Blog Tour and Giveaway for Maybe He Just Likes You by Barbara Dee

Welcome to the Maybe He Just Likes You Blog Tour!

To celebrate the release of Maybe He Just Likes You by Barbara Dee on October 1st, blogs across the web are featuring exclusive original content from Barbara, as well as 5 chances to win a copy of Maybe He Just Likes You, a Maybe bookmark and pin!

Two "MAYBE" Moments From my Middle School Years
by Barbara Dee

When I think about being twelve, I have two vivid memories.

The first: Starting in sixth grade, our class "traveled"--that is, we switched classrooms  for every period. If you didn't want to be late to the next class, you had to use the building's central stairwell.  But as I quickly discovered, a group of boys--ones I didn't know, seventh or eighth graders-- would hang out on the steps of that stairwell, blocking your way, groping you as you went past. To avoid these boys I would race across the hall to use the smaller side stairwells, then race to my class. I was never late for the next period, but I always arrived a little breathless.

The second memory: That same year, a friend and I explored surrounding neighborhoods on our bicycles.  One summer day we were riding our bikes near the shore and noticed a man who was naked. Just standing there with his back to us, looking at the ocean. It was weird, but the area was deserted, so we figured this guy was innocently communing with nature. But suddenly he turned around and started chasing us, shouting obscenities.  Of course we were terrified; we rode off in a panic, not stopping until we found a cop. 

When we told the cop exactly what happened--where the man was, what he did, what he said--the cop grinned at us. "You wish," he said.

The difference between those two memories? In the first, I didn't ask for help; I dealt with the harassment by avoiding, running away, keeping quiet . Not a solution I'm proud of, and one I can't imagine advising anyone to follow. 

In the second, I did ask for help--from someone whose job is precisely that, to help. But think about the message that cop gave to two frightened girls: Tell your story, ask for help, and you won't be believed. In fact, you'll be mocked.

That's a memory that stays with you.

I'm hoping that a book like MAYBE HE JUST LIKES YOU shows girls that times have changed, that it's possible now to stand up and speak out--and that when they do, we'll all listen.

*****

Blog Tour Schedule:

September 30th — Randomly Reading
October 1st — Novel Novice
October 2nd — The Librarian Who Doesn't Say Shh
October 3rd — Feed Your Fiction Addiction
October 4th — BookhoundsYA

Buy: Amazon | Indiebound

Add on Goodreads

Follow Barbara: Website | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram

Barbara Dee explores the subject of #MeToo for the middle grade audience in this heart-wrenching—and ultimately uplifting—novel about experiencing harassment and unwanted attention from classmates.

For seventh-grader Mila, it starts with some boys giving her an unwanted hug on the school blacktop. A few days later, at recess, one of the boys (and fellow trumpet player) Callum tells Mila it’s his birthday, and asks her for a “birthday hug.” He’s just being friendly, isn’t he? And how can she say no? But Callum’s hug lasts a few seconds too long, and feels…weird. According to her friend, Zara, Mila is being immature and overreacting. Doesn’t she know what flirting looks like?

But the boys don’t leave Mila alone. On the bus. In the halls. During band practice—the one place Mila could always escape.

It doesn’t feel like flirting—so what is it? Thanks to a chance meeting, Mila begins to find solace in a new place: karate class. Slowly, with the help of a fellow classmate, Mila learns how to stand her ground and how to respect others—and herself.

From the author of Everything I Know About You, Halfway Normal, and Star-Crossed comes this timely story of a middle school girl standing up and finding her voice.” 

About the Author: Barbara Dee is the author of several middle grade novels including Maybe He Just Likes You, Everything I Know About You, Halfway Normal, and Star-Crossed. Her books have received several starred reviews and been included on many best-of lists, including the ALA Rainbow List Top Ten, the Chicago Public Library Best of the Best, and the NCSS-CBC Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People. Star-Crossed was also a Goodreads Choice Awards finalist. Barbara is one of the founders of the Chappaqua Children’s Book Festival. She lives with her family, including a naughty cat named Luna and a sweet rescue hound dog named Ripley, in Westchester County, New York.

