PACK OF DORKS in the news!

Holy Lollipop Farts!

I'm overwhlemed with the love and attention friends, family and readers are showering on PACK OF DORKS!

Check out this amazing Q&A about PACK OF DORKS in The Huffington Post! Journalist Mary Pauline Lowry calls it "pitch perfect."

*Grins!* (While you're at it, check out Lowry's incredible new release WILDFIRE! We share a book birthday.)

I also love this review by El Extrano Gato del Cuento. Viva Manada de raritos!

Right now, I'm listening to the amazing Audible version. Check out a sample here. The talented narrator, Cassandra Morris, is a spot-on Lucy. Believe me, I know what happens in the story. But I'm still listening away as it comes alive in a whole new way for me.

 Stay tuned! I'm planning a giveaway of audio books!

Be A Buddy

Today in second grade, my son signed a contract not to be a bully. To stand up for others when he hears them being picked on. To tell an adult when someone needs help. To remember that words hurt as much as fists. To be a buddy, not a bully.

I’m proud of him.

October is National Bullying Prevention Month. PACK OF DORKS’ release is timed to dovetail with the campaign.

I’m proud of that, too.

Right now, young adult authors are engaging in a #OneVoice campaign, where they write letters to their bullied teenage selves. Check out this incredible piece by Ellen Hopkins. And this one by Cole Gibsen.

It makes my heart hurt. I think back to my own experiences—to the name-calling, the whispering, and, worse of all, the way some kids’ eyes slid right past me. Like I was background, no worthier of attention than school hallway tiles.

What stings even more than that, if I’m being honest, is facing the times my younger self didn’t uphold that “be a buddy, not a bully” contract.

Maybe that’s why writing Pack of Dorks felt so good. I got to live through Lucy, who does stand up for her friends. In time, she even stands up for herself.

If you could write a letter to your young, bullied self, what would you say?

 

 

 

The PACK keeps on playing!

I've got GREAT news to share!

Check out this announcement in Publisher's Marketplace:

Beth Vrabel's DORKS IN LOVE, the second book in her Pack of Dork's series, in which Lucy and the rest of the pack head to summer camp and find that the biggest bully might be one of their own, again to Julie Matysik at Sky Pony Press, in a nice deal, for publication in Fall 2015, by Nicole Resciniti at The Seymour Agency.

That's right! The PACK keeps on playing!

Want to win your own PACK OF DORKS? Enter the contest on the right!

What is middle grade fiction?

I get this question a lot.

Middle grade fiction is for readers who are beyond early reading chapter books, such as “Henry and Mudge” (a favorite of my boy’s when he was in first grade), but not ready for young adult themes, such as those in “The Fault in Our Stars” and “The Book Thief” (a favorite of mine).

It’s for that in between time—or the middle. MG Fiction focuses a lot on self-discovery, realizing independence, problem solving and friendship.

PACK OF DORKS centers on the lives of 10-year-old in fourth grade, and caters to readers ages 8-12. Not that readership is restricted to that age group. Just saying.

Here are a few of my favorite books of all time, which just happen to be middle grade.

 

Our Winn-DixieBECAUSE OF WINN-DIXIE by Kate DiCamillo  We loved this book so much that my boy named his guinea pig Winn-Dixie. Sadly, our Winn-Dixie is a little too bitey to bring everyone around her together.

PICTURES OF HOLLIS WOODS by Patricia Reilly Giff

COUNTING BY 7s by Holly Goldberg Sloan

WONDER by R.J. Palacio

I, EMMA FREKE by Elizabeth Atkinson My Emma and I loved reading this book aloud. It has such clever dialogue and fantastic characters.

THE DEAD END IN NORVELT by Jack Gantos

Actually, any book by Jack Gantos.  I’ve got a special place in my heart for his lovable, accident prone Joey Pigza. I think he and Lucy would get along (and get into a lot of trouble).

THE BRIDGE TO TERABITHIA by Katherine Paterson (Moment of silence for all the feels.)

MY SIDE OF THE MOUNTAIN by Jean Craighead George

WHERE THE RED FERN GROWS by Wilson Rawls This is the first book that broke my daughter’s heart. just as it did mine when I first read it as a 10-year-old.

Which books would you add to this list? 

 

Here's ... Manny

If we were the sort of family that had bumper stickers, ours would be WE BRAKE FOR TAG SALES. (Yard sales for you non-New Englanders.)

You never know what you’re going to find, Forrest.

Like this guy, which the kiddos named Manny.

