IN SIGHT OF STARS. . . "All told in some of the most beautiful prose you will probably ever read."

IN SIGHT OF STARS came out last Tuesday to some of the most wonderful accolades any of my books have ever received, including a starred review from Booklist, great reviews from School Library Journal and Kirkus, and an amazing review from Teenreads.com in which the teen reviewer wrote, "IN SIGHT OF STARS deals with mental health, Vincent van Gogh, family and recovery; all told in some of the most beautiful prose you will probably ever read," plus that gorgeous quote on the left, which I may have asked my publicist to turn into that pretty, fancy social whim.

School Library Journal wrote of the book:

"In the vein of Ned Vizzini's It's Kind of a Funny Story, Polisner's short novel destigmatizes mental illness, emphasizing that everyone needs a little help sometimes. Readers will laugh, cry, and ache alongside Klee as they follow his recover. In a sea of recent contemporary novels about teens with mental illnesses, this one stands out for its strong writing, likable protagonist, and overwhelmingly positive messages." 

While Booklist called it, "An intense, sometimes graphic, totally heartbreaking portrait of a character who will keep pages turning.” 

A teen blogger for Germ Magazine wrote of it, "Gae Polisner’s latest release is nothing short of extraordinary. As I like to say, this book is the lovechild of Stephen Chbosky’s The Perks of Being a Wallflower and Ned Vizzini’s It’s Kind of a Funny Story... One of the most compelling and important books on the shelves today, giving teens an outlet to feel heard and understood." 

There's more wonderful praise to be found on Amazon and at Goodreads, but better than all the praise was the amazing celebration of the book I got to share with friends and family at Book Revue, Long Island.

Despite a nor'easter the morning of that had my hair salon calling to regretfully cancel my blow out due to weather, and my husband and I shoveling away a solid 8" of snow three hours before the release, by show time, the snow had stopped, the roads were clear, and we had a packed house of nearly 100, standing room only, a sea of friendly faces consisting of loved ones, political action warriors (we had a voter registration table and a gun reform table!!!) and friends, swim buddies, and more!!! Of course, I'd like to believe they all came for me, but we all know we all came for the very same thing, myself included:

SHEET CAKE. And oh there was.

The night of. . . 

The day after.

Gosh, I miss those cakes!!!! (Costco sheetcakes decorated by me, by the way. Nothing more delicious on earth!)

All in all, it's been a wonderful launch. For those who don't know, Klee, my main character is an artist, and much I know about art, I know from my mom, an amazing artist in her own right.

In the spirit of the evening, she hand-painted me some amazing Van Gogh inspired starry pants, and the rest of my family some sunflower ISOS shirts!!

my sister, dad and mom. . . you can barely see the awesomeness of my pants here, but oh well.

For any of you who wish you could have been there, but were not, I did a facebook live virtual book launch last night HERE. Feel free to breeze through and just get the flavor.

And for all who read and love IN SIGHT OF STARS, please share that love with your friends and book clubs, and put up reviews at Amazon, Barnes & Noble.com, and your other favorite online sites (Instagram, twitter, etc!). They matter! They really do!!

Happy reading!

xox gae

p.s. if you are a teacher or educator and would like to use IN SIGHT OF STARS in your classroom, a phenomenal teacher's guide is coming soon!! I will link here and on my website! And if students are interested, I keep a Pinterest Board for most of my manuscripts in progress, and sometimes toss things onto the board post release, and you can find my IN SIGHT OF STARS board here: https://www.pinterest.com/gaepol/in-sight-of-stars/