Newsletter
Laurie Ann Thompson

book launch

Happy book birthday to Histories and Mysteries!

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Two Truths and a Lie: Histories and Mysteries cover

Two Truths and a Lie: Histories and Mysteries cover
TWO TRUTHS AND A LIE: HISTORIES AND MYSTERIES is final­ly here! It takes a lot of peo­ple work­ing togeth­er to cre­ate a book, and this book had such an amaz­ing team behind it. Many, many thanks to my co-author, Ammi-Joan Paque­tte; our agent, Erin Mur­phy; our edi­tor, Jor­dan Brown; and all the won­der­ful folks at Walden Pond Press and Harper­Collins. It’s been an hon­or and a joy to work with you all!
So, what’s this book all about? Well…

Did you know that a young girl once saved an entire beach com­mu­ni­ty from a dev­as­tat­ing tsuna­mi thanks to some­thing she learned in her fourth-grade geog­ra­phy les­son? Or that there is a per­son alive today who gen­er­ates her own mag­net­ic field? Or how about the fact that Ben­jamin Franklin once chal­lenged the Roy­al Acad­e­my of Brus­sels to devise a way to make farts smell good?
You know the game: Every sto­ry in this book is strange and astound­ing, but one out of every three is an out­right lie. Some false sto­ries are based on truth, and some of the true sto­ries are just plain unbe­liev­able! Don’t be fooled by the pho­tos that accom­pa­ny each story—it’s going to take all your smarts and some clever research to root out the alter­na­tive facts. Don’t believe every­thing you read! (Walden Pond Press/HarperCollins, June 2018)

Reviews:
“With the phrase ‘fake news’ being tossed around a great deal these days, this col­lec­tion of sto­ries in which one out of every three is a lie is both time­ly and enter­tain­ing…. Read­ers with a taste for triv­ia and the strange-but-true aspects of geog­ra­phy and his­to­ry will find much to enjoy.” —Kirkus Reviews
“Even dyed-in-the-wool skep­tics will be hard put to spot the ringers: foot­prints embed­ded in sand­stone on the roof of Kentucky’s Mam­moth Caves, den­tal fill­ings more than 12,000 years old, or a trove of lead tiles embed­ded with ancient Roman curs­es? Along with sug­ges­tions for side projects and dis­cus­sions, the authors offer fact lists con­tain­ing one false fac­toid as extra chal­lenges to read­ers’ creduli­ty. Hap­pi­ly, the back mat­ter includes expla­na­tions that iden­ti­fy the baloney, as well as a savvy guide to eval­u­at­ing infor­ma­tion sources.” —Book­list

Amazon logo Barnes and Noble logo indiesRed1_161x41_10-26-15 Powell's logo HarperCollins logo

Signed copies are avail­able from Brick and Mor­tar Books! 

GIF of Peanuts celebrating
 

Launch party for Two Truths and a Lie: Histories and Mysteries

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Two Truths and a Lie: Histories and Mysteries cover
Two Truths and a Lie: Histories and Mysteries cover

Please join me for the West Coast Launch Party for

TWO TRUTHS AND A LIE:
HISTORIES AND MYSTERIES

Saturday, June 30th, 2 PM **

A trivia-style game-show challenge… with prizes!

Q&A, exclusive behind-the-scenes gossip, and outtakes!

Book swag!

Charitable giving!

Free snacks and drinks!

Books, books, and more books!

Brick & Mortar Books
7430 164th Avenue Northeast
Redmond, WA 98052

To RSVP, please visit the event invitation here. Thanks!

** Come ear­ly to enjoy the fab­u­lous Red­mond Sat­ur­day Mar­ket before the event!

And, if you can’t make the par­ty but would like to order a signed copy, please call Brick and Mor­tar Books at 425–869-0606.

Launch Party for Two Truths and a Lie: It’s Alive!

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Two Truths and a Lie cover
Two Truths and a Lie cover

Please join me for the West Coast Launch Party for
TWO TRUTHS AND A LIE: IT’S ALIVE!

 

Sunday, June 25th, at 2 p.m.

A trivia-style game-show challenge… with prizes!

Q&A, exclusive behind-the-scenes gossip, and outtakes!

Book swag!

Charitable giving!

Free snacks and drinks!

Books, books, and more books!

 

Where, you ask?

Secret Garden Books
2214 NW Market Street
Seattle, WA 98107
206–789-5006

(Click here for directions.)