Somehow we didn’t notice the way Manny’s hand was stuck under his neck like a you’re-about-to-die signal until our dollar was paid and we were back in the car. My 11-year-old unraveled the strings and sighed. “His hand is free.”

Phew.

The children played with him throughout the day, but soon my 7-year-old boy drifted off to his LEGOs. “Did you know his head can turn completely around?” he asked.

“So where is Manny going to sleep tonight?” I asked over dinner.

“HER room,” the boy announced.

“Um. He could sleep in the living room, right?” she asked.

That night, being the wonderful mother I am, I tucked Manny into her bed, face turned toward her pillow.

My daughter laughed, but brought Manny down to kitchen for the night.

Last night, I went to bed to see this.

This morning, she bounced around the kitchen. “Notice anything last night?”

“Like what?”

She shrugged. “Oh, I don’t know. See Manny anywhere?”

“Manny?” my husband asked, all innocence. “Is he another pet a should know about?”

(For the record, we currently have Jasper the dog, Winn-Dixie and Pippin the guinea pigs, Spot the Gecko houseguest, and are taking care of Wooly the cat.)

My daughter’s eyes widened. “Where is he?” she whispered.

“Where could he go?” I asked.

“You’re evil,” she laughed. “I know you hid him somewhere.”

A half-hour later, she brushed her teeth. And found this.

Booyah.

“It’s on,” she said.

I just spotted Manny, reading a home improvement book on the toilet.

You know, this could be an awesome story. A family starts a wicked little game of hiding a creepy doll. Each night the mom and daughter take turns hiding it. But what if one of them stops the game, and the other doesn’t know?

What happens if Manny just keeps showing up on more and more unexpected places.

What if…

Well, we’re having our own tag sale next weekend. Guess who might be up for grabs?

White sofa! What?!?

Do you suffer from Dark Sofa Remorse?

It’s a thing.

And I’m a victim.

When we moved less than three years ago, we almost immediately bought this reclining sofa and loveseat. We got the biggest, brownest leather pieces out there.

And I almost immediately suffered the side effects of Dark Sofa Remorse.

They’re just so big. And so brown. And so nothing at all like anything else we’ve collected for the house.

Add to it a recent obsession with white and gray, as seen here and here. Also here.

I tried to fight it. But then I fell in love.

The Ektorp line of IKEA couches kept cropping up all over the blogosphere, my Houzz app and my dreams.

I know what you’re thinking: But it’s white. And you have a dog. Plus two kids. What the heck are you thinking?!

And it’s IKEA. (Just joking here. I absolutely adore IKEA. It’s seriously my happy place. Just about everything in the house is either IKEA or antique.)

Not to mention, I have perfectly fine couches already. Huge, browny brown couches. Sucking up all the light in the room like overstuffed black holes.

I seriously read about fifty blogs and every review I could find on the Ektorp sofas, trying to convince myself to fall out of love with these gorgeous white couches. But the more I read, the harder I fell. The slipcovers are completely washable. Even bleachable!

Plus, if I ever really screw them up, a new set of slipcovers for the entire sectional is $100. Wha?

And they also come in a dozen other fabrics, if my tastes should *ahem* change again.

I was convinced. My husband? Not so much.

But when I posted the browny brown couches for sale, they sold in a few hours. Four different offers in one day! (Which actually made the hub even more annoyed. “Want to make me even more certain that we’re getting rid of great furniture for an IKEA sectional? Keep telling me about the people who want to buy it.”)

The Ektorp Corner 2 x 2, by the way, fits PERFECTLY on a trailer.

Honestly, unpacking the sectional was a little intimidating. That’s a whole lot of couch spread around the living room. But putting it all together was incredibly easy. I did most of it myself. Huzzah!

The slipcover came out of the packaging pretty darn wrinkled. I knew from the reviews to expect that. I ironed the base piece but the cushions nicely filled out the wrinkles in the seating and backing pieces.

Now it’s all together and I got the coveted and rarely heard “You were right.” The sectional just suits the space better.

I think a smaller coffee table, maybe something round, would work better.

 

 

We’re all enjoying it, and I’m not even freaking out* that the boy’s incredibly dirty feet are on the white sectional.  

Because it’s washable!

(Okay. Maybe I shooed him toward the den.)

ANDI UNDER PRESSURE review by Emma!

 

Remember last August, when Emma wrote her first review?

It was of Amanda Flower’s wonderful middle-grade book, ANDI UNEXPECTED. (I’m not shouting at you. I found out this is how titles are supposed to be spelled. All caps, all the time.)

