Pick of the week, tech storytelling, a librarian's letter, free teacher's guides and more

Coming September 2019, Dundurn Press

It's been a busy week, lots to cover! 

FIRST, I want to say thank you to the 49th Shelf editors for choosing Quinn and the Quiet, Quiet as one of their 5 top middle-grade books this week. 

Here's the list: 49th Shelf Editor's Picks for July 29-Aug 4
Always exciting to see my book with other fine Canadian authors (and NYT Bestsellers) like Kelley Armstrong! August Update, Quinn is also on the 49th Shelf Most Anticipated Fall Books for kids list.

Quinn is the sixth and final book in the award-winning Weird Stories Gone Wrong series. It comes out in September, so this is a nice early boost for the book. It was also named a Dewey Divas and the Dudes FALL PICK a few weeks ago, which is amazing.

Quinn and the Quiet, Quiet pre-orders are ON!
(and pre-orders = love, folks!)

Request a copy for review now from the publisher, Dundurn Press.

SECOND: Alex and The Other, book four in the Weird Stories Gone Wrong Series, is used as an example of great horror stories to inspire kids to tell their own ghost stories using tech, on the 49th Shelf Teacher's blog.

For 8 great ideas and tech solutions to help kids tell their own stories using video creation, stop motion animation, podcasts etc: Books to Inspire Storytelling (with tech to capture the tales) 

THIRD: I received a really lovely librarian's letter this week, talking about Carter and the Curious Maze and Myles and the Monster Outside (books 3 and 4 in the Weird Stories Gone Wrong series)!

Here's an excerpt: 
"We have never seen our class so excited about our read aloud. They never wanted me to stop. My teacher would always use that time to prep stuff but when I started reading these books, she would just stop and listen.
...The last week of school we had an Indoor camping day and we all sat in the dark under a tarp and read the last of Myles and the Monster Outside by flashlight. One of the cards I got at the end of the year said that they thought I was such a good reader and that Carter was their new favourite story of all time."

Wow, honestly letters like this help to keep a writer going. Writing is such a lonely job most of the time, it's always such a shot in the arm to hear from actual people that actual children love your books! If you ever want to reach out to an author, do it. They will always be appreciative!

FOURTH: And here's some news I'm happy to finally share! There are three terrific new FREE Teacher's Guides on the Dundurn site, go see:

The Gargoyle in My Yard, Teacher's Guide
The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden, Teacher's Guide
Everton Miles is Stranger than Me, Teacher's Guide

Keep reading everyone! I'm going on a wee break, so see you all in August!