Author Matthew Cody's Friendly Ramblings

Hitting the Road with SUPER! (Where I’ll be Fall 2012 edition!)

Matt — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 19:39:23 +0000

SUPER is finally out in stores and to make sure you all buy at least three copies a piece (one to give, one to read, and one to enclose in a hermetically-sealed case for all time) I will be hitting the road this October and November!

October 14th: New York Comic Con - Panel Discussion and signing.

October 18th: Anderson’s Bookshop, Naperville, IL

October 19th: The Book Stall, Winnetka, IL

October 20th: Illinois School Library Media Association 2012 Conference

*October 24th: Harleysville Books, Harleysville, PA

Nov. 4th: McNally Jackson Books w/ Gotham Writers Workshop, New York, NY

Nov. 14th: Wachtung Booksellers, Montclair NJ

Nov. 15th: RJ Julia Booksellers, Madison CT

* note the date of this event has been updated

Keep checking this site because there are more appearances to come!

A SUPER Book Trailer!

Matt — Sun, 30 Sep 2012 19:38:46 +0000

Check it out!

Pre-Order this book!

Matt — Tue, 11 Sep 2012 17:08:35 +0000

Hey, do you know what comes out in just two weeks? Guess? Okay, here’s a hint – SUPER, the sequel to my award-winning novel POWERLESS! (subtle, I’m not)

You can pre-order at your favorite local bookstore, or by following any of the bookstore links on the book page.

And don’t forget, Halloween is right around the corner, and that means millions of trick-or-treaters going from door to door asking you to fill their bags with copies of my books . . .
Don’t ruin a great American tradition!

Choose Kind

Matt — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 02:39:00 +0000

Wonder by RJ Palacio is a fantastic book about a boy who is different and all that entails. The anti-bullying website Choose Kind grew out of the overwhelming response to RJ’s book and I was lucky enough to be asked to contribute my own bullying story for the site.

I’m reproducing my essay here, but I encourage you to visit the site for yourself and join the discussion.

Superman vs. Batman

By Matthew Cody

Superman is cooler than Batman, and I’ll tell you why.

I practically grew up wearing a cape. Sometimes it was a real, honest-to-goodness cape with a Superman symbol drawn on the back in black magic marker. But as often as not it was a towel, or my jacket tied around my neck. A shirt would do in a pinch and my poor mother spent untold hours of my childhood trying to untie the knots of my shirtsleeves. Supes was my guy.

For those of you who need a quick primer – Superman is an alien, the last survivor of a dead planet. Despite a loving adoptive family, he’s still an outsider. He’s different and he’s treated badly because of it. As a kid, he’s picked on and pushed around because his parents won’t let him play sports. But what the other kids don’t know is that he’s so powerful that playing sports with them would actually put them in danger. Even as an adult, mild-mannered reporter Clark Kent is the office klutz who will never get the girl.

But what makes Superman really, well, super, is that he could score any number of touchdowns as easily as breathing. He could take off his nerdy glasses and get the girl. He could toss the bullies into the next cornfield, into the sun. But he chose not to. Superman rose above it all – up, up and away. That’s pretty potent stuff for a terminally-shy kid wearing his shirt tied around his neck.

I don’t know what came first, the awkwardness or the cape. Did I get picked on because I ran around my neighborhood dressed up like a superhero or did I dress up like a superhero because I was getting picked on? I’m not really sure that it matters because the bullying continued long after the cape went away.

I wasn’t bullied by one specific kid. Throughout elementary and middle school it was more a series of unfortunate encounters, each little shame a doomsday plot. Each conflict a cliffhanger in which the hero rarely triumphed. But I learned something over the years in spite of, or perhaps because of, it all.

We are all powerless at some point in our lives. We all feel alone and alien in a world that doesn’t seem to want us, surrounded by evil-doers determined to make our lives miserable.

But we grow. We change. And under a bright yellow sun we discover a strength that goes deeper than our muscles. We defy the mere gravity that presses down on us and we leap, we soar into the future. And when we get there, we look back on our villains not with a desire for vengeance, but with kindness, because we know we were stronger than they were. Always.

So that’s why, for me, it’s Superman. Because of his secret power. Because of the secret power we all share, if we choose to embrace it.

That, and the heat vision.

First Official SUPER Fan Letter (redacted)!

Matt — Mon, 21 May 2012 14:49:00 +0000

A couple of weeks ago, I ran a contest on my email newsletter to win an advanced reading copy of SUPER (what? you didn’t know about it? Sign up here to stay informed!) Among the winners was Maddie from Minnesota and this weekend Maddie sent me a very nice letter to tell me what she thought of it. So here it is (with just a little FBI-style redaction to prevent major plot spoilers!)

Sunday, May 20, 2012

Matthew Cody,

I couldn’t (and still can’t) believe I was one of the names drawn from your mailing list to read Super! I received it in the mail on Monday and quickly read to chapter ten. The next day I finished it. I really liked it. My favorite part was definitely when everyone XXXXXXXXXX, but it was funny when Georgie XXXXXXXXXXXX.

I think Super is right up there with Powerless on my reading scale. I’m rereading it again. I liked XXXXXXX dramatic XXXXXXX, and the XXXXX, and Theo Plunkett–there was lots of good suspense. And the final conclusion, XXXXXXXXXX.

I liked it so much, that I ended up drawing the front cover! ↴ All in all, Super was an awesome book!

Your fan,

Maddie

Things I’m Doing in 2012: Spring Addition Update! (Updated with Additions!)

