Cecil's at rgz!

I just turned over the sites to welcome Cecil! Woot!



What a blast to have Sara Zarr all through June. Loved it!

Janet McCormick

So this is my friend Janet who said I didn't NAME her in my last post when I mentioned ONE of my besties. This is for JANET. On the left. And our 22 year friendship! Can you believe she's put up with me for THAT long? HA!

Margaret Peterson Haddix, Oh My!

So how cool when a bestie's sister just happens to work with MARGARET PETERSON HADDIX??? And THEN the sister sends you a note that says:

"Margaret Peterson Haddix read your book & really liked it....it made her CRY!"

She read ON POINTE!

I love these floaty, happy moments in life. *sigh* Here's to Margaret and her AMAZING body of work, bestie friends, sweet sisters, and kind encouragements.

A fantastic signing at Costco!

What is better than finding you are one of the featured items of the day? Woohoo! So glad there's no mention of price per pound. :~)


Then you find there's a lovely display with posters and plants, and folks are walking past with fliers about your work!


Your friends come out and support you AND you meet fantastic new people and sell many, many books!


Besties from different parts of your life meet for the first time!

Your last customer you've never met before is named Lucy, and she just happens to be dressed just like you. All the way down to her teeny tiny Chucks! She's excited about your book that is now her book.


Is she not adorable? Thanks to her sweet folks for allowing me to share her picture.

What a fantastic day. Special thanks to Dave, the South Hill Costco manager; Pennie Clark Ianniciello, Costco Book Buyer; Assistant Buyer for Children books, Melissa McMeekin; and my Scholastic editor Rotem Moscovich!

And of course kudos to all my supportive friends and family. How did I not end up with a photo of Holly Cupala and her purchases? IT WAS A HUGE STACK.

Thanks again, my dear friends!

Poetry Friday: Museum Encounter

Museum Encounter

Someone's hands formed you
hundreds of years ago, and
you made us both laugh.

Lorie Ann Grover, 2009

Catch the full roundup with the AMAZING Kelly Herold at Crossover.

Costco Signing!

Just a quick note that I'm signing at my local Costco, Saturday at 1:00. If you are in the area, stop on by and help me celebrate the release of Bedtime Kiss for Little Fish!

Costco
1201 39th SW
Puyallup, Washington

Cyn, Emma, and Elizabeth

The lovely author/blogger Cynthia Leitich Smith recently interviewed me about my fav editor and agent. Here's the link if you didn't catch my gushing over Emma Dryden and Elizabeth Harding.

I am so blessed to be surrounded by amazing women in our industry. Thanks, Cyn, Emma, and Elizabeth!

What a Girl Wants: The Girl Detective

Colleen's latest post for What a Girl Wants just went up over at Chasing Ray. This time she asked the roundtable about the girl detective in YA lit. Where has she gone? Here's my response:



Lorie Ann Grover. I, too, was a Nancy Drew fiend, Colleen. I loved her intelligence, independence, and success. The Spider Sapphire Mystery was one of my most treasured possessions. Yes, there are middle grade detective mysteries popping up now. Michael D. Beil's The Red Blazer Girls: The Ring of Rocamadour launched in April to a Booklist starred review. But you are right. That's middle grade. However, here's a YA detective heroine: Kirsten Miller's Kiki Strike. She's amazing. There's one. Yay! It's interesting to note that she is younger when the series begins, and the series has fantastic elements that raise it above realism. Hm.

I see two scenarios. The first could be that our teens today generally won't pause to believe in the possibility of a teen detective. Is the concept too far-fetched? There may not be a tolerance for the fictional character, or is there?

The second possibility is that authors will be bringing mysteries to the table soon. Right now, we see a resurgence of sci-fi, after a gothic/horror fantasy trend. In the natural cycle, maybe authors are beginning to tap into their mysterious stories with girl detectives in one form or another, and we'll see the works hit the shelves in a couple years. Kiki will be waiting.

