News

Update: January 3, 2023

This space is reserved for publishing news. It’s been awhile since I’ve had anything big to share, but I appreciate you visiting this page to check! I am hard at work on a new middle grade book though, one that’s unrelated to the Crimson Five series. So, stay tuned. With a little luck and publishing magic, I’ll have news to share this year! Happy New Year to you and cheers to all of our dreams coming true in 2023!

Update: November 10, 2020

POP THE BRONZE BALLOON is here! I’m so excited to share that the third book in The Crimson Five trilogy launched today. Kia and her team travel the globe in this one and I can’t wait for you to read it! It’s full of more inventions, more tasks, more teamwork, more costumes & sets…and a really cool futuristic setting for the book. You can purchase it anyplace books are sold…even in a pandemic!

Update: September 10, 2020

The POP THE BRONZE BALLOON book trailer is live! We’re just two months out from release day and I thought you’d like a peek inside the pages. Click here to watch!

Update: April 29, 2020

POP THE BRONZE BALLOON has a new release date. Due to Covid-19, Chicago Review Press has made the decision to push back the release to November 10, 2020. The good news is that it’s still coming in 2020… just in time for the holiday season!

If you haven’t added it on Goodreads, you can do it here. And if you’d love to preorder it, those links are below too! While you wait, feel free to enjoy a pic of the gorgeous cover. That’s what I’ll be doing!!

Update: January 4, 2020

Amberjack Publishing has been acquired by Chicago Review Press. This is such great news for all of us Amberjack authors. We still get the small press feel that we’ve come to know and love, but with the marketing and support of a larger more established one! I’m so grateful to be associated with both amazing teams. So, as a result, POP THE BRONZE BALLOON has a new release date! It’s August 4, 2020…seven months from today. If you’re a fan of the series, you may want to preorder it. That way it’ll magically appear in your mailbox on or near release date, and you won’t even need a magic wand!

Here are a few links to make it easy:

Preorder on Amazon

Preorder on Barnes & Noble

Preorder from IndieBound

Update: August 20, 2019

The paperbacks are out!

Books one and two in the Crimson Five series are now available in paperback! We all love a gorgeous hardcover, but paperbacks are easier to read and beautiful too! Plus, did you notice the Best STEM Books sticker on Spin the Golden Light Bulb? How amazing is that? And… the paperback version of Flip the Silver Switch has been re-edited and includes a few more fun futuristic inventions…because why not!

Update: March 20, 2019

Cover Reveal! POP THE BRONZE BALLOON

The third book in the Crimson Five series releases later this summer and just when I was getting used to that idea, I see we have a cover! And oh my gosh, I don’t have the words to tell you how much I love it. The scene, the colors, the stars…all of it! Gabrielle Esposito designed this one too and I think it’s stunning. I hope you love it too!

Update: January 15, 2019

I have news to share that I’ve been holding in for so long…I think I may burst! My third book is going to be published!! POP THE BRONZE BALLOON, the next book in the Crimson Five series, is floating into the world in 2019. One last intricate task, a new surprising setting, and so many more incredible inventions from my favorite creative kids! I can’t wait to share this story with all of you!

pop the bronze balloon announcement

Update: December 7, 2018

What a way to end the year! I am stunned to announce that Spin the Golden Light Bulb has been named by the Children’s Book Council and the National Science Teacher’s Association to their 2019 Best STEM Books K-12 list! I’m grateful, thrilled, and humbled to see my first published book mentioned as one that encourages innovation in children and furthers the STEM education initiative. Reviews of all the books listed will be available from the NSTA in early 2019. For details and the press release, click here and  here.

NSTA Best STEM List Logo     STGLB- yellow

Update: August 21, 2018

It’s here! It’s here! Flip the Silver Switch is here! The sequel to Spin the Golden Light Bulb is now a published book and I can’t wait for you to read the rest of the story. The Crimson Five kids are on a new futuristic STEM + adventure, this time in Quebec. If you like fun, invention-filled settings, friendship challenges, and characters who think more, work hard, and dream big against all odds, give it a read. I have a feeling you’ll be inspired to follow your own big dreams too!

Flip the Silver Switch Book Release     FTSS- with me

Update: May 29, 2018

Not so fast! Publishing is a finicky industry…Flip the Silver Switch has a new release date. So, you guys will have to wait a little longer to read my precious second baby. The new date is August 21st! It’s still enough time for you to read before the end of the summer though, or add it to your Fall list!

If you’d like to add it to your Goodreads shelf, click here. To pre-order, click here. Please and thank you, thank you, thank you! To watch the book trailer, just scroll down!

Flip the Silver Switch- ARC spine

Update: May 18, 2018

Book Trailer Debut

Since Flip the Silver Switch is set 53 years in the future, I thought it would be fun to debut the book trailer 53 days from release day! It’s short but sweet and I love it so much…Enjoy!

Update: February 10, 2018

Cover Reveal: Flip the Silver Switch

Guys! Today marks 5 months from release day (oh my gosh that’s so soon!) and my second middle grade book has a cover, a spectacular cover…and what is even happening? Not too long ago I spent each and every day wishing that my story about The Crimson Five kids would be published. Now today, the second book in the series has the most beautiful cover I’ve ever seen! Maybe I’m being melodramatic but I really love this moonlit cover more than I can say!

