Elena Vanishing/Hope and Other Luxuries/Elena and Clare B. Dunkle (Chronicle Books): Reflections

A few years ago, in a novel called The Heart Is Not a Size, I wrote of Juarez, of a squatter's village, and of two best friends, Georgia and Riley, each of them navigating this foreign terrain while also navigating secrets. Georgia was privately negotiating anxiety attacks. Riley was declaring to anyone who asked (and Georgia, seemingly unwisely, had begun to ask) that she did not—absolutely did not—have an eating disorder, that she was not starving herself.

I wrote the book and created the characters because I understood both conditions all too well.

This coming spring, Chronicle Books will publish two companion books—true mother-daughter stories—about a young woman's struggle to stop hearing the hectoring internal voices that left her body starving, her heart working too hard, and her future imperiled. Calories were Elena's enemies. A bite of toast was a grave mistake. Numbers were everything. And Elena Dunkle was, in too many terrible ways, dying.

In and out of hospitals. In and out of rehab. In and out of conversations with the family who loved her and the specialists who seemed incapable of hushing the terrible voices. Elena Vanishing is grounded in extraordinary medical records, journals, and conversations. It is told in a high-velocity, present-tense voice. We see Elena's world. We hear the voices in her head. We rush headlong into an illness that may have a name but still remains, for every person afflicted, a mystery. Where does anorexia begin? How is it finally controlled? Where is the key that fits the lock, that stops time from running out?

You will read, your heart pounding. You will remember a version of someone you were, or someone you loved, or love still.

Ultimately, as Clare reminds the reader in an introductory letter, "this isn't the story of anorexia nervosa. It's the story of a person. It's the story of Elena Dunkle, a remarkable young woman who fights her demons with grit and determination. It's the story of her battle to overcome trauma, to overcome prejudice, but most of all, to overcome that powerful destructive force, the inner critic who whispers to us about our greatest fears."

There is depth, beauty, horror, and beauty again in Elena Vanishing. You'll read it, as I did, in a single day. You will think not just about the story that got made, but the story as it was being made—this mother, this daughter, remembering together, writing together, reaching out to the world together.

And when you are done there is a book called Hope and Other Luxuries to turn to—Clare Dunkle's memoir about loving this vanishing daughter of hers. Both books are being released by Chronicle next May. Both were edited by Ginee Seo, who poured her heart into these true stories and, once again (in Chronicle fashion), broke new ground by deciding to publish both sides of a story about an illness that affects millions of people around the world.

I own, it seems, the first two signed ARCs of both books, for I met Clare and Elena at the Chronicle booth at NCTE yesterday morning. I would like to thank Chronicle, as I close this blog, for including me at this event, for making such a home for me, for extending your friendship so warmly. Ginee Seo, Sally Kim, Jaime Wong—you threw one heck of a party, you look so good surrounded by Chronicle blue, and I am so proud to be a Chronicle author (and a Tamra Tuller writer).

Deepest thanks to those who stopped by to say hello, who stood in line for One Thing Stolen, who came and surprised, who spoke with me over a delicious meal. Twenty-four hours at the National Harbor. Not to be forgotten. Nor are these two books, by a mother and daughter.

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Introducing Wattpad, where stories get told (read GOING OVER excerpts free)

It's amazing, all the things I do not know.

How to get rid of the embarrassing yellow-flower weed in my front lawn. How to stop breaking my fingernails just when they've reached their prettiest. How to make my new-fangled pottery vases stand up straight. How to remain focused on what actually matters in life, even as I stare down petty worries and ricocheting fears of the unjust.

Etc.

I also didn't know a thing about Wattpad—a free community in which readers can chat with writers—until my friends Sally Kim and Ali Presley of Chronicle Books whispered the news in my ear. There are all kinds of authors here, all kinds of books, all kinds of reading opportunities. And, like I said, it's free.

I am now, officially, a Wattpad-er, and here is my I don't even have a single follower yet Wattpad page. I'll be posting chapters of GOING OVER here over the next several weeks and interacting with any reader who sends a note or asks a question.

Take a look.

But also, while I have your attention, here is something wild: While exploring Wattpad on my own yesterday, I discovered this—a Wattpad story called Unrequited Love whose second chapter begins with words that this writer named Beth Kephart wrote.

That's here.

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I had a messed-up dream, and GOING OVER is available as a free Kindle download sampler

There I was, just the other day, extolling the virtues of sleep. Last night, the durned beast was elusive (to say the least) and when I did finally fall away, I had one heck of a dream.

