Rachel's Book Deal! Fortune Cookies for Writers (Video) + Junior Library Guild, Audiobook News & more!
Nick Courage
In this email: Announcing Rachel’s big book deal! Snow Struck: awesome audiobook + Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection! Another cooking with Courage video: Fortune Cookies for Writers! A quick Little Free Library update… plus an inspirational update on my last newsletter (about the Russian version of Mary Poppins)!
Most of you probably know my wife, Rachel, as a literary agent.
Some of you even knew her before that, when she worked as a book publicist—or, briefly, as the story time reader at the Barefoot Books boutique in FAO Schwarz!
I first met Rachel in the Flatiron building when I started out in publishing—basically in the mailroom—and ever since I’ve known her, she’s been helping authors get their books into the world (you can check out some of the books she’s agented on her website if you’re interested!)…
So I am so, so incredibly happy to finally be able to share that Rachel officially has her OWN novel coming out from Delacorte Press / Random House Children’s Books!
I’m also super-happy to finally share that Snow Struck was selected as a Junior Library Guild Gold Star Selection - and that the audiobook version is really, really great!
You can listen to a sample of the Snow Struck audiobook on my website or on the publisher site—it’s narrated by Jess Kaliban, who truly delivered a “full, three-dimensional performance” (that’s a quote from the audiobook producer, one of the many amazing people who are shepherding this book into the world). I honestly couldn’t be happier with this audiobook and I can’t wait for all the people who’ve been asking me about an audio version to check it out!
And if you’re not familiar with Junior Library Guild, they’re an organization that creates subscription boxes of high-interest titles for librarians. That’s a big deal for children’s literature… so if someone from JLG is reading this, thank you so much for choosing Snow Struck!
Cooking with Courage - Fortune Cookies for Writers!
VIDEO: Check out the latest episode of Cooking with Courage, Fortune Cookies for Writers!
If you’re interested in reading more about fortune cookies, I highly recommend starting with “Solving a Riddle Wrapped in a Mystery Inside a Cookie” by Jennifer 8. Lee (author of The Fortune Cookie Chronicles: Adventures in the World of Chinese Food).
If you follow me on Twitter, you probably see my Little Free Library updates from time to time - I even posted a collection of them in one of my newsletters (you can read through that here).
We’ve had fewer visitors now that the weather has gotten colder… but I’m happy to report that we’re still getting knocks on the door from little neighborhood kids who are asking for recommendations!
Last but not least!
My last newsletter—about “Discovering Russia’s Wonderfully Weird Mary Poppins"—got mixed reviews. My mom said it was too esoteric 😂 but there were a few people who made it through to the end… and who even started watching Meri Poppins, do svidaniya because of it!
So, for those few… I’m here with an update.
After I sent that last newsletter, I went to the library and borrowed every single biography of P.L. Travers and Walt Disney I could find. I’m only halfway through the first P.L. Travers biography… but I tore through one of the Disney bios (Walt Disney: Hollywood’s Dark Prince) and I wanted to share these two quotes about Walt Disney’s early years for anyone who’s ever felt a little creatively discouraged:
More to come… but I think that’s it from me for now! Thank you so much for reading this far and for sharing this email with your kid lit loving friends. I really like writing these little updates, and it’s makes me so happy to know that there are people out there who like getting them!
Your friend,