Shout Out to Kansas

Thanks to the sixth graders

from South Middle School

in Salina, Kansas

For hanging out with me today

 

A great North Carolina school day

I recently had the great pleasure of visiting Parkton Elementary School in Parkton, North Carolina, thanks to the wonderful Angie Tally of The Country Bookshop in Southern Pines, NC. 

I also want to give a great big shout-out to Aberdeen Elementary School in Aberdeen, NC. They were great! (Just no time for pics)

Me with the amazing media specialist, Janice Gardner

Janice and I showing off the AMAZING cake made by Tara Bishop

These students made awesome projects for How to Steal a Dog (notebooks with the rules, like Georgina's). Thank you all for those!

And because a picture's worth a thousand words, I'll let the following pictures tell you about my great day.

 

Cover Reveal for The Magic Mirror

I'm beyond excited to be the first to reveal the cover of an amazing middle grade novel coming your way in May.

The author is my friend and brilliant writer Susan Hill Long.

The book? 

The Magic Mirror:

Concerning a Lonely Princess, a Foundling Girl, a Scheming King and a Pickpocket Squirrel

Don't you just love that title?

Okay, drum roll, please.....

Ta da!!

 From the jacket flap:

Maggie is a girl of no account. The good folk of Lesser Dorste all look away, for she’s a foundling cursed with a crutch. She doesn’t even want to look at herself—till the day she’s given a magic mirror. And what she sees in the mirror sends her straightaway on a journey to the royal city.

Others, too, are making their way: A monk with a tragic history and a boy with an uncertain future. A princess with a dark secret and a lord with wicked ambitions. A mad- woman with a checkered past and a beggar with a air for the dramatic.

In this twisty-turny tale of mistaken identities, missed connections, and loves lost and found, these wanderers and more will meet Maggie on her journey to heal herself . . . and her kingdom.
 

Add this one to your list, y'all.

Trust me.

Year in a Minute 2015

And now for my SIXTH annual 

YEAR IN A MINUTE

2015

  

Year in a Minute 2015 from Barbara O'Connor on Vimeo.

Audacity Jones to the Rescue

AUDACITY JONES TO THE RESCUE

by

Kirby Larson

I love this one so much.

Why, you might ask?

Well, first of all, it's KIRBY LARSON, y'all.

I started circling sentences I loved and before long the whole dang book was circled.

For instance, "Miss Maisie's barley-water breath traveled the length of the scarred mahogany table arriving well before her reprimand."

"Miss Maisie's smile wobbled in her pasty face."

"He felt the wings of freedom sprouting at his shoulders."

And it's funny.

"I don't like danger," said Bimmy. "It's too dangerous."

"Her sit-upon especially ached."

The descriptive details are luscious.

"...the scent of the desert about him."

"...the gray flannel afternoon sky.."

 

The word choices are perfection.

Squinched

Quailed

Gustatory

Salubrious

Olfactory conundrum

It's adventurous

and mysterious

and a darn good yarn. 

AND

There's a character named Mrs. O'Connor who was named after me! (But that in no way influenced my opinion of this lovely book -  but might have made me love Kirby Larson a SQUINCH more than I did before, if that's possible.)

So run,

Don't walk,

To your nearest indie bookstore

For this one.

Shout-Out to Lamar County Elementary School

Just had the BEST school visit I've had in a long time.

Thank you, Lamar County Elementary School in Barnesville, Georgia,  for making my visit so special.

(And thank you, Mrs. James, for making it possible.)

They gave me the BEST gift basket.

With principal, Dr. Scandrett

Being interviewed. Great job, guys!

With the BEST library media specialists, Claudia Bryan and Betty Smith.

Thank you, Lamar County Elementary School!!

Book Love

Loved.

Read it.

Trust me.

Greetings from Nowhere in Paperback!

Kids always ask me what my favorite book is (that I've written).

I used to say I don't have a favorite.

