The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden is a Middle Shelf pick!

So totally honoured that The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden is a Middle Shelf magazine "Cool Reads for Cool Kids" pick in the January/February 2014 issue.

You'll find the excerpt on p. 23 here

Go and check out some great middle grade reads, and sign up for a free subscription, too.

Many thanks Middle Shelf, can't wait to see what you pick for March 2014!

Starred review in Quill & Quire for Gwendolyn Golden

I'm so honoured! My new middle grade novel,
The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden, has just received a wonderful starred review in the January/February issue of Quill & Quire magazine.

Here's an excerpt:

"This lively, fast-paced novel ... moves fluidly from the whimsical to the fantastical and takes an intriguing detour to some dark places in between....

Dowding knits together a variety of elements-puberty, hidden talent, independence, loss-with a satisfying balance between humour and seriousness."

Lovely, thank you Q&Q! Here's the whole review:
The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden.

See the Book Trailer. (Yep, that's me playing guitar. Thanks to George Panayotou for the video expertise!)

Beautiful book trailer for The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden

See the book trailer

"This morning, I woke up on the ceiling."
So begins The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden, 
my new novel for readers aged 9-12, available January 2014. One morning, for no particular reason, Gwendolyn wakes up floating around her bedroom like one of her little brother's Batman balloons.

Puberty is weird enough, she thinks, now this? What follows is a coming-of-age story that Icarus himself would have loved.

I'm so pleased to announce that the book now has an astonishingly beautiful book trailer, shot partly in my house (that's my dog!), and cut with flight footage. It's an incredible gift to see the emotions conveyed in your book brought to life in a short piece like this, I can't imagine how it must feel to have your book made into a movie. It must be overwhelming. The copywriting expert in me says, yes, book trailers are an important part of the marketing mix for any book, but I can also tell you after helping in the creation of this piece, the REAL reason to do a book trailer is because they're beautiful, rewarding, joyful and creative little jewels, that say more about your book than a press release, tweet or facebook announcement ever could. I couldn't have asked for anything better, the trailer is a work of art. 

I have very talented friends. My special thanks to George Panayotou, for his careful and tender ministrations to the design and production of the video. Also many thanks to Chris Haddad, for generously supplying the cornfield video. That's me playing the guitar, too, a piece that I wrote for the trailer.

Here's the link: The Strange Gift of Gwendolyn Golden Book Trailer

Enjoy the flight!