The Rabbit's Gift

Fall Reflections

/ Jessica Vitalis / Leave a comment

The Rabbit’s Gift is finally out on shelves (and in readers’ hands); celebrating this book has been a joy! Some of the highlights include:

*A virtual launch event with the fabulous author Anne Ursu (if you missed it, you can catch the recording here)
*An in-person launch event with live rabbits
*Connecting with readers, schools, librarians, and booksellers

Another big highlight was traveling to NCTE in Anaheim to discuss middle grade books on a panel with Karen Strong, Chrystal Giles, Laurel Snyder, and Kelly Yang! I connected with so many great teachers and authors (pictured below: Tae Keller, Reese Eschmann, Ann Braden, Megan E. Freeman, and Chrystal Giles), and I even nabbed a photo in the HarperCollins booth!

The fall was also filled with podcast appearances and interviews; you can find links to many of them here!

Before I sign off, a few notes:

  1. If you’re looking for gifts for the holiday season, signed copies of The Rabbit’s Gift are available at Talking Leaves Books (U.S.) and Words Worth Books (Canada)
  2. For those of you wondering how you can help support your favorite authors (thank you) even if purchasing a book isn’t in your budget, there’s a lot you can do! Here are a few suggestions:

If you’ve already read The Rabbit’s Gift, it would mean the world to me if you’d add a review to Amazon (or your favorite book retailer) and/or Goodreads–this helps move the book up in the algorithms and find more readers.

If you stumbled across this content by accident, be sure to subscribe to the “blog” to make sure you don’t miss future news and updates … including the upcoming cover reveal for Coyote Queen!

Book Two News!

/ Jessica Vitalis / Leave a comment

The Wolf’s Curse has been out in the world for six weeks, and I’m so grateful for the outpouring of enthusiasm and support for my Grim Reaper retelling.

Star Thank You GIF by alimacdoodle

A special thanks to those of you who joined my virtual launch celebration with Newbery-medal winning author Erin Entrada Kelly! If you’d hoped to join us but life got in the way, you can find the recording here.

In addition to the virtual launch, I was able to have a few friends join me for a backyard celebration, and I spent much of my debut week on a whirlwind tour signing books for indie bookshops. Besides the excitement of seeing my book on the shelves, one of the highlights was visiting a bookstore where my Wolf got to meet a wolf hand drawn by Neil Gaiman!

***there are major supply chain issues plaguing the publishing industry. If you haven’t had a chance to pick up a copy and/or you’re planning to gift The Wolf’s Curse for the holidays, be sure to order your copy or copies now–there aren’t any guarantees that the book will be available next month (or even in a few weeks).***

Now it’s full steam ahead with book two, and that brings us to today’s big news: I finally get to share the details of my sophomore novel, which comes out in the fall of 2022 with Greenwillow/HarperCollins!

Book Two Announcement!

You can learn more about the story on my website, and I’ll be back in the new year to share the cover . . . in the meantime, I’d love to hear which books you plan to gift for the holidays–please share your recent favs in the comments.

Before I sign off, here’s a writing prompt for those of you looking to get your creative juices flowing:

Describe your favorite fall activity. Now describe it from the perspective of a five-year-old kid. What would they notice or enjoy about the activity that is different than what you notice and enjoy? What words or phrases would they use to talk about their experience?

P.S. If you’ve already had a chance to read The Wolf’s Curse, I would appreciate it so much if you’d pop over to Amazon or Goodreads and leave a short review–even a sentence or two will help the book find new readers!

P.P.S. If you or your middle grade readers love hearing about new stories, be sure to sign up for Magic in the Middle–it’s a series of free monthly recorded book talks! (This month I’ll be featuring The Strangeworlds Travel Agency by L.D. Lapinski!)