Terri Libenson's Blog, page 2

Some upcoming book events!

It’s almost spring, which means some pretty big, fun book festivals — and who does big and fun better than Texas librarians? I’ll be at the North Texas Teen Book Festival Saturday, March 1 and the Texas Library Association conference April 1-2. I’ll be on a bunch of really great panels and doing some signings. Hope to see all you Dallas-area readers and librarians (who are inherently readers) in Texas!

The Making of ENTIRELY EMMIE

It all comes back to the OG.

It’s so funny; writing this story started as one thing and kinda morphed into something else toward the end. It was going to be a lighthearted offshoot campground story filled with fireside antics. After all, it co-stars mischievous Joe Lungo. What could be more fun and drama-filled?

But it also re-stars Emmie who – for all her evolution – remains a shy, sensitive soul. So, of course, this story is layered.

Like most of my books (see previous blog posts), I had a great time writing EE. Without spoiling the story: after a promising school year filled with new friends and some newfound confidence, Emmie becomes suddenly alienated during an end-of-year weekend class trip. Consequently, she is thrusted back to her insecure, awkward self. At the same time, perpetual prankster Joe finds himself a third wheel on the same trip. Not pleased.

Guess who gets partnered up?

That’s the fun premise of the story. But ultimately it dips into some more serious topics, like (re)finding self-confidence, friendship communication, and body autonomy and personal boundaries (don’t worry, grown-ups, very innocently!). The latter is something I think is soooo important for young people to learn about early on, and I hope these characters inspire that.

I think this one is truly a fun mix of wonderful themes as well as a great summer read. I really hope young readers love this tale of unlikely friendship. Joe was a total kick to write for and Emmie – who is my spirit animal – remains the voice of my inner thirteen-year-old.

Oh, yes, and there are old (and new) crushes. Can’t forget those.

Click here to pre-order ENTIRELY EMMIE!

Moms Don’t Have Time to Read Books – Podcast!

Always love chatting with Zibby Owens on her prolific podcast, and this time I had the pleasure of joining funny and talented Alan Silberberg (double the fun). We discussed THE FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS, the awesome recent middle grade Hanukkah anthology we were honored to be a part of.

You can find the episode on Apple Podcasts (as well as on Spotify and Acast!) here.

You can order THE FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS here.

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Book 9 COVER REVEAL!

Coming to stores May 6, 2025: ENTIRELY EMMIE! It’s the return of our hero Emmie along with an unlikely sidekick…Joe Lungo! Talk about a mash-up of polar opposites. Readers will totally enjoy this story of a (seemingly) more self-assured Emmie and get a peek into what makes that awful prankster Joe tick!

Aaaand, as you can see, the book has a new look! We’ve refreshed the Emmie & Friends cover designs for the next generation of readers. Hope you enjoy these eye-catching covers!

Synopsis of ENTIRELY EMMIE:

These days, a more confident Emmie doesn’t feel so invisible. At least not around her best friends, Brianna and Sarah, and her crush, Tyler.

Then there’s class clown Joe. His jokes aren’t landing the way they used to. I mean, who doesn’t love a good prank? Apparently not his so-called friends, who don’t even seem to care if he’s around.

When their class goes on an end-of-the-year camping trip, Emmie and Joe find themselves stuck together—and expect the worst. But what happens instead turns out to be entirely unexpected.

Pre-order ENTIRELY EMMIE here!

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A new book out!

Well, here’s something different: Fifteen notable authors and I have a new anthology out now, THE FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS: 16 HANNUKKAH STORIES. It’s for middle-grade readers, and it’s fantastic!

My story is a cheeky illustrated fantasy fiction about a miraculous, empathetic tree and the girl who cares deeply for it. I hope you’ll check out all the great stories. You definitely do not have to be Jewish to enjoy the book!

You can order here or through your local bookstore. Get it in time for the holidays!

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Interview with Jewish Books for Kids

I recently had the pleasure of being interviewed by Barbara Bietz of the truly wonderful website/blog, Jewish Books for Kids. As a Jewish author, this was a meaningful one for me. As you may or may not know, Leah, one of the main characters in ALWAYS ANTHONY, is Jewish and sometimes discusses her family traditions. There is also an important lesson in the book focusing on “teshuvah” (Hebrew for “repentance” and “return”), which is central to the story’s theme of bullying and forgiveness. The interview doesn’t just focus on Leah’s background — it discusses so much more. I hope you enjoy!

Click here for the interview.

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“The Magic in the Details”: Barnes & Noble guest blog post

Recently, I wrote a guest post for the B&N Reads blog. I spoke about the evolution of my writing process over the years and, believe it or not, how losing my sense of spontaneity wasn’t the worst thing.

