Tag Archives: A Whale of the Wild

A New York Times Bestseller!!

I just received the most amazing news and on my birthday too! A Whale of the Wild is now a New York Times Bestseller! I’m so proud of this story and of Lindsay Moore’s brilliant illustrations that do so much to bring the tale to life. It was first published in the depths of the pandemic, September of 2020, when my home was shrouded in wildfire smoke. And yet people found my story and loved it and shared it with others. When the paperback edition went on sale we were in the thick of the Delta wave. Still people found my story. And now after all this time, when people were out there thinking about what book they wanted their child to have this holiday, they thought of Vega and Deneb and the Orcas of the Salish Sea. I could not be more thrilled. I hope a legion of eager readers grow up to be wayfinders and defenders of the ocean.

Many thanks to my agent Fiona Kenshole of The Transatlantic Agency who never gave up on these stories and has represented them around the world with vigor and warmth. My thoughtful and savvy editor Virginia Duncan has been a dream to work with as has the whole team at HarperCollins. Most of all thanks to the booksellers and librarians and teachers who work so hard to bring books and children together in the most challenging environment of my lifetime. Thank you!

World Read Aloud Day

February 3, 2021 is World Read Aloud Day. I’ll be celebrating four ways. First, by reading aloud to 14 classrooms in Oregon, Washington, California, Texas, Illinois, Kansas, New York, and Georgia. I wish it could be 100!

If your classroom or homeschool group didn’t get an author visit for World Read Aloud Day, here is a video of me reading a two and a half minute piece from A Whale of the Wild. The link is right here. If you are a fan of A Wolf Called Wander there’s also read aloud link for that one. It’s a slightly longer segment at just over four minutes

I want to celebrate World Read Aloud Day by giving away ten copies of the brand new paperback edition of A Wolf Called Wander to teachers and librarians who have done so much to bring this book into the lives of children. I couldn’t do it without you all and I’m very grateful. If you are a teacher or school librarian and would like a free signed copy of the new paperback, please use the contact me feature on this website and send me the name of your school, and the address where I should send the book. Because teachers in the east will see this message hours before teachers in the west I’ll give away half to books to folks in the eastern and central time zones and half to the mountain and pacific time zone. I hope that will be fair to everyone.

A Wolf Called Wander by Rosanne Parry Illustrated by Mónica Armiño

And finally wonderful local bookshop Annie Blooms set up a book page for me in honor of World Read Aloud Day. It will be up for a week. Use this link and you can get any of my books. Let me know who you’d like me to dedicate the book to and I’ll sign it and send it your way. Thank you for supporting the indie bookstores who have supported my writing for many years!

And what am I reading aloud these days you ask? Well, I’m reading one very old book and one brand new one. Roughing It by Mark Twain is both hilarious and a useful window into what it was like to travel across country by stage coach and live in a mining boomtown in the 1860s. In a word–messy. It was published in 1872. I’m also very excited about a debut book that came out in December of 2020, A Wolf For a Spell by Karah Sutton. It’s a rollicking fable with elements of Russian folk lore. It’s got Baba Yaga of course, plus a wolf that was just minding it’s own business, a dastardly villain, stout-hearted girls, and compassionate boys. Delicious!

A Wolf for a Spell by Karah Sutton illustrated by Pauliina Hannuniemi

A new baby orca in the Salish Sea

It’s been a busy two weeks since A Whale of the Wild splashed down in bookstores on Sept 1st. Wildfires have occupied most of my attention this last week but I prefer to focus on much happier news. For example, there is a new baby orca in the Salish Sea! You can read all about it on the Center for Whale Research website. The photo below is by Katie Jones who helped me vet A Whale of the Wild.

Last Thursday I got to spend an evening with one of my favorite writers Janet Fox on the Books in Common NW writers series. We had a lovely chat about my book and hers, The Artifact Hunters. It was great fun and you can catch the whole conversation here. It starts a little slow because we are waiting for folks to join the zoom, so skip ahead a minute if you like.

I had hoped to create some science videos in my backyard here in Oregon this month as a supplement to school visits, but at the moment my back yard has the most unhealthy air in the entire world because of wildfire smoke, so I’ll be postponing that for now. Fortunately I haven’t had to evacuate yet and I’m grateful for all the help and prayers that people are sending.

If you are looking for a way to support people in my state, the Oregon Food Bank is going to have 40,000 extra folks to feed this month, so a donation there would be very welcome. If you are looking for more literature-specific aid, the Book Industry Charitable Foundation (BINC) gives direct aid to displaced booksellers and burned or shuttered book shops.

Thank you!