Middle Grade Book Launch + Give Away! Some Kind of Magic, Adrian Fogelin

Some Kind of Wonderful: ADRIAN FOGELIN

posted by Jan Godown Annino

One of my favorite editors is Adrian Fogelin.   

And she is a favorite children’s author.
And, favorite librarian to her neighborhood.

Her new novel is SOME KIND OF MAGIC.  I am pleased to

speak with her any old time, but especially in March - Women’s History Month.

BRIEFLY, THE NEW NOVEL

It follows the path of Adrian’s connected characters, children who students met in the award-winning CROSSING JORDAN, a story where two girls, one black, one white, unexpectedly become neighbors in North Florida.
This time around there is big role for a little guy, Cody, who is six! The story centers on a genial group of neighborhood pals who are determined to enjoy summer, because the end of it brings big changes - high school. 

Adrian’s linked novels visit the daily joys & turmoils of present-day girls & boys who come from small homes.
Extravagant collections of clothes or electronics won’t be in their closets.

This is an overlooked community where not every family has money for a car or other luxuries that many of us consider necessities.

Families are loving & good. Kids create great fun shooting hoops & challenging each other to races.
All ages of children visit together along the street. They get by in a diverse neighborhood. The kids also make their share of drama.
You are in for page-turning times with SOME KIND OF MAGIC.
And you'll love Jemmie & Cass, the girls, but also the boys on their block.

SEVEN

The number seven is a memorable trope in the fedora-centric SOME KIND OF MAGIC, which is seven scoops of wonderful.
So Group Blog asked Adrian for seven plus seven – to name 7 things in each of seven topics:

Adrian Fogelin’s 7’s

1 Words you love-

Neighborhood, whir, spindly, pooch, rustle, cockeyed, wobble.

2 Sites/towns/countries you’ve been to & would return to-

The dark upstairs hall in our house in Pearl River, New York where I used to scare my sister with ghost stories.

My dad’s vegetable garden, late afternoon, picking sun-warmed tomatoes for dinner, and carrying them inside in the hammock of my T-shirt.

The roof of the boathouse, Partridge Lake, New Hampshire, side-by-side with my sister, legs swinging, watching the boys from the other side of the lake show off their water skiing skills for our benefit.

Standing by the hand pump at my grandmother’s, the West Shore Railroad at the foot of the property, the house built by my great grandfather looking dignified if shabby and in need of a coat of paint, my grandmother cooking a roast inside.

The deck of our live-aboard wooden boat in Islamorada on a sunny day—on rainy days she leaked topsides.

My husband and I in our fishing boat, the Abraxas, the boat up on plane, the wind plastering our shirts to our chests as we race toward the horizon.

The stage at the Monticello Opera House playing guitar and singing for a live audience and the resident ghosts.  

3 Books YA readers will devour

The Fault in Our Stars

London Calling

Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

To Kill a Mockingbird

The Outsiders

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time

Feed

4 And the same for Middle Grade readers

Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key

Freak The Mighty

Hatchet

Island of the Blue Dolphins

Maniac Magee

Shiloh

The Great Gilly Hopkins

5 Ditto please, in picture books

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

And To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street

The Gruffalo

Shark vs Train/Chew vs Choo

Epossumondas

Good Night Moon

Dad, Jackie and Me

6 Songs you love to sing/play/perform in your musical group, HOT TAMALE

Tough question! When it comes to cover songs I love to sing

1. “Somebody To Love” an old Jefferson Airplane hit I first sang in the gym at Princeton High in 1968.

2. Any Hank Williams song (that counts as one, right?) I used to think they were corny and they are, but I now appreciate corny.

3, 4. Almost any Motown number. Growing up in the Northeast, Motown was a steady influence until The Beatles obliterated that sound. “Mama Said” and “It’s in His Kiss” are probably my favorites to perform.

Among our originals:

5. “No Never Mind.” I’ve lived in the south a long time now and the idea that it don’t make no never mind appeals to me. The message in the song? Just relax.

6. “Old Tar Road” is a new song I like because my guitar part sounds like rain falling and I get to wail out my supposed heartache.

7. “The Other Side” was written for my parents, especially my father who waited to join my mother on the other side for nearly twelve years. The fact they are together makes missing both of them easier.

7 Recipes/treats/meals you like to make for your grandson

When it comes to my grandson, Matthew, AKA The Beezer, he is a hands-on boy and we make treats together.

1. We bake bread. Matthew likes to spray the ingredients out of the bowl when he stirs and punch the dough hard when it rises.

2.We sight-see the refrigerator and consider eating prosciutto (he is a sophisticated Beezer.) I am important because I can cut the package open with scissors.

3. He serves me plastic hot dogs that pop into plastic buns. I ask him to pass the mustard.

4. He scrambles a cheesy egg and we beep the microwave. I hold him up and we watch the egg wiggle in the bowl.

5. We pretend-eat rocks and say what good meatballs they are.

6. I pay for his happy meal and we try to figure out the toy that comes with it—it looks like a TV on legs with a face.

7. I tell him he should eat fewer sugary things. That means he only gets to eat one cookie.

………

THANK YOU, ADRIAN!

Wow! – what a peek into your world, Adrian.
And we haven’t even talked about your visual arts accomplishments. 
Adrian created spiffy sketches for her middle grade pen-pal novel featuring the Florida Keys, SORTA SISTERS, which is one of my favorites of her many books.

 copyright Adrian Fogelin, all rights reserved

And did I mention that she is a top-notch manuscript editor?

In seven languages - thank you, gracias, grazie, merci, thangka si  (Javanese), tack (Swedish) & go raibh maith agat (Irish)!*

*appreciations to Google translate…

LAUNCHING A PRIZE

SOME KIND OF MAGIC launches not only today on this blog but at other places, such as an annual event of booklove, AUTHORS IN APALACH, a scenic oyster & shrimp village in North Florida where Adrian recently convened a panel of children’s writers. I was fortunate to be on that panel & a bonus was that my hubby & her hubby, went fishin'.
It was entirely magical that her first book sale was to a student from the ABC School in Apalachicola.

To win a signed copy of SOME KIND OF MAGIC, provided by the publisher, Peachtree Publishers, leave a comment below at THIS blog (not the publisher site) please. 
If you like to comment but don't want a prize, easy peasy, just say so.

To the WINNER - expect to hear after the release month of April. So, yes, if you are reading this near the bottom of April there is still time to win!
It helps if the comment name provides a clear link on how to easily reach you.
Again THANK YOU, Peachtree Publishers.

IMPORTANT Connections

Visit with author, artist, editor, neighborhood librarian, musician, singer Adrian at her author website  www.adrianfogelin.com

http://www.adrianfogelin.com/

Adrian Fogelin essays & poetry appear at slow dance journal

https://slowdancejournal.wordpress.com/

Her acoustic music act is with Craig Reeder, as the duo - HOT TAMALE

http://hottamale.weebly.com/ that site leads you to a listen.
Her publisher site is listed here just above the Peachtree Publishers animals banner.