I've just thought of a third option. Maybe there are girl detectives in YA lit, but they take non-traditional forms. Aren't most strong female protagonists searching for answers in a mystery? Whether they be sleuthing like Nancy Drew or wandering through adolescence searching for their identity like Georgia Nicolson. Whichever, let's hope they inspire readers to take the wheel of their own blue convertibles.

Be sure to check out what everyone else had to say. I loved Melissa Wyatt's point:

"The MG-aged reader still believes in a straight-forward black-and-white form of justice. For the adult reader, they understand the complexity of real life but still hope justice will win out in the end. and still carry that hunger for justice. But maybe it's too much to ask of the YA reader, who is suddenly surrounded by injustices of a more immediate nature than distant crime, that can't be righted by the same means. Maybe it's just not the right time for that kind of intellectual escape."

I'm thinking this may be so...

Hanging at the Hirshhorn

Ellen and I had a blast going through the Hirshhorn Museum in D.C. Here's a bit of our interaction with the sculptures and paintings. :~)

Dancing with Calder

Frightened with Andy

Smiling like Marilyn

Enthusiastic with Stella

Um. No one would pose with the very large, naked man...

India.Arie's Testimony: Vol. 2

I'll do several D.C. posts, but I just ran to the store and purchased my all time fav artist's new album:



I love it already! And this quote from the jacket challenges me:

"I released the FEAR of chart positions and Album sales and reconnected with the love of music and the love of the listener and love of myself again."

Let's rise to that state, writers, right?

Thank you, India!

Poetry Friday: In Church, a haiku

In Church

When she gave the eye
and her hair was sharp and fierce,
every fidget died.


Lorie Ann Grover, 2009

Catch the full roundup with Carol Wilcox at Carol's Corner.

I'm in D.C.!

Really! I'm in D.C.! See.

More soon! (All you robbers out there, if you are reading this, I have a fierce housesitter. Go get a job.)

Poetry Friday: The Runt, a haiku

photo by Marlisa Dickinson

The Runt

Small enough to curl
in a warm, sleepy circle,
a palm of puppy.

Lorie Ann Grover, 2009

Catch the full roundup with Brian Jung at Critique de Mr. Chompchomp.

What a Girl Wants: The Books We Can't Forget

Colleen has posted the first entry for "What a Girl Wants." The entry is "The Books We Can't Forget" to introduce the roundtable participants. The answers are as varied as the ladies Colleen has corralled for the project. Here's my entry which was fun to write. Be sure to check out the full roundup!



Lorie Ann Grover:

When I am asked this question, immediately Island of the Blue Dolphins comes to mind. In 1961, Scott O'Dell won the Newbery Medal for Island of the Blue Dolphins. I was born in 1964, so the work probably came to my attention near 1976 when the Children's Literature Association named the novel one of the 10 best American children's books of the past 200 years.

O’Dell was inspired by a 12 year old girl left behind on an island off the coast of CA as the Ghalas were evacuated. She jumped from the ship to return to her brother who had been left behind. He soon died, and Karana lived there alone for 18 years.

Karana testified to me that a girl can survive by herself. She can face wild dogs, enemies, sea elephants, and the death of a loved one. She can clothe and shelter herself, and find some measure of joy. I believed it knowing O’Dell based the work on truth. This gave me independence and challenged me to be resilient. When my father left our family, I knew I could stand. I was motivated to be like Karana as School Library Journal summarized in their starred review: “A quiet acceptance of fate characterizes her ordeal." I would call it providence, but this is how I have hoped to live, quiet acceptance while wholly active.

5th Avenue Theatre Awards

I wanted to share a few photos from the 5th Avenue Theatre High School Musical Awards. Ellen didn't win in her category, but we discovered she was a nominee for her role as Berthe in Pippin from 8,000 students! And she had a glorious time on stage. What a night to remember!


She entered through this door! Woohoo!


