Off to Write Book 14! :)

Hello kindest, most brilliant readers,

OK, it’s time to turn off every other part of my brain except the parts that are writing book 14, from now until it is done!  I imagine I’ll return to find a couple of tiny barbarians who’ve gone feral and forgotten this “math” of which we speak, but right now it’s either homeschooling or Wings of Fire…or rather, it’s either enforce another seventeen poetry assignments, or save my editor’s sanity, and she is very important and wonderful so let’s do that for a bit, anyway!  (Math isn’t going anywhere, after all.)  (Unless it is; somebody let me know if we all decide to cancel math!)

I think most of you have probably heard by now that book 14 is from Queen Snowfall’s point of view (she’s the new young queen of the IceWings, Winter’s cousin), and it’s going to be called The Dangerous Gift.  It’s both fun and tricky because of Snowfall’s kind of intense, kind of paranoid personality, but you’ll see a lot of dragons we haven’t seen in a while, so I hope it’ll be exciting for everyone!  🙂

A couple of last notes before I VANISH into THIN AIR which is an EXAGGERATION since I will CERTAINLY still be POSTING on INSTAGRAM because it is SHINY:

* One lovely thing about Instagram is following oodles of splendid indie bookstores (yay!) and discovering some of the sweet/wonderful things they are doing, such as:

Newtonville Books is organizing care packages of books/boredom busters for kids and seniors in need — if you want to support the bookstore and do something sweet for the community at the same time, follow this link!

Porter Square Books is offering “book bundles” — you can either get a surprise for yourself / a kid you know or donate them to kids in need through their partnership with Shape Up Somerville — by clicking here!

Third Place Books in Seattle is doing a Books to Students fundraiser to get physical books into the hands of kids affected by the school closures.

And Old Town Books in Alexandria, Virginia is doing these lovely Book Love care packages for kids in need.

I’m sure there are lots more — if you know of anything else like this, let me know on Facebook or Instagram or through my contact form; I’d love to support them and spread the word, too!

* I am not actually disappearing because I will be BACK possibly even LATER THIS WEEK or soonish anyhow to show you…THE COVER FOR THE 4TH GRAPHIC NOVEL!!!  I think it’s my favorite of the graphic novel covers so far and I can’t wait to share it with you!  (I am sure I will also be posting it guess where? that’s right INSTAGRAM!)  (Is everyone enjoying my sudden attempt at enthusiasm for a ten-year-old technology?  I’m pretty sure this means I’m, like, really cool now, right?)  😉

(Although I must admit I feel like I don’t know the etiquette!  Like I showed up at a party ten years late and now I’m all HELLOOOOO DO YOU LIKE MY HAT, or, more accurately: wait, should I heart ALL the amazing dragon art?  because I do love all the amazing dragon art!  But what if I miss someone (because I can’t be on my phone actually all day) and then they think I love all the dragon art EXCEPT THEIRS, wouldn’t that be TERRIBLE?  And I don’t think I have time to literally heart all the comments (or do I? should I? is that what the Hufflepuffs do?), but I really do heart all the comments!  Also I think there are messages hiding from me somewhere?  I’m sure I can find them by poking things, just don’t be alarmed if I poke the wrong thing and accidentally follow a horde of sportsfolks or something.  😉  Also, I feel reasonably certain that there is a way to…reshare? repost? wave my hands at and yell tada!?…when I see a post by someone else that is awesome and exciting…is that right?  It seems like there must be a way to do this (although then I will also feel like I should do THAT all day, won’t I?)…but maybe there isn’t.  Well, I shall PUSH BUTTONS and FIND OUT (or ask a clever millenial) (or my children, who will probably be like, “Mommy, that paper airplane symbol is SO OBVIOUSLY the button for making all your posts fly into the sun and vanish, don’t press it!”), don’t worry.)  🙂  🙂  🙂

* There are some books coming out soon that I am super-excited about, which you could pre-order or just wait a week and actually order!  For instance:

Sal and Gabi Fix the Universe (A Sal and Gabi Novel, Book 2) (A ...

Sal and Gabi Fix the Universe, by Carlos Hernandez

This is the sequel to Sal and Gabi Break the Universe, which was absolutely amazing.  Here’s the blurb I wrote for it when it came out:  “I love this book in every possible universe!  With a surprise on every page and two of the most cosmically awesome, vividly unique heroes I’ve ever read, this sweet, hilarious book made me so, so happy.  Everybody read this book!  It will bring you joy and save the world/multiverse!”

It’s true; it’s a perfect book to read right now, when we could also use some hope and joy (and genuinely kind heroes), and even more perfect because the sequel is coming out May 5th!  (Next Tuesday!  Happy dance!)

Also coming next week is a brand-new early chapter book series by one of my very favorite humans — we were friends in college and she is so great, and I’m so excited that she’s writing children’s books now!

Layla and the Bots: Happy Paws, by Vicky Fang

And she also has a picture book coming out in June!:

Invent-A-Pet, by Vicky Fang

So if you’d like to support a debut author who happens to be very awesome, and you need books for the littler ones in your house, I highly recommend these!  🙂

Also coming later this year, I’m super excited for Mike Jung‘s new book, The Boys in the Back Row, and a new graphic novel from Varian Johnson (illustrated by Shannon Wright) called Twins.  I hope everything will be a little more normal then and I can stalk them at an event or festival to get excited in person!  But if not, I will have to read the books at home and settle for stalking these people I adore on this trendy new app called Instagram; have you guys heard of it?  😉  (heeee hee, ok, I’ll stop)

And I’ll just finish by listing a few more wonderful indie bookstores I highly recommend supporting/ordering from:

Mysterious Galaxy Books in San Diego, CA

Books are Magic in Brooklyn, NY

Changing Hands in Arizona

The Red Balloon Bookshop in St. Paul, MN

The Silver Unicorn Bookstore in Acton, MA

Politics and Prose in Washington, DC

Books of Wonder in NYC

Copperfield’s in northern CA

And of course you can always use Bookshop.org to find/support your own local indie!

I am sending you all the biggest (safest, most responsible) hugs and I hope you’re staying safe, staying home, reading a lot, writing and drawing if it makes you happy, registering to vote, filling out the census, and being kind to yourself and others.

Love and dragons!  More soon-ish!  🙂

What We’re Reading Right Now Update:
Me: American Royals, by Katharine McGeeOf a Feather, by Dayna Lorentz (coming out next February!), and Once & Future, by Amy Rose Capetta and Cori McCarthy

With my bigger bear:  Hello Universe, by Erin Entrada Kelly