Tag Archive for Shaken James Preller

FAN MAIL WEDNESDAY #347: Letter from a “Huge Soccer Girl”

March 6, 2026 / / No comments

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From last night’s email: 

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SHAKEN will be available in paperback, featuring this new cover, on March 17th.

i just read your book shaken and i am a huge soccer girl and i love reading this book i love how she had a hard thing in her life and kept going on what she loved and i love how much she tried

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thank you its hard i had a concussion too it was hard so i loved how i could relate to this book 

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T____, 6th grade
pls answer back if you can

 

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I replied . . .

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T, 
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I’m very glad to read your kind note. While I hoped to write a book that was more than “just” a soccer story, I did very much want the approval of “huge soccer girls” like you. 
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My daughter Maggie played soccer until knee surgeries forced her to quit (three ACL surgeries and done). One unexpected thing she told me was about the first few minutes of practice, how warm and friendly they were, everybody touching base and connecting before the work begins. I tried to capture that small moment in the book. That feeling of being a team. 
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Another moment in the story was inspired by an actual USWNT  soccer star, Claire Hutton, who attended our local high school in Bethlehem, NY. Everyone who followed local sports knew about Claire from a young age. I only met her once, she may have been 15-16 at the time, when I was out walking my dog Echo on a summer day by the high school. Claire was out on the football field, alone, practicing with an assortment of orange cones. Running sprints, ball drills, and so on. I stopped and we chatted amiably for a few minutes. But that scene — a determined athlete, all alone, driven by some inner flame — was all I needed for Chapter 1 of my book. I wanted my character, Kristy Barrett, to have a little bit of the fire that burned inside Claire.
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How do you not root for a kid — now a young woman — like this?

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I’m sorry but not surprised to hear that you experienced a concussion. Hopefully your recovery went well and you can avoid another incident. The health of your brain is everything. And yet if you are playing the game, and competing, it’s impossible to go halfway. It’s hard to be careful when you are fighting for the ball. 
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I wish you luck. My best,
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James Preller
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Category: Fan Mail, Shaken / Tags: , , , , ,

BRIEF EXCERPT from SHAKEN: Establishing Kristy, the Soccer Player

March 4, 2026 / / No comments

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My most recent novel, Shaken, ages 10-14, will be out in paperback on March 17th. That’s less than two weeks from now.

In the book, an awesomely talented 7th grade soccer player, Kristy Barrett, experiences a serious concussion.

I more or less pull the rug out from under her. That’s what writers do. We make awful things happen to perfectly decent characters. In the rest of the book we find out what Kristy’s made of. In the first few pages, I needed to quickly establish that, for Kristy, soccer was everything. Her social currency, her primary source of self-esteem, friendship, and identity. 

If “Soccer is my life!” what happens when that hat blows away?

But before the “inciting event” of Kristy’s concussion — which is the engine of our story — I needed to establish the current situation. 

Here’s a few paragraphs from pages 3-4, where we learn something about this young athlete: 

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By the time she played her first organized practice at U4, anyone could see that Kristy Barrett was a special player. She was simply quicker and more focused than any other four-year-old on the field. Of course, half of them were clinging to their parents’ legs, or slurping on oranges, or plucking dandelions while Kristy raged up and down the grass like a creature possessed. Amazingly, that dynamic continued on through rec ball and travel, even when they let her play on the boys’ team. In seventh grade, Kristy was starting for the varsity high school team. She was special. That was the word, over and over: a special kid. 

But wasn’t everybody? 

Kristy didn’t much care what people said. She loved to play. That was all, the whole shebang. But after a video of one of her goals went viral — and was included on ESPN’s “Amazing Plays” Sunday feature, along with a thirty-five second interview — everyone, absolutely everyone, knew. Not long after, a coach from the USA Development Program called, saying, “It wouldn’t surprise me if one day Kristy represents the United States in international play.”

Maybe even a future Olympian. 

Altogether not bad for someone who hadn’t, at that time, turned thirteen. But that’s how it works at the highest levels of sports. When you know, you know. 

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THANKS FOR STOPPING BY!

