Fun research expeditions

In a discussion on FB about writing techniques, I brought up research.
I often leave holes in my manuscript with notes to do more research about this or that.  
One day I abandoned my family, got into my car and drove down to Williamsburg, VA and spent the weekend there taking pictures and doing research. Yes, I found the answer to one of my editor's burning questions and to my relief was able to state it in one paragraph, not a whole chapter.
I took a day trip in December to Washington Crossing, PA to watch the reenactment of the crossing and take photographs for my biography of George Washington. In 10 degree weather. Taking photographs with insulated thin leather gloves. (They turned out great)  
I actually took THREE trips to Washington, DC to wander the Air and Space Museum so that I could explain flight so that everyone (including me) could understand the physics behind it.  
I got a lot of praise from readers and reviewers for that one point (plus a lot of awards for that book, so it was worth all the research.

Blacklisted

I just completed reading Blacklisted by Larry Dane Brimner. 
Amazing background to an event that I witnessed on TV in the black and white days. Some of the hearings were telecast. 
It also explains why my mother could no longer keep in contact with our German relatives -- because they were unfortunately situated in the half of Germany that the Russians took over and put up a wall. 
I wasn't even to talk about them because my parents were afraid they'd be arrested and my father fired from his job because the authorities were still scouting to dig out anyone connected to Communists. (even though our relatives were not communists. They were just unfortunate about where they lived during and after WW2) So now I don't even know who they are or where exactly they live.

Our Canadian Adventure

Once, after attending an antique car convention in New England, we decided to go home by way of Canada.  In those days you could go in and out on the spur of the moment, because the US government had very open borders in those days. (1960s)
Quebec was 'interesting' because neither of us knew any (or much) French and all the signs were in French. Also, their toll booths were different. We were just passing through Quebec (having entered Canada through New Hampshire) trying to get to Niagara Falls by the upper route.  
First toll booth, we handed in a Canadian dollar and got some change back. And drove on.  
Second toll booth we tossed one quarter into the change bin and drove on. We were aware of flashing lights at the toll booth behind us, but didn't think they had anything to do with us.  
At the third booth, there were officers of the law lined up to stop us.  
Evidently, the first toll booth had given us FOUR quarters and we had been supposed to toss one of them into the change bin. And so on. Therefore, we owed the turnpike authorities One Quarter.
Very embarrassed, we explained what we had done and they let us go when we had paid the missing quarter.
I miss that old VW bug we drove then. It was packed full of camping equipment and food to sustain us.
Of course we had no problem getting back into the United States at Niagara. Just had to show our Maryland driver's licenses.

Bowling for Dragons

Another Patricia Wrede book writing story:

The published title on my own books was never the one I began with, so I consider 'my' original title as I write - a Draft title.  
Author Patricia Wrede titled the first drafts of each one of her 4 dragon books -- Bowling for Dragons.  
(Bowling for Dollars was a popular tv show during that time.) 
The actual published title wasn't finalized until very close to publication. 　

Patricia Wrede had a writing problem

Well known author, Patricia Wrede hates to send book synopsis to her editors.
(Editors want to know what the next book will be about)
 So she'll make up something like. --The group gathers one by one in the city and are pursued so they escape the city and have various adventures in the countryside until they reach their goal. --  
Okay. No, not okay. 

She wrote and wrote and couldn't get out of the city. They'd be almost to the gate and suddenly one of the characters would suggest spending the night in an uncle's empty warehouse. They'd try again for the gate the next day, but it's guarded, so they go to ground elsewhere. etc. 

Now, I've read all of her books and one day I was reading one and This Book was the story where she had had so much trouble with her characters not wanting to leave the city. (can't remember the title right now, but I enjoyed it very much.)
I'd surmise that she's not a plotter; she's actually a pantser.

Do go to her link above and find more about her.

(she also has a good book about writing)

Adult books read in 2019

In addition to the previous Children's books, I've read these adult books in 2019

ADULT FICTION

Allingham, Margery.  The Tiger in the Smoke. The 14^th Albert Campion Mystery. NY:

             Doubleday, 1952.  (old fashioned British mystery)

Beverley Jo.  Devilish. NY: Signet/ Penguin, 2000. 

