I know it was kind of backwards, but due to the fact I was in NY when my book came out, my book launch party wasn’t scheduled ’til two weeks later. Then the bookseller for the party asked to have a signing at the store and so I ended up having a signing first, and the launch party 2nd.

Anyway, it all went well. My mom with the help of my wife, organized the whole shindig and my godfather my uncle mikey was kind enough to host it at party room in the development where he lives.

Mom and my wife Pattie got the food, flowers, decorated the tables with a WWII aviation theme and it was just great. Thanks to my cousins Lisa and Christine and their families helping set up everything, we started on time.

I had matching Born to Fly shirts printed for my family which I thought were gonna be corny but turned out pretty cool. I used the defunct original book cover art since I didn’t have a textless artwork file of the new cover and I wanted to put the title on the back of the shirt.

The bookseller from Barnes and Noble arrived and what do you know but she turns out to be my high school librarian from years ago. The world grows, but as you age it just keeps getting smaller.

A number of old friends showed up and I was hoping to talk with them, but I ended up signing books, pretty much straight through for 3 hours. Barnes and Noble said we sold 83 books which they said was good. What do I know?

Next week it’s off to Indiana for another book party and book signing in Carmel/Westfield.

Eleven-year-old Bird McGill is very different from other girls her age. She hates wearing dresses and doing other girly things, and would much rather climb up on the roof to daydream in the clouds. Her favorite activity in the entire world is flying airplanes with her father, who is a pilot and mechanic. Every chance they get, they climb in a plane and take to the sky; he even lets her work the controls sometimes. Bird dreams of someday flying a military P-40 Warhawk, but the odds are stacked against her. Female pilots are rare and not allowed in the military.

Bird has a wonderful relationship with her dad, who happens to be her only friend ever since Wendy moved away. But then the Japanese attack Pearl Harbor, and the United States enters World War II. Bird’s dad has to join the military and go fight overseas. So Bird is once again without a friend close by her.

The War brings many other changes to their small town, including a new student at Bird’s school. Kenji Fujita is a Japanese American, and right from the start, everyone is suspicious of him just because he looks like the enemy fighting the United States. But Kenji is as American as anyone else in the town. Bird is also wary at first, but as she gets to know him better, they become the best of friends.

However, their newly formed friendship is soon tested after Bird and Kenji stumble onto a real war spy. Danger lurks everywhere as Kenji’s uncle is falsely accused. Many lives are at stake, including Bird’s and her family’s, but will she find the courage to stand up for what is right?

I knew BORN TO FLY was going to be special right from the first sentence. The heart of the story centers on a sixth grader who has a fiery spirit and a unique spark for life. She struggles to be true to herself when society dictates a different path. Michael Ferrari tackles some difficult themes in his debut novel, including tolerance, bigotry, courage and honor, and does so with honesty and sincerity, allowing the reader to share Bird’s challenges right alongside her. He also has a gift for words that carries his audience through the pages with excitement, adventure and even a bit of guidance.

“…Only I’d let him down. Betrayed him. All because I was scared. Of what? Something bad happening? It already had. Fear was always getting in the way, always stopping you from doing the really great stuff, the real important stuff. I was sick of it. What was it Dad had told me? The only one I needed to believe in me was me…”

This is an amazing, heart-touching story, and readers will look forward to more books from this talented newcomer.

— Reviewed by Chris Shanley-Dillman, author of FINDING MY LIGHT, THE BLACK POND and GHOSTS OF THE UPPER PENINSULA
http://www.kidsreads.com/reviews/9780385737159.asp

Because my book happened to come out while I was away from home, I wasn’t able to do much local promotion, but my local paper The Avon Lake Press did manage to do a phone interview with me and write a nice article (on very short advance notice).

As a result of the article, last week I got this letter from the mayor saying my town was “proud of me.”

Now, when I was younger and dying to get out of my hometown, I probably would have considered this kind of corny. But today, I have to admit I rather enjoyed it. I couldn’t imagine getting one of these from the mayor of Los Angeles (had the book come out while I lived out there). I guess that’s one of niceties of living in a small(er) town.