Hi everyone!

GUESS WHAT?  Book Eight is almost here!  And by “almost” I mean even closer than we thought it would be — because it’s coming out a week early!  That’s right, you don’t have to wait all the way until January…the new release date is DECEMBER 29!!!  That’s only two weeks away!  YEEEP!  Oh goodness, I hope you all like it!

(Terrifying Queen Scarlet demands that you like it!  Roar!)

In this one, you’ll be finding out a lot more about Queen Ruby and Turtle, discovering the identity of that mysterious NightWing from Winter Turning, spending a little time with almost every dragonet who’s already had a book, meeting a very irrepressible young SkyWing, and, of course, getting inside the head of Peril, who might be Pyrrhia’s craziest dragon (my little psychopath with a heart of gold!) (sure, that’s a thing).  :)

Important things to know: as always, if you’d like to get a copy of Escaping Peril or any other books of mine signed and personalized by me, you can call my amazing lovely local bookstore, Newtonville Books, at 617-244-6619 to order it.  They’ll call me, I’ll run in and sign it to whatever name you give them, and then they’ll mail it to you — hooray!  Thank you, lovely bookstore people!

And in other exciting news: I’ll be appearing on the Wings of Fire forums on Tuesdays again for the next few weeks, yim-yammering about all kinds of things.  So if you’re curious about my favorite Wings of Fire scenes, my favorite things to write, my least favorite things to write, tips on dealing with writer’s block, and other Tui trivia, head over there to check it out!  You may also get to meet my dog, who is basically a dragon, except small and fluffy and sleepy and not prone to eating people (as far as I am aware).  ;-)

I also really passionately want to write up my “favorite books I read this year” blog, but I have to write an actual BOOK instead — but hopefully I’ll be back soon with that!  In case I don’t make it before Christmas, here very briefly are my top suggestions for presents, based on what we loved in my house this year!:

Young Chapter Books (for Ages 4-8)
Dory Fantasmagory, by Abby Hanlon
Princess in Black (and book 2: The Perfect Princess Party!), by Shannon Hale
The Haunted Library series by Dori Butler

For Ages 9 and Up
The Amulet series, by Kazu Kibuishi
El Deafo, by Cece Bell
Breadcrumbs, by Anne Ursu
Geeks, Girls, and Secret Identities, by Mike Jung
The Crossover, by Kwame Alexander
The Glass Sentence and The Golden Specific, by S.E. Grove
The Jinx trilogy, by Sage Blackwood
The Lost Tribes, by Christine Taylor-Butler

For Teens
How It Went Down, by Kekla Magoon
Bone Gap, by Laura Ruby
Tiny Pretty Things, by Dhonielle Clayton and Sona Chairopothra
Poisoned Apples: Poems for You, My Pretty, by Christine Heppermann
Nimona, by Noelle Stevenson
Shadowshaper, by Daniel José Older 

For Dragon Fans
A Natural History of Dragons: A Memoir by Lady Trent, by Marie Brennan

For Grown-Ups
Life Among the Savages, by Shirley Jackson
EVERYTHING by Liane Moriarty (especially Big Little Lies and The Husband’s Secret)
Mr. Fox, by Helen Oyeyemi
Farthing and its sequels, by Jo Walton
All the Light We Cannot See, by Anthony Doerr
Unbecoming, by Rebecca Scherm
The Boys in the Boat, by Daniel James Brown

For Writers
About Writing, by Samuel Delany

And there’s like EIGHTY more that I also loved and want to tell you about, so you can imagine why writing that actual post is going to take me another century or two — it was such a wonderful year of reading!  I feel so happy and so lucky to live in a world with so many amazing books in it, don’t you?  And I haven’t yet gotten to read Uprooted by Naomi Novik, or Carry On by Rainbow Rowell, or Goodbye Stranger by Rebecca Stead, or the new Kate Atkinson . . . ooooo, I can’t wait, I can’t wait!  

I hope you all had a wonderful Hanukkah and that the rest of the holiday season is sparkly and marvelous!  :)  :)  :)