GIVEAWAY

• One (1) winner will receive a copy of Maybe He Just Likes You, bookmark, and pin
• US/Canada only
• Ends October 11th at midnight ET

🎩Reread Blog Tour: Circus Mirandus by Cassie Beasley with a Listicle of Favorite Quotes

Circus Mirandus by Cassie Beasley

Dial Books, 2015, 

Ladies and Gentlemen, and Children of all ages, 

Welcome to the Circus Mirandus Blog Tour, where we are once again celebrating this splendiferous book even as we anticipate its soon-to-be-released sequel, The Bootlace Magician, available on October 1, 2019.

Today, under the big top, are three rings for your entertainment pleasure:

In Ring One: A Publisher's Synopsis of Circus Mirandus

Do you believe in magic?
Micah Tuttle does.

Even though his awful Great-Aunt Gertrudis doesn't approve, Micah believes in the stories his dying Grandpa Ephraim tells him of the magical Circus Mirandus: the invisible tiger guarding the gates, the beautiful flying birdwoman, and the magician more powerful than any other - the Man Who Bends Light. Finally, Grandpa Ephraim offers proof. The Circus is real. And the Lightbender owes Ephraim a miracle. With his friend Jenny Mendoza in tow, Micah sets out to find the Circus and the man he believes will save his grandfather.

The only problem is, the Lightbender doesn't want to keep his promise. And now it's up to Micah to get the miracle he came for.

In Ring Two: Meet the author: Cassie Beasley

Cassie Beasley is from rural Georgia, where, when she's not writing, she helps out on the family pecan farm. She earned her MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults at the Vermont College of Fine Arts. Circus Mirandus is her first novel. Follow her on Twitter @beasleywrites

In the Center Ring: A Listicle of Favorite Quotes

When my Kiddo was young, her explanation for all things she didn't understand yet was simply "It's magic!" These were all chosen for the image or emotion they evoke and are dedicated to you, Allison, who still believes in magic.

"It's important, when you first see magic, to recognize it. You don't often get a second chance." 

(pg 34)

🎩

"Circus Mirandus was the sort of place that filled you up to the top of your head." 

(pg 69)

🎩

(This one is my absolute favorite)

"The war had ended all at once and very calmly. It was as if, between one moment and the next, all the mothers of all the soldiers in the world had checked their clocks and realized that their children had been out playing for too long. The mothers set aside their laundry or their piecrusts or their welding torches, and they stepped out their front doors.

"Davey!" they called. "Klaus! Pierre! It's time to wash up for supper."

The soldiers shook hands with one another and wished one another well. Then they raced back to their mothers, or to their wives and sons."

(pg 114)

🎩

"Just because a magic is small doesn't mean it is unimportant," the Lightbender said. "Even the smallest magic can grow."

(pg 120)

🎩

"...when you try too hard to hold on to something, you break it...Sometimes, we need to let go so that other people can have their chance at the magic."

(pg 221)

🎩

"...it was a ridiculous, amazing thing to do, and once in a while, it's good to be ridiculous and amazing."

(pg 262)

🎩

"Micah." said the Lightbender. "What do you think magic is?..He hooked a long finger through the bootlace, and he whispered in Micah's ear. "This is magic. And I, of all people, am in a position to know."

(pg267)

🎩

As far as Mirandus Head was concerned, there had never been a more exasperating magical artifact than the Tuttle family bootlace."

(pg 272)

🎩 

"You never need an invitation to go home."

(pg 292)

 ComingAttraction:

The Bootlace Magician (Circus Mirandus #2) by Cassie Beasley
Dial Books, October 1, 2019, 416 pages

Micah Tuttle - magician in training - lives and works at Circus Mirandus alongside his guardian, the ancient and powerful Lightbender.

The circus is a place filled with dazzling fire shows, stubborn unicorns, and magicians from every corner of the world. And Micah is doing everything he can to prove he belongs there. When a dangerous enemy from the past threatens his new home, Micah will have to untangle the mystery of his own potent magic, and he'll have to do it fast. With trouble this deadly on its way, every magician will have to be ready to fight. Even the youngest.

Maybe He Just Likes You by Barbara Dee

In the age of #MeToo, as more and more girls and women are speaking out about their personal sexual harassment experiences, author Barbara Dee takes on this issue and shows how easily it can happen and how girls and women are pushed into keeping silent.

