I’m excited for May 5 because that’s when The Stars of Summer publishes, but I’m even MORE excited to be sharing a book birthday with a debut novel I have loved for a long time: The Sound of Life and Everything by Krista Van Dolzer.

Krista and I have been fans of each others’ writing for a while now. In 2011, I entered the project I was working on in her “An Agent’s Inbox” series on her blog; it didn’t win a bid from the judging agent, but I’ll always be happy I entered, because that’s how I connected with Krista. Soon after that, she let me beta-read her middle-grade work in progress, which I adored, and we both ended up selling our books to Shauna Rossano at Putnam. And now we have books publishing from the same imprint, with the same editor, on the same day. What could be better??

To celebrate, I’m giving away an advance copy of this terrific book, which is also a Junior Library Guild selection. Here’s the description:

A fascinating speculative historical fiction debut set in 1950s California—perfect for fans of When You Reach Me.

Twelve-year-old Ella Mae Higbee is a sensible girl. She eats her vegetables and wants to be just like Sergeant Friday, her favorite character on Dragnet. So when her auntie Mildred starts spouting nonsense about a scientist who can bring her cousin back to life from blood on his dog tags, Ella Mae is skeptical—until he steps out of a bio-pod right before her eyes.

But the boy is not her cousin—he’s Japanese. And in California in the wake of World War II, the Japanese are still feared and despised. When her aunt refuses to take responsibility, Ella Mae and her Mama take him home instead. Determined to do what’s right by her new friend, Ella Mae teaches Takuma English and defends him from the reverend’s talk of H-E-double-toothpicks. But when his memories start to resurface, Ella Mae learns some shocking truths about her own family and more importantly, what it means to love.

(Doesn’t that sound fantastic? It is!)

Krista’s website (with preorder links)

GIVEAWAY ALERT! You can enter to win an ARC of The Sound of Life and Everything by leaving a comment on this post. You can also earn up to two extra entries by posting about this giveaway on Twitter and/or Facebook. (Please mention or link your follows and extra posts in your comment to get credit for them.)

Sample Tweet:
Win an ARC of @KristaVanDolzer‘s fantastically original #MG debut, THE SOUND OF LIFE AND EVERYTHING! http://bit.ly/1OC9MyF #giveaway

Sample FB status:
Win an ARC of Krista Van Dolzer‘s fantastically original #MG debut (and Junior Library Guild selection) THE SOUND OF LIFE AND EVERYTHING! http://bit.ly/1OC9MyF #giveaway

I‘ll announce a winner at 9 am Mountain Time next Tuesday, 5/28. Good luck!