Duckworth Has Arrived!

At long last, my new picture book—Duckworth, the Difficult Child—hits the shelves today. With spectacular illustrations created by Júlia Sardà, I think both kids and parents will love this story.

Special thanks to Emma Ledbetter, my extraordinary editor, and to Stephanie Fretwell-Hill, my excellent agent. I’d also like to thank Harold Underdown and Karl Monger, who were invaluable as early editors of the manuscript.

From the Booklist review:

“What first appears to be a Goreyesque cautionary tale for troublesome children comically turns the tables to target inept parents instead. … Sardà plays up the story’s situational humor in her detailed, vintage-toned watercolors, ensuring that kids get the joke that the parents are the difficult ones, not Duckworth. A lightly macabre, utterly amusing read.” i

Atheneum to Publish My New Picture Book: Duckworth, the Difficult Child

I haven’t posted for quite some time, as I’ve been hard at work on a novel. But I’m back with three exciting announcements:

La Gran Cadena by Júlia Sardà

The story, my homage to Florence Parry Heide’s The Shrinking of Treehorn, is about a boy with misguided parents who remain untroubled when he gets eaten by a snake.

This is my first picture book to be published since my debut—Otto Grows Down—was released by Sterling with illustrations by Scott Magoon.

 

Special thanks to Harold Underdown and Karl Monger—as well as Emma Ledbetter at Atheneum—for their expertise in editing the manuscript.

 

 

 

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My Inaugural Post!

I’m still building the site, but thought I’d take a crack at my first post. Look, Ma, I’m blogging!

The impetus for starting this website is the imminent release of my first novel, Crashing Eden. For me there are few satisfactions in life that compare to publishing a book. And though the release of each of my books has been exciting, publishing a novel is the ultimate thrill.

What makes a novel so special? Well, as anyone who has managed to complete one can attest, there is probably no other literary feat that is quite so difficult, nor so gratifying. Writing this novel has tested me to the limit on every level: artistically, intellectually, emotionally, and spiritually. To be able to share what I’ve created with others is truly exhilarating.

And terrifying.

What if readers hate it? A novel is so personal, it’s as if you’re exposing your deepest, darkest self for all to see. How humiliating! Damn, is it too late to release the thing under a pen name?

Ah, well. Courage!

Now, the other reason that Crashing Eden is particularly close to my heart is that it’s written primarily for and about teenagers. As everyone knows, adolescence can be a time of great confusion and upheaval. Mine certainly was. To write this book I was forced to revisit those years, which proved painful and disturbing, but ultimately healing. It’s my hope that this story will not only entertain, but also provide some degree of solace to the teenager in us all.

 

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