🎃 55 Scary (and Not-So-Scary) 2025 Middle Grade Books To Get Readers In The Halloween Spirit 🎃 popgoesthereader.com/55-scary-and... #BookSky #KidLit #MGLit

Such great insights into what readers like to see in book reviews (here and on other socials)! I compiled them here tracybadua.com/how-to-write... (on my website because the idea of starting up another social media service/ long term blog 🤮)

Spooky Encounters, a guest post by Tracy Badua Next time you’re worried you’re not as alone as you think, remember not all spooky encounters are what they seem. And you’ll maybe even get a fun story out of it. teenlibrariantoolbox.com/2025/09/02/s... @tltkaren.bsky.social @tracybadua.bsky.social

GHOUL SUMMER is out today! 🎉 This middle grade cozy/spooky ghost story is my eighth published novel (in 3.25 years 🤯😫, so thank you for still following me online despite all this pestering)

What I've also noticed is that for some works, the publishers are filing so late/down-to-the-wire that the Effective Date of Registration falls outside of that 3-month period that affects your remedies, so THAT'S COOL

I’m of the “nothing is wasted” camp! There’s always growth from the experience, and hey, as long as you save it somewhere safe, you can always come back to it! #kidlitchat

It is so weird to be promoting a book written from a place of hope and reliance on the strength of community when *waves at everything* shows us that plenty of people are okay being the villains of the story

Help, #reader friends! When you’re casually checking out online book reviews to figure out what to buy/borrow, what info are you looking for?? What helps you decide what’s right for you?

Hey San Diego! Come out to @mystgalaxybooks tomorrow at 1pm to celebrate the launch of my Asian Sapphic Pirates of the Caribbean X House of the Dragon epic fantasy 🐉🙌🏽🏴‍☠️ I'll be talking Filipino fantasy, female rage and how healing doesn't look pretty with @tracybaduawrites

#Goodreads giveaway alert! 🚨📚 Enter for a chance to win 1 of 5 copies of my next middle grade book GHOUL SUMMER www.goodreads.com/giveaway/sho...

Great cover!

This exercise yielded no results or consequences and cost the federal government and American people millions of dollars in hours that employees could've spent in actual service

#kidlit friends, I'm gearing up for the release of another middle grade book and I've been burned by very-low-attendance launch events before. Any ideas on how to best celebrate this latest milestone? Best days/times/activities for middle grade events?

#SanDiegoComicCon goers, come say hi on Saturday! I’ll be chatting with these *amazing* authors at 1, then signing after #sdcc

I will forever talk about my time in federal service the way Al Bundy talked about scoring four touchdowns in a single game

DC folks There is an urgent need to care for babies and young children in our community whose parents have been detained, deported, or otherwise snatched by our government. St Paul’s episcopal church is serving as a collection point for money, formula, and diapers. onrealm.org/StPaulsRockC...

#SanDiego friends: meet Filipino Book authors at the Storytellers Space at the 5th Annual Filipino American Friendship Festival (F3) on July 19th, 11am at NTC Park Liberty Station in San Diego!

Happy Independence Day, friends! Don’t forget to hydrate, wear sunscreen, and reject tyranny 🎆

Spiraling about what’s happening on the national stage, but it got me thinking about defeat and resilience and how we explain all of this to kids Not to spoil my own book, but I purposefully chose the not-so-great outcome for the characters’ efforts in GHOUL SUMMER.

#SanDiego friends! 5th Annual Filipino American Friendship Festival, July 19 in Liberty Station (and it’s free!) fox5sandiego.com/community-ca...

#kidlit readers: icymi, GHOUL SUMMER preorder gift packs and enter to win a chance for an author visit at your school, library, or book club!

Start your summer strong by preordering GHOUL SUMMER! Show us you've preordered at bit.ly/preorderGS and you can snag a Ghoul Summer preorder pack and enter to win a chance for an author visit at your school, library, or book club!

Want an early look at the first chapters of Ghoul Summer? Sign up for my newsletter! mailchi.mp/e4544a246b90...

And to answer “what’s next,” I am going to attempt to write/sell something new, then gear up for my next middle grade book (and last one under contract) GHOUL SUMMER! It’s out in September, which seems both far away and very, very close #kidlitchat

So excited to actually make it to #kidlitchat! My past 3 months have been CHAOS, with a book out (Their Just Desserts, with Alechia Dow!) and transitioning away from a federal job I love to the full-time writing. Any tips on making the full-time-writing thing work are welcome!