   (I’m re-reading her Malloren series, from last to first.)

    ….     Secrets of the Night. NY: Signet/ Penguin, 1999.

    ….     Something Wicked. NY: Signet/ Penguin, 1997.

    ….     Tempting Fortune. NY: Signet/ Penguin, 1995.

    ….     My Lady Notorious. (The first Malloren book)   NY:  Signet/ Penguin, 1993.

    ….     Winter Fire.  (Malloren)  NY: Signet; New American Library, 2003.

    ….     A most unsuitable man.  (Malloren)  NY: Signet; New American Library, 2005.

    ….     A Lady’s Secret.  (Malloren- three friends)  NY: Signet; New American Library, 2008.

    ….     The Secret Wedding.   (Malloren- three friends)  NY: Signet; New American Library,

             2009.

    ….     The Secret Duke. (Malloren-three friends)  NY: Signet; New American Library, 2010.

    ….     An Unlikely Countess. (a novel of the Malloren World) NY: Signet; New American

             Library, 2011.

    ….     Seduction in Silk (a novel of the Malloren World) NY: Signet; New American Library,

             2013.

(and her Rogues series)

    ….     An Arranged Marriage (Company of Rogues – 1) NY: Zebra/ Kensington, 1991.

                        (The beginning of another series. This time I’m reading them first to last.)

    ….     An Unwilling Bride. (Company of Rogues – 2) NY: Zebra/ Kensington, 1992.

    ….     Christmas Angel. (Company of Rogues – 3) NY: Zebra/ Kensington, 1992.

    ….     Three Heroes.  (Company of Rogues – collection) NY: New American Library, 2004.

            Containing – The Demon’s Mistress

                        The Dragon’s Bride (Company of Rogues – 6)

                        The Devil’s Heiress. (Company of Rogues – 7)

    ….     Forbidden.  (Company of Rogues – 4) NY: Zebra books/ Kensington, 1994.

    ….     Dangerous Joy.  (Company of Rogues – 5) NY: Zebra books/ Kensington, 1995.

    ….     Skylark. (Company of Rogues – 10)  NY: New American Library, 2004.

    ….     To rescue a rogue  (Company of Rogues – 12)  NY: New American Library, 2006.

    ….     Lady Beware (Company of Rogues 13 – sequel to To Rescue a Rogue)  NY: New

             American Library, 2007.

    ….     The Rogue’s Return. (Company of Rogues – 11  NY: New American Library, 2006.

    ….     Hazard. (Company of Rogues – 8 ) NY: New American Library, 2002.

    ….     St. Raven. (Company of Rogues – 9)  NY: Signet; New American Library, 2003.

    ….     A Shocking Delight. (Company of Rogues – 14) NY:  Signet; New American Library,

             2014.

    ….     The Viscount needs a wife. (Company of Rogues – 16)   NY:  Signet; New American

             Library,  2016.

    ….     Merely a Marriage. (Company of Rogues – 17) NY:  Signet; New American Library,

             2017.

Bujold, Lois McMaster. Cordella’s Honor. NY:  Baen, 1996.  (Includes two novels – Shards of

             Honor plus Barrayar -  and one short story,  plus an author’s Afterword which

             describes various versions of the two novels.)  

    ….     Young Miles.  NY:  Baen, 1996.   (Includes two noveles – The Warrior’s apprentice and

             The Vor game. Plus a short story – The Mountains of mourning and an author’s 

            afterward.)

    …     Cetaganda. NY: Baen, 1996.

    ….     Borders of Infinity. Framingham, MA: The NESFA Press, 1989, 2007.  

            (A collection of three stories published by a Science Fiction group bound 

            together by Miles recollecting them while in a hospital recovering from 

            having his arm bones replaced. Includes The mountains of mourning, Labyrinth, and

             The Borders of Infinity.)

    ….     Brothers in Arms. NY: Baen Books, 1989.

    ….     Mirror Dance.  NY:  Baen Books, 1994.

Deveraux, Jude. A willing murder, a Medlar mystery. NY: Mira, 2018.

            (although many of her romance books also include a mystery, it looks like she’s now

 writing true mysteries with a touch of romance, but no sex. Nicely done.)  

    ….     A Justified Murder, a Medlar mystery. NY: Mira, 2019.

    ….     Met Her Match.  (Summer Hill) NY:  Mira, 2019.

Kerstan, Lynn. Marry in Haste and Francesca’s Rake. NY: Signet, 2005. (double novel)

Kwan, Kevin.  Crazy Rich Asians, a novel.  NY: Random House, 2013.  (movie made of this)

    ….     China Rich Girlfriend, a novel. (2) NY: Random House, 2016. 

    ….     Rich People Problems, a novel. (3) NY:  Doubleday/Penguin Random House, 2017. 

Lackey, Mercedes.                   

    ….     Beauty and the Werewolf. NY: Luna/ Harlequin, 2011.

    ….     The Bartered Brides.  NY: Daw Books, 2018.

                        Collegium Chronicles list of books

    ….     Foundation, a Novel of Valdemar (book 1).  NY:  Daw Books, 2008.

    ….     Intrigues. Volume 2 of the Collegium Chronicles, a Novel of Valdemar. NY:  

            Daw Books, 2010.

    ….     Changes. Volume 3 of the Collegium Chronicles, a Novel of Valdemar. NY:  

            Daw Books, 2011.

    ….     Redoubt. Volume 4 of the Collegium Chronicles, a Novel of Valdemar. NY:  

            Daw Books, 2012.

    ….     Bastion.  Volume 5 of the Collegium Chronicles, a Novel of Valdemar. NY:  

            Daw Books, 2013.

    ….     Closer to Home. Book 1 of the Herald Spy.  NY:  Daw Books, 2014.

    ….     Closer to the Heart. Book 2 of the Herald Spy.  NY:  Daw Books, 2015.

    ….     Closer to the Chest.  Book 3 of the Herald Spy.  NY:  Daw Books, 2016.

    ….     The Hills Have Spies, Book one of Family Spies, a novel of Valdemar.  NY: Daw

             Books, 2018. 

            (continuation of the adventures of Herald Mags in Valdemar except this series will 

            feature his children.  Book one = Perry.  Too bad the jacket copy talks about an 

            entirely different story with an entirely different child’s name – not one of the three 

            mentioned in this story. Mercedes says, “P.s. if you own a copy with this mistake 

            keep it, it’ll be valuable some day.”) (unfortunately for me- this is a library book)

    ….     Eye Spy. Book two of Family Spies, a novel of Valdemar.  NY: Daw Books, 2019.  

            (Abidela) 

                        (Diana Tregarde books)

    ….     Burning  Water. NY:  Tor Books, 1989.

    ….     Children of the Night.  NY:  Tor Books, 1990.

    ….     Jinx High.  NY:  Tor Books, 1991.

    ….     Sacred Ground.  NY:  Tom Doherty Associates Book, 1994.

Lipman, Laura. Lady in the Lake, a novel. NY: HarperCollins, 2019.  

            (Baltimore author using many Baltimore settings, most of which I remember.)

Novik, Naomi.  Spinning Silver. NY: Del Ray, 2018. 

(Uses multiple folk tale and Greek motifs.)

    ….     Uprooted. NY: Del Ray, 2015.

O’Brian, Patrick.  Master and commander.  NY: WW Norton &Co., 1970.

            (I was disappointed at how poorly it was written.  Kept getting confused as to 

            whose head were were in now.)

Quick, Amanda. The other lady vanishes. NY: Jove/ Berkley/ Penquin Random House, 2018.

                                    Beyond the Bridgerton family stories by Quinn

Quinn, Julia. Just like heaven. NY: Avon/ HarperCollins, 2011.

    ….     A Night like this.  NY: Avon/ HarperCollins, 2012.

    ….     The Sum of all kisses. NY: Avon/ HarperCollins, 2013.

    ….     Because of Miss Bridgerton.  NY: Avon/ HarperCollins, 2016.

    ….     The girl with the make-believe husband. NY: Avon/ HarperCollins, 2017.

    ….     The Other Miss Bridgerton. NY: Avon/ HarperCollins, 2018.

Smith, Alexander McCall.  The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency.  NY:  Random House, 1998.

    ….     Tears of the Giraffe. The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency.   NY: Random House, 2000.

    ….     Morality for Beautiful Girls. The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency.  NY:  Random House, 

2001.

