Posts for category ‘once was lost’

I’m very proud to let you know that I’m the Artist of the Month over at ImageJournal.org. Among other things, Image writes, about Once Was Lost,

“In the midst of a series of traumatic events “Sam” develops a fascination for xeriscaping, the art of creating a garden that needs only a bare minimum of rain to flourish. The metaphor is apt, not only for this novel, but for all of Zarr’s deeply affecting young adult novels: how can the heart flourish and grow when the circumstances of life seem to dry up what we most need?”

May of Zarr continues locally, as well. Here’s a heads up on some stuff I’m doing around town this month:

Saturday, May 15: Provo Children’s Book Festival – Provo City Library – Noon-5 p.m.

Thursday, May 20: Deseret Voices at Murray Library – 7 p.m. (speaking & signing)

I’m doing some private gigs, too, like speaking to local teachers and doing a Skype visit with a high school in Kentucky. If you’d like to know how to have me do such a thing with your group, see my booking page. (I am getting ready to enter a period of unavailability, FYI, June 14 – August 11.)

It’s about to get bananas up in here, y’all. Forgive me if I become scarce for the next couple of months or take longer than usual to deal with my various in-boxes. The Great In-Box of Life & Work calls.

Meanwhile:

- Over at Teen Fiction Cafe we are celebrating our third anniversary. To kick it off, I posted a reflection on the last three years of my career, including some Stuff I Have Learned. Today, Wendy Toliver posts, and there are going to be such posts every day between now and the 13th. Prizes, too, people. As in: free stuff.

- Good news for Once Was Lost: It’s been named to the CBCC (Cooperative Children’s Book Center) Choices list—their best of the year. Thank you, CBCC! And, a lovely five-star review from a teen reader at TeensReadToo. Thank you, Melanie.

- Wow, that was a good Olympics. So much epic drama! (If you were fascinated by the Vonn/Mancuso story arc, you will love Sara Bennett Wealer’s book Rival, coming out next year.) But man, we watched every minute of prime time coverage and it was exhausting. Back to 9:30 bed times.

- Huge thanks to Jacksonville Much Ado About Books for taking such good care of me at the Fest. Sometimes it’s hard to believe my “job” involves being served hors d’ouvres and forcing my own personal party escort (hi, Cindy!) to take pictures of me pretending to talk on the phone in a prop phone booth. It was especially great to meet the teens at the Mandarin Branch—many thanks to librarian Donald Carpenter for setting that up.

Author and Readergirlz diva Holly Cupola graciously invited me to participate in her Story Secrets series, and I put together a video blog about how the story of Once Was Lost developed from real life events. (No spoilers, don’t worry.) Thanks for having me, Holly! Don’t have your copy of Once Was Lost yet? Find it at a local independent book store, or ask for it at your school or public library.

Congrats to the PEN/Faulkner fiction award finalists—a blessedly diverse group in light of the white-male-ification this season among the bigger awards. I’m especially pleased to see comrade Sherman Alexie honored for his wonderful collection War Dances. Congratulations also to L.A. Times Prize finalists; I love how comprehensive the categories are. The only book from that entire roster that I’ve read is Dave Cullen’s Columbine, which is definitely a worthy selection.

See you back here next week, or in Jacksonville this weekend!