Since then, Emma has gone on to write a few other reviews, and ANDI UNEXPECTED has gotten a lot more attention. The story, about an orphan who solves the mystery of her namesake, is a 2013 Agatha Award Nominee for Best Children’s/YA Mystery!

The next installment of the Andi Boggs series will be released in October (like another little book I know), but Emma was able to get her hands on an Advance Reader Copy through the author. She immediately started reading and wrote the following.

Man! Where does she get this sloppy handwriting?

Hmmm.

Notes for my wip. I spared you the one with drawings.

Without further ado, here is Emma’s review of ANDI UNDER PRESSURE.

 

Are you looking for a good mystery? A book that is just as good as Nancy Drew and “Harriet the Spy”? Then you had better find yourself a copy of ANDI UNDER PRESSURE by Amanda Flower!

ANDI UNDER PRESSURE is the sequel to ANDI UNEXPECTED, another fabulous book. This book involves mystery, history, science and a few explosions along the way.

The first reason I love this book is because Amanda Flower jumped right into the story. Who wastes time on a 50-page intro? Not Amanda Flower! This was an amazing piece of author’s craft, in my opinion. By not giving a super thorough description of the characters, Amanda Flower made you want to read more! Slowly, you begin to uncover bits of information about Andi, Colin, Amelie and Bethany along with other characters. This makes you think a bit, then dive right back in! Amanda Flower sure knows how to pull you in!

Another think I love is her style of writing. Ms. Flower gives you backstories of chacters but only just enough so you just have to read one sentence more. For instance, when Dilian and Madison were talking along, part of my question was unanswered, but yet I was still on the edge of my seat wanting more, more, more! And Polk’s story? I thought I had it all figured out, but nope. I want to tell you but Mom says no spoilers!

Lastly, the characters were riveting. I absolutely love how Andi and Colin can know what each other wants to do while saying nothing! It’s like some kind of super power! On top of that, finding out how nervous Amelie was to parent Bethany and Andi was kind of awesome! And finding out Bethany’s feelings regarding Andi and Colin's friendship was shocking!

The Andi Boggs Books is a series you should definitely pick up! I didn’t think Amanda Flower could top ANDI UNEXPECTED, but ANDI UNDER PRESSURE proved me wrong! I only have one concern: When can I read the next one?*

* Don't worry, Em. I've got it on good authority that Amanda is working on Andi's next adventure.

 

My baby has a beautiful face!

I am excited to share the “Pack of Dorks” cover.

Isn’t it gorgeous? The origami pack captures the wolf aspect, and Lucy and Sam’s “dorkiness.”

Romeo and Juliet have nothing on the love-at-first-sight that struck me when I set eyes on this beauty! I squealed so loudly that I nearly gave my children heart attacks! Then I jumped up and down in circles while the boy stared at me and the girl joined in.* I was able to show them why I was so excited before the ugly tears began to run.

But now, a conundrum. Do I need to know how to make origami wolves? I guess I’ve got a few months to learn. (Shameless plug) “Pack of Dorks” is released Oct. 7 (but you can preorder now here.

 *Funny thing: She did the same thing at age 3 when I found out I was pregnant with her little brother. I cheered and danced, she did, too, without even knowing why. Love that about her!

Another snow day, another chair situation

 

Aren't the new stools so pretty!It’s snowing. Again.

Seriously, we’re so over the snow around here.

Sure, it’s beautiful, but being homebound again is making all of us restless. The children manage by alternating Seriously. Sleeping here. running through the house in bursts of feral energy with whining and falling dramatically to the floor in boredom. The dog glares at us all for disturbing what would've been a peaceful day of napping.

 

Me? I handle another chair situation.

I feel a little like cheating by showing you this before picture. Here it is, in the horrible lighting and nasty backdrop of the workshop. But, seriously, I never remember the before picture until I’ve already started. (You can see the top of the second stool already popped off and on the ground behind this one.)

Imagine in a less gross environment.

And here is the after.

 

 

We got these two stools from Kohl’s shortly after moving and realizing we had a breakfast bar. Since then, we’ve painted the cabinets white and the island gray. The dark wood frame and brown faux leather seats just didn’t mesh well.

So I took some fabric left over from an old project and got to work.

First I popped off the top of the seats by undoing the screws. Then I mixed up some chalk paint and painted the chair legs white. This happened to be during the whining time for the kids. My youngest: “Why do you paint everything white? White is so boring. Everything is white. Or gray. And these are white and gray.”

