Thank you Arlington Heights!

A big thank you to the Arlington Heights library for a super fun event this past weekend.  The kids were great.   We had a super time cheering, being silly and celebrating our love of sports and poetry.  Go team!

 

Arlington Heights - Here We Come!

The Poetry Team USA is heading to the Arlington Heights Library tomorrow.  The fun starts at 1:00.  If you live out that way come join us and bring your friends.  Don't forget to wear your favorite jersey.  Hope to see you there.  Go team!!!

Arlington Heights Library

500 N. Dunton Avenue

Arlington Heights, IL

630-355-2664

Author's Corner Podcast

Last night's radio show was so fun!  Thank you for having me Elaine.  If you're interested in listening, the link to the podcast in below.  I am the second author interviewed.  http://tobtr.com/s/3953005

Author's Corner Interview

I'm really excited about the opportunity to be on The Author's Corner tonight with host Elaine Raco Chase.  Call in and chat - head to www.trianglevarietyradio.com  -  click on blog talk radio at 7:00 pm central time.  Podcasts are available after the show. 

Thank you Anderson's Bookshop!

Thank you so much to everyone  that came to see us Tuesday night at Anderson's Bookshop!  I was in awe of the support we received.  The place was packed!  And we sold out of all the books.  Such a blast with the kids.  

I grew up in Naperville and it has always been a dream of mine to sign books there.  It couldn't have been any better.  Very grateful...

 

 

Children's Book Award!

Exciting news!  We just found out that And the Crowd Goes Wild!: A Global Gathering of Sports Poems won a 2012 Moonbeam Children's Book Award (Bronze Medal, Children's Poetry Category). 
Congrats to all of the poets, our illustrator and editors extraordinaire Heidi Roemer and Carol-Ann Hoyte for all of their hard work!  Hooray!

And The Crowd Goes Wild in Naperville!

The next stop on our book launch is Anderson's Bookshop in Naperville.  So mark your calendars and bring your friends, scout troops, sports teams, class from school...and join us for some FUN!  Kids should wear their favorite sports gear and get ready for a sportstacular evening.  Pre-ordering books is recommended so call 1-630-355-2665 to reserve your copy today.  Rah Rah Sis Boom Bah! Hope to see you there!

And the Crowd Goes Wild!

A Global Gathering of Sports Poems

Children's Book Party!

Anderson's Bookshop

123 W. Jefferson Ave.

Naperville, IL

October 16 at 7:00 p.m.

Thank you Mokena Library!

A huge thank you to the Mokena Library for hosting such a FANtastic launch party for us!  The kids were wonderful and the library so welcoming.  Thank you for a night that we won't forget. Everyone had a ball!

And The Crowd Goes Wild in Mokena!

We're kicking off our U.S. book launch this Wednesday at the Mokena Library!  So any friends out that way, please join us for some fun!  Have kids wear their favorite sports gear and get ready for a sportstacular evening.  Rah Rah Sis Boom Bah!  Hope to see you there! 

 

And the Crowd Goes Wild!

A Global Gathering of Sports Poems

Children's Book Party!

 

Mokena Library

11327 W. 195th Street

Sept. 26 at 6:30 p.m.

And the Crowd Goes Wild!

The new cover for our sports anthology has just been released.  I'm so excited!  I love the art.  The illustrator Kevin Sylvester did a wonderful job.  The release is scheduled for next month and we have several book signings and launch events scheduled here in Illinois and around the world.  More information coming soon...

Interview with Debbie Dadey!

 Debbie Dadey is the author of over 150 children’s books, with over 47 million books sold.  Her popular series include: The Bailey School Kids, The Keyholders and Barkley’s School for Dogs, to name a few.  Her latest series Mermaid Tales (Simon & Schuster) launches tomorrow, May 8.  The first two books Trouble at Trident Academy and Battle of the Best Friends will both be available.  You won’t want to miss out on buying these for your own little mermaid or merman!

 I had the pleasure of meeting Debbie for dinner during a stop on her recent book tour for Mermaid Tales.  Here’s some inside scoop on her newest series and more.

Mermaids are such a fabulous topic, and so different from your other books.  Did you have to approach these much differently than the monster books? 

Actually I have written a mermaid book before, Mermaids Don’t Run Track, with my friend Marcia.  It was great to write about mermaids again, but this was definitely different because I created a whole new merworld that revolves around the adventures in an underwater school, Trident Academy.  I’m not sure if you are aware, but in the merworld, mermaids and merboys don’t go to school until third grade.  That works perfectly because I love third grade.  Not only do the merkids have fun adventures with each other, they also get to meet up with bullies, shark, whales, and all sorts of exciting ocean creatures.  The tales also include a lesson on the ocean, as well as a glossary full of the real ocean animals used in the story.