 

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Category: Shaken, the writing process / Tags: , , , , , ,

SHAKEN Named to Bank Street’s List of “Best Children’s Books for 2025!”

June 11, 2025 / / No comments

 

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I’m heartened to share that my middle-grade novel, Shaken (ages 10-14) has been named one of the the Best Children’s Books for 2025 (of books published in 2024) by the Bank Street Center for Children’s Literature! It’s a nice honor. Thank you to my publisher Jean Feiwel, who has been there since forever, including my first book in 1986; and my talented editor of almost 20 years, Liz Szabla. And also, of course, thanks to the good folks at Bank Street Center for Children’s Literature.
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A number of people generously helped me during the research for this book: Dr. Todd P. Giombetti; Jessica Van Wormer, licensed clinical social worker, certified school social worker; Christoffel Janse Van Rensburg, licensed clinical social worker; Piera McGaughan, girls junior varsity soccer coach, Bethlehem High School, New York; Tracy Gilbert, board certified art therapist, licensed mental health counselor; Maria Lupo, doctor of medical and health humanities, board certified art psychotherapist. 
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And for personal insights and shared experiences, for your time and thoughtfulness and generosity of spirit: Jennifer Healey, Olivia Healey, Mark Lane, Amelia Shaw, Erin LaDue, and Erin Svare. 
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Special shout out to these books and authors: Under Pressure: Confronting the Epidemic of Stress and Anxiety in Girls by Lisa Damour, PhD; Healing Days: A Guide for Kids Who Have Experienced Trauma by Susan Farber Straus, illustrated by Maria Bogade; and The Art Therapy Sourcebook by Cathy A. Malchiodi. 
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For the complete list of Bank Street-approved books,  gleefully stomp here: https://educate.bankstreet.edu/cbc_awards/27/
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@Bank Street Center for Children’s Literature @Bank Street Library
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Category: Shaken / Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,

This Sunday the 13th: THE WARWICK CHILDREN’S BOOK FESTIVAL

October 7, 2024 / / No comments

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This SUNDAY, the 13th, I’ll be at the Warwick Children’s Book Festival along with a great number of talented authors and illustrators. Warwick is such a sweet little town, with great shops and restaurants, especially beautiful this time of year. Worth a road trip. And the festival is great fun, too. If you do come, please stop by and say hello! For full details, stomp on this. 

I’ll be signing any number of books, old favorites and new, including these titles just published in 2024 . . . 

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COME ON OUT & SUPPORT LITERACY,

SUPPORT THE ARTS,

and SHARE the LOVE of READING

with YOUNG READERS!

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Category: Current Events / Tags: , ,

COMING SOON: Two Birds and a Moose!

January 9, 2024 / / No comments

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SNEAK PEEK: It’s nice to have something coming out for the youngest readers that promotes violence. Ha-ha. I mean, a Looney Tunes-inspired brand of violence. And not much of that, actually. But, yes, here comes a new book.
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Thirty years ago I wrote two very successful easy-to-read titles, Wake Me In Spring and Hiccups for Elephant. I still meet people who remember those books fondly. Both sold about 1.5 million copies. Long out of print. Try as I might, I couldn’t get a third one published and eventually gave up, moved in a different direction.
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So, yeah, it’s time.
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I’m very much looking forward to the arrival this fall of Two Birds and a Moose (Simon & Schuster). It’s part of S & S’s “Ready-to-Read” line, level 1. 
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Rough sketch by the talented Abigail Burch.
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By the way, I also have a new middle-grade novel coming out at around the same time, Shaken (Macmillan, Fall, 2024). It centers around a 7th-grade girl, Kristy Barrett, who is a soccer player with Division 1 dreams. Early in the book, Kristy suffers a severe concussion with lasting effects. Forced to give up the game she loves, Kristy experiences stress, anxiety, self-doubt, panic attacks  — and eventually goes on to spend time in the care of a therapist. Two therapists, actually. And a couple of new friends. The book is about how Kristy navigates this challenging time in her life. More on that, another day. 
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Thanks for stopping by.
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Category: And a Moose!, Shaken / Tags: , , , , , , , , , ,
 
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