For seventh-grader Mila Brennan, all starts with a green fuzzy sweater and the lingering hand of Callum Burley during a birthday hug for her friend Omi, much to the delight of his friends Dante, Tobias, and Leo, a/k/a the basketball boys, and much to Mila's discomfort. When it happens again later that day in band practice where Mila and Callum, both trumpeters, sit next to each other, her discomfort increases and begins to become suspicion.       
The next day, there are smirks from the basketball boys as Leo convinces Mila, who is wearing her fuzzy green sweater again, that it's his birthday and harasses her into giving him a hug. Soon, it's comments, smirks, and more unwanted touching, even when Mila switches to wearing a painted spattered plaid flannel shirt of her mother's instead of the green sweater. But when she tries to tell her friend what's happening, outgoing, flirty Zara, who has a crush on Leo, tells her she's overreacting, so Mila decides to keep things to herself. She doesn't want to bother her mom, either, Mrs. Brennan is divorced, and struggling to make ends meet, plus she works for a boss who keeps her in a constant stressful state, despite working long hours. Then, stress in the house increases when her mother finally quits her job, so Mila really doesn't want to add to that by telling her mother about the harassment at school.

And as luck would have it, Mila's guidance counselor is out on maternity leave. Her friend Max thinks Milas is being bullied by the basketball boys and that she should speak to Mr. McCabe, the vice-principal. He reminds her that when he was bullied the year before, Mila had encouraged him to speak with Mr. McCabe and the bullying stopped.

As Mila's anxiety, discomfort, and isolation grows, she begins to act out, but her actions only get her in trouble and the real problem continues to go noticed by any of the adults at school. But when her mother says that they have two weeks of free classes at the newly opens E Motions, a local gym, Mila determines that if friends don't understand what happening to her, she will "need to take care of myself. By myself." (pg 139) and signs on for karate classes. There, she begins to feel confident and empowered in the karate class, even making a new friend from band who understands what's happening at school. But it all comes tumbling down when Callum makes a cruel comment just before they go on stage for the school's Fall Concert. Desperate, Mila makes one last cry for help - on stage with her trumpet.

Maybe He Just Likes You is a well-written but difficult book to read, filled with exactly the kind of real confusion and honest emotions you would expect of a seventh grader who isn't sure she's the victim of sexual harassment or the subject of a cruel prank. Either way, it's tricky terrain for Mila.

In this well-crafted novel, Dee has captured all the ways in which harassment not only starts, but is allowed to continue. She deftly shows how it begins with Mila's own self-doubt about the boys' motives, reinforced by her friends doubt about it. Maybe Callum just likes you, they tell her, causing Mila to retreat into silence. But while her voice was silenced, her actions weren't.

Why, I asked myself, didn't her mother question Mila's sudden decision to wear her baggy old flannel shirt with paint splotches it, even after a big deal was made about it? An why didn't Ms. Fender, the music teacher, not pull Mila aside and try to talk to her the first time she acted out instead of punishing her? Dee show that there are so many missed opportunities to stop what is happening. But they just didn't notice it and that's what happens, isn't it?

My heart really went out to Mila and I wonder how many middle grade girls are in the same situation. Hopefully, Maybe He Just Likes You will give give them courage to speak out. It can be very empowering, as Mila discovers.

Maybe He Just Likes You will be available October 1, 2019

 This book is recommended for readers age 9+
This book was an EARC received from Media Masters Publicity

Be sure to check out the other Marvelous Middle Grade Monday offerings, now being carried on by Greg at Always in the Middle. 

Beverly, Right Here by Kate DiCamillo

It's 1979 and it's been four years since Raymie Nightingale, Louisiana Elefante, and Beverly Tapinski found each other and became the Three Rancheros, promising to rescue each other whenever they are needed. In 1975, it had been necessary rescue 10-year-old Raymie (Raymie Nightingale) in order for her to find to true home. And, in 1977, it was 12-year-old Louisiana's turn (Louisiana's Way Home) who needed to rely on her friends to find her true home. Now, it's 14-year-old, Beverly who needs rescuing.

Beverly has always been known for running away from home, and being returned to a alcoholic mother who just wasn't very interested in her. Now, she's done with running away, and after burying her beloved dog Buddy, Beverly figures there's nothing to keep her at home anymore and so she decides to simply leave. Hitching a ride with Joe Travis, a cousin she doesn't much care for (and the feeling is mutual), Beverly makes it as far as Tamaray Beach, Florida.

Walking down the A1A, she comes upon Mr. C's fish restaurant. There, she meets Freddie, the waitress with big, big unrealistic dreams, and owner Mr. Denby, disorganized and depressed now that his wife and three daughters have left him. Open only for lunch, Beverly gets an under-the-table job the busing tables.

