I’m home! I did not get sick! Triumph. Many many thanks and hugs and kisses and high fives to everyone in Ohio and Tennessee who made my trip so much fun and did not infect me with a cold. I will always love you for that, and for other reasons.
Here’s Episode 3 of the video tour diary. In this edition, I don’t go anywhere! But, I did want to capture publication day, which was indeed special. You’ll have to imagine the moment that the King’s English staff brought out a birthday cake for me and fifty people sang. I was too surprised to get out the camera, and also maybe I cried. Just a little. And not only because I’m turning 39. Watch for special guest appearances by your favorite Utah authors!
(If you have buffering issues, did you know that if you hit pause and then come back to it in a few minutes it should work without hiccups?)
I’ve just wrapped up the last of my official duties as Author Sara Zarr for leg one of the Once Was Lost tour. Namely, the Reading the West Breakfast at the Mountains & Plains Independent Booksellers Association conference. Reading the West is a program of MPIBA—booksellers pick books of note from authors in the region or subjects about the region. Four RtW authors spoke this morning: Jacqueline Kelly (The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate), Rick Collington (Madewell Brown), me, and Judy Shepard, author of The Meaning of Matthew: My Son’s Murder in Laramie, and a World Transformed. As you can imagine, Judy’s talk was emotional for her and for us. I know that her book will be a difficult but good read.
with my friend Steve at the Tattered Cover
I’m trying to keep a video diary of the tour, if I can overcome dead batteries, slow internets, and late-night tiredness. Already I’m an episode behind, thanks to all of the above, but for your viewing pleasure I give you: Denver. (Of all the thumbnails YouTube gave me to choose from this was, believe it or not, not the worst.)
Starred reviews from Kirkus, Booklist, Publishers Weekly, School Library Journal, and VOYA. An Amazon Best Book for October. A Publishers Weekly, School Library Journal, and Los Angeles Public Library Best Book of 2011. A Junior Library Guild selection. An American Library Association Top Ten Best Fiction for Young Adults.