I'm super excited to share that I'm a member of THE 24/7s--a group of seven kidlit authors with middle-grade novels debuting in 2024!
I wouldn't call us a debut group, per se. All of us have had something traditionally published already. Some have written novellas, young-adult books, picture books, and work-for-hire projects. We've published poems, nonfiction articles, and fictional stories in children's magazines. But we are all debut authors in this sense: none of us have published middle-grade novels that are projects of the heart before.
My debut middle-grade novel, MAMA'S CHICKEN & DUMPLINGS, will be forthcoming from Margaret Ferguson Books, an imprint of Holiday House, in 2024. It's set in a thriving Black Southern community during the Jim Crow era. My main character, Allie, wants more than anything to have an unbroken life, and so she devises a Man-for-Mama Plan, a scheme to find her Mama a good man to marry. And so, with her Daddy Map in one hand and a jar of chicken and dumplings in the other, she sets on a quest within her neighborhood to locate the perfect fix-it-man–one who kind-smiles, who knows how to sing, and who loves her mama’s chicken and dumplings.
Throughout 2023, 2024, and beyond, THE 24/7s will be posting interviews, doing cover reveals, hosting book launches and giveaways, and celebrating when our books receive any kidlit kudos. I'm super excited I won't have to be launching my book alone, and hope you'll hop on over to our website to get to know about all seven of us and to learn about our books. I already have an interview posted. Check it out HERE!
I wouldn't call us a debut group, per se. All of us have had something traditionally published already. Some have written novellas, young-adult books, picture books, and work-for-hire projects. We've published poems, nonfiction articles, and fictional stories in children's magazines. But we are all debut authors in this sense: none of us have published middle-grade novels that are projects of the heart before.
My debut middle-grade novel, MAMA'S CHICKEN & DUMPLINGS, will be forthcoming from Margaret Ferguson Books, an imprint of Holiday House, in 2024. It's set in a thriving Black Southern community during the Jim Crow era. My main character, Allie, wants more than anything to have an unbroken life, and so she devises a Man-for-Mama Plan, a scheme to find her Mama a good man to marry. And so, with her Daddy Map in one hand and a jar of chicken and dumplings in the other, she sets on a quest within her neighborhood to locate the perfect fix-it-man–one who kind-smiles, who knows how to sing, and who loves her mama’s chicken and dumplings.
Throughout 2023, 2024, and beyond, THE 24/7s will be posting interviews, doing cover reveals, hosting book launches and giveaways, and celebrating when our books receive any kidlit kudos. I'm super excited I won't have to be launching my book alone, and hope you'll hop on over to our website to get to know about all seven of us and to learn about our books. I already have an interview posted. Check it out HERE!
