I’m excited to share a preview of one of the loveliest projects I have ever done.

‘Our World: France’ is my upcoming board book that’ll bring you to the streets of France, my home country! Count the dogs un-deux-trois, take Doudou out for a walk and play until it’s time for bonne nuit.

Thanks to the amazing illustrator Margaux Carpentier, my publisher Barefoot Books, my editor Kate DePalma and everyone at the company! The book officially comes out on October 18th. Meanwhile, you can preorder it now

I am so pleased to share with you the upcoming release of my Board Book OUR WORLD: FRANCE, illustrated by Margaux Carpentier and published by Barefoot Books.  

So happy and proud to be a member of this warm dedicated publishing house! Thanks to my editor, the whole process was like the best ride, fast and fun.  
From our initial conversation to this official announcement, Kate DePalma has been everything a writer dreams for and beyond. Thank you, merci, Kate.  
Illustrations are crucial for Board Books, so merci, Margaux Carpentier for adding so much color and joy to my words.  

Through my writing, I’ve always shared my affection for my native France. Working on this book and collaborating with Barefoot Books on this project could not have been better for me.  Cannot wait for publication in Fall 2022.

A year has passed since my last blog post.

We were at the height of the pandemic, losing thousands of people across the world.
Holiday celebrations, including Thanksgiving here in the United States, were
canceled or limited to very small gatherings.
By then most of us understood that we were in for the long haul.

I don’t know for you, but besides my kids that I missed beyond words, I yearned for
things I had always taken for granted.
Popping in a coffee shop without thinking twice about bumping into too many
people, standing in line and engaging in those random American conversations I
adore, trying clothes on in crowded changing rooms and laughing with women I had
never seen before and would likely never see again, brunching at the local diner and
elbowing other hungry people.
That stuff I missed. A lot.

And yet among so much missing and so much unknown, one way or another, all of
us learned to cope and adjust, and I want to believe to enjoy with much more
appreciation those things we took for granted.
Sharing coffee with a friend at an outdoor café terrace is a treat.
Going to the weekly farmers’ market becomes an event.
And invitations to school visits and book festivals make me feel grateful.

Once again I will participate to the Amelia Book Festival and the Authors in Schools
in February 2022.
A French high school teacher has invited me to meet with her students.
After two years I will see authors I know and I will meet new ones too.

People are still there.
And I hope that despite my long absence you are still there, too.

When we miss so much from the life we knew, we experience a deeper appreciation for particular events.

I never took for granted the Amelia Island Book Festival but even much less now.

I invite you to browse their website, keeping us connected while we can’t meet in person. You can also read my short blog post if you wish.

Until we see each other once again at book festivals and other literary events, I wish you all the very best.

When We Explored the Great Outdoors

Shelter-in-place. Stay at home orders. Quarantine. Confinement.

The term can vary depending on your state or your country, but the meaning remains the same.

The whole world has paused and many of us are living the quietest moments of our lives.

Writers who are used to work alone and often in silence should have an edge. However, most writers I know have a hard time to focus and even a harder time to be creative.

Agents and editors, mostly based in New York City, are working remotely. Submissions are still going on. Rejections and requests too. A mix for me.

My agent has more time available, away from meetings and conferences, and she’s agreed to read my work. I really take advantage of the offer to polish a few manuscripts. She already read one and as much as she liked the premise and even compared it to a really great book she asked for a serious revision. While I waited for her feedback I worked on another one. I’m now ready to forward her a piece I really love. Let’s hope she’ll love it as much 🙂

Like everyone else I bake and I’m on Zoom. A lot. For my writing meetings and critique. For yoga, too.

I also read a lot and for the first time in years I finish 500-page-long books in record time.

Libraries and bookstores are closed and yet we need books more than ever.

The Last Bookshop, Los Angeles

Parents, I’ve heard, are especially begging for book suggestions. Many have told me how challenging it is to homeschool while working. All said that they are still sharing exceptional moments of warmth with their children.

Always around a book.

One of my several home bookshelves

So here is a very short selection of upcoming and newly published books. All are from friends of mine. All have published more than one book, so take a few minutes to browse their website and blog to find more.

From my California friend Claire:

Evie’s Field Day

From my  Florida friend Heather:

I adore everything about Rex the… We-Don’t Know! Very young kids will love the silly situations created by Rex from the second he’s adopted from the pound. Slightly older children will understand that Rex is so much more than a strange creature. Parents will use the story as a tool to talk about animal adoption and difference. As newly appointed teachers they might talk about the importance of humor in writing. In any case, everyone will admire Rex’s talents to earn the affection of his adopted family.

From my New York City friend Robin:

No Peacocks! is a hilarious Picture Book, perfect for read-aloud time. Robin told me that she got the seeds of her book on the real peacocks who live at the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City.

From my New Jersey friend Nancy:

Today Is a Beach Day!

