Tardy me!

Man, so much has been going on, and I haven't blogged about it. Yikes! Probably okay, since almost no one follows my blog. Hee hee! Lucky me.

GIRL MEETS BOY, my anthology for Chronicle Books is about to be released -- in January -- and they are THE most amazing publishing pros. Man, they have business cards and discussion guides and a CONTEST planned. It's very exciting. The reviews are trickling in, too.

PW said:

Twelve writers answer Halls’s question: “What if a group of authors took on the challenge of perception—boys versus girls?” Together, they create a thoughtful collection of paired short stories (and one joint offering) that give two distinct perspectives on the same events. While romantically themed, the stories do not all end in love connections. In James Howe and Ellen Wittlinger’s stories, a gay teen learns the person he has been chatting with online is actually a girl; meanwhile, in Sarah Ryan and Randy Powell’s joint story, “Launchpad to Neptune,” a teen reunites with his first crush, only to find Stephanie has transitioned to Stephen. The most compelling twin stories may be from Terry Davis and Rebecca Fjelland Davis, which center on a Muslim immigrant and an Iowa farm girl in love; Rafi’s story explores prejudice and being caught between cultures, while Kerry begins a protest when she learns about a hog factory that will destroy their community. This story best exemplifies a theme that runs throughout: it’s impossible to know everything someone is thinking and feeling—even when you are in a relationship together. This important idea is executed with finesse throughout. Ages 14–up. (Jan.)

VERY nice. And GoodReads members are starting to comment too.

Thank you to anyone and everyone behind this book -- especially the writers who contributed brilliant stories. I really am grateful to everyone involved.

Kelly

BTW...I also got...

... my author copies of IN SEARCH OF SASQUATCH, but it won't be for sale until October 25, 2011. Just a little more time for me to sweat bullets wondering if people -- librarians and kids -- will like it. Man, I hope so. I love it.

THANK YOU, BooksForKidsBlog!

I am so pleased the brilliant mind behind BooksForKidsBlog decided to write about my new book, IN SEARCH OF SASQUATCH. The review is so thoughtful and so well written, I could not be happier -- or luckier. Thank you, librarian GTC. You are the best!

Kelly

Thanks Deborah and I.N.K.

How lucky can a gal get? Deborah Heiligman interviewed me for I.N.K. -- Interesting Nonfiction for Kids this week. She let me go on and on about IN SEARCH OF SASQUATCH and the reason I write for kids.

Thank you, Deborah and I.N.K. I am honored.

Kirkus Review -- SASQUATCH

I've been holding my breath, waiting for the first reviews for IN SEARCH OF SASQUATCH (October 25, 2011, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt). I can finally breathe easy. Kirkus loved it! It begins:


"A true believer presents the evidence. Expanding on a partial chapter in her outstanding Tales of the Cryptids (2006), Halls makes her case by tallying Native American legends, the many footprints and reported sightings (a map of the latter claims hundreds from every state except Hawaii), the famous Patterson-Gimlin film, the recorded 'Sierra Sounds' and other circumstantial evidence."


It gets better from there and closes with this sassy line, which I LOVE:


"...this is about as convincing as it gets—considering the continuing absence of any incontrovertible physical proof—and should give young cryptid hunters a good hairy leg up on investigations of their own."


Thank you, unknown Kirkus reviewer. You are my new best friend. Hoping the others are just as enthusiastic.

PNLA Conference in Spokane -- Aug. 3, 2011

Please join me, Claire Rudolf Murphy and Kenn Nesbitt at the PNLA Conference at Spokane's Doubletree Hotel, downtown, at 1:00 pm! We'll be discussing the path to reluctant readers via three distinct avenues -- weird nonfiction (me), innovative history (Claire) and humor (Kenn). For more information, click HERE.

In Search of Sasquatch...

...is only weeks from publication. Okay, more like months (October 2011), but only two months and I'm so excited. Working with Houghton Mifflin Harcourt and my amazing editor Erica was such a treat. And the book we created is pretty amazing, too. I worked really hard on the research and I feel it represents the strongest evidence that Sasquatch may be real.

I'm not saying he IS real. I didn't not find PROOF in my research. That doesn't mean it's not out there. It just means I was unable to find proof beyond dispute. But the evidence is impressive and I did map out many of those details carefully. So I hope people really like the book -- especially kids.

I also hope I'll get to write IN SEARCH OF SEA MONSTERS as a follow up, but that depends on how well IN SEARCH OF SASQUATCH does. So time will tell. But I hope ALIEN INVESTIGATION, from Lerner/Millbrook and HATCHLINGS: A LIFE SIZE LOOK AT BABY DINOSAURS, from Running Press will tide you over for 2012. More about those, soon.

On to the next projects...assuming they sell. Jill and Ronnie at the Herman Agency are THE best, so I'm betting they will. But I'll keep you posted here!