Cover reveal: When You Have to Wait!

I’m so excited to share the cover for When You Have to Wait today! You can read more about it on Leah’s twitter announcement. Be sure to add it on Goodreads!

Announcing CRUSHED

My next middle grade novel has just been announced! CRUSHED is coming Winter 2024. You can add it on Goodreads here. More details to come soon!

Announcing A Perfect Mistake!

A moving, voice-driven novel about friendship, responsibility, and fighting against unfair expectations, for fans of Rebecca Stead and Erin Entrada Kelly.
 
Max wishes he could back in time: to before he was diagnosed with ADHD, before he grew to be the tallest kid in his class, and before he and his best friends went into the woods in the middle of the night. Max doesn’t remember what happened after he left his friends Will and Joey and the older kids who took them there. He’s not sure if he wants to remember. Knowing isn’t going to make Joey talk to him again, or bring Will out of his coma.
 
When the local authorities run out of leads, Max realizes that without his help, they may never know what really happened to Will. Charged by the idea that he may be the key to uncovering the truth, Max pairs up with classmate and aspiring journalist Sam to investigate what really happened that night. But not everyone in the community wants that night to be remembered.

Pre-order your copy of A Perfect Mistake here!

Order signed & personalized copies from my local indie!

Add it on Goodreads!

WRAD is Almost Here!

I love World Read Aloud Day! It’s so much fun to connect with students around the country and the world to celebrate our love of books together. This year, I’m chatting with nearly a dozen different classes on February 3rd, but as usual my slots filled up very quickly.

If your class would like to hear me read the first chapter of Counting Thyme or Every Missing Piece, I have those videos on my Youtube Channel for you to watch any time, and my 20min Q&A virtual visits are always free. Just drop me an email to schedule one!

I’m also launching a new series of short, fun Writing Tips videos this week, so make sure you subscribe to my channel while you’re there! Topics include:

  • How to Find Story Ideas
  • How to Revise
  • How to Use Post-its in Writing

Happy writing everyone!

The Educator Guide for Every Missing Piece is Here!

2020 has been an interesting year to release a new book, that’s for sure. Sometimes it feels a bit like tossing hardcovers into a black hole, but that’s just because we can’t see each other the way we normally would. No conferences, no festivals, no in-person author visits. It’s hard to connect.

Readers are still out there loving books, though. I see it on my social media feeds and hear it from friends. I’m so grateful to everyone who is out there reading, despite how tough it can be right now to focus. Books need readers.

In middle grade, this means we rely a LOT on educators and librarians to share new books with young readers. It’s such a tough year for that. Educators are under tremendous pressure, and it’s not easy to make time for author visits or book talks. I hope that the incredible new educator guide that Debbie Gonzales created for Every Missing Piece makes it a bit easier to incorporate this book into your teaching.

 

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Deb created the educator guide for Counting Thyme, too, and she has a real knack for identifying the heart of stories. Her questions make me think and her prompts fill me with opinions. I think that’s the sign of a quality educator guide. Be sure to check out Deb’s website and pinterest, where she has great common-core aligned guides for tons of books!

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You can download the educator guide for Every Missing Piece free from my website, and feel free to share it. Happy reading and best wishes to you all. I believe there are better times ahead.

lovemelwhitepink

Every Missing Piece is here!

Book birthdays can be weird, even when you’re not in the middle of the apocalypse. For an author, a book is mentally “done” a long, long time before it hits the shelves. We have to finish our work early so that copy editors can fact check and make sure we didn’t make too many horrendous mistakes, and so that our publishers have time to print advance copies to promote the book and build some interest in the market before it releases. This means that a book is often completely done in terms of writing about 8mos to a year before it releases! Weird, right?

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Signing a stack of books in my weird little cozy sleeping porch. Apparently people used to sleep out here in the hot summer nights with the windows open!

Because of the lead time on a book’s release, the release day is a bit nostalgic for me. I like to flip through the pages and read random paragraphs. Often, I wonder who wrote them. The truth is, I don’t remember! My brain is busy trying to solve the story of Book 3, which is well underway (yay!), but as I pause and reflect on Every Missing Piece, I still have so much love for these characters. The main character is an eleven-year-old girl named Maddy, who becomes convinced that the new boy in her neighborhood is a child who went missing six months earlier. Maddy is a precocious and whip smart young lady, but she’s also stubborn as heck, too. I may be related to her, lol!

Normally, I’d already be traveling to promote this book’s release. I was supposed to be in Greensboro, NC for Greensboro Bound this past weekend. I was going to hold a release party at Scuppernong Books. After that, there was going to be another launch party at my local independent bookstore, Words Bookstore of Maplewood, NJ (which is where you can get hand-signed copies!). Instead, I am comfy on my couch in sweat pants and a blanket, but at some point I will get myself presentable to join you all for a virtual release party tonight at 7pmEST, May 26, 2020.

Book Release E-Party-1

If you’re curious about authoring or want to hear me read the first chapter of Every Missing Piece aloud, please join us tonight. This will be fun for your young readers, too. I’ll be able to answer their questions and say hello! The Zoom meeting link is on Scuppernong’s website. I’m looking forward to seeing your faces and remembering that this is real, and that I wrote this book, and that it is now yours.

Happy reading, everyone!

lovemelwhitepink

All About Every Missing Piece!

Pre-order EVERY MISSING PIECE!

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Hey everyone! If you’d like to pre-order a signed copy of EVERY MISSING PIECE, please do so through my local independent bookstore, Words. They are the best and have always supported me. I’m happy to work with them again on this new book. Click on the banner to order, and be sure to include any personalization requests in the notes section!

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Where in the world is Melanie???

As winter turns the corner into spring, I’m well into my Skype visits for the year. Connecting with classrooms is one of my very favorite things, and I’m grateful to everyone who reaches out. You can check out my recently updated Skype map here. Hopefully I can fill in more of these states and countries in 2019!

It’s been a busy year for me (revising the new book,  EVERY MISSING PIECE coming May 2020) and for THYME, which has had the good fortune of visiting Illinois, Iowa, Arkansas, and Missouri state lists. It’s been so much fun connecting with classrooms as they explore Thyme’s story. Thank you to all the educators who work so hard to share books with children.

If you’re looking for more great reads, THYME popped up on this Wiki page recently, which appears to be a pretty great resource for finding reads in different categories of interest. Click here to check it out! Screen Shot 2019-03-01 at 1.28.23 PM

New Book News!

I’m thrilled to share that my second middle grade novel will be published by Disney Hyperion! UPDATE: The title, now called Every Missing Piece, will publish with Little, Brown Young Readers! The spines may still say Disney, though. Publishing is wild! 🙂

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