Lynne said she started writing one chapter at a time, not knowing what was going to happen in the next chapter. She says she did know how it would end though, sort of. She joined a critique group and says they didn’t run her off, so she stayed and wrote the book. Uma Krishnaswami gave her an early critique, then gave it a final read before publishing to make sure it was all culturally correct. Revision took the storyline from three years to one and a half years to one year. CHAINED sold to Macmillan two years ago this month.

The publisher asked Lynne to suggest illustrators for the  cover, so she researched book covers she loved and came up with some suggestions. One book, Elephant Bill, became the mentor’s backstory. She brought a poster to show the process the cover went through. Varsha Bajaj brought Lynne two carved Ganesh figures from a recent trip to India which worked their way into the story as Hastin’s father’s occupation as woodcarver.

Just before we all got in line for the signings, we had a little time for questions from the audience:

Q. After doing all that research, do you want to go to India?
Lynne: I do! It would be a fascinating place to visit.

Q. How many revisions did you do from when you started in 2006 until the end of your copy edits?
Lynne: So many! I don’t know. It’s been through a huge evolution.

Q. Did you focus only on writing this or did you work on other things at the same time?
Lynne: Around 2008 or 2009, after I started querying, I started work on other things. It was refreshing to work on something different.

Q. Did you ever throw in the towel?
Lynne: No, but I don’t know why. I guess I had enough little encouragements to keep me going and I found I really liked writing.

Note: I wrote the questions and answers as fast as I could, but I’m afraid everything still got a bit shortened. But you can probably find all the answers in full on these posts from Lynne’s blog tour:

May 7: Naughty Book Kitties

May 8: I Like These Books

May 9: Lisa the Nerd

May 10: A Good Addiction

May 11: Lost for Words

May 12: Larkin’s Book Bloggers

And if you haven’t gotten your copy of CHAINED yet, you can read the first chapter here!

Congratulations, Lynne! And best wishes to CHAINED!

(And may I just add, best cakeballs ever!)

The wonderful bookstores, libraries and museums of Houston always do a great job of promoting children’s books, but this week the whole nation is joining us. this is officially Children’s Book Week! You can see images of some the the events from around the country on the Children’s Book Week facebook page. Here are some of our local events.

Please remember that, as always, the information for these events is from the sponsoring bookstore or organization’s website. For the latest, most accurate information, please visit their websites, or better, their stores.

May 8, Tuesday, 6:30 p.m.
Murder By The Book
Children’s Books Week Celebration with Mary Lindsey, Author; Cari, Book Blogger; John, MBTB Publicity Mgr.

Join Murder By The Book for a night of discussion of children’s books.  Mary Lindsey, author of SHATTERED SOULS will join Cari from Cari’s Book Blog (and Social Media Expert for Blue Willow Bookshop) plus MBTB Publicity Manager, John, for an evening of discussion about children’s book from different perspectives.  We’ll discuss our favorite reads, the industry, bookselling, book writing, book blogging, and more!

Shattered Souls: When a Texas high school student starts hearing voices, she assumes she is schizophrenic like her father, but instead she finds out that she is a “Speaker,” who can communicate with the dead in order to help their troubled souls find resolution.

May 3– 9
Children’s Museum of Houston
Fiction, Fantasy and Fun

You’re invited to join the Children’s Museum of Houston in celebrating National Children’s Book Week. Ongoing activities include: •Prince and Princess Crowns •Gingerbread Man Decorating •Magic Wand •Invent with Ernest the Balancing Bear •Fantasy Postcards •Optical Illusion Exploration •Flip Books •Hidden Rainbow

May 10, Thursday, 5:30 p.m.
Barnes & Noble Deerbrook Mall
Miriam King, Author

Miriam King, author of LIBRARIAN ON THE ROOF, is the featured author of the day for the Lakeland Elementary School bookfair. Join Miriam as she reads and signs her book about the gutsy librarian who climbed the fifty-foot roof of the oldest library in Texas.

Saturday, May 12, 2:00 p.m.
Blue Willow Bookshop
Lynne Kelly, Author

Join Blue Willow Bookshop as they celebrate with Lynne Kelly celebrate on debut of her novel for children, CHAINED. To work off a family debt, ten-year-old Hastin leaves his desert village in India to work as a circus elephant keeper but many challenges await him, including trying to keep Nandita, a sweet elephant, safe from the cruel circus owner.

For important information about this event, please see Blue Willow Bookshop’s Special Events Page.

Read the first chapter of CHAINED here! Lynne is also celebrating with a blog tour:
Monday, May 7: Naughty Book Kitties
Tuesday, May 8: I Like These Books
Wednesday, May 9: Lisa the Nerd
Thursday, May 10: A Good Addiction
Friday, May 11: Lost for Words
Saturday, May 12: Larkin’s Book Bloggers

May 12, Saturday, 2:00 p.m.
Brazos Book Store
Divya Srinivasan, Author Illustrator

Those who missed seeing author/illustrator Divya Srinivasa on her last trip to Houston have another opportunity! Join her at Brazos Book Store as she reads from her picture book, LITTLE OWL’S NIGHT, about evening in the forest when Little Owl wakes up from his day-long sleep to watch his friends enjoying the night.

