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Livestream Launch: Cindy Baldwin with Jamie Pacton
June 15, 2021 @ 7:00 pm - 8:00 pm
FreeAnnie Bloom’s Books welcomes back Portland author Cindy Baldwin for the livestream launch of her new Middle Grade novel, The Stars of Whistling Ridge. Cindy will be in conversation with Jamie Pacton, whose new MG novel is Lucky Girl.
Register here: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/tZAkduitqjorH9ISUvnW3LZ7OCxcDq0wvrQB
About The Stars of Whistling Ridge:
Ivy Mae Bloom is almost thirteen years old, her name is almost a complete sentence, and her family’s RV is almost a home. That’s one too many “almosts” for Ivy. She desperately wants a place to put down roots, but it’s her mama’s job as a fallen star to tend the magic underpinning the world—a job that’s kept Ivy’s family living on the road since before Ivy was born. After Ivy steals Mama’s entire supply of wish jars in the hopes of finding a place to call home, disaster strands her family in Whistling Ridge, North Carolina, with Mama’s star sisters. Ivy falls for Whistling Ridge immediately—she just needs to convince her parents to stay. But something is draining the magic from the town, and the star sisters can’t pinpoint it. Ivy and her new friends find a clue in Whistling Ridge’s history that might explain the mysterious threat…but if Whistling Ridge’s magic is fixed, Mama will need to move on. Ivy is faced with an impossible decision: How can she help the star sisters lift the curse if it means losing her best chance at a forever home?
About Cindy Baldwin:
Cindy Baldwin is a fiction writer, essayist, and poet. She grew up in North Carolina and still misses the sweet watermelons and warm accents on a daily basis. As a middle schooler, she kept a book under her bathroom sink to read over and over while fixing her hair or brushing her teeth, and she dreams of writing the kind of books readers can’t bear to be without. She lives in Portland, Oregon, with her husband and daughter, surrounded by tall trees and wild blackberries. Where the Watermelons Grow is her debut novel and is followed by Beginners Welcome.
About Lucky Girl:
58,642,129. That’s how many dollars seventeen-year-old Fortuna Jane Belleweather just won in the lotto jackpot. It’s also about how many reasons she has for not coming forward to claim her prize. Problem #1: Jane is still a minor, and if anyone discovers she bought the ticket underage, she’ll either have to forfeit the ticket, or worse. Problem #2: Let her hoarder mother cash it. The last thing Jane’s mom needs is millions of dollars to buy more junk. Problem #3: Jane’s best friend, aspiring journalist Brandon Kim, declares on the news that he’s going to find the lucky winner. It’s one thing to keep her secret from the town — it’s another thing entirely to lie to her best friend. Especially when . . . Problem #4: Jane’s ex-boyfriend, Holden, is suddenly back in her life, and he has big ideas about what he’d do with the prize money. As suspicion and jealousy turn neighbor against neighbor, and no good options for cashing the ticket come forward, Jane begins to wonder: Could this much money actually be a bad thing.
About Jamie Pacton:
Jamie Pacton is the author of The Life and (Medieval) Times of Kit Sweetly (Page Street). She grew up minutes away from the National Storytelling Center in the mountains of East Tennessee. She adores architecture, gardens, art museums, beaches, cake, and whiskey. She even kind of likes getting stuck in airports if she has a good book. Currently, she lives in rural Wisconsin with her husband, their two kids, and a dog named Lego.