Archive for 2015

Ernie Cline’s ARMADA Release Set

Thursday, February 26th, 2015

9780804149112_319ecTweeting the official release date of his second novel yesterday, author Ernie Cline set fan sites aglow:

My second novel ARMADA will be published on July 14th, 2015! It’s now available for pre-order: http://t.co/P7ib8DgFrQ pic.twitter.com/rtOMoeP5VP — Ernie Cline (@erniecline) February 25, 2015

Publisher RH/Crown’s description here.

Ready Player OneIt also seems that the long-gestating film adaptation of his first novel Ready Player One, (RH/Crown, 2011) is moving along. The screenwriter, interviewed in Den of Geek! late last month, says he thinks he’s nailed it and adds, “Often with a book adaptation – if you’re adapting Catcher in the Rye, it’s difficult to do anything but make it worse. It’s very hard to capture what makes the book great on film and do justice to it. With Ready Player One, it’s this universe he’s created with the opportunity to be more true to the thing than the thing itself, if you know what I mean.” Maybe we’ll understand that once the film is released.

Armada has also been optioned for a movie adaptation.

FIFTY SHADES Meets …

Wednesday, February 25th, 2015

Following the success of Fifty Shades of Grey at the box office, The Hollywood Reporter looks at four other erotic novels that are making their way to screens. All of them are still in the development phase, with no directors or actors attached, so they could use pitches. Below are our suggestions:

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Crossfire series, Sylvia Day (Penguin Berkley; first in the series, Bared to You, above left, with cover riffing on the iconic Fifty Shades tie) —  Set in an ad agency, rights were acquired two years ago by Lionsgate for a TV series, so, of course, it’s “Fifty Shades meets Mad Men.”

Beautiful Bastard, Christina Lauren (S&S/Gallery) — About a hardworking, ambitious assistant and her difficult boss, it’s “Fifty Shades meets Working Girl.” (note the book cover makes reference to BOTH a tie and cuff links).

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After, Anna Todd (S&S/Gallery) — This boy-band fan fiction was signed for a film adaptation by Paramount Pictures last fall. It will inevitably be pitched as “Fifty Shades meets One Direction” but a warning, when this “watt-pad sensation” was published in book form, it did not have the success of Shades of Grey, so it may turn out to be “Fifty Shades meets John Carter.

On the Island, Tracey Garvis Graves, (Penguin Plume)  — A romance about a woman who is shipwrecked with the teen age boy she has been tutoring. It is “Fifty Shades meets Cast Away.”

The Review Trifecta, BRAGGSVILLE

Wednesday, February 25th, 2015

Screen Shot 2015-02-18 at 9.59.37 AMHaving already won two influential fans, the Washington Post‘s Ron Charles and the LA Times’ David Ulin, Welcome to Braggsville (HaperCollins/Morrow, Feb. 17; OverDrive Sample) by T. Geronimo Johnson gets the second premiere spot (the first right, after the cover) in the upcoming March 1 NYT Book Review, with another enthusiastic, if slightly mixed, review.

It’s difficult to match the openers of the earlier reviews:

“The most dazzling, most unsettling, most oh-my-God-listen-up novel you’ll read this year is called Welcome to Braggsville.” (Ron Charles, the Washington Post)

“When was the last time you were shocked by a turn in a novel? Not merely surprised or astonished but actually stunned? T. Geronimo Johnson makes it happen twice in his second novel, Welcome to Braggsville.” (David Ulin, the L.A. Times)

The Sunday Book Review begins more obscurely, “If you imagine a satirical The Indian Princess, James Nelson Barker’s 1808 libretto about Pocahontas, or a macabre E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, you might come close to T. Geronimo Johnson’s second novel Welcome to Braggsville.” The reviewer goes on to a requisite NYT BR quibble, complaining that the metaphors and similes weigh the story down in spots and ends, “Organic, plucky, smart, [it] is the funniest sendup of identity politics, the academy and white racial anxiety to hit the scene in years. Recent racial satires like the film Dear White People or Tom Wolfe’s novel Back to Blood fumble to light dead fuses … Johnson, by contrast knows just which dark corners to expose … and how to whirl an affecting yarn all the while.”

An Indie Next pick for February, the book is also getting review attention in local papers, several via the syndicated Associated Press review; “narrative diversions and jazzy prose riffs will frustrate some readers but thrill others, and overall Johnson deftly pokes dark fun at a wide swath of culture, high and low.”

Johnson describes the book in his own words below:

Early Reviews: THE BURIED GIANT

Tuesday, February 24th, 2015

9780307271037_b504aComing next week, Kazuo Ishiguro’s The Buried Giant (RH/Knopf; RH Audio; OverDrive Sample) appeared on all the “Most Anticipated” lists for the new year and is getting a great deal of advance review attention.


The NYT Book Review features it on the cover of the upcoming issue , with a review by Neil Gaiman (whose just released collection of stories and poems Trigger Warning, is also getting attention), in a review that indicates he had trouble nailing the book down, regretting his “inability to fall in love with it, much as I wanted to, ” and even after “reading it a second and third time … still finding  its characters and events and motives easier to understand, but even so, it guards its secrets and it world close.” He can’t let it go, however, because it “does what important books do: It remains in the mind long after it has been read, refusing to leave, forcing one to turn it over and over.”

The New York Times daily critic, Michiko Kakutani, has no problem dismissing it, calling it an “eccentric, ham-handed fairy tale with a jumble of story lines lifted from Beowulf, Arthurian legend and assorted folk traditions … recounted in stilted, formalistic language that’s presumably meant to evoke a bygone era.”

Among the novel’s fans are the Washington Post‘s former Book World editor, Marie Arana and booksellers, who picked it as an Indie Next title:

Ishiguro’s new novel is a work of wonder, transport, and beauty. A recurrent theme in his earlier books, always shown with great originality, is the matter of what happens after we have lost our way. In The Buried Giant, Ishiguro explores losing direction, memory, and certainty, as the primary characters cling to remnants of codes of behavior and belief. Which is the way through the forest? Where might our son be? And where is the dragon, and who shall seek to slay her? Set in the time just after King Arthur’s reign, Ishiguro’s tale, with striking, fable-like rhythm and narrative, shows how losing and finding our way runs long, deep, and to the core of things. — Rick Simonson, The Elliott Bay Book Company, Seattle, WA

The Oprah Ripple Effect

Tuesday, February 24th, 2015

9780804188241_p0_v1_s600These days, it takes more than an Oprah pick to make a book a sensation.

