Candice Ransom, Lerner, and Me—Or How My Job Connected Me with a Childhood Idol

Have you ever had one of those moments when your life comes full circle? I recently had just such a moment when a colleague pointed me toward longtime Lerner author Candice Ransom as the perfect candidate to write some books I’d been developing. The second I heard Candice’s name, I got deliriously excited. See, not only did I know of Candice because she’s written for Lerner (although mostly before my time here, so I haven’t gotten to work with her), but she also happens to be the author of a book that changed my life and touched my heart like few things have back when I was a book-obsessed preteen. That book is Thirteen.

Thirteen is one of five titles in a partly heartbreaking, partly laugh-until-your-stomach-hurts series about a girl named Kobie Roberts. I find it hard to put into words how meaningful the Kobie stories were to me. So of course, I had to contact Candice about the projects I was developing, and I had to tell her how much I loved the Kobie books—especially Thirteen.

What happened next is where things get totally amazing. Candice couldn’t have been nicer about my expressions of more-than-a-little obsessive adoration for Kobie. She even offered to—get this—send me signed copies of all five titles in the series. To say I was over the moon would be an understatement.

Just a few days later, this arrived in the mail for me:

Each book is signed and dated, and Candice wrote me a letter and included a handmade card featuring photos of herself in her teenage years. All I can say is wow.

As if writing the Kobie books weren’t enough, Candice has also written these fabulous books for Lerner (to show you just a handful of her many Lerner works):

Do I need to tell you that I’m beyond starstruck to be working with Candice? This is just one of many reasons why I call editing the best job in the world.