The thing was, the ball didn’t care. That’s what she loved about it. It was completely indifferent, without prejudice. The ball didn’t care if you were a girl or a boy. Skinny or fat, rich or poor, black or white, cool or uncool, happy or sad, smart and funny or awkward and shy, if you were charming and had a way with words and a winning smile—didn’t matter. The ball didn’t care

—The Girl Who Threw Butterflies

 
 

 

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 

 

 

News

Cheektowaga Reads One Book Together

This spring, Cheektowaga Central Schools provided a copy of The Girl Who Threw Butterflies to every family in the district, encouraging them to read and talk about the book together. On May 21, there was a celebration of family reading at Cheektowaga Central High School. Mick spoke to aspiring writers and signed books. In addition, there were displays of students’ baseball and butterfly artworks, pet adoptions, dunk tanks, face-painting, and a bounce house.

The Western New York Young Writers’ Studio has created a video montage of the day. You can watch it here.

You can read stories about the event from The Buffalo News and Metro WNY.
 

New Short Story Published

Mick’s short story “The Pound Game” appears in the current issue of Five Points magazine. Also included in Volume 13 Number 3 are poems by Billy Collins, Jane Hirschfield, Kim Addonizio, and Tony Hoagland; fiction by Nancy Reisman; and photography by John Rosenthal. You can order a copy here.
 

Awards

The Girl Who Threw Butterflies has been nominated for a 2011-2012 Indiana Young Hoosier Children's Book Award, a 2010-2011 Maine Student Book Award, a 2010-2011 New Hampshire Great Stone Face Award, and a 2011-2012 Massachusetts Children’s Book Award. In addition, it was named a Judy Lopez Honor Book Award by the Los Angeles chapter of the Women’s National Book Association. You can read Mick’s remarks on the occasion of receiving the award here.
 

Canisius Magazine Profile

The Spring 2011 issue of Canisius College magazine features an interview with Mick by Kristin Etu. He discusses the writing program at Canisius, favorite authors and books, and his thoughts on e-readers. You can read the story here.