TD Book Week coming soon

I received my itinerary for the TD Book Week tour last night and it was very thoroughly laid out and reading it over, I found that I was starting to get excited. 

It’s going to be tiring with 3 to 4 readings a day, plus traveling from place to place, but oh my, how lucky I feel.  To have been chosen to be one of the authors touring, is really a privilege.

I hope it goes well.  I hope the students like me, my books.

I’ve received several welcoming emails from teacher/librarians already, so that was nice.  Makes it not so daunting to walk into a strange place, plop myself down and begin cold turkey.

By the way, Susie, my web design go-to person was under the weather and is running a bit behind.  Consequently, my new book cover isn’t up on the site yet, so I’m going to attempt to put it up on my blog.  This is a rather questionable operation, because Don is away right now, running around a gym, playing hockey with his friends.  And all my bloggers know that Don is my fix-it man.  So, if the cover comes out the size of an elephant, just come back tomorrow around mid-day and Don will have figured out what to do.

First Time is an Orca Sounding book.  These books are written for those teens who break out in a cold sweat when faced with a 350 page novel.  They are fast moving, high interest, chapter books, that are designed for teens, the issues they are dealing with today, in a way that is realistic and true to life.  They run between 14,000-16,000 words. 

The publishers, Bob Tyrell and Andrew Wooldridge have done a wonderful job with these books and there is a real need for this type of reading material to appeal to and speak to the reluctant reader.  I was thrilled when they approached me and asked if I would consider doing one, as several of the people closest to my heart have had challenges reading.  And it is very hard to find things for them to read that wouldn’t discourage and tamp down the desire. 

The other day, Bob told me about a librarian who wrote in, saying that she loves these books and the only problem she’s having, is not trying to get the teens to read them, because they are gobbling them up, Her problem is that they are hard to keep on the shelf because the kids are stealing their favorite ones. 

Now, some of you might be saying, “Oh, how horrible!“  But really, trust me, for a reluctant reader to want to keep a book, this is an amazing break-through.

So, it might sound like an odd wish… but I hope my First Time is one of those books that those kids want to steal.  (Even better, of course, if they check it out of the library numerous times, or buy it, if they love it that much.)  But the main thing is, I hope it speaks to them in a way that makes them want to read more and also, to let them know that they aren’t the only one that these kinds of things happen to and that hopefully, after they read it, they won’t feel so alone.

And speaking of reaching out…

Emily called today! (I’m smiling at the computer right now)  We had a lovely chat.  It was really nice to hear her voice, talk about things. (Still smiling)

Dave just left for the evening visit, looking much better than when he arrived.  Even though I felt bad that Dave was sick, it was so fun having both of my boys, yuking it up on the sofa, eyes sparkling.  Don, egging them on.  Me, being the mom. 

All the gingersnaps are gone by the way.  Three dozen cookies in 24 hours. 

Yes,  life is good.

Posted by Meg Tilly on Monday, November 10, 2008 in Chewing the Fat