Blurb-tacular!

Got two absolutely fabulous holiday presents this week. Two more blurbs for INTO THE WILD, from two amazing authors: Bruce Coville and Patricia Wrede! Let the Snoopy Dance of Joy commence. And it all came through just in the nick of time. The book is scheduled to go off to the production department after Christmas, so my editor had set this week as the deadline for being able to add additional blurbs to the book jacket. I'm sooooo glad these got in under the wire.

First one I received this week was from Patricia Wrede, author of THE ENCHANTED FOREST CHRONICLES:

"INTO THE WILD's fairy-tale characters are fascinating, and Julie is everything one could want in a heroine -- she's intelligent, practical, determined and brave; at once more ordinary and more extraordinary than she herself thinks she is. I'll be keeping an eye out for more work from Sarah Beth Durst." -- Patricia Wrede

I adore how she describes Julie. It's exactly how I hoped people would react to her. Plus it means a lot coming from Patricia Wrede -- she created one of my all-time favorite heroines: Cimorene, the plucky princess from DEALING WITH DRAGONS (and its sequels). I think I've read that book about a dozen times.

She's also the author of a bunch of other books that I adore: SNOW WHITE AND ROSE RED (a lovely retelling of the fairy tale, worlds better than the original tale), THE RAVEN RING (a traditional fantasy with a powerfully real heroine), and SORCERY AND CECELIA OR THE ENCHANTED CHOCOLATE POT: BEING THE CORRESPONDENCE OF TWO YOUNG LADIES OF QUALITY REGARDING VARIOUS MAGICAL SCANDALS IN LONDON AND THE COUNTRY and its sequels with Caroline Stevermer (yes, they're just as hysterical as the title suggests -- think Jane Austen meets magic). Anyway, if you haven't discovered Patricia Wrede, I highly recommend her work. And not just because she likes mine. :)

I really hope I get to meet her someday so I can thank her profusely. It was so awesome of her to do this for me.

Second blurb I received this week was from Bruce Coville, author of IN THE LAND OF THE UNICORNS and ALIENS ATE MY HOMEWORK:

"Sarah Beth Durst’s INTO THE WILD is fabulous in the oldest, truest, and best sense of the word, harking back to fables, wonder, and magic unleashed. It’s bold, sassy, and utterly engaging. I can’t wait to see what she does next!" -- Bruce Coville

Isn't that pretty? I love it. I've been walking around all day saying, "It's bold and sassy! Bold and sassy!" People at the post office did look at me a little oddly, but I was undeterred. "Bold and sassy!"

Bruce Coville has written so many fabulous books that I don't know where to begin... Here are just a couple that have special meaning for me: JEREMY THATCHER, DRAGON HATCHER (which I first read in a college course called "Re-enchanting the World," about how fantasy novels play an important role in restoring a sense of wonder to our modern world), THE A.I. GANG (which my brother and I used to borrow back and forth from each other to re-read... brother dearest, I think it's my turn now!), THE UNICORN CHRONICLES (the quintessential girl-meets-unicorn series), and last but not least... THE MONSTERS OF MORLEY MANOR.

This last one, THE MONSTERS OF MORLEY MANOR, has extra-special meaning to me... When I was trying to get published, I promised myself that when I finally did get published, I would walk into the closest bookstore and buy whatever book I wanted. Hardcover. Gold-enameled. Whatever. I'd simply buy it without any guilt about overloading my already-sagging bookshelves. So when I got the Call last spring, off I went to Borders... and this is the book I bought. Yeah, I'd already read it a couple of times, but I love it and didn't own it. It pretty much defines the phrase "imaginative romp." (Not rump. Romp.) Seriously, you have to love a book that has this as its opening:

"If Sarah hadn't put the monkey in the bathtub, we might never have had to help the monsters get big. But she did, so we did, which, given the way things worked out, was probably just as well for everyone on the planet -- especially the dead people."

Arguably, the best opening in all of English literature.

So it simply makes me giddy to know that he actually read, liked, and blurbed my book. So good.

Hope you all are having a lovely December. Happy holidays!