Now for this week’s events:

May 3– 9
Children’s Museum of Houston
Fiction, Fantasy and Fun

The Children’s Museum of Houston is getting a head start on National Children’s Book Week. You’re invited to join them in celebrating the enchanting world of reading. Ongoing activities include:

•Prince and Princess Crowns  •Gingerbread Man Decorating  •Magic Wand  •Invent with Ernest the Balancing Bear  •Fantasy Postcards  •Optical Illusion Exploration  •Flip Books  •Hidden Rainbow

Wednesday, May 2, 5:00 p.m.
Blue Willow Bookshop
Herman Parish, Author

Herman Parish, nephew of Amelia Bedelia’s creator, Peggy Parish, and the author of many books about Amelia Bedelia, will discuss and sign AMELIA BEDELIA’S FIRST VOTE, the newest book in the Amelia Bedelia series.

For important information about this event, please see Blue Willow Bookshop’s Events Page.

Herman Parish will also be appearing Thursday May 03, 2012 6:00 p.m. at Barnes & Noble The Woodlands.

May 5, Saturday, 12:15 p.m.
Central Library
3rd Annual Children’s Book Celebration

The Children’s Book Celebration is a full day of exciting performances and hands-on arts and crafts activities, featuring a special appearance of author Tom Angleberger, the 2011-2012 recipient of the Texas Bluebonnet Award for his book, THE STRANGE CASE OF ORIGAMI YODA. Storm Troopers and Darth Vader may invade the library throughout the day…be prepared to face the Dark Side! Other fun events last until 3:30 p.m.

May 6, Sunday 12:00 p.m.
Barnes & Noble Vanderbilt Sq
Sue Levine, Author

Author Sue Levine introduces her latest book, SUSIE’S SHOESIES: A SPLENDID REWARD! the third in the Susie’s Shoesies series. Come meet the author, get your book signed, and have some fun!

Eight-year-old Susie Gardner’s Granny Ella comes to visit and help her granddaughter celebrate her birthday. Granny Ella brings Susie a very special birthday present … glittery, sequined red shoes that have magical powers.

Monday, May 7, 5:00 p.m.
Blue Willow Bookshop
Sara Pennypacker, Author

Sara Pennypacker, author of the award-winning, NYT bestselling Clementine chapter-book series, will discuss and sign THE SUMMER OF THE GYPSY MOTHS, her newest novel for children.

Stella loves living with Great-aunt Louise in her big old house near the water on Cape Cod for many reasons, but mostly because Louise likes routine as much as she does, something Stella appreciates since her mom is, well, kind of unreliable. So while Mom “finds herself,” Stella fantasizes that someday she’ll come back to the Cape and settle down. The only obstacle to her plan? Angel, the foster kid Louise has taken in. Angel couldn’t be less like her name—she’s tough and prickly, and the girls hardly speak to each other.

But when tragedy unexpectedly strikes, Stella and Angel are forced to rely on each other to survive, and they learn that they are stronger together than they could have imagined. And over the course of the summer they discover the one thing they do have in common: dreams of finally belonging to a real family.

For important information about this event, please see Blue Willow Bookshop’s Events Page.

May 8, Tuesday, 6:30 p.m.
Murder By The Book
Children’s Books Week Celebration with Mary Lindsey, Author; Cari, Book Blogger; John, MBTB Publicity Mgr.

Join Murder By The Book for a night of discussion of children’s books.  Mary Lindsey, author of SHATTERED SOULS will join Cari from Cari’s Book Blog (and Social Media Expert for Blue Willow Bookshop) plus MBTB Publicity Manager, John, for an evening of discussion about children’s book from different perspectives.  We’ll discuss our favorite reads, the industry, bookselling, book writing, book blogging, and more!

Shattered Souls: When a Texas high school student starts hearing voices, she assumes she is schizophrenic like her father, but instead she finds out that she is a “Speaker,” who can communicate with the dead in order to help their troubled souls find resolution.

Please remember that, as always, the information for these events is from the sponsoring bookstore or organization’s website. For the latest, most accurate information, please visit their websites, or better, their stores. I’ll see you around town at one of our fine local bookstore events!

The featured five were:

•    Michael Northrop: PLUNKED
•    Sarah Mlynowski: WHATEVER AFTER
•    Jennifer A. Nielson:  THE FALSE PRINCE
•    Chris D’Lacey: THE FIRE ASCENDING
•    Augusta Scattergood:  GLORY BE

And to top it off, the moderator was author and Scholastic editor David Levithan!

The bookstore was packed a high-energy crowd of kids and adults. After introducing the authors and their books, David Levithan asked a question of each author before opening up questions to the audience.  I wrote as fast as I could, but sometimes I couldn’t quite get it all in so some of  these questions and answers are shorter than in the real conversation.

David’s first question was for Michael Northrop.