Flip the Silver Switch Final Cover

Update: January 9, 2018

It’s Debut Day and SPIN THE GOLDEN LIGHT BULB is here! *Squee!!* Here I am holding the hardcover and seeing it at Barnes & Noble for the first time.

STGLB me (2)STGLB on the shelf

Update: January 1, 2018

New Year, new update and now the countdown is in days, not weeks! Spin the Golden Light Bulb debuts on January 9th! I’ve been around the blog-osphere doing some fun interviews with lovely bloggers and also my publisher! For the inside scoop on my writing, and more specifically, the writing of my middle grade book, check a few of them out. There will be more to come in the next few days too.

Amberjack Q & A

Mindy Baker Books

Rebecca Waddell Books

And if you’re interested in pre-ordering, the pre-order prices are still in effect (yay!), but I’m not sure how long they will last. So…here are some of those links too:)

Amazon

Barnes & Noble

My Local Indie

Add it on Goodreads

And in more fun news, look at this adorable mug my sweet daughter had made for me for Christmas. In my wildest dreams, I never imagined that someday I’d be drinking from a mug with my book cover on it! If you’re thinking I cried when she gave it to me, you would be right. Like a baby!

Holding STGLB mug

Update: December 9, 2017

1 month. Just one more month until release day! Oh my snickerdoodles, it’s getting close!! Did you guys miss your chance to enter my ARC Giveaway on Twitter? Well, no worries because Amberjack Publishing is hosting a giveaway on Goodreads for FIVE ARC copies of Spin the Golden Light Bulb right now! So you should enter. It’s kind of fun having access to a book before everyone else. If you win, you’ll feel like you belong to a special club!

To enter, click here.

And here’s a pretty picture of my ARC copies…they look just like the one you could have in your middle grade collection too!

ARCS- Christmas

But of course if you’d rather pre-order a copy, that’s totally fine too! Click on the Home page for all the pre-order links. And if you do, thank you so so much!

Update: November 9, 2017

2 months, Guys!! 2 months from pub date and the book trailer, well actually the book trailers, for Spin the Golden Light Bulb are live. So, click on the home page (or my blog post from Nov. 7th) and watch…take a peek inside the pages! I hope you love both the trailers. I absolutely loved making them! Enjoy!

Andddd…in case you’re interested, there’s an ARC Giveaway for Spin the Golden Light Bulb happening on Twitter all this week, from today until November 16th at midnight. Head on over. All you have to do is follow me (if you aren’t already) and retweet my ARC Giveaway tweet. You’ll be automatically entered to win a signed advanced copy!

Here’s me with the ARC, grinning, because I’d love for you to win it!

ARC Giveaway pic

Update: October 9, 2017

Spin the Golden Light Bulb is 3 months away from it’s release. Yippee!!!!!! I have nothing else to say except if you’d like to pre-order it (for yourself or some sweet middle schooler in your life) that would make me so happy!

Update: October 2, 2018

Spin the Golden Light Bulb has a new publication date! Most authors freak out when their book gets pushed back, but not me. My new pub date gives us a little breather after the holidays to give my book baby the grand welcome into the world that it deserves. So mark your calendars. The first of THE CRIMSON FIVE books will release on January 9, 2018…just one week after it’s original pub date. Oh my gosh guys, it’s almost time to start counting down the days!

Update: September 2, 2017

Pub day is just 4 short months away and you can now add Spin the Golden Light Bulb to your shelf on Goodreads. It’s getting some really fantastic reviews too, which means that PEOPLE are reading it! This is so crazy! I’m incredibly grateful to all the early readers who’ve taken the time to share their thoughts. Thank you from the bottom of my heart! ❤

Add on Goodreads  here.

Update: August 2, 2017

The release of Spin the Golden Light Bulb is just 5 months away, the ARCS have arrived, and it’s now available for preorder! And do you know what that means? It means my book is real and this is really happening! *Squee!!*

Jackie with ARC- STGLB

If I had known this would be THE picture of me with my book (even in ARC form) I would have prepared a little better-at least matching nail polish or something! But at least I’ve color coordinated:) Here are the links so you can pre-order from Amazon, Barnes and Noble, your favorite independent bookstore, or from the publisher directly. Oh my gosh, I sound like a commercial. What is even happening??

Amazon

Barnes and Noble

Amberjack Publishing

IndieBound

Update: June 2, 2017

COVER REVEAL!

Spin the Golden Light Bulb has a cover, a bright sparkly cover and I couldn’t love it more! EEK this is totally getting real!! Gabrielle Esposito created the gorgeous design that captures the imagination and creativity of the kids in the story perfectly. It’s even better than I ever imagined! I hope you guys love it too:)

Cover Image of The Crimson Five- Spin the Golden Light Bulb

Update: January 2, 2017

My debut middle grade novel, Spin the Golden Light Bulb has a release date…one year from today!! It’s the first of two (so far!) planned books in THE CRIMSON FIVE series. Stay tuned for more updates. Until then, here’s a screen shot of the announcement that appeared in Publisher’s Marketplace. And if this is a dream don’t wake me. Please!

image

Announcement! December 1, 2016

THE CRIMSON FIVE: Spin the Golden Light Bulb (my debut middle grade book!) has been purchased by Amberjack Publishing!! My first book is going to be published…and so is my second…They purchased the sequel too. Ohmygodohmygodohmygod!!! More news to come but for now I’m still reeling at this news. I still cannot even believe it’s true!