Girl Scouts Studio

I'm excited and honored to be the featured author on the Girl Scout studio website this week! So many of my favorite authors from Kate DiCamillo to Grace Lin to Laura Golden have also been featured on this site and each of them includes a recommendation or activity to improve one's writing life. I simply LOVE this site and recommend to to aspiring writers of all ages.

Please visit the Girl Scout Studio this week and read my author Q&A, plus my recommendations to writers (of all ages) about how and why keeping a reading log helps one become a better writer.

Giveaway and book news: Sure Signs of Crazy by Karen Harrington

Little, Brown is hosting a Goodreads giveaway of 30 copies of my upcoming book, Sure Signs of Crazy. Follow this link to enter. Deadline to enter is July 20th.

And this just in. The book received a starred review from Booklist!

Sure Signs of Crazy

Written by Karen Harrington

August 2013/ Ages 8-12/ $16.99

ISBN 978-0-316-21058-4

Ebook ISBN 978-0-316-21057-7

For the opening of her middle-grade debut, Harrington cuts right to the heart of her narrator’s grim situation: “You’ve never met anyone like me. Unless, of course, you’ve met someone who survived her mother trying to drown her and now lives with an alcoholic father.” Sarah Nelson was two when that happened; now she is turning 12 in a small Texas town and “looking for any signs of going crazy.” Don't think this will be a hard sell to readers, though, for Harrington has created a protagonist who is, in her own way, as clear-eyed, tough-minded, and inspiring as any dystopian hero. Sarah faces down threats from all sides: “The more information I gather, the better I can defend myself against the world, against the brain inside me that may or may not be like hers.” And even as her father repeatedly fails her (as when he drank/slept through her birthday), Sarah finds allies and role models, from an English teacher to a home from-college neighbor to Atticus Finch, who shows Sarah how to be a caring human being. Harrington doesn’t leave out humor—she has fun with Sarah’s romantic illusions—but makes it clear that it’s Sarah’s courage and urge to communicate that will push her beyond her traumatic childhood. 

Summer updates: ALA, Mustaches and Book news

Last weekend, I attended my first ALA (American Library Association) meeting. A person can truly become overwhelmed by the amount of books and book people at ALA. Perhaps that is why this is the ONLY picture I took the whole time. 

This picture is special because it was the treat I shared with my amazing editor, Bethany Strout. This was the first time I met her in person.  You really get to like a person who orders Martinis and fries with ketchup AND mayo.

Next up, our family celebrated July 4th. I said to hubby, "Would you please help me make a  fruit salad?" and this is what he created. I need to ask him for more help in the kitchen! I think he's been holding out on me. 

Perhaps my favorite event of the summer so far was celebrating my daughter's
tenth birthday. Ten years? What? Where has the time gone? 

The birthday party had a mustache theme. And books! Lots of books, of course. WONDER by R.J. Palacio, two BIG NATE books, GONE FISHING by Tamera Will Wissinger and a giant collection of classic comics, just to name a few. 

Oh, and when I got all settled back home, my editor tweeted this picture of our
book at ALA. She looks pretty with those new accessories, doesn't she? The book comes out on August 20th, which is almost two years to the day since my agent sold the book to Little Brown Books for Young Readers. I think I'll look back on these two years  fondly. It's wonderful to anticipate a dream coming true. It's like this: You get up. You do laundry. You kiss your kids. You feed the dog. You walk by your local book store and see a picture featuring your upcoming book signing in the window. You wonder if life will ever get better than this. 

So that's what I've been up to. I think I'll take a nap now.

Starred Kirkus Review!

From Kirkus Reviews special BEA print edition today!

 SURE SIGNS OF CRAZY

by Karen Harrington

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"Readers intrigued by the premise of this moving story will sympathize with the plucky protagonist and rejoice in the way her summer works out. (Fiction. 9-13)"

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Worried that she will grow up to be crazy like her mother or alcoholic like her father, rising seventh-grader Sarah Nelson takes courage from Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird, writing letters to Atticus Finch and discovering her own strengths.

Sarah is a survivor. She survived her mother’s attempt to drown her when she was 2 and the notoriety that has followed her and her father from one Texas town to another in the 10 years since. In a first-person, present-tense narration interspersed with definitions, diary entries and letters, she describes the events of the summer she turns 12, gets her period, develops a crush on a neighbor and fellow word lover, and comes to terms with her parents’ failings. In her first middle-grade novel, Harrington revisits the characters of her adult thriller, Janeology (2008), to imagine what it might be like to be the child of a filicidal mother. Sarah’s 12-year-old voice is believable and her anxieties realistic. Intellectually precocious and responsible beyond her years, she is also a needy child who finds helpful support when she reaches out to a grieving elderly neighbor. Although her situation is difficult, Sarah is resilient and hopeful.

Readers intrigued by the premise of this moving story will sympathize with the plucky protagonist and rejoice in the way her summer works out.

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So you know what that means, right? Time for the Carlton Dance! 

Monday Morning Inspiration: Benefits of Laughter

John Cleese explored the benefits of "laughter yoga." Try it. I hope you laugh.

Wordless Wednesday: Letters

I recently found this letter slot at an antique store. It's one of those found items you wish could tell the tale of its life. What words have passed through it? What news? Secret notes? Love letters?

View other Wordless Wednesday posts here.

Teaser Tuesday: Tapestry Of Fortunes by Elizabeth Berg

"My best friend Penny's grave has a simple headstone: light gray granite inscribed with her name, the date of her birth, and the date of her death, which was four months ago. Below that, as agreed, are these words: Say it. Penny believed that people didn't often enough admit to what they really felt, and she thought that made for a lot of problems." p. 5, TAPESTRY OF FORTUNES by Elizabeth Berg

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Love this passage. 

Love this cover. 

Love Elizabeth Berg. She can do no wrong for me. Reading her books is like talking with a good friend. I always feel better for it. I just got her book in the mail yesterday and now that the house is sort of clean, I've made a cup of tea and can commence reading. 

What are you reading today? 

About the book (from Elizabeth Berg's Website):

A motivational speaker who isn't great about taking her own advice finally does. After a catastrophic event, she moves out of her large, well-appointed house into a house she shares with three other women. After she receives a postcard from a man she never quite got over and last saw many years ago, she decides to take a driving trip to visit him. The other housemates come along, each for her own reason, each with her own agenda. So it's a book about destiny, fate, memory, chance, possibility....

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading.

Monday Morning Inspiration: John Irving on "the beginning process"

I love Irving's acknowledgement about the excitement of approaching the blank page as he begins a new work. I think that might be a universal feeling among writers. In the beginning, there are no mistakes and it's all possibility.

Wordless Wednesday

"You lookin' at me?" 

Those in the Girl Scout "know" will recognize these items as swaps. Two years ago, I had no idea about the whole Girl Scout Swap industry. (Word to the wise - if you Google 'Girl Scout Swap' you might get some racier sites than you wanted. Just sayin.)

My girls attended an event this weekend and this was just a bit of their loot. I like the last idea - a pet cloud. I want a pet cloud. Also, I've come to realize that there are two categories of Girl Scout moms. Those who own a glue gun and those who don't. I don't. I'm not a crafty sort unless cutting crusts off sandwiches counts.

Teaser Tuesday: What A Mother Knows by Leslie Lehr

"Michelle had always feared that something would happen as soon as they were out of her sight. Nikki would fall off the swingset onto cement, or Tyler would be struck in the head by a baseball." - p. 25, WHAT A MOTHER KNOWS, out May 7, 2013 from Leslie Lehr

From the book jacket: How Far Will a Mother Go to Find Her Daughter?


Michelle Mason can't remember that day, that drive, that horrible crash that killed the young man in her car. All she knows is she's being held responsible, and her daughter is missing.

Despite a shaky marriage, a threatening lawsuit, and troubling flashbacks pressing in on her, Michelle throws herself into searching. Her daughter in the one person who might know what really happened that day, but the deeper Michelle digs, the more she questions the innocence of those closest to her, even herself. As her search hurtles toward a shattering revelation, Michelle must face the biggest challenge of her life.

-- 

I was lucky enough to read an advance copy of WHAT A MOTHER KNOWS and found it honest and compelling. It features an examination of that universal quality most mothers have for their children - that we are always their fiercest protector and will go to great lengths to help our children.

Read more about this book and the author at Leslie Lehr's website! 

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!