Trudi Trueit's Blog

trudi trueit

Yippee!!! It's pretty rare for me to use three exclamation points, but this week I got a few ARC's (Advanced Reviewers Copy) of my upcoming tween novel, Stealing Popular (Aladdin). The last time I saw my novel it was a mere manuscript with all kind of notes and copy editing marks and a coffee stain or two, and then, suddenly, ta da! It showed up on my doorstep as a book. Well, almost a book. ARCs are, typically, bound from the first pass, so there are mistakes that will be corrected before the final version is printed. But it's close and that's exciting. Pinocchio has come to life!
Stealing Popular is the story of 12-year-old Coco Sherwood, a budding artist, who has been to five schools in seven years. She's eager to put down roots and make some real friends. Tired of seeing the popular kids in her new school catching all the breaks, she decides to take matters into her own hands, stealing glory from the popular kids to give to the misfits. But when she dares to take on the most popular girl in school, this modern day, middle school Robin Hood may have met her match.
If you are a book reviewer, blogger, or librarian, and would like to request an ARC, please message me through the contact page on my website, www.truditrueit.com with your complete name, title, and mailing address and I will pass your request on to my editor. I can't guarantee that you'll receive one. They are in limited supply and Simon & Schuster has the final say on distribution, but I'll do my best! I'll also be hosting an ARC give-away this spring, too, so check back here for more details on how to enter.
Look for Stealing Popular from Aladdin's MIX line of tween books in early September!

I've noticed a troubling trend lately. Several authors have posted on Facebook, with much sadness and regret, that they are shutting down their personal blogs. The reason is the same: they don't have enough time to post as regularly as they feel they should. So they have decided the best strategy is to throw in the towel altogether.
To me, blogging is a bit like keeping a journal. Okay, a public journal, but a journal none-the-less. When you journal, if you tell yourself you must make an entry every day or every few days, the moment you fall behind, you're doomed. It's only a matter of time before you convince yourself that you can't possibly keep up with the pace and you quit journaling altogether. However, if you ease up on the expectations, and instead, sit down to write when the mood strikes, you can journal for months or years, or even a lifetime.
Because blogs are public, I understand the internal and external pressures to blog weekly. But for busy writers it just isn't realistic. It certainly isn't realistic for me. Deadlines loom. Revisions are due. The calendar is dotted with classroom visits, workshops, and other appearances. This week, I've worked on revisions for one book, written two chapters in another, and outlined a third (I'm writing this blogpost while eating lunch!). I have to make a living and that comes first. So I do what I can do. I try to blog about once a month here, once a month for my middle grade author team blog, Smack Dab in the Middle, and once every two months for my publisher at the Simon and Schuster website author blog. That's the most I can commit to, and if it gets to be too much, I scale back a bit. That's life.
Just like a personal journal, I think a blog should be defined and shaped by its author. Post when you have good news to share or some fascinating topic to discuss. Post when you can, be it once a week, once a month, or less often. Just post. Don't completely retreat from the world. To the readers who enjoy your work, even the small nuggets are still golden.
I'd like to chat more but I need to get back to work ...

Take one middle grade author from Seattle, Washington (moi), 120 creative students from Gadsden, Alabama, throw in some techno hocus pocus and you've got the recipe for a fun, fast-paced virtual author visit!
I am thrilled to be part of Skype Authors, a group of children's authors who have pledged to donate 25% of our Skype fees to charity. To get the website off to a rousing start, Skype Authors held a contest in October, with two winners being selected to receive a half-price Skype visit (the entire fee went to Skype Authors 2011-12 charity, CAMFED, an amazing charity that supports educating girls and young women in Africa).
One of the contest winners, Susan Wills, a media specialist from R.A. Mitchell Elementary, selected me for her Skype visit. What an honor! Projected in the school cafeteria on a movie theater-sized screen (I was enormous!), I told the third and fourth graders about how I fell in love with storytelling when I was their age, and began writing plays. I discussed my career as a TV news reporter and my path to publication, giving the students a sneak peek at my upcoming releases and what I'm working on now. I got to lead the kids in an interactive creative writing exercise, a Q & A session, and a game (complete with prizes sent ahead of time to Mrs. Wills). The Mitchell Elementary library also received bookmarks and a complimentary audiobook of my latest release, Secrets of a Lab Rat: Scab for Treasurer?
I was so impressed with how imaginative and articulate the students were. The fact that I was on the big screen didn't slow them down a bit. We were able to create and share ideas as if I was right there. Sometimes, it felt as if I was there!
For the kids, I think the highlight of the visit was a surprise appearance by my trusty assistant and calico cat, Bernadette. I'm still not exactly sure what was going on behind me that had the kids howling with laughter, but I suspect a toy mouse may have been involved.
If you are a teacher or librarian, Bernadette and I would love to Skype with your class, too. My Skype fees are $125 per half hour or $200 per hour. You can contact me through my website at www.truditrueit.com. Remember, all Skype Authors pledge to donate 25% of their Skype fees to charity! So why not Skype me in to your school or library? We'll have fun and help a great charity!

