Release day for THREE great books!

Posted & filed under All Four Stars, Gladys Gatsby.

The_Stars_of_Summer_CVR_LIBMy second novel, The Stars of Summer, hits the shelves today. It’s crazy to think that, just a year ago, I was the author of zero published books, and now there are two out there in the world with my name on the spine!

I’m incredibly lucky to get to do the work I love doing and actually see my writing find an audience. So to everyone who read and supported All Four Stars over the last year–who told their local librarians about it, who encouraged teachers to bring it into their classrooms, who bought an extra copy as a gift for a young (or not-so-young) foodie in their life–THANK YOU. This series wouldn’t be continuing without your enthusiasm. I hope that you enjoy reading The Stars of Summer every bit as much as I enjoyed writing it (which was a lot), and that maybe I’ll see you at one of my events over the next month.

But today is extra-special to me because it’s not only my second book’s book birthday, but it’s also the release date for two debut books that I love and that are written by dear friends of mine. I really couldn’t think of anyone better to share this day with, and I hope that if you see one of these titles on your local bookstore shelf, you’ll grab it. I promise you won’t be disappointed.

The Sound of Life and Everything by Krista Van Dolzer

The Sound of Life and Everything by Krista Van Dolzer

Stella

Stella Brings the Family by Miriam B. Schiffer

Happy book birthday to all!!

SUMMER blog button3Also, here are links to two more Stars of Summer blog tour posts that are up today: I’ve got an in-depth interview with Louise Galveston and giveaway at From the Mixed-Up Files, and a quickie interview with Leandra Wallace at her blog!

And now, back to preparing hot dog toppings for tomorrow’s Colorado launch party. 🙂

More blog tour (on launch day eve!)

Posted & filed under Getting Published, Gladys Gatsby.

SUMMER blog button3The blog tour for The Stars of Summer is rolling on! First, on Friday, we had this lovely review from Lisa at Fic Talk. I love how she says that this series appeals to adult foodies as well as young readers, because I think so, too! 🙂

And now today Lucy at The Reading Date shares her reactions to the book–and some of her favorite veggie dogs from around LA, should Gladys ever want to come out and visit. The pictures and descriptions have me drooling.

The Stars of Summer hits the shelves TOMORROW, and my first bookstore launch party is the day after that. There are also plenty more blog tour posts coming your way. It’s going to be a busy, but exciting week!

Winner, blog tour posts, and AFS in Czech!

Posted & filed under All Four Stars, Contest, Getting Published, Gladys Gatsby, Interview.

The Sound of Life and Everything by Krista Van DolzerSeveral orders of business today!

First off, the randomly selected winner of an arc of The Sound of Life and Everything by Krista Van Dolzer is…

**** Becky! ****

Congrats, and happy reading!

If you didn’t win, you still don’t have long to wait to read the book, as it comes out a week from today. You can preorder it here, or request it from your local library. Or both! 🙂 Debut authors appreciate your support so much.

SUMMER blog button3Secondly, The Stars of Summer blog tour continues today with TWO entries! Aeicha has written a terrific review of the book over at Word Spelunking, and Emma has an interview with me up at Awkwordly Emma in which I share research techniques and cooking habits. Feel free to check them out!

 

All Four Stars by Tara Dairman CoverAnd finally, I got some great news yesterday: All Four Stars will be published in Czech, by Albatros! This is the first foreign rights sale for any of my books, and I’m over the moon. More details on Facebook.

Check back tomorrow as the blog tour continues!

THE STARS OF SUMMER blog tour kicks off!

Posted & filed under All Four Stars, Contest, Getting Published.

SUMMER blog button3The Stars of Summer is a little over a week away from hitting the shelves, but its blog tour kicks off today! A whole bunch of generous kidlit and food bloggers will be posting reviews, interviews, recipes, and more over the next couple of weeks, and I’ll do my best to round up the links daily here.

First off, a terrific review and hot dog recipe collection from Katie at Bookish Illuminations. Katie is also giving away signed copies of All Four Stars and The Stars of Summer!