Beverly also finds a place to stay with lonely widow Iola Jenkins, who gives her a place to sleep and a flowered nightgown, feeds her a steady diet of tuna melts, and in return Beverly drives Iola's Pontiac to the VFW so she can play bingo.

Beverly also meets cook Doris and dishwasher Charles at work, and Elmer, a bullied, sensitive Dartmouth-bound teen who loves art and is working in the local convenience store for the summer. As Beverly gets to know each of these people, as she begins to be a part of their lives, and they hers, she starts to realize some things about herself as well. They are an eccentric cast of characters as only Kate DiCamillo can put together, but the focus is always on Beverly. Raymie and Louisiana are present throughout the book, mostly in Beverly's thoughts, although only Raymie makes the briefest of appearances at the end of the book. Their presence. however, proves how strong their bond of friendship is and how important they are to Beverly. In fact, friendship is one of the dominant themes, along with loss, trust, hope, home and how we define it, and the importance of just being there for people who rely on Beverly and on whom Beverly rely.   

Beverly, Right Here unfolds as languidly as a hot summer day, as Beverly searches and finds her emotional truth. DiCamillo's sentences are simple enough, yet so powerful and there's not a single gratuitous word in any of them. Beverly's story is a wonderful coming of age tale, and like life, it doesn't come to a neat conclusion, but leaves lots of questions about Beverly's future.

It does make me sad to think that this is probably the last time we will hear about the Three Rancheros, yet I know that one day, I will revisit each their narratives and I suspect it will yield a greater truth then do their individual stories.

You can download a useful Discussion Guide for Beverly, Right Here courtesy of the publisher, Candlewick Press.

This book is recommended for readers age 9+
This book was an EARC received from NetGalley

Be sure to check out the other Marvelous Middle Grade Monday offerings, now being carried on by Greg at Always in the Middle. 

🌝Poetry Friday: Harvest Moon by Neal Levin🍂

The Harvest Moon is one of my favorite moons, yet somehow September 13th seems way too early for it. I'm just not finished with summer. But the lunar calendar being what it is, the Harvest Moon is always the first full moon that falls closest to the autumnal equinox (this year, that is on Monday,  September 23, 2019). This year is the first time since 2000 the Harvest Moon falls on Friday the 13th, and it won't happen again until 2049.

I always like to share a poem with my young readers for holidays and other specials days and this year, we will be reading Harvest Moon by Neal Levin. I hope you enjoy it, too.

It's Poetry Friday and this week's poetry roundup is hosted by Laura Purdie Salas at 

Writing the World for Kids

All of Me by Chris Baron

Seventh-grader Ari Rosensweig is the new kid in school and not very happy about it. His family has just moved from New York to San Francisco, where his parents are in the business of promoting his mother's artwork. Now, he has to face new kids who will just see him as a fat boy and not who he really is - a kid who likes to ride his bike, play video games, make up role-playing games and has an interest in cryptozoology.

Over the course of seventh grade, Ari is brought to a rabbi for bar mitzvah preparation a year late, bullied by some of the boys in school because of his weight, makes a first friend named John, nicknamed Pick, a gamer who is also into robots, and a second friend named Lisa, the troubled rebel girl who sometimes misses school, and takes art lesson with Ari's mom. By the end of seventh grade, he is also dealing with an increasingly absent father he discovers is cheating on his mother.

At Stinson Beach for the summer, Ari becomes more and more aware of his weight and the anger Pick feels because of an earlier violent encounter on a bike path between Ari and his bullies that he witnessed. One sleepless night, after a fight with Pick about the encounter, Ari's pain comes to a head resulting in a self-inflicted wound that propels him into finally dealing with his weight.

Meantime, Lisa comes to stay with them at Stinson Beach while her mother is away dealing with her own problems. Over the course of the summer, Ari begins to sense an awakening in himself as his feelings for Lisa start to surface, discovers why Pick is so angry about the incident on the bike path, and begins to deal with the demise of his parent's marriage. Before the diet, Ari had always been defined only by his weight, but as he loses it, as his body physically changes, he realizes more and more that losing weight isn't a cure-all, that there is so much more to who he is than just body image, but that his weight will always be a work in progress.

