To celebrate the launch of my debut YA novel, the Buzz Girls are posting this week about firsts. Each day you can read a new story about a first and then comment to win a copy of Never Cry Werewolf!We will announce all winners on Sunday, September 6th, so comment as often as you like on any of the daily posts.
For my short, "first" story, I'll post below a picture of me signing the first copy of the book in NYC a week ago. I am in my editor's office at HarperTeen, and I'm barely holding back a wave of tears. I can't tell you how grateful I am to Anne Hoppe for championing Never Cry Werewolf and doing such a loving editing job on the book. Working with her, and learning from her has been the biggest gift of all of this process.
And of course it goes without saying none of this would have been possbile without my Eagle, agent Stephen Barbara. He is an amazing, wonderful friend and champion, too.
So, as you know, this is my first published book. I am getting my first reviews (gah!). I am getting a lot of request for interviews. People are talking about the book. This is all new, foreign soil I'm standing on.
When I was a little bookworm of a kid, reading voraciously because books were my only solid friend, I never imagined this time in my life to be like this. And when I was a grown-up, writing stories to spirit myself away from my very small life and dreaming of the day one of my books would be in print, I couldn't have pictured it turning out this way. It's different and better in most ways. Thanks to you, readers, and the Buzz Girls for sharing this time with me.
I hope you will check out Never Cry Werewolf (email me photos if you see it on the shelf!) and if you haven't read a snipet check out this link to HarperTeen, where you will find a chunk of the book. http://browseinside.harperteen.com/index.aspx?isbn13=9780061349232
To enter today's contest, in comments tell me about the first teen/juvenile book you read that really, really touched you. For me, I think it was Bridge to Terebithia. There is such a soul to that book- I still think about it years later. How about you?
Much Love,
Heather
Never Cry Werewolf - TOMORROW!
The Clearing - April 2010 HMH
Posts
32 comments:
Woman in the Wall by Patrice Kindl. I could never imagine a time when living inside a wall would be better then living outside of it (I'm claustrophobic) though as I've gotten older my social anxieties have far outstripped my claustrophobia issues.
Lexie.Cenni(@)gmail.com
I cried like a baby at the end of Seven Tears into the Heaven by Terri Farley. It's a story about selkies and an undying love.
Izaya(at)hotmail(dot)de
Probably Crank by Ellen Hopkins. It just showed me what drugs can do to people. Ever since I've been a huge Ellen Hopkins fan.
kelseythebookscout@gmail.com
I never read book as a teen except for the mandatory reading at school and it really didn't appeal me to read more.
I started reading just 8 months ago? and I'm 24 hehe.
Shadow Kiss by Richelle Mead made me cry, even though it's not a profound read.
Thanks for the contest =)
The latest one that really touched me and was just such so lovely was Lipstick Apology by Jennifer Jabaley. LOVED that book. It's an amazing story of the people who matters in our lives.
Another one that comes to mind is Going Too Far by Jennifer Echols. Another winner, loved it sooo much. It's the YA book that made me want to start reading YA. :)
Congrats on your release!
"Johnny Voodoo" by Dakota Lane was a novel which got under my skin. Her prose is gorgeous, her characters quirky. There's a passage there which brought me to tears (the MC dealing with her mom's death). I never cry while reading, but this book got to me. Fast paced, engrossing and powerful. Enough said. Wow.
I've been hearing great things about Never Cry Werewolf. Congrats on the release!
I don't think I can pick just one, but The Lion, The Witch, & The Wardrobe by CS Lewis and Anne of Green Gables by Lucy Maud Montgomery made indelible impressions on me. The characters and the stories just captured my imagination. I *heart* the Harry Potter books for the same reason. :)
I read the excerpt for Never Cry Werewolf on the Harper Teen site, and it rocked!
Ella Enchanted. I have no idea why it touched me so much, but it did. I loved the fantasy world, but it was more than that. I think the part that got to me most was having no free will. She couldn't do what she wanted, she was controlled by others, and that kind of hit me. I swear, I read that story two thousand times.
hide.and.seek.author@msn.com
Congrats on your big release day! I hope that you have something special planned.
I ADORED the Emily books.
I read ALL the time and my friend had bookshelves in her basement filled with books. I remember loving going to her house and taking a stack of books home.
Happy release week, Heather! (The first of many.) I have three first favorite books that I've never forgotten. The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin, The Egypt Game by Zilpha Keatly-Snyder, and From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E.L. Konigsburg. I still smile when I think of them.