    ….     The Kalahari typing school for men. The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency.  NY:  Random

 House, 2002.

    ….     The colors of all the cattle. The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency.  NY:  Pantheon Books/

 Penguin Random House, 2018.

Taylor, Jodi.  Just one damned thing after another – the Chronicles of St. Mary’s Book 1.  

            NY: Night Shade books, 2013.  (Time Travel !) 

    ….     A symphony of echoes - the Chronicles of St. Mary’s Book 2.  NY: Night Shade books,

             2015.  

    ….     A second chance - the Chronicles of St. Mary’s Book 3.  NY: Night Shade books,

             2016.  

    ….     A trail through time - the Chronicles of St. Mary’s Book 4.  NY: Night Shade books,

             2016.  

    ….     No time like the past - the Chronicles of St. Mary’s Book 5.  NY: Night Shade books,

             2017.  

    ….     What could possibly go wrong? - the Chronicles of St. Mary’s Book 6.  NY: Night Shade 

            books, 2017.  

    ….     Lies, damned lies, and History  - the Chronicles of St. Mary’s Book 7.  NY: Night Shade 

            books, 2017.  

   ….      And the rest is history - - the Chronicles of St. Mary’s Book 8.  NY: Night Shade 

            books, 2017.  

    ….     The long and short of it – Stories from the Chronicles of St. Mary’s Book 8.  

            NY: Night Shade books, 2017.   

            (This one is short stories that fill out and extend the tales in her books.)

    ….     Taylor, Jodi.  An argumentation of historians - the Chronicles of St. Mary’s Book 9.

.  NY: Night Shade books, 2017.  

Yolen, Jane. How to fracture a fairy tale.  San Francisco: Tachyon, 2018.

            (a collection of previously published tales and poems)

Winspear, Jacqueline. Maisie Dobbs, a novel. NY:  Soho Press, 2003.

            (female detective, ex- WWI nurse, solves mysteries – this one involving injured soldiers.)

ADULT BIOGRAPHY

B Andrews.  Andrews, Julie. (with her daughter, Emma Walton Hamilton) Home Work, a

             memoir of my Hollywood years.  NY: Hachette books, 2019.

B Buttigieg     Buttigieg, Pete. Shortest way home, one mayor’s challenge and a model for

             America’s Future.  NY:  Liveright publishing/ WW Norton, 2019. 

            (Democratic candidate for president 2019 writes about being a mayor and gay)         

B Field            Field, Sally.  In Pieces, a memoir. NY: Grand Central Publishing, 2018. 

B Idle.              Idle, Eric. Always look on the bright side of life, a sortabiography.  NY: Crown 

            Archetype, 2018.  (In case you don’t recognize him – he’s an important part of the

             Monty Python group who wrote and performed in SpamaLot.)

B Israel           Israel, Lee.  Can you ever forgive me?  Memoirs of a Literary forger.  

            NY: Simon & Schuster, 2008.    

B Key  Leepson, Marc. What so proudly we hailed. NY: Macmillan, 2014. 

B Krosoczka   Krosoczka, Jarrett. Hey Kiddo. NY: Graphix/Scholastic, 2018. (drug addict

             mom/ no father/ raised by grandparents/ developed into an artist)

B Mulgrew     Mulgrew, Kate.  Born with Teeth, a memoir.  NY: Little Brown and Company, 

2015.  (Autobiography of the actress who became my favorite Star Trek character, 

Captain Janeway.)

B Mulgrew     Mulgrew, Kate.  How to forget, a daughter’s memoir.  NY: Wiliam Morrow/

             HarperCollins, 2019.   (both death of father and later mother Alzheimer’s, sad) 

B Noah            Noah, Trevor. Born a crime, stories from a South African childhood.  NY:  

            Spiegel & Grau/ Random House, 2016.  

            (childhood adventures of famous nighttime comedian.)

B Obama         Obama, Michelle.  Becoming.  NY:  Crown, 2018. (FLOTUS)

B Rice             Rice, Susan. Tough Love – My story of the things worth fighting for.   

            NY: Simon and Schuster, 2019.  

