Just about a month ago, we welcomed a new member into the EMLA community: recent VCFA grad Melanie Crowder, who won the 2011 Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Prize for her gorgeous and lyrical eco-fable WATER.
 
Told in three voices, WATER is set in a near future shaped by drought and water wars, following a boy, a girl, and her dog (yes, and it works beautifully!) as they struggle for survival in their parched land. Both evocative and heart-wrenching, this middle-grade novel grabbed hold of me and wouldn’t let me go. And now I’m thrilled to be able to say that I was not the only one to think so: This week, WATER received a publication offer from the super-savvy Reka Simonsen at Harcourt. Melanie has accepted the offer and her debut middle-grade novel will be coming out sometime in 2013.
 
Hooray, and many congratulations to Melanie!
 
—Joan