But that's a lie.

I do.

So now I tell kids the truth.

My favorite book is GREETINGS FROM NOWHERE.

And guess what?

It's out in paperback officially on August 25!

WOO

HOO

And here's the new cover

Art by Tad Carpenter

Things I Love Thursday

I love my critique group!

How lucky I am that I've been a part of this amazing group for....

.....TWENTY-FIVE years!!!

We've been through life's ups and downs...

...publishing/writing/illustrating ups and downs...

We've laughed and cried and offered sage advice and warm hugs and honest words and kind looks and finger wags and encouraging words and all those things one needs in life.

We've been serious and silly and sad together.

They let me bring my timer (tick tick tick) and loved me, the gentle dictator, anyway.

Yesterday was my last (sniff, sniff) meeting with them before my move.

They gave me a gift certificate to White Flower Farm, so I can "enjoy these new blossoms as a token of our love and appreciation." (Waaaaah)

They gave me these great garden ornaments:

And this adorable dog:

And this amazing framed photo that I will cherish forever (On the background is printed all of the books we have critiqued together. So cool!) 

 I feel so blessed.

Thank you, friends.

Tick Tick Tick

Things I Love Thursday

So, I've been pretty absent from this blog lately.

But there's been a lot going on.

Because, well.....this....

After 26 years in New England, my husband and I are heading back to my beloved South....right there at the edge of the Smoky Mountains, my heart's home.

Specifically, to Asheville, North Carolina...one of the most beautiful and coolest places ever.

So happy.

But.....

Sigh....

So hard to say goodbye to things and places and PEOPLE I love dearly.

Starting with my house.

My son grew up here.

We have 26 years worth of amazing memories.

My husband's hippie carpenter friend came out from Arizona to help us build our screened porch:

Where we spent so many magical summer nights:

We built a swimming pool:

My son on the right

Which brought us lots of happy times:

With my dearest pal, Gucci, who shared almost daily walks and talks with me. (And sewed for me and picked me up when I wrecked my cars and was always there for me and on and on and on. BFFs forever.)

Ruby

In the cement beside the pool

There is still chewed woodwork in our house caused by puppies who grew into gray-faced old dogs.

Murphy, the first puppy we brought to this house. (She lived to be 14) Son on the left.

There are guinea pigs buried in the backyard, where neighborhood children held somber-faced funerals and left wilted clover flowers.
 

My son brought a chestnut home from the cemetery beside our church when he was very small. It was in a paper cup. We said he could plant it anywhere he wanted to, never dreaming it would become this beauty:

This is the gate between my yard and my neighbor's, who is also the dearest of friends one could ever want. That friend who GETS me. On countless summer nights, she came through that gate to dance to disco music with me under the moonlight or listen to owls in the Adirondack chairs in the yard (snuggled together under a quilt like little girls instead of grown women), or laugh and cry and gossip on the porch. (Because that's what you do with your besties.) Pool Girl, you know I love you.

A gift she gave me. Perfect

So, yeah, lots of memories in that house

 I'll miss my gardens.

I'll miss my summer writing office:

 
So on this Things I Love Thursday, I'm loving my house.

And loving my dear, dear friends here, including:

Janet Zade (left), so wise and honest and punctual (three of the greatest traits of a friend, I think.) How lucky am I? Thank you, Janet.

My writers' group (There is no greater treasure for a writer than a group like this. We've been up, down, and all around together.)

BUT

I'm looking forward to making new friends

and building memories in a new house

in a new place.

Turning the page.

New chapter.

So, by the way, school teachers and librarians of the Carolinas, I'll be ready to come to YOUR school this fall. (I know, buzz kill, right?)

And, now, I'll close with a song that makes me cry
Every
Single
Time

Things I Love Thursday

I love my son's "writing" when he was 3 or 4 years old.

I used to write at the kitchen table. 

He would sit at the table and "write," too!