Choose Your Dragon (and Other Shiny News)
Hi everyone!
Have you ever wished you could tell an author what to write about? (Specifically me?)
Have you ever wished you could choose which character would get their own story? (Specifically certain dragons?!)
The time is now! The day is here! (And if you now have Valjean and Eponine in your head for the rest of the day, you’re welcome.) 😉
YOU get to pick the hero of the next Winglets e-story! Just come on over to the Wings of Fire forums and vote! The choices are Dune, Deathbringer, and Queen Coral — all of these will be prequel stories, taking place before the events of book one. There’s more information about each option at that link, and you have until May 21 to vote. I am excited to write any of them, so I can’t wait to see what you pick! Yay!
And then I think we’re planning to release it sometime between book seven and book eight . . . oh my goodness, you guys, book seven is less than two months away! You know what you’ll have it in time for? SUMMER READING! I love summer reading! There’s no homework and you can read anything you want!
Why am I bringing this up now? Well, there’s this very exciting thing happening called the Scholastic Summer Reading Challenge — you can sign up for it at that link. The idea is you read read read, log your minutes, and unlock stories all summer long. Stories by authors such as me (hooray!) and these other twelve completely amazing people:
We were each given a starting sentence (“I glanced over my shoulder to make sure that no one had followed me into the shadowy library, then took a deep breath and opened the glowing book.“) and told we could write anything we wanted from there. I’ve now read all the stories and they’re fascinatingly different! I really thought everyone would come up with the same ideas I did from that first sentence, but instead they’re all surprising and so great. You can read the first one right now, by Wendy Wan-Long Shang — it’s really funny!
And here’s a Washington Post article on summer reading, with quotes from some of us, if you’re interested. 🙂
Finally, here’s a short video of WorldsCollide Con highlights, just for fun! I hope Scholastic does this again sometime!
https://www.youtube.com/embed/T0C7dzeg40U
Oh, and I’ve added a few new things to my Events page — I’m doing a summer reading kickoff event with The Blue Bunny in June, and later I’ll be visiting three states I haven’t hit before: Connecticut, Wisconsin (in October), and Washington (March 2016)! Check it out and please come join me if you can! 🙂 (There’s also one more I know about, but can’t add yet until there’s an official announcement…hopefully soon!)
AND later this week, by popular demand, I’ll post the excerpt from Book Seven that I read at the March events. Woo hoo!
OK, go vote, and I’ll be back soon! 🙂
What We’re Reading:
Me: Mr. Fox, by Helen Oyeyemi, and Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH, by Robert C. O’Brien
With both bears: Oh No! and Oh No, Not Again! by Mac Barnett, illustrated by Dan Santat, Anna Hibiscus by Atinuke, and Guess Again! by Mac Barnett, illustrated by Adam Rex (they love the pants off this book!)