Michele Jakubowski's Blog, page 5

Good News Friday!

I admit it. Every now and then (ie. constantly) I’ll Google three words: Sidney Sydney Jakubowski. I like to see if there are any new reviews or mentions of the books. I’ve come across some cool things (here’s one of my favorites) but imagine my surprise when I searched today and found out that Third Grade Mix-Up won Gold in the Juvenile Fiction – Early Reader/1st Chapter books category of the 2013 Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards.  I was ecstatic!

I have no idea how these things work so I emailed my editor. She wrote back immediately saying, “It’s like you read my mind! I was just going to email you about the award.”  She shared a little more information (and some good news – a contract for the second round of Perfectly Poppy books is being sent out!) and I set about spending the rest of my day on cloud nine.

Guess Who I Met Today

Annie Barrows, the author of the Ivy + Bean series! How cool is that?!?

Sidney, Sydney, & Louie?

I’m working on Sidney & Sydney book three and while I don’t want to give too much away, here is a picture of the inspiration for one of the characters. His name is Louie and he is my brother Kevin’s dog. Just look at that face! Can you imagine his storyline?

My First International Reader!

I adore hearing from readers and I was so happy to receive this message from a new friend from Canada:

Hi Michele, I just wanted to let you know that my son Rowan really enjoyed reading this book. He selected this one over four books. We bought the book today and he read the whole book in just a few hours. I have never seen him so engrossed on a book before. He wants me to get him the next book . We look forward to reading the rest of the series! Here’s a pic of him reading in the food court. He did not even realize I was taking a picture. Thank you for writing fabulous books!!!

Thanks to mom Elaine for sending. Keep reading, Rowan!

More Sidney & Sydney

Things have been moving along here. Dodgeball, Drama, and Other Dilemmas, Sidney & Sydney book two is available now and the contract for book three has been signed sealed and delivered. Time to get writing!

Two of my favorite friends with the new Sidney & Sydney book.

It’s the Little Things

I am a huge fan of my local library. I’m a frequent visitor and can spend hours and hours there. I’m a little embarrassed to admit this, but ever since book one of the Sidney & Sydney series came out I’ve been casually searching their catalog for it. I’ve been checking for months and am always a little sad when it’s not there – until yesterday! Yes, my local library now has Third Grade Mix-Up available! Even better news? 4 out of 5 copies were checked out!

Baby Owen

I love hearing from readers and in a lot of the letters I’ve received one thing is clear – they all love Sydney’s mischievous little brother Owen! I was in Illinois last week celebrating my birthday with friends and family and was able to spend some time with the real ‘baby’ Owen. He is the son of two of my greatest friends and I just love that little guy to pieces. In an incredibly sweet voice he asked me if I would sign his copy of book one. It was so adorable I would have given him the keys to my car if he’d have asked!

Hope you enjoy the cuteness.

This Made My Whole Day

Dear. Ms. Jakubowski, 

I just wanted to thank you for your fabulous book, Sidney and Sydney. My third grade son just finished it and he literally could not put it down. He and his twin sister have both struggled with reading due to a vision issue and both have been “below level” their entire acadamic life. Reading the required 20-30 min/night is generally a struggle, but not with your book! My son was so engaged he finished it in two nights. The characters and plot so thoroughly resonated with him and he could not wait to read more. He wants to read more so I am very glad to see the next one is coming out in July.

My daughter gets to read it next and I am hoping that she enjoys it as much as my son did!

One of the Perks of Writing for Children

One of my favorite parts of writing is hearing from young readers. I recently received a packet of letters from a third grade class in Illinois that read Third Grade Mix-Up as a class read aloud. A lot of the kids suggested that Sydney & Sidney be turned into a movie. (I’m all for that if any movie producers are reading, by the way. I know of at least 20 kids that said they would turn up at the theater.)

 Another big question was whether or not Sidney and Sydney like like each other. This sort of threw me as it was coming from third graders. I don’t think I even thought about like liking someone until fifth grade. Kids these days.

 I also received some great ideas for future books:

 You are a great author and maybe in your next book you can put a famous person in there like Christina Augilera.

You should also write a second book about a new kid named Misao and that she is getting teased but then Sidney and Sydney help her out.

Maybe you could make Sidney and Sydney at recess and they meet two other BFFs name Quin and Quwin in your second book.

I just spent the better part of an afternoon writing them back. How could I not when more than half of them signed off as ‘Your Biggest Fan’? You gotta love writing for kids.

Technological Meltdown

Notice anything different about my blog? Yes, it is different. No, it was not on purpose. The technologies overwhelmed me and I pushed a few buttons I shouldn’t have and everything I had posted in the past 2 years disappeared. Try as I might to get it back it’s gone so I’m starting fresh. The only good thing about this was that I got to start over with the adorable Poppy pics.