Author Event: Harper Ross

Last week, I attended an author event with Harper Ross. She wrote this amazing book. Check out the fun cover:

Harper Ross was in conversation with Kristan Higgins

They talked about how this book came to be.

Harper wanted to write magical realism. The seed for the magical element (the typewriter) began because writing is the only thing Harper can control in her life. You can write everything on paper as you wish it to happen. Therefore, Emerson was a writer. I like that she became a ghost writer (and no she's not based on anyone nor is the romance author whose books she's writing). 

The typewriter:

The typewriter became the tool because it's something a writer would use.

When Emerson takes the typewriter from her father's study after his death, she doesn't understand the rules. This is where the title comes in. And actually, it's the title that Harper Ross came up with and it stuck. Not all titles stick. It's a very tricky process.

The typewriter works went you type out a wish. But it works in mysterious ways, ways you never imagined.

A wish:

What would you wish for?

Harper and Kristan talked about complicated relationships. This book has some difficult mother-daughter relationship, but also a hard relationship between Emerson and her father. Emerson and her father never made up before his death. To be honest, the mother-daughter relationships in this book reminded me of The Gilmore Girls.

Harper and Kristan talked about her next book, a book about truth and journalism. This book has a prickly character. Harper had a great quote here: Women writers are often told that their female characters have to be likeable, but she wonders if anyone ever says that to make authors. I would bet money that's true too. There were some unlikable characters mentioned. To be honest, I don't mind unlikable characters, but I do have to feel a connection to them in order to read the book. 

The conversation between Kristan and Harper was great - lots of laughs, lots of insightful moments, and the whole evening was great fun.

Two mother-daughter relationships, a magical typewriter, and a question about how far is too far to control the lives of the people around you and give yourself a moment of peace?

Doesn't the book sound great?

I was lucky enough to review it for Fresh Fiction:

Author Event: James Ponti and Alyson Gerber

 

Last Friday, I attended a super fun book event:

James Ponti was at RJ Julia's with Alyson Gerber.

He was talking about the newest CITY SPIES book: London Calling

Read my review here. 

James is always funny; I laughed so many times.

He asked kids in the audience about their favorite middle grade authors - several mentioned were his friends. Then he texted them to see who would text back first (Sarah Mlynowski -Author of the Whatever After series - won)

Alyson asked really great questions.

My favorite was about research.

James talked about how he liked to travel to the places in his books but when he couldn't, he would use all the resources available to him. For example, for the Istanbul scenes, he talked with his Turkish book editor who had lived there all her life. He learned about some secret passageways from her. 

If he can't find someone to talk to, he uses videos for research. There's almost always a video online that will walk down roads and he can see everything.

Or he will talk to his neighbors about certain ideas.

On Naming Characters

Besides the main characters who are named after the city they lived in; the other characters are named for people in James's life: his mother, his editors, people who help with research....and in a funny tale he told, his sister the tour guide. 

There were jokes about other authors. 

On writing:

Both James and Alyson talked about how writing mysteries for kids is different than adults and honestly, I never put it together, but it makes sense. Most adult mysteries deal with solving a murder. But rarely in mystery books for kids does someone die - and if they do, it's off the page (like a cozy). The action and danger have to be there. The stakes have to be high. You can't have any boring moments, or the kids will put down the books. It's a different set of skills. 

Did you know that City Spies has been optioned for a movie? I really hope this happens!

It was great to meet Alyson.

She's a fashionista who grew up in New England.

Her childhood librarian was in the audience (how cool was that?)

She writes:

Read my review of The Liars Society here.

* Book 2 comes out in April and I can't wait! 

Look at the cover!!!! 

This was such a fun event! And I'm so glad I got to go!

No photos were taken this time because I was sick with a cold and didn't want to make anyone else sick. 

Here's one from our first meeting (this is now the third time we've met)

James Ponti Author Event: Mission Manhattan

Last week I was lucky enough to attend an author event (my first one of the year) at RJ Julia's featuring James Ponti and Jake Burt. 

In the shop window:

The event was super fun - I cried with laugher several times. 

Jake Burt was a wonderful moderator. We all played a game plotter vs panser.

James Ponti is a panser - sort of. He knows the ending but not how we get there. He does like to plan three chapters ahead. 

He doesn't know how to play chess, so those scenes are hard to write. 

