AUTHOR GUEST POST! Laura Marx Fitzgerald 25 Random Facts!

The Gallery by Laura Marx Fitzgerald
Published by Penguin Young Readers Genres: Children's Books, Children's Fiction (Tween), Coming of Age, Young Adult
Format: Hardcover
Buy the Book • Goodreads

A riveting historical art mystery for fans of Chasing Vermeer and The Westing Game, set in the Roaring Twenties!

It's 1929, and twelve-year-old Martha has no choice but to work as a maid in the New York City mansion of the wealthy Sewell family. But, despite the Gatsby-like parties and trimmings of success, she suspects something might be deeply wrong in the household—specifically with Rose Sewell, the formerly vivacious lady of the house who now refuses to leave her room. The other servants say Rose is crazy, but scrappy, strong-willed Martha thinks there’s more to the story—and that the paintings in the Sewell’s gallery contain a hidden message detailing the truth. But in a house filled with secrets, nothing is quite what it seems, and no one is who they say. Can Martha follow the clues, decipher the code, and solve the mystery of what’s really going on with Rose Sewell?

Inspired by true events described in a fascinating author’s note, The Gallery is a 1920s caper told with humor and spunk that readers today will love.

We are so excited to have Laura Marx Fitzgerald on our blog today! Michael and I both loved Under the Egg! So much in fact that it is one of the first books we set on our Margie’s Must Reads Traveling Books Trail! We dropped it off at a Starbucks in McAllen, Texas and since then we have seen in on our twitter feed in Corpus Christi, Texas and San Antonio, Texas. VERY COOL!! After the two of us finish reading The Gallery we think we may send this one on the trail as well!

25 Random Things About Me

I won $64,000 on Who Wants to Be a Millionaire.

I spent most of my summers growing up watching 12 hours of TV a day.

But some days I would read for about 12 hours a day.

I still love watching TV. I love it. Love it.

Great TV and ubiquitous internet are eroding my ability to read. The last six months I found myself unable to get through a single work of fiction. (Anyone else experiencing this?) But last week, on one glorious vacation, I read three novels.

I split my time between writing kids’ books and working as a copywriter (the person who writes ads and other marketing stuff).

When I travel, I try to steer every trip around visits to living history museums.

I have two kids. Only one of them likes living history museums.

I love dressing up in historical costumes.

Almost as much as I love looking at pictures of dogs wearing costumes.

#beedogs

Even though I have told the kids we can’t get a dog yet, I secretly trawl Petfinder every day.

I grew up in the South, but I don’t have an accent anymore.

I won a Rotary scholarship to study at Cambridge in England. (PSA: Check out this wonderful grant program, which gives thousands of recent college grads every year the chance to study abroad.)

While there, I was a coxswain for the men’s crew team. Yes, that little person who sits in the back and yells at the rowers. (But not “row!” No one ever yells that, except in the movies.)

I went to culinary school for a year.

The last thing I remember cooking was my kid’s hot dog. In a microwave.

I studied piano for 12 years, and I can’t play a single song by heart.

I once went backpacking for 3 months by myself. I traveled around the Mediterranean: Spain, Morocco, Italy, Greece, Turkey, and Israel. It was much lonelier than I expected.