BORN TO FLY nominated for the 2012 Grand Canyon Reader Award

I was excited to learn that BORN TO FLY has been nominated for the 2012 Grand Canyon Reader Award in the Intermediate Fiction category.

The Grand Canyon Reader Award is a reader award program for students in Arizona. Students vote annually on their favorite book in the following categories: Picture, Non-Fiction, Intermediate, Tween and Teen. One of my favorite writers, Gordon Korman was a double category winner in 2010 so I feel quite humbled to be nominated.

A big thank you to all the Arizona students who read and nominated the book.

Here is a list of the wonderful books nominated in my category:

11 Birthdays by Wendy Mass (2009)

Born To Fly by Michael Ferrari (2009)

Closed For the Season by Mary Downing Hahn (2009)

Dying To Meet You by Kate Klise (2009)

Extra Credit by Andrew Clements (2009)

Neil Armstrong Is My Uncle: and Other Lies Muscle Man McGinty Told Me by Nan Marino (2009)

A Nest For Celeste: A Story about Art, Inspiration, And The Meaning of Home by Henry Cole (2010)

The Night Fairy by Laura Amy Schlitz (2010)

The Secret of Zoom by Lynne Jonell (2009)

Star in the Forest by Laura Resau (2010)

BORN TO FLY book discussion at Avon Lake Library

My local library is hosting a Born to Fly book discussion on Wednesday March 30th from 7-8 PM.

I will answer questions about the book or writing or about my snowball-catching dog Trixie. There will be a fun craft (I think you get to build a toy airplane) and I'm told it will all be topped off with some kind of a treat. Sounds like fun.

Sign up and they will give you your own paperback copy of BORN TO FLY to read prior to the event. I will see you there!

BORN TO FLY out in paperback tomorrow!

Here's the first look at the paperback version of Born to Fly which arrived from my publisher a couple days ago! Goes on sale tomorrow, March 8th, 2011. Thanks to my daughter Clarissa for modeling and smiling.

BORN TO FLY picked as book of the week by the Middle Grade Ninja

Thanks to the Middle Grade Ninja, Robert Kent for picking BORN TO FLY as his Book of the Week. He interviewed me and had a lot of nice things to say about Born to Fly in his review.

Robert runs a great site focused on middle grade books, with lots of interviews and reviews and great writing tips as well.

The thing I like about Robert's reviews is that he always digs up good examples from the books to reinforce his points. He'll highlight a line of dialogue or a piece of action and then explain why he thinks it works. He really does his homework. Check it out.

Check out my friend Greg Neri’s new book YUMMY

My good friend Greg Neri has written a powerful new book called YUMMY.

It's based on a true life tragic story which Greg had originally wanted to turn into a film but instead it wound up being his first graphic novel. Greg and I met years ago when we both worked for a Hollywood movie trailer company. He is the author of CHESS RUMBLE and SURF MULES and his new book has been gathering a number of starred reviews which is no surprise since it's a very strong piece of writing paired with dynamic artwork from Randy Duburke.

Greg normally resides in Florida but is spending the next year in Germany and I believe he said on his homepage that he would do a free skype visit to any schools who read Yummy in class.

BORN TO FLY paperback arrives March 8, 2011

Recently got the word, BORN TO FLY is coming out in paperback March 8, 2011!

Born to Fly radio interview on Writers Talk show

This Friday, April 30 I will be doing a school visit at Tussing Elementary in Columbus, Ohio.

I will also do an interview with the Writers Talk radio show.

The radio shows are scheduled to air Monday May 10 (7pm on WCRS) and Wednesday May 12 (8pm on
WCBE. The broadcast info is here: