If you’re in the Denver area, I invite you to come out this Friday, April 1, to see me and Jeannie Mobley at Second Star to the Right Children’s Books on Tennyson street. We will be reading from our middle-grade books, answering questions, and doing a craft starting at 6:30 pm.
This event is part of the Tennyson Street Cultural District First Friday Art Walk, meaning that lots of artsy shops, galleries, and restaurants in the area will be open late and having special programming. It’s a fun time for kids and adults alike.
On a personal note, I love listening to audiobooks, so this is a dream come true/author bucket list item for me. On a more practical note, I love that this new format will give kids with learning differences who need or prefer to listen to books access to Gladys’s adventures. And I think it’s great that families and groups of friends will be able to listen together if they want to, too.
I’ll share more news about the audiobooks here when I have it. In the meantime, dear readers, I hope that you’re having a very happy holiday season. This news has certainly made mine a little sweeter.
I received some exciting news this morning: All Four Stars is a finalist for the Youth One Book, One Denver program–along with two other books I *love*, Book Scavenger by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman and The Secret of Ferrell Savage by J. Duddy Gill!
Youth One Book, One Denver is a fantastic summer reading program that provides books to kids all over Denver and gives participants a chance to interact with the featured book’s author at various public events.
The winning book will be chosen by vote, which is open to the public until November 20. Anyone can vote (though extra props if you’re a Denver public school student!). Any of these books would be an excellent choice, and I’m very much looking forward to the programming next summer, whether All Four Stars is the featured book or not.
Is there someone in your life who would love a Gladys Gatsby book, personalized and signed by the author, for the holidays?
If so, you’re in luck. I’m pleased to announce that I’m teaming up with my local independent bookstore, Boulder Book Store, to make it easy for you to get exactly that!
Ordering is simple: Just go to the Boulder Book Store website and choose the books you want. When you reach the checkout page, all the way at the bottom will be a field called “Order comments.” Just write in that field which book(s) you would like personalized, and to whom. Boulder Book Store will then call me up and I’ll pop into the store and personalize the books for you before they ship!
You can also reach the store by phone at 303-447-2074.
There is no extra charge for this service–I’m happy to do it. Books make great gifts, and I’m thrilled to partner with an independent bookstore that has been so supportive of my career as an author. Read deliciously this holiday season!
Thanks so much to everyone who helped celebrate the cover and title reveal for Stars So Sweet, the third volume in the All Four Stars series. Your enthusiastic comments, Tweets, Facebook posts, and e-mails really made this author’s week!
(As did the package I received in the mail yesterday from my publisher, containing these beauties. Great timing, because now I can ship two off to the winners right away!)
So now, without further ado, the two randomly selected winners of signed advance copies of Stars So Sweet are… jpetroroy and LMcCJ! Congratulations, and read deliciously!
I wish that I had enough advance copies to share with everyone who wants to read them. Rest assured that there will be some more giveaways as the publication date gets closer, and I’ll make sure to post about them here and on my Twitter and Facebook pages.
In the meantime, here’s a list of some of my favorite recent middle-grade reads. If you read one of these books and enjoy it, make sure to let me know!
an All Four Stars book, coming July 19, 2016! ISBN-13: 978-1-101-99648-5
Summer is winding down, and Gladys Gatsby’s stomach is full of butterflies about starting middle school. But her concerns go beyond juggling schoolwork and losing touch with old friends; she also has to worry about looming deadlines from her undercover job as the New York Standard’s youngest restaurant critic.
When her editor pushes for a face-to-face meeting, Gladys knows she must finally come clean to the grown-ups in her life about her job. Her perfectly planned reveal is put on hold, though, when her parents arrive home with a surprise: Gladys’s aunt Lydia—one of the only adults who knows her secret—fresh off a plane from Paris. Gladys and Aunt Lydia try one last ruse to fool her editor at the Standard, but for how long will Gladys be able to balance the drama of middle school with her secret life?
This third book in the delicious All Four Stars series sees Gladys facing her biggest challenge yet: being true to herself and honest with her friends and family, regardless of what those around her think.
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Huge thanks to the Penguin Young Readers design team, and as always to brilliant cover artist Kelly Murphy, who has captured Gladys so perfectly in this cover!
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You can now preorder Stars So Sweetfrom the following vendors:
…and it should be available from many more retailers within the next month. Please consider supporting your local independent bookstore (find one here) by preordering the book from them. And, of course, if you’re in Colorado or New York, I hope to see you at a launch event next summer!
