C.J. Milbrandt's Blog, page 68

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Every year, writers in San Diego county are invited to contribute one title to the downtown library’s impressive collection. Choosing only one can be tough. This year, I picked Ewan for my 2016 title. So during yesterday’s kickoff of the SDPL’s 51st Annual Local Author Exhibit, I poked through the stacks to find Down the Stairs: A Ewan Johns Adventure.

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Several more of CJ’s titles are shelved downtown. Be sure to request the Byways Books at your local library. I’d love to give young readers...

Meet Ian Johns, Postmaster of Liberty and father to the three boys who are caught up in an epic race across their homeland.

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You’ll find more cast portraits and
gossipy tidbits on the Byways Cast page.

Something new (and slightly crazy) happened this past week … in the safety of CJ’s closet.

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Being “indie” clearly runs in the family. Our household is a one-stop shop for everything from deciphering ancient languages to music composition. So we applied our diverse talents to a new project for 2017: audio book production. Byways Book #1, On Your Marks: The Adventure Begins will soon be available for purchase from Audible, iTunes, and Amazon.

We’ll be adding new titles every month, so watch for...

What’s this series about?
A race. Three half-brothers turn their father’s plans for a tour of the country into a three-way race across it. Ewan, Zane, and Ganix take sibling rivalry to new lengths in a journey that will put them in unfamiliar territory.

[image error]Can you quickly introduce us to the Johns family?
Ian Johns is the postmaster of Liberty, and he has three sons. 1) Ewan is a reliable guy—hardworking, protective, and shy. 2) Zane grew up wild. He’s a lone wolf who wants nothing more than to...

While I prefer to read bound books (the kind that pile up on every shelf and flat surface in my home), I do collect digital books on my electronic reader … and listen to them while I do odd jobs around the house (laundry, dusting, and the like). My current “listening” book is Curiosity House: The Shrunken Head by Lauren Oliver and H. C. Chester, a middlegrade adventure that mixes misfits and mystery.

I’ve enjoyed it so much, I’m added the sequel to my To Read list!

My inbox exploded! That moment when it’s your turn in your printer’s queue.

I’ve been waiting for these alerts. This email burst represents a pile of minor tweaks to the Byways print editions. We fixed a few lurking typos, updated the front matter so all thirteen books are listed, updated the back ads so all the lovely cover art is represented, and added the Moonbeam Children’s Book Award medallion to our covers. Byways is better than ever!

Do you have any of the print editions on your shel...

Moonbeam Children’s Book Award. Guess what came in the mail last week! I couldn’t make it to the awards ceremony in Traverse City, Michigan, so the Jenkins Group mailed my award packet. Byways received an award in the “Best Book Series – Chapter Books” category!

“The Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards are intended to bring increased recognition to exemplary children’s books and their creators, and to support childhood literacy and life-long reading. The Awards recognize and reward the best of t...

Aurelius stole onto a rocky outcropping above the buck, blades drawn, muscles taut, poised to leap. It was impossible not to acknowledge the hunter’s own unique nobility. Although Freydolf would never cater to the other man’s ego by telling him so, he’d often thought that this Aurelius—the one stripped of all his ruffles and refinement—was worth sculpting.

—MEADOWSWEET by C.J. Milbrandt

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2016 Moonbeam Children’s Book Award
“Best Book Series – Chapter Books”
Byways by C.J. Milbrandt
illustrated by Hannah Christenson
Bronze Medalist

Those who met Ganix found him impossible to dislike. Those who knew Ganix found him impossible to trust. His pranks were legendary, and his curiosity was always leading him into some kind of trouble. Thankfully, he was also very lucky. His mother said it was because on the day Ganix was born, a lady bug landed on his nose and blessed it.

—ON YOUR MARKS: The Adventure Begins (Byways #1)