** Come ear­ly to enjoy the fab­u­lous Bal­lard Farm­ers Mar­ket before the event!

If you can’t make it to the par­ty but would like to pre-order a signed copy, please vis­it http://www.secretgardenbooks.com/book/9780062418791 and put the ded­i­ca­tion info in the Order Com­ments box. Thanks! =D

Review: A Bandit’s Tale by Deborah Hopkinson

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BanditBlogTour_Graphic
Today, I’m thrilled to be par­tic­i­pat­ing in anoth­er blog tour for Deb­o­rah Hop­kin­son! This time, the award-win­ning mas­ter of his­tor­i­cal fic­tion for chil­dren takes read­ers back to nine­teenth-cen­tu­ry New York City in her new mid­dle-grade nov­el: A BANDIT’S TALE: THE MUDDLED MISADVENTURES OF A PICKPOCKET (Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Read­ers | on sale April 5, 2016 | Ages 8–12 | $16.99). Here’s the pub­lish­er’s descrip­tion of this sto­ry of sur­vival, crime, adven­ture, and horses:

Here are a few words from oth­er reviewers:

“A strong choice for those who enjoy adven­tures about scrap­py and resource­ful kids.”
—School Library Jour­nal, Starred Review
“A dynam­ic his­tor­i­cal nov­el ide­al for both class­room stud­ies and plea­sure reading.”
—Pub­lish­ers Week­ly, Starred Review

And here are a few more from me:
I am a diehard ani­mal lover, so when I found out that the founder of the ASPCA, Hen­ry Bergh, appears as a char­ac­ter in this nov­el and that part of the plot is about help­ing the street hors­es in NYC, I knew I had to read it! What I found was so much more. It turns out there were sev­er­al oth­er things I loved about this nov­el, too:

  1. It’s an inter­est­ing set­ting, late 1800s New York City, that I had­n’t real­ly thought about much before. The nov­el immers­es read­ers in this world and brings it to life on a very human lev­el. I love when his­tor­i­cal fic­tion does that!

  2. There’s a secret! I won’t give away any spoil­ers, but there’s an inci­dent at the begin­ning of the book that isn’t ful­ly explained or under­stood by the read­er until much lat­er, but it sure keeps you wondering.

  3. I love the voice. The book is writ­ten in first-per­son from Roc­co’s some­what irrev­er­ent point of view, some­times address­ing the read­er direct­ly. Roc­co thinks and sounds like a com­plete­ly believ­able 11- to 12-year-old. He is naive and imma­ture but good-heart­ed and try­ing to cope as best he can with a chal­leng­ing and com­plex world. I espe­cial­ly appre­ci­at­ed how with age and expe­ri­ence he is able to look back on pre­vi­ous events and see them differently.

  4. Okay, as much as enjoyed the set­ting, plot, and char­ac­ter of the nov­el, what tru­ly blew me away was the back­mat­ter. (I love fic­tion, but I guess I’m a non­fic­tion girl at heart!) There’s a map; an expla­na­tion of what a picaresque nov­el is; notes about the set­ting, times, and peo­ple; a glos­sary of terms used by the thieves; a guide for fur­ther read­ing; and source notes. Many real peo­ple are ref­er­enced in the nov­el, and Hop­kin­son takes great care to explain exact­ly what is true and what she made up for the sake of the sto­ry. I think read­ers and writ­ers alike will find it inter­est­ing to see how the fic­tion and facts can inter­twine and overlap.

  5. Adding to all of this were the pho­tos! Being able to see authen­tic vin­tage pho­tos from the actu­al time and place of the nov­el real­ly added to the intel­lec­tu­al under­stand­ing as well as the emo­tion­al impact of the fic­tion­al scenes.

5B7C832B-F02E-4045-A0AD-C26D55DC4289All in all, this book earns A Ban­dit’s Tale two thumbs up from this read­er! I would high­ly rec­om­mend hand­ing it to any­one who enjoys his­tor­i­cal fic­tion, ani­mal lovers, adven­ture lovers, ruf­fi­ans and rogues, and, yes, even read­ers who tend to pre­fer non­fic­tion his­to­ry and/or biography.
Thank you to Deb­o­rah Hop­kin­son and Michele Kophs at Prova­to Events for the plea­sure of read­ing this advance read­er’s copy!
For oth­er stops on the Ban­dit Blog Tour please check deborahhopkinson.com and watch for the hash­tag, #Ban­dit­Blog­Tour.

