HAND-ME-DOWN MAGIC: PERFECT PATCHWORK PURSE by Corey Ann Haydu

Happy Wednesday! I'm excited to turn over my blog for the day to Corey Ann Haydu! Thank you, Corey! Take it away! 

I am thrilled to be here on Mr. Schu’s site to introduce the cover of the THIRD book in my HAND-ME-DOWN MAGIC series, HAND-ME DOWN MAGIC: PERFECT PATCHWORK PURSE. The first two books in the series came out in June, and I am especially excited for this third installment. This chapter book series is my first time writing a series, and what I didn’t anticipate is that it only gets more and more fun to spend time with this family, which is a little like the family I’m bringing my daughter up in—an enormous, love-filled, bicultural city-dwelling family of magic-lovers. The more I get to know Alma, Del, Evie, Abuelita and everyone else populating this world, the more at home I feel writing about them. I look forward to spending time at The Curious Cousins Secondhand Shoppe whenever I’m feeling a little down. They always lift me up and help me feel hopeful and warm and connected. 

Designed brilliantly by David DeWitt and illustrated with so much care and exuberance by Luisa Uribe, this cover is just brimming with life and fun and feelings. When I first wrote a description of this perfect patchwork purse, I kept beaming, thinking about Luisa illustrating it. I couldn’t wait to see what she did with this magical object, and she captured it perfectly here. It is exactly the kind of bag I imagined Alma and her friend Cassie both falling in love with, and I’m a little jealous too, that I don’t have one for myself. 

HAND-ME-DOWN MAGIC is primarily about the very special best-friend-cousin relationship between Alma and Del, and this cover makes the most of their differences. Alma’s tragic face looking at the purse she so desperately wants to keep from herself breaks my heart. Del’s vivacious thrill at Cassie getting what she wants is so deeply in line with her warmth and spirit. I also think Cassie’s sweet, joyful embrace of this prized possession pulls it all together perfectly. These books and this cover represent so many people and places and things I myself love-- my family and friends, my city, and all the many quirks and mysteries and whimsical moments folded into all of that. Some of these things I am left missing right now—the fun of big family dinners, the ease of spending time with friends who know you well, the comfort of every day life. But other things remain—the hoped embedded in the city I call home and my ongoing belief in the wonder of magic and oddities and peculiarly perfect patchwork purses.

Stoop Sale Treasure and Crystal Ball Fortunes are available now. Look for Perfect Patchwork Purse on May 4, 2021. 

Corey Ann Haydu is the author of Eventown, The Someday Suitcase, and Rules for Stealing Stars and four acclaimed books for teens. She grew up in the Boston area, earned her MFA at the New School, and now lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her husband, her daughter, and her dog, Oscar, and a wide variety of cheese. Find out more at www.coreyannhaydu.com.

Luisa Uribe likes drawing, reading, and chasing the cat around the house. She lives in Bogotá, Colombia, where students (like the Earth Heroes in her book Dear Earth...From Your Friends in Room 5) are helping protect the environment and our natural resources. Of her many illustration projects, her true love is picture books. Luisa was honored with the Dilys Evans Founder's Award at the Society of Illustrators Original Art Exhibit in 2018. You can find more of her wonderful art at www.luisauribe.com.