BEGIN:VCALENDAR METHOD:PUBLISH VERSION:2.0 CALSCALE:GREGORIAN PRODID:-//NONSGML Sandhills Development\, LLC//NONSGML Sugar Calendar Fe eds v3.4.0//EN X-WR-CALNAME:Book Launch with Children's Author Betty Culley and RH Edit or Phoebe Yeh X-WR-CALDESC:Portland Downtown X-WR-TIMEZONE:America/New_York BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/New_York BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 DTSTART:20220313T070000 TZNAME:EDT END:DAYLIGHT END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:America/New_York BEGIN:DAYLIGHT TZOFFSETFROM:-0500 TZOFFSETTO:-0400 DTSTART:20220313T070000 TZNAME:EDT END:DAYLIGHT END:VTIMEZONE BEGIN:VEVENT SUMMARY:Book Launch with Children's Author Betty Culley and RH Editor Ph oebe Yeh DESCRIPTION:Betty Culley’s debut novel in verse Three Things I Know Ar e True\, was a Kids’ Indie Next List Top Ten Pick\, an ALA-YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults Nominee\, and the 2021 Maine Literary Book Awar d Winner for Young People’s Literature. Her first middle-grade novel D own to Earth was inspired by her fascination with meteorites\, voyagers from another place and time. She’s an RN who worked as an obstetrics n urse and as a pediatric home hospice nurse. She lives in central Maine\, where the rivers run through the small towns. Visit her online at www.b ettyculley.com.\n\nPhoebe Yeh is a VP/co-publisher at Crown Books for Yo ung Readers/Random House. She worked with Joanna Cole and Bruce Degen on THE MAGIC SCHOOL BUS series and with Walter Dean Myers for twenty years . She edited MONSTER\, the first Printz winner\, and the New York Times bestselling series BIG NATE by Lincoln Peirce\, and THE SCHOOL FOR GOOD AND EVIL by Soman Chainani. For Crown\, she has edited and published the LUCY &\; ANDY NEANDERTHAL graphic novel series by Jeffrey Brown\; TH E LAST GARGOYLE by Paul Durham\; FLYING LESSONS AND OTHER SHORT STORIES\ , edited by Ellen Oh and FRESH INK\, edited by Lamar Giles in partnershi p with We Need Diverse Books\, the New York Times bestseller\, DEAR MART IN by Nic Stone and MY SO CALLED BOLLYWOOD LIFE by Nisha Sharma\, both d ebut novelists\; and WE RISE\, WE RESIST\, WE RAISE OUR VOICES edited by Cheryl and Wade Hudson.\n\n"Wistful verse highlights small but telling moments throughout Rynn’s search...The author’s lived history with f oster care and adoption gives the narrative nuance and authority. Emotio nally complex and empathetic characters...and a faithfully depicted rura l landscape form an exemplary backdrop for this contemplative novel."\n Publishers Weekly (starred review)\n\n"Compassionate and compelling."\ n—Kirkus\n\nThe Name She Gave Me tells the story of 16-year-old Rynn\, named Scheherazade by the birth mother she’s never met\, in stark and moving verse. Culley brings her own insights as an adopted child who re connected as an adult with siblings she never knew she had to this power ful and poignant tale about family\, friendship\, and love in its many f orms\, for fans of Robin Benway\, Cynthia Hand\, and Jandy Nelson.\n\nNo w sixteen\, Rynn and her adoptive parents live on a small garlic farm in central Maine. Rynn’s father is kind and gentle but oblivious to Rynn ’s mother’s temper and coldness toward their daughter. Though she ca n’t open her adoption records until she’s 18\, Rynn begins searching on her own – and discovers that\, though her birth mother has died\, she has a younger sister in foster care two towns away. Rynn has always longed to know her biological family\, but if she reconnects with her si ster\, it could drive her adoptive family apart for good.\n\nCulley’s first YA verse novel\, Three Things I Know Are True\, is an all-too-time ly tale about a girl and her family changed forever by a gun accident th at leaves her brother in need of round-the-clock care. It received numer ous awards\, including the 2021 YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults List \, the 2021 Maine Literary Book Award Winner for Young People’s Litera ture\, and Bank Street’s Best Children’s Books of the Year 2021\, as well as starred reviews from BookPage and The Bulletin of the Center fo r Children’s Books.\n\n"Culley gives readers characters that are natur al\, fallible individuals\, which add credibility and tenderness to the story. Endearingly executed\, this gentle tale will see readers applaudi ng as they reach the end."\n—Booklist (starred review)\n\n"Quietly and emotionally intelligent\, this tale satisfies."\n—Kirkus\n\nIn The Na tural Genius of Ants\, Harvard’s dad is a doctor\, caring for the smal lest and sickest babies in the hospital where he works. After a mistake leads to tragedy\, Dad isn’t the same\, but a summer trip back to his hometown of Kettle Hole\, Maine\, could be just what the doctor ordered. \n\nIn the small town where he grew up\, Dad seems more himself. Especia lly once the family decides to start an ant farm–just like Dad had as a kid! But when the mail-order ants are D.O.A.\, Harvard doesn’t want Dad to experience any more sadness. Luckily\, his new friend Neveah has the brilliant idea to use the ants crawling around the kitchen instead. But these insects don’t come with directions. So the kids have a lot t o learn–about the ants\, each other\, and how to forgive ourselves whe n things go wrong.\n\nCulley draws on her time as a pediatric nurse in M aine\, as well as keeping her own ant farm and caring for a carpenter an t queen\, in this lyrical coming-of-age story about forgiveness\, moving forward\, and coming home. The Natural Genius of Ants is a perfect summ er read for budding scientists\, as well as fans of her first award-winn ing middle grade novel Down to Earth.\n\nDown to Earth tells the story o f an inquisitive young boy with a fascination for rocks\, and the meteor ite that lands in his backyard and sends shockwaves through his family\, his community\, and his life. It has been met with critical acclaim\, i ncluding a starred review from Booklist which hailed it as “a captivat ing middle-grade novel\,” and named a Junior Library Guild Selection. URL;VALUE=URI:https://portlandmaine.com/events/book-launch-with-children s-author-betty-culley-and-rh-editor-phoebe-yeh/ UID:urn:uuid:ad54df6e-5f89-4cb2-bb80-b13003e3c554 STATUS:CONFIRMED ORGANIZER: DTSTAMP:20260928T120950Z DTSTART;TZID=America/New_York:20220621T190000 DTEND;TZID=America/New_York:20220621T200000 LOCATION:273 Congress St\, Portland\, Maine 04101\, US END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR