speaking of reviews, Colleen Mondor’s enthusiastic words about The Day-Glo Brothers at Eclectica made my jaw drop — and made me eager to get my hands on the other five nonfiction titles she recommends.

Finally, the Cybils are back! Those are the Childrens and Young Adult Bloggers’ Literary Awards, and they’re taking nominations in several categories through this Thursday.

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The Buckeye Book Fair beckons

Sunday, October 4th, 2009

Since The Day-Glo Brothers came out in July, author-appearance opportunities have loomed before me like a really, really good buffet, and I’ve been sampling a little bit of everything: one bookstore event, one presentation to other authors, one public library visit, one school visit (this coming Wednesday), and one homeschool workshop (next week).

Next month, I’ll make it to the dessert cart, with my first out-of-state trip since publication. On Saturday, November 7, I’ll be signing books at the Buckeye Book Fair in Wooster, Ohio — just down the road from Cleveland, where Bob and Joe Switzer invented their daylight-fluorescent colors.

If you’re in the neighborhood, please stop by to say hello — and to check out the other authors on the bill.

Posted in Socialit, The_Day-Glo_Brothers | 1 Comment »

Things to do while not quite getting started on revisions

Wednesday, August 12th, 2009

For a few weeks now, I’ve been just days away from beginning work on the revisions of my YA (possibly upper-middle grade) nonfiction project for Dial. I expect to be just days away for at least a few more days.

How have I managed to avoid getting started? Let me count the ways…

Preparing for and attending a most wonderful daylong manuscript-critique workshop (details here and here) that satisfied so many of my writerly needs — feedback, camaraderie, shoptalk, pastries…

Writing and submitting a polished first draft of a brand-new picture book biography.

Visiting Austin’s BookPeople to sign another batch of copies of The Day-Glo Brothers.

Relishing the great notices the book has received from The Washington Post, Egghead Marketing, and Simply Science.

Preparing my presentation on biography writing, which I’ll deliver in one form to Austin SCBWI at our September 12 chapter meeting and in another, longer form, to small groups of aspiring young writers in Central Texas.

Celebrating my friend Liz Garton Scanlon’s starred review in the Horn Book — one of three she’s received for All The World, coming next month and illustrated by the marvelous Marla Frazee.

Posted in Project_Pasta, Socialit, The_Day-Glo_Brothers | 1 Comment »

Move over, Venus Flytrap and Johnny Fever

Tuesday, August 4th, 2009

I’ve got a new favorite radio host in Cincinnati: WVXU’s Mark Perzel, who interviewed me last week.

I don’t think this will come as a surprise to anyone, but it turns out that I really like talking about The Day-Glo Brothers.

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