BOOKS

Young Adult Fiction
Can Patrik and his family escape their totalitarian country before they are found out?
memoir
This is a childhood memoir done in collage. It is available for the Kindle Fire and for Apple devices through i-Book.
multicultural middle grade fiction
In Baghdad, war is being waged all around Talib and Nouri. Can these two Iraqi boys solve their own war and live in peace with each other?
Living in the Mayan jungle, Rosalba knows nothing about the 2012 prophesy of the end of the world. Then sophisticated Alicia comes from Mexico City to tell her all about it...
Susana and Pina grow up in an Italian orphanage Will either find a parent?
Can a white boy and an African boy keep their friendship in a changing world?
Overnight, Tinh's Vietnamese village is destroyed by a cyclone.
Binh's Ameican aunt is coming to her Vietnamese village. Will she bring the riches that Binh longs for?
Gregory has to leave the Navajo reservation for the big city of Tucson.
Why won't the new Chinese girl be Ginny's friend?
In this sequel to The Gold-Threaded Dress, Oy must again make a decision. In the talent show will she do what others want or be true to herself?
What if your best friend is also your biggest rival?
Will Noi be sent to the factory to work, or can she learn to paint umbrellas? Will a young artist be able to pursue her gift?
Gloria wakes up on Christmas morning to find that Mama is going to work instead of taking her to Nana's house in Mexico to celebrate.
Oy, a Thai immigrant, has to decide what she will give up to fit in. What would you do if the most popular girl demanded that you bring or special dress to school, or else?

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WELCOME TO THE WEBSITE OF CAROLYN MARSDEN

CAROLYN MARSDEN

This middle grade novel set in contemporary Baghdad will be released by Carolrhoda Books in spring 2012.

If you go to ABOUT ME, you will see some of my new paintings.



NEW BOOK LAUNCH: MEXICO, JUPITER, SUBMARINE: How I Became a Writer
Exploding volcanoes! Harrowing escapes! Ouija Boards and Gong Gong on Jupiter. UFOs, auras, and fairies. Jules Verne’s submarine, under the sea and on Mars. The Beatles as a Communist plot. And the way all of this led to my resplendent writing career.

THE CREATION PROCESS
As I began MEXICO, JUPITER, SUBMARINE, I tumbled into the unknown. With big pieces of paper, scraps of this and that, found objects, cheap paint, and glue, I set out to write and illustrate my odyssey. I loved the trial-and-error, the feeling of free fall. What I created made me laugh.

HOW TO GET IT
MEXICO, JUPITER, SUBMARINE is now available in the i-Books for your Apple device.



I am happy to announce that MAMA HAD TO WORK ON CHRISTMAS, which has been out of print, is being released as an e-book. It is available for all e-readers.
Please look below for helpful links including my e-mail and the teacher's guide for my Candlewick books.

I love to write books about children who are either new to the United States or about children in other countries. Oy in THE GOLD-THREADED DRESS and THE QUAIL CLUB is a Thai immigrant. In THE JADE DRAGON Ginny's parents are Chinese immigrants. Noi of SILK UMBRELLAS is from rural northern Thailand. In WHEN HEAVEN FELL, Binh lives in Vietnam as does Tinh of THE BUDDHA'S DIAMONDS. The protagonist of MAMA HAD TO WORK ON CHRISTMAS, Gloria, lives in on the border of San Diego and Tijuana, Mexico. The girl, Mina, of MOON RUNNER is American but her ancestry is Chinese. Gregory of BIRD SPRINGS is Native American which is the opposite of being an immigrant or child living in another country. But Gregory is nevertheless a person outside of mainstream American culture.

I write about these children from other places partly because I was born in Mexico City and partly because I have a Thai husband and our two daughters are half Thai. I spend my Sundays in a Vietnamese Buddhist monastery.