Wimps and Winners: Getting Ready for This Week’s Award’s Ceremony

This is the one week I’ve been thinking about for a while.

First, I had a terrific weekend in Massachusetts. The first stop was with illustrator Angela Dominguez at Adventures in Storytelling, an event with the Girls Scouts Eastern Massachusetts Division. We joined forces with staff from Candlewick Press to give an inside look at how a book goes from an idea to the book you buy at your favorite indie.

I also celebrated Father’s Day morning with readers at An Unlikely Story, the epic indie bookstore owned by Julie and Jeff Kinney, creator of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid empire. What a store!  Jeff was on his way to write in a cemetery for the day (as fathers do on special holidays?) but he stopped by to wish me luck before my event. His bookstore is easily the most beautiful indie I have seen so far in my travels. Every detail is lush and playful. See for yourself,  and put this on your to-be-visited list.

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Looking forward, though, the big news now is that we’ve arrived at the American Library Association’s Annual Meeting, where I’ll officially receive the Newbery medal. AGH!

I’m in a sea of insane details but I have promised my team at Candlewick that I will remember to fully enjoy this weekend. 

To that end, I’m looking forward to connecting in all sorts of way. I’ll have some private time with the whole 2019 Newbery Committee and with the key people in my publishing life who have brought me this far. But there are a few public events beyond, too. If you’re coming to ALA, regardless of whether you can stay for the banquet on Sunday, I’d love to see you and say hello.

Here’s my signing and appearance schedule at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center in DC.

Friday, June 21:  7 – 8:30 P. M.  REFORMA’S Noche de Cuentos with Yuyi Morales and Elvia Perez Napoles, Hispanic Reading Room, Library of Congress, Thomas Jefferson Building

Saturday, June 22: 9:30 – 10:30 A.M.  Signing Merci Suarez Changes Gears booth 1448

Sunday, 7 pm – 10 P.M. Newbery banquet, Marriott Marquis – Marquis Ballroom, 901 Massachusetts Ave NW Washington, D.C. 20001

Monday, 9 – 9:50 A.M.  Pop Top Stage for a live recording of The Yarn Podcast with Travis Yonker

Monday, June 24:   10 – 11 A.M.  Final signing at booth 1448

A Teachers’ Guide on steroids, in the best way possible.

Woohoo! Check this out everyone.

Candlewick Press sent along their hot-off-the-press Teachers’ Guide for Merci Suárez Changes Gears. The former teacher inside me is going to gush here. It’s fabulous, and that’s because it’s written by a super-charged educator and reading coach. The questions and activities across the curriculum are smart and get the kids talking, thinking, and working on everything from Ancient Egypt to the social dynamics of their school.

So I’m sending a big applause to Kellee Moye, a middle-school reading coach and teacher from Orlando, Florida. Kellee is the coauthor of the blog Unleashing Readers, a member of the 2016–2018 ALAN Board of Directors, a member of NCTE, ALAN, and ALA, the chair of the 2014 Amelia Elizabeth Walden Book Award committee, and her school’s 2017–18 Teacher of the Year.

Here it is as a pdf [ MerciSuárez_TG ]for you to download. Or you can follow the link at the top of the article. Either way, I think folks who’ll be using the book in their classrooms next fall will find something useful.

OK, next stop… Massachusetts!

 

 

 

Three Cities in Seven Days: Scenes from the Road

Whew –

I’m on my way to the train station and bound for home at last.

Here’s some of what the last week looked like. You can find other shots photographer Noah Schaffer – on my facebook page. (Thank you, Noah!) But this is what I managed with my camera.

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Events! Events! Events! Join me in Las Vegas, New York City or Washington DC

I’ve recently had several glorious weeks filled with family, local friends, beautiful spring weather and time to write. It’s been wonderful. BUT, I will be hitting the road again soon and I so hope to see you in one of my upcoming events.

If you’re near Las Vegas on May 29th and 30th, join Padma Venkatraman, Phil Bildner and me at the 2019 Summit on Teaching YA Literature at the University of Nevada.

Next up, I’ll be jetting to New York City for this year’s ever-popular BookCon on June 1st! Join
Tracey Baptiste, Soman Chainani, Raina Telgemeier and me for a conversation about the very best in middle grade.