Check back tomorrow for the next stop on the tour, and for the winner of my own giveaway of The Sound of Life and Everything by Krista Van Dolzer.

One more giveaway–win The Sound of Life and Everything by Krista Van Dolzer!

Posted & filed under Contest, Getting Published.

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:

The Sound of Life and Everything by Krista Van Dolzer 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 ‘s fantastically original debut, THE SOUND OF LIFE AND EVERYTHING!  #giveaway

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

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

And the winner is…

Posted & filed under All Four Stars, Contest.

Thanks so much to everyone who entered my giveaway for signed copies of All Four Stars and The Stars of Summer. The randomly selected winner is…

**** Diane Collier ****

Congrats, Diane, and happy reading!

The Sound of Life and Everything by Krista Van DolzerBut hark, that was not your last chance to win a book on this blog this week! Come back tomorrow to enter my giveaway of an arc of The Sound of Life and Everything, the incredible middle-grade debut by Krista Van Dolzer that comes out on May 5!

Crystal Kite finalist – and giveaway!

Posted & filed under All Four Stars, Contest, Gladys Gatsby.

Crystal-Kite-logo1-1024x393I got some great news this past weekend: All Four Stars is a finalist for an SCBWI Crystal Kite Award! This award is granted by fellow writers and illustrators in each of the 15 regions of SCBWI (the Society for Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators). We had amazing group of nominees in the southwest region, and I couldn’t be more honored that All Four Stars has made the final four.

These could be yours!! :)

These could be yours!! 🙂

To celebrate, I am giving away a brand-spanking-new, SIGNED paperback of All Four Stars (which comes with two bonus recipes and a teaser chapter from The Stars of Summer!) AND my very last advance reader copy of The Stars of Summer, just in case you can’t wait until May 5 to dive into Gladys’s continuing adventures.

To enter, simply leave a comment on this blog post. I’ll randomly select a winner this Wednesday, 4/22, at 9 am Mountain Time so that hopefully I can get the books in the mail to the winner by the end of the week. This giveaway is open to US and Canadian mailing addresses.

ALL FOUR STARS is out in paperback today!

Posted & filed under All Four Stars, Four-star recipes, Getting Published, Gladys Gatsby, Recipes.

All Four Stars by Tara Dairman CoverHip, hip, hooray!

Happy April 7–otherwise known as the paperback release date for my first novel, All Four Stars. I’m incredibly excited about this for several reasons.

1) More affordable price point. Hardcovers are gorgeous and durable, but can be too expensive for some families to afford. When I was growing up, my appetite for books was insatiable, and parents only ever bought me paperbacks. So the feel of a paperback in my hand is really the quintessential reading experience for me. I’m excited that the lower price point of a paperback will help All Four Stars make the leap into more young readers’ hands

2) Bonus content. The paperback of All Four Stars contains recipes for two dishes mentioned in the book! Of course, I’ve had recipes from the book available here on my website since the book was first released, but it’ll be extra nice for young readers to see them right there in the pages. Who knows how many budding chefs they might inspire? 🙂

I am Puffin, hear me roar!!

I am Puffin, hear me roar!!

3) That Puffin logo! Thinking back again to all those paperbacks I read as a kid, the Puffin logo was a stamp of the highest quality, since it graced the covers of my Judy Blume and Roald Dahl volumes. Of course, I had no idea about publishers and imprints back then–but now I know that Puffin publishes the paperback editions for Penguin Young Readers books. Which means that it appears on the All Four Stars paperback! I seriously could not be more delighted about that.

So, many thanks to Puffin editor Jennifer Bonnell for making the transition from hardcover to paperback so smooth, and many thanks to all of you readers, without whom Penguin would not have decided to release a paperback at all (not every book gets one) and continue the All Four Stars series.

If you spot an AFS paperback in the wild, feel free to snap a pic and tweet or send it to me–I’d love to see it out there!