Alex Gino

Hope you enjoy it!

Congratulations to CHRIS MAKES A FRIEND on being an Amazon Editors' Pick for the month of November! 🎉 We are so proud of you, @alexgino.bsk

🎉 Congratulations to CHRIS MAKES A FRIEND on being an Amazon Editors' Pick for the month of November! 🎉 Cheering for and celebrating with you, @alexgino.bsky.social!

@literaticat.bsky.social

If we had followed Hari's modest proposal, we'd have the public option by now.

I really truly didn't think there was anything in the Epstein files that was new or surprising but like they're straight up refusing to seat a Republican House rep because she'll vote to release it and the House basically hasn't existed since like September

Moreover, ICE must be destroyed

A reminder thay if your senators and congressperson are not contacts on your phone ... they could be.

And to be honest (maybe this isn't great), calling my reps is easier for me now than it's almost always a voicemail not a person answering the phone.

The latest AI/scam bruhaha is from surprisingly officially named local book clubs (today's is "The San Diego Women's Book Club") offering for their group to read one of my books.

PSA: Book clubs do not need permission to read a book. Just sayin'.

heads up to anyone who holds trans kids near: amy harmon from the nyt is searching for and having a hard time finding people to interview to find out exactly what trans kids are doing when their care is limited or cut off, and for purposes of community safety, please shut the fuck up around her.

Book cover THE KIDS IN MRS. Z'S CLASS: THEO CHANG IS NOT A CAT by Mike Jung has a yellow background with orange and white title graphics and shows an Asian American third grade boy in a green sweatshirt holding a surly wiggly brown and black cat as two other boys look on.

Book cover THE KIDS IN MRS. Z'S CLASS: THUNDER NELSON DOES THE IMPOSSUMBLE by Martha Brockenbrought has an orange background with wine-red and white title graphics and shows a third grade girl with wild reddish brown hair and a green tee shirt holding a cardboard box with a baby possum inside as two of her classmates look on.

MRS. Z'S CLASS is growing!!

Happy book birthday to @mikejungwroteabook.bsky.social & @marthabee.bsky.social whose new books THEO CHANG IS NOT A CAT and THUNDER NELSON DOES THE IMPOSSUMBLE are out today from @littlebrownyr.bsky.social, both illustrated by the inimitable @katfcomix.bsky.social!

First week sales are important, but also, I know how money is. So, if you'd like, you can order a copy, or, you can borrow (or request!) a copy from your local library!!

For hardcover: highfivebooks.org/products/chr...
For ebook: bookshop.org/.../chris-ma....
For audiobook: libro.fm/audio.../979...

And in fun news, the launch party at High Five Books in Florence, Massachusetts at 5 pm this Saturday is going to include a scavenger hunt. The store is making sure all the books are stocked, and each will have a letter in a bookmark to spell out a quote. Drop by if you're local!

It's got some deeply autobiographical notes to it. I also did a thing I can't really tell you about, but you'll know by the time you're done what it was. Plus, I got to highlight some of the amazing middle grade literature and nonfiction available these days in a 72 book reading log.

Cover of CHRIS MAKES A FRIEND. Two kids sit in the woods reading back to back. Ones face is hidden by their book.

It's my *SIXTH* book birthday!!! CHRIS MAKES A FRIEND releases today in hardcover, ebook, and audiobook (read by me!) I'm really proud of this one for a lot of reasons. It's about annoying little siblings and about having a mom with chronic pain. Chris is independent but also maybe lonely.

Thanks Kate. I'm really proud of this one. It's about loneliness and sense of self and big things

Congratulations to @alexgino.bsky.social, the author of the groundbreaking middle grade novel, MELISSA on the release of their latest middle grade title, CHRIS MAKES A FRIEND. Happy book birthday and welcome to the world!

A reminder that if you see someone stealing food

NO YOU DIDNT

Youtube has a music service!They're still a big company, yeah, but I'm already paying to avoid ads in videos.

And wherever you transfer to, there are lots of tools online to help you move your library.

My personal Tripledent Gum (Inside Out) is George Costanza's outgoing voicemail song. I wasn't even that into that show, but I'll belt that one out randomly.

Believe it or not, I'm not hooooome. 🎶

LGBTQ+ youth's mental health struggles are getting worse, according to a new survey A new survey from the Trevor Project found that between 2023 and 2025, LGBTQ+ youth reported an increase in anxiety, depression and suicide ideation.

The kids are not alright.

