January 2012
Happy New Year! As usual, time has been flying by here. I've done a few school visits this past month, and one of the teachers just sent me some photos, so I figured I'd share them with all of you. Here's a sneak peek at what it looks like when I talk with elementary schoolers--and when we brainstorm a mystery together.
August 2011
Hello again! I hope everyone's had a wonderful summer and is gearing up for the school year ahead. My calendar is starting to fill up with school visits, which is always exciting.
In other news, was interviewed recently by the wonderful author Lisa Graff for The Smack Dab in The Middle Blog. I mostly talk about books I've edited, but I think some info about books I wrote snuck in too. And a bonus: If you click on that link, you can see what I looked like as an elementary schooler!
May 2011
Hello everyone. I just jumped on here to let you know about an interview I did a while ago that was just posted on a new site called Scribblitt. If you want to check it out, you can get there by following the link below:
 | A fun & creative place for kids to write, illustrate and publish their own stories www.scribblitt.com |
Before the school here ends here in New York City, I'll be doing a few more school visits, and starting next month I'll be teaching a class at McDaniel College for grown-ups who want to write books for kids. And I'll be writing more too!
Hope you all have exciting summer plans--and that they involve reading a ton of books!
March 2011
Happy Spring! It's so nice to see flowers blooming and leaves popping out on trees all over New York City. I've been keeping myself busy editing and teaching and writing and visiting readers--all things I love doing. Two of my visits this past month were different than usual, though.
I read the first chapter of The Nina, The Pinta and The Vanishing Treasure in Times Square as part of a 24-hour read-a-thon to celebrate Lit World's World Read Aloud Day. Here's a picture:
I also visited Mount Sinai Medical Center where I signed books and read the first chapter of The Ransom Note Blues as part of their Reach Out and Readprogram. I know pictures were taken at that event, too, but I don't have any of them yet.
It's always fun to read my stories to new people all over the place. I hope you enjoy sharing your stories with friends too.
January 2011
Happy New Year, everybody! I can't believe how fast the fall semester flew by! I was flying all over myself, talking about writing from New York to Montana to Seattle and back again. I also answered some questions about sequels on the Tollbooth blog in November for an interview that the wonderful author Michelle Knudsen conducted on the topic. If you want to read the post, you can click right here to check it out.
The spring brings more school visits, more teaching (this time as a thesis advisor at the New School in New York City), and hopefully a lot more writing. I hope you're all enjoying the start of 2011 and have been reading some great books.
September 2010
Hello and welcome back to school! I'm incredibly excited this month because The Nina, The Pinta and the Vanishing Treasure got nominated for an award--the 2012 Young Hoosier Book Award, to be exact! Three cheers for all the Young Hoosiers--and their teachers and librarians--in Indiana! Also, if you're reading this page while in Indiana and want me to come visit your school or library, please email me so we can set something up!
A few other things are going on in addition to the award nomination. First, I'm now an adjunct professor at McDaniel College and will be teaching (adult) students about writing novels for kids. You can check out the information on that here--just scroll down until you see my photo.
Second, which I should've posted over the summer, the wonderful Scholastic editor--and my friend--Cheryl Klein interviewed me for her blog here, where she asked me questions about being a writer and an editor. I talk about a bunch of things including the Alec Flint books.
And last, I got invited to a Halloween Party! Okay, I know that's not big news, but it's the Writopia Halloween Party, which means the whole night is going to revolve around mystery solving, mystery writing, and mystery reading. Totally my kind of party.
Hope everyone's having a great fall!
June 2010
I just discovered a new website! I hadn't heard anything about school tube until a teacher from Comal Elementary School in Texas posted a school tube video about Alec! I was so excited that I wanted to post the video here. I hope you enjoy it!
March 2010
Time has been flying recently! I've been school visiting and conference speaking and class teaching and, of course, writing. I just found out some good news, though, so I thought I'd pop on here to let everyone know.
The Nina, The Pinta and The Vanishing Treasure was named to the Horned Toad Tales list in Houston, Texas, which means that all of the third, fourth and fifth graders in the Cypress-Fairbanks Independent School District will be encouraged to read my book!
It was also named to a similar list called the Pine Tree list in West Bloomfield, Michigan. The folks who created the Pine Tree list even made Pine Tree t-shirts that have all the books chosen for the list written on the back.
Here's what the t-shirt looks like.
Congratulations to all the other authors whose books are on both those lists!
November 2009
Wow, I can't believe how quickly this fall has flown. Here are a few fun Alec-related links (and one me-related link) that I've been meaning to put up for awhile. Hope you enjoy!
The Indiana Public Library posted Alec in their online catalog as a staff recommended book. You can read about that here.
There's also a particularly entertaining review of Alec by a mother and her son and daughter here.
And there's an Alec video book talk here.
Alec was also one of the recommended books for young readers in Joliet, Illinois in October. You can check out the article that talks about The Nina, The Pinta, and the Vanishing Treasure--as well as the other chosen books here.
And last, but not least, I got interviewed wearing both my "writer" and "editor" hats on the Market My Words blog. If you want to take a look, that's right here.
Hope I'll be back with more exciting news soon!
August 2009
The Ransom Note Blues just got a super nice review from School Library Journal that is going to run in their September edition!
Here's what they said:
SANTOPOLO, Jill. The Ransom Note Blues. Bk. 2. illus. by Nathan Hale. 176p. (Alec Flint Mystery Series). Scholastic/Orchard. 2009. pap. $5.99. ISBN 978-0-439-91255-6. LC number unavailable.
Gr 3-5–Readers of Donald Sobol’s “Encyclopedia Brown” (Puffin), David Adler’s “Cam Jansen” (Viking), and Ron Roy’s “A to Z Mysteries” (Random) will have something to cheer about with this series. Alec’s father is a small-town chief of police, and Alec and his sidekick, Gina, are masters at observing the world around them and spend as much time practicing their sleuthing skills as they do on their schoolwork. They also enjoy communicating with one another in codes and a form of silent talking that they call “no noise” speech. Here, the fourth graders take on an art mystery while studying Abstract Expressionism and the style of Jackson Pollock and Lee Krasner. Their world, families, and friendships are reassuring and easy. The tale is 12 chapters long, which will allow confident readers a chance to enjoy a more extensive story without having to deal with content that may be above their maturity level. –Kathleen Meulen, Sakai Intermediate School, Bainbridge Island, WA
The Alec Flint mysteries have been getting some online coverage too. You can click here to read an article that talks about the series.
June 2009
The Ransom Note Blues should be arriving in bookstores and libraries momentarily! I just got my author copies, which is always very exciting.
Last time I posted on this news page, I mentioned something about a party at Books of Wonder in New York City...so here's the info! I'd love for everyone to come celebrate with me.
Also, keep your eyes peeled for places to win copies of my new book online. Lots of bloggers will be posting codes for you to crack so you can get an autographed copy of The Ransom Note Blues and a secret special gift as well.
May 2009
The Ransom Note Blues is coming out so soon! We have some big plans in the works like a soon-to-be-revealed online contest and a big book launch party at Books of Wonder in NYC. More to come on all of that very soon!
In other news, The Nina, The Pinta and The Vanishing Treasure was reviewed on Mystery Books News here. And The Ransom Note Blues was mentioned online for the first time by someone other than me at the Eva Perry Mock Newbery Book Club Blog right here.
I was also interviewed at A Crowe's Nest, talking about editing, writing, and why I like children's literature. Click here if you want to check it out.
March 2009
It's been very busy here lately! I've been doing a lot of school visiting, and so far have talked about Alec Flint in Boston, The Bronx, Brooklyn, Queens, Manhattan, Staten Island and a bunch of different towns on Long Island. But I figured I'd pop on here to share a link with you. A librarian in the St. Paul Public Library system wrote about Alec on her blog Great Kids Reads. If you want to see what she had to say about The Nina, The Pinta and The Vanishing Treasure, just click here..
Only three months until The Ransom Note Blues comes out! I can't wait!
December 2008 Update
A few things have happened since my last December post, and I wanted to highlight them before the New Year. First, The Nina, The Pinta and The Vanishing Treasure was reviewed on KidsRead.com where the reviewer said especially nice things about me and Alec and Gina. They also interviewed me a while back If you want to read it, you can click here.
Amazon has also posted a link so you can pre-order Book 2,The Ransom Note Blues, which is coming out in June. That link is right here.!
And those are all the updates I've got! See you in 2009.
December 2008
Happy holidays everyone! At the very end of last month, The Nina, The Pinta and The Vanishing Treasure was reviewed on BooksForKids.blog by the wonderful librarian blogger there.
Nathan Hale has also re-illustrated the jacket of The Nina, the Pinta and the Vanishing Treasure for the paperback edition, which is coming out in May. Check it out!
November 2008
The jacket for The Ransom Note Blues: An Alec Flint Mystery is finished! It was created by Nathan Hale, and this is what it looks like:
September 2008
Micol Ostow, Vermont College student, mediabistro teacher, and author of the wonderful POPULAR VOTE (among other books), invited me to be part of her cyber release party! You can check out how Alec answers the question "What is the most unexpected cause you ever found yourself lobbying behind?" and can potentially win an autographed copy of The Nina, The Pinta and the Vanishing Treasure as well as an Alec Flint tote bag. Just head on over to Micol's blog. on Monday, Sept. 18.
August 2008
Vermont College professor, author of many books including the fabulous Tantalize, and blogger extraordinaire Cynthia Leitich Smith interviewed me on Cynsations this week. If you want to check out the interview, just click here.
July 2008
A bunch of very cool bloggers featured me and/or Alec Flint (and/or the Alec Flint Book Giveaway Contest!) on their sites last month. If you want to read about either me or Alec (or both of us), you can click on the links below
Through the Tollbooth
A Fuse #8 Production
The Longstockings
Big A little a
Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast
Jen Robinson's Book Page
Please note that the Alec Flint Giveaway Contest that was attached to each of the links above is over. (Though there will be other chances to win signed copies soon.)
Happy July, everyone!
June 2008
The Nina, The Pinta and the Vanishing Treasure is now in bookstores!
It was also reviewed by Kirkus this month. Check out the review:
Santopolo, Jill
THE NINA, THE PINTA, AND THE VANISHING TREASURE: Alec Flint, Super Sleuth, Book 1
Illus. by C.B. Canga
A mystery at the museum is the perfect case for an aspiring fourth-grade detective. Early one morning before school, Alec gets to go with his father, Officer Flint, to the American History Museum, where somebody has made off with the entire cache of gold coins in the Christopher Columbus exhibit. Curator Dr. Glumsfeld gives Alec an uneasy feeling, but this doesnÕt prevent him from trying to crack the case. His neighbor, Emily Berg, has no interest in detection, but the new girl at school, Gina Rossi, shares Alec's passion for puzzles, and becomes his sidekick. The pair even begins passing coded messages, a puzzle-solving bonus for the reader (with solutions at the back of the book). Santopolo's prose crackles, and she manages to weave in a fair degree of historical information on Columbus as she spins her yarn (and supplements it with a lengthy Author's Note). The first in what promises to be a solid middle-grade series in the tradition of Encyclopedia Brown. (Fiction. 9-12)
I love that bit at the end about Encyclopedia Brown!
Also, if you're going to be in the New York area on June 24th and would like to celebrate the publication of The Nina, The Pinta and the Vanishing Treasure, there's going to be a launch party at Books of Wonder, complete with cupcakes and sparkling apple cider.
And one last thing: The second book, which I said officially had a title last month, now has a new title. It's going to be called The Ransom Note Blues: An Alec Flint Mystery and will be coming out in approximately a year from now. I can't wait!
May 2008
Big news this month! The first review for Alec Flint was just published in ALA Booklist. Here's a copy of the review:
The Nina, the Pinta, and the Vanishing Treasure.
by Jill Santopolo. Illus. by C.B. Canga
July 2008. 208p. Scholastic/Orchard, $15.99
(9780439903523). Gr. 3-5.
Alec, Santopolo's young sleuth, talks like a fourth-grader, acts like a fourth-grader, and, mostly, thinks like one, too. Sometimes he wonders why Tater Tots and pizza always pop up together on the school cafeteria menu. Or why he gets that "marshmallowy" feeling in his stomach when he has done something wrong and has to tell his dad. Or whether clever, daring classmate Gina Rossi will make a good sleuthing partner when they both grow up. In this adventure, gold coins, a broken drinking glass, a plastic telescope, and a newspaper photo are the clues the kids use to solve two mysterious disappearances, one of which seems to stump even Mr. Flint, the cop. Contrived? Sure. But most mysteries for this age group are; what sets this apart is its lively characters, a thoughtfully derived sprinkling of clues for the kids to pursue, and the opportunity for readers to have as much fun solving the mystery (and decoding the coded messages) as Alec and Gina.
-Stephanie Zvirin
In other news, the second book about Alec and Gina, coming out in 2009, just got a title. It's going to be called: Alec Flint, Super Sleuth: Black and White and Blue All Over.
January 2008
This just in! My book is now available for pre-order on Amazon! If you want to check it out, click here.
And in case you don't want to travel over to Amazon to see the book jacket, I've pasted it below. This art was done by C. B. Canga, too, and I love it.
Also, this month I was featured in an interview on a great writing blog called Through the Tollbooth. If you want to take a look at the interview, you can click here.
Happy New Year to everyone, and I look forward to posting more exciting Alec Flint news in 2008!
October 2007
My first book, Alec Flint, Super Sleuth: The Nina, the Pinta and the Vanishing Treasure, will be in stores in July of 2008. Bruce Hale, author of the fabulous Chet Gecko mysteries, read an early manuscript, and this is what he has to say about the book: "A sweet and appealing tale with oodles of kid-appeal. It made me chuckle while whetting my appetite for mystery. Welcome Alec Flint to the ranks of grade-school sleuths!" Thank you so much, Bruce Hale!
Also, The Nina, the Pinta and the Vanishing Treasure is going to be illustrated with some black-and-white drawings by C.B. Canga. Here's a sneak peek:
Click here to read more about Alec Flint.