The most recent Oprah 2.0 Book Club pick, Cynthia Bond’s debut novel Ruby (RH/Hogarth; RH Audio; RH large type announced for March 17;  OverDrive Sample). announced two weeks ago, reached a high of #98 on Amazon’s sales rankings then dropped out of the Top 100 (it hit the March 1 NYT Trade Fiction list at #7).

After a feature about the author on NPR’s Morning Edition yesterday, it rose again, this time to #82. The story focuses on the author’s financial struggles as a single mother while she worked to complete the book. Bond was widely compared to Toni Morrison at the time of the novel’s publication, which racked up a number of starred reviews, and received fairly wide attention for a literary debut, but sales did little to change the author’s life until Oprah came along.

opr_cvr-lgAnd more is coming. NPR notes, “Because today’s market is much more segmented now than when her original book club began, Winfrey is personally promoting Ruby in her magazine, on her cable network and in interviews.”

The upcoming March issue of O Magazine features Oprah’s interview with the author (sneak peek here). By the way, we’re a little scared by that cover. Please don’t tell us that Oprah has discovered the life-changing magic of tidying up (looking more closely, Oprah’s approach is clearly more American, with rules like, “Know What It’s Worth” before throwing anything out.)

Ruby is a first in a projected trilogy, which may be a good thing for Oprah, who bought both the movie and TV rights.

The Oscars — Good for Books?

Monday, February 23rd, 2015

9780679723059-2It would seem last night’s big Oscar winner, Birdman, a movie with an original script, would have little effect on books, but since its October release, it has caused Raymond Carver’s short story collection, What We Talk About When Talk About Love, (RH/Vintage) to increase in sales by 121%, reports Publishers Weekly. The movie, about an actor trying to score a creative comeback through a Broadway adaptation of the title story, includes several quotes from Carver, references to the title, as well as enactments of scenes from the story.

As a result, publisher RH/Vintage is releasing it as an ebook for the first time (there is a version currently available to libraries, but in Mandarin).

An original, unedited manuscript of the story, called Beginners, is also available in Raymond Carver: Collected Stories, (Penguin/Library of America). RH/Vintage will also release it as a standalone ebook in September.

Library holds are light so far. The movie has just been released on demand, so interest may grow.

UPDATE: The Telegraph writes about Carver’s influence on the director. saying the movie’s main character “could have flown right in from a 21st-century Carver story.”

Duchovny Now a Best Selling Author

Friday, February 20th, 2015

9780374172077_2da6cThe new arrivals on the 3/1 NYT Hardcover Fiction list (sales for week of Feb. 7) are all from the usual suspects, except for David Duchovny, whose first novel, Holy Cow: A Modern-Day Dairy Tale (Macmillan/FSG; OverDrive Sample) squeaks in at #16, in a tie with #15, Anita Daimant’s The Boston Girl, on the list for 10 weeks.

The Washington Post reviewed Duchovny’s effort approvingly as a “zany, madcap first novel,” while the Daily Beast characterizes it as “funny in parts and cringeworthy in others (expect a lot of puns). At times Duchovny’s conceit can produce moments where you nod appreciatively, and others like a Family Guy tangent that just doesn’t land.” Library holds are generally in line with modest orders.

9780399169526_2629dOn the extended list, we’re pleased to see one of our Penguin First Flights titles, M.O. Walsh’s My Sunshine Away (Penguin/Putnam; Penguin Audio; OverDrive Sample; BOT Audio Clip) arrive at #18, after a string of laudatory reviews, the latest in People.  That issue hit stands after sales were recorded for the week, so it may propel it onto the next week’s main list.

And, The Girl on the Train continues to speed along at #1 after 5 weeks, with All The Light We Cannot See, by Anthony Doerr right behind it at #2.

Nonfiction

Screen-Shot-2015-02-10-at-9.15.06-AM  9780062316097_c083e

Believer: My Forty Years in Politics (Penguin; OverDrive Sample) arrives at #3, after much media attention, including an interview on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind, by scientist Yuval Noah Harari (Harper; Tantor Audio; OverDrive Sample), arrives at #7 after a feature on NPR’s All Things Considered.

Children’s Picture Books

9780399257742_67465Last Stop On Market Street  Matt de la Peña, illus. by Christian Robinson (Penguin/Putnam; Recorded Books)

The author’s second picture book, after six Y.A. titles, is his first best seller, arriving at #4. It was featured on NPR’s Morning Edition. It is described by the author as a “quiet little book about a boy and his grandma riding the bus from church to their soup kitchen. ”

Children’s Middle Grade

{D0445280-286D-4AAF-A06A-51EA9FE68206}Img400Pluto, R. J. Palacio (RH/Knopf eBook only, 9780553499094; Brilliance Audio; OverDrive Sample)

Wonder continues at #1 on the list after 116 weeks, so it’s no surprise that the publisher would like to see a sequel. Palacio (aka Raquel Jaramillo), tells Publishers Weekly she was resistant to that idea, considering the book a standalone. But she liked the idea of “an expansion of the Wonder universe,” via books that tell the story from different viewpoints. The first The Julian Chapter, also released as an eBook hit this list when it was published and now Pluto continues the tradition.

Young Adult

9780062310637_dc61bDebuting solidly at #1 is the heavily promoted debut, Red Queen, by Victoria Aveyard (HarperTeen; HarperAudio; OverDrive Sample), the first in a projected trilogy. Film rights were optioned by Universal prior to publication, which is probably the reason the book’s cover was revealed by The Hollywood Reporter.

Tip-of-the-Tongue Titles,
Week of Feb 23

Friday, February 20th, 2015

Next week, Danielle Steel publishes the first of four novels for the year. Advance media attention heralds a memoir by a rock legend and readers advisors have four LibraryReads picks to recommend.

All the titles covered here, and several more notable titles arriving next week, are listed, with ordering information and alternate formats, on our downloadable spreadsheet, EarlyWord New Title Radar, Week of Feb 23, 2015

Holds Leaders

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Prodigal Son, Danielle Steel (RH/Delacorte; RH Large Print; Brilliance Audio)

The latest from Steel comes with the announcement that she is taking a page from Patterson’s books and increasing the number of hardcovers she releases. This one will be the first of four for the year, followed by Country in June, The Box in September and Final Gifts in December. In addition, her paperback release schedule will be accelerated, so you may want to adjust the number of copies you have on standing order.

9781250034519_4d132  9780778317746_f1225-2  9780062083425_0f4aa-2

Mightier Than the Sword, Jeffrey Archer, (Macmillan/St. Martin’s; Macmillan Audio; OverDrive Sample), gets a full-page ad in this week’s NYT Book Review

The Girls of Mischief Bay, Susan Mallery (Harlequin/Mira simultaneous hardcover and trade pbk; Brilliance Audio), begins a new series.

Hush Hush: A Tess Monaghan Novel, Laura Lippman (HarperCollins/Morrow; HarperAudio; HarperLuxe; OverDrive Sample), People magazine’s “Book of the Week” in the new issue.

Media Attention

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Girl in a Band: A Memoir, Kim Gordon, (HarperCollins/Dey Street; HarperAudio; OverDrive Sample)

From an excerpt in Vogue to a profile in the NYT, this memoir by the female band member of Sonic Youth is getting a range of advance coverage.

Future Crimes: Everything Is Connected, Everyone Is Vulnerable and What We Can Do About It, Marc Goodman, (RH/Doubleday; RH Audio; OverDrive Sample)

To be featured on the upcoming NPR Weekend Edition Saturday

Irritable Hearts: A PTSD Love Story, Mac McClelland, (Macmillan/Flatiron; Brilliance Audio; OverDrive Sample)

One of the first titles from Macmillan’s new imprint, Flatiron Books, founded by Bob Miller, who established his ability to make best sellers when he was head of the successful Hyperion Books. Originally intended as a nonfiction imprint, Miller made news when he hired another best seller maven, editor Amy Einhorn, then head of her own imprint at Penguin, to add a fiction line. Irritable Hearts, a memoir by a journalist who suffered PTSD after returning home from covering Haiti’s devastating earthquake, is reviewed in Sunday’s NYT Book Review.

LibraryReads Picks

9780062282569_d6018The Siege Winter, Ariana Franklin, Samantha Norman (HarperCollins/Morrow; HarperAudio; OverDrive Sample)

LibraryReads:

“I couldn’t have been more excited when I learned Franklin wrote a new book. This wonderfully written novel takes place during King Stephen and Empress Matilda’s tumultuous civil conflict to claim England, no matter what cost to themselves or their subjects. The story conveys the brutality of the period without sacrificing the complex nature of the time and the people.” — Elizabeth Carroll, Madison Public Library, Madison, WI

9780062339485_29c82Finding Jake, Bryan Reardon (HarperCollins/Morrow; HarperAudio; OverDrive Sample)

LibraryReads:

“Stay-at-home dad Simon Connelly receives the call every parent dreads: there’s been a shooting at his children’s school. Through flashbacks and present-day narratives, he mines his memory for clues to what may have happened. This is a refreshing take on the well trodden ‘bad kid’ novels, and an excellent thriller to recommend to all who liked Defending Jacob or We Need to Talk About Kevin.” — Alissa Williams, Pekin Public Library, Pekin, IL

9780765376459_c3cfcA Darker Shade of Magic, V. E. Schwab (Macmillan/Tor; OverDrive Sample)

LibraryReads:

“Fantasy fans should enjoy this atmospheric novel, where London is the link between parallel universes, and magician Kell is one of two Travelers who can move between them. Now something sinister is disturbing their equilibrium, and Kell must try to unravel the plot with only feisty street thief Delilah Bard as an ally.” — Beth Mills, New Rochelle Public Library, New Rochelle, NY

9781250056450_e2a1dA Murder of Magpies, Judith Flanders, (Macmillan/Minotaur; HighBridge; OverDrive Sample)

LibraryReads:

“Loved this mystery! The acerbic narrator is 40-year-old British book publishing editor Samantha, whose best author goes missing after writing a tell-all book about a famous French fashion designer who died under suspicious circumstances. Very funny, and great secondary characters as well.” — Ann-Marie Anderson, Tigard Public Library, Tigard, OR

Hawk Soars

Friday, February 20th, 2015

Screen Shot 2015-02-20 at 7.40.38 AMHelen Macdonald’s H is for Hawk (Grove Press, March 3, 2015; OverDrive Sample), a memoir about how she dealt with the painful loss of her beloved father by training a goshawk, is gaining attention on this side of the ocean after receiving both high praise and strong sales in Britain. Macdonald won both the Costa Book Award for Biography (scroll to page 3 to see the announcement) and the Costa Book of the Year in January as well as The Samuel Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction (the UK’s highest award for nonfiction) last November.

In the daily NYT this week, Dwight Garner raves:

Helen Macdonald’s beautiful and nearly feral book, H Is for Hawk, her first published in the United States, reminds us that excellent nature writing can lay bare some of the intimacies of the wild world as well. Her book is so good that, at times, it hurt me to read it. It draws blood, in ways that seem curative.

This Sunday’s NYT Book Review features it on the cover (a rare occurrence for a book that hasn’t yet been released; we can’t remember the last time the NYT BR gave such prominence to an upcoming book):

In her breathtaking new book … Helen Macdonald renders an indelible impression of a raptor’s fierce essence — and her own — with words that mimic feathers, so impossibly pretty we don’t notice their astonishing engineering.

Some libraries are showing heavy holds and rising on modest orders while a few have yet to order. Now’s the time to buy it ahead of the stampede.

Oliver Sacks Bids Farewell

Friday, February 20th, 2015

9780385352543_d778cIn an opinion piece in yesterday’s New York Times titled simply, “My Own Life,” author Oliver Sacks announces that he has terminal cancer.

True to the life-affirming spirit he has always demonstrated, he looks at this as an opportunity, he says, “It is up to me now to choose how to live out the months that remain to me” and, “I feel intensely alive, and I want and hope in the time that remains to deepen my friendships, to say farewell to those I love, to write more, to travel if I have the strength, to achieve new levels of understanding and insight.”

He also notes that he has completed an autobiography that will be published in late April On the Move: A Life, (RH/Knopf; RH Audio, 4/28/15), which features a photo on the cover of Sachs as a young man. Few libraries have ordered it yet.

The story brought an outpouring of emotions on Twitter. Both the upcoming book and Sack’s classic, The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat(S&S/Summit, 1985; now available from S&S/Touchstone) are rising on Amazon’s sales rankings.