James talked about his love for indie bookstores and how he's proud to be a Kid Lit writer. 

One Easter Egg: He writes song lyrics into each book

Easter Egg #2 The head of MI6 is also in the Framed books (Which I still need to read)

He doesn't have a favorite character, because he doesn't want the books to become unbalanced. Each character has one of his qualities. But Kat is the closest to him. 

We heard a funny TOAST story.  

Here he is reading the first little bit of the book. 

Thanks to a goodreads review, he stats each book off with a bang. 

It was such a fun night. We didn't end up getting another picture together. This is from the last tour:

We talked a little bit about NYPL. I love the fun fact that is in the book. It's fascinating and no I'm not going to spoil it.

I was lucky enough to get an early copy of the book. I love this series - there's so much action, danger, and drama. You can read my review here.

Another great night! I was so happy I was able to attend. 

Outside the shop. How cute is that?

Author Event: James Ponti

 I’m a huge fan of the series City Spies and was thrilled that James Ponti was coming to a local bookstore at RJ Julia's in Madison, CT

He was joined by Lauren Tarshis, a CT author (Westport) - who writes the I Survived series. There are 23 of these so far...

Fun Facts about James Ponti:

He used to work in television 

He was a reluctant reader as a child. 

Favorite book:

There's a funny story about how he discovered that the author lived in his hometown (Florida). 

For City Spies series:

The idea came from travel - he wanted to write books that would take place all over the world. And readers could travel the world through his books. 

Came up with the idea traveling to London and Paris

He liked the idea of middle schoolers as spies because they

1. disappear into the background

2. test out different identities

3. no one would ever think they are spies

Writing Points:

He likes to blend the old ideas with the new ideas (ancient Egypt but hacking creating the problem)

He conductions expert interviews: asking people "What do you hate about books or movies that gets them wrong?" 

He's mostly a pantser BUT he does know the ending. 

And we have Suzanne Collins (of the Hunger Games fame) to thank for his books. She persuaded him to start writing. They used to work together writing for TV shows. 

Also, the movie rights were sold! 

Here we are together. Because I'm awkward, I didn't get a picture with Laura. But this one came out nice. 

Meeting Elizabeth Eulberg (Again)

On Thursday night, I went to RJ Julia's where Elizabeth Eulberg was speaking. Or I thought she was speaking. It turns out, it was a book club for her latest book. 

This was a new experience for me, but it was really interesting to talk about the book and have the author answer questions or give little details on to way that happened.

We were talking about her newest book, Past Perfect Life, which I quite enjoyed. You can see my review here. 

I've read her books and met her a few times at BEA, so it was nice to see her again. I also won a skype visit for the library. That was also really great.

Here are 10 Facts we learned:

Past Perfect Life is based on a real news story.

The boy was 18, so he could make his own choices

The working title was Before/After 

The ending changed

The large family was based off of Eulberg's family

She used her cousins' names in the book

She picked Tampa because it was the polar opposite of a small town life in Wisconsin

Her next book is a middle grade novel 

It involves a time capsule from 1989.

She wrote it to a playlist from that era.

If you liked this book, here are my recommendations:

And here we are together:

Anthony Horowitz Book Tour

On Tuesday, I left work early to go to an author event - Anthony Horowitz. I've been reading his books for years and I was SO happy to meet him.

If you're not familiar with him, he's the author of the Alex Rider series. Which I adore. I'm a huge fan.

Here he is chatting.

Alex Rider first came out in 2000, now 17 years later the 11th book came out. But he swore he would stop at 10. So for the last five years, there hasn't been any new Alex Rider stories.

Then his publishers asked him to polish up some short stories for publication. And he fall back into the rhythm of Alex Rider's life. We left Alex in a dark place, hoping that he would get better as time passed. He started writing new stories about Alex and this one wouldn't let go. Thus we have book 11 (which is amazing - read my review here) and book 12 will be out next year (or so). 

He had a boring childhood, but he used to play spies with his sister in their neighborhood. They would sneak about the garden and spy on their neighbors.

Anthony Horowitz hated school, but he loved the library. It was the one place he felt happy. He read action adventure stories. He loved James Bond - first the films and then the books. He hated how old Roger Moore was in the last films, he wanted someone much younger and cooler. A light bulb went on, and Alex Rider was born.

