Amy Fitzgerald

Usually I'm like "Hoarding is too sad of a subject for me, please give me three books about bereavement instead" but this story pulled me in!

Cover image for WILD MOUNTAIN IVY by Shannon Hitchcock. Full-color illustration of a girl sitting on a bench with a dulcimer in her lap, with a black cat next to her, and with a mountainous landscape in the background.

It's publication day for Shannon Hitchcock's WILD MOUNTAIN IVY, a middle grade novel about two girls with chronic illness—one in the present and one who lived in the same house 100 years ago—finding new ways to navigate their worlds. Booklist calls it "sweet" and "uplifting," "like a warm hug."

A Nationwide Book Ban Bill Has Been Introduced in the House of Representatives Hours after the State of the Union address, House republicans introduced legislation banning LGBTQ+ books from public schools nationwide.

This is why you can't give discrimination a little capitulation as a treat. It will only keep escalating. You should push back even if it magically stops at one targeted group, but fyi it never does. You should care even if it isn't coming for you too, but btw it is.
bookriot.com/hr7661-book-...

Tim Walz isn't declaring an eviction moratorium in Minnesota, so many families affected by ICE are at risk of eviction in a few days. Please donate to the rent funds at keepMNhoused.com if you have some scratch.

Keep Minnesota Housed! Much of the medía has left, but ICE is still in Minnesota and hundreds of families need help with rent in order to avoid eviction. Visit keepMNhoused.com to adopt a rent or donate to rent funds! #keepMNhoused

Today we are launching a new intitative of Stand With Minnesota—KeepMNHoused.com, a rent-relief campaign backed with a $1.5 matching fund from the Wilson Foundation.

Thousands of MN families are at risk of eviction because of the ICE occupation’s lasting impacts. We can keep them housed.

Can't say it enough: They did this to a white man in broad daylight in front of multiple witnesses. That tells you everything you need to know about what they're doing out of sight to people they deem less than human. Absolutely nothing short of abolition should even be on the table.

This is what I wondered about as someone who moved into a place with a preexisting Ring doorbell I've never paid for: It's still recording and sharing that footage. Take it offline or cover the camera till you can get a new doorbell. Even if, like mine, it's not in a spot where it can "see" much.

Tim! Buddy! Your voicemail* is about to hear from me about this again...

*651-201-3400 just fyi for my MN neighbors

This fundraiser is really close to its goal... AND February is a short month so rent will be due again very soon (not to mention utility bills etc etc). It'd be great to give these families a little cushion!

Cover image for Choir Grrrl by Ashley Granillo. Full-color illustration. A tween girl sings into a microphone that she holds in her left hand while holding a guitar in her right hand. Her eyes are closed and her mouth is wide open. A purple spotlight shines down on her against a black background. She has long, wavy black hair with a short pink streak framing either side of her face. She wears a dark purple shirt, a black necklace, a black cuff on each wrist, and black nail polish. A wide diagonal strip of this image is missing, as if ripped out, revealing part of another image that stretches from the upper righthand corner to the lower lefthand corner of the cover. The alternate image shows the same girl’s body, clothed in a reddish-orange choir robe, against a light pink background with several rows of black musical staffs and notes. In this partial image, the girl’s hands hold a piece of paper instead of the guitar and microphone, though they still sport black nail polish. Title text is in uneven uppercase white lettering. Two short horizontal white lines underscore the last R and the L. Author name is in uneven title case white lettering in the bottom right corner.

Front cover of Beyond Seven Forests by Amanda McCrina. Bluish-white uppercase title text is stacked against a light blue snowy background. Numerous snowflakes dot the image. Sloping hills or mountains near the top of the image give way to a darker stretch of trees. Near the bottom right corner, surrounded by snow-covered ground, is a small house with a peaked roof and a tiny window that shines with yellow light. Author name, beneath the house and centered near the bottom of the page, is in uppercase red letters.

Two books I edited are out today: CHOIR GRRRL by Ashley Granillo (middle grade, contemporary, delightful) and BEYOND SEVEN FORESTS by Amanda McCrina (young adult, historical, gripping). I love them both. Read 'em. Thanks.

@lernerbooks.bsky.social @missashleyjean.bsky.social @mccrina.bsky.social

Me, fresh off of two post-breakfast chocolate chip cookies, to my governor's voicemail: "Where are we at with that eviction moratorium, buddy? My neighbors can't pay their rent because they're being terrorized by slave catchers, we need it done yesterday"

The #, for fellow Minnesotans: 651-201-3400

Publishing for Minnesota Silent auction 'Publishing for Minnesota' hosted online at 32auctions.

Anyone who still wants to get in on the Publishing for Minnesota fundraiser has until 11:45 pm EST TONIGHT (1/30!) to bid on offerings like manuscript critiques, AMAs, and swag from authors, agents, and editors. $$ supports Minnesotans impacted by ICE. 💙

www.32auctions.com/organization...

Fun fact, today is 1/29 and tomorrow is 1/30. The auction runs through Friday, 1/30!

Welp that date's wrong; today is 1/29 and tomorrow is 1/30!

Publishing for Minnesota Silent auction 'Publishing for Minnesota' hosted online at 32auctions.

Today's a perfect day to check out Publishing for Minnesota's fundraiser auction, which benefits Minnesotans impacted by ICE. It runs through 11:45 EST tomorrow, 1/29. You can bid on more than 500 offerings from authors, agents, and editors (including me).

www.32auctions.com/publishingfo...

Thank you, glad it was fun to read!

Our Lady of We-Keep-Us-Safe I Have a Hunch We're Going to Win

Decided to feature a kids' movie in this month's Historical Flicktion newsletter, to keep the mood light and chill. That turned out about how you'd expect.
historicalflicktion.beehiiv.com/p/our-lady-o...

These are the deaths we're not hearing about. This neighbor was even younger than Renee Good and Alex Pretti. I know nothing about him except that he didn't deserve this.

Our future must include justice for all those who've been terrorized, tortured, and murdered, here in MN and elsewhere.

A SWEEP

Cover image for THE PECAN SHELLER by Lupe Ruiz-Flores. A girl stands facing the reader and holding up a banner with the title text with her right arm. She has brown skin, long dark hair, and a calm, determined expression.

One more celebratory post today: THE PECAN SHELLER by Lupe Ruiz-Flores has won a Pura Belpré Award! #ALAyma

Thank you!!

Congratulations, and well done with that screen grab! I envy those reflexes!

Cover image for SOMETIMES THE GIRL by Jennifer Mason-Black. Yellow title text overlays a background photographic image of leafy tree branches against a blue sky.

Some more much-needed good news: SOMETIMES THE GIRL by Jennifer Mason-Black has received a Stonewall Book Award Honor! #ALAyma

I believe this is what's referred to as a "timeline cleanse." Delighted that THE RED CAR TO HOLLYWOOD by Jennie Liu has won an Asian Pacific American Award for Literature! #ALAyma

All those people downtown yesterday, no ICE involvement, and not one incident. ICE shows up in a neighborhood and now another Minnesotan is dead. It's pretty obvious who the violent outside agitators are.

This didn't happen overnight. People worked thanklessly for years to lay foundations of solidarity, and it's because of their efforts that we're leveling up like this now. I'm prouder than ever that this is my home and these are my neighbors; more certain than ever that we have each other's backs.

I don’t know, ICE taking babies off the street and imprisoning them seems like a kitchen table issue.

Many of these businesses will be seeing an uptick in my patronage after Friday's strike!

right now the floor for me is abolish ICE and put every agent on trial and the average elected democrat is like what if we told them to cut it out

Thank you so much for compiling this!