Advance Attention:
Kim Gordon Memoir

Thursday, February 19th, 2015

0062295896_454a6Girl In a Band by Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon (HarperCollins/Dey Street, 2/24), gets a succinct review from Bustle, “If you just feel like getting inspired by some prose written by a kickass, feminist rock star, Gordon’s book delivers.”

Arriving next week, it also gets attention via a profile of the author in the New York Times. Even though Gordon warns the book contains “No sex, drugs or rock ’n’ roll,”  and is “the most conventional thing I’ve done,” more attention is undoubtly on its way.

Oh My!
Manuscripts Are Falling
Out of the Sky!

Thursday, February 19th, 2015

Screen Shot 2015-02-19 at 9.53.43 AMIt seems manuscripts are turning up all over. On the heels of Harper Lee’s Go Set a Watchman comes the news that a few new Dr. Seuss (Theodor Seuss Geisel) books have been found as well. The newly discovered What Pet Should I Get? (Random House Books for Young Readers; July 28, 2015; ISBN 9780553524260) is receiving the most attention right now, but Geisel’s wife and his long time secretary announced yesterday that they also found material for at least two other books as they were cleaning out Geisel’s office.Screen Shot 2015-02-19 at 9.58.20 AM

The New York Times reports that What Pet Should I Get?, believed to have been written between 1952 and 1962, features the same characters as the beloved One Fish Two Fish Red Fish Blue Fish.

Ron Charles, book reviewer for The Washington Post, composed a poem in tongue-in-cheek disbelief.

Zuckerberg Surfs the Zeitgeist

Thursday, February 19th, 2015

9781555977207_2389fMark Zuckerberg is being credited by the Guardian with having “tapped into an area of growing social anxiety with his fourth book club choice.”

Announced yesterday, the title is On Immunity: An Inoculation, (Graywolf Press; HighBridge Audio) by Eula Biss, a book that looks into the fears about vaccination. It was picked as a best book of 2014 by several sources, including the New York Times Book Review‘s top ten. (our downloadable spreadsheet of all the 2014 nonfiction picks is here).