DL: You love sports, but PLUNKED is a baseball story. Is baseball the best sport to write about?

MN: It’s the best sport to write your first MG novel about! There are no time limits in baseball. You take as long as you need to get those three outs. There is a lot of flexibility about baseball, but also a lot of familiarity.

DL: Did you play baseball as a child?

MN: Yes, but not well. The first fly ball I tried to catch—you know, keeping my eye on the ball—hit me right on the head.

David Levithan to Augusta Scattergood: What was it like to go back and write about a place and time in your own childhood as you did in GLORY BE?

AS: I worried that I might get asked if any of my characters were real. They weren’t, except the librarian, who is sort of the hero of the story. You want to get it right when you write about a time period. I did a lot of research to get the facts right.

DL: Do you have a sister?

AS: My sister is so unlike Glory, but I did boss her around!

David Levithan to Chris D’Lacey: THE FIRE ASCENDING is the last book so I’m curious how the series played out. Did you have an idea of all the things that were going to happen?

CD: Absolutely not. Fire Within started as an animal rescue story about squirrels. When my editor asked me to give the mother in the story a job, I saw a woman at a craft fair who made clay dragons. My editor loved this and asked if the dragons could come to life. She said dragons are wired into the human consciousness. In the second book, I dropped the squirrels.

David Levithan to Jennifer A. Nielson: Did you know all the twists and turns of THE FALSE PRINCE before you wrote it?

JN: I knew the entire ending, but some of the twists along the way came as a surprise to me. When Sage came to me, he was an entire character. I didn’t have to create Sage, he was absolutely complete. But I learned things about him as I wrote.

David Levithan to Sarah Mlynowski: If you could travel to any fairy tale, which would it be?

SM: Twelve Dancing Princesses, because they’re kind of party girls. In other fairly tales, everyone’s in trouble, like Hansel and Gretel. The Twelve Dancing Princesses are having fun.

DL: Do you know how the kids are going to mess up the fairy tale?

SM: I knew from the beginning they’d mess up Snow White eating the poison apple, because that incident drives the whole story. If she doesn’t eat the apple, how will her prince ever meet her? In Cinderella, what the kids do involves something very bad happening to Cinderella’s foot. The happy ending doesn’t have to be the original happy ending. Becoming princesses, getting married then reclining and getting manicures all day for the rest of their lives can’t be the ending.

Thank you Blue Willow Bookshop, Scholastic and all the authors for this special event!

Starting with a bang (drumroll…)

April 20, Friday, 7:00 p.m.
West Houston Community Center, 725 Bateswood, Houston, TX
Veronica Roth , Author

Blue Willow Bookshop hosts Veronica Roth as she discusses and sign DIVERGENT, her debut novel for young adults.  We hope she will give us some hints about the upcoming INSURGENT as well!

Staff from Blue Willow Bookshop will begin handing out line numbers at 6:30 pm.

April 21, Saturday, 10 a.m.-1 p.m.
HPL Express Discovery Green
A Sweet 16 Celebration of El Día de los Niños

Pat Mora, THE DESERT IS MY MOTHER
Gwendolyn Zepeda, SUNFLOWERS/GIRASOLES
Xavier Garza, KID CYCLONE FIGHTS THE DEVIL AND OTHER STORIES

Please see the Houston Public Library special events page for the full schedule of events for A Sweet 16 Celebration of El Día de los Niños

April 25, Wednesday, 7:00 p.m.
Blue Willow Bookshop
Tahereh Mafi and Veronica Rossi, Authors

Tahereh Mafi will discuss and sign her debut novel, SHATTER ME and Veronica Rossi will sign her debut novel, UNDER THE NEVER SKY.

In SHATTER ME, no one knows why Juliette’s touch is fatal, but The Reestablishment has plans for her. Plans to use her as a weapon. But Juliette has plans of her own. After a lifetime without freedom, she’s finally discovering a strength to fight back for the very first time—and to find a future with the one boy she thought she’d lost forever.

In UNDER THE NEVER SKY, Aria who has been exiled from her home, the enclosed city of Reverie, knows her chances of surviving in the outer wasteland—known as The Death Shop—are slim. If the cannibals don’t get her, the violent, electrified energy storms will. She’s been taught that the very air she breathes can kill her. Then Aria meets an Outsider named Perry. He’s wild—a savage—and her only hope of staying alive.

Blue Willow Bookshop will begin handing out line numbers at 6:30 pm.

April 28, 3:30
Katy Budget Books
Sherry Garland, Author

Sherry Garland will be signing her new book, VOICES OF THE DUST BOWL. (There will be cookies!)

The 1930s Dust Bowl was the greatest ecological tragedy in the United States. Through a combination of drought and fierce winds, America’s Great Plains were left bare. In a series of sixteen narrative profiles, the author brings to life the voices of this time period. The characters who symbolize common residents of the “Great American Desert,” include a teacher protecting her class from a black roller, a nurse treating patients with dust pneumonia, and a nine-year-old girl who has never seen rain.