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Kate Messner

@katemessner

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NYT Bestselling Author of 80+ books. Educator. Speaker. Adirondack 46er. Passionately curious. Up next: KEEP THE GHOST LIGHT ON

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COVER REVEAL!

KEEP THE GHOST LIGHT ON is coming this winter from @bloomsburybooksus and it’s available for preorder now! Shoutout to illustrator @leonickollstho who created the amazing cover art and type; Patrick Collins, who designed the sprayed edges; and art director @jeanette.levy.lic who pulled it all together.

And speaking of those gorgeous sprayed edges, be sure to preorder if you want this deluxe first edition – later printings will still be pretty but won’t have the fancy edges. If you’d like your copy to be fancy AND signed, you can pre-order from my local indie, @bookstoreplus – I’ll sign it & it’ll be shipped off to you just as soon as it’s out. Link in bio.

And fair warning – in the coming months, my Instagram feed will be full of nerdy Broadway history, costume design, musical theater, songwriting tips, ghost stories, and book recommendations for middle school – feel free to follow @katemessner if that’s your jam! #MGnovel #Broadway #Ghosts by @katemessner

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5 months ago

THE TROUBLE WITH HEROES is a New York Times bestseller, a National Indie bestseller, and a USA Today bestseller!! 🥳🥳 congratulations to @katemessner!!

“Genuinely moving.” -The New York Times ⛰️ “Sincere… heartrending.” -The Wall Street Journal ⛰️ “Hard to put down.” -The Week, Jr. ⛰️ link in bio to get your copy!

One summer.
46 mountain peaks.
A second chance to make things right.

Finn Connelly is nothing like his dad, a star athlete and firefighter hero who always ran toward danger until he died two years ago. Finn is about to fail seventh grade and has never made headlines . . . until now.

Caught on camera vandalizing a cemetery, he’s in big trouble for knocking down some dead old lady’s headstone. Turns out that grave belongs to a legendary local mountain climber, and her daughter makes Finn an unusual offer: she’ll drop all the charges if he agrees to climb all forty-six Adirondack High Peaks in a single summer. And there’s just one more thing—he has to bring along the dead woman’s dog.

In a wild three months of misadventures, mountain mud, and unexpected mentors, Finn begins to find his way on the trails. At the top of each peak, he can see for miles and slowly begins to understand more about himself and his dad. But the mountains don’t care about any of that, and as the clock ticks down to September, they have more surprises in store. Finn’s final summit challenge may be more than even a hero can face.

#middlegrade #thetroublewithheroes #katemessner #kidlit #childrensbooks #booksaboutgrief #bookstagram #kidsbooks #readersofinstagram #childrensliterature #childrenslibrarian #librarians of Instagram #bookrecs bookish #middlegradebooks #middlegradefiction by @katemessner

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a year ago

Amazing Spooky Season news! We just got our first review for KEEP THE GHOST LIGHT ON… and it’s a star from @sljournal! Coming 2/23 from @bloomsburybooksus & available for preorder now! Be sure to preorder if you want the gorgeous deluxe first edition with stenciled edges (that offer some clues to the mystery inside!) #KeepTheGhostLightOn #spookyseason #booksforkids by @katemessner

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14 days ago

ICYMI swipe through to see a few of the things we’ve been celebrating at ABLA lately! 🎉

Books highlighted:
📚 THE TROUBLE WITH HEROES by Kate Messner
📖 THAT WHICH FEEDS US by Keala Kendall
📚 A FATE SO COLD by Amanda Foody and C.L. Herman
📖 YOU WEREN’T MEANT TO BE HUMAN by Andrew Joseph White
📚 A ROOM WITH A VIEW by Joanna Ho and Thaís Mesquita
📖 BATHTIME FOR SNOW MONKEYS by Maggie Tokuda-Hall and Yas Imamura
📚 LIVING BRIDGES by Sandhya Acharya and Avani Dwivedi
📖 FIRSTBORN by M.J. Hastings
📚 THE DREAM THIEVES: The Graphic Novel adapted by Sas Milledge
📖 THE SEVENTH WISH by Kate Messner
📚 MERCI SUÁREZ CHANGES GEARS by Meg Medina
📖 OPHIE’S GHOST by Justina Ireland*
📚 EL DEAFO by Cece Bell
📖 MELISSA by Alex Gino
📚 EYES THAT KISS IN THE CORNERS by Joanna Ho and Dung Ho
📖 LITTLE WITCH HAZEL by Phoebe Wahl
📚 WE ARE WATER PROTECTORS by Carole Lindstrom and Michaela Goade
📖 NIGHT PRINTS by Kari Allen and Kim Smith
📚 SATURDAY MORNING AT THE ‘SHOP by Keenan Jones and Ken Daley*
📖 PENELOPE WEATHERVANE’S GRUMPY DAY by James Serafino
📚 YOU BE TEACHER by Karla Clark and Gabby Zapata
📖 HEDGEHOGS DON’T WEAR UNDERWEAR by Marissa Valdez
📚 100 DAYS by Kimberly Lee and Michelle Jing Chan
📖 WAITING FOR WINTER by Stephen Gorman
📚 WHALES IN THE CITY by Nancy F. Castaldo and Chuck Groenink
📖 A LINE CAN GO ANYWHERE by Caroline McAlister and Jamie Green
📚 NORTH FOR THE WINTER by Bobby Podesta
📖 WE COULD BE MAGIC by Marissa Meyer and Joelle Murray
📚 LOVE, MISHA by Askel Aden
📖 YOU ARE THE LAND by Steph Littlebird
📚 HOW A BEAR BECAME A BOOK by Annette Bay Pimentel and Faith Pray
📖 I’M SO HAPPY YOU’RE HERE by Mychal Threets and Lorraine Nam
📚 BEATRIX AND THE UNICORN by Lita Judge
📖 I AM WONDERFULLY ME by Grace Byers and Lisbeth Checo and Keturah A. Bobo
📚 FOR ALWAYS FRIENDS by Tootie Nienow and Katherine Ahmed
📖 ONE RED THREAD by Lindsay Ward
📚 BRANCH by Rebecca Janni and Michelle Carlos
📖 A POEM FOR DUDLEY RANDALL by Don Tate and Laura Freeman
📚 BITSY BAT, SNOW STAR by Kaz Windness*
📖 THAT BEAUTIFUL MIND by Tami Charles, Christopher Charles, and Nicholas Smith
📚 YOU’RE NO BETTER by Andrew Joseph White

