Dormia Book

Summer update and Youtube Dormia video!

Hi there - I hope everyone is having a great summer. I'm currently in Chicago, enjoying the weather, food and friends (not necessarily in that order). Jake and I have been making good progress on book 3 in the Dormia series, while also getting ready for the spectacular release of book 2 - World's End - this November.

Make sure to sign up for the Dormian Tribune; I'm preparing a contest that will be open only to subscribers. Winners will get World's End posters!

Also, I wanted to say thanks to our wonderful publishers at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, who helped put together this video of Jake and I talking about Dormia. You can also see it directly on Youtube. Hope you enjoy, and stay tuned for a lot of Dormia adventures this fall!

Peter

School visits in Michigan and Minnesota!

We recently had some great school visits up in Michigan and Minnesota. The Grand Haven Tribune reported on one of the visits in Michigan, so you can read about that here: Dormia Article in the Grand Haven Tribune!
Plus, there's a video of the school visit at this link:
Click here for the video.
(You'll have to click to page 4 of the videos to find the "'Dormia' author speaks to GH students" video up top.)

I've attached a few pictures from our travels. A huge thank you goes to Drew Sieplinga of Wild Rumpus book store in Minneapolis for all her hard working in setting up the Minnesota events and a huge thank you to Marcia Klemp, Susan Peets and Marilyn Hersh for some amazing school visits in Michigan!

Now that the summer is here, we won't be visiting schools anymore until the fall. But we will stay in touch about contests, music and other Dormia related events. Speaking of music, I just returned from a trip to New York City where I recorded the new song for book two which comes out in November. I can't wait to share it with you all!

Celia Rose

Thanks to Dormia fan Jessie Harris!

Once in a while, we come across fans of Dormia that really deserve special recognition. Jessie Harris put together an entire story board based on Dormia, in order to help his class measure where they were in reading the book. Here's a picture of Jessie with his story board!

Visit to Birmingham, AL and St. Louis, MO

This is Nancy, (aka Celia Rose) writing this one. Recently, Peter and I visited my hometown of Birmingham where we went to my old elementary school, Cherokee Bend. We also visited Highland's school which is literally located right behind the house where I grew up! Here's a pic from that school.

The third school we spoke at was called Liberty Park Middle School. The cool thing about this one was that it was located just 5 minutes away from the Carraway-Davie House, which is the beautiful place where Peter and I got married. Also, the librarian that worked at Liberty Park Middle was related to the owner of that place, so she took us over and gave us a personal tour to rekindle old memories of our wedding day!

Then we went out to get some good southern food, especially B-B-Q. I grew up vegetarian, but he loved it!

After our short visit to Birmingham, we flew to St. Louis. I went to college at Washington University, so I enjoyed returning to my old stomping grounds. Also, Peter and I actually met in St. Louis when he was visiting a high school friend of his who was a friend of mine in college. We met playing paint ball in the woods!
Here's a pic from one of the 10 school visits that we did during our few days there.

We had a great time in both B'ham and St. Louis, so thanks to everyone who made those school events possible!

Micailah

Thanks to Micailah for all her efforts in spreading the word about Dormia -- you rock!

Thanks to Josh at Granite Valley Middle School

Just wanted to send a shout out to Josh at Granite Valley Middle School -- he got Dormia on the summer reading list there. Josh, thanks that it is awesome. -- Jake

Very Cool Letter from a Parent

Hey all, this is Jake. A few weeks back I visited the Roger Sherman School in Fairfield CT. The librarian, Christine Coombs, did a wonderful job organizing the visit. She later sent me the following letter that a parent wrote to the school. Here it is. It's pretty cool...

Dear Mrs. Roxbee & those who organized the Jake Halpern Dormia visit:

I wanted to personally thank you all for bringing Jake Halpern in to speak to the kids at Sherman . I am not exaggerating when I say that it truly inspired a new generation of readers! That afternoon I was walking home with a gaggle of 3rd grade boys who were excitedly discussing every detail of Mr. Halpern's visit, showing off their new books, and detailing their plans to read the book in unison, build Dormia-related Lego scenes, and the like. It was one of those glorious moments that made me think, "Now THIS is what education is all about!!"

Pre-selling signed copies of the book was a fantastic way to build anticipation of the event & get the kids invested in the visit. Thomas was counting down the days to the "Dormia Day" (as he called it), and eagerly shelled out his allowance money to purchase his book. And thanks to Mr. Halpern for personalizing the copies, too! Very generous.

In our household, Dormia fever is still going strong. My boys wake up every morning & dive into their books. This is the longest stretch that Nicholas has voluntarily stuck with one book without complaint. So this event seems to have converted a once-very reluctant reader. Thomas emailed Mr. Halpern, who kindly wrote back a very enthusiastic response! And the boys are still discussing the book with their friends.

So, thank you all for orchestrating this exceptional educational opportunity for our kids. It seems to have made a big impact on them, and will certainly be a special experience they will remember forever.