Summer comes bearing gifts of 12 x 12 members’ Good News! Help us celebrate 10 new book releases in July! Plus, we get to announce more agent signings, thirteen(!) more 12 x 12 books under contract, and more award winners! How lucky are we?

If you have good news in any of these categories, be sure to let us know by filling out the Good News form in the Important Announcements section of the 12 x 12 forum.

All of today’s good news was submitted before June 25th. If you submitted news after June 25th, it will be included in our August post. Please note: We changed our deadline date for Good News submissions. Going forward, be sure to have your good news submitted by the 25th of the month for inclusion in the next month’s Good News Post.

Easy ways to help 12 x 12 members and their books:

1. Click on the “Click to Tweet” links to share on Twitter and get the word out about these books on social media.
2. Submit a request to your local library to carry these books.
3. Write reviews on Amazon, GoodReads, and B&N.
4. Consider purchasing these books from your local independent bookstore or the 12 x 12 Bookshop.org site. (Purchases made at the 12 x 12 Bookshop.org help to fund our scholarship program.)

Your fellow authors appreciate your support!

Book Birthdays

Congratulations to Mary Kate Bolinder on the June 30th release of HOME SAFARI published by Teacher Created Materials and illustrated by Brian Martin!  (Click to Tweet)

Congratulations to Cindy Rodriguez on the July 1st release of THREE POCKETS FULL published by Cardinal Rule Press and illustrated by Begoña Fernández Corbalán! (Click to Tweet)

Congratulations to Carolyn Scoppettone on the July 3rd release of MAGGIE AND PIE AND THE COOKIE CONTEST and MAGGIE AND PIE AND THE PERFECT PICNIC published by Highlights Press and illustrated by Paula J. Becker! (Click to Tweet)

Congratulations to Katrina Moore on the July 12th release of SOMETIMES LOVE published by Dial/Penguin Young Readers and illustrated by Joy Hwang Ruiz! (Click to Tweet)

Congratulations to Kari Allen on the July 12th release of THE BOY WHO LOVED MAPS, published by Anne Schwartz Books and illustrated by G. Brian Karas! (Click to Tweet)

Congratulations to Julia Richardson on the July 15th release of LET’S BUILD A LITTLE TRAIN from Sleeping Bear Press and illustrated by Ryan O’Rourke! (Click to Tweet)

Congratulations to Carrie Finison on the July 19th release of HURRY, LITTLE TORTOISE, TIME FOR SCHOOL published by Random House Studio and illustrated by Erin Kraan! (Click to Tweet)

It’s  12 x 12 TWO-FER! Congratulations to Michal Babay and the late Paula Cohen on the July 25th release of THE INCREDIBLE SHRINKING LUNCHROOM published by Charlesbridge! We miss you, Paula! (Click to Tweet)

Congratulations to Margaret Aitken on the July 26th release of OLD FRIENDS published by Feiwel & Friends and illustrated by Lenny Wen! (Click to Tweet)

Congratulations to Elisa Boxer on the July 30th (we hope!) release of SPLASH! ETHELDA BLEIBTREY MAKES WAVES OF CHANGE published by Sleeping Bear Press and illustrated by Elizabeth Baddeley! (Click to Tweet)

Signed! Look who has an agent!

Kamalani Hurley signed with James McGowan at the BookEnds Literary! Congrats!

Korena Di Roma Howley signed with Lisa Amstutz at Storm Literary Agency! Awesome!

Kris Taratino signed with Keeley Boeving at WordServe Literary! Way to go!

Lindsey Aduskevich signed with Dawn Dowdle at Blue Ridge Literary Agency! Go you!

Ryan Bani Tahmaseb signed with Jacqui Lipton at The Tobias Literary Agency! Hooray!

Tunisia Williams signed with Hilary Harwell at KT Literary! Woohoo!

New Book Deals

Congratulations to Blair Northern Williamson on the sale of ISLAND GIRLS: TURTLES IN DANGER to Argus Publishing! Huzzah!

Congratulations to Christine Evans on the sale of DEAR MR. G to Eve Adler at Union Square Kids! Gracey Zhang will illustrate. Fantastic!

Congratulations to Janet Johnson on the sale of here RECESS GENIUS series to Alison Weiss at Pixel + Ink! Stacy Ebert will illustrate. Excellent!

Congratulations to Katey Howes on the sale of THE REINDERR REMAINDERS to Anna Sargeant at Sourcebooks! Marie Hermansson will illustrate. Woohoo!

Congratulations to Nadia Salomon on the sale of MYRLIE: A VOICE OF HOPE to Liza Kaplan at Viking! London Ladd will illustrate. Can’t wait to see it!

Congratulations to Nancy Tupper Ling on the sale of HEARTS IN MY POCKET to Esther Cajahuaringa at Union Square Kids! Shirley Ng-Benitez will illustrate. Wahoo!

Congratulations to Rebecca Gardyn Levington on the sale of WHATEVER COMES TOMORROW to Lisa Rosinsky at Barefoot Books! Mariona Cabassa will illustrate. Way to go!

Congratulations to Sherry Roberts on the sale of SONNET, SONNET, WHAT’S IN YOUR BONNET to Kenney Myers at Pen It Publications! The book will feature photography from Sherry herself! Amazing!

Congratulations to Sruthi Rao on the sale of KADOOBOO!: A SILLY SOUTH INDIAN FOLKTALE to Kayla Tostevin at Page Street Kids! Darshika Varma will illustrate. Hooray!

Congratulations to Srividhya Venkat on the sale of GIRLS ON WHEELS to Joanna Cárdenas at Kokila! Kate Wadsworth will illustrate. So cool!

Congratulations to Choctaw Nation member Stacy Wells on the sale of STRONGER THAN to Rosemary Brosnan and Cynthia Leitich Smith at Heartdrum! The book is co-authored with Nikki Grimes and will be illustrated by E.B. Lewis. What a combination! This book is bound for greatness!

Congratulations to Vivian Kirkfield on the sale of ONE GIRL’S VOICE: HOW LUCY STONE CHANGED THE LAW OF THE LAND to Thalia Leaf at Astra/Calkins Creek! Rebecca Gibbon will illustrate. Awesome!

And more congratulations go to Vivian Kirkfield as her picture book PIPPA’S PASSOVER PLATE will have its board book debut in 2023! The book is published by Holiday House and illustrated by Jill Weber. Mazel tov!

Award Winners

Congratulations! A VOTE FOR SUSANNA: THE FIRST WOMAN MAYOR by Karen M. Greenwald was named a 2022 Kansas Notable Book by the Kansas Center for the Book, an affiliate of the Library of Congress Center for the Book! WOW!

Congratulations to Rhett Trull on winning a #PBChat Mentorship with Jill Esbaum! Way to go!

Wow! So much good news to celebrate! Congratulations to all our members on seeing their hard work pay off! We are so proud of you!

All of today’s good news was shared prior to June 25th. 12 x 12 members, if you have good news about a new book release, agent signing, book deal, or writing award, share it with us. Please submit your good news by July 25th to be included in our August Good News post. You can find the Good News form in the Important Announcements section of the forum.

Keep up the good work, everyone!

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