The Jinnie Wishamaker Blog Tour is coming!

I'm so excited!

Ten blogs in two weeks--and all stops will have give aways and guest posts and crazy interviews with ridiculous answers! (Fried turtle shells--no, I don't eat them! ICKY!  Phineas and Ferb, why yes, yes I HAVE seen every episode ten times. SHHH!!! I'm a self-respecting grown up! With, you know, pink hair...)

Here are the stops!

June 18:  Ramblings of a Coffee Addicted Writer
June 19:  Books Are Magic
June 20:  Books Reviewed by Bunny
June 21:  Writers and Authors
June 22:  Amy's Book World
June 25:  Me and Reading
June 26:  Welcome to My World of Dreams
June 27:  It's Raining Books
June 28:  Sandra Cox
June 29: Sweet Southern Home

Make sure you stop by and see them!

Dust Bunnies in the wild -- Kindergarten wild!

This morning I was walking Elizabeth to the bus when a little girl chased me down to say, "I colored my bunny!"

I was about to nod politely in the way you do when children say random things, when she unzipped her backpack to show me my own character, Mel, delightfully rainbow'd and eyelash'd. Obviously this child had attended my author visit the day before for Dust Bunnies: Secret Agents.

Before Elizabeth could spill the beans that Mel was a tough bunny and would be unhappy in all that crayon mascara, I had her pull out her phone and snap a shot of the girl's colorful depiction of my bunny. What a great start to the day!

I've been lucky to read Dust Bunnies: Secret Agents to four kindergarten classes over three days. We had tons of fun talking about where dust bunnies hide, and what happens when our toys go missing and who might have taken them.

We also talked about how old myths used to explain why the sun rose and set, and how stories like Dust Bunnies are like new myths to explain things like where our socks go!

I still have many more classrooms to go, plus the official Dust Bunnies launch will be open to the public at the super cool baby store in Round Rock called Baby Earth on Thursday, May 10 just after school at 3:30 p.m. I feel very lucky and blessed this week!

The Dust Bunnies have arrived!

After two years of development, Dust Bunnies: Secret Agents is available on the iPad and iPhone/iTouch!

I have to think hard now to remember the night in 2010 that I sat at the dinner table with my daughters and we brainstormed a story to match the exciting app design by the producers at Polycot Labs. They wanted something where the main character could be changed to look like the child who was reading the story, and the names in both the captions and the audio would be theirs!

I knew that the side kicks would be important since the hero would change, and we decided that the Dust Bunnies living under the bed would be ideal. It was my then-seven-year-old Elizabeth who decided the story would be more exciting if the bunnies were secret agents!

The story has evolved through time, based on the art, the audio, and the flow of the story. Each panel had to be drawn with multiple overlays for children who were a boy or a girl, with one of four different hair colors or skin shades. I had to record several lines of the story more than 400 times to read off the most popular boy and girls names.

And finally it's here!

Watch the story trailer! And if you like it, pick up a copy in iTunes store. And leave a comment  in the store! We love comments! Plus, the Dust Bunnies have their own Facebook pages and love to talk to fans. Go leave a comment there and they'll get back to you!

The Magical Blog Tour Begins in June!

I just bought over 100 mood rings to give away during the amazing fantastical Jinnie Wishmaker blog tour that will be happening in June to celebrate the release of the hardcover edition for libraries.

Many of the rings will be given away on blog stops during the summer, but I'll also be giving some away here! Stay tuned for those give aways--everyone will get one for themselves and one for a friend!

I so love mood rings! Look what I ordered!

Rhinestone-studded shapes for girls!

And bands with dolphins on them for boys or girls!

I can't wait!

Stick figure cover challenge

I have a wonderful time over on the Kindle Boards, where authors of many amazing ebooks gather to talk shop and be supportive.

One of our members, in poking fun at some of the really terrible covers in the world, challenged us to make stick-figure versions of our book covers.

So naturally I had to make one for Jinnie.

I'm not going to link to the thread, since many of the covers are not necessarily kid-friendly. But grownups can do some Googling and find it. Hilarious.

Can I hug you Nook owners out there?

Jinnie Wishmaker has been in the top 50 books for 9-12 year olds for 10 days now! I got back from the holidays and checked on how she was doing at Barnes & Noble, and WOW!

Thank you so much for supporting Jinnie! I am hard at work on Marcus Mender now! I felt SO inspired by Hugo Cabret after seeing the movie adaptation of the novel (I loved both.) I can't wait for Marcus to sort out how he feels about being able to "fix" people as well as things. It will be quite the conflict for a boy who wishes his own life was different.

New Troubled Tweens short story for Christmas!

I woke up a few days before Christmas with the cutest idea for a short story! Mr. Kent, the magic counselor for the Troubled Tweens, has this amazing office with floor to ceiling cabinets in every color. Inside them, he keeps all the objects he made magical when he had powers in the 1960s.

The objects are a trip down memory lane for older readers, and a delight for kids who can imagine how THEY would use such enchanted things. My daughters and I spent one day of the holiday break just brainstorming the magical items in the wall of wonders, and what they'd be for. Nine-year-old Elizabeth came up with the magical lip gloss that keeps your sister from tattling on you!

And twelve-year-old Emily gave us the idea of the magical hula hoop that takes you back in time when you spin it.

You don't have to have a Kindle to read the story. It can be read on a computer or a smart phone or an iPad if you have the free Kindle reader. So go!