Books for girls (and boys)
It's the WAR GAMES cover reveal!
I’m often referred to as a writer of “books for boys.” And I am!
But I am a writer of books for boys and girls. And I know this, because I get a ton of great fan mail from girls! Like the letter I got just last week from 5th graders Lexi and Ain from North Dakota. Ain says:
Sure. That’s a good part.
Lexi redrew the cover of Heroes for me:
You can tell it’s her fav book, because it says so right there on the drawing. She also wants to hook me up with her mom?
Maybe Lexi was just hoping I’d call, and then her mom would give her phone to Lexi so she could talk with me?
(I appreciate the sentiment either way, but my phone number is for friends and family only, Lexi. Sorry.)
It’s true, a lot of my main characters are boys. But I get a bunch of girls in on the historical action too! I’ve got Frankie and Kat in The Brooklyn Nine, Hachi, Kitsune, and Martine in The League of Seven series, Isabel in Refugee, Amy Anne in Ban This Book, Samira, Monique, and Dorothy in Allies, Reshmina in Ground Zero, Akira and Natalie in Two Degrees, and Samira again in Resist.
And now, making her cover girl debut in War Games, welcome Evie Harris!
Evie Harris can't believe her luck: She's competing in the 1936 Berlin Olympics, along with fellow American athletes like Jesse Owens. True, there's something creepy about Germany's leader, Adolf Hitler, who watches over the games with his Nazi henchmen. But Evie's not interested in politics. She’s just here to win a gold medal in gymnastics.
Until she discovers a horrible secret.
Behind all the Olympic fanfare, the Nazis have Berlin in an iron grip of terror and violence—and war is brewing. Soon Evie becomes embroiled in a mysterious plot to help steal Nazi gold, and must navigate the city's darkest corners and hidden passageways without knowing who she can trust…
Dun-dun-dun!
War Games comes out October 7, 2025, but you can pre-order a copy now from your local indie, or any of these fine booksellers:
As usual, pre-orders (and orders for books that are already out!) from Green Bean Books in my new hometown of Portland, Oregon come signed!
The War Games cover was designed by Christopher Stengel, from an illustration by hitandrun creative studio.
More free virtual visits
Last month, my live virtual visit had viewers from 35 US states, 4 Canadian provinces, the Netherlands, Australia, and New Zealand! Awesome! If you were there, thanks for joining me.
If you weren’t there, you have two more chances to join me this school year:
Thursday, April 17 at 11am ET, 10am CT, 9am MT, 8am PT
Tuesday, May 20 at 1pm ET, 12pm CT, 11am MT, 10am PT
In my free, live, hour-long virtual school events, I talk about my books, background, and writing process, and then answer questions from attendees. Whether you’re watching from home, a classroom, or an auditorium, there’s no fee to attend, and no limit on how many people can watch. Click the links above to register!
What I’m reading
On the kidlit front, I just finished an advance reader copy of Karina Yan Glaser’s The Nine Moons of Han Yu and Luli. It’s the story of two brave kids—one in 731 China, the other in 1931 Chinatown—who set out on perilous journeys to save their families. You may know Karina as the author of the New York Times bestselling Vanderbeekers series, and I can attest that this book is just as delightful. The blurb I wrote for it kind of says it all: “To make The Nine Moons of Han Yu and Luli: Knead two family heroes, a scrap of silk, and a pinch of magic tiger in a bowl. Cut the tension with a knife, then roll into chapters. Place a heaping teaspoon of friendship, poetry, and adventure in the center, and pleat into a bao. Put characters over hot water and steam for nine months, then serve and read immediately.” Nine Moons pubs on September 16, 2025!
And wow wow wow did I love The Wager by David Grann. I’m a sucker for anything set during the Age of Sail, and this story was as riveting as any fiction by my literary mancrush Patrick O’Brian. In 1740, an expeditionary force of six British warships left England bound for the Pacific Ocean, by way of the incredibly dangerous Drake Passage around Cape Horn, at the southern tip of South America. Their mission: seek out and capture a Spanish galleon filled with millions of dollars worth of South American plunder. Things go wrong almost immediately, and all but one of the ships is lost rounding the Horn. One of those lost ships, the Wager, shipwrecks on a desolate island thousands of miles from the nearest European outpost. What follows is two years of survival, mutiny, and murder that rivals The Lord of the Flies. An absolute page-turner. I may even reread it—and I hardly ever reread books!
That’s it for this month. If you liked it, please share this newsletter online, or with anyone you think would be interested:
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I also write books for giant, flying, prehistoric, gymnastics-curious turtles, but nobody ever talks about that.
Forgot to say who did the illustration and designed the cover in the original post, which went out as an email. Doh! I fixed that here.
I love this!! Your books are great reads for everyone. And hey, according to Sam Subity's data (https://www.samsubity.com/mg-landscape-2024/) only 30% of middle grade main characters are boys and only 20% of middle grade authors are boys, which is just to say that we need what you're doing all around.