            (Ambassador to the UN, Assistant Secretary of State,  and Head of National Security)

ADULT NONFICTION

302.302          McNamee, Roger. Zucked – waking up to the facebook catastrophe. 

            NY: Penguin Press, 2019. (very repetitive. Must be duplicates of various articles)

362.88             De Becker, Gavin. The Gift of Fear – survival signals that protect us from

             violence.  NY:  Little Brown and company, 1997.

800     Paul, Ann Whitford.  Writing picture books, a hands-on guide from story creation to

             publication.   IL: Writer’s Digest Books, 2018.

808.3  Cron, Lisa.  Story Genius, how to use brain science to go beyond outlining and write

a riveting novel (before you waste three years writing 327 pages that go nowhere) 

 Berkeley, CA:  Ten Speed Press, 2016. 

818.602.   Guisewite, Cathy. Fifty things that aren’t My Fault, essays from the grown-up years.

              NY: G.P. Putnam & sons, 2019.  (The creator of the CATHY comic strip)

909.825    Hoffman, David. The dead hand – the untold story of the cold war arms race and its

 dangerous legacy.  NY:Doubleday, 2009.  (Biological agents as well as nuclear bombs!)

973.933 Leamer, Laurence. Mar-a-Lago, inside the gates of power at Donald Trump’s 

            presidential palace.  NY:  Flatiron books, 2019. 

            (shows that Trump has always been the awful person he has proven himself to be.)

973.933   Reid, Joy-Ann.  The Man who sold America. NY: William Morrow/HarperCollins,

             2019.   (more info about the criminal who is the president.)

973.933   Reilly, Rick.  Commander in Cheat, how golf explains Trump.  NY: Hachette 

            Books, 2019.  (the guy who cheats at golf, cheats at everything else because it’s all 

            about winning and he must be the winner. & his caddies cheat for him, too.)

973.933  Sims, Cliff.  Team of Vipers, my 500 extraordinary days in the Trump white house. 

 NY: St. Martin’s Press, 2019. (written by a ‘Christian” member of Trump’s first year

 in the White House.  Interesting to see his viewpoint, although he completely

 ignores the appalling things that T said and did that we have video proof of. He 

brags about the speeches and tweets he wrote for T to present and tries to present T as a reasonable person, while admitting that T is NOT reasonable.) 

973.933  Ward, Vicky. Kushner, Inc.  Greed. Ambition. Corruption. – the Extraordinary story of

 Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump. NY: St. Martin’s Press, 2019. 

973.933  Wilson, Rick.  Everything Trump touches dies, a Republican strategist gets real

 about the worst president ever.  NY: Free press/ Simon & Schuster, 2018.

(again – it’s a Republican writing about how Trump has failed as a president)

Children's books read in 2019

This year I've read over 100 books.
These are the children's books:

Booklist of Books Read in 2019

Picture Books

Blackall, Sophie. Hello Lighthouse. NY: Little Brown and Company, 2018. 

            (winner of the 2019 Randolph Caldecott award – her second one)

            (Excellent author note about lighthouses.  NOTE- she knows that librarians don’t

             like important information on the endpapers covered up by the book cover, so she

             left empty space there.  Yay!)

Campbell, Marcy. Adrian Simcox does not have a horse.  Illus. Corinna Luyken. NY: Dial

             Books fYR, 2018.

Choi, Susan.  Camp Tiger. Illus John Rocco.  NY: GP  Putnam’s Sons, 2019.

Clarke, Maxine Benega. The patchwork bike. Illlus. Van Thanh Rudd. Somerville, MA: 

Candlewick Press, 2018. (Illustrations of cobbled together not-quite bike parts

 painted on cardboard.)

Colleen, Marcie. Penguinaut!  Illus. Emma Yarlett. NY: Orchard Books/ Scholastic, 2018.

Cuevas, Michelle. The care and feeding of a pet black hole.  NY: Dial books for young 

            readers, 2017.  (mixture of science, fantasy, adapting to the death of a father.)

Denos, Julia. Windows. Illus. E.B. Goodale.  Sommerville, MA: Candlewick Press, 2017.

(nighttime walk looking at house windows from outside, imagining what’s

 happening inside.)

Henkes, Kevin.  A Parade of Elephants. NY:  Greenwillow books, 2018.