Tales from my first book launch party

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decorations

Two of the worst pos­si­ble things that could hap­pen to a book event in Seat­tle hap­pened on the day of the Be a Change­mak­er launch par­ty: one of our major bridges was closed for con­struc­tion, and the sun was shin­ing! Still, an amaz­ing num­ber of ultra-ded­i­cat­ed friends and intre­pid fans braved the traf­fic night­mare and will­ing­ly (or per­haps begrudg­ing­ly) sac­ri­ficed one of the last sun­ny Sun­days we are like­ly to have for months. And I am oh-so-grate­ful to each and every one of them for it!

decorations
Look at the pret­ty decorations!
I start­ed with a brief thank you. I could have gone on for hours thank­ing every­one who played a part in this book, but I decid­ed to spare those in atten­dance and kept the list as short as possible.
presentation
Here I am giv­ing my presentation.
Then I gave a short read­ing from one of the In My Expe­ri­ence side­bars in the book. I start­ed get­ting choked up and did­n’t want to break down into ugly cry in front of all those peo­ple, so I cut it short­er than I had intend­ed. Run away!
Josie Gillett for YUP
One of the inspir­ing teens pre­sent­ing her organization.
My favorite part was when four local teens, whose orga­ni­za­tions are among those fea­tured in the book, pre­sent­ed a bit about what they do and where their groups are head­ed. They were all great speak­ers and held the audi­ence in rapt attention.
signing closeup
I signed some books.
Then, it was time to sign books! I was so afraid I would spell some­one’s name wrong, I even asked on the easy ones that I knew for sure I knew how to spell.
signing line zoomed out
I signed a lot of books!
By the end, though, my eyes were start­ing to cross. I had­n’t made any mis­takes, so I let my guard down. One of the very last peo­ple in line is one of my dear­est friends, whose name hap­pens to be EXACTLY THE SAME AS MINE. Yes, you guessed it: I spelled it wrong. For­tu­nate­ly, she has a good sense of humor, so we’ll prob­a­bly be laugh­ing about it for years to come.
Many heart­felt thanks to every­one who came and to Secret Gar­den Book Shop for host­ing. I’m gen­er­al­ly not much of a par­ty per­son, and I real­ly dis­like being the cen­ter of atten­tion. (Those giant posters of my face were a sur­prise from my hub­by… eek!) But every moment of that launch event was a treat, and the expe­ri­ence is some­thing I’ll trea­sure for the rest of my life. 

The BE A CHANGEMAKER Blog Tour

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Be a Changemaker cover

Be a Changemaker coverI’ve been sur­prised and hon­ored to be includ­ed on a pletho­ra of fan­tas­tic blogs as part of a blog tour to help launch Be a Change­mak­er into the world. There are guest posts writ­ten by me on a vari­ety of top­ics relat­ed to the book, as well as inter­views, reviews, quotes, and, yes–book give­aways! Be sure to check out all of the tour stops, and please give these love­ly blog­gers some love, won’t you?
Here’s what has already been posted:

9/8/2014
Review, author inter­view, giveaway
9/9/2014
Review, guest post, giveaway
9/10/2014
Reviews, teach­ing tools, guest post, giveaway
9/11/2014
Review, resources lists
9/12/2014
Review
9/12/2014
Guest post
9/13/2014
Review, give­away

 
And here’s what is still to come:

9/15/2014
Review, give­away
9/16/2014
Review, give­away
9/17/2014
Author inter­view, giveaway
9/18/2014
Guest post, giveaway
9/19/2014
Author inter­view, giveaway
9/20/2014
Guest post, giveaway

Blue Slip Media logo
 
This incred­i­ble line­up has been assem­bled and man­aged by the love­ly ladies at Blue Slip Media. Thank you, Sarah and Barbara!

The Emu’s Debuts launch party for Be a Changemaker

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Emu's Debuts bannerOne of the most reward­ing expe­ri­ences of being a debut author has been par­tic­i­pat­ing on the Emu’s Debuts group blog (for clients of Erin Murphy Lit­er­ary Agency who are in between deal and pub­li­ca­tion). Last week, my fab­u­lous friends and fel­low Emus threw me THE BEST LAUNCH PARTY EVER to cel­e­brate the upcom­ing release of BE A CHANGEMAKER! (They went a week ear­ly, since Lind­sey Lane’s EVIDENCE OF THINGS UNSEEN is releas­ing at the same time. I’ll be help­ing them cel­e­brate that launch next week!)
They were all so gen­er­ous, authen­tic, and hard-work­ing in bring­ing the dai­ly posts to life (as they are with every­thing they do!), and I was thrilled anew every morn­ing to see what they had put togeth­er. In case you missed them, please go check out their posts. They’re fun, infor­ma­tive, and inspiring!
Here’s the roundup:
On Mon­day, Lind­sey Lane (with some back­up sup­port from Tara Dair­man), post­ed Wel­come to the World: BE A CHANGEMAKER by Lau­rie Ann Thomp­son!, which includ­ed sto­ries of and inter­views with five oth­er Erin Mur­phy Lit­er­ary Agency authors who are chang­ing the world in their own mean­ing­ful ways:

Tues­day fea­tured sev­er­al videos com­piled by Megan Mor­ri­son, BE A CHANGEMAKER: Words of Wis­dom. The clips con­tain con­tri­bu­tions from fel­low Emu Debuts blog­gers offer­ing their own words of wis­dom, shar­ing quotes that moti­vate and inspire them, and giv­ing advice they wish they’d got­ten at the begin­ning of their jour­ney. Great stuff, and so per­son­al! It’s a great way to get to know these won­der­ful peo­ple a lit­tle better.
For the Wednes­day post, BE A CHANGEMAKER: Cel­e­brat­ing with Quotes!, Jen­nifer Cham­b­liss Bert­man com­piled and cre­at­ed a col­lec­tion of gor­geous images fea­tur­ing quotes that inspire and moti­vate the mem­bers of the Emu’s Debuts blog team. If you want to spice up your Face­book or Pin­ter­est feeds (or your office walls!), there are some fan­tas­tic finds here. Plus, they includ­ed the expla­na­tions behind why the quotes are so mean­ing­ful for them, mak­ing them even more special.
For Thurs­day’s post, Pen­ny Park­er Kloster­mann, gave read­ers a sneak pre­view of Be a Change­mak­er with excerpts of the first 25 pages as well as the event plan­ning chap­ter. Her post, BE A CHANGEMAKER: A Tool for Change, gives a sense of how the book can be used as a tool by indi­vid­u­als, teams, and classrooms.
On Fri­day, Tama­ra Ellis Smith closed out the par­ty with Music to Be A Change­mak­er By, an inspi­ra­tional and moti­vat­ing Spo­ti­fy playlist of songs rec­om­mend­ed by the Emu’s Debuts blog­gers, along with the expla­na­tions of why they includ­ed them. Span­ning gen­res and emo­tions, you’re sure to find some­thing of inter­est here–I know I did!
I’m so grate­ful to the awe­some authors at Emu’s Debuts! Thanks to them, the Be a Change­mak­er pre-launch week was bet­ter than I ever could have imag­ined. I’m look­ing for­ward to each and of every one of their debuts–coming soon!

It’s the Be a Changemaker launch party!

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BE A CHANGEMAKER cover

Please come celebrate the release of my first book:

BE A CHANGEMAKER cover

Sun­day, Sep­tem­ber 14th, at 2 p.m.

Seat­tle Cre­ative Arts Center
2601 NW Mar­ket St
Seat­tle, WA 98107
(Click here for direc­tions and park­ing information.

Eat, drink, min­gle, hear more about the book from the author, and—best of all—meet some local teens who are already chang­ing the world!

I hope to see you there!

If you can’t make it and would still like a signed copy, you can order from Secret Gar­den Books here (please indi­cate how you’d like it per­son­al­ized in the “oth­er notes about your order” field and leave an extra week or two for delivery).

I am not my book… Or am I?

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Emu's Debuts headerEar­li­er this month over on Emu’s Debuts, I blogged about the impor­tance, and dif­fi­cul­ties, of sep­a­rat­ing the cre­ator (our­selves) from the works cre­at­ed. Since some of you may not fol­low that blog, I thought I should post it here, too. Here’s an excerpt…

Read more

Book launch for Kim Baker’s PICKLE!

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table full of food

Every book launch par­ty I’ve ever been to has been a ton of fun. If that’s not enough rea­son to go to as many as you can, how about just just sup­port­ing our local authors and illus­tra­tors? You want them to come out and sup­port you on your big day, don’t you? If you did­n’t make it to Kim Bak­er’s PICKLE launch par­ty at Secret Gar­den Books last week, here’s just a taste of what you missed:
There was food!

table full of food
Can you spot all of the pranks here?

 
There were friends!
crowded bookstore
How many faces of SCBWI do you rec­og­nize here?

 
There were prizes!
Kim holding prizes
I believe those are the bro­ken-glass stick­ers and the trick pen­cils. Lat­er, I won an explod­ing can of snakes!

 
There were books!
Kim even read a scene from PICKLE to us.
(I think I snort­ed out loud.)

 
There were even pickles!
Wait a minute, I don’t think those are real­ly pickles.

 
But don’t wor­ry, if you did­n’t make it to this book launch, there will be anoth­er one com­ing soon to a book­store near you. Make sure you get out there and see what all the fun is about! And if you still need to pick up a PICKLE, you can always click here:

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