A couple of weeks ago, I gave a baby shower for one of my favorite people here in Paris, Celeste Rhoads​ (who is the Children’s and Teen’s Librarian at the American Library of Paris). It had to be book themed, of course, so everyone brought a copy of their favorite children’s book for new baby’s library.

And then there was this…

We also played a Classic Children’s Lit trivia game (with potted pansies as the prize).

I thought you would enjoy playing. How many of these classic book questions can you get? (The winner got 22 points!)

Classic Children’s Book Quiz — Celeste’s Baby Shower

1. What did the narrator of the Little Prince like to draw as a child and what did adults think it was?

2. What is the name of the mutinous ship’s cook in Treasure Island?

3. Who is Curious George’s roommate?

4. Give one phrase Charlotte weaves into her web to save Wilbur?

5. What is Violette’s vice in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory?

6. What species is the villain in Jungle Book? (Extra point for his name.)

7. What book acts as the world-building compendium for Lord of the Rings?

8. What species is Puddleglum in the Silver Chair (and VotDT)?

9. One point of each of the names of the three witches in A Wrinkle in Time.

10. What is Paddington Bear’s country of origin?

11. Who are Toad’s two best friends?

12. Where does Toad live?

13. What was TinTin’s dog’s name (either French or English).

14. Name one of the main themes of Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret?

15. What is the name of Frodo’s Uncle in The Lord of the Rings?

16. Who is the musician in Asterix?

17. What is the profession of Pippi Longstocking’s father?

18. What is the name of the love interest in Anne of Green Gables?

19. What do Digory and Polly use to travel between worlds in The Magician’s Nephew?

20. What is waiting in Max’s room when he returns from ruling The Wild Things?

21. What animal appears on every double-page of Goodnight Moon?

22. What is Dr. Seuss’s real name?

23. Who is the nun who runs Madeleine’s boarding school?

24. What did Pooh use to reach the beehive?

25. Who are the witches in The Wizard of Oz? (Names not needed.)

Bonus contemporary questions:

1. What is the name of Hermione’s cat?

2. What are the five factions in Divergent?

3. What flower is President Snow associated with in Hunger Games?

So happy to have my first in-person interview for Dreamfall. It’s one that ALL OF YOU can attend because it’s live on Facebook.

Join me on Rooftop Ramblings this Saturday (March 4) at 2pm Paris time (that’s 8am New York time) by going to this Facebook page: Paris in Person. If that’s too early for you, the video will be posted later. The interview is with Boris and Sam, these two guys from my book club:

Who knows what they’ll ask? (Be prepared for anything.)

See you Saturday!

On this Valentine’s Day, I thought a few of you might like to re-visit the DIE FOR ME universe.

This is Charlotte’s Valentine’s letter to Ambrose. The one she wrote every year, but never showed him. And you all know how that ended up! (Some people totally deserve their happy endings.)

So here’s paean to unrequited love for your Valentine Day…

Charlotte’s Valentine Letter

Today is Valentine’s Day—le jour de la Saint-Valentin. The day of lovers. The only day of the year I can’t look you in the face. Because on this day, I can’t keep my mask from slipping just slightly, and I don’t want you to see what’s behind.
I have known you now for almost seven decades. Lived under the same roof as you for sixty-eight years. I know you as well as my own twin brother.
I know how you’ll react to any given situation. What you will say. How you will respond.
Which should mean that by now I should be totally bored of you. Your predictability should make me yawn. Seeing you in the same scenarios day after day, year after year, should make me roll my eyes. And yet, it doesn’t.
Instead, I find myself anticipating your reactions and congratulating myself on guessing them right every single time. When I hear your laughter ring through the house when you come home, I am unable to resist the smile it brings to my lips. I love you, Ambrose. Passionately. Irremediably. Hopelessly.
It wasn’t love at first sight. When Jean-Baptiste carried your body back from that Lorraine battlefield, I found you intriguing in your complete Americanness—your Yankee bravado. Your passion for jazz and film and dancing brought a welcome breath of life to our household of kindred. I liked you for all those things. Loved you as a brother.
Until I got to know you better. Your joie de vivre was infectious. It infected me. It made my heart swell with happiness—not only when I was with you, but when I learned to see the world through your eyes. You brought me joy, and I should be satisfied with that. But I’m not.
When Charles told you how I felt and you admitted to him that your sentiments weren’t the same, I spent the next decade hoping you would change your mind. Doing everything I could to make you see me in a different light: desirable, not little-sister-ish.
When that didn’t work, I spent the next ten years trying to be okay with my lot. To find someone else. But while you are here living with me, walking with me, joking your way through every meal, my heart can go nowhere else.
Now I’m resigned. As I do every year, I will finish this letter, feel a bit better for it, and then place it in the back of my journal. It will join the other forty-three letters to you. Forty-three declarations of love that you will never see.
On this Valentine’s Day I wish I could tell you that even though you don’t love me the way I love you, every day with you is a gift.

[If you want to read more excerpts, behind-the-scenes material, and deleted sections, download INSIDE THE WORLD OF DIE FOR ME.]

I hope you’re busy playing the YA Books Central Scavenger Hunt, which started yesterday and lasts for a whole week! There are so many amazing authors participating, and too many prizes being given away to count!

I’ll be featuring parts of my Scavenger Hunt DREAMFALL interview this week to lure you into the game. The first question:

YABC: Who is your favorite character in the book?

AMY PLUM: This is always the hardest question to answer. ALL of the characters are my favorite! Don’t ask me to pick which of my children I love the most. 🙂

But I’ll tell you about one who is very special to me. Jaime is a pre-med student on full-ride academic scholarship, having been raised in a super-rough part of Detroit. The thing that’s different about this character is that I never reveal their gender. I didn’t even let myself think of Jaime as a boy or a girl. My daughter begged me to tell her…just her…which Jaime was, and I said, “I don’t even know that myself!” “But you have to know!” she pleaded. “I won’t let myself know,” was my answer.

Jaime is an experiment in reader expectations…half of my Beta readers thought Jaime was a boy and half a girl, so I felt like I had succeeded. Because just how important is gender, anyway? And which is more important—what the author wants you to think, or how the reader interprets the characters and the story in their mind? The fate of the sleepers depends on Jaime, who will have to risk everything to save them.

But then there is the dreamy (no pun intended) Fergus, who suffers from narcolepsy. There is Cata, who suffers PTSD from her violent childhood. Ant who is…just Ant. Quirky, strange, and super-intelligent. George who is kick-ass and funny. BethAnn who is trying to overcome overwhelming guilt over her part in her sister’s death. Sinclair, the spoiled rich kid with moviestar looks. And Remi, who was the only member of his family to survive a genocide. They all have enormous problems to overcome, and you should see how that plays out in their nightmares!

Read the rest of the interview and enter to win a signed hardback of DREAMFALL here!

I’m excited to announce that Barnes & Noble chose DREAMFALL for it’s 2017 YA Preorder Guide! Having perused the list, I’m honored to have DREAMFALL be among so many amazing books by authors I love.  Check it out here!