Meghan McCain's Picture Book

Meghan McCain, First Daughter in Hoping, is trying to emulate incumbent First Daughter Jenna Bush by publishing a children's book of her own. A prolific blogger and Columbia-trained journalist, 23-year-old Meghan has written an illustrated biography of her father. Simon & Schuster will release the book in September, illustrated by Dan Andreasen (artist for American Girl's FELICITY and SAMANTHA along with many other children's books), and the idea originated in the fertile mind of editor Mark McVeigh.

Why is this bit of news on the Fire Escape, you might ask? Only because my fictional character Sparrow has been tracking Meghan along with the other First Kid wannabes, and sparrowblog is averaging about 400 unique visitors a day thanks to google power -- do a search on Sasha and Malia Obama for example. Now if only 10% of those people would buy First Daughter books ...

Costco Rocks My World

Just was cc'ed on this message to Ingram from the assistant buyer of Costco:

Can you work on getting a buy placed on (the First Daughter Books) for DC, Virginia and Maryland? Once we see sales in those areas, we can review to see if we should expand.

I'd go leaping through the aisles of my local Costco, but I know that so much depends on how they sell. I'd hate for Dutton to get boxes and boxes of returns. Aw, heck. This is amazing news. Let's throw caution to the wind -- anyone want to meet me for a celebratory boogie near the rotisserie chicken in the Waltham store?

First Daughter Interview and Review

Apparently teens are reading American YA lit in Quezon City, Philippines, and First Daughter: White House Rules was recently reviewed at a hospitable blog called "Into The Wardrobe," where I was also asked to give an interview. Maraming Salamat, Tarie!

My First Daughter Fairy Tale

A couple of reviewers have applied the phrase "fairy tale" to my First Daughter books. Homeschool teacher and former librarian Sherry Early laments that the real world can't be like Sameera's, nonetheless giving First Daughter: White House Rules a lovely review and ending with a question one hopes many story consumers will ask:

It’s well-written teenage romance and adventure with a subtle, understated message of anti-racism, acceptance and respect for other cultures. What’s not to like?

Jenna Bush And Mitali Speak Simultaneously

That's right. Here I am in Dallas for the GIGANTIC Texas Library Association Conference, and the real First Daughter is speaking about Ana's Story exactly during the hour of my Books Between Cultures session (she's appearing at noon in a huge banquet hall; I'm tucked in a conference room somewhere). Interesting timing, considering that one of the reasons I'm here is to sign and promote my First Daughter novels. There's irony in there somewhere for those of you tracking my pajama publicity efforts. Oh, well. I'm off to the exhibit hall, consoling myself with the super-sized everything here in Dallas -- airport, convention center, food portions on every plate, smiles, and the unsurpassed hospitality of Texas librarians.

Review Copies of White House Rules

Dutton just found and sent me a box of extra galleys of First Daughter: White House Rules, book two about First Daughter wannabe Sameera "Sparrow" Righton (ages 11-up). Interested in a review copy? Leave a comment below or contact mitaliperkatyahoodotcom with your snail mail address.

May The Force Be With Your Book

Here are some nice mentions and reviews of First Daughter: White House Rules. Thank goodness for library and web love when it comes to books that don't get too much attention at big chain stores.

I have to confess that it's a guaranteed downer to visit one of those name-brand bookstores. Inevitably, even though I know I shouldn't, I wander over to the teen lit section and discover the place on the shelf where my First Daughter books coulda-shoulda have been, especially in an election year.

My hope, like that of many other authors, is in jedi indies with their handselling power, and in the force, a.k.a. net buzz, which might actually decide to be with us.

My Books Float Across The Atlantic

Yes, that's my little Rickshaw Girl, the French edition, aka De père en fille, releasing this month from Flammarion.

Meanwhile, at the Irish Society For The Study of Children's Literature Conference last month, here was a session presented by Shehrazade Emmambokus:

How children’s literature of the South Asian diaspora responds to the media’s vilification of South Asian minority groups following the 11 September attacks.

Immediately following the World Trade Center and the Pentagon attacks on 11 September 2001, the international news media was gripped by the events that took place. However, not only did the news media respond to these events, but other forms of cultural media did too: the music industry, the film industry, the books and literature industry which also includes children’s literature.

