Last weekend Paul Kropp, the publisher of the Dragon Speaker book series, had Cheryl, Deb and I over for lunch because the books were in!!!
I think we spent the first little while just looking at the books and holding them and flipping through them… there was something rather surreal about it.
I’m having trouble uploading pictures right now, but I have cover shots and some other photos that I’ll post later.
The books are available from the HIP-Books web site (it doesn’t look like you can order them yet–the teacher’s guide isn’t back from the printers yet, which may be why), and in about a month, will be on Amazon.
On Wednesday night, Cheryl, Deb and I introduced the books at the CANSCAIP meeting in Toronto… nerve-wracking, but everyone was friendly and supportive. We had a few questions about what it was like, working together on the series and how we managed the logistics of it (gotta love the web). The last question, I think, was whether we’d work together again–of course we would!
Sylvia McNicoll, who has written about eight zillion excellent YA books, was there and gave us our first ever book sale. That might have been exciting regardless, but the fact that it was Sylvia made it special. I found a good home for the actual bill she gave me–and no, it’s not my bulletin board, although the cheque from my first-ever writing sale (Globe and Mail, 2002) is still there. Sorry about that, Accounting people.
There’s a web site for the series: www.dragonspeakerbooks.com. The Art section is worth checking out–Charlie Hnatiuk, the artist for the series, contributed some really interesting process sketches and a blurb on how he goes from sketch to book-ready art.