There are ice cream sandwiches in our fridge and it’s going to take all my willpower to save these for the kids tomorrow

“Some of the citations that underpin the science in the White House’s sweeping “MAHA Report” appear to have been generated using artificial intelligence, resulting in numerous garbled scientific references and invented studies, AI experts said Thursday.” www.washingtonpost.com/health/2025/...

If you’re in the SoCal area, my library system is unveiling our Filipino American Cultural Heritage Collection this Saturday, May 31! We’ve been working on it for 2 years, and have acquired books, movies, and cds in multiple Philippine dialects, along with some cultural art pieces. #library #booksky

Join Sandra W. Headen, Wendy Wan-Long Shang, Brittany J. Thurman, and me at Books of Wonder’s “Great Middle Grade Reads” crowdcast! Sunday June 1 at 3pm ET Register here: booksofwonder.com/blogs/upcomi...

In the Bay Area? Interested in collabing on a program with the FilAm Center of @sfpubliclibrary.bsky.social? Here's our public program proposal form: forms.office.com/g/gXdXFUpcNf

I'm going to be able to get a *very* limited number of bound copies of my middle grade novel GHOUL SUMMER ssoooo..... Any #kidlit reviewer groups out there want one? 👻

Excited to announce I’m teaching a class for Highlights Foundation on writing mystery, horror, and adventure for middle grade readers! Register here: www.highlightsfoundation.org/workshop/thr... #kidlit #mglit #writingcommunity

Just saw this in the Edelweiss copy: Ghoul Summer tackles THEMES OF GENTRIFICATION AND WORKERS' RIGHTS as Barnaby uncovers the history of his grandpa’s town and helps Maxwell uncover the sinister forces behind the cause of his death.

I'm going to be able to get a *very* limited number of bound copies of my middle grade novel GHOUL SUMMER ssoooo..... Any #kidlit reviewer groups out there want one? 👻

Co-Writing a Sequel: Tracy Badua and Alechia Dow in Conversation The authors join us to talk about their experience writing THE COOKIE CRUMBLES and THEIR JUST DESSERTS together. teenlibrariantoolbox.com/2025/05/19/c... @tracybadua.bsky.social @alechiadow.bsky.social @tltkaren.bsky.social

I’d completely forgotten that, as a kid, I used to set up a “Clues” game for my younger cousins, sending them on a treasure hunt around the house during those long family parties This is totally on brand for me

An iron fell on my head. I suddenly have so much sympathy for Wile E. Coyote

#kidlit reviewer/bookseller friends: my next middle grade book, GHOUL SUMMER, is available on Edelweiss! Ever stay in a bnb you could've sworn was haunted? Well... this one is.👻 www.edelweiss.plus?sku=00633470...

Blown away by the response to THEIR JUST DESSERTS! It’s my seventh (!!) book, and the second I’ve had the privilege to write with @alechiadow.bsky.social. And I regret to inform you we have more ideas 😅

In THEIR JUST DESSERTS by @tracybadua.bsky.social & @alechiadow.bsky.social, food, friendship, & festive reality TV collide when Laila & Lucy put their investigative skills & baking talent to the test to find who's behind some missing gems. Fans of baking & cozy mysteries will gobble this up. #mglit

Todayyyyyy!! Their Just Desserts is out today! Such an incredible blast to write this middle grade foodie mystery sequel to The Cookie Crumbles with my friend of 9 years, @tracybadua.bsky.social … Please grab a copy if you can!! bookshop.org/p/books/thei...

THEIR JUST DESSERTS is in stores now! This deliciously fun middle grade mystery was a blast to write, and we’re excited to see it in the hands of readers everywhere. Help us celebrate pub day by sharing this post, buying a copy, baking up (or buying) your favorite dessert, or all of the above!

Join @alechiadow.bsky.social and me on IG live with @eastcitybooks.bsky.social tomorrow 5/13 at 12:15pm eastern! We’ll be celebrating the publication of our latest middle grade mystery THEIR JUST DESSERTS 🧁

Oh my god never suggest a paddle boat ride for Mothers Day. My quaaadddssss

@iamvanhoang.bsky.social and my event on 5/13 gets a shoutout! www.latimes.com/entertainmen...

Every book idea I’ve been coming up with lately is uncharacteristically angry and gloom/doom Or maybe that’s what my character is now?

Wow, did not expect to get emotional removing "who works in national housing policy" from my author bio this morning

Here’s why thoughtlessly gutting the federal government of longtime staff is a terrible idea Every now and then, someone comes in with a great sounding “what if we did this governmenty thing this new way?”

Meanwhile, I, an actually attorney with actual housing regulation experience, am on administrative leave.