In Woods Runner, Gary Paulsen creates a tale that returns to the wilderness of his beloved Hatchet but takes it back in time to the Revolutionary War. “I wanted to dispute the mythic, clean, even antiseptic qualities in many histories, because war is never, not ever, clean,” he writes. He will read at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville on March 2. Prior to the visit, he took some time to correspond by email with Chapter 16.
Ethan Wate, the sixteen-year-old scion of an old Southern family, feels as if complete stagnation is slowly destroying his soul. Then Lena Duchannes arrives. The mysterious new girl is the niece of the town’s reclusive—and unpopular—eccentric, who lives in a crumbling mansion on the outskirts of town. It’s only a matter of time before voodoo charms give way to graves in this debut YA novel. Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl will read from and sign copies of Beautiful Creatures at Davis-Kidd Booksellers in Memphis on January 27 at 6 p.m.
Not very long ago, YA novelist Helen Hemphill was doing PR for the finance industry—about as far from the bright colors and characters of the children’s-book section as it’s possible to get. Then, after more than two decades in the business, Hemphill walked away. The gamble paid off: in the past four years alone, she has published three novels, and all of them have racked up accolades and starred reviews. Her second title, Runaround, has just been released in paperback.
Lin Stepp
Parkway Publishers
240 pages
$14.95
“Well, I’ve finally come across someone that believes in all the things that I do… love, family, faith, intrigue, mystery, loyalty, romance, and a great love for our beloved Smoky Mountains.”
Dolly Parton
John Carter Cash is Grammy-winning music producer. He has worked on albums by virtually everyone in the Nashville pantheon—stars like Loretta Lynn, George Jones, Kris Kristofferson, Emmylou Harris, Willie Nelson, Rosanne Cash, Vince Gill, and John Prine—but he’s still best known as the only child of Johnny Cash and June Carter. In 2007, Cash published a biography of his mother, Anchored in Love: An Intimate Portrait of June Carter Cash, and earlier this year he brought out a children’s book inspired by her, as well. He talks with Chapter 16 about his mother, his wife, his children—and his next book.
Written by Peyton Manning, Eli Manning, and Archie Manning; Illustrated by Jim Madsen
Scholastic Books
40 pages
$16.99
In Family Huddle, NFL stars Peyton and Eli Manning, along with their father, Archie, tell the story of family trip they all took back when the boys were children. In the largest single-name donation in the history of the ClassroomsCare Program, the Mannings—along with Scholastic Book Clubs and its partners, Reach Out & Read and Save the Children—will donate one million books to children in need.
“Alongside the Brothers Grimm as sibling authors of children’s books, you can add the Brothers Manning.”
Indianapolis Star
