First of all, great news: All Four Stars has been named an Amazon Best Book of the Month for July! Many thanks to the editors there who selected it–I couldn’t be more thrilled. Secondly, the official All Four Stars blog tour has now begun! Hooray! The wonderful Wendy Darling of The Midnight Garden and I have been working hard together… Read more »
ALL FOUR STARS
Four-star recipe: Green tea cupcakes with sesame icing
“Their flavors will send your taste buds on a trip around the world…the Chinese cake has green tea and sesame seeds…” –All Four Stars, page 268 Classy Cakes–the fictitious “dessert bistro” that Gladys is assigned to review in All Four Stars–is famous for its delicious, internationally-inspired cakes. As for how I decided to write about such cakes…well, if you… Read more »
Four-Star Recipe: Gajar ka halwa
“What’s gajar ka halwa?” Gladys was intrigued. “It’s a traditional north Indian pudding made with carrots,” Parm said. “Carrots?” “Trust me, it’s the best dessert on earth.” –All Four Stars, page 208 Parm Singh is right. Move over, carrot cake–gajar ka halwa is the tastiest sweet dish made with carrots you could possibly imagine! The first… Read more »
Four-Star Recipe: Tree-Nut Tarts
“Omigosh, wasn’t Saturday so fun? I keep thinking about that tree-nut tart. Do you think you could find a recipe for it?” –All Four Stars, page 263 Why yes, Charissa–there is such a recipe! Charissa Bentley, one of the main characters in All Four Stars, loves desserts and nuts, so it’s no surprise that this dish from Classy Cakes… Read more »
A few more reviews
My fellow Baker’s Dozen Success Story Michael Gettel-Gilmartin has reviewed All Four Stars over at Project Mayhem today, calling it “classic middle grade, full of heart and humor.” Thank you, Michael! The post also features an interview with me, so if you’re dying to find out what middle-grade books influenced me as a kid or what my… Read more »
Four-Star Recipe: Bluebarb crumble
“So what’s it called?” Charissa asked. “Bluebarb crumble.” “Bluebarb?” “It’s short for blueberry-rhubarb.” “What’s rhubarb?” “Well,” Gladys began, “it looks kind of like celery, but you can’t eat it raw. It tastes sour, and it grows like a weed…” – All Four Stars, page 222 It’s spring! Rhubarb is here, and blueberries are on their way. In… Read more »
Sign-up open for the ALL FOUR STARS blog tour!
Happy Thursday, folks! First off, the winner of The Secret Hum of a Daisy by Tracy Holczer is… Natasha Wing! Congrats, Natasha! I hope you love this beautiful book. Second order of business–check out this lovely button: And it means what it says–All Four Stars will be going on a tour! Of blogs! Hosted by the terrific… Read more »
Subscribe to my new e-mail newsletter (and win a signed ARC of ALL FOUR STARS!)
We’re now officially less than than two months away from the launch of All Four Stars, and I couldn’t be more excited! I’ve got great news coming soon about a blog tour, extra goodies like recipes in progress, and two (!) launch parties in the works. I also have one last advance copy of the… Read more »
Thumbs up from School Library Journal!
One of the (many, many) wonderful things about living in Colorado is being a full two hours behind the east coast–meaning that, even though I wake up at a pretty reasonable hour most days (around 7:20 or so), people in New York are at their desks by then, and have sometimes already sent me fun news by e-mail…. Read more »
My very first author event
As I mentioned in my last post, I had the great good fortune this past weekend of participating in the first-ever Longmont Public Library Teen Author Night, which culminated the weeklong Longmont Library Festival. It also happened to be my first-ever official author event, and the organizers were kind enough to include me even though my… Read more »