Let's just say that I was shoeless (how cliche!) and poorly dressed (of course I was) and standing before an unruly crowd about ready to speak (they had NO interest whatsoever in what I had to say) and — well — I'd forgotten my speech. Not only that, I'd forgotten the topic of my speech. Not only that, but when the guy introduced me, I could not imagine who he was, how he knew me, or what town I was in.

And there I stood. Speak! Speak!

Such is the messed-up mind of the author who is about to launch a book.

Thank goodness, therefore, that the incredible team at Chronicle Books has my back. That it keeps doing these wow things—like making a trailer, like running a blog fest (more on that soon), like (and I just found out about this yesterday, thank you, Ali Presley, Kristina Jutzi, and Sally Kim!) offering a download-able sample of the book for free.

So if you are on the fence about Going Over (oh dear, how cliche!), please check out the free sampler here. It won't cost you a dime. And maybe, by the time you see me next, I'll be able to speak.

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The GOING OVER excerpt: a first look at the inside pages

Chronicle Books has made Going Over, the Berlin novel due out on April 1, a priority—and I feel that every day. In their enthusiasm, in their ideas, in their innovations, in their just plain them-ness, they are united; they are engaged. "Reach out anytime," Sally Kim, who leads the marketing effort, said to me last evening, during a call she most certainly did not have to make. I appreciate these things, wholly.

I'll be sharing more about Berlin and the wall and the heartache and the possibilities as the launch countdown begins in earnest. Today I share a Going Over excerpt—a link made possible by the Chronicle team. This is the book. This is how my two characters—Ada and Stefan—speak of their separate worlds. This is Berlin, 1983.

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Welcoming the nation's librarians to Philadelphia, and celebrating our own Free Library (and Chronicle Books)

Last evening, I hardly felt the cold as I walked from 30th Street Station to the Warwick Hotel. The nation's librarians have come to my very own city for ALA Midwinter. So has Chronicle Books. And there I was, headed off toward a Chronicle-librarian vortex, with my mother's coat keeping me warm.

I found Chronicle's Ginee Seo, Lara Starr, Sally Kim, and my fabulous editor Tamra Tuller in the ballroom (note: these women are fashionistas!!). I also found Miss Adorable Herself, Lisa Morris-Wilkey, who made sure I would recognize her by the shimmer of that little pin she wears in her hair. The Grand Duke Walter was in the midst, as well as a librarian with a last name infinitely familiar to me—Novotny. It was a grand night as Chronicle's spring list was reviewed. I yearned to take every noted book home with me.

Asked to talk briefly about Going Over, I wanted to talk, most of all about Chronicle Books, which has been so extraordinarily generous to me. They keep placing surprises in my path. They keep thinking past me. I ask for nothing, and yet they appear with gifts. It is an extraordinary team. One example: Last week, a number of bloggers began to write to me, letting me know that Going Over ARCs had been sent their way. Facebook notes went up. Twitter feeds shimmered. And no one had ever said, Beth, we are going to do this for you, or, Beth, look what we did for you. It just got done.

So I am grateful to Chronicle Books, and I am grateful to Tamra Tuller, who brought me there and remains such a good friend, and I am grateful to the librarians who have come through this chilly weather to be in my city. I have written a love letter to a very particular Philadelphia library in this weekend's Inquirer—written my thanks to a program and to an individual, Andy Kahan, who makes sure that Philadelphians get their cultur-ating share of literature. But I hope that all librarians visiting my city today will know the love goes out to them, too.

I'll be back down in the city on Sunday, signing You Are My Only, now released as a paperback, for Egmont USA. Start time is 3 PM. I hope to see you, too.

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The GOING OVER Teacher's Discussion Guide

Like talented elves secreted away in a very special place, the Chronicle team has been at work on the Common Core Aligned Teacher's Guide for GOING OVER.

When Stephanie Wong sent me the document yesterday afternoon, I nearly fell over. It is so thoughtful, so remarkably thorough, so interesting, so well done that I could barely contain my joy. They asked for nothing from me. They, in fact, surprised me. And it's perfect.

Check out Tamra Tuller's clever tagline: A wall divides them, their love unites them.

This guide will be shared with teachers at the NCTE/ALAN conference I'll be attending next week in Boston. And I'm free to share it here on my blog. Should you know of teachers who might be interested in teaching a book about Berlin, divisions, war, love, and a certain question about the "guest" workers of Turkey who came to help a tattered country survive, please share this with them.

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