A great week to be ROTTEN!

Fresh off the fins of my fifth book’s arrival, my fourth book is making some noise. I got two pieces of amazing news about ROTTEN this week:

On Wednesday, I learned that my li’l dog tale is a finalist for the 2014–15 Keystone to Reading Award. The other finalists are Prisoner B-3087 by Alan Gratz, Seeing Red by Kathryn Erskine, and The Fire Horse Girl by Kay Honeyman. Pennsylvania teens will read all four books and vote on the winner in March. ROTTEN may be an underdog in such esteemed company, but it is well suited to the role!

Then on Friday, I found out that ROTTEN has been named one of the Best Children’s Books of the Year by the Bank Street College of Education. SUH-weeeeeet! It’s the first big list for my third YA. PLUNKED actually made the same list, and it was a harbinger of big things to come for that little book. Fingers crossed—and stumpy tails wagging—that it’s just as lucky this time.