Chat with Elise Primavera, Feb. 18

Wednesday, February 18th, 2015
Live Blog Live Chat with Elise Primavera, MS. RAPSCOTT’S GIRLS
 Live Chat with Elise Primavera, MS. RAPSCOTT'S GIRLS(02/18/2015) 
4:29
Nora - EarlyWord: 
We will begin our live online chat with Elise Primavera, author of Ms. Rapscott’s Girls at 5 p.m., EST
Wednesday February 18, 2015 4:29 Nora - EarlyWord
4:30
Nora - EarlyWord: 
Meanwhile, here’s the cover of Ms. Rapscott’s Girls, to be publised on March 10th, from Penguin/Dial:
Wednesday February 18, 2015 4:30 Nora - EarlyWord
4:30
Nora - EarlyWord
Wednesday February 18, 2015 4:30 
4:30
Nora - EarlyWord: 
An advance, starred review from Booklist:
Wednesday February 18, 2015 4:30 Nora - EarlyWord
4:31
Nora - EarlyWord
Wednesday February 18, 2015 4:31 
4:47
Nora - EarlyWord: 
If yo'u've read the book, the label on this box should make you laugh:
Wednesday February 18, 2015 4:47 Nora - EarlyWord
4:47
Nora - EarlyWord
Wednesday February 18, 2015 4:47 
4:53
Nora - EarlyWord: 
We'll begin in a few minutes.
Wednesday February 18, 2015 4:53 Nora - EarlyWord
4:53
Nora - EarlyWord: 
You can send your questions through at any time. They'll go into a queue, and we'll submit as many of them as we can to the author before the end of the chat.
Wednesday February 18, 2015 4:53 Nora - EarlyWord
4:53
Nora - EarlyWord: 
Don’t worry about typos – we’ll make them too!
Wednesday February 18, 2015 4:53 Nora - EarlyWord
4:54
[Comment From JamieJamie: ] 
Excited to join you guys.
Wednesday February 18, 2015 4:54 Jamie
4:54
[Comment From LaylaLayla: ] 
Looking forward to this chat!
Wednesday February 18, 2015 4:54 Layla
5:00
Nora - EarlyWord: 
Our moderator is Lisa Von Drasek, curator of the Children’s Literature Research Collections at the University of Minnesota, one of the world’s largest collections of children’s literature manuscripts and original. Before that, she was the Children's Librarian of the Bank Street College of Education. She’s also served on many awards committees including the Newbery, the National Book Awards for Young People's Literature and American Library Association's Notable Children's Books.
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:00 Nora - EarlyWord
5:00
Nora - EarlyWord: 
Say hi, Lisa!
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:00 Nora - EarlyWord
5:00
lisa von drasek: 
Hi Nora
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:00 lisa von drasek
5:00
Elise: 
HI Lisa!!!
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:00 Elise
5:00
lisa von drasek: 
This is so exciting for me!
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:00 lisa von drasek
5:00
Elise: 
Me too!
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:00 Elise
5:01
lisa von drasek: 
I met Elise when her book Raising Dragons won the Children's Choice award- Irma Black Award...
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:01 lisa von drasek
5:01
lisa von drasek: 
at my old school Bank Street College of Education
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:01 lisa von drasek
5:02
Elise: 
One of my all time fave books!
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:02 Elise
5:02
lisa von drasek: 
Elise, it is so exciting for me to talk to you about Rapscott Girls...
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:02 lisa von drasek
5:02
lisa von drasek: 
Is it okay if we abbreviate?
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:02 lisa von drasek
5:02
[Comment From BettyBetty: ] 
Hi Everyone!
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:02 Betty
5:02
[Comment From NJ GalNJ Gal: ] 
Hi Elise & Lisa!
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:02 NJ Gal
5:02
[Comment From FrannyFranny: ] 
This is my first -- thanks so much for doing this. Love the book!
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:02 Franny
5:02
Elise: 
Thanks Franny!
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:02 Elise
5:03
lisa von drasek: 
MRSFGOBP this seems complicated
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:03 lisa von drasek
5:03
Elise: 
Say Rapscott?
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:03 Elise
5:03
lisa von drasek: 
Can I call it Rapscotts Girls?
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:03 lisa von drasek
5:03
Elise: 
Yes!
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:03 Elise
5:04
lisa von drasek: 
Any way.... can you say a few words about what inspired this story?
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:04 lisa von drasek
5:04
Elise: 
Ok, Lisa...here goes.
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:04 Elise
5:04
Elise: 
MS. RAPSCOTT started out as a MADELINE type book – episodic stories of little girls in a boarding school setting. But instead of being orphans I thought it would be funny if the girl’s parents were just terribly busy.
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:04 Elise
5:05
Elise: 
When I started to think about the teacher of this school I thought about a character from my first novel, GUMM STREET, named Franny Muggs who had a morbid fascination for Mt. Everest, Amelia Earhart and failed missions like Shackleton’s to the South Pole. I thought that a grownup version of Franny would make an interesting headmistress.
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:05 Elise
5:05
Elise: 
As you can see MS. RAPSCOTT turned out nothing like Madeline!
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:05 Elise
5:05
lisa von drasek: 
I love the getting lost "on Purpose".... have you ever done that for real?
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:05 lisa von drasek
5:06
Elise: 
I have a fear of getting lost for sure! Do everything to avoid it...
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:06 Elise
5:07
[Comment From NM LibrarianNM Librarian: ] 
Do you have any real life experience with "daughters of very busy parents?"
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:07 NM Librarian
5:07
Elise: 
who Doesn't is the question!
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:07 Elise
5:08
Elise: 
Why are we all so busy? I'm busier than ever and can't figure out why!
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:08 Elise
5:08
Elise: 
I think I'll blame it on my iPhone...
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:08 Elise
5:08
[Comment From FrennyFrenny: ] 
There’s such a sense of fun in this book. I imagine you chuckling away as you work. Do you also get frustrated?
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:08 Frenny
5:09
[Comment From JamieJamie: ] 
Love the mom who doesn’t have time for her kids because she’s posting on a mommie blog. You must have written that for adults. Do you think of adults reading the book to kids and tucking things in for them?
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:09 Jamie
5:09
Elise: 
All the time - the writing of this book took three revisions!
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:09 Elise
5:09
[Comment From DeborahDeborah: ] 
What is the significance behind the name "Rapscott?"
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:09 Deborah
5:09
Elise: 
Jamie, yes, I do think of the adults and the mom blogger was an evil addition of mine
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:09 Elise
5:10
lisa von drasek: 
From the peanut gallery- I have had 2 Corgis and they are wonderful dogs. How did you decide to have Corgis in the story as Ms. Rapscott's companions and assistant
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:10 lisa von drasek
5:11
Elise: 
I used to ride horses and when I was twenty I went to England to a place called Great Rapscott to ride
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:11 Elise
5:11
Elise: 
I own a dachshund. But my Lulu is a couch potato with a mind of her own and would not do well as anyone’s assistant. She won’t even come when I call her unless I have food. But my aunt has three corgis and they seem very smiley and rough and ready for any adventure and eager to please.
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:11 Elise
5:11
lisa von drasek
Lulu Primavera
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:11 
5:12
[Comment From JamieJamie: ] 
Ha! I KNEW that the mommies blogger mom was a way of sending a message to adults!
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:12 Jamie
5:12
Elise: 
HA! There she is!!!! And that's where she is right now.
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:12 Elise
5:12
[Comment From LaylaLayla: ] 
Love the clever boxes for the books – who came up with those?
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:12 Layla
5:12
Elise: 
I came up with the boxes - and my editor and I kind of both decided they should fly
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:12 Elise
5:13
Elise: 
I do remember laughing when I thought of the boxes!
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:13 Elise
5:13
lisa von drasek
Sketch of heads -- Ms. Rapscott and Girls
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:13 
5:13
lisa von drasek: 
Elise- I think of you as for most , an illustrator then a storyteller. can you tell us a little about the art in Rapscott Girls?
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:13 lisa von drasek
5:14
Elise: 
The interior black and white illustrations were done on Arches 140 lb. Hot Press watercolor paper. I used lead pencils and charcoal pencils.
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:14 Elise
5:14
lisa von drasek: 
Did you go to art school?
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:14 lisa von drasek
5:14
Elise: 
The cover was done in pastel - a technique that I used for Auntie Claus and Raising Dragons
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:14 Elise
5:14
lisa von drasek: 
what brought you to children's books?
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:14 lisa von drasek
5:15
Elise: 
I went to Moore College of art in Phil PA.
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:15 Elise
5:15
Elise: 
The only all girls art school in the country
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:15 Elise
5:15
lisa von drasek: 
Can you describe your typical work day?
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:15 lisa von drasek
5:15
Elise: 
A move my mother still says I'm paying for because I missed my opp to meet tehe great guy!! LOL
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:15 Elise
5:16
lisa von drasek: 
And that is why girls go to school....to meet boys!
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:16 lisa von drasek
5:16
Elise: 
OK - typical day

I get up at around 6:30, with the exception of Wednesdays when I get up at 5:30 to work out with a trainer at the gym at 7:45.

I like to read while I have breakfast and drink coffee, then take a shower, dress and get Lulu, my dachshund, out for a walk. I start to either write or do art in the morning beginning around 9:00 or so. That’s when I’m the freshest. I work all day pretty much, getting up and down to walk the dog, do laundry etc. If I have errands I’ll do them at lunch and then work for a few more hours in the afternoon. At about 5:00 I feed Lulu, and then go the gym.
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:16 Elise
5:16
lisa von drasek
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:16 
5:16
Elise: 
That's what my mother has told me! ; )
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:16 Elise
5:17
lisa von drasek
Elise's Studio on a snowy day
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:17 
5:17
[Comment From NJ GalNJ Gal: ] 
I see you're from Red Bank. Did Hurricane Sandy affect you?
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:17 NJ Gal
5:17
[Comment From DeborahDeborah: ] 
How long did it take to write this book? Your website said it was due from Dial in 2013.
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:17 Deborah
5:17
lisa von drasek
Elise's studio.
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:17 
5:17
Elise: 
Not so much me - but around me everything was destroyed.
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:17 Elise
5:18
Elise: 
OH my gosh - I've lost track of how long it took
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:18 Elise
5:18
[Comment From DeborahDeborah: ] 
Will there be more Ms. Rapscott's Girls adventures? I hope so! I'm looking forward to reading about the fall semester.
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:18 Deborah
5:18
Elise: 
The first draft was about 56 pages on the computer and my editor Nancy Conescu wanted more. We had a phone conversation and I remember saying to her, “Now you’re scaring me.”
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:18 Elise
5:18
Elise: 
I went back to work and added about sixty pages. At this point my original idea of it being a long picture book had gone out the window. I was in uncharted territory. But when I handed this draft in, Nancy wrote back that she loved what I had done…up to page 56!

