Countdown to “A Stone for Sascha” Day 6 of 10: A Golden...

Countdown to “A Stone for Sascha”
Day 6 of 10: A Golden Heart

There are few things I enjoy more than adding the finishing touches to a book. Luckily, my designer at Candlewick, Maryellen Hanley, seems to either enjoy this too or just is willing to entertain my ideas for endpapers, covers, and case design. For “A Stone for Sascha,” I knew from the get-go that I wanted a stamp on the case cover beneath the dust jacket, just as I had done with the Journey Trilogy. Only this time, it was going to serve an emotional purpose. In fact, this stamp may be my favorite part of the book. Often, readers will assume that the name Sascha refers to the girl in the story. After all, there she is, standing on the cover, holding a stone. But Sascha is not the girl. Sascha is the name of her pet dog, who has just passed away. After the epic journey is over and the reader is contemplating the girl’s emotions of grief and acceptance, my hope is that they will think to examine the book more closely. Maybe they will flip back through the pages, study the endpaper maps, or take off the dust jacket and find the secret I’ve hidden there. It’s amazing to think that one small symbol can hold so much power.

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Come back tomorrow for part 8: Candlewick Interview. In the meantime, it’s not too late to pre-order your signed copy of “A Stone for Sascha” from my local indie, The Odyssey Bookshop in South Hadley, MA. Give them a call and let them know to whom you’d like it inscribed. They can ship it anywhere in the USA. “A Stone for Sascha” publishes Tuesday, May 8th.