When I got the idea for ARROW, it was this: A boy with one hand lived in a tree. I didn’t know why he lived in a tree or why he had a limb difference, but if there’s one thing I’ve learned in my career as an author, it’s to honor what my characters tell…
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When I’ve talked to readers and librarians about ARROW, I’ve been giving out little squares of seed paper. I encourage them to plant the paper squares with kids to grow beautiful wild flowers. One of the things I love about this is the way it builds a love of nature. It’s one thing to look…
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It takes a village to make a novel the best that it can be, and I had a fantastic village at Simon & Schuster and the Paula Wiseman Books imprint when I was working on ARROW. My editor, Sarah Jane Abbott, was indispensable, giving me suggestions that helped lift the characters and story to new…
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I’ve loved trees since I was a kid. Reading in their branches was one of my favorite things to do. When I was writing ARROW, I realized how much we use trees as metaphors for so many things in our lives, and that’s where the Tree of You activity was born. I did this at…
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Happy Book Birthday to ARROW! In this middle-grade novel, Arrow, a 12-year-old boy with a limb difference, has grown up as the only human in a lush, magical rainforest that’s closed off from the rest of the world. He was raised by the Guardian Tree, the protector of the forest, which uses the earth’s…
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I’ve got some really special blog posts coming up that I’m super excited about. With the release of my new novel ARROW, I’m interviewing a bunch of people who helped me make the book a reality and celebrate its release. First up is Andrew Smiley from the fantastic TreeFolks, and I’m giving away an ARC…
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It’s hard to believe, but THE BOY, THE BOAT, AND THE BEAST turned 2 a month ago! I was busy working on my next books and missed the actual birthday. When I came out of my revision cave, blinking in the sunlight, I realized, It’s Time For A Giveaway! Because, not only did my debut…
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