Holm, Jennifer L., vs. Matthew Holm. The evil princess vs. the brave knight. NY: Random

             House, 2019. (although Jennifer and her brother Matthew are white, Matthew

             created an Asian Princess and an African Knight for this story of sibling rivalry.)

James, LK. The Full House and the empty house.  Shelburne, VT: Ripple Grove Press, 2019.

Jenkins, Emily. All-of-a-Kind family Hanukkah, based on the classic books by Sydney Taylor.

             Illus. Paul O. Zelinsky.  NY: Swartz & Wade books, 2018.  

            (Sydney Taylor Book award winner for younger readers.)

Le, Minh. Drawn Together. Illus. Dan Santat. NY: Hyperion/ Disney, 2018.  

            (ALSC Notable children’s book and other awards)

Lies, Brian. The Rough Patch.  NY: HarperCollins, 2018.  (Caldecott Honor Book)

Lin, Grace. A big mooncake for little star.  NY: Little Brown and company, 2018.

            (the author says it is Not based on any Chinese folktales but is an original tale)

            (2019 Caldecott Honor Book – second one for her)

Love, Jessica.  Julia’n is a mermaid.  Somerville, MA: Candlewick Press, 2018. 

            (was the winner of the Stonewall Book award, honoring books important to the

             LGBTQ experience.)

Lyons, Kelly Starling. Going Down Home with Daddy. Illus Daniel Minter.  Atlanta, GA:

             Peachtree, 2019.  

Martinez-Neal, Juana. Alma and how she got her name. Somerville, MA: Candlewick Press,

             2018.  (she was named after various relatives who had talents that Alma has

             inherited.) (2019 Caldecott Honor book)

McClintock, Barbara.  Vroom! NY: Farrar Straus Giroux, 2019.

Mora, Oge. Thank you, Omu! NY: Little Brown and Company, 2018. 

            (Caldecott Honor book and Winner of the Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe New

             Talent Illustrator Award. A small author’s note included.)

Morales, Yuyi. Dreamers. NY: Greenwillow, 2018.  (2019 Pura Belpré Illustrator Award)

            (lovely book about an immigrant –herself- discovering USA free libraries with a long

             author’s note about her own experience as an immigrant becoming a permanent

             resident of USA.)

Newman, Leslea. Sparkle boy.  Illus. Maria Mola.  NY: Lee & Low, 2017. 

            (preschool boy wants sparkle skirt, bracelet, fingernails & parents are ok with it.)

Paul, Miranda. Nine Months, before a baby is born. Illus. Jason Chin. NY:  Holiday House, 

2019.   (Illustrations of the development of a baby on one side and illustrations of

 activities of the family on the other.)

Portis, Antoinette. Hey, Water!  NY: Neal Porter Books, Holiday House, 2019.

            (actually has lots of NF information and could easily be catalogued NF.  Actually,

             Library of Congress lists it as 553 nonfiction.  Don’t know why my library made it

             EASY BOOKS)

Quintero, Isabel. My Papi has a Motorcycle. Illus Zeke Pena. NY: Kokila/ Penguin Random,

             2019. (uses Spanish words with no explanation)

Reidy, Jean. Truman. Illus Lucy Ruth Cummins.  NY:  Atheneum Books for Young Readers, 

            2019.   (Triman is a turtle)

Seeger, Laura Vaccaro.  Why?  NY: Neal Porter Books/ Holiday House, 2019.

Sorell, Traci. We are Grateful, Otsaliheliga. Illus Frane’ Lessac. Watertown, MA: 

Charlesbridge, 2018. (Cherokee events around the year teaching Cherokee words.

ALA Sibert Honor)

Stemple, Heidi.  Counting Birds. Illus Clover Robin. Lake Forest, CA: Quarto/ Sea Grass, 

            2018.

Teague, Mark.  Fly!  NY: Beachlane Books, 2019.  (wordless view of mama bird thoughts

             and baby bird’s thoughts – which often get ridiculous.)

Underwood, Deborah. Ogilvy. Illus T.L. McBeth. NY: Henry Holt and Company, 2019.

Wenzel, Brendan. A stone sat still.  San Francisco, Chronicle Books, 2019.