If All of Me rings true to readers, perhaps it is because it is based on the author's own experiences as a overweight child. Perhaps that is why Ari's pain is so palpable, but so are his good moments. And he is strong character even if he does begin his story asking "Who am I?" Who he is is already there, it remains for him to discover it and redefine himself to himself. Most admirable, is that he knows he does not want to physically fight his bullies, as his father and Pick would have him do. He has enough self-awareness to think "There has to be a different way/to stand up for myself,/to take responsibility,/to be a man."

All of Me chronicles Ari's journey in a series of free verse poems. They are poignant, honest, raw, and realistic. Importantly, Baron allows Ari moments when he caves to desire while on his diet, but he never gives up and he doesn't beat himself up for slip-ups. I think that sticking to his weight-loss plan instead of just chucking it and comforting himself with food shows a real strength in Ari. I think that is an important message to kids who are struggling with issues around self-acceptance.

Ari's is an important multi-layered story, one that is needed, and one that you won't want to miss.

This book is recommended for readers age 9+
This book was purchased for my personal library

Blog Tour: Strange Birds: A Field Guide to Ruffling Feathers by Celia C. Pérez

For Ofelia Castillo, summer in Sabal Palms, Florida means writing and submitting a winning story to the Qwerty Sholes Journalism Contest. Winners get to spend a week in NYC at journalism camp. All she has to do is find a great story and convince her overly-protective parents to sign the application form.

For Lane DiSanti, summer in Sabal Palms, Florida means living on her grandmother's estate while her parents get divorced, avoiding their phone calls, and not doing any of the things that her grandmother suggests, including joining The Floras, a local scout-type troop for girls under the leadership of Mrs. McAllister. But after reading her grandmother's old copy of The Floras: A Handbook for Sabal Palms Girls, Lane knows exactly how she wants to spend the summer.

For Aster Douglas, summer in Sabal Palms, Florida means helping her grandfather, Sabal Palms University's first Black professor, with research for his family history book about the earliest Bahamian Douglas settlers in Sabal Palms, and cooking new recipes and old favorites for him, while her mother is deployed in Japan.

For Catarina 'Cat' Garcia, summer in Sabal Palms, Florida means Floras meeting, working on the Floras' summer volunteer project, participating in the Floras Centennial and competing be to named Miss Floras, something Cat couldn't care less about but she knows her mother desperately wants it. But Cat would rather spend her summer birdwatching an listening to their song.

But summer suddenly changes when Ofelia, Aster, and Cat receive mysterious invitations to meet at the tree house on the DiSanti estate. After reading The Floras handbook, Lane has decided to begin her own (secret) troop with three girls she doesn't know and who don't know each other, and call it The Ostentation of Others and Outsiders. At first, the girls don't get along very well, and yet, the group does begin to jell once they have a mission. And that mission is to get the Floras to stop using its official hat, adorned with the decorative feathers from endangered birds, and worn by the girl who wins the Miss Floras competition at summer's end. Needless to say, adventures ensue.

Pérez has brought together four diverse girls, each with her own particular talent that lends to the story perfectly, given them a goal and set them free from the lonely, boring summer they thought they would be having. As the girls get to know each other, readers see how their friendship and camaraderie evolves; at first, despite their different personalities, and then, because of them, as they learn to work together to accomplish their mission.

Themes that are explored in Strange Birds are collective power, kids making a difference, animal rights, statue quo and systemic racism, and dealing with casual acceptance past wrongs and how "ruffling feathers" can bring attention and possible solutions to them.

Pérez has created such believable characters that I felt like I really knew them. The story, though well-written, does get off to a somewhat slow start, but once the girls come together that really changes and the book becomes a real page turner.

Fun back matter consists of The Ostentation of Others and Outsiders, A Handbook that consists of Cat's Tips for Beginning Birders, Lane's Crystals for Everyday Use, Aster's Chips + Chips Cookies (which sound delicious), and Ofelia's Guide to Writing What You See, and instructions for DYI Badges (after all, if you're going to have a troop, secret or otherwise, you need badges).

Strange Birds is a book that is sure to become a favorite, and I can't recommend it highly enough.

This book is recommended for readers age 9+
This book was sent to me by the publisher, Kokila, an imprint of Penguin Random House

Meet the Author:

Celia C. Pérez is the author of The First Rule of Punk, a 2018 Pura Belpré Author Honor Book, a 2018 Tomás Rivera Mexican American Children's Book Award Winner, and a 2018 Boston Globe-Horn Book Fiction and Poetry Honor Book. She lives in Chicago with her family where, in addition to writing books about lovable weirdos and outsiders, she works as a librarian. She is originally from Miami, Florida, where roosters and peacocks really do wander the streets. Visit her at celiacperez.com.

