Sara: 2010!

Goodbye 2010, you have been great! My daughter started walking and talking and then running and yelling. I got to go to ALA in DC and BEA here and to SCBWI in Seattle and Houston. I got to attend the Vermont College of Fine Arts mini-res. I met many of my authors for the first time, and signed and sold some new authors.

2010 had lots of good news to recap:

SHADOWED SUMMER by Saundra Mitchell and THE MORGUE AND ME by John Ford were both nominated for an Edgar.

THE MORGUE AND ME was also nominated for an Agatha.

HOLD STILL by Nina LaCour and GENTLEMEN by Michael Northrop were both on the ALA's Best Books for Young Adult's List.

HOLD STILL won the Northern California Book Award for Children's Literature and was added to 6 more state lists.

GENTLEMEN was on the NYPL Stuff for the Teen Age 2010 list.

SECRETS OF TRUTH AND BEAUTY by Megan Frazer was on the ALA's Rainbow List.

GENTLEMEN and FAR FROM YOU by Lisa Schroeder were on the TAYSHAS list for 2010; CHASING BROOKLYN by Lisa Schroeder, HOLD STILL, A SWEET DISORDER by Jacqueline Kolosov and THE MORGUE AND ME are all on the TAYSHAS 2011 list.

CHASING BROOKLYN is also an ALA Best Fiction for Young Adults nominee.

OTHER by Karen Kincy is an ALA Popular Paperbacks 2011 nominee.

Starred reviews for Holly Nicole Hoxter's THE SNOWBALL EFFECT (Balzer & Bray), Jonathan Maberry's YA debut, ROT & RUIN(Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers), and Dan Wells' debut, I AM NOT A SERIAL KILLER (Tor).

And looking ahead to 2011, there is more good news to come and many books, including five debuts:

Troy Howell's middle grade fantasy, THE DRAGON OF CRIPPLE CREEK (Amulet) out in April, Alexa Martin's YA GIRL WONDER (Hyperion) out in the summer, and Robison Wells's VARIANT (HarperTeen), Jeff Hirsch's THE ELEVENTH PLAGUE (Scholastic) and Marianna Baer's FROST (Balzer & Bray), are all coming out in the fall.

Kristen Tracy's second middle grade, THE REINVENTION OF BESSICA LEFTER (Delacorte) will be out in January and her fourth YA, SHARKS AND BOYS (Hyperion) will come out in June.

Michael Northrop's second YA novel TRAPPED will be published by Scholastic in February.

Lisa Schroeder's fourth YA verse novel THE DAY BEFORE (Pulse) will be published in March and her second middle grade, SPRINKLES AND SECRETS (Aladdin) will be published in September.

Brian Meehl's third YA, YOU DON'T KNOW ABOUT ME (Delacorte) is out in March.

Ben Dolnick's second novel, YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE (Vintage), Dan Wells's final book in the John Cleaver trilogy, I DON'T WANT TO KILL YOU (Tor), Jonathan Maberry's third Joe Ledger novel THE KING OF PLAGUES (SMP) and Leslie Banks's new series begins with SURRENDER THE DARK (Pocket) all in March.

Christine Deriso's YA debut, THEN I MET MY SISTER (Flux) will be out in April.

Jonathan Maberry's stand alone zombie thriller DEAD OF NIGHT (SMP) will be out in the summer AND Jonathan's YA novel, the sequel to ROT & RUIN, DUST & DECAY (Simon & Schuster Books For Young Readers) will be out in the fall. (I am not convinced that Jonathan sleeps)

Brian Sack's second nonfiction book, THE B.S. OF A. : A PRIMER IN POLITICS FOR THE INCREDIBLY DISENCHANTED (Simon & Schuster) will be out in June.

Karen Kincy's BLOODBORN (Flux), the follow up to OTHER, will be out in September.

I will finally make it to the Bologna Book Fair, and meet the other Wells brother in Utah at the Storymakers conference. I look forward to all the surprised of 2011, terrible twos and tantrums and all! Happy New Year!

(Also, I have probably forgotten something! Apologies in advance!)