We have a dual Book Birthday at the League!

We are excited to have TWO fantastic books written by Leaguers releasing today! IN A HANDFUL OF DUST by Mindy McGinnis and THE FORBIDDEN FLATS by Peggy Eddleman.

Check them out:

The only thing bigger than the world is fear.

Lucy’s life by the pond has always been full. She has water and friends, laughter and the love of her adoptive mother, Lynn, who has made sure that Lucy’s childhood was very different from her own. Yet it seems Lucy’s future is settled already—a house, a man, children, and a water source—and anything beyond their life by the pond is beyond reach.

When disease burns through their community, the once life-saving water of the pond might be the source of what’s killing them now. Rumors of desalinization plants in California have lingered in Lynn’s mind, and the prospect of a “normal” life for Lucy sets the two of them on an epic journey west to face new dangers: hunger, mountains, deserts, betrayal, and the perils of a world so vast that Lucy fears she could be lost forever, only to disappear in a handful of dust.

In this companion to Not a Drop to Drink, Mindy McGinnis thrillingly combines the heart-swelling hope of a journey, the challenges of establishing your own place in the world, and the gripping physical danger of nature in a futuristic frontier.

Twelve-year-old Hope has always felt a little different from everyone else who lives in White Rock. She tries hard, but she doesn’t always think before she acts. She takes big risks. Sometimes her risks pay off, but sometimes they fail. Sometimes she fails.

Hope knows that the most dangerous thing about living in White Rock is that it’s so close to the deadly Bomb’s Breath—the invisible, fifteen-foot-thick band of compressed air that’s hovered over the earth since the Green Bombs of World War III. The citizens of White Rock live in fear of the Bomb’s Breath. Only Hope has figured out a way to go through it—and lived to tell the tale.

But when a massive tremor rips across the earth, the Bomb’s Breath begins to lower over White Rock. It’s up to Hope and her friends Brock and Aaren to make the dangerous journey far from home across the bandit-ridden Forbidden Flats to the wilds of the Rocky Mountains and obtain the one thing that may be able to stop it—before the Bomb’s Breath sinks too far and destroys them all. This time, Hope can’t fail.

Interview with THE FORBIDDEN FLATS author Peggy Eddleman

We are all excited for the release of the sequel to Sky Jumpers: SKY JUMPERS BOOK 2: THE FORBIDDEN FLATS which releases next Tuesday, September 23. If you missed my interview with Peggy for the release of book one, you can read it here.

Lissa: This cover has a timeless quality about it, almost classic. Tell us what it was like when you first saw the cover layout.

Peggy: I was so excited that Owen Richardson, the cover artist for Sky Jumpers, was available to create my second cover as well. He did such an incredible job with my first cover, and every single bit of his art is brilliant. I knew that whatever he came up with was going to be amazing. I had been keeping my fingers crossed that it would be a mostly orange cover, and was thrilled when I opened the email and saw that it was. I love the crack in the ground, and I love that we get to see one of the boys--- Brock-- a little more this time.

Lissa: How much time has passed since book one ended and this one begins?

Peggy: Four months.

Lissa: Since Sky Jumpers was your debut novel, (although not your first manuscript), how was your experience writing the sequel? Easier or harder?

Peggy: So. Much. Harder. I had heard that it was going to be more difficult, so I mentally prepared myself. I think I must've mostly figured that it would be tougher because of reviews, and knowing that people were going to be reading it, and neither of those things affected me much. But it is soooo much more than that. Sequels are a difficult beast all on their own, with nothing else entering into the mix. But it's not the only thing in the mix. After you've spent so many, many months making your first book all pretty and shiny and perfect, it's hard to remember that a first draft is every so.... ugly. It can make you feel like you've forgotten how to write! And when you add in the fact that your inner editor has become so much stronger in the process, and that you now have your editor's voice in your head, getting all the words on the page is like trudging uphill. Pushing a giant rock. Through tar. In a blizzard.

Lissa: For the journey across the Forbidden Flats, did you model the landscape on a particular area? Perhaps in Utah?

Peggy: Not Utah. It's actually the landscape between Cook, Nebraska, and somewhere around Fort Collins, Colorado. Even though technology was taken back quite a few years, the book actually takes place more than 50 years in the future. So I imagined how cities through that area would've been been built up before they were destroyed by the green bombs, and how the other parts of the landscape-- such as rivers-- would've changed. It was a lot of fun taking some artistic license and creating the cities they ran into along the way. My favorite was creating a city whose walls are made entirely of glass. The setting for the entire book was a blast to play in.

Lissa: You’ve worked as a tutor for fourth graders struggling with reading. Did any of your experience with them influence your writing style with this series?

Peggy: It did. For some kids, reading is SO HARD. And in order to get them to want to work hard at it, it really helps if they're reading something that they can relate to, and that they get excited about reading. I think those years really helped me to get a better grasp on the kinds of stories and the kinds of characters that make kids want to work hard to read.

Lissa: Any chance of another book in this series or too early to know? What’s next for author Peggy Eddleman?

For right now, this is the final book. The main conflict is addressed, and comes to a satisfying conclusion, and I am very happy with it. There are a lot of threads-- some very exciting ones-- that I left open, so that kids can dream about what goes on beyond the story. And who knows? One day I might decide to come back to it. But right now, I'm very excited to have the conclusion available! I've turned my focus to writing a new story-- another action / adventure, of course.

If you missed the first Sky Jumpers book, it is out in paperback the same day that The Forbidden Flats releases-- one week from today!

Want to connect with Peggy online? 

 Website | Blog | Twitter | Facebook | Tumblr | Goodreads | Newsletter

Summer Reading Club: Looking Forward

Dude, I so want to be able to see the future. Even just a few minutes like that one movie with Nicholas Cage.

Anyway, I digress. This week on our final installment of our League Summer Reading Club, we're bringing you titles we can't wait to read! Books that aren't out yet, but that should be on your To-Be-Read list already.

So let's add them to the club!

Beth Revis: I am so excited for THE WALLED CITY by Ryan Graudin. I was lucky enough to nab an ARC, and it is BRILLIANT. Absolutely beautifully written, with heart-pounding excitement. I'm truly fearful for all the characters. I've only read the first few chapters, and I'm already so crazily excited to see how it turns out.

Coming November 4.

Mindy McGinnis: I'm looking forward to JACK: THE TRUE STORY OF JACK & THE BEANSTALK by Liesl Shurtliff. She writes great fairy tale MG retellings that are hilarious for all ages.

Coming April 14, 2015

Bethany Hagen: I'm looking forward to SNOW LIKE ASHES by Sara Raasch. It sounds like a mash-up of Game of Thrones and Finnikin of the Rock, which is a combination guaranteed to delight me.

Coming October 14.

Peggy Eddleman: I am really looking forward to STITCHING SNOW by R.C. Lewis. A sci-fi Snow White retelling? Yes, please!! I've heard that the writing is incredible, and that it's full of action and adventure and romance and a kick-A main character. My kind of book!

Coming October 14.

Elana Johnson: I can't wait to read Karen Hooper's VIRTUAL ARCANA. I mean "The Matrix meets The Notebook"?? Sign me up for that! I think the whole premise of outlawed virtual reality games and the idea of the MC escaping into her novels (hello INKHEART!! Another fave!) makes VIRTUAL ARCANA sound like a real winner.

Coming in September.

Lenore Appelhans: I am really exited for Jen Brooks IN A WORLD JUST RIGHT about a high school senior who can create worlds at will. He's created one in which he's dating his crush, but one

day he makes a mistake and kisses her in the real world. I've read the first chapter and it's fantastic!

Coming April 2015.

What book are looking forward to?