Last Saturday I showed up at the UW Bookstore at 3:45 feeling pretty sick to my stomach that I was going to have to stand in front of people and talk about my book. Ugh. The spotlight is not my thing. Additionally, I had no idea if anyone was even going to show up to the event. Did I remember to invite people? I was pretty sure I had, but I was also thinking about who I had forgotten to invite and really, my head was a nervous wreck. Immediately upon entering the store, I spied people I knew browsing books all over the place. I saw my Clarion West mentor, my next door neighbors, and even a friend from high school. Lots of hugs and congratulations ensued before I made it upstairs to see this lovely display:

Okay. The book store had remembered I was coming and even had my books. Phew. I chatted with the very nice book store employee while more people floated upstairs, including my parents, my sister and members of her book club, some writer friends, and old housemates. It seemed, at the very least, like there would be some people to fill the seats. Oh! And I ran into this kid, who has a character named after her in the book:

Then the clock hit four and I knew I should probably wait a little bit to get started, which is the Seattle style, but I just couldn’t. Before you knew it I was behind the podium speaking about writerly secrets and going on and on about why I wrote this book and how people can support debut authors. I looked something like this:

What you can’t see, and what I wasn’t smart enough to remember to take a picture of, is the crowd, which grew and grew while I talked. People had to grab more chairs and expand out into the bookstore and everywhere I looked there were smiling people who had come out to celebrate me and my Little Apocalypse. It was so huge. It made my heart grow bigger. Over sixty people showed up to launch my book into the stratosphere. I read some pages of it. People seemed to like it? Then it was time to sign books, and the line snaked and stretched all over the place. I couldn’t stop grinning as I signed every book and the employee had to run downstairs to try to find more copies. Oh, it was so lovely. And then it was drinks at Flowers and laughing with old friends. Sometimes I don’t know what I’ll make a deep memory of, but other times a moment is so shiny and perfect that I know it will stay with me forever. Thanks to all of you who made my book launch perfect.

Question: Where and when?

Answer: Saturday March 23rs at 4pm at the UW Bookstore (4326 University Way NE
Seattle, WA 98105).

Question: Will there be vegan gluten free cupcakes?
Answer: Heck yeah!

Question: Is Katie really nervous and excited?
Answer: Heck yeah!

Question: Are there going to be slinkster-cool Little Apocalypse zines for everyone?
Answer: Heck yeah! And they are so cute.

Question: Can I bring my kids?

Answer: You better! And if they are rowdy, unruly, and disruptive, all the better.

Question: Should those of us who can all go to a pub/restaurant/speakeasy afterwards and party like it’s 2019?
Answer: Heck yeah!

Official information at:

http://www.ubookstore.com/events?evmonth=03&evyear=2019&eventid=2019011117465300&pre=20190313&pst=20190329

Hello!

Hope you are all doing wonderfully, wherever you may be. I’m drinking tea and sitting in a tiny blue office. It has been raining all night and into the day, but I have sunlight pouring out of me. Because today, today! My book Little Apocalypse has flown the nest and is out in the world waiting for any and all people to pick it up and read it. It wears a beautiful cover and had all kinds of experts pour over it to make it the best book it could possibly be. I’m really proud of it, and love the story it tells.

Little Apocalypse is a middle-grade book for younger readers, but I think it’s one of those books that anyone could read. It’s about a lonely girl who finds herself plunged into a strange adventure after a catastrophe hits her city. It’s also the story of a ragtag group of misfits who decide to change the world when everyone tells them that’s not possible. Or maybe I should say it’s a story about how friendship and love are a certain type of potent magic that is just as powerful as spells and prophecies. If you read it, I would love to hear what you think about it.

I’m going to be giving a lovely copy to one of you: email contact@katherinesparrow.net to let me know you want to be entered, and hopefully you will win. If not, it is available for purchase at these links:

https://www.indiebound.org/book/9780062849762
https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/little-apocalypse-katherine-sparrow/1128064631#/
https://www.amazon.com/Little-Apocalypse-Katherine-Sparrow/dp/006284976X

Also, if you happen to be in Seattle on Saturday, March 23rd, you are invited to my book launch party at the University of Washington Book Store at 4pm. I would love to see you there!

Many Thanks,
Katherine Sparrow

 

There’s so much I love about this book cover. I love all the lurking monster mayhem in the background and the total feeling of doom all over the place. Most of all, I feel like the illustrator did an amazing job of capturing Celia, the main character. Thanks, Eric Deschamps!

So, every day I’m getting more and more excited about my book, Little Apocalypse, coming out. It is being published by HarperCollins, who have been a real dream to work with. They helped make this book as shiny and perfect as it could possibly be (which is to say, it will still be imperfect and have some errors, I am sure, all of which are my fault).

I am so excited for kids to read this book, in part because it’s the kind of book I really wanted and needed to read as a kid. Without giving a lot away, it has a kind of heroism and friendship that I think is really important. It’s not about being the strongest or bravest, but about seeing people in trouble and doing something about it.

Also, it’s a monster book. With really cool monsters and a whole underground world of monster hunters, resistant movements, and stories that may or may not be exactly truthful. Read it, why don’t you!

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/little-apocalypse-katherine-sparrow/1128064631?ean=9780062849762

One of the fun things about getting a book published is that people read your book before the book is even published (Little Apocalypse is hitting the world March 12th!) And some people even like it! I really love this blog post from the might emma at Books Beyond Binaries, and especially like this part of it:

 

“My favourite things about this book are that, 1, it was written for book lovers. It has a bookworm MC, features a library in one of its settings, and even some of the most dramatic apocalyptic imagery was book-evocative. 2, it’s a friendship book. There are little hints at romance in places in this novel, but ultimately, it is all in on nuanced, complicated, platonic relationships. 3, the monsters are awesome. 4, the author does not shy away from moral ambiguity in this book, and I love the depth and complexity of that gray area.”

 

Emma also talks about how this book might have some relevance for queer, non-binary, and trans youth, which makes my heart sing! Read the whole thing at:

https://booksbeyondbinaries.blog/2019/02/04/affirming-middle-grade-gems-spring-2019/

 

You, and you, and yes, even you are invited to my super shiny and amazing book launch party for Little Apocalypse! Though the book is coming out March 12th, the event will be a bit later. It will be a party of massive proportions, or maybe I mean I will read a little from the book, take questions, sign some books, and we will all eat cupcakes. It would mean the world if you (yes you!) could make it.

It will take place on March 23rd at 4pm at:

University Book Store
4326 University AVE NE
Seattle WA 98105

Hope to see you there!

People! Did you know, did you know, did you know that my middle grade book Little Apocalypse comes out in less than a month? It is very very easy to pre-order at anywhere anyone buys books. Here are some lovely things people who know books are saying about it:

“Be prepared to devour this magical, fast-paced adventure about friendship, appearances, and power in one sitting.” (School Library Journal)

“Vivid imagery and plenty of cool monster-fighting sequences.” (Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books)

“Impending danger drives the fast pace of the plot. A darkly magical, high-stakes adventure.” (Kirkus Reviews)

I have been in love with this cover ever since I got a very rough image of it a while back. There’s something the artist really nails about a feeling of loneliness as well as the uneasy sense that things aren’t quite right. Many thanks to the fine folks at HarperCollins for putting together a cover that feels perfect for the book. And thanks to Middle Grade Mafia for doing the reveal!

Drum roll please… here it is!!