I’m so pleased to finally announce that I have a new middlegrade book coming out in the fall of this year: Spell Sweeper!
I originally pitched Spell Sweeper to my agent (the wonderful Rachel Letofsky), and then my editor at HarperKids (the equally as wonderful Stephanie Stein) as Ghostbusters meets wizard school.
I gave them a few sample chapters, and it was the voice of the main character that Caradine Moone that captivated them—so I was off to the races. And it really was a race, because this book was only pitched in November 2019, which gave me less than a year to deliver a final manuscript (which includes going through three intense story edits and then a round of copy edits).
This is a very different book for me: first person, present tense, set firmly in our world (don’t worry, there are still dragons and other magical critters). My editor refers to it as a “delightfully dysfunctional adventure”—I couldn’t have worded it better myself.
It’s also my most personal book. Caradine Moone is a girl failing wizard school—I was aiming to capture the yearnings of the thousands of kids I’ve worked with over my career, the ones with all the “why not me?” or “when is it my turn?” moments. This book is for them.
I’m so pleased with this book, and ESPECIALLY THE COVER, which was illustrated by the fabulous Maike Plenzke. If you’re a kid lit fan, you might recognize her style as gracing the covers of the phenomenal Front Desk series by Kelly Yang, so to have Maike as my cover illustrator was a literal dream come true.
You can check out the cover reveal, along with an interview with me about Spell Sweeper at MGBookVillage.org (hit the link—you won’t be disappointed!) Preorder links will be coming soon—in the meantime, you can “add” the book on Goodreads.
Between the Cracks of Here and There 