And it’s true. I do paint everything white or gray. Tables, coffee tables, chairs, picture frames, the dog. (Just kidding.) In fact, our walls are a bluish gray and I’m really thinking more of a gray-gray would be better. Or maybe a white. Or maybe I just have a sickness. I don’t know. But gray and white have been my favorite combination lately.

I laid the seat tops down and cut an outline of it from a foam mattress pad, also leftover from a previous project. I used spray adhesive to stick it to the faux leather seat and then laid the combo over the fabric. I cut around it, leaving enough extra to reach the wood frame of the seat. Then I staple gunned. Bam, bam, bam! It’s pretty cathartic, actually.

I used “hospital corners” at the edges, folding under and making it tight. Not perfect, but better than previous efforts. I distressed a little, too. I love distressing furniture! It takes the pressure off being the first one to muck it up. That being said...

Finally, I Scotch Guarded the heck out of it. Even so, the first child to wipe his or her Eggo waffle fingers on the seat …

So that’s my latest project. Stay tuned. Another snowstorm is supposed to hit us on Wednesday. And Saturday. And Sunday.

Table and chairs, before and after

"Oh, you're taking a picture? I'll just sit right here, out of the way..."I took a break (and by break, I mean obsessively focusing on an unnecessary task) from writing and working the past couple days to work on another furniture project.

I found this aging beauty at the auction barn last weekend.

I had lost out on an antique oriental rug, a 1920s bookcase, and an incredible plank dining table and chairs, and was too full from dinner for pie. All in all, it was turning out to be a bust.

Enter this Victorian-era game table. Can you believe I scored this for $10? Ten. Dollars. Wha?

Yes, it was faded and scratched. And, yeah, someone did repair it by driving nails up through it. (This meant nail ends jutted through the open slots where you would keep game pieces. Tonight’s game: Who Wants Lockjaw?!)

But it was solid mahogany!  

And it had feet! Cute little brass feet.

After my husband made repairs and removed the nails, I made my own chalk paint (it's easy!) and did a base coat of smoke ember gray. I did a crackle effect by then covering it in Elmer’s glue. When the glue got slightly tacky, I did a top coat of a creamy white paint. If I could do it again, I’d wait a little longer before putting on the top coat. The glue wasn’t tacky enough to really do a great job with crackling.

After that dried, I sanded it and destressed it. Then I added a reminder to play nice: This Victorian-era graphic of shaking hands from The Graphics Fairy.

There’s a cool trick I learned on that site of rubbing the back of a printed graphic with chalk, laying over the piece you want to paint, and then tracing over the design with pencil. This should leave an impression of the graphic on the piece, which you can then paint over. It usually works for me. But this time, not so much. I don’t know why but the chalk just barely showed. I ended up doing most of it freehand by looking at the graphic. Again, if I could go back, I’d do it differently, this time smaller.

Finally I put on a heavy coating of wax and it was done.

"Oh, please don't take my picture! I'm so shy!"

Enter the chair situation.

“What chair situation?” my husband asked.

"The lack of chair situation,” I replied.

And we weren’t going to be able to go back to the barn for two weeks!

Suddenly I remembered these battered chairs from our first kitchen table after getting married.Yup, it's on its side. Nope, don't know how to fix it.   

These Wal-Mart chairs have been living in our basement, except for when we moved some (why? I dunno know) up into storage above the garage. But I wanted upholstered chairs.

So I upholstered them. Which, honestly, was a lot more work than I thought it would be. But I like the way they turned out.

I painted them both white with chalk paint. Then I popped out the seat base, covered it with padding (a section cut from a full-size mattress pad) and used spray adhesive to stick on the fabric. Then I stretched and stapled it underneath. This was easy peasy.

Making the back covering was another story. It might’ve involved cutting an IKEA pillow in half.

I’m going to get around to adding some trim around the edges but for now, it’ll do.

 I'm so in love with these feet.

 

               

                 

The hunger strike that wasn't

                When my sister was a little girl, she seemingly went on a hunger strike.

                She refused to eat her breakfast, lunch or dinner. Mom no longer allowed her to have snacks because she wouldn’t eat her meals. She didn’t care. Mom refused to let her leave the table until she ate at least some of her food. Later, Mom would find pieces spit into the bathroom trashcan.

                The doctor ran a battery of tests. Everything was normal. “When she gets hungry enough, she’ll eat,” he said.

                Mom and Dad couldn’t figure out what was wrong. They were terrified.

                It turned out, she just wasn’t hungry.

                See, my sister had a little secret.