Week One

August 27 – The Novel Hermit

August 28 – Books 4 Your Kids 

August 29 – The Young Folks 

August 30 – A Bronx Latina Reads 

Week Two

September 3 – The Geeky Yogi 

September 4 – Lost in Storyland

September 5 – Book Fidelity 

September 6 – Randomly Reading

Be sure to check out the other Marvelous Middle Grade Monday offerings, now being carried on by Greg at Always in the Middle. 

Blog Tour: The Very, Very Far North by Dan Bar-el, illustrated by Kelly Pousette

One summer day, a polar bear named Duane wanders along the shoreline of the Cold, Cold ocean looking for a good place to nap until he reaches the Very, Very Far North. There he discovers a shipwreck, and living on it is C.C., a very smart snowy white owl, who is at the moment studying Latin verbs. After chatting a bit with her, Duane finds a suitable cave, so suitable, he decides to stay, furnishing his new home with items found on board the shipwreck.

Duane loves a good nap, but being a curious polar bear, he begins to explore his new home and soon enough meets a musk ox who is always and only deeply involved in admiring his reflection. He quickly becomes Duane's second friend, especially after he names the musk ox Handsome (Duane is very good at finding just the right name for everyone). Over time, Duane makes more friends. There's Magic, a very, very energetic, impulsive Arctic fox; Major Puff, a puffin who practises military marching for when the day comes and he has to retreat; and an Arctic hare Duane names Twitch, who keeps an immaculate home but is a worrywart, always on the lookout for danger. Into this mix of animals comes Sun Girl and her pack of dogs known collectively as The Pack, and a summertime painter Duane names Squint because of the way he studies the object he is painting.

The Very, Very Far North, which is just mesmerizing, is a series of character driven vignettes involving Duane and his new friends. Their adventures are affectionately relayed by a gentle-voiced narrator using direct address, creating what feels like a very intimate story time. Added to that are Kelly Pousette's simple black and white illustrations scattered throughout and complimenting the text. And it's easy to understand why Duane has been compared to Winnie-the-Pooh. Duane is a really good natured bear with a certain cluelessness that leads to some very funny situations.

But for all Duane's cluelessness, he is a empathic bear who recognizes the differences in his friends and just accepts and respects them for who they are. For example, Duane likes a good hug, but he knows knows that C.C. does not really like being touched, preferring to share her wealth of knowledge about nature and science instead; Magic's energy can overwhelm, but Duane manages to find constructive outlets for the hare. 

The Very, Very Far North is a calming, cozy kind of book that would make an excellent read-aloud whether in school, or curled up under a blanket on a cool afternoon, or as a bedtime story, since each chapter can be read on its own. Personally, I love a good bear story and this one is just top-notch as far as I'm concerned.

This book is recommended for readers age 8+ (but works as a read-aloud for younger kids).
This book was provided to me by the publisher, Simon & Schuster

Meet the Author
Dan Bar-el is an award-winning children’s author, educator, and storyteller whose books include Audrey (cow), Not Your Typical Dragon, and The Very, Very Far North. Dan has worked with children ages three to thirteen as a school-age childcare provider, a preschool teacher, a creative drama teacher, and a creative writing teacher. He also teaches with the Creative Writing for Children Society. Dan lives in Vancouver, British Columbia, with artist and goldsmith Dominique Bréchault, and Sasha, the most adorable cat in the known universe. Visit him at DanBarel.com.

Meet the Illustrator
Kelly Pousette is an illustrator and storyteller, originally from the west coast of British Columbia. She loves to create things, especially pictures. Her work has been featured in The Huffington Post Paris, The Brown Paper Bag  blog, and Brightness Magazine. She currently resides in northern British Columbia with her husband and very large dog Clovis. The Very, Very Far North is her first book. 

Be sure to visit these other stops on The Very, Very Far North Blog Tour:

September 2 – The Story Sanctuary

September 3 – Kirsti Call

September 4 – Randomly Reading

September 5 – Alexa Loves Books

September 6 – Jean Little Library

September 7 – Tale Out Loud

September 8 – Satisfaction for Insatiable Readers

September 9 – Insane About Books