12.11.2019: Finding Hope Through Story

“Other people’s stories have the power to help us understand our own—and sometimes, to change the narrative.”

I wrote a piece for the January 2020 issue of The Writer magazine called Finding Hope Through Story. It’s about what I thought I’d be writing when I started the book that became Always Forever Maybe, and how developing my first-draft clichés into something more nuanced led to a different story altogether—and unearthed some uncomfortable memories (which I still feel vulnerable sharing). Find it here or on newsstands now. Thanks for reading.

Always Forever Maybe comes out in paperback on February 4, and the hardcover, ebook, and audio versions are all available now. You can also find it in Danish!

Meanwhile, I’m hard at work on a fun secret project I hope to announce soon (but here’s a hint: boo!). And illustrator Mika Song’s and my forthcoming picture book, Love, Sophia on the Moon, received its first trade reviews, which have me beaming. Publishers Weekly praised how it “gently portrays the stubborn flight and the resulting plight of a frustrated child,” and Kirkus predicted, “Readers will love it to the moon and back.” (It comes out in March. Yes, you can preorder it now!)

Friends in NYC, please save the date for a Love, Sophia on the Moon launch party with Mika and me at Stories Bookshop in Brooklyn on Sunday, March 29, 2020 at 10:30am. There will be snacks!

Love, Sophia on the Moon F&Gs (advance copies), and hot cocoa on notes for my work-in-progress

12.5.2018: Books for Underfunded Schools and Libraries

Always Forever Maybe has been out in the world for six months today, and to celebrate, I’m hoping to donate some copies to underfunded school and public libraries. Will you please help spread the word?

If that’s your school or library, please request the book at https://tinyurl.com/AFMdonation (that link brings you to a google form). If you know of an underfunded school or library in need of YA books, please share this post with them. You can also find a shareable version of it on my Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram pages. Thanks for your help!

I’m so grateful to all of you who have read, shared, borrowed, bought, or talked about the book this year. Your support means the world.

P.S. The Anna, Banana chapter-book giveaway has closed, and I’m in the process of sending more than 100 new books to Title I public schools in eighteen different states.

P.P.S. If you’re in NYC, come see me tonight at my last public event of the year: Teen Author Reading Night at the Jefferson Market branch of the New York Public Library. I’ll be sharing the stage with some incredible writers, and reading from and talking about Always Forever Maybe. More details here.

9.11.2018: Watch Out for Wolf! and Upcoming Events

Shhh…. Watch out for Wolf!

This little piggy is excited to share the cover for Charles Santoso’s and my 2019 picture book, Watch Out for Wolf!. It’s the story of five anxious but enterprising little pigs who are preparing a very big surprise. It recasts the “This Little Piggy Went to Market” nursery rhyme, weaving in other beloved fables and tales (including the story of The Three Little Pigs) along the way. It’s also a story about friendship, assumptions, and inclusion. I had a lot of fun writing it! And even more fun seeing Charles’s delightful illustrations bring it to life.

The book comes out from Disney-Hyperion on April 16, 2019. The hardcover is available for preorder now wherever you buy books. (You can ask your local bookstore or library to order it, or follow one of the preorder links below. Thank you!)

Charles and I did a fun interview with Mr. Schu about the process of creating the book. If you’d like to read it, please click here. That post also includes a peek at some of the interior spreads.

Here are the links for preordering the book online: Indiebound | B&N | Amazon | BAM | Book Depository (international) | Indigo

Meanwhile, Always Forever Maybe has been out in the world for three months, and in some ways it still doesn’t feel real. If you are one of the people who has bought, borrowed, read, reviewed, discussed, or recommended it, THANK YOU. My favorite part of this YA author life has been interacting with readers (that’s my favorite part of chapter-book and picture-book author life, too). I got to do some amazing bookstore and library events up and down the east coast over the summer, and I’m looking forward to upcoming book festivals and other events in Princeton, Warwick, Chicago, Brooklyn, Miami, and Manhattan this fall. (Three of those events—the Princeton and Warwick Children’s Book Festivals and the Brooklyn Botanic Garden Ghouls & Gourds Festival—will include the Anna, Banana books and The Teacher’s Pet in addition to Always Forever Maybe, if you know a younger reader who would like to meet an author and get a signed book.) If I will be in your city or town, I would love to connect. For more details, please visit my events page. It’s going to be a fun and busy fall!

3.16.18: Love, Sophia on the Moon

New book news! 

I'm over the moon to share this news about my third(!) picture book. Love, Sophia on the Moon is an epistolary story near and dear to my heart, and I'm thrilled to be creating it with the talented Mika Song (if you're not already familiar with Mika's amazing illustrations, please check out the cuteness on her website), super editrix Rotem Moscovich, and the whole wonderful team at Disney-Hyperion. 

There's lots of mischief and make-believe in this one, and some tugging at heart strings too. I hope you'll like it.