Examples of children’s books which engage with these events include, amongst others, Jeanette Winter’s September Roses (2004), Randa Abdel-Fattah’s Does My Head Look Big In This? (2007), and Brian Mandabach’s Or Not (2007). But more specifically from the South Asian literary sub-genre of children’s literature: Anjali Banerjee’s Looking for Bapu (2006), Marina Budhos’s Ask Me No Questions (2006) and Mitali Perkins’ First Daughter: Extreme American Makeover (2007).

Engaging with media theory and the representations of South Asian minorities since the events of 11 September, this paper will focus predominantly on Perkins’ First Daughter and Budhos’ Ask Me No Questions. Through the characters, this paper will look at whether or not they internalise the stereotypical images and messages purported in the news media, and will ask, firstly, if there is an internalisation of the media stereotypes, why is this possible? And secondly, if there is a resistance towards these media stereotypes, what do these literatures say about young developing ethnic identities and subsequently the individual’s right to negotiate their own ethnic identities?

By focussing on these questions, this paper will argue that although these texts present their readers with characters who are confronted by the media and its use of stereotype during its coverage of the 11 September attacks, these characters’ ethnic identities are not compromised, in fact, they are able to remain culturally neutral. Subsequently, through the characters’ experiences, these books are able to offer South Asian diasporic children and teenagers a form of bibliotherapy as these books demonstrate how the characters deal with the negative media pressures.

Now that's nice, especially with Boston already greening up for St. Patty's Day.

I Have Eerie Powers

I am freaking myself out. Not to mention the librarians at Cincinnati Public Library.

In 2006, when I wrote First Daughter: Extreme American Makeover, nobody was running for president and the election seemed far in the future.

Thanks to my between cultures fixation, I decided it would be fun to put a Muslim-background person in the White House, so I created a main character who was adopted from Pakistan.

Given my techno-geekiness and love of blogging, I made my first daughter wannabe a popular blogger who has an impact on the campaign.

Dutton told me to pick a party, so I thought, what the heck, I'll make her Dad a Republican and wrote her mom as a tall blonde.

Flash forward two years.

John McCain, married to tall blonde Cindy McCain, clinches the Republican race.

His daughter Bridget was adopted from a Muslim country (I had NO idea when I wrote the books, I promise!)

His daughter Meghan is blogging the campaign to much acclaim.

Did I cause these events to happen in that mystical, powerful place called fiction? Maybe, my loves, so beware. If I get in a bad mood I might write a novel about an evil blogger who writes html code with the power to poison people who read her posts. MWAHAHA!!!!!

Will REAL sparrowblogger stand up?

Help! I'm having one of those existential "who am I?" moments. Here's the scoop. 

So in First Daughter: Extreme American Makeover, a middle-aged marketing guru writes a fake blog for Sameera, and she reasserts her voice by going public with a real blog called sparrowblog.

For campaign '08, I've been tracking the real candidates' kids through sparrowblog.com, which is basically me (a middle-aged marketing guru wannabe) pretending to be Sparrow. One of Sparrow's fans apparently didn't like that much, so she set up another blog with Sparrow's real blog entries from the book. It's called THE REAL SAMEERA SPARROW RIGHTON.  

I have no idea who this wonderful person is, but I love her spirit.  The problem is that Sparrow's "real" blog entries were also written by, er, me.

My conclusion: we're all characters in a story; nobody is real.

Boston Globe Love

Susan Chaityn Lebovitz of the Boston Globe recently wrote a story about me and my buddy Karen Day (author of Tall Tales and No Cream Puffs, both from Wendy Lamb Books). And today, the paper's Jan Gardner included the First Daughter books and sparrowblog in her weekly Shelf Life column. The hometown rag's been good to me.

SLJ February Reviews

School Library Journal's February issue is chock full of reviews, including a nice one about my First Daughter: White House Rules:

... Sameera's world is one of diverse political persuasions, faiths, and ethnicities, where kindness and understanding allow all people to get along. In a genuine online blog, as well as a MySpace profile, Perkins has created a life for Sameera that extends beyond the book. Readers who enjoy Meg Cabot's "Princess Diaries" (HarperCollins) and others of the same ilk will enjoy reading about Sameera.

Want Signed Copies?

If you can't make it to my book launch party this Sunday 2/3 at 2 p.m. at Wellesley Booksmith but want signed copies of both First Daughter novels, why not order them to be shipped to you after the event? You may do it online at their site, or by phone (781 431 1160). I'll be happy to personalize them. 