Soon after, I will be in the best company with my friends and well-respected authors Elizabeth Acevedo and Robin Benway for an evening conversation at Politics & Prose Bookstore at the Wharf. We’ll chat about our writing and how our personal experiences and recent awards have influenced our work. See you there?

Check out my calendar of events for more details and other upcoming dates. Until then, I’ll have my head down working and enjoying my family and, of course, taking long walks with Hugo.

 

 

Celebrating my Newbery with Richmond peeps and Delegate Schuyler VanValkenburg

For several months now (and on into the rest of this year), I’ve had the pleasure of traveling all over the country to talk to teachers, librarians and students about my books, especially Merci Suárez Changes Gears. What I haven’t been able to do enough is celebrate the Newbery with my local friends and family in Richmond. 

So, if you’re here in RVA or nearby, won’t you please join me and Delegate Schuyler VanValkenburg on Saturday, May 25th at 11am at the lovely Libbie Mill Library?  I know it’s Memorial Day weekend, but I’d love to see you there before you head off to your barbeques so that we can have a chance to say hello. Bring along your copy of Merci and I’ll be happy to sign it for you!

And my thanks to Delegate VanValkenburg for House Joint Resolution No. 934 and the honor of his commending resolution in the Virginia Legislature. It means so much to me for my work to be honored in such a way. 

Libbie Mill Library

Location: Libbie Mill Library, 2100 Libbie Lake East St, Richmond, VA 23230

When:  Saturday, May 25, 2019

Time:  11 am

Free and open to the public

More info:  804 501-1940

Directions here

Recording Gratitude

I took a ride downtown yesterday to In Your Ear Studios here in Richmond, VA, where I recorded my acceptance speech for the 2019 Newbery Award.  Hands down, this speech was probably the hardest thing I’ve ever had to shape into words. 

How do you properly thank everyone who has helped you along the way and still make it bearable for the audience?  

I’ll share the text when I’m allowed to. For now, though, know that I talked about… bikes and life and books. 

 

 

 

 

Coming Up: Sunny California for the L.A. Times Festival of Books

Sunny California, here I come. I’m in town for this weekend’s LA Times Festival of Books and I couldn’t be more excited.

Come say hello! Here’s where you can find me:

On Sunday at 11am I’ll be on a YA panel with friends and fabulous authors Ibi Zoboi and Elizabeth Acevedo:  “Young Adult Fiction: Writing the Real World, Conversation 2101.” We’ll be in the very good hands of Claudette S. McLinn, as moderator, who is the executive director of the Center for the Study of Multicultural Children’s Literature.

Later that day, I’ll “change gears” (ha!) and chat with three wonderful authors Marie Cruz, Karyn Parsons, and Lisa Ramee for the “Middle Grade Fiction: Grown Up Challenges” panel at 1:30pm. My friend and Hamline MFA colleague Brandi Colbert will be our moderator.

Besides these panels, I can’t wait to meet up with fellow authors, librarians and, most of all, READERS! And, of course, enjoy some delicious California cuisine…

See you there!

The Walter Awards, Cherry Blossoms and Steak Frites

I’m heading up to DC this week for three reasons: to see the cherry blossoms a week ahead of their peak bloom time; to have dinner with my son; and to be part of the Walter Awards, along with other book fun.

A chat with Jennifer Laughran at a.k.a. Literaticast. Take a listen!

Last week, I had the pleasure of chatting with literary agent Jennifer Laughran over on her podcast where she chats about all things kidlit with those of us in the industry. If you don’t subscribe, do so fast. Jennifer gathers publishing people from across the spectrum, so you get the benefit of understanding this business from multiple perspectives. For our segment, we talked about Merci Suárez and her family. We chatted about creativity and writing for kids of all ages. We touched on world-building in realistic fiction. I explained the importance of community for me especially in the world of social media. I made a few book recommendations, too, and of course, my dog and writing partner briefly joined the conversation. Happy Monday everyone!

My dog Hugo makes an appearance!

Meg’s ALSC Newbery Video

All of this year’s ALA winners were asked to make a video about what it was like to get “the call.” You can watch them on ALSC’s YouTube channel. Here’s mine. Enjoy!