Blitz: I Am Here Now by Barbara Bottner + GIVEAWAY

 **I Am Here Now by Barbara Bottner**

Good Morning, Everyone! So thrilled to see you all today! Today we have another new author to share with you all. Well, new to me, at least. I just love discovering new authors and their work!  Please allow me to feature on the blog Barbara Bottner and her debut YA release, I AM HERE NOW … Plus, a GIVEAWAY!

**BARBARA BOTTNER**

**BIO**

Barbara Bottner has written about 50 books for children of all ages. In May, her first YA novel in free verse, I Am Here Now is coming out from Macmillan (Imprint) She's written a NY Times Bestseller, as well as staffed prime time sit-com, sold screenplays, published essays and short stories in both national and literary magazines and reviewed children's books for both the NY and LA Sunday Book Review. Many of her works have been multiply translated and animated, and adapted for short plays. When she was an animator, she won "Best Film For TV" from the Annecy International Animation Festival. When very young, she briefly appeared on stage and in Europe with La Mama Plexus and in television movies. She teaches writing for children privately but won The Distinguished University Teaching Award from The New School For Social Research. Her papers are collected in the Arne Nixon Center for Children's Literature at Fresno State.

Former students include: Lane Smith, Robin Preiss Glaser, Peggy Rathmann, Bruce Degen, Barney Saltsburg and Antoinette Portis.

She feels blessed to have a passion that seems to stick with her no matter how the larger world goes out of control.

 

To find out more about Ms. Bottner, please visit:

 

      

 

 

**I AM HERE NOW**

Publication date: August 4^th, 2020

Published By: Macmillan

Genres:  Coming of Age, Young Adult

**BLURB**

Set in the 1960s, Barbara Bottner’s I Am Here Now is a beautiful novel in verse about one artist’s coming of age. It’s a heartbreaking, powerful and inspiring depiction of what it’s like to shatter your life—and piece it all back together.

You can’t trust Life to give you decent parents, or beautiful eyes, a fine French accent or an outstanding flair for fashion. No, Life does what it wants. It’s sneaky as a thief.

Maisie’s first day of High school should be exciting, but all she wants is to escape.

Her world is lonely and chaotic, with an abusive mother and a father who’s rarely there to help.

So when Maisie, who finds refuge in her art, meets the spirited Rachel and her mother, a painter, she catches a glimpse of a very different world—one full of life, creativity, and love—and latches on.

But as she discovers her strengths through Rachel’s family, Maisie, increasingly desperate, finds herself risking new friendships, and the very future she’s searching for.

**EXCERPT**

 

DUMB GAME

Rachel doesn’t sound that thrilled

when I call to say

I want to come over again after school.

But when I tell her my dad’s gone,

gone for good,

she says, “Of course!”

Then she whispers,

“You know I love you.

You’re my bestie.

But Gino will be here . . .”

“I won’t stay long, Rache, I promise!”

Gino!

I scold myself:

Do not apply layers of mascara!

But I do.

It stains my fingers,

difficult to clean off.

I tell myself:

Do not tease your hair,

but then I mess it up so it’s slightly wild.

Do not put on that blouse that dips low in the front.

But I do that, too.

Eyebrow pencil, shadow,

a touch of blush.

Lipstick blotted.

I check myself out in the mirror.

Gidget meets La Dolce Vita.

Have I ever looked better?

 

I walk fast, whereas if I was smart,

I’d be galloping

in the other direction.

Only trouble can come of this.

 

Upstairs, Gino emerges from her front door

into the hallway exactly when I get there.

Hair damp, muscular torso

barely contained in a tight navy tee.

I say hi and throw my eyes

on the floor.

“I’m a little obsessed with drawing him.”

Rachel immediately appears, following closely.

“You can see why.”

He blushes.

I blush too—at least I feel heat rising in me.

“I can’t seem to stop!” Rachel laughs.

“My mother says Gino looks like a painting

in the Museum of Modern Art!”

“The Museum of Modern Art!” I agree.

“We should all go!”

My words are way ahead of my brain.

Kiki appears in a paint-covered smock.

“Go where?”

“To the Museum of Modern Art!” I say.

Pulsing, manic energy is taking me over.

“Love that idea!” says Kiki.

“I’ll drive us in, yes, Rache?

There’s a teacher’s conference Friday!

And I’m free!”

Rachel shrugs.

“My father just walked out on us,”

I explain to them.

“I’m a little hyper. Sorry.

You should probably ignore me.”

Kiki reaches for my shoulder.

But I don’t shut up.

“Want to come, Gino?”

This sentence shoots out of my mouth urgently,

as if we were fleeing enemy fire in a war zone.

“I’m not an artist,” he says.

“So what? You’re a model!

That counts. Right, Rachel? Tell him!”

“You should come, Gino,”

she mumbles half-heartedly.

“So it’s yes, everyone!” I bellow

as if I’ve personally won the World Series.

As if me being close to my best pal’s

drop-dead gorgeous boyfriend

for an entire afternoon

while having the mad hots for him

isn’t the worst idea ever.

And the best.

 

 

The museum lobby is open

with lots of light,

especially in the rear.

Since Kiki’s a member, naturally,

we deliver our jackets to the coat room attendant

opposite the information desk.

The long, wide windows look out on the sculpture garden.

“Gaston Lachaise.” Rachel points to a statue

of a monumentally huge, shapely woman.

“And, there’s a Modigliani.”

She links her arm through Gino’s.

“What do you think?” she asks him.

“‘Beauty is eternity gazing at itself in a mirror,’”

he whispers to her.

I think about that.

“I’m glad to be here.” Gino flashes

his dazzling smile as if it’s a magic trick.

And it is.

 

A large canvas stops me in my tracks.

It’s called Hide-and-Seek.

There’s a tree that centers the picture.

In that tree there are large heads with faces

that look like childrens.

In the middle is the back of a girl,

then on the bottom, a new born is emerging.

It has an ambiguous, mystical fairy-tale quality,

The description says this is about the game of Life.

This painting seems like a living thing to me.

It tells me that childhood is fantastic, scary.

I already know that.

The artist, Tchelitchew, has me rooted

in front of his artwork

as if it’s transmitting experience

directly into my brain.

I’m glued to the floor.

The crowds must circle around me.

I call out, “Rachel . . .”

“Oh, yeah.” She waltzes over holding Gino’s arm.

“This is everyone’s first favorite.”

Gino doesn’t move either.

We’re both still, tied  to it as if with a tether.

I am tied to him, too.

I have to walk away,

so I feign interest in another artist.

But this is a lie.

 

Downstairs we all hit the museum store

at the same time.

I buy a postcard of Hide-and-Seek.

Gino stands behind me to buy one, too.

I have to keep myself from leaning into him,

a tilted, lusty Tower of Pisa.

Rachel appears, plants herself next to him.

“You two are such beginners,”

she chides.

“Buying the obligatory Tchelitchew.

So cute!”

In the car on the way home,

I take out my Tchelitchew postcard

and stare.

Try to get my mind off

this living, breathing work of art

sitting right next to me.

 

 

 

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**GIVEAWAY**

Blitz-wide Giveaway (US ONLY)

Print Copy of I AM HERE NOW

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Thanks so much for joining us today!

HAPPY READING!!!