Longitudinal research shows that rates of mental health distress among LGBTQ+ youth have increased since 2023, that they're less able to access mental health care, and that nearly 1/4 have been threatened with conversion therapy.

www.latimes.com/science/stor...

Scavenger Hunt Book Launch with Alex Gino! Sat 8 Nov, 5:00 PM - 6:30 PM [EST]: Please join us in celebration of the new middle-grade novel by bestselling local author Alex Gino, CHRIS MAKES A FRIEND. You’re invited to scour High Five Books on ...

One of the many special things about this book is a log of 72 (mostly real) books Chris reads over the summer. I had a lot of fun (and a little stress) picking out which books to include. A launch party scavenger hunt for all 72 will reveal a mystery quote. Prizes!

tockify.com/highfivebook...

Chris Makes a Friend From the award-winning author of MELISSA, a sweet and tart story about unexpected friendship and family reconciliation.THIS IS NOT THE SUMMER CHRIS HAD PLANNED...Chris does not want to be spending the...

hey! My new MG, CHRIS MAKES A FRIEND releases in 2 weeks! This may be the book I'm proudest of yet. I did a *thing* and I'm excited to share it with you!

You know the deal - first week sales matter and the best way to remember is to not have to. Pre-order at: highfivebooks.org/products/chr...

EVERY BOOK BANNED FROM THE READING BOWL HAS BEEN RESTORED!!!!!

The kids will be able to read and compete over all 20 books. Raising the issue made a difference. Teen advocates made a difference.

docs.google.com/document/u/0...

4 frame comic. an woman with grey hair and a yellow scarf is getting interviewed on the street. the interviewer asks : ma'am! what do you think of the radical left fearmongering that we could someday see fascism in the u.s.? she replies : dear boy, the u.s. has been a blueprint for fascism all along. hitler specifically cited jim crow, u.s. anti-miscege- nation and white-only immi- gration laws as inspiration for his eugenics policies. germany sent people to study what was being done in the u.s. to export it over there. in the 30s, tens of thousands of americans attended massive rallies by fascist groups such as the friends of new germany or the german american bund. then in the 40s, two dozen congresspeople were charged with sedition for planning a fascist overthrow of the government. and since wwII, the amount of fascist groups and militias has been exponential. not only can fascism come to the u.s., it has always been an inherent part of american society.

Blueprint

School Library Journal Day of Dialog Fall 2025 Join us October 9th for SLJ Day of Dialog—fully virtual and free to attend! Our daylong program of author panels, in-depth conversations, and keynote talks will leave you informed, inspired, and enter...

Hey! @slj.com's Day of Dialog is tomorrow, and it's free! I'll be live at 10 AM ET, talking middle grade with @veedabybee.bsky.social, McCall Hoyle, Primo Gallanosa, & Colleen Nelson, mod: Hilda Gonzalez. Excited to chat about my upcoming 6th book, CHRIS MAKES A FRIEND. www.slj.com/event/school...

Can’t decide what to buy on Prime Day?

Try: absolutely nothing, and then go support indie bookstores instead 📚

Today’s the first day of Banned Books Week! Take a look at the thread and see if there’s something you can do to protect our freedom to read!

I've been looking to get away from google too, esp for my data storage. What's eerie to me is that the big bad MS from the 90s seems to still want my money, which no longer sounds as evil as google, which wants my data. If I'm not paying for it, am I the product?

So good. Plus you get to start your day like a Cockney schoolboy: "gday, scrivnuh"

Not to be Capn Buzzkill but I used LibreOffice for edits until my latest when the file went back and forth and in one of the conversions to word we lost a bunch of comments and the production team was mad at me.

Otoh, I love scrivener and the learning curve was worth it.

My level of tech-change-burnout: I freaked out bcs the company I pay for web hosting changed & when I logged in to update my site, everything looked different. I asked my programmer friend to sit with me to figure it out. The problem? I logged into the web host, not wordpress, where I edit the site.

Scavenger Hunt Book Launch with Alex Gino! Sat 8 Nov, 5:00 PM - 6:30 PM [EST]: Please join us in celebration of the new middle-grade novel by bestselling local author Alex Gino, CHRIS MAKES A FRIEND. You’re invited to scour High Five Books on ...

And a scavenger hunt launch party at the astounding High Five Books in Florence, MA!
tockify.com/highfivebook...

Chris reads 72 books over the summer. Hive Five staff are going to make sure ALL 72 TITLES from her log are on the shelves with a letter in each to spell out a secret phrase.