Always Makes Me Smile

Over these exceptional times people show generosity and solidarity. The Amelia Island Book Festival put together a reading list and I am thankful for the gesture. You can find me under Exhibiting Authors.

A member of my book club wrote a very nice group e-mail when we decided to come up with a list of books to help us during the sanitary crisis:

Flowers Still Bloom

And Keep Reading!

Tucked between Halloween and Christmas, at the heart of the fall season and yet pale in comparison to spectacular October, November remains my favorite month of the year.

Whether in my native France or in the US I’ve always felt happy and grateful to be alive in November.

There, the month signals the arrival of the Beaujolais Nouveau and prestigious literary awards. Here, Thanksgiving holds the promise of gatherings around yummy food.

Doesn’t hurt that November is also my birth month:)

This year I feel particularly thankful for November.

On the writing front, things are moving along.

Last week I found out that my latest book Chez Moi in the USA was selected for the annual Amelia Island Book Festival. It will be my fourth year as one of the authors who participate to the Authors in Schools program.

In February I will meet 200 high school students who take French classes. I can hardly wait!

Prestigious authors in all genres attend the Amelia Book Festival, so I was 100% unprepared for the email that popped in my Inbox also last week.

My Young Adult novel All the Mountains We Can Climb had been entered in a contest and won the selection for the Teen/Tween Scene, an afternoon event with students and authors.

More details will come, but I already know that Margot Lee Shetterly, the renowned author of Hidden Figures will be part of this panel, too.

Wow!

This three-day literary event ends with a daylong festival with book talks, signings and more. It’s always so much fun to meet readers and it’s an additional treat to reconnect with authors met at this festival. I’m happy to call some of them my friends.

To make November even sweeter my agent told me last night that several editors responded positively to the recent submission of my second manuscript. Some editors have already requested to read it. With enthusiasm, my agent added.

Manuscript #1 is still under consideration. Fingers crossed here.

And of course there is Thanksgiving, this American celebration that unlike other holidays I immediately embraced. For the food, since I adore pumpkins, sweet potatoes, cranberries, pecans, and pies, but above all for this pause that once a year we share, grateful for our family, our friends, and simply for the chance to be alive.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING TO EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU!

Happy belated Halloween and happy November to each of you!

With Thanksgiving approaching and the holiday season soon in full swing, November is a busy month for most of us.

It becomes more challenging to find solitary moments amidst a frentic schedule. I came to realize that it never happens unless we decide to create those moments. And yet there are necessary if you write.

NaNoWriMo starts today and for full disclosure I had totally forgotten about it.

The manuscript that landed me an agent early spring is still under consideration. My second manuscript is now ready for submission and will reach editors before Thanksgiving. Another one is ready as well and I am revising two other pieces.

I found out that I love revision so much more now that I can rely on my agent’s guidance. My critique partners are still my early readers. When I decide, based on their comments, that I have a draft worthy of my agent’s time I forward it to her.

Since she signed me after reading one of my Picture Book manuscripts, I am focusing on such pieces for now, a mix of nonfiction and fiction. But I still love novels. A lot.

So when I found Anne Lamott’s inspirational pep talk in my Inbox this morning I decided to return to a novel I had just started before receiving an offer of representation.

It is a little scary to go back to words written months ago, but anticipation is already building inside me.

I am not officially entering NaNoWriMo, but I will create some solitary writing moments, because…

“You either start now, or it is not going to happen for you, and you are going to wake up at seventy years old (or eighty, if you are already seventy) filled with sorrow that you let your dream, your passion, gift, fall by the wayside. You start now, as is.

‘As is’ is the portal to creation, to new life.”

Anne Lamott

A child of the fall I always look forward to its early signs, which can be subtle and easily missed.

And yet, after a hot summer in so many parts of the world and in the United States, temperatures are dropping, at least in the early and late hours of the day.

Squirrels scurry all over parks.

Pumpkins patches appear, colorful pop-up shops.

Scarecrows move on people’s porches.

At yoga yesterday, our instructor ended practice with these words:

“As trees are starting to shed their dry leaves, we are also offered the possibility to shed what has died inside us. Fall is the season to let go.”

Always easier said than done, right?

And yet, the words stayed inside me all day long. I even forwarded them to one of my daughters, who like me, loves words.

Like wild animals, trees, and plants get ready for shorter, darker days I surround myself with more books than ever.

My recent favorite reads:

FOR CHILDREN:

Goodbye Summer, Hello Autumn written and illustrated by Kenard Pak

A lovely hymn to my favorite season, a true Picture Book with sparse words that leaves ample room to illustrations.

“Hello! Now that the cool winds have come

We love how our branches sway in the sun.”

What I love most about this Picture Book:

The illustrations that carry so well the quietness of this time of the year. I could see the colors of fall, but also smell, taste, touch, and hear the season as I turned the pages.

Kenard Pak lives, writes, and draws in San Francisco.

