Back-to-School Giveaway! And What I Did On My Summer Vacation.
September vibes, a back-to-school giveaway, and more . . .
Hello friends!
September’s here! I love September. September is my birthday month! And my husband’s birthday month, and our wedding anniversary month, and apparently the month we’ve designated to celebrate our pets as we threw them a birthday party the other day. (If you’re on Instagram, you can watch a reel of the party highlights 🥳)
For me, September is crisp mornings, wild sunflowers, and hot air balloons spotted regularly.
In September I often get a burst of motivation to finish projects. Maybe it’s the back-to-school energy of transitioning to a fresh start. Or maybe it’s because the end of the year is both close enough to see and far enough away that it feels possible to accomplish more. It’s good timing for me to have a burst of motivation to finish projects right now, as I’m currently working on the end of my next middle-grade novel. I could really use that energy to carry me through!
If you, like me, are stepping out of summer and into a new school year, then I hope you’ve had a nice summer break. Mine went by in a blink. Favorite moments included a trip to California with my son to visit my parents, making time for reading, late night s’mores, early morning garden puttering, and lots of family fun time.
Early in the summer, I was one of the authors speaking at Litapalooza in Chicago, where I talked on panels about a few of my favorite things: writing mysteries, ways to engage readers and make books fun, and picture books. The whole weekend left me inspired and thankful for the teachers, librarians, and book creators who care so much about kids and creating memorable, meaningful connections between them and reading. It was a positive, hope-enducing experience. If you are an educator and have the opportunity to attend next year, I recommend it! (And registration is already open!)
Riding that wave of gratitude for educators, I’d love to do a back-to-school giveaway for my newsletter subscribers! I’m giving away five sets of my books to school or classroom libraries. That’s 5 books for each school! If you are a teacher or librarian you can enter for yourself by filling out this form. If you aren’t a teacher or librarian, you can still enter on behalf of a school you’d like to gift the books to. Same entry guidelines apply. (Because of shipping costs, I can only mail to United States addresses. You’re welcome to enter no matter where your school is located, as long as there is a US address I can send the books to.) I will randomly pick 5 people and announce the winners in my next newsletter.
Odds and Ends
The Rocket Cat Book Club is back! If your classroom, book club, or individual middle-grade reader joined us in the spring, we can’t wait to have you back. If you didn’t join us then, but would like to now, we’d be happy to have you! We’ll be discussing Opinions and Opossums by Ann Braden on September 21 and Half Moon Summer by Elaine Vickers on October 26. Please fill out this form to join us.
Are you a grown-up who loves middle grade? Are you on Facebook? Please join us in the For the Love of Middle Grade group! I’m an admin along with a bunch of middle-grade authors and our hope is this will be a great place for teachers, librarians, authors, and other middle-grade book lovers to connect. So far there has been a lot of activity, sharing of ideas, events, and giveaways. Check it out!
Speaking of connecting elsewhere, are you on Threads or Blue Sky? I’m trying out both and would love to connect with you there. I’m @jabertie on Threads and @jennbertman.bsky.social on Blue Sky.
Last year for the launch of Sisterhood of Sleuths, I worked with a local school on a book trailer project that was SO MUCH FUN! The kids received advance copies of my book so they were able to read it ahead of publication, met with me to talk about the book and treated me like their client, then created their own book trailers. They did an awesome job! I showed these trailers during my launch week and at events, but recently added them to YouTube channel as well. I hope you’ll check them out!
I enjoyed talking with Bianca Barry of “Cover to Cover” for this interview about Sisterhood of Sleuths.
If you’re like me and feel the urge to finish projects this time of year, then I hope you’re making great progress toward your goals. I’d love to hear what you’re hoping to finish in the comments. And don’t forget to squeeze in some time for reading too! 🧡
Until next time,
Jenn
"You have been my friend," replied Charlotte. "That in itself is a tremendous thing."
― E.B. White, Charlotte's Web