Was I freaking out now? Um, yes.
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:18 Elise
5:19
Elise: 
I actually had to put the story aside for six months before I could even approach the changes. It felt a little like stepping into the cage of some wild animal that I was going to have to tame...or fight…or be defeated by.
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:19 Elise
5:19
Elise: 
Six months later I did venture into the lion’s cage. But something had changed. When I looked at Nancy’s comments this time I could see what she was talking about. For some odd reason (with the benefit of some time past?) something clicked inside my head. I was able to do the third draft this time and I knew I’d nailed it.
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:19 Elise
5:19
[Comment From Susie QSusie Q: ] 
You mention your editor came up with the idea of the boxes flying. I'd like to hear more about what it's like working with an editor. I've heard that these days, editors don't get that involved, they mostly do marketing.
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:19 Susie Q
5:20
Elise: 
Susie My editor was very involved
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:20 Elise
5:21
[Comment From Susie QSusie Q: ] 
I can see that now -- why do people say those things then?
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:21 Susie Q
5:21
Elise: 
NAncy my editor had a lot of ideas and we talked quite a bit
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:21 Elise
5:22
lisa von drasek: 
Although more than a few have compared Ms. Rapscott to Mary Poppins, I have found she is not as mean . Was that a specific effort on your part?
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:22 lisa von drasek
5:22
Elise: 
I did go back and forth on that
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:22 Elise
5:23
[Comment From JamieJamie: ] 
Also love those labels for the actual book boxes -- wh thought of that?
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:23 Jamie
5:23
Elise: 
But in the end I wanted her to be more positive and fun.
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:23 Elise
5:23
lisa von drasek
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:23 
5:23
[Comment From NM LibrarianNM Librarian: ] 
I was reminded of Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle as well.
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:23 NM Librarian
5:23
[Comment From DeborahDeborah: ] 
What or who were your inspirations for each of the girls?
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:23 Deborah
5:23
Nora - EarlyWord
Ms. Rapscott
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:23 
5:24
lisa von drasek: 
nice!
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:24 lisa von drasek
5:24
lisa von drasek: 
Elise, tell me about the parrot?

Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:24 lisa von drasek
5:24
Elise: 
This is Ms. Rapscott with her original side kick
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:24 Elise
5:24
lisa von drasek: 
original?
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:24 lisa von drasek
5:25
Elise: 
I gave her a parrot named Hillary after Sir Edmund who climbed Everest
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:25 Elise
5:25
[Comment From DeborahDeborah: ] 
Why did you switch to corgis?
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:25 Deborah
5:25
Elise: 
BUt there were a lot of pirate stories floating around and nancy the editor nixed the parrot
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:25 Elise
5:26
[Comment From NJ GalNJ Gal: ] 
The corgis seemed perfect -- so eager and willing.
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:26 NJ Gal
5:26
Elise: 
I love corgis - they're so smiley and they look good in turtleneck sweaters
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:26 Elise
5:26
[Comment From NJ GalNJ Gal: ] 
Only an artist would think of which animal would look good in a turtleneck!
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:26 NJ Gal
5:27
Elise: 
HA!
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:27 Elise
5:27
lisa von drasek: 
Ms. Rapscott has three wishes...
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:27 lisa von drasek
5:27
lisa von drasek: 
Pajamas???????
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:27 lisa von drasek
5:27
lisa von drasek
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:27 
5:27
Elise: 
I guess it’s a metaphor for a reward after doing something that is really hard to do—like finally reaching the end of the Less Traveled Road. I would imagine that all you’d want by then is a bowl of soup, some birthday cake and a good pair of pajamas!
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:27 Elise
5:28
Elise: 
And maybe a glass of wine ; )
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:28 Elise
5:28
Nora - EarlyWord: 
Note that there are parrots on one set of the PJ"s!
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:28 Nora - EarlyWord
5:28
lisa von drasek: 
If it was your birthday. What kind of cake would you want?
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:28 lisa von drasek
5:28
Elise: 
Do you all like my pjs?
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:28 Elise
5:28
lisa von drasek: 
I LOVE your pjs!
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:28 lisa von drasek
5:28
Elise: 
Chocolate with lemon icing
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:28 Elise
5:29
Elise: 
I love lemon icing
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:29 Elise
5:29
lisa von drasek: 
hhmm. never had that. do you bake?
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:29 lisa von drasek
5:29
lisa von drasek: 
okay trying to focus here...distracted by Birthday cake
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:29 lisa von drasek
5:29
[Comment From NJ GalNJ Gal: ] 
YES! Where can I get those PJ's?
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:29 NJ Gal
5:29
Elise: 
No but there's an awesome cup cake store in Red Bank
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:29 Elise
5:29
Elise: 
GArnet Hill!!!
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:29 Elise
5:29
lisa von drasek: 
ahhh.
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:29 lisa von drasek
5:30
lisa von drasek: 
I found Rapscott girls a great page turner
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:30 lisa von drasek
5:30
lisa von drasek: 
and a great read aloud
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:30 lisa von drasek
5:30
Elise: 
Really happy to hear it!
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:30 Elise
5:30
lisa von drasek: 
have you read it aloud?
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:30 lisa von drasek
5:30
Elise: 
Yes, there's an audio version that I think is going to be fab.
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:30 Elise
5:31
[Comment From DeborahDeborah: ] 
The Road Less Traveled makes me think of Robert Frost's poem, "The Road Not Taken." Was that intended?
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:31 Deborah
5:31
Elise: 
I think it was subconcious
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:31 Elise
5:31
Elise: 
Can't spell...
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:31 Elise
5:31
lisa von drasek: 
What were your favorite books when you were young?
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:31 lisa von drasek
5:32
Elise: 
I read comic books by the thousands – the Harvey comics: Casper, Little Dot, Richie Rich, Archie etc. Books that I liked were: The Phantom Tollbooth, Wrinkle in Time, the OZ books, Alice in Wonderland, lots of fairy tales when I was very little.
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:32 Elise
5:32
Elise: 
The Hobbit and the Fellowship of the Ring books were huge for me when I was about twelve. I loved those books so much – I think it’s part of what made me want to write for children.
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:32 Elise
5:33
[Comment From FrannyFranny: ] 
Do you prefer doing picture books, or chapter books?
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:33 Franny
5:33
Elise: 
I prefer chapter books
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:33 Elise
5:33
Elise: 
Picture books are a little confining for me
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:33 Elise
5:33
Elise: 
I like a little more room to tell my story
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:33 Elise
5:34
[Comment From DeborahDeborah: ] 
What age of reader were you writing for with this book?
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:34 Deborah
5:34
Elise: 
BUt I also love to do my own pictures
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:34 Elise
5:34
Elise: 
About seven to ten or so
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:34 Elise
5:34
[Comment From Julia D.Julia D.: ] 
Tell us more about the audio, please.
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:34 Julia D.
5:34
Elise: 
Ok Julia - Kathryn Kellgren is the narrator
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:34 Elise
5:35
Elise: 
She has a wonderful British accent that works really well
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:35 Elise
5:35
Elise: 
We also have some great music that's windy and swirly sounding
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:35 Elise
5:36
Elise: 
I can't wait to hear it!
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:36 Elise
5:36
[Comment From FrannyFranny: ] 
I asked about whether you prefer picture books because you seem to really love doing the art. I like how the opening pages of this book are almost like a wordless picture book. Sets you up for the story.
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:36 Franny
5:36
[Comment From JulieJulie: ] 
The audio sounds great and I can just imagine it with a British accent.
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:36 Julie
5:36
Elise: 
Julie - yes Ms. R. needs to be a Brit!
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:36 Elise
5:36
[Comment From DeborahDeborah: ] 
Are there more Rapscott"s Girls Adventures to come?
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:36 Deborah
5:36
[Comment From DeborahDeborah: ] 
I can envision this to be a series that readers could enjoy following.
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:36 Deborah
5:37
Elise: 
Deb - yes working on book 2 right now!
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:37 Elise
5:37
Elise: 
Franny - thanks so much!
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:37 Elise
5:37
[Comment From DeborahDeborah: ] 
Yea!
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:37 Deborah
5:37
Elise: 
The lesson in BK2 is How to Go Far In LIfe
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:37 Elise
5:38
[Comment From DeborahDeborah: ] 
Will there be more about the Boys School too?
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:38 Deborah
5:38
Elise: 
Deb - Yes - BK2 has a lot of that in it!
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:38 Elise
5:39
lisa von drasek: 
We were wondering about the fabulous names...
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:39 lisa von drasek
5:39
Elise: 
I rode horses from the time I was seven years old and continued competitively with that well into my early thirties. When I was twenty I took a year off from college to go to England and train at a place in North Devon called Great Rapscott.
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:39 Elise
5:39
Elise: 
It was an adventure that I will never forget—one worthy of a true Rapscott girl!
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:39 Elise
5:39
Elise: 
The first lesson at Great Rapscott School is: How To Find Your Way. So Ms. Rapscott’s corgis were named, Lewis and Clark, after the famous explorers.
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:39 Elise
5:40
Elise: 
The girl’s names were chosen for their old fashioned and sort of darkly whimsical qualities—except for Dahlia who is Known for Being a Late Bloomer and who needed a flowery name.
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:40 Elise
5:40
lisa von drasek: 
I just loved when Dhalia Thistle bloomed!!!
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:40 lisa von drasek
5:40
Elise: 
Me too - I didn't how I was going to get her to do that until I got to the end
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:40 Elise
5:41
Elise: 
It definitely was not thought out from the beginning
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:41 Elise
5:41
[Comment From DeborahDeborah: ] 
I can't wait to get to know Dhalia better!
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:41 Deborah
5:41
lisa von drasek: 
So you don't have the whole book outlined before you write?
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:41 lisa von drasek
5:41
Elise: 
She's a LAte Bloomer!
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:41 Elise
5:41
lisa von drasek: 
hahaha!
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:41 lisa von drasek
5:42
Elise: 
I try to outline - but it never works - I always come up with other things as I go along.
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:42 Elise
5:42
lisa von drasek: 
Was there an old fashioned name that you had to give up because it didn't fit?
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:42 lisa von drasek
