Today I got to listen to a bunch of talented actors sing through the score of SPARKLE SPA The Musical! There’s going to be a workshop reading on Tuesday, so they were practicing. And they let me record them while they sang “You Are Gonna Lose.” Here it is, if you want to give it a listen. Music by Brad Ross and lyrics by Christiana Cole. Robert Phillip Smith is directing the workshop (and the show in New Hampshire this summer!).
Et voila! Three French Sparkle Spa books! In French the series is called “Sequins and Friends at the Beauty Salon,” and Aly and Brooke are named Lise and Elodie. How cool is that? The fact that kids in France can read these books now makes me so happy.
I’m so incredibly excited to report that Bling It On!, the seventh Sparkle Spa book, will be a musical! Brad Ross is writing the music, Christiana Cole is writing the lyrics, and I’m going to be writing the dialogue that goes in between the songs. And this summer it’ll be performed at Interlakes Theatre in New Hampshire!
Carly Gendell, an awesome young actress who’s in School of Rock, sang one of the songs for us and let us video tape it. I loved it so much that I wanted to share it here!
Enjoy!
I have some exciting news over here. Sparkle Spa #9: Fashion Disaster has cover art! In this book, Suzy Davis does an awesome job cutting a doll’s hair, so Brooke decides she wants a haircut too–uh oh.
(Suzy is my favorite character in the series because she’s confident and passionate and tells the truth even if no one else wants to hear it. She’s also named after my sister Suzie. I love that she’s featured on the cover of this one.)
Today the 8th Sparkle Spa book, Wedding Bell Blues, was released out into the world, and in celebration, I’m running contests on Twitter and on Facebook/Instagram! If you retweet my post on Twitter or comment on my posts on Facebook/Instagram, you’ll be entered to win a set of twelve free books for Valentine’s Day! These are the books:
It seemed like a great way to spread a little happiness around the internet in honor of my newest book. I hope you enter, and may the sweepstakes odds be ever in your favor!
Last week I visited an elementary school on Long Island (I do that kind of thing a lot). I was having a lot of fun writing mystery stories with the 3rd, 4th and 5th graders there, when something very exciting happened. The school’s librarian found a copy of one of my favorite books from elementary school: Something Queer at the Library, by Elizabeth Levy. Seeing that book–and Mordicai Gerstein’s art–brought back so many memories. It was such a special treat on an already wonderful day. Here’s a copy of the book!
So excited to share the Sparkle Spa #8: Wedding Bell Blues has a jacket! And a publication date! It’ll be available on February 9, 2016–just in time for Valentine’s Day! (And what’s a better Valentine’s Day read than a book about a wedding?!)
If you happen to be in Manhattan this Saturday, November 28, 2015, and you’re looking for autographed books, it’ll be easy to get some! I’ll be signing books at the Bank Street Book Store from 2-3 pm with Karin Lefranc and Robin Newman. And tons of other authors will be signing before and after us. You can check at the schedule at the Bank Street Book Store website right over here. Hope to see you there!
I just found out that there’s going to be a 4-Books-in-1 Sparkle Spa bind-up of All That Glitters, Purple Nails and Puppy Tails, Makeover Magic and True Colors! It’s coming out on March 15, 2016, and will look like this:
(If you want more information, you can click here.)
Ooh la la! This is what the first Sparkle Spa book will look like in France! (Aly and Brooke look kind of different, but I can totally tell it’s them.) Can’t wait to see the rest of the book cover designs!
It’s an exciting day over here in my writing room in the sky. Copies of Bling It On! arrived from my publisher. I love how you can see the sparkles on the cover in this photo. (And I also love how one of the stacks got packed upside down.)
I added those books to my “Books I Wrote” bookcase, and that filled it all up. (And that’s with the two Follow Your Heart books already living on another bookcase!) I guess I need to buy another bookcase…
Today Sparkle Spa #7: Bling It On! is available in bookstores and online retailers everywhere (basically, wherever books are sold). In this book there’s a carnival, there’s a competition, there’s a group of kids giving back to their community, and–as always–there’s some pretty awesome nail polishing. Are you ready to bling on some sparkle?