Gotta Love Those Indies

Not only did Alison and Lee at Wellesley Booksmith bend over backwards to host my 2/3 Super First Daughter Book Launch Party without much notice (thanks to me realizing that an event before Super Tuesday might be good timing), but Lee scrambled to try and get the event listed in the Wellesley Townsman as well as in the Boston Globe.

Today the Globe contacted me about the possibility of mentioning the First Daughter books on their lit page -- all thanks to a local independent bookstore with a great reputation. I'll keep you posted, don't worry. :)

FD2: Book Launch Day!

January 24, 2008
FIRST DAUGHTER: WHITE HOUSE RULES
by Mitali Perkins, ages 11-up, Fiction, Dutton Books
Sequel to First Daughter: Extreme American Makeover

In what Booklist calls two “smart and funny” novels, sixteen-year-old Sameera, also known as Sparrow, hits the campaign trail with her father and moves into the White House. Publishers Weekly describes her as an “intelligent, witty and prepossessed heroine,” and says readers will “enjoy this peek at the behind-the-scenes finessing that goes on in modern politics.”

Readers can go to sparrowblog where Sparrow gives news updates on the lives of real candidates’ sons and daughters on the campaign trail—Meghan McCain, Cate Edwards, Sarah Huckabee, Malia and Sasha Obama, Chelsea Clinton, the five Romney sons, and the first twins—along with links to sites where kids can find out more about politics and getting involved. 

BOSTON SUPER BOOK LAUNCH PARTY!

If you’re in the Boston area, Wellesley Booksmith invites you to a book launch party at 2 p.m. on Sunday, February 3rd. Yes, it’s Super Bowl Sunday (Go Pats!) but you’ll be home in plenty of time to watch the game -- and be geared up for Tsunami Tuesday, when Massachusetts voters head to the primaries along with voters in 23 other states.

At the party, you’ll get the skinny on the REAL candidates’ kids, play fun trivia games, win prizes, and find out more about election ’08. Come discover how a fictional First Daughter wannabe handles the fun, glitz, and challenges of life in the political limelight. Visit Wellesley Booksmith for more information and RSVP to mitaliperk - at - yahoo - dot - com or in the comments.

Wellesley Booksmith
82 Central Street
Wellesley, MA 02482
781.431.1160

Pajama Promotion: Ten Tips For Writers

As my book launches tomorrow (First Daughter: White House Rules), I've been doing my best to get ready from the comfort of my cozy study. For any writers out there, I want to share ten ways to spruce up your online presence in anticipation of a book release:

1. Create a web page for your book to grab potential readers.

2. Syndicate your blog(s) at Feedburner (bloggers should do this, too).

3. Invest in an ad via Google Adwords (see mine below) and on Facebook -- make sure you pick keywords carefully.

4. Use AddThis to put social networking buttons at the bottom of every post.

5. Generate a Facebook Page for the novel.

6. Create a widget at Springwidgets to display your blog on your MySpace page, the sidebar of other blogs (note my sparrowblog content to the right) and/or on your website.

7. Import your blog(s) into Amazon.com so that the content shows up for all your titles.

8. Create a widget featuring your book(s) at Adaptive Blue for your sidebars -- see mine as an example to the right.

9. Set up Google Blog Alerts with keywords related to your novel and write a two-sentence blurb that you can cut, paste, and personalize on a blog post dealing with those keywords, like I did over at the Los Angeles Times and at MSNBC.

10. Make a book trailer (see mine below) using Animoto, Jumpcut, Quicktime Pro, or Apple iMovie and upload it to YouTube, Google Video, Facebook, and MySpace TV.

I know everybody might not be as geekily inclined as myself but some of these things are so easy even a purely right-brained person can do them.  And they're all free, except the ads, which can cost a lot or a little, depending on your budget. Oh, and you have to pay for Quicktime Pro or iMovie but Animoto and Jumpcut are free.

At the very least, get yourself to MySpace and Facebook and sign up right now. Then come to my session on Pajama Promotion for Dummies at the New England Society of Writers and Illustrators Conference on April 12, 2008, where I'll explain how to do these things and more.

