What's New?

VIRTUAL AUTHOR VISITS What a year it's been and how I miss visiting actual schools! However, I am available for both full-day and single-presentation virtual author visits this fall and winter. I'll be booking in-person visits for spring 2021, with contingency plans in place as needed. Go to my School Visits Page for more details and stay safe! 

 

Super honored that LIFEBOAT 12 is the winner of the 2019 Connecticut Book Award AND the 2020 Oklahoma Children's Sequoyah Award. Now in its sixth printing, it is also nominated for state awards in Florida, Illinois, Kentucky, Maine, Maryland, Mississippi, Missouri, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and Vermont. These awards mean the world to me because librarians nominate the books and then kids vote! LIFEBOAT 12 has been named an 2019 ALSC Notable Book, a 2019 Bank Street Best Book of the Year and the winner of the 2019 SCBWI Golden Kite Award for middle grade fiction. (See the NYC awards ceremony below!) And now you can get it in paperback and as an audiobook!

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MARCH 2016

TWO NEW BOOKS

This March, just in time for spring peepers, LEAPS AND BOUNCE hops in from Hyperion with illustrator Matthew Cordell. Matt and I collaborated on ROOTING FOR YOU and I'm excited to be teaming up again. Kirkus called this rhyming read-aloud about frog metamorphosis "a joyful, energetic celebration of growing up."

 

Then in May, Simon and Schuster will be publishing my very first nonfiction picture book. ADA'S VIOLIN tells the true story of the Recycled Orchestra of Paraguay, which was profiled on 60 Minutes and is the subject of the Landfill Harmonic, a documentary whose trailer went viral last year. With gorgeous collage illustrations by Sally Wern Comport, the book will be released in both English and Spanish editions.

 

School Library Journal notes that one in four children in the United States is Hispanic and yet "the Latino market continues to be underrepresented." Muchas gracias, SLJ, for counting ADA'S VIOLIN as one of nine new books deemed "truly worthy and recommended for the shelves of every public and school library."

 

 

 

FALL 2015

THE NEWS IS OUT!

Thrilled to share this news as reported by Publishers Weekly.

 

 

SUMMER 2015

WRITER AT WORK

There's a good reason I haven't posted in a long time. For the past few months, I've been working on researching and writing my very first middle grade novel. It's a whole new ballgame for me and I'm loving every minute. More news soon!

APRIL 2015

ADA'S VIOLIN: The Story of the Recycled Orchestra of Paraguay

 

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The news is out and I can finally talk about the book I've been

working on for the past year! Perhaps you've seen the Recycled

Orchestra on 60 Minutes? Or in the brand-new movie entitled

the Landfill Harmonic? Each chronicles the story of children growing

up on a landfill in Paraguay, one of the poorest slums in all of

South America. One day, an environmental engineer named Favio

Chávez had the ingenious idea of building musical instruments from

the trash. With the help of Nicholás Gómez, they transformed oil drums

into cellos, water pipes into flutes and baking trays into violins! How do

they sound? Just listen!

 

ADA'S VIOLIN, to be published next spring by Simon and Schuster,

tells the story of these amazing kids through the eyes of Ada Ríos,

the young girl who grew up to become a first violinist in the

orchestra, playing to sold-out crowds around the world. Illustrations

by Sally Wern Comport just came in and they're stunning. So

excited about this book!

MARCH 2015

EXCITING NEWS

A big announcement is coming from my publisher Simon and Schuster and

I can hardly wait to share. Details to come!

FEBRUARY 2015

A PEEK INSIDE

Here's an inside look at some of my favorite pages from MISSION: NEW BABY 

in stores on February 24. Hats off to illustrator Mary Lundquist!

 

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