He had written kids books about roughly 10 years with mild success. His wife advised him to give up writing, but he wanted to write one more: Alex Rider. 

The first book sold double of his previous books and then the series took off. And millions of readers enjoy Alex's adventures. 

There's a new TV series in the works, starting with book 2 coming from British TV. I'm quite looking forward to that. 

Besides Alex Rider, he's done quite a lot with British television. 

It was a really fun night and I'm so glad I finally got a chance to meet him!

 

RJ Julia's: Natasha Friend

Last night, I attended an author event for Natasha Friend for RJ Julia's bookstore. It was a packed house for the local author.

I've seen Natasha speak before, she came to talk at a library event at Otis Library.

Her brand new book, Where You'll Find Me came out yesterday. I've only read the first chapter, but it's great so far!

Natasha spoke about her memories from middle school (those dreaded terrible years.) She talked about how her clothes weren't right, the trouble with friends, and how she remembers it all like it was yesterday. These memories come in handy for her writing.

At the previous author event, she had told a story about meeting Judy Blume and how wrong it went. Here she retold the story, adding how she met her again. The meeting was a little better than the previous meeting, but what happened after is amazing! 

For more details - check out the back of the book!

Book Summary from Goodreads:

In this powerful and buoyant YA novel, a thirteen-year-old girl learns to navigate the shifting loyalties of friendships in middle school and deals with challenges at home.

The beginning of the eighth grade is not what Anna thought it would be. Her lifelong best friend has ditched her for the cool kids, and her mom is in the hospital after a suicide attempt. Anna finds herself where she least expects to: living with her dad, his young new wife, and their baby, and starting a new year at school without a best friend. With help from some unlikely sources, including a crazy girl-band talent show act, Anna learns that sometimes you find what you need to pull you through in the most unlikely places.

Sounds great right? I can't wait to read more!

Author Visit with Chris Grabenstein

Last night I was at RJ Julia's to see Chris Grabenstein. He was really funny and engaging - there was lots of laughter  from the audience. It was great to see so many kids attending the author event - two introduced him.

Reading from Mr. Lemoncello's Library Olympics

Answering Questions

We found out a few details:

 * A third book is in the works

* The options have been sold

* He has four brothers

* He used his imaginative play with his brothers in The Island of Dr. Libris 

* He enjoyed improv (just like Jamie in I Funny)

* He worked in adverting writing commercials (with James Patterson)

* He wanted to make research and learning fun - more like a game

* He's a reluctant reader himself

* The idea for the sequel came from a 5th grade during an author skype session

Getting books signed (one for me and one for my library)

At My Bookstore: RJ Julia's

RJ Julia's is a local bookstore roughly an hour from my house.

I've seen SO many great authors here that I've forgotten them all.

Stephanie Meyer came to promote New Moon. Suzanne Collins came for Mockingjay. I've seen Meg Cabot, Michael Scott, Ally Cater, Maureen Johnson, Sara Shepard, Sarah Mlynowski, Matt de la Pena, Sarah MaClean, and many more.

Here's what you see when you walk in the front door.

It's filled with nooks and crannies with tons of books and lots of displays.

When you go upstairs, there's a kids section, a tween section, and a newly re-purposed teen room (Which is of course, my favorite).

Nutmeg List (CT award books)

Staff Genre recommendation and teen reviews

Fortune teller display on which book to read next

Hot new releases 

I was there last night for an event with Kristan Higgins. 

She was promoting her brand new book If You Only Knew, which was fantastic as always

 Check out my review

This new books is women's fiction which differs slightly from her romance books with the focus on more emotional plot lies and no hero's perspective. Instead it focuses on the love of two sisters (but don't worry, it has romance and all the humor you would expect.)

I cried laughing as Kristan Higgins talked about how strangers tell her the most private moments of their lives upon meeting her - because of her open face. One of these conversations in a restaurant lead her to this book and the story line of Rachel. 

Rachel's sister Jenny goes through a particularity bad date, which Kristan includes in all her books.

Up next is the last book in the Blue Heron series called Anything for You

A Little Trivia: 

Her first book boyfriend was Rhett Butler 

Write two books a year

She wanted to be a pediatrician or a Jedi

First boyfriend = Rhett

It took 37 titles to come up with If You Only Knew and her mother came up with the title.