                We lived in a small, peaceful little town, and this was back when kids left the house in the morning and came home when the sun went down. While the rest of us were at the playground, catching crayfish in the creek or climbing trees in the backyard, she was making her rounds. She knew which neighbors had cookies at the ready for any children who stopped by to visit, and visit she did. Every day.

                When Mom found out, the story changed. This wasn’t about a sad little girl protesting something at home. It wasn’t a mystery illness zapping her appetite. It was a clever kid working a pretty sweet system (pun intended).

                The writing I’m doing down is different from other pieces I’ve written—and much different than “Pack of Dorks”—in that I actually plotted this one. I even did a beat sheet. And I love what I had planned.

                But then one of the characters just went in a totally different direction. And it’s turning the whole plot upside down. It’s becoming a slightly different story than the one I planned, but it’s still a good story.

               

Suggestions, please!

I finished reading "James and the Giant Peach" to my 7-year-old last night. I'm a little sad about it really.  James Henry Trotter and his gang of insect pals had become so real to us. When it snowed today, we wondered who had upset the Cloud Men. When I painted a room a few days earlier, I remembered poor Miss Spider's grandmother and ushered a wayward spider to safety. When the loneliest child in the world had a mile of boys and girls following him in a ticker tape parade, I had tears in my eyes.

My boy marveled at the illustrations and noticed things in them my word-focused attention had missed: The magician hiding by the peach stone in Central Park, the insects tucked away on the peach tree at the end. It is a beautiful book, and a perfect story to read aloud.

But now we're done.

 

How do you follow up "James and the Giant Peach"?

No, really. I'm not being hypothetical. I need suggestions.

Please.

And, um, also ...

WARNING: SHAMELESS SELF PROMOTION

I had a minor heart attack this morning when a friend pointed this out to me.

"Pack of Dorks" is on Amazon!

As my friend and fellow author Melissa Wyatt pointed out, "It's one of those 'it's real' moments." And it is. I can't wrap my mind around it. But Lucy, my protagonist, she's absolutely doing cartwheels.

Also ...

You should really check out Melissa's books. "Funny How Things Change" is one of the best contemporary coming of age books I've read. I love that it shows not everyone has to make the same decision, but everyone should make his own decisions about life. "Raising the Griffin" made me believe in the magic of second chances, even when everyone doesn't get to live happily ever after.

 

 

A book! A real book!

Check. It. Out. *

This ran in Publisher's Marketplace today.

Children's:
Middle grade 

 

Beth Vrabel's PACK OF DORKS, in which two loners working on a research project about wolves use what they learn to form their own pack with other residents of Dorkdom and find that, together, they can face down frenemies and bullies, to Julie Matysik at Sky Pony Press, in a nice deal, for publication in October 2014 during National Bullying Prevention Month, by Nicole Resciniti at The Seymour Agency.

nicole@theseymouragency.com

 

*Insert obnoxiously loud “Squee” here.

I’m beyond happy to be working with Sky Pony Press! In less than a year, I’m going to be holding my book in my hands. My mind still isn’t quite processing this news.

I feel a lot like Pinocchio when he became a real boy. I'm an author! A real author! Of a book! A real book!

Squee!

 

Quick and easy before and after

I’m plugging away at a new wip, and it’s going swimmingly. (Don’t worry; I don’t actually use the word swimmingly in the manuscript. At least, I haven’t yet.)

The hard part (ha! Like there’s only one.) about writing is that in my mind, the story is already finished. So pacing myself and writing it down is a challenge. Anyone who knows me knows I love immediate results. I’m the type of person who will give you your Christmas present in October, right when I buy it. (I got the boy the most incredible Minecraft T-shirt for Christmas that I’m dying, dying, dying to give him now. But I’ll settle for telling you.)

So I was so happy to spend a couple hours Sunday afternoon working on a project I knew would give that right-away payoff. Behold! This old oak teacher’s desk that my in-laws gave to my daughter.

 

It’s incredible, solid wood, heavy as sin and completely beat up from decades of use. In fact, it was one of my elementary teachers’ desk. For real!

I wanted to follow my usual route of painting it white, giving it a nice wax and calling it a day. But Emma insisted on something bright. She picked out a vibrant green. But she also wanted me to jazz it up a little.

I’ve hand-painted designs on a few projects, but I usually use chalk to trace the design and then paint it in. For this one, I couldn’t print out an image large enough for that. But I found a beautiful stock image of cherry blossoms with birds (Emma’s obsessed with trees and birds) and tried sketching it out on my own. I’m pretty happy with how it turned out.

So here’s the “after” shot. What do you think?