Book: The Eureka Key

Best Question

Posted by on May 25, 2018 in Book: Deadly Flowers, Book: Deadly Wish, Book: Dragon's Egg, Book: The Eureka Key, Ninjas, Secrets of the Seven, SERIES: Secrets of the Seven | 0 comments

Dragon's Egg

Mella also does not suffer fools gladly.

Best question I’ve been asked during a school visit this year: If you were a character in one of your books, which one would you be?

Hmmmmm…. I had to give this some thought. My first reaction was Kata, from Deadly Flowers and Deadly Wish, because who would not want to be a deadly female ninja? But Kata’s life is very difficult. I’m not sure I actually want to live like that. In the end I said Marty, from the Secrets of the Seven series, since she is a) brilliant and b) rich. But after thinking it over, I’m leaning toward Mella from Dragon’s Egg. Because I want my own herd of small pet dragons. Yep.

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Talking about The Eureka Key at Victor Intermediate

Posted by on Nov 16, 2017 in Author Visits, Book: The Eureka Key, Educators & Librarians, School Visits, Secrets of the Seven, SERIES: Secrets of the Seven | 0 comments

IMG_9623 This week I visited Victor Intermediate School in Victor, NY, a lovely little hamlet near Rochester. What made it super exciting to me was that this school had picked The Eureka Key for a community read. It was my first time (as far as I know) to be read by an entire school (of 1100 kids, no less).

Now normally I’m in a favor of a LOT of choice when it comes to reading. We’re not all the same as readers; let’s let the nonfiction kids read about dinosaurs and the fantasy kids read about dragons and the sensitive kids read tearjerkers. It’s all reading! It’s all good!

But I have to admit to a certain thrill in having a shared experience of reading every now and then. It was part of what made the Harry Potter phenomenon so fun. It wasn’t that they were the best books in the world (not the worst, either). It was the joy of sharing Hogwarts with so many other people. With your friends and classmates and strangers you met on the bus. It brought the fictional world into real life, joined us together into a community who shared our imaginary lives. It was lovely.

I felt a little bit of that in the school today. The kids were so excited to see me and so eager to take in what I had to share about writing and so excited to do some writing themselves. And sharing the book with the whole school, kids and teachers and families and all, was what built that excitement.

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I signed A LOT of books!

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Everybody made their own “Eureka Keys” with terms describing themselves–the keys to their personalities!

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The Secrets the Seven

Posted by on Jul 12, 2017 in American History, BOOK: The Eagle's Quill, Book: The Eureka Key, Historical Fiction, Race, Secrets of the Seven, SERIES: Secrets of the Seven | 0 comments

Living descendants of the men who signed the Declaration of Independence recite it!These folks seem like characters from The Secrets of the Seven. If we cast the movie, this is what it might look like. (Except we’d need to add in some kids, of course.)

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Maine Student Book Awards

Posted by on Mar 30, 2017 in Book: The Eureka Key, Reviews | 0 comments

The Eureka Key

The Eureka Key pops up on the Maine Student Book Award list! Loud jubilation! State awards are always particularly exciting because the actual kid readers get to actually vote, and it’s even better to be nominated in your own state. Maine readers, I salute you!

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