I found out yesterday that DRAGONS IN A BAG made USA TODAY’S Best-selling Booklist—for the first time since it was published in 2018! I’m happy but also a little confused…sales are steady but they’re still down from the book’s peak popularity three years ago. So why have we made this list now? I’ll never understand publishing. I did my last school visit of the 2024-25 school year yesterday and one teacher made point of telling me—twice—how much her classes enjoyed the dragon series. Another teacher in NJ reached out to my publisher with the same comment; it’s definitely gratifying to know that my books are meeting a need. I never knew it was hard to find books for third graders! Books with a Black protagonist, yes, but teachers keep stressing the pacing and plot are what hook their students. Book 1 didn’t feel any different from the many magical stories I’d penned before…I wasn’t following an algorithm to guarantee commercial success. The publisher put minimal marketing support behind the series and yet it continues to sell—we’re coming up on 600,000 copies sold. It’s a mystery…but I’m very grateful for all the libraries, and teachers, and booksellers, and readers who have support the series for seven years!

My last book festival is next weekend in Berkeley. If you’re in or near the Bay Area, join us! I’ll be on three panels: