Today, a day of riches, and I'm not sure I can adequately capture them, reflect them, send them back out into the world with as much power as they have—each of them—given to me. Quiet power. Not the kind that goes off strutting, but the kind that is found in the middle of the night, alone, beneath a full bright sheet of stars.
As they occurred to me, then, in the order that I discovered them:
A dear
overnight send off from My VERY GOOD Friend Amy.
Pam van Hylckama's (which is to say Bookalicious's)
exquisite review of Small Damages. She was in a car wash, as I recall, when she first read this book some time ago. I remember the happiness I felt when she whispered a few encouraging words my way.
Serena Agusto-Cox's incredibly kind Book Birthday Blog, which can be found
here.
Tamra Tuller's news of a beautiful VOYA review, which called
Small Damages, among other things, "a magical story that is simple, yet complex."
Joseph Glantz going live with an interview he has been conducting with me over the past few days; his questions touched on all aspects of my career—from
Flow to
Zenobia to
Dangerous Neighbors to the memoir work and to my love of place, my approach to dialogue, and my obsession with metaphors. Our conversation can be found
here.
Twitter love from Pam and Danielle, Kelly and Melissa, the Penguin team, Maya, Lydia, Jenna, and Ruta Sepetys, whose love continued into this late afternoon, when I came home from a circus and discovered a gift from her at my front door. We shall, indeed, have cake, Ruta. We shall. A note from Alyson Hagy, who cares so much. A note from my dear Ivy Goodman. An enthusiastic call from Amy Rennert, my agent. Dear notes from Jessica Shoffel. So many sweet emails from Tamra Tuller. Michael Green being his cryptic-funny-smart self. A virtual moment with Jill Santopolo. Kindness via Facebook.
The gloriously thoughtful words from the well-known and widely loved blogger, Florinda (3rsblog), with whom I have now had a long friendship, and with whom I get to cross paths, in person, every now and then, even though she lives 3,000 miles away. Her words are precious to me, and she is, too. Her thoughts about
Small Damages are
here.
The realization (thanks to Twitter) that
Small Damages had been named one of five hot YA picks "that will thrill adult readers just as much as teenagers" by
She Knows Book Lounge.
The stumbled-upon discovery that Melissa Sarno of the blog This Too is holding a
Small Damages giveaway over on her own fine words-rich blog. That rascal, that sneak—but thank you, Melissa. You. Should. Not. Have. If you want a shot at Melissa's generosity, you need to go
here.
An email from Missy Kemp containing the photograph above.
Small Damages, arrived in her home. That hint of orange. And, soon after, the arrival, here, of my own box of books. I can hold this book now in my hands.
And, finally, on this day, news that
BookPage had included Small Damages among "the handful of teen books from this year that adults need to read." The others on that list are Daniel Handler's
Why We Broke Up, John Green's
The Fault in Our Stars, Nike Lake's
In Darkness, Patricia McCormick's
Never Fall Down, Elizabeth Wein's
Code Name Verity, David Levithan's
Every Day, Margo Lanagan's
The Brides of Rollrock Island, and Rachel Hartman's
Seraphina. That is shocking and glorious company to keep, and of course the idea of having
Small Damages be considered as a crossover title is glory to the ears of this writer, who just yesterday published
a piece on the value (or not) of YA labels.
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