My Google Ad

First Daughter (Dutton)

Check out two fast and funny 

tween novels by Mitali Perkins 

www.firstdaughterbooks.com

Book Teaser / First Daughter White House Rules

First Daughter 2 Book Trailer / Take Two

Here's a teaser for First Daughter: White House Rules, my novel from Dutton releasing January 24, 2008. Do you like it better than the first one?

First Daughter 2 Book Trailer / Take One

Once again, I play around with Quicktime, iMovie, Creative Commons, and public domain music downloads from CNET to come up with a free homemade book trailer for First Daughter: White House Rules (Dutton, January 2008). Hey, necessity's the mother of invention, and I didn't see a line of pros begging to make a trailer for me, so I threw the word "tacky" out of mind and ventured forth.

Here's the first take, with my own voice doing the audio. Our high school's drama star (who's my bud) has agreed to record the final narration. I'd love some feedback from my Fire Escape visitors as I move to a more polished version.

Photo Credits (Courtesy of Creative Commons):

DSC00622 by JohnEdwards2008
Ben and Matt Romney at the Caucus by talkradionews
Governor Huckabee's New Hampshire Tour by VictoryNH
Chelsea Clinton in the Audience by Why Tuesday?
Black and White House by Scott Ableman
The White House by Scott Ableman
Beth10 by cwalker71
Big Bubba by ReelLady
New Laptop by Arbron
Burqa a Meta by FotoRita
Flickr Friends by Meer
Bollywood Couple by Photos4Dreams

Music Credits (Courtesy of CNET):

Star-Spangled Banner by GTX
Dance Vibrations by Elpis

Sparrow Gets A Shout-Out

During one of those weeks where I crave some encouragement, Franklin Park teen librarians feature First Daughter: Extreme American Makeover as their pick of the week:

Sameera Righton (a.k.a. Sparrow) is used to staying on the sidelines. Sure she blogs for her friends about various issues and enjoys hanging with her crew buddies while ordering them about in her position as coxswain. But that invisibility is about to end: Sparrow's dad is running for presidents, and his campaign staff has decided it's time Sparrow is by his side. Sparrow is sure she's ready - she knows politics, and she wants to be made over into a glamorous First Daughter. But when she reaches campaign headquarters, Sparrow soon discovers the kind of makeover her dad's campaign staff plans to provide might not be quite what she had in mind. In short, the staff wants to downplay the fact that Sameera was born in Pakistan and turn her into "Sammy" - an everyday teenager without an intelligent thought in her head. Sparrow knows she wants her dad to win, but will it be at the cost of the "real" Sparrow?

A Kirkus Review: The Uncut Version

Remember how I was whining about no sign of a pre-pub review from Kirkus for First Daughter: White House Rules (Dutton, January 2007)? Well, I moaned too soon. My editor, Margaret Woollatt, sent the review yesterday. First, the good stuff:

Perkins, Mitali, FIRST DAUGHTER: White House Rules (Kirkus 12/15/07)

Fresh off the presidential campaign trail, Sparrow and her country cousin Miranda make themselves at home in the White House, enjoying movies in the private theatre and trying out the bowling alley in this second installment of the First Daughter series. Although continuing many of the same plot lines introduced in the lead text, like dealing with the pressures of the press, Sparrow's Pakistani heritage and her budding romance with Bobby, first-time readers are quickly brought up to speed and introduced to new twists. 

Sparrow's blog also continues to play a central role, especially as she begins to realize that as the first daughter her posts have a major worldwide impact. Throughout, Sparrow's actions and thoughtful blog posts paint her as a likable character and great role model.

Woo-hoo, right? Well, brace yourselves for the killler last two sentences, which I deliberately deliver in a tiny, tiny font: But since there is no real crisis and the story almost seems as though it's a guide to living as a teenager in the White House, it has the potential to bore readers who will find Sparrow and her tame adventures flat and predictable. Only for fans who want to know what happens next. (Fiction. 10-13)

Ouch. Margaret, as is her wont, tries to ease the sting: 

Your audience will love the details of life in the White House, as well as the realism of the plot - dealing with a new school, navigating a first relationship - precisely because they will be able to relate to Sparrow's adventure, and because, as the reviewer notes, Sparrow is thoughtful, likable, and a great role model.

Now that's the kind of cheerleading not in most editors' job descriptions, but absolutely required to soothe an author's delicate ego.