What I love about writing nonfiction is how much I learn along the journey, and my newest book, Technology of the Ancients: The Vikings proved just as enlightening! 

Here are a few bits of trivia I discovered while researching and writingThe Vikings:To 'go Viking,' meant to go on a raiding run. In the 8th Century, theterm Viking applied only to the pirate plunderers, not the Scandinavian people).The Vikings never wore horns on their helmets. That myth wasstarted several centuries later by the Europeans.A Scandinavian woman had more freedoms than her counterpartsin other cultures. She was allowed to handle the family finances and evendivorce her husband if she chose. However, she could not vote or hold public office. It was the Vikings that first set foot on North Americansoil, not Christopher Columbus. Viking navigators likely used a clear crystal, called Iceland spar,to steer the ship. The crystal helped them to locate the sun on a cloudy day. So the next time you see a horned Viking helmet on the coverof a book, you'll know the real truth!
Hope your Fall is filled with some fascinating nonfiction!
All photos courtesy of Marshall Cavendish, copyright 2011.

Did you know the ideas for most of the nonfiction library books you check out don't come from the author? Typically, they are conceived by the publishing house and its editors, who then, contract authors to write the books. Most of my nonfiction books were assigned this way. But, I am pleased to say, my new nonfiction series for children called Backyard Safari was different. I am fortunate to write for Marshall Cavendish, a publisher who encourages ideas from its authors, and this series was something I had wanted to do for a long time - a very long time!

When I was eight years old, we moved to a house in the suburbs with a big yard. In the summer, I would pack up my magnifying glass, camera, plastic binoculars and head outside in search of wildlife. I was on strict orders from my mother to stay in the yard so there wasn't much 'wild' in the wildlife I encountered. Still, the array of birds, squirrels, ladybugs, dragonflies, and spiders I discovered fascinated me. I even took photos of the critters I found (and named a few along the way). I wrote Backyard Safari for kids like me, who love to follow a caterpillar inching along a leaf or turn over a rock and see what's beneath it. Each book in the series gives some basic information about a particular backyard animal, then leads readers on a safe, fun backyard trek. There's a small field guide in each book, and more resources for further identification. 
Backyard Safari titles being released this month are:Birds Caterpillars & ButterfliesFrogs & ToadsSquirrelsSpidersFive more titles will be released in the fall of 2012 (so if you love slugs & worms, ants, beetles, grasshoppers, or dragonflies, hold on). 
Young explorers, your mission is to head on out there into the wilds of your yard and see what you see! And if you find something unique, learn something new, or just have a great time on your safari, write and tell me about it. I love a good adventure! Who doesn't?

Now that contracts have been signed (wahoo!) I can officially announce my next fiction novel will be released by Simon and Schuster as part of Aladdin's MIX series. It's exciting to be in such fine MIX company as authors Barbara Dee and Lauren Barnholdt. My book is called Stealing Popular and the story revolves around a feisty middle school girl, who's had enough of the popular kids getting everything in life. So what does she do? She snags fame, glory, and success from the undeserving popular kids only to bestow these gifts on the unpopular, dorky, and forgotten (I could have used a little of that magic in my younger years). Of course, every action has a consequence and the result is a little more than our modern-day Robin Hood bargained for! I'll be working on final revisions this summer and the book will be released in the fall of 2012. More to come on this one ...
Also, I've just learned that publisher Autentica Editora has picked up the rights to publish all three Secrets of a Lab Rat titles in Brazil. With luck, No Girls Allowed (Dogs Okay), Mom, There's a Dinosaur in Beeson's Lake, and Scab for Treasurer? will be released in South America by Christmas!
Finally, I opened my e-mail this morning to a review of Secrets of a Lab Rat 3: Scab for Treasurer? from School Library Journal. Gulp. As you may know, I make it a point to never read reviews, unless they are good, which this one was (I think my editor knows me well enough not to send the ugly ones). Here's a little of what SLJ had to say:  
"This book, with its amusing sidebar secrets and lists, is simple and funny enough to pull in reluctant readers, and youngsters will jump right in and enjoy the humor, fast-paced action, and gross-out moments."
Thank you, SLJ! So, all in all, a pleasant week with some nice surprises. Of course, we haven't hit Friday yet ... 

