Today marks the beginning of a very exciting week here on Pop! Goes The Reader, as I’ll be hosting three exclusive cover reveals over the course of the next five days, and I couldn’t be more excited to kick things off with the always wonderful K.A. Reynolds! Kristin is no stranger to the blog, having kindly visited here twice before, first to reveal the cover of her debut novel, The Land of Yesterday, and later to share an extraordinarily touching (and ultimately hopeful) post on battling monsters and finding a light in the darkness. Today, Kristin is back again to share the stunning, unforgettable cover of her sophomore middle grade novel, The Spinner of Dreams! Coming to a bookstore and library near you August 27th 2019 from HarperCollins, The Spinner of Dreams follows the story of Annalise Meriwether, a young girl cursed at birth by the Fate Spinner, and who must embark on a harrowing adventure to undo the curse and change her fate along with the help of a bespectacled cat and nervous fox. The cover of The Spinner of Dreams was illustrated by Julia Iredale. Please read on to learn more about The Spinner of Dreams, including a note from the author, and don’t forget to stop by Pop! Goes The Reader later this week for the exclusive cover reveals of She’s The Liar by Alison Cherry and Creatures Such As We by Rebecca Podos!
About K.A. Reynolds
K. A. Reynolds is a poet and writer from Winnipeg Canada currently residing in the wilds of Maine. Her superpowers include: Monty Python references, risqué madlibs, and saving spiders from certain peril. When not madly typing, daydreaming, or caring for the elderly, she enjoys laughing, smiling, apologizing (and other favorite Canadian pastimes), swapping bad jokes with her numerous offspring, herding various furry beasts, and reading strange and colorful tales expertly crafted by other imagination astronauts in love with words.
Annalise Meriwether, a kindhearted eleven-year-old girl with blackberry colored hair and eyes, a cursed left hand, and mental illnesses just like mine, first came to me on July 28th, 2016. When we met, she was chasing a fluffy white cat in a top hat and monocle through a dark desolate field. The moonlit sky was cracked in half. Black wolves prowled the perimeter, white crows cawed overhead. I knew right away that wherever this magical girl and cat were running, I would follow.
After watching this scene in my mind, I hopped on my laptop, opened a new Word doc, and wrote: Annalise wants to be queen of her destiny and defeat fate. Allegory of what it’s like to follow your dreams and fail, time after time, and still get up to do it again.
And the theme for The Spinner of Dreams was born.
It was a theme I knew well. I’d spent much of my life battling fate and chasing dreams, falling and getting back up, feeling strange and out of place. I also understood Annalise’s struggles with mental illness, because I also live with anxiety, depression, panic, and PTSD. I was so excited to write this story. When I was Annalise’s age, reading about a middle grade protagonist with a dark past, a dream in her heart, and a mind like mine, would have given me the hope and daring to think if she can do it, maybe I can, too. Plus, Annalise had this aura of lightness around her — a gentle kindness and unwavering optimism I admired and loved instantly. With her story, I hoped to show readers that no matter what the world threw at you, how different or small you felt, or how much you had to overcome, a secret magic was born from dreaming big dreams and never giving up. That a special power grew from struggle. That one’s differences were often their greatest strengths. That dreams really did come true.
Thank you all for checking out my cover for The Spinner of Dreams. I can’t wait to share Annalise’s story with you!
Title The Spinner of Dreams
Author K.A. Reynolds
Pages N/A
Intended Target Audience Middle Grade
Genre and Keywords Fantasy
Publication Date August 27th 2019 by HarperCollins
Find It On Goodreads
Inventive, empathetic, and strange in all the best ways, The Spinner of Dreams draws from the author’s own experiences to create a story that feels timeless and universal. As she did in her debut The Land of Yesterday, K. A. Reynolds thoughtfully explores mental health and crafts an adventure that fits right alongside middle grade classics like The Phantom Tollbooth.
Annalise Meriwether is kind, clever, curious — and lonelier than ever before.
Cursed at birth by the Fate Spinner, Annalise lives a solitary life with her loving parents. Despite her anxiety, Annalise tries to ignore the cruel townsfolk who blame her for their broken sky, desolate town, and the night wolves that hunt them all. But the black mark on her hand won’t be ignored. Not when the monster living beneath it, which seems to have an agenda of its own, grows more powerful and unpredictable each day.
There’s only one way for Annalise to change her fate and rid herself of her curse: find the Fate Spinner, the deadly enchantress who holds a secret vendetta against her, and enter the Labyrinth of Fate and Dreams. If Annalise can make it out of the Labyrinth alive, she will come face to face with the merciful Spinner of Dreams — the only one with the power to grant her the dream that lives in the smallest, secretest corner of her longing heart.
So, with the help of a bespectacled cat who seems to have all the answers and a nervous fox who promises to stay by her side no matter what, Annalise sets out to undo the curse that’s defined her – and to show the world, and herself, exactly who she is inside.
