I’m thrilled to announce that my middle grade fantasy novel, THE PATH OF NAMES, will be published in June, 2013 by Arthur A. Levine (an imprint of Scholastic Inc). THE PATH OF NAMES is a kind of fantastical mixture of ghost story, murder mystery and coming of age story. It’s set in a Jewish summer camp, a setting which is close to my heart, having spent an improbably large number of summers at summer camp in my youth.
I keep rereading the publication announcement (see below) just for the pleasure of seeing myself described as “debut author Ari Goelman.”
Children’s – Middle Grade Debut author Ari Goelman’s THE PATH OF NAMES, about an aspiring magician at a Jewish summer camp who must solve a 72-year-old supernatural murder mystery, to Cheryl Klein at Arthur A. Levine Books, for publication in 2013, by Lindsay Ribar at Sanford J. Greenburger Associates.
As you’d expect, immediately upon signing this deal, I have quit my day job, purchased a small island off the Bahamas, and dedicated myself to splitting my time between writing and building sand castles with my children. Okay, that’s not exactly true. I will be keeping my day job for the foreseeable future. But I am enormously excited to be working with a fantastic editor (the aforementioned Cheryl Klein) on a real book which I will someday hold in my hands. Or see on my e-reader screen. If I someday get an e-reader.
In fact it’s been a real eye opening experience. First I brought what I thought was a finished novel to my awesome agent Lindsay Ribar at Sanford J. Greenburger. Who wasn’t my agent at the time, but nonetheless had all sorts of perceptive comments, leading to another 4-6 months of work on my part, before we came up with a draft we were both satisfied with. Then, once Cheryl Klein at Arthur A. Levine decided to publish the novel, Cheryl and I had a few conversations, following which she sent me a 17 page e-mail, with a completely different set of equally insightful suggestions. Cheryl has an amazing ability to see what I was trying to do, and suggest how I could do it better.
All this to say, I am very happy with the manuscript that we are currently working on. And, hey, as of next summer I will finally have an excuse to go back to summer camp, as I plan to do readings at any summer camp I can in the summer of 2013.
Ari B. Goelman 
Hi Ari, I got home last night and started to read. I was hooked completely. I read it through dinner. I didn’t stop (except to do the dishes) until it was done. It is an exciting, gripping read. I love the characters – especially how Dahlia grows and becomes more confident as the story progresses. I loved that Tom and her connected. I loved that it was scary, but not so scary that I didn’t want to read it. I loved the mystery, how the tension and suspense grow. I found the ending to be completely satisfying. With respects to Jewish Orthodoxy, I am not sure where reality ended and the magic began, but it didn’t really matter in the bigger scheme of the story. Thank you so much!
Thanks Cheriee,
It’s gratifying to hear that you liked it! (And, of course, glad it didn’t stop you from doing your dishes!)
Best,
Ari
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