Congratulations!

*Sold prior to ABLA rep by @katemessner

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16 days ago

I mean, we couldn’t NOT go to the library, right? Looking forward to today’s research at @montereybayaquarium & then a busy day of school visits tomorrow! #authorlife #library #wildliferescue taken in Pacific Grove, California by @katemessner

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16 days ago

How do you say thanks to your local indie booksellers who are running the preorder campaign for your new novel? Cider donuts from @rulfsorchard are a start! (Thanks for being our favorite Adirondack destination on fall days, @bookstoreplus!) #adirondacks #writerlife #indiebookstore taken in Lake Placid, New York by @katemessner

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18 days ago

I’ve been collaborating with the amazing @haleybmusic and @amyanderscorcoran to adapt my novel ALL THE ANSWERS into a musical…and our show is going to be featured in the Songwriters Showcase at the @namt_org Festival of New Musicals in October!

This is a showcase of new musicals presented each fall for an audience of producers, developers, and new works directors from theaters around the world, and I couldn’t possibly be more excited to be a part of it. (I’ll get to see the other shows being presented, too!) The festival includes 45-minute versions of eight shows that have been in development for years, along with the Songwriters Showcase, which features three musicals that are earlier in their development process, like ours. Each creative team in the Showcase will have fifteen minutes – enough time to present two songs (performed by Broadway talent!) and be interviewed on stage about our show.

It’s been the most joyful experience, full of Post-It Note brainstorming sessions, back-and-forth texts, and heaps of creative energy and laughter. So when Amy let us know that we’d been invited to be part of this year’s Songwriters Showcase, I had to pinch myself. I can’t wait to be in conversation with these incredible women and the NAMT folks at New World Stages next month. Thanks so much to NAMT for this amazing opportunity! #Broadway #musicaltheater #alltheanswers by @katemessner

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20 days ago

Most authors who write for kids spend time visiting schools and libraries to talk with readers about books and writing. You might assume that’s part of our job and a way to promote books, and while that’s true, it’s not the REAL reason. The truth is, even when I’m having a busy season with deadlines, school visit days are some of the very best days because I get to meet the readers I’ve been writing for all along. And oh my gosh…the stories these kids tell! They always make me smile (and laugh out loud at least a few times a day, too!) #authorlife #school #writing by @katemessner

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21 days ago

Flying into #BTV last night reminded me why the Adirondacks & Green Mountains are the best place in the world in autumn. And that big mountain in the second photo? It’s Whiteface Mountain…from the final scene in my Adirondack hiking novel THE TROUBLE WITH HEROES! Can you spot your favorite peak from the air? #Adirondacks #authorlife taken in Adirondack Mountains by @katemessner

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23 days ago

It’s school visit season again! That time when staying healthy in between events becomes a full time job. #authorlife by @katemessner

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23 days ago

This happened last month, but guess what — HISTORY SMASHERS: THE SPACE RACE was on the USA Today bestseller list! A little unexpected, but a welcome surprise! I love working with Kate on these books; always a pleasure! by @katemessner

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24 days ago

Is this theater giving haunted vibes to you?

One of the host schools for my upcoming book tour for KEEP THE GHOST LIGHT ON book tour has just informed me that they'd like to hold their event in their town's spooky old theater instead of at school and I could not possibly be more delighted by this development. #hauntedtheater #keeptheghostlighton #writergoals

P.S. Let me know if you also have a haunted theater in your town, too! by @katemessner

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24 days ago