Check out the cover for STARS SO SWEET, third book in @TaraDairman‘s ALL FOUR STARS series, & win an ARC! http://wp.me/p1VIEB-Tz #kidlit
Just let me know in your comment if you’ve signed up for the newsletter (either now or in the past) and/or tweeted. And feel free to share this cover far and wide. I hope you love it as much as I do!
The book can be sent to a mailing address in the USA or Canada. I’ll announce a winner one week from today, on Thursday, November 5.
Friends, if you’d like to start your Monday off with a good deed (and quite possibly a misty eye), please check out my brother- and sister-in-law’s beautiful video and inspiring story. They *both* survived cancer before the age of 32 and are now seeking to adopt. They are honestly two of the very best people I know, and are going to make incredible parents.
If you have the time to help share their story on social media and/or can find a few dollars to support them, I know that everyone who loves Matt and Heidi would be so grateful. Thank you!
First, it’s been named an “Editor’s Pick” over at Honolulu Family Magazine, which features it in their “5 Great Books for Kids” article. They are also giving away a copy.
And Kiwi Magazine has named it one of their new summer reading favorites, saying “This fast-paced book is full of surprises and likable characters who quickly learn not to judge a (cook)book by its cover.” Thank you for the lovely write-up!
The title and cover reveal for the third book in the All Four Stars series will be coming soon, and my newsletter subscribers will get an exclusive first peek at it. You can sign up here if you haven’t already–thanks!
I recently Skyped with a terrific book club in Massachusetts, and the members asked me to recommend some other middle-grade novels that they might enjoy. I ended up putting a list together and e-mailing it to them, and since this isn’t the first time I’ve had a question like this, I thought that I’d share it here as well so that I can easily refer people to it in the future.
Of course, once I got started, I thought of more and more books I wanted to include, and I had to stop somewhere. So please don’t consider this a comprehensive list by any means…but I do wholeheartedly recommend every single one of these titles and hope you’ll check them out. Here we go!
Mind-bending mysteries: Nooks & Crannies by Jessica Lawson Book Scavenger by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman
Laugh-out-loud funny books: Hook’s Revenge by Heidi Schulz The Only Thing Worse than Witches by Lauren Magaziner Remarkable by Lizzie Foley The True Meaning of Smekday by Adam Rex
Unputdownable historical fiction: Katerina’s Wish by Jeannie Mobley When Audrey Met Alice by Rebecca Behrens (actually a mix of contemporary and historical!) The Sound of Life and Everything by Krista Van Dolzer
Madcap NYC-set adventures: At Your Service by Jen Malone Better Nate than Ever by Tim Federle (which is also LOL funny!)
Tasty foodie books: Cupcake Cousins (and sequels) by Kate Hannigan It’s Raining Cupcakes (and sequels) by Lisa Schroeder
Deliciously creepy books: Mothman’s Curse by Christine Hayes The Sinister Sweetness of Splendid Academy by Nikki Loftin Grave Images by Jenny Goebel Doll Bones by Holly Black Coraline by Neil Gaiman
Fabulous fairy-tales: Grounded by Megan Morrison A Nearer Moon by Melanie Crowder Nightingale’s Nest by Nikki Loftin The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making by Catherynne Valente (best title ever, no?)
Wonderful contemporary stories: Fish in a Tree by Lynda Mullaly Hunt One for the Murphys by Lynda Mullaly Hunt Rhyme Schemer by K.A. Holt (an excellent novel in verse)
What are your recent favorite middle-grade reads? Feel free to share more recommendations in the comments.
It’s been “coming soon” for an embarrassingly long time, but book club/classroom discussion questions for All Four Starsare finally here! You can find them by clicking the Visits tab on this site.
And if you’re reading All Four Stars or The Stars of Summerwith your book club or class, don’t forget that I offer free 15-minute Virtual Q&A sessions for groups as well! Details on the same page.
Greetings, friends!
I received some exciting news this morning: All Four Stars is a finalist for the 
Youth One Book, One Denver is a fantastic summer reading program that provides books to kids all over Denver and gives participants a chance to interact with the featured book’s author at various public events.
Is there someone in your life who would love a Gladys Gatsby book, personalized and signed by the author, for the holidays?
You can also reach the store by phone at 303-447-2074.