5:42
Elise: 
Yes - Winifred
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:42 Elise
5:42
Elise: 
BUt I'm going to use her in another book HA!
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:42 Elise
5:42
lisa von drasek: 
oohhh Love that!
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:42 lisa von drasek
5:43
[Comment From DeborahDeborah: ] 
Did you create the color characteristics/meanings or were they adapted from something?
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:43 Deborah
5:43
Elise: 
Winifred Peevish
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:43 Elise
5:43
lisa von drasek: 
yes but each girl grows out of their negative characteristics
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:43 lisa von drasek
5:43
Elise: 
Thankfully
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:43 Elise
5:44
lisa von drasek: 
Winifred would have to get married to change!
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:44 lisa von drasek
5:44
[Comment From DeborahDeborah: ] 
Ms. Peevish sounds interesting.
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:44 Deborah
5:44
[Comment From NJ GalNJ Gal: ] 
Love that about where Lewis and Clark's names came from. It's also a sly wink to kids who will feel smart for recognizing the names.
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:44 NJ Gal
5:44
Elise: 
Thanks - but it's for a completely different book.
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:44 Elise
5:44
Elise: 
NJ GAl that's true - glad youlike
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:44 Elise
5:44
lisa von drasek: 
okay then
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:44 lisa von drasek
5:45
lisa von drasek: 
I was thinking about the fantasy world that you created...
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:45 lisa von drasek
5:45
Elise: 
Yes?
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:45 Elise
5:45
lisa von drasek: 
that although there were scary moments...
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:45 lisa von drasek
5:45
lisa von drasek: 
there was enormous amount of comfort throughout...
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:45 lisa von drasek
5:46
lisa von drasek: 
was that difficult to balance?
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:46 lisa von drasek
5:46
Elise: 
You're right about that
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:46 Elise
5:46
Elise: 
NOt really - I love putting characters in scary situations and then giving them a break
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:46 Elise
5:47
Elise: 
I think I live my life that way...
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:47 Elise
5:47
Elise: 
I had an odd combo as a kid of being very sheltered only to be thrown into crazy scary situations
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:47 Elise
5:48
Elise: 
LIke when my parents bought me a two year old off teh track to ride that was barely broken...HA!
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:48 Elise
5:48
lisa von drasek: 
a two year old....? that would be a horse not a toddler?
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:48 lisa von drasek
5:48
[Comment From Jessica T.Jessica T.: ] 
How do you deal with reviews? Do you read them? Are you worried that there might be push-back from actual parents who recognize themselves in the book?
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:48 Jessica T.
5:48
Elise: 
Horse!
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:48 Elise
5:49
[Comment From DeborahDeborah: ] 
Are there specific children that inspired your characters?
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:49 Deborah
5:49
Elise: 
Jessica - I do read reviews...
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:49 Elise
5:49
Elise: 
I don't think anyone would have a problem because it's tongue in cheek
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:49 Elise
5:50
lisa von drasek: 
As we only have a few minutes left, is there a question you wished I had asked
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:50 lisa von drasek
5:50
Elise: 
DO you want to know about the top of the b'day cake?
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:50 Elise
5:50
lisa von drasek: 
YES!!!
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:50 lisa von drasek
5:50
[Comment From DeborahDeborah: ] 
Yes!
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:50 Deborah
5:50
Elise: 
My editor Nancy and I were talking one day and I said there’s this crazy show on TV, and I hope you won’t think less of me, but I’m a little obsessed with it. The dance teacher does this thing called: The Top of the Pyramid where she picks the best kid each week. Nancy screamed, DANCE MOMS! I LOVE DANCE MOMS! She said you HAVE to put that in the book so I called it the Top of the Birthday Cake.
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:50 Elise
5:51
Elise: 
Yes folks...Dance Moms
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:51 Elise
5:51
lisa von drasek: 
oh I definitely think less of you....on the other hand ...I think I have seen every iteration of NCIS
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:51 lisa von drasek
5:52
lisa von drasek: 
Elise- if asked would you do a reality tv show?
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:52 lisa von drasek
5:52
Elise: 
That's good! I mean that's good TV, right?
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:52 Elise
5:52
lisa von drasek: 
not according to the guy I live with.....
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:52 lisa von drasek
5:52
Elise: 
I think I might!!!
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:52 Elise
5:52
[Comment From DeborahDeborah: ] 
Do you do author visits...Skype sessions?
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:52 Deborah
5:53
[Comment From DeborahDeborah: ] 
How did you come up with the setting?
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:53 Deborah
5:53
Elise: 
Deb I haven't done any but I'm willing to try!
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:53 Elise
5:54
lisa von drasek: 
the world of Rapscott is real and not real at the same time. ...
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:54 lisa von drasek
5:54
Elise: 
Yes?
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:54 Elise
5:54
lisa von drasek: 
the over the top busy parents AND a place where wishes come true AND where Corgis tend to your needs....
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:54 lisa von drasek
5:55
lisa von drasek: 
what inspired the setting?
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:55 lisa von drasek
5:55
Elise: 
Yes this was a bit of a high wire act to pull off
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:55 Elise
5:55
lisa von drasek: 
AND believable!
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:55 lisa von drasek
5:55
Elise: 
NAncy was always reeling me in - I had a tendency to go too far with the fantasy
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:55 Elise
5:56
Elise: 
So I was very aware when writing of putting some in but keeping it believable
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:56 Elise
5:56
lisa von drasek: 
what was the craziest thing that you had to revise?
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:56 lisa von drasek
5:56
Elise: 
Probably the end
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:56 Elise
5:56
[Comment From Jessica T.Jessica T.: ] 
I've gotta run, but just wanted to say how much I enjoyed this chat and reading the book!
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:56 Jessica T.
5:57
lisa von drasek: 
The end?
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:57 lisa von drasek
5:57
Elise: 
Thanks J!
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:57 Elise
5:57
Elise: 
Yes I had the mountain actually moving -- it was totally nuts
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:57 Elise
5:57
lisa von drasek: 
We are wrapping up here as we have only three minutes left
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:57 lisa von drasek
5:58
Elise: 
I was trying for teh girls can "move mountains" or some such...didn't work!
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:58 Elise
5:58
lisa von drasek: 
any last comments from the gallery?
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:58 lisa von drasek
5:59
[Comment From DeborahDeborah: ] 
Thank you for sharing a part of your writer's craft! Love the book!
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:59 Deborah
5:59
Elise: 
Thanks so much Deb that means a lot!
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:59 Elise
5:59
Nora - EarlyWord: 
Thanks, Lisa and Elise – this was fun! For those of you who want to find out more about Elise and how to contact her, go to Elise's Web site
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:59 Nora - EarlyWord
5:59
[Comment From DeborahDeborah: ] 
I love the interplay between art and story.
Wednesday February 18, 2015 5:59 Deborah
6:00
lisa von drasek: 
Thank you Elise.
Wednesday February 18, 2015 6:00 lisa von drasek
6:00
Nora - EarlyWord: 
And, thanks to all of you for joining us.
Wednesday February 18, 2015 6:00 Nora - EarlyWord
6:00
Elise: 
Thanks so much Lisa - this was super fun!
Wednesday February 18, 2015 6:00 Elise
6:00
Elise: 
Thank you Nora!
Wednesday February 18, 2015 6:00 Elise
6:01
Nora - EarlyWord: 

You two are great!

The next title in our program is Circus Mirandus by Cassie Beasley, coming in June. Click here to read more about it:

http://penguinyrauthors.earlyword.com/circus-mirandus/

 

 

Wednesday February 18, 2015 6:01 Nora - EarlyWord
 
 

Holds Alert: NIGHT OF THE GUN

Wednesday, February 18th, 2015

nightoftheHolds are rising in libraries for David Carr’s memoir, The Night of the Gun (S&S, 2008), causing several to order more copies in trade paperback.

Sadly, people are being brought to the book by the author’s recent death at 58, with news stories and obits noting his searing memoir of the days when he was, as he himself describes it, a “violent drug-snorting thug.”

Beloved among fellow journalists, his “fond and tearful” wake on Tuesday was covered in many publications, from the New York Times, where he was the media reporter,  to The Economist and the New York Post.

An excerpt from the book was the cover story of the NYT Magazine when it was published in 2008. In the book, he took a journalists’ approach to his own life, reporting on it by interviewing the people who witnessed it.

Thanks to Barrie Olmstead, Adult Materials Selector, Sacramento Public Library, for the tip.