Here's the official announcement* from Publishers Weekly (plus a photo I took of a balloon last week in Tampa after AWP):

Love, Sophia on the Moon doesn't come out until summer 2020, but I have three new books coming out this year to tide you over in the meantime, and all of them are available for pre-order now: 

Anna, Banana, and the Recipe for Disaster (#6) comes out March 20 (next week!) in hardcover, paperback, and ebook. It contains baking disasters, friendship messes, snickerdoodle secrets, and, of course, a cute dog.

Always Forever Maybe, my YA debut, releases on June 5 in hardcover, ebook, and audio. I am really excited for you to read this one. I spent six years working on it, and it makes me nervous and giddy just thinking about it being real. It's about obsessive love, toxic masculinity, enduring friendship, and the risks we take with our hearts.

Anna, Banana, and the Sleepover Secret (#7) comes out October 2 in hardcover, paperback, and ebook. Cover reveal coming soon! This one includes a sleepover and many secrets (of course), not to mention Truth or Dare surprises and an enormous cat named Mewsic.

Click on any of the above titles for further information, including pre-order links. Thanks for your interest and support!

(*Photo text: Rotem Moscovich at Disney-Hyperion has bought Love, Sophia on the Moon, a picture book by Anica Mrose Rissi, author of the Anna, Banana series and The Teacher's Pet. In the story, Sophia writes letters threatening to run away to "the moon" to avoid being in trouble on Earth, and her mother writes back. Tea with Oliver author-illustrator Mika Song will illustrate; publication is set for 2020. Meredith Kaffel Simonoff at DeFiore and Company represented the author, and Erica Rand Silverman at Stimola Literary Studio represented the artist.)

1.13.2018: Picture-Book Revision Tips

From Promising to Polished

I wrote a piece for the January 2018 issue of The Writer magazine (out now!) about how to revise a picture-book manuscript. In it, I share my best tips, tricks, questions, and approaches to keep in mind as you play and experiment with your draft. To read a PDF of the article, click here.

Speaking of picture books, this week I got to see early sketches for Watch Out for Wolf!, my 2019 picture book with Charles Santoso, and I squealed louder than Pigbert—or Piggle, Piggleton, Piggit, or Piggums, for that matter. I can't wait for you to meet all five little piggies (and Wolf, of course) when the book comes out next April. As soon as I'm allowed to share a peek of the cover and interiors, I will. (If you'd like to add the book on Goodreads, you'll find it here.)

In the meantime, I'm finishing up revisions on Anna, Banana, and the Sleepover Secret (book seven in the series, coming in October), drafting what I hope will be my next YA novel, and trying to contain my nerves and excitement as advance reader copies of Always Forever Maybe make their way into the hands of booksellers and reviewers. Some fun news: In addition to the hardcover and ebook editions coming in June, HarperCollins will also publish Always Forever Maybe as an audiobook! (Available for pre-order now, wherever you like to purchase books.) Huge thanks to the B&N Teen blog for including Always Forever Maybe on their list 21 of Our Most Anticipated Debuts of 2018. They said: "This is a story about first love, sweet until it turns bitter....Rissi has a deft touch on a heavy topic, addressing abuse while still managing to infuse this meaty debut with romance, real #BFF goals, and dashes of humor."

And here are some photos of my dog with her new teddy bear.

10.9.2017: Always Forever Maybe cover reveal

Ahhhhhhhhh, I'm so excited to show you the cover of my YA debut, Always Forever Maybe, a novel about obsessive teenage love, which will be published by HarperTeen (an imprint of HarperCollins) on June 5, 2018. Here it is:

Isn't it gorgeous? The cover is the work of artist Sean Freeman and designer Erin Fitzsimmons. The B&N Teen Blog hosted the official cover reveal today, and you can follow this link to read the post I wrote for them about the cover creation process.  

To learn more about the book, please visit the official Always Forever Maybe page on my website. If you would like to pre-order a copy of the hardcover or ebook, please ask for it at your local bookstore or follow one of these links: Indiebound | B&N | Amazon | Kindle | iTunes | BAM | Indigo | HarperCollins (Pre-orders can make a huge difference in a book's success, so thank you for your support!) You can also add it to your Goodreads shelf here.

And now, excuse me, but I must return to dancing around the room in celebration. (My book has a cover! This seems almost real!)

5.12.2017: Always Forever Maybe

If you follow me on Twitter or Instagram, you may have caught a glimpse of the secret project I've been writing and revising for the past few years, in between drafts of the Anna, Banana books.

I'm thrilled to share that the project is no longer a secret: My book will be a book! Always Forever Maybe sold to Rosemary Brosnan at HarperTeen last fall, and yesterday the announcement went live on Publishers Weekly Here it is:

I've had this story in my head and heart (and computer) for a long, long time, and I can't wait to share it with you. 

Pre-order links won't be available for a few more months*, but if you would like to add the book on Goodreads, please do: you'll find it here. 

*Edited to add: The book is now available for pre-order! Here are the links: Indiebound | Amazon | B&N | BAM | Kindle | iTunes | Indigo | HarperCollins You can also request a pre-order from your local independent bookstore by giving them the ISBN (978-0-0626-8528-5), title, and release date (June 5, 2018). Thank you!