ALAN Pick for October

The Assembly for Literature on Adolescents (ALAN) has released it's October 2008 picks, and The Brothers Torres is one of them. Highlights from the accompanying review: "Voorhees’s first novel is an extremely well-written page turner that is appropriate for middle school readers and beyond. The writing is humorous even as it tackles serious issues. Voorhees provides rich descriptions of the Latino culture and its influences, achieving an authentic feel by peppering the text with Spanish words and phrases... this book transcends classification as a young adult novel and promises to satisfy even the most refined of readers." Congratulations to the other writers on the list.

A Contest Sponsored by The Book Muncher

The Book Muncher and I are having a contest this month. The winner receives a lovely gift pack that includes an Amazon gift certificate and some other fabulous prizes. All you have to do is read the book and answer five simple questions. Details for the contest can be found here. The Book Muncher's review of The Brothers Torres can be found here.

Genre of the Month - Male Protagonists

Genre of the Month has designated August as Male Protagonist Month, which seems to fit perfectly with TBT. They've posted a interview I did with Bookluver Carol. (Click here for her review of the book) It's my first blogger interview, and while I'm never as articulate or interesting in real life as I am in my head, I think it went pretty well. Thanks Carol!

Sadie's Stuffed Sopaipillas

What happened last night ranked right up there with the best parts of this whole publishing experience. We stopped at Sadie's for an early dinner on the way to the airport, and I brought a copy of TBT along with me--signed it to Sadie's thanking them for the inspiration for the food at Los Torres, Frankie's family's place. I thought that might get me a handshake and a smile, but the manager, Jerry, went way beyond that. He and his crew totally took care of my family and me. I had a tasty margarita and (of course) a chicken stuffed sopaipilla with red and green. Then Jerry had me sign in the guest book--now I'm in there along with the likes of Kenny Chesney, Doc Severinsen, and "Tower" from the original American Gladiators. Thanks again to everyone at Sadie's for the food and the inspiration. I can't wait to get back there.

Thank You Bookworks!

The reading yesterday at Bookworks had a little bit of a "Coert Voorhees, this is your life" feel to it. I saw some people I hadn't seen since high school, which was fantastic. I'm bad at coming up with names for my characters, so when I was writing the book, I thought back to kids I grew up with and used some names that I liked. Little did I know that I would eventually read the book to two of them. Zach was there, as was Cheo. Even though the characters have very little in common with their namesakes, it was still pretty sweet to have them in the audience. Thanks so much to Cein and Nancy and the rest of the Bookworks staff!

Three Generations on TV

Here's a four minute clip of me, my mother (author of The Lumiere Affair), and my grandmother (author of Shut Up and Live) on the Albuquerque NBC affiliate morning show, Good Day New Mexico. I have to say that my grandmother stole the show.

My First Interview!

Let's hear it for School Library Journal. Not only did they call Frankie "as memorable a character as Sherman Alexie’s Junior Spirit in The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian," but they saw fit to do an interview with me.

Going Back Home to New Mexico

I just found out that I'll be reading at Bookworks, one of Albuquerque's best independent bookstores, on June 22 at 3pm. I can't wait to get back home, eat some stuffed sopaipillas from Sadie's, and read some fiction. If you're in the area, I hope to see you there.

Writers love free stuff

Just a quick story. Last night after the conference, I went out to dinner with four of my best and closest friends at Hyperion and two other authors: Kelly DiPucchio and Sara Pennypacker. We had a tasty meal, (I even had a Pisco Sour, in Atlanta of all places, que viva la bebida nacional!) and as we were leaving, I noticed a large box of matches, about the size of a deck of cards, with the restaurant's name on it. I commented to the hostess on how fancy that huge box of restaurant matches and she asked if I wanted one. Sara and Kelly and I all jumped at the chance to walk out of the restaurant with a FREE box of matches. As I pushed through the door with my very own box in my hot little hands, I caught a glimpse of the smile on my editor's face, which seemed to say, "Ahh, writers."

IRA Conference

I just got back from Atlanta (that's my book in Hyperion's booth!) where I had a ridiculous time talking about the book and meeting other authors and being impressed once again by how much teachers and librarians care about their students. I spoke on a panel with Jerry Spinelli (who was both legendary and gracious) Gail Giles (whose books pretty much scare the hell out of me) and E Lockhart (whose new book The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks is great stuff, and not just because the narrator is named Frankie). I spent most of my time at the conference trying not to look over my shoulder for the reality police, who I was sure were going to jump from behind one of the booths to give me the old heave-ho.
At the panel, E (do I just call you E?) gave a fantastic response when we were asked what we'd say to parents who refuse to let their children read books because they object to the content, even if the books are within the publisher's suggested age range. Essentially, she said that the minute a parent refuses to talk to his or her child about the "mature" content of a certain book, that ensures that the child will never again bring up that "mature" content, even if it's something in the child's real life. Telling a kid he can't read something because of content effectively closes off the topic of conversation.
Not that I was able to recreate her eloquence, but the point is that I was on a fantastic panel with some incredibly smart writers and I couldn't believe it. Hyperion, if you're reading this, I'd be happy to go to more of those.

The Brothers Torres in stores today

Buy it! Enjoy it! That's an order!

First Mail!

I just got a well-written letter from Josh, an eighth-grader in Pittsburgh, who had clearly read the book carefully and had a host of good questions for me. More than anything else that's happened so far, that letter made me realize that the book is no longer just a Word file on my hard drive. Very exciting. Thanks, Josh!