6/.&)("2#&#6=-)=/.#*+#$'<&)41:#I".#,**F7#I".# @.&9./7#I".#G.&/)#&)#&#>('.# by Elly Swartz Elly Swartz loves writing for kids, Twizzlers, and anything with her family. She grew up in Yardley, Pennsylvania, studied psychology at Boston University, and received a law degree from Georgetown University Law Center. Elly is the author of four contemporary middle grade novels. Her debut novel, Finding Perfect (FSG 2016) is about 12-year-old Molly, OCD, and a slam poetry competition that will determine everything. In her second book, Smart Cookie (Scholastic, 2018), you meet the spunky and big-hearted Frankie who is all about family with a dash of mischief and mystery! Then in October 2019, we said hello to Maggie in Give and Take (FSG). With the help of a foster baby named Izzie and Bert the turtle, Maggie learns that sometimes love means letting go. And in the spring of 2022, we’ll get to know Autumn in Dear Student (Delacorte/Penguin Random House). Autumn is a girl with social anxiety and a pet guinea pig named Cheetos, who becomes the secret voice of the advice column in her middle school newspaper. You can find Elly at ellyswartz.com, on Twitter @ellyswartz, on Instagram @ellyswartzbooks, or on her webseries #BooksintheKitchen with author Victoria J. Coe.
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Books Matter
grape gum on her breath. Her body shook as
I always knew it, but never felt it in the
the tears rolled down her cheeks. “You changed
placethat tugs at my heart until Finding Perfect, my
my life,” she whispered. Then she hugged me.
debut book, met its readers. Then my heart
he leaned in so close that I could smell the
My heart melted.
exploded with each letter, whispered confession,
I’d just spent the last forty-five minutes talking
tearful exchange, and hug. Readers confided that
to 200 fifth graders about bravery. And how I saw
they connected with Molly’s OCD, Frankie’s grief,
courage and strength in each one of them, even if
and Maggie’s anxiety. And these readers shared.
they didn’t.
With me. Someone they had just met; and, in some
My new 5th-grade friend told me that she had
instances, had never met.
heaps of anxiety. Just like Molly in Finding Perfect.
Why were these new friends so willing to share
She said she did weird things, like Molly. Was
their vulnerabilities with me? How had I earned
scared, like Molly. Didn’t tell anyone, like Molly.
their trust and confidences?
And felt very alone. Until she met Molly on the
I thought about this for a long time.
page. Then she reached out to her mom. And now
Then I realized it was the stories I wrote.
my new young friend is seeing a doctor and getting
These readers connected to the characters, their
treatment for Obsessive Compulsive Disorder
journeys, and through them they connected with
(OCD). She said it’s helping.
me.
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