Will the Mermaid Tales books all be from the same character’s point-of-view or a different one for each book? 

Each of the first four books comes from a different character’s viewpoint, just like in the Adventures of the Bailey School Kids.  I hope if I get to write more in the series, I can continue to tell more about each character.  Before I began writing, I made character sketches of all the merpeople in the stories and that was quite helpful.

When writing a new series, how many book ideas do you start with?  Do you outline the whole series or a few books at a time? 

This is my twelfth series and each one is a little different.  Usually, a publisher wants to see synopses for at least four books, so I usually do six or more to give some options. This is just a paragraph or so telling the main idea of the story. The proposal will also include sample chapters or the entire first book, character sketches, and the outline for the first book if the whole book is not included.  With the new Mermaid Tales series, I added a Travel Guide to Trident City, a map of the city, and information about the school.  Some of that is now on my website, www.debbiedadey.com on the new Mermaid Tales pages.

What are you most proud of in your writing career so far?

Whenever I meet a student or parent (or receive a letter or email) and they tell me that my books made them or their child love reading it makes me so happy!  It makes all the rejections worth it!

What’s next for you?  Anything new that you’d like to try with your writing?

Every new story is scary for me because it’s the unknown.  My daughter and I have been working on a story for about five years.  We finally threw everything out and started a new story from the original idea.  It’s quite scary for me because it’s a true battle of good and evil and we share our faith.  It is with my agent at Writer’s House right now so I’m keeping my fingers crossed that it works out.  I wrote two books with oldest son, Nathan.  They were Slime Wars and Slime Time.  It would be very special if Becky and I could get a book published as well.

Debbie, thank you so much for your time and all of your fabulous books for kids.  I wish you all of the best with Mermaid Tales and can’t wait to see what you come up with next! 
Thanks so much for chatting with me.  It was great seeing you again and I’ll always remember my wonderful Naperville/Aurora area critique group!

You can visit Debbie at http://debbiedadey.com or stop by her Facebook fan page (Facebook.com/debbiedadey)for the latest news and happenings.

Forthcoming Release Information!

And the Crowd Goes Wild!: A Global Gathering of Sports Poems

Release Date:  August 2012
Available in both paperback and e-book formats. 
www.CrowdGoesWildPoems.com

Poetry for Children Interview

Great interview on Sylvia Vardell's blog "Poetry for Children" with co-editors Carol-Ann Hoyte and Heidi Roemer.  This five-question interview gives a behind the scenes look at how the book "And the Crowd Goes Wild! A Global gathering of Sports Poems" came to be.   And a preview of one of the poems included in the anthology.

http://poetryforchildren.blogspot.com/2012/04/5q-poet-interview-series-carol-ann.html

Exciting Book News!

Happy National Poetry Month!   

I have some exciting, and timely, news to share.  I found out yesterday that my rock climbing poem entitled "Rock n' Rappel" will be included in the upcoming anthology:  
AND THE CROWD GOES WILD: A GLOBAL GATHERING OF SPORTS POEMS.
Fifty poets were selected from around the world including J. Patrick Lewis, Charles Ghinga, Laura Purdie Salas, Avis Harley and several Illinois friends and critique buddies - Carmela Martino, Eileen Meyer, Michelle Schaub and Patty Toht.

Huge congrats to everyone! And many thanks to editors extraordinaire Heidi Roemer & Carol-Ann Hoyte for this opportunity. The book is scheduled to be released late this summer in both paperback and e-book format. I'm so honored to be included with such fabulous poets.  Woo hoo!
                                               
                                  More information coming soon!

2012 is off to a great start!

I think that 2012 is going to be an amazing year.  It's definitely off to a great start with writing, which makes me SO happy!  I received my author copies of the February issue of Ladybug magazine, including my poem "Goldfish".  The illustrator, Linda Hill Griffith, did an amazing job.  I love how the two-page spread turned out.  It's always fun to see how an artist interprets your words. 

I also received a letter from High Five magazine and my poem "Dandelion Wishes" will be published in their August issue.  I'm looking forward to seeing it. 

Finally, I am really excited about the revisions for a spunky character-driven picture book that I started last year.  After putting it away for months, it felt great to tackle it again with fresh eyes.  I  LOVE this character (is that weird?) and would be beyond thrilled to see him come to life in book form and be able to share him with children.  Go GK!