Happy release week, Heather! Here's to many, many more. :-) I'm with Tera... my favorite book growing up was The Westing Game by Ellen Raskin. I'm a sucker for puzzle mysteries and this is still the best in my eyes.
Happy Release Week! Mine is Anne of Green Gables, by L.M. Montgomery.
JenP
jpetroroy@gmail.com
Happy Release Week!! I think that for me it was The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. This book just pulled me and I remember being so invested in the characters and it actually made me cry. I have since had all my children read it and it is the favorite of a couple of them.
I would have to say LORD OF THE FLIES by William Golding. I read that book probably twenty years ago, the Piggy's death still gives me the shivers.
Congrats on the book release! That's so exciting :-)
For me the most memorable is Are You There God, It's Me, Margaret by Judy Blume. Judy Blume just got exactly how I was feeling in her books.
Happy release week, Heather! I can't wait to read your book! I have to agree with the previous commenter, Judy Blume just "got" me when I was growing up and I felt like she was the older big sister I never had.
uuh hard question! A book that pops into my head right now is a book called "Katitzi"
sara
sosarora_11(AT)hotmail(DOT)com
I also have to say that Never Cry Werewolf sounds like an amazing book! Only read great stuff about it
Happy release day! Will definitely put Never Cry Werewolf on my TBR list.
I'd have to agree with you on Bridge to Terabithia. I guess I kind of felt, idk, a bond to the characters. I was in 6th grade (a year older than the characters)when I read it. I also had a huge imagination (still do) and created kingdoms & other worlds (still do that, too). The death made me cry, but the book was, and still is, one of my fave kid's book.
I also have to say Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, which I read in high school. I've been hooked on Maya Angelou's writing ever since reading that book. She's one of my absolute favorite writers.
I think that the teen book that really touched me would be My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult. I am very cold hearted, and this made me cry so hard. It really opened my eyes and made me see that you never know how long you have with someone close to you, whether it's a family member, friend, or anyone you know.
It really touched my heart because I didn't expect it to end the way it did. (I'm trying not to spoil the ending for anyone, if anyone else hasn't read it, and wants to.) Also, after seeing the movie first, I was expecting it to be pretty similar, but it wasn't. Even when I was explaining what happened to someone, I would get tears in my eyes.
I really liked 'The Giver'. It was such a touching story. Lois Lowry made Jonas' story so realistic. When he saved Gabriel, I was in tears.
~Songbird220
CONGRATS to you, Heather!!! Soooo happy for you and so proud.
Don't enter me in the contest, of course, but I really have to say that the Judy Blume books had a wonderful influence on me growing up.
Hugs to you!!!
Brighty: Of the Grand Canyon is one I remember liking very much. I read it when I was really little (I was always way above my grade level in reading).
Recently (well a few years ago) I saw this book in movie form. And now on Amazon I see it is also available as an audio.
Happy Release Week!! Never Cry Werewolf sounds like a great book.
The Little House on the Prairie books were the first that really affected me.
bacchus76 at myself dot com
Hmm I think the first book that touched me so much till I cried was Charlotte's Web by E. B. White. Very very touching.
Congrats on the release of your novel!
kate.readthisbook [at] gmail [dot] com
that certainly will be The Usual Rules by Joyce Maynard. wow that book really touched me and made me laugh and cry
Wow, you guys have listed some great books! Keep posting if you'd like - we'll draw all the daily winners at the end of the week.
Charlotte's Web. I never liked spiders but I thought it was so sweet the spider did so much for a pig! I cried buckets!
lesly7ch(at)yahoo(dot)com
Sorry to be late to this party, but I've been, uh, busy. =) See my post on Thursday for that update.
Heather, congratulations on the release of your book! YAY!!!
I can't necessarily remember the first YA book that moved me but I got a hold of some already old Beverly Cleary's books through the Scholastic Book Club at age 10 or 11, and basically, my life was never the same. LOL. In fact, the books I went on to write are not all that different from those first loves: contemporary teen romances.
i love your book so much!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! i would be so sad if u didn't write a second. i just got in 2 reading a few months ago and yours is one of my favs.i keep reading it. also congretes u got it publiced. ur huge fan elle.
p.s. keep writing
need by carrie jones. was a good book. a little strange but good. i liked it because it really made a connection 2 every girls problme. how do u talk 2 a hot guy!!!! i love super natrual romance and it was definately super natrual. it was a great book that u sould read.
Post a Comment