Welcome to a brand new series on The Winged Pen! Here, we write love letters to our favorite books—the ones that shaped us, as writers and as people. First up is the book that inspired me to start this series: Anne of Green Gables! In case you haven’t read it, L.M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables is the story of an orphan girl who, after … Continue reading Dear Anne of Green Gables
Happy Birthday to Jada Jones! She’s a “rock” star and a good citizen in two new chapter books released September 19th by Kelly Starling Lyons and illustrated by Vanessa Brantley Newton. Goodreads: Rock Star … Continue reading Meet Jada Jones! New chapter books by Kelly Starling Lyons
Failure is not a word I would associate with Pixar. Over the last couple of decades, the animation pioneer has created some of my family’s favorite movies, including Up, Finding Nemo and Toy Story. Not a bad track record! But when I read CREATIVITY, INC. by Ed Catmull, one of the founders of Pixar (with Amy Wallace), failure was one of the recurring themes. Catmull says early on … Continue reading Pixar, CREATIVITY, INC., and Learning How to Fail
Three gutsy protagonist, three continents, three different time periods. How’s that work? Well, you won’t have to wait much longer to discover how middle-grade author Alan Gratz weaves these interconnecting stories together in a way that Kirkus Reviews has called a “feat nothing short of brilliant.” REFUGEE hit bookstore shelves in July 2017 and made it to the NYTimes best-sellers list for middle grade fiction twice … Continue reading NYTimes Author Alan Gratz talks about REFUGEE and BAN THIS BOOK
Adrienne Kress is so cool. She’s an actor, playwright, filmmaker, and director. She teaches drama to kids, and she has her own production company. Most importantly for our purposes here, she is an author, of fantastical middle grade adventure stories with daring girls and careful boys, absurd predicaments and narrow escapes. I first came to love Adrienne’s work when I read her book, ALEX AND … Continue reading Interview with Adrienne Kress
Do you like books with monsters and magic? Heroes and epic journeys? On June 6th, 2017 at a bookstore near you, one of the most imaginative books I’ve read in a long while will be released into the world. LORD of MONSTERS is the 2nd book in the OUT of ABATON series, and this Pinocchio retelling is sure to please. Goodreads | Amazon … Continue reading LORD of MONSTERS by John Bemis
My 13yo daughter and I arrived at a movie theatre Tuesday night as excited as two people could possibly be about getting a sneak preview of the EVERYTHING, EVERYTHING movie based on Nicola Yoon’s book by the same name. But excitement wasn’t the only thing coursing through my veins as I stood in line to take my seat… Anyone who knows me well, knows that EVERYTHING, … Continue reading EVERYTHING, EVERYTHING Movie vs. Book (no spoilers!)
Principal Kidd School Rules is the first book in the Principal Kidd series by author and illustrator Connie T. Colon. It is a fun chapter book featuring a bright kid who accidentally creates problems for his school then works to find creative solutions. Eleven-year-old whiz, Oliver Kidd, had no trouble using his genius IQ to skip grades and zoom through the accelerated college program. But … Continue reading Book Review: Principal Kidd School Rules
Bill Blume Website: http://www.billblume.net/gidion01.html Bill works as a 911 dispatcher for Henrico County Police. He served as the 2013 chair for James River Writers. Despite the red covers, little blood is spilled. Gidion is the younger male version of Sookie Stackhouse and Veronica Mars. A fast-paced thriller. A witty boy. Written by a police expert. Fresh spin on the vampire trope from the hunter’s perspective. … Continue reading Bill Blume and the Teenager Vampire Hunter
Tragedy. Romance. Mystery. Bigfoot. Jennifer Park’s young adult novel, THE SHADOWS WE KNOW BY HEART (Simon Pulse, March 14th) has it all! Today, I’m thrilled to interview our very own Winged Pen member and help her celebrate her upcoming debut with a swag giveaway. Jennifer, congratulations! Tell us about your book. Thanks so much!! THE SHADOWS WE KNOW BY HEART is a contemporary retelling of … Continue reading Interview and Swag Giveaway with Debut Author Jennifer Park
Today we welcome debut middle-grade author Ali Standish to The Winged Pen. Ali is the author of THE ETHAN I WAS BEFORE, which released on January 24th! Pull up a chair and get comfy, Ali! Thank you so much, and thanks for having me! Congrats on your debut middle-grade novel, THE ETHAN I WAS BEFORE. It has been described as a beautifully written mystery about … Continue reading Author Interview: Ali Standish
If you’ve spent any time online recently (which, yeah, maybe you’ve been avoiding it as much as we have!), you’ve probably seen these cool graphic communication tools known as infographics. Infographic is really just a fancy way of saying “a picture and a few words working together to communicate key information or important messaging.” They give people an easy, at-a-glance way of gathering info, and … Continue reading DIY Infographics and other Cool Marketing Things