Mary Blair’s Unique Flair: the Girl Who Became one of the Disney Legends written by Amy Novesky, illustrated by Brittney Lee

Early on, Mary Blair loved color and wanted to be an artist. But her dream was hard to realize. Mary’s parents didn’t have much money so it wasn’t easy to provide her the material she needed. Yet, they did their best to give her paper and paints. Mary worked a lot to enter The Chouinard Art Institute in Los Angeles in the mid 1930s. And when she found a job at the Walt Disney Studios she had to work as hard to be accepted in the male-dominated industry. But Walt Disney loved Mary’s colorful art and offered her to join him to South America. There, Mary fell for the colors and incorporated some in her concept art for Cinderella, Alice in Wonderland, and Peter Pan, and even the It’s a Small World attraction at Disneyland.

What I love most about this bio Picture Book:

Mary’s natural love for color, her tenacity and her determination when it came to art.

The illustrations that support Mary’s unusual and inspiring story explode with colors and Mary’s love for them.

Planting Stories: The Life of Librarian and Storyteller Pura Belpré written by Anika Aldamuy Denise, illustrated by Paola Escobar

This Picture Book is a vivid homage to the storyteller, puppeteer and New York City’s first Puerto Rican librarian.

Like many immigrants Belpré found a home at the New York Public Library when she arrived to the USA in 1921. There, she worked as a bilingual assistant and turned her popular retellings into books. A librarian and a writer who served her Spanish speaking community Pura Belpré left a legacy that still speaks volumes today.

What I love most about this bio Picture Book:

I’ve spent countless hours in libraries in my native France and in the United States, whether where my family has lived or for occasional visits when we travel. Libraries are often a second home for readers but also for people who seek quietness and shelter. Librarians are the hosts and this book celebrates one of the most unusual and legendary.

The balance between the lyrical writing and the vibrant illustrations is pitch-perfect.

The few words in Spanish here and there remind us of the importance of language for all human beings.

FOR TEENS:

Girl Made of Stars by Ashley Herring Blake

When it appears very clear that Mara’s twin brother has raped his girlfriend, also Mara’s friend, Mara is caught between her family, her own sense of right and wrong and also the need to address a suppressed trauma.

Told from the perspective of seventeen-year-old Mara who has never told anyone about going through sexual assault on her last day of eighth grade, this empathetic novel treats of the difficult themes of consent, victim blaming, and sexual assault and opens the door to very important questions about truth, feminism, friendship, and family loyalty.

What I love most about this YA novel:

The story is very nuanced. In this era of he-said, she-said, and black and white opinions the author leaves plenty of room to questions.

She also opted for an untypical ending. Nothing is clearly solved by the end of the book. The characters are forever changed and yet we leave them with the certainty that they will be able to move on.

The main protagonist is a girl, but the novel is definitely also written with boys in mind. I hope many will read it.

Ashley Herring Blake lives in Nashville, Tennessee, home to the lovely bookstore Parnassus, owned and run by award-winning author Ann Patchett.

We Are Okay by Nina LaCour

Marin hasn’t spoken to anyone, including her former girlfriend Mabel, since she left San Francisco secretly and abruptly.

Now, months later, on the other side of the country, Marin is waiting, alone on a deserted school campus for winter break, for Mabel’s visit.

Over the course of a few short days Marin will face the necessity to open up and tell Mabel of the tragedy she left behind when she fled California.

What I love most about this YA novel:

The settings, both San Francisco and upstate New York, are impeccably rendered. The author shows us Marine’s emotions unfolding through the eerie San Francisco fog and the snow packed New York state winter. Brilliant.

She also managed to write short (230 pages is rare in YA). Her voice is quiet and yet the story is packed with intense feelings related to death, loss, grief, and love.

The fact that Mabel has been forced to move on after Marin left her without any warning and is now in a relationship with a boy is well described. While initially hurt Marin is now clear about her sexual orientation and the book ends with the promise that she will meet other girls and fall in love again.

Marin’s complex relationship with her grandfather, the man who raised her, now dead, is beautifully shown, too.

The gorgeous language, full of imageries, is comparable to an art piece.

LaCour is one of the most respected authors in contemporary Young Adult literature. She is the recipient of the 2018 prestigious Michael L. Printz Award for We Are Okay.

She lives in Martinez, a small town in the East Bay of the San Francisco Bay Area.

* Updates will follow. Meanwhile, I work on a new project. Of course 🙂

Wherever You Live I Wish Each and Every One of You a Glorious Fall Season.

P.S. Halloween is not my favorite holiday, but when young trick-or-treaters ring my bell on Halloween night I’m always ready. So when I saw this bag of Gummy candies with a sale tag that read “Limited Quantities,” I didn’t think twice.

Individual small packages hold tiny, soft gummies that come in all sorts of classic Halloween shapes. Absolutely perfect for little trick-or-treaters. Above all, those gummies are irresistibly delicious.

Don’t ask me how I know.