Here she is in costume as Berthe from Pippin before the current world premiere poster of Catch Me If You Can, now playing at the 5th Avenue.


An alley full of actors were waiting to take the stage!


El and I after her performance.


There were awesome presentations and performances!


Ellen represented Sumner High School with the dance captain, Brian, and she was surprised to see her Berthe boys had come to support her.


Thanks to the generosity of Justina Chen Headley, El's friend Beth was able to attend.

It was a beautiful night full of talent. Congrats to all the honorable mentions, nominees, and winners! "There's no business like show business."

What a Girl Wants, Chasing Ray

Colleen Mondor of the esteemed blog Chasing Ray is launching a series titled What a Girl Wants.

Here's her intent:

"(W)what I'd really like to hear now is what other people think about the current status of books for teen girls and what it says about both what they want to read and what publishers think they want to read. Now here's the cool part - the list of the authors who agreed to take part in an occasional round of questions about girls and reading. They are all fabulous and they all have opinions and they all were once teenage girls (that part was kinda critical). Starting next week on a varying schedule I'll be posting a single question and then their answers as we talk about what a girl wants - and what she gets - when it comes to reading."

The posts will include authors:

Margo Rabb,
Sara Ryan,
Jacqueline Kelly,
Loree Griffin Burns,
Zetta Elliott,
Beth Kephart,
Laurel Snyder,
Mayra Lazara Dole,
Melissa Wyatt,
Kekla Magoon,
Jenny Davidson,
and me!

Go, Colleen. I can't wait to participate in this summer project!

Poetry Friday: Possibilities

This is a photo I took on my last writing retreat. This morning, this haiku came to me. Happy Poetry Friday!

Possibilities

Balanced on the lip
of my coffee cup is a
craggy mountain range.

Lorie Ann Grover, 2009

Catch the full round up with Sara Lewis Holmes at Read Write Believe

Press Release for Bedtime Kiss for Little Fish

CO-FOUNDER OF READERGIRLZ AND READERTOTZ CELEBRATES A NEW BOARD BOOK: BEDTIME KISS FOR LITTLE FISH

Author/illustrator Lorie Ann Grover’s new board book for babies is “utterly serene from start to finish,” says Publishers Weekly.

June 1, 2009 (Seattle, Wash.) – readergirlz and readertotz co-founder and author/illustrator Lorie Ann Grover’s new board book Bedtime Kiss for Little Fish has just been released from Scholastic/Cartwheel. Endearingly illustrated by Debra Ziss, the work beautifully expresses soothing images of sea creatures preparing to sleep. A small orange fish instructs:

"Night is dark, baby shark.

Make no fuss, octopus."

Lorie Ann says, “I love the short rhymes offered up by the tiniest fish as he encourages the sea life to go to sleep. Thanks to my editor Rotem Moscovich for realizing the baby fish needs a bedtime kiss as well!”

Bedtime Kiss for Little Fish introduces sea life and adds a quiet calm to babies’ evenings.

About Lorie Ann Grover, Debra Ziss, readertotz, and readergirlz

Lorie Ann Grover is the author of three young adult verse novels (Loose Threads, On Pointe, Hold Me Tight) and three board books (When Daddy Comes Home, Hug Hug!, Bedtime Kiss for Little Fish). http://lorieanngrover.blogspot.com

Debra Ziss is an illustrator and hand lettering artist from New York. Her clients include: Scholastic, Random House, Houghton Mifflin, Grosset and Dunlap, Barnesandnoble.com, The Gap, The Limited, and American Girl Magazine. http://www.debraziss.com

readertotz is a blog which showcases infant-toddler books as important additions to children’s literature. http://readertotz.blogspot.com

readergirlz is the foremost online book community for teen girls, led by five critically acclaimed YA authors. The site is the recipient of a 2007 James Patterson PageTurner Award; the Association for Library Services to Children, ALA, Great Web Sites Award; and the National Book Foundation’s Innovations in Reading Prize. www.readergirlz.com