FAKE FRIEND FIASCO
Status: Going through revisions.
This book has won a Florida Writers Association Royal Palm Literary Award. (Silver, Middle Grade/Unpublished category.)
Roxie Parco has awesome roller-dance skating skills. What she doesn't have is a way to stop Pippa's Roxie-Can’t-Hear Public Service Announcements in her new school. Roxie needs her classmate to quit it now, before the popular girls start treating her differently.
A spectacular solution manifests itself when Roxie's classmates plan a night at the rink. Now she’ll be able to show off her excellent skating skills, as well as impress her crush, Derek.
Pippa has other ideas.
To make things worse, Roxie agrees to a favor her new teacher requests, only to discover she misheard what it was. Holy cannoli! Now she’s assigned to tutor Pippa for the rest of the school year. Roxie now stands to lose not only her reputation, but her best friend, as well.
Will she embrace her hearing disability, or hide it in order to fit in with the popular crowd?
ROXIE JEAN, DRAMA QUEEN!
Status: Going through revisions.
An earlier version of this book won a Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators Rising Kite Honorable Mention.
Twelve-year-old Roxie has a hearing disability and a massive imagination. She also has the knack of getting herself into wacky situations.
Like when she misheard her new neighbor’s directions and threw out their kid’s entire toy collection.
Now Roxie has to deal with the neighbor's toyless kid (who happens to be her camp counselor's niece), plus, a camper who’s focused like a high-beam flashlight on Roxie’s hearing missteps. Worst of all, her best friend got the role in the camp play Roxie wanted.
Add to this the feeling she has to catch up fast after one of the campers shows off budding boobs, and holy cannoli! Roxie didn’t expect her summer to be like this.
But Roxie's about to discover something her Magic 8-Ball didn't predict. She’s got more guts and more heart than she ever imagined. And nothing—nothing—is going to hold her back.
LITTLE LILY AND THE BIG BIRTHDAY RIDE
Status: Going through edits
While Lily has a big personality, she’s too little to do everything she wants to. That doesn't mean she won't try! This heartfelt story of getting closed out, acceptance and reasserting your worth has a snappy refrain kids will love to repeat.
BENNY TRIES TO BE GOOD
Status: Going through edits
Benny tries to be good, he really does. But there are so many Mom rules to follow! When unexpected visitors to his backyard cause mayhem, Benny sets down rules of his own, real quick. Will the roller-skating rabbits and skateboarding squirrels obey, or will Benny get in trouble once again?
I'D RATHER EAT BUGS
Status: Going through edits
Peas, peas, peas. YUCK! A young boy comes up with creative solutions to make the green part of his dinner disappear—and not by eating them. The peas don't plan to go quietly, however.
How can I buy your books? I've searched the entire Internet and can't find them.
Getting a book traditionally published takes a long time. Like Chutes and Ladders time.
Know that game? You work your way around the board, and finally reach the top of a ladder. Whoo hoo!
Next thing you know, you're whooshing down a chute.
In publishing, finishing your book is the top of the ladder. The chute is when you need to revise it. Or when an editor nicely rejects it.
But I'm close to staying up on that ladder, folks. Very, very close.
So, to answer your question: Neither book has been contracted to a publisher—yet. But if you send me your email through my contact page, I pinky-swear you will be the first to know when it happens. Then we can whoo hoo! together.
What made you decide to write about a hard-of-hearing seventh grader?
I grew up hard-of-hearing in a mainstream school, and every day there was a challenge or drawback of one kind or another. I was bold, brainy and the best-est friend ever—but there was always someone who was quick to close me out or (horrors!) point me out because of my hearing.
Was there anyone else going through what I was going through? Why wasn't there a character like me in one of the hundreds of books I was reading? Good question.
Roxie is a highly-motivated kid who just so happens to be hard-of-hearing. Fake Friend Fiasco and Roxie Jean, Drama Queen! are about close friendships, pre-teen drama, love crushes, school issues and special family connections.
Wait ’till you meet Roxie's Grandma! You're gonna love her.
Are the characters in your stories real people?
Yes and no.
While my plots are fiction, I write them from my own experiences, with a healthy dose of imagination.
Characters are based in part on real people, or a combination of personalities. Part of being a writer is observing mannerisms, speech and behavior.
I will say this: Grandma Parco, with a little embellishment, is based on my grandmother. Her storyline, however, is pure fiction. She never ran off to Atlantic City, that I know of. Or hung red lacy bras on the arms of an eight-foot stuffed bear at a garage sale.
I may be wrong.