Matt — Fri, 11 May 2012 21:34:06 +0000

Thursday, May 17th:

Birch Wathen Lenox School Book Fair

210 East 77th Street

New York, NY 10075

I’ll be signing and talking with students all day! Open to students of Birch Wathen Lenox and their families.

Sunday, May 20th at 1pm:

Thalia Kids’ Book Club: A conversation with Michael Buckley

Symphony Space Thalia Theater

2537 Broadway at 95th street

New York, NY 10025

I’ll be moderating an audience talk with Michael Buckley, author of the Sisters Grimm series. Click on the above link for tickets!

Thursday, May 24th

Park Middle School

580 Park Avenue

Scotch Plains, NJ 07076

I’ll be visiting with the students all day! Bringing my comfy shoes.

POWERLESS nominated for the 2012-2013 Pennsylvania Young Readers Choice Award!

Matt — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 23:15:39 +0000

A big thank you to the Pennsylvania School Librarians Association for nominating POWERLESS for the state’s Young Reader’s Choice Award! It looks to be in very good company (ie: stiff competition)

I hope I get the chance to meet as many of the Pennsylvanian young readers as I can! Especially those young readers in Noble’s Green, PA!

POWERLESS wins the 2012 Rebecca Caudill Book Award

Matt — Sat, 17 Mar 2012 01:51:35 +0000

Some terrific news for POWERLESS! My little-book-that-could has won the 2012 Rebecca Caudill Young Reader’s Book Award!

As a Caudill nominee, I’ve spent a lot of time over the last year talking with the teachers, librarians and students who make this award possible and it’s truly an honor to be chosen as this year’s winner, especially measured up against the rest of the awesome nominees! Check out all of the them here: 2012MasterList

I understand that I’ll get a plaque with my name on it, which I will undoubtedly mount upon a helmet for all to see, but until then this post will serve!

Thanks all! And to Rebecca Caudill, whose memory has inspired such a great tradition!

SUPER arrives on September 25th!

Matt — Wed, 14 Mar 2012 00:11:06 +0000

The advanced reading copies are out in the world, so it’s time to reveal the cover to the sequel to POWERLESS!

SUPER will hit the bookstores in September, and if you’re curious here’s the back cover copy:

“Daniel Corrigan is as regular as can be, especially when compared to the Supers: kids in his new hometown with actual powers like flight and super strength. But Daniel’s not powerless. Only he was able to stop the Shroud, a supervillian bent on stealing his newfound friends’ powers. And thanks to him, his friends got to keep those powers.

Now Daniel himself is starting to display powers, while at the same time, his friends are losing theirs. His friend Eric thinks Daniel is just becoming a Super himself, a late-blooming one. But Daniel worries there may be something more sinister at work, since his power-stealing ability is uncomfortably like the Shroud’s. Of course, the Shroud is gone now . . . or is he? And could Daniel himself be his new vessel? “

What do you think?

Things I’m Doing in 2012: Spring Edition (Updated! Improved!)

Matt — Wed, 07 Mar 2012 15:38:45 +0000

Here’s the updated list of Cool Things I’m Doing Soon. If you happen to be in any of these areas, please come by and say hello!

March 21-15th, Virginia Festival of the Book

Matthew Cody at Charlottesville Day School
Thu. March 22nd, 2012 – 9:00 AM

Matthew Cody visits with CDS elementary and middle school students

Powerless at Albemarle High School
Thu. March 22nd, 2012 – 12:45 PM

Matthew Cody (Powerless and The Dead Gentleman) chats about writing novels and comics with Albemarle High students. Open only to the AHS community.

Matthew Cody at Buford Middle School
Fri. March 23rd, 2012 – 9:00 AM

Matthew Cody discusses writing about books and comics with Buford students. Open only to the Buford school community.

Matthew Cody at Walton School
Fri. March 23rd, 2012 – 12:30 PM

Matthew Cody chats with Walton students about his books and comics. Open only to the Walton school community.

Sweet Reads
Fri. March 23rd, 2012 – 6:00 PM

Meet many of the young adult and children’s authors participating in the Festival. Celebrate literacy and literature at the Charlottesville Catholic School! Enjoy a dessert reception and chat with the authors. Open to the public.

Location:
Charlottesville Catholic School
1205 Pen Park Rd
(434) 964-040

Hosted by Charlottesville Catholic School.

Young Adult Fiction: Heroes, Demons & Bad Roommates
Sat. March 24th, 2012 – 2:00 PM

Jenny Hubbard (Paper Covers Rock), Matthew Cody (The Dead Gentleman), Wendy Shang (The Great Wall of Lucy Wu), and Jon Skovron (Misfit). Open to the public.

Featuring:
Matthew Cody, Jenny Hubbard, Wendy Wan-Long Shang, Jon Skovron, Bella Stander (moderator)

Location:
Village School
215 E High Street
(434)984-4404

March 25th-April 1st, 2012 NYC Teen Author Festival

The NYC Big Read (I’ll be joining a whole HOST of great authors reading all over NYC)
Thurs. March 29 10am, High School of Art and Design, at 1075 2^nd Avenue

Symposium- The Writer as Time Traveler: Writing the Past While Sitting in the Present
Fri. March 30th, 3:00-3:50 PM

Matthew Cody
Jennifer Donnelly
Leanna Renee Hieber
Suzanne Weyn

moderator: David Levithan

Location: 42nd Street NYPL

April 2-5th, Chicago Schools Tour

These visits are open only to students. Hopefully if you live in the area, I’ll be visiting your school!

April 2nd, A. Vito Martinez Middle School

April 3rd, Jane Adams Middle School

April 4th, Lukancic Middle School

April 5th, Palos Middle School