News Update—Summer 2011

I’m gearing up for the release of two new books later this year: Torn, the fourth book in the Missing series, which comes out August 23, 2011; and a new stand-alone, The Always War, which comes out November 15, 2011.

Because it’s been a few years since I originally set up this website, I’ve also been trying to update it as a whole. I’ve added FAQs for all of my newer books (not just Torn and The Always War but also Sent, Sabotaged, Claim to Fame and Into the Gauntlet) and enlisted the web designer’s help in fixing a few broken links and other glitches. Hopefully there are no longer references anywhere on the site along the lines of “watch for this in the far-off future, 2009.” If you still see any mistakes, please send me a note on my Facebook fan page and I’ll try to fix it!

In other news, Simon and Schuster recently released a reading guide to both the Missing series and the Shadow Children series. Click here to get to it online.

News Updates—Spring 2010

I seem to be taking longer and longer between updates here—if you want the most current information, my Facebook fan page is a better source.

But I am writing this on my birthday, which seems like a good time for summing up. The big news is that I have TWO books coming out in August: Sabotaged, the third book in the Missing series is due on August 24, and Into the Gauntlet, the tenth book in the 39 Clues series, is due on August 31. Should be a big couple of weeks.

Because these release dates coincide with my own kids’ first week of school, all my book promotions in August will be in central Ohio, near where I live. When those details are firmed up, I’ll post them on my calendar. A few weeks after the books come out, in September, I’ll hit the road to talk about both Sabotaged and Into the Gauntlet a little farther afield. It looks like I’ll head to California and then to the National Book Festival in Washington, D.C.—again, I’ll post exact details when I have them. If it’s a long tour and I’m really jet-lagged I may end up scrambling information about the two books in really bizarre ways—which should give readers even more incentive to come out and see me on the road. (Just writing that has made me start pondering: How would the kids from the Missing series and the kids from 39 Clues get along, if they ever met?)

Here are a couple other tidbits from the past few months that might be of interest:

- The State Library of Ohio is distributing posters across my home state to encourage reading. The governor, first lady and various others—including Ohio authors—get to be on these posters. I am starting to hear from various friends and relatives, “Hey! I saw you on a poster at my library!” I really hope nobody mistakes it for a “Wanted” poster. If you want to check out or even download one of the posters, go to http://www.library.ohio.gov/Marketing/MediaCenter/READposter

- A TV interview I did a while ago in the Baltimore area has recently become available online. Go to http://www.abookandahug.com/books-alive and click on my interview to watch it. Or, watch one of the other authors!

- Various readers choice award voters have been very kind to Found lately. Found was selected as the 2009-2010 Pennsylvania Young Reader’s Choice Award, for Grades 6-8, the 2010 Massachusetts Children’s Book Award, and the 2009 Buckeye Children’s Book Award for grades 3-5. Thank you!

News Updates—Spring 2009

Depending on how you look at things, I am either very slow or very early in announcing this news: I am going to be writing the tenth and final book in the 39 Clues series. If you're clued-in, you may have already seen this announcement somewhere else (even, possibly, on my own Facebook page). But I've been slow about updating this website with the news, partly because the book itself won't be coming out until fall of 2010, which is still a long way off. And I've just now started researching info about... oops, I can't really talk about that. But I can tell you that the book will end with... okay, I can't actually tell you that, either. (Did you really expect me to?) I am having fun with the research, and I think I will also have a good time figuring out the conclusion to Dan and Amy's adventures.

In the meantime, Sent is coming in August, and I'll be going on a book tour to promote it in early September. And then my next book, Claim to Fame, will be out in November. So this is shaping up to be a very busy year!

News Updates—Winter 2008

I've been telling people that the second book in the Missing series will be available in the spring, but.... the official release date is now August 25, 2009. Sorry! Simon & Schuster wanted to bring Found out in paperback before releasing Sent, so that pushed the date back. I feel a little guilty now for ending Found on such a cliffhanger. But I hope you will feel that Sent is worth the wait.

Right now I am working on the revision of the third book in the series, which I initially intended to call "Lost," then decided to call "Deserted," and now am leaning toward calling "Sabotaged." It might be safest for me just to tell people to look for something labeled "The third book in The Missing series."

And I will have other book-related news to announce in early March!