Chapter 16
A Community of Tennessee Writers, Readers & Passersby

Gotta Dance

In Brooks Benjamin’s debut children’s novel, a seventh-grader faces some hard choices as he tries to figure out friendship, loyalty, and what it means to be true to yourself

April 13, 2016 In Brooks Benjamin’s middle-grade novel, My Seventh-Grade Life in Tights, twelve-year-old Dillon Parker wants to compete for a scholarship to dance school, but his freestyle crew thinks dance schools are for losers. Benjamin will appear at Parnassus Books in Nashville on April 16, 2016.

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A Day with Daddy

Nashville children’s author Josh Bledsoe celebrates fatherhood with his debut picture book

April 6, 2016 Josh Bledsoe brings readers a gender-bending day of adventure between a father and his daughter in Hammer and Nails, his debut picture book illustrated by Jessica Warrick. Bledsoe will appear at Barnes & Noble Booksellers in Brentwood on April 9, 2016, at noon.

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Dirty, Mangled, Smelly—and as Beautiful as Any Treasure

William Joyce takes young readers on an epic journey to rescue a beloved toy

April 5, 2016 Bestselling author-illustrator William Joyce discusses his epic new children’s novel, Ollie’s Odyssey, a tale of love and remembrance. Joyce will appear at Christ the King School in Nashville on April 12, 2016, at 6 p.m., and at The Booksellers at Laurelwood in Memphis on April 13, 2016, at 6:30 p.m.

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“tangerines”

March 28, 2016 Lagnajita Mukhopadhyay is a senior at Hume-Fogg Academic Magnet School, and she has been writing for as long as she can remember with the help of her creative and supportive parents. In 2015, she served as the first-ever Nashville Youth Poet Laureate, and her work is under contract with Penmanship Books. She will read from this is our war at Parnassus Books in Nashville on April 1, 2016, at 6 p.m.

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Mother, Father, Teacher, God

In Mrs. Ravenbach’s Way by William M. Akers, an epic and hilarious battle of wills ensues between a child and his domineering teacher

March 8, 2016 The struggle is real for Toby Wilcox, a fourth-grader at the McKegway School for Clever and Gifted Children. In Mrs. Ravenbach’s Way by William M. Akers, spirited and independent Toby clashes with the overbearing and inflexible Mrs. Ravenbach, leading to an end-of-the-year showdown. Akers will read from his debut middle-grade novel at Parnassus Books in Nashville on March 12, 2016, at 2 p.m.

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Reading as Life Practice

In Forest of Wonders Newbery winner Linda Sue Park gives middle-grade readers an imaginative place for considering moral dilemmas

March 7, 2016 Forest of Wonders is the first book in Linda Sue Park’s new fantasy trilogy, Wing and Claw. The Newbery winner will give a free public reading from her latest novel for middle-grade readers at Parnassus Books in Nashville on March 9, 2016, at 6:30 p.m.

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