{"id":1198,"date":"2011-10-11T11:29:18","date_gmt":"2011-10-11T15:29:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.old.caraghobrien.com\/book\/?p=1198"},"modified":"2011-10-11T11:29:18","modified_gmt":"2011-10-11T15:29:18","slug":"birthmarked-is-out-in-paperback","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.caraghobrien.com\/book\/birthmarked\/birthmarked-is-out-in-paperback\/","title":{"rendered":"Birthmarked Is Out in Paperback"},"content":{"rendered":"

(These remarks are cross-posted on the MacKids site<\/a>.)<\/em>\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The moment of Birthmarked<\/em>\u2019s paperback release gives me a portal into a little time travel.\u00a0 It invites me to leap forward because, for any readers who are about to discover Gaia\u2019s story, the paperback is now the real thing.\u00a0 This is the gritty version you\u2019ll read at the beach or squish at the bottom of your backpack, while the hardcover will shortly become a quaint artifact from an earlier time, a sturdy tome you might find on your older cousin\u2019s bookshelf or sleeved in plastic at the library.\u00a0 As more time passes, and other books in the series come out and aunts discover them for birthday gifts, I predict the stories will be identified by their matching covers, the new ones with the cool script and evocative, object-based pictures, while the lone hardcover of Birthmarked<\/em> with the windswept girl on the cover will seem more and more like an orphan.\u00a0 Such is the view from the future.<\/p>\n

If I take the portal back twenty months, that orphan was the real book, the only book.\u00a0 The hardcover is the one I\u2019ve held when giving readings, the one I\u2019ve signed and wrapped for gifts.\u00a0 I had no idea that I would hear from readers about how much they loved Gaia with her feisty determination, or how anxious they were about troubled, changing Leon.\u00a0 I hoped but didn\u2019t fully expect that those readers would tell their friends, mothers and grandfathers about my novel.\u00a0 They have.\u00a0 In time, Birthmarked <\/em>has been honored by YALSA, the Amelia Bloomer List, and the Junior Library Guild, and by state reading lists in Rhode Island, Georgia, Utah, Texas, and Arkansas.\u00a0 My novel is read overseas in five countries and counting.\u00a0 I\u2019ve found that people seem to genuinely enjoy Gaia\u2019s story, and I\u2019m incredibly grateful.<\/p>\n

When I bring the portal back to focus on this moment, this paperback seems like a slim, sophisticated little sister, full of promise.\u00a0 I like how the page numbers match the hardcover\u2019s so I can still find my favorite image on page 200, and I like the extras at the back with the unassuming photos and the opening scene from Prized<\/em>.\u00a0 I even like the timing, with this paperback appearing on the brink of the release of Prized<\/em>, Gaia\u2019s continuing story, which is about to materialize into its own corporeal form.\u00a0 For now, I can look up from my computer and be excited.<\/p>\n

So, thanks to my kind readers for leading Roaring Brook to believe there\u2019s a readership for this series, thanks to April Ward at Macmillan and Tim Green of Faceout Studio for the smashing new cover, and thanks to Jessica Tedder and Anna Booth for tireless help in creating the bonus extras for the back matter.\u00a0 Birthmarked<\/em> in paperback would not have happened without you.\u00a0 Thanks!<\/p>\n

All best,
\n Caragh<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(These remarks are cross-posted on the MacKids site.) The moment of Birthmarked\u2019s paperback release gives me a portal into a little time travel.\u00a0 It invites me to leap forward because, for any readers who are about to discover Gaia\u2019s story, the paperback is now the real thing.\u00a0 This is the gritty version you\u2019ll read at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[9],"class_list":["post-1198","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-birthmarked","tag-birthmarked-2"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.caraghobrien.com\/book\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1198","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.caraghobrien.com\/book\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.caraghobrien.com\/book\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.caraghobrien.com\/book\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.caraghobrien.com\/book\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1198"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.caraghobrien.com\/book\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1198\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1201,"href":"https:\/\/www.caraghobrien.com\/book\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1198\/revisions\/1201"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.caraghobrien.com\/book\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1198"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.caraghobrien.com\/book\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1198"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.caraghobrien.com\/book\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1198"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}