            (an illustrated tone poem)

Yolen, Jane and Heidi Stemple. Not all princesses dress in pink. Illus Anne-Sophie Languetin. 

            NY: Simon & Schuster BFYR, 2010.

Yolen, Jane and Adam Stemple. Crow not Crow. Illus Elizabeth Dulemba.  APEX, NC: Cornell Lab Publishing Group, 2018.

Yolen, Jane.  What to do with a box.  Illus Chris Sheban.  Mankato, MN: Creative Editions,

             2018.  (as you read, the board book takes the shape of a box)

I Can Read

Butler, Dori Hillestad.  King & Kayla and the case of the lost tooth.  Atlanta GA:  Peachtree 

            Publishers, 2018.  (2019 Theodor Seuss Geisel honor book)

Tabor, Corey. Fox and the Tiger.  NY: Balzer + Bray, 2018.  

            (2019 Theodor Seuss Geisel Award) 

J – FICTION :

Alexander, Zeno.  The Library of Ever.  Book 1. NY: Imprint/ Macmillan, 2019.

            (Pen name of VCFA grad, Stephen Messer.)

Auxier, Jonathan.       Sweep – the story of a girl and her monster. NY: Amulet Books, 2018.

            2019 Sydney Taylor Book Award Winner, Older Readers
            2019 NCTE Charlotte Huck Award Winner
            2018 National Jewish Book Award Finalist, Children's Literature

Barrett, Tracy.  Marabel and the book of fate.  NY: Little Brown, 2018.

Blake, Ashley Herring, The might heart of Sunny St. James. NY: Little Brown, 2019.

            (girl with replacement heart discovers she loves girls, not boys.) 

Coakley, Lena.      Wicked Nix.  NY: Amulet Books, 2018.

GN JC  Craft, Jerry.  New Kid.  NY: Harper, 2019.    (graphic novel)

GN JM Meconis, Dylan. Queen of the Sea. NY:  Walker Books, 2019. (graphic novel)

Medina, Meg.  Merci Suarez changes gears. Somerville, MA: Candlewick Press,

             2018.  (John Newbery Medal Winner, 2019)

Magoon, Kekla. The Seasons of Styx Malone. NY: Random House, 2018. 

Messer, Stephen.  Windblowne. NY: Random House, 2010.

Murdock, Catherine Gilbert. The Book of Boy.  NY: Greenwillow Books, 2018. 

            (John Newbery Honor Book, 2019)

Perl, Erica. All Three Stooges. NY: Alfred A. Knnoff, 2018. 

            (Sydney Taylor Book honor book for older readers.)

Reedy, Trent.  Gamer Army.  NY: Scholastic - Arthur A Levine Books, 2018.  

            (an updated version of Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card?)

Rodkey, Geoff. We’re not from here.  NY:  Crown Books FYR, 2019.

            (SF. The last humans land on a strange planet of giant mosquito-like beings where 

they are NOT accepted.)

Vallentine, Nicold. A time traveler’s theory of relativity. Minneapolis: Carolrhoda books,

             2019.  

Yang, Kelly. Front Desk. NY: Arthur A Levine Books/ Scholastic, 2018.

Yelchin, Eugene. Spy Runner. NY:  Henry Holt and Co, 2019. (1953 Communist scare)

YA Fiction:

Anderson, MT, et al. Fatal throne, the wives of Henry VIII tell all. NY:   Schwartz & Wade

 books, 2018.   (each wife written by a different person – Jennifer Donnelly, Candace

 Fleming, Stephanie Hemphill, Lisa Ann Sandell, Linda Sue Pak, Deborah Hopkinson,  

and MT Anderson wrote the Henry VIII parts.)

Berry, Julie. The scandalous sisterhood of Prickwillow Place. NY:  Roaring brook Press, 2014.

Brennan, Sarah Rees. In Other Lands. Easthampton, MA: Big Mouth House, 2017.

            (Fantasy/ bi-sexual hero)

Capetta, Amy Rose and Cori McCarthy. Once & Future – this time Excalibur chooses her. 

NY: Jimmy Patterson Books, 2019.  

(LGBTQ+ version of the King Arthur story, set in the future.)

Card, Orson Scott      Ender’s Game. NY: Tor, 1977, 1991.

Edwardson, Debby Dahl. My name is not easy.  Skyscape, 2011. 

            (National book Award Finalist) (Alaskan boarding school)

Khorram, Adib.  Darius the Great is not okay. NY:  Dial, 2018.

            (Persian/ American boy with depression visits family in Iran)

Lee, Mackenzi. The Gentleman’s guide to vice and virtue. NY: Katherine Tegen Books/

             HarperCollins publishers, 2017. 

            (homosexuals on their Grand Tour in Regency times)

Murphy, Jullie.           Dumplin’, go big or go home.  NYL Balzer + Bray, HarperCollins, 2015.

GN YA             Wang, Jen. The prince and the Dressmaker.  NY: First Second, 2018. 

            (graphic Novel)

PICTURE BOOK BIOGRAPHIES:

JB Binney       Biebow, Natascha. The Crayon Man, the true story of the invention of Crayola

             crayons.  Illus Steven Salerno. NY: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2019.

JB Brown        Barnett, Mac. The important thing about Margaret Wise Brown. Illus. Sarah

             Jacoby.  NU: Balzer + Bray/ HarperColllins, 2019.

            (Clever use of titles of Brown’s books and using page number to match Brown’s age

             for events.  However, I’m sure that Ann Carroll More didn’t call her books TRUCK.

             She probably said, Druck or Dreck.  I suspect autocorrect messed that up.)

JB Burton       Rinker, Sherri. Big Machines: the story of Virginia Lee Burton. Illus John Rocco.

             Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2017.  (illustrated in Virginia Lee Burton’s style.

             Word placement is also in her style, not often seen these days. Plus constant 

            inclusion of her two boys and their appreciation of her big machine stories.)

JB Goldberg    Aronson, Sarah. Just like Rube Goldberg, the incredible true story of the man

 behind the machines.  Illus Robert Neubecker. NY:  Beach Lane Books, 2019.

JB Jordan        Barton, Chris. What do you do with a voice like that? The story of 

            extraordinary congresswoman Barbara Jordan. Illus. Ekua Holmes.  NY: Beach Lane

             Books, 2018.   (NCTE Orbis Pictus Honor Book for Outstanding Nonfiction)

            (wonderful backmater, including a time line giving much, much more info)

JB King            Meltzer, Brad. I am Billie Jean King. Illus Christopher Eliopoulos. NY: Penguin

             Young Readers, 2019.

JB LaMarr       Wallmark, Laurie. Hedy LaMarr’s double life, Hollywood legend and brilliant

             inventor. Illus Katy Wu. MY: Sterling Children’s Books, 2019.

JB Fletcher.     Nelson, Vaunda. Let ‘er buck! George Fletcher, the People’s Champion.  Illus Gordon C. James.  Minneapolis: Carolrhoda Books, 2019.

JB Newbery    Markel, Michelle. Balderdash! John Newbery and the boisterous birth of 

            children’s books.  Illus Nancy Carpenter. San Francisco: Chronicle books, 2017.

JB Tolkien. John Ronald’s Dragons – the story of J.R.R. Tolkien.  Illus. Eliza Wheeler. 

NY: Roaring Brook Press, 2017. 

JB Tyson.        Krull, Kathleen and Paul Brewer. Starstruck – the cosmic journey of Neil 

            DeGrasse Tyson. Illus. Frank Morrison. NY: Crown Books for Young Readers, 2018.

J BIOGRAPHIES:

J and YA NONFICTION:

J 379.26          Boyce, Ann Allen and Debbie Levy. The promise of change, one girl’s story in

 the fight for school equality.  NY:  Bloomsbury Children’s Books, 2019.

(The desegregation of a high school in Tennessee told in blank verse)

J 641.822        Wang, Andrea. Magic Ramen, the story of Momofuku Ando. Illus Kana

             Urbanowicz. NY: Little Bee Books, 2019.

YA973.913     Sandler, Martin. 1919, the year that changed America.  NY: Bloomsbury, 2019.

YA973.933     Brockenbrough, Martha. Unpresidented, a Biography of Donald Trump.  NY:

             Feiwel and Friends, 2018.  (ends in the middle of 2018. Blue typeface – even the

             photographs.) (among the dedications are the words “And to the Parkland 

            generation: You know what to do.)