It’s a quick read — hope you enjoy!

To order ALWAYS ANTHONY, click here.

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Always Anthony tour recap

The last few months have been a whirlwind, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. Book festivals, school visits, bookstore and library visits, many public events, and one publisher event made up my April-May-early June timeframe. A HUGE thank you to everyone who made all this possible! And, of course, an equally big thanks to those that have read and loved ANTHONY. xo Terri

Oh, the places I’ve gone: Pennsylvania (Allentown, Pittsburgh), Ohio (Columbus), Texas (Irving), Maryland (Frederick, Baltimore), Georgia (Atlanta), New York (Buffalo, New York City), Massachusetts (Boston, Acton), and Vancouver, B.C.

The post Always Anthony tour recap first appeared on Terri Libenson.

Oops.

Back in January, I decided to sit down with my babies…my babies being all eight books in the Emmie & Friends series, including my newest one, ALWAYS ANTHONY. I did this because I have a terrible memory, and I realized I should re-familiarize myself with the series and characters before writing Book 9. Sometimes I lose track of character backgrounds, timelines, etc. So, I read each and every book in the order that I wrote them (note: they can still be read as stand-alone books).

And…

…oops.

This was when I realized (in horror) how many mistakes I’ve made over the years. After berating myself for not re-reading these books sooner – and then berating myself further for having the memory of a very small wasp – I got down to business. I started listing all the mistakes I found in each book, large and small. Thank goodness the small outnumbered the large by a wide margin. Still, a few of these larger mistakes were not pretty.

This is was also the moment when I came to embrace my new best friend:

REPRINTS!!

The good news: this series has a wonderful readership (thank you, readers!) and gives me the opportunity to redeem myself in updated (aka fixed) versions of the books.

The bad news: the original versions are still out there aplenty, mistakes glaring in the spotlight…or so I imagine. Well, maybe not imagined; kids are astute and pick up on so many small details. That’s normally great, but not if you’ve realized you’ve made some cringey blunders.

So, this is why I’ve decided that – instead of ignoring these errors – I’d like to point them out…mainly before my readers do it for me (lol). Seriously, I think it’s good to own up to these and for young readers to realize that authors (drum roll, please)…

…are human!

I had listed and fixed 23 errors total (and those are just the ones I caught), but I’ll only display a few doozies below and why they will be addressed in the next book reprints. I also decided to update about a dozen details that seemed outdated (a few also noted below). Here we go!

INVISIBLE EMMIE, page 23: This is an update rather than an error. Since DVDs have gone the way of the dinosaurs, I’m updating it to read: “my mom has all these ancient DVDs from the fitness center.”

JUST JAIME, page 32: Similarly, I’m updating “Vines” to “SnapGab reels.”

JUST JAIME, page 193: Here’s a big one. I had to change “dad” to “mom” in Sarah’s speech bubble because it’s noted in SURPRISINGLY SARAH that Sarah’s dad had left her family early on. Arghhhh.

BECOMING BRIANNA, page 222: This is not an error, but in retrospect, I thought I’d change the words “He (or She)” to just plain ol’ “God” in order to be non-gender-specific.

TRULY TYLER, page 346: When I wrote ALWAYS ANTHONY last year, I had completely forgotten that I had already drawn an image of Anthony’s parents in TRULY TYLER. In ANTHONY, the parents look quite different. So, I redrew them for future printings of TYLER. Here’s the original image and the fixed version for TYLER:

REMARKABLY RUBY, page 163: Here’s a huge one. I had to change “dad’s” to “mom’s” because…well, Leah’s dad is DEAD. (Really, past me?) Yeah, big whoops.

ALWAYS ANTHONY: According to TRULY TYLER, JUST JAIME, and this book, there are inconsistencies about when Anthony had dated Nikki Lourde. Seems like I had gotten my timelines confused. In this case, I had already written and illustrated ANTHONY and couldn’t go back to fix this mistake, so I just have to own it.

So there you go. Some “oopsies” and a few updates. But, like I said, I’m owning them. Speaking of owning, there’s something cool about owning those pre-fixed original books: you possess something truly authentic and vintage, flaws and all!

At least, that’s how I’m gonna look at it.

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Happy Pub Day to ALWAYS ANTHONY!!

Today (5/7) is the day ANTHONY hits the shelves! This is the story of two unlikely friends who witness a not-so-friendly incident — all told with humor and heart. I hope you’ll love reading it as much as I loved creating it. Go get a copy from your local bookstore or from any of the store links on this page.

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