Cover Reveal – BEEN THERE DONE THAT, coming 11/15 from Penguin/Grosset & Dunlap

Lots of writing news coming this year! First up, I am very excited to have my work included in a middle grade anthology, which I think will be great for teachers, homeschoolers and parents interested in encouraging their children���s creative writing: BEEN THERE, DONE THAT: Writing Stories from Real Life, edited by Teacher and Editor Extraordinaire Mike Winchell.

Here���s the description: ���Where do authors get their ideas? And how do they turn those ideas into stories? This anthology looks at the process of taking real-life experiences and turning them into works of engaging fiction. The collection features award-winning and bestselling middle-grade authors who provide both original fictional short stories as well as the nonfiction accounts that inspired them. The contributing authors include Julia Alvarez, Karen Cushman, Margarita Engle, Dee Garretson, Nathan Hale, Matthew Kirby, Claire Legrand, Grace Lin, Kate Messner, Linda Sue Park, Adam Rex, Gary Schmidt, Alan Sitomer, Caroline Starr Rose, Heidi Stemple, Rita Williams-Garcia, Tracy Edward Wymer, Lisa Yee, and Jane Yolen.���

For my Iowa friends and family, my nonfiction piece features my dog Kitty, who you may remember was not the best dog in the world. In fact, she was mostly untrainable, though I loved her anyway. :)