"You write fiction and nonfiction?" asked a young boy recently, his tone implying 'they let you do that?'

They do, indeed. And my love for both of them started a long time ago.

The fall after I turned eight, my family moved from the city to a small town outside of Seattle. New, shy, and awkward, I took to ducking into the school library during recess. It was against the rules. Mrs. Peek, the petite librarian, saw me do this, but didn't say anything. It was in that stuffy, school library with the lime-green carpet I discovered everything that was missing from my life—laughter, mystery, adventure, excitement, fearlessness, love, gentleness, and compassion. I devoured books like Kidnapped, Little Women, Charlotte's Web, Chronicles of Narnia and anything by Beverly Clearly. It was bliss. Pure bliss. But, as in every good fiction tale, the lime-green rug was about to be pulled out from under me.

Every fall, Mrs. Peek chose a group of honor students to be shelf-keepers. Each child was assigned a shelf to straighten and maintain by re-shelving returned books. Above each shelf, Mrs. Peek placed a card with the shelf-keeper's name. If, after her weekly inspection, Mrs. Peek found everything in proper order, she'd place a sticker on the card. When, in the autumn of fifth grade, Mrs. Peek, chose me to be a shelf-keeper, I was ecstatic. I couldn't wait to find out which precious fiction shelf she had entrusted to me. Maybe the W's with Laura Ingalls Wilder's series? Or, perhaps, the C shelf with my beloved Beverly Clearly?

When Mrs. Peek handed me my card, I went numb. All I saw were—horrors—numbers! A nonfiction shelf? I had been relegated to the back of the library to the—ick—travel section. Soon, my name would be stuck on that bookshelf for everyone to see. I was devastated. Angry. Humiliated. Walking home that day, I fought back tears. I wanted to quit, but I knew if I did I would disappoint Mrs. Peek. So I decided to hang in there. Each morning, I made sure every title on my shelf was in proper Dewey Decimal system order, from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe. I pretended not to see the fiction shelf-keepers as they danced by with the likes of Judy Blume, E.L. Konigsburg, and my Beverly Cleary on their carts, while I struggled to shelve heavy travel books with fold-out maps that refused to fold in.

As the stickers began to fill my shelfkeeper card, something happened. At first, it was a gentle tug. Then an insistent pull. I couldn't help it. I had to do it. I opened the biggest book on my shelf, a 20-pounder on Australia. When I saw the giant photo of loggerhead turtles paddling through the waters of the Great Barrier Reef, I was hooked. One by one, I read all of the books on my shelf. I learned about people I had never heard of, animals I had never seen, and places I could barely pronounce. And day by day, my world grew a little larger.

In the fall of sixth grade, Mrs. Peek took me aside. She told me I had done such a good job with the travel section, I could have my pick of any shelf in the library. Any shelf? I did not hesitate. Guess which one I chose?

I often wonder where Mrs. Peek is today, and what she would say if she knew the quirky girl behind the tortoise shell glasses would one day write nonfiction books (68, so far), on everything from video gaming to storm chasing, earthquakes to Earth Day, and—yep—even travel. 

I like to think she does know. I like to think she knew all along.

After spinning the giant drum holding all 1,000,009 entries (okay, maybe there weren't quite that many), we chose two winners in our Secrets of a Lab Rat give-away. The lucky recipients of a Scab For Treasurer? book are:NOELLE CHERYL
Congratulations to our winners, and we'll be in touch soon to make arrangements to get your book to you. Many thanks to everyone who entered the contest, and to those who so kindly shared the disgusting details of the worst thing they ever consumed, you have our deepest sympathies. Maybe we should have a consolation drawing for a year's supply of Pepto Bismal?

S.L.R. Illustrated by Jim Paillot

Just one more day left to enter the contest for a FREE signed copy of Secrets of a Lab Rat: Scab for Treasurer? You can enter by leaving a comment here or through my website, www.truditrueit.com . In this third installment, Scab McNally dares to run against the smartest girl in the class for president. As his twin sister, Isabelle, is so fond of saying, "What was he thinking?" To impress his classmates, and win votes, Scab figures he'll become the Human Vacuum and eat everything (well, almost everything) the kids bring to school. Before the final page, Scab's in for plenty of edible surprises and so, come to think of it, is Isabelle. Whether you have a wacky brother or you are one, it's non-stop fun reading about Scab's elementary school adventures. Don't forget to enter the contest or some lime Jell-O with pistachio nuts and tuna just might mysteriously show up on your doorstep.