People tend to get trapped - especially if they're up to no good. Things tend to disappear when ghosts are around. But the kids can't be sure how the ghosts are going to act. The ghosts have chosen a few local kids to save the island against the adults who would do it harm. And, even more, they want to protect what was once theirs. You can hear them in the wind and in the creaks of the old homes. Ghosts are alive on the island of Nantucket. Blue will discuss all things writing, her books, and best of all, ghosts in her presentation followed by a book signing. Nantucket is full of ghosts, and they are determined to help the present and protect the island for the future with the help of the local kids. and the ghosts who must help with the present.

When I get stuck I just ask myself, 'What do kids see? What are they capable of? What am I saying to them? And what do adults know, anyway?' Usually, that gets me back on track.Master storyteller Blue Balliett, the New York Times bestselling author of Chasing Vermeer, will be at An Unlikely Story to introduce her new middle grade novel, Out of the WIld Night, an unforgettable story about an island haunted by the past. The thought that I'm writing for children helps me tremendously. But the business of sifting and then capturing on paper is sometimes elusive –- and it's difficult not to wonder how your work will be judged. Writer's Block Regimen: 'I'm lucky, because I always have more ideas than I have places to put them.

Such is life I like the thought that this isn't a likely place to write or think.' Now I have a table, and am surrounded by mountains of paper and the occasional runaway dish towel or t-shirt. During the five years it took me to finish Chasing Vermeer, I worked with a laptop on an extra bed that was always covered with a mountain of clean socks and blue jeans. How She Writes: 'I write as soon as I'm awake, and I work in the laundry room in our house. She lives with her family and cats in Chicago. Balliett graduated from Brown University with a degree in art history. Her latest, The Wright 3, is a detective story that takes place in a house designed by Frank Lloyd Wright.

Blue Balliett is the author of two novels for children.

Blue balliett books