IN THIS MONTH'S ISSUE: Book Birthday Author Event Release Parties Award Nomination Update Meme of the Month Zahra's Word of the Month My Personal Gossip |
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It's hard to believe on May 26, Society of the Sentinelia will celebrate its first book birthday! It's been an eventful year, during which the book earned several award nominations and was named the 2022 AAUW NC Young People's Literature Award winner. |
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On May 6, Melanie Sue Bowles and I are teaming up again. This time, we're doing a book signing event at Tybrisa Books, 210 Main St., NW, Lenoir, NC. We'll be there from 11 a.m. until 1 p.m. and we'll have some swag to give out with our books! |
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This month, we're also welcoming a new sibling into our book family! Blind Fairy is set to release May 18. We're planning a few parties to celebrate. The release party events will include swag, photo ops, and a rock painting craft. About Blind Fairy: Zahra, a scraebin about as tall as a wild dandelion, is summoned by her mentor fairy after cicadas emerge to lull her colony into a deep sleep. |
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Zahra soon learns she is The Convener, a responsibility she doesn’t want. After accepting her destiny, a turtle with amethyst eyes leads her to a lone, blind scraebin born with the markings of a fairy. Together, Zahra and the blind fairy must save the scraebin colonies. But when 12-year-old Brant, a human, snatches the blind fairy, and then Zahra suffers a concussion and injured wing, the obstacles appear too daunting to overcome. Set in the Birkhead Wilderness of the Uwharrie Mountains in central North Carolina, Blind Fairy is the second book in the Zahra of the Uwharries series that chronicles Zahra’s unique and critical role in saving her species. |
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It was an honor for Society of the Sentinelia to be nominated for the 2023 Green Earth Book Award. After making the Long List, the title did not go on to make the short list, but I'm so proud of the initial nod. Congratulations to Turn the Tide by Elaine Dimopoulos, which won the 2023 Green Earth Book Award in the Children's Fiction category! | | |
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Now that book 2, Blind Fairy, is set to release, I'll be spending much of my time working on books 3, 4, and 5. I've already fired up my "noisy typer" app and Grammarly is standing by to criticize my comma usage! |
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ZAHRA'S WORD OF THE MONTH |
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Zahra continues to expand her knowledge by learning new words. Here's this month's word: Pareidolia According to Miriam Webster's Dictionary, pareidolia is a noun that means "the tendency to perceive a specific, often meaningful image in a random or ambiguous visual pattern." |
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Hubby and I have been married for more than 21 years. Of course, there have been plenty of ups and downs. That's life. In this month's gossip, I want to share one of my favorite things about being married to my husband. |
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Dating. Yes, we still do the date-night thing. We set aside at least one night a week to go out together. Some weeks, we squeeze in two or even three dates. Our scheduled weekly dates are something we look forward to, like that carrot dangling in front of the donkey pulling the cart. Anticipation can get you through even the toughest, most challenging work days. Children understand and appreciate anticipation. It's what drives the excitement of holidays and visits from Santa and the Tooth Fairy. Date night is one of the ways Hubby and I capture that childlike anticipatory excitement. The espresso in the photo is from one of our extra, impromptu dates. On the way back from an event, we decided to squeeze in a date before heading back home. The atmosphere, food, great service, and my little cup of espresso conspired to create a memorable evening. Everything magically came together. For that brief couple of hours, we felt younger, sillier, and freer than many of the moments that make up a typical adult day. Impromptu dates allow us to harness sparks of magic that otherwise get lost in the day-to-day grind. |
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Online options for purchasing the award-winning middle grade novel, Society of the Sentinelia, for your 8-12 year old! |
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