News
April 16, 2024
I’m honored and so excited to announce that SIX FEET BELOW ZERO has won the 2024 Mark Twain Readers Award. Enormous thanks to the Missouri Association of School Librarians, and all the librarians and teachers who selected SFBZ as a 2023/24 nominee. I’m especially grateful to the readers who voted, students throughout the wonderful state of Missouri! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you!
December 11, 2023
2023 has been a fantastic year for SIX FEET BELOW ZERO, as a nominee for both the 23/24 Mark Twain Readers Award, and the 23/24 Golden Sower Award in the Honey Bee category.
I’m grateful it’s found so many new readers, especially in the midwest states, where it hit the Midwest Indie Bestseller List twice, once in May at #6, and most recently in October, at #7. Hurray!!
Teachers and librarians! As always, if you’d like bookmarks I’m happy to send you a bundle for your students. Reach out via the contact form! While supplies last.
January 20, 2023
A great start to 2023 with the news that Six Feet Below Zero has been selected as a Final Nominee for the 2023-2024 Mark Twain Readers Award. It makes me so happy to know students all over Missouri will be reading Rosie & Baker’s story next year. Yippee!
You can read all about the Readers Awards here:
October 7, 2022
Another something special has happened. SIX FEET BELOW ZERO has been selected as one of ten Nebraska Golden Sower Award chapter book nominees (gr. 3-5) for the 2023-2024 school year!
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1hgm0R03nKKO00IyF0Qqm7Ssi3eYBFVa4/view
August 12, 2022
I couldn’t be happier to announce that SIX FEET BELOW ZERO has been chosen as a preliminary nominee for Missouri’s 2023-2024 Mark Twain Award. A huge honor! Yipee!!!
See preliminary nominees for all the Missouri School Library Awards here:
June 21, 2022
I’m over-the-top excited that SIX FEET BELOW ZERO is keeping VERY good company again! This time on Tennessee’s Volunteer State Book Award 2022-2023 Intermediate List. Thanks so much to the Tennessee Association of School Librarians for including my book!
https://sites.google.com/view/volunteer-state-book-award/divisions/intermediate
May 1, 2022
Last month something special happened: SIX FEET BELOW ZERO was selected as a finalist in the SCBWI Crystal Kite Awards. The annual Crystal Kite Award is a peer-given award that recognizes books from the most current publishing year in 15 SCBWI regional divisions around the world. It’s an enormous honor to be among the 4 finalists in the southeast (United States) division.
So a big Yipee! And a huge congratulations to my fellow finalists!
February 15, 2022
I am thrilled to announce that SIX FEET BELOW ZERO has been selected to be on the Oklahoma Library Association’s 2023 Intermediate Sequoyah Masterlist!
This is a huge honor! It makes me deliriously happy to know that children all over Oklahoma will be reading SIX FEET BELOW ZERO over the next year. And SFBZ is in VERY good company. Just watch!
February 1, 2022
Teachers! Librarians! Media Specialists! Due to COVID, I have more bookmarks and recipe cards than I will need for school visits. I am happy to send a “care” package to you & your students while supplies last. Email me via the contact form on my website and include your school/library address and how many you’d like. You can also DM me on Twitter: @EnaJones.
June 21, 2021
A so very lovely review of SIX FEET BELOW ZERO by book blogger, Rosi Hollinbeck!
May 10, 2021
I am so pleased to share a wonderful review of SIX FEET BELOW ZERO by The Story Sanctuary!
“SIX FEET BELOW ZERO is absolutely a book to make you laugh and cry. Possibly at the same time . . . It’s fantastic . . . part Arsenic and Old Lace and part From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler.”
Read the entire review (and many others!) at The Story Sanctuary:
May 7, 2021
Goodreads Book Giveaway
April 25, 2021
Want to find out which character you’re most like in SIX FEET BELOW ZERO? Head over to YAYOMG! to find out!
This quiz is NOT just for preteen girls! My husband took it & (big surprise, lol) he’s most like Baker. Who are you? Rosie, Baker, Karleen, Aunt Tilly, or *shudder*, Grim Hesper? It was such fun putting this together for @yayomgofficial
April 20, 2021
All the ways you can experience SIX FEET BELOW ZERO, available everywhere now!
- Request the book, ebook, and/or audio book at your local library, then borrow away!
- Order the book, ebook, and/or audio book from your local independent bookseller (they could really use your business right now!). Then read or listen!
- Order the book, ebook, and/or audio book from Barnes & Noble or Amazon, then read or listen!
- Going on a road trip this summer? I know what you can do for 7 hours 10 minutes of it! The SFBZ audio book is available everywhere!
- There is no wrong way to experience SIX FEET BELOW ZERO!
April 14, 2021
I had an amazing time with the folks at Main Street Books in Davidson, NC, celebrating the launch kick-off for SIX FEET BELOW ZERO yesterday!
Here’s a link to MSB’s YouTube channel and the last bit of the event:
April 8, 2021
It was so fun to be interviewed by Mindy Alyse Weiss over at the Mixed-Up Files of Middle Grade of Middle Grade Authors. There’s even a giveaway!
Read the interview and enter the drawing here:
https://fromthemixedupfiles.com/ena-jones-interview-two-giveaways/
March 26, 2021
A Post-It note review on the Teen Librarian Toolbox blog!
Visit TLT’s blog to see this and other Post-It note reviews:
https://www.teenlibrariantoolbox.com/2021/03
And School Library Journal says, “Readers will ultimately find humor in the series of unfortunate events Rosie and Baker encounter, and become invested in their determination to continue living in Great Grammy’s house.”
March 17, 2021
Another event! Malaprops Bookstore in Asheville, NC will host me as I continue to spread the word about my middle grade book, SIX FEET BELOW ZERO.
When: Thursday, April 22nd, at 6 p.m.
Here’s the link to register:
https://www.malaprops.com/event/live-stream-ena-jones-presents-six-feet-below-zero
March 15, 2021
March 1, 2021
I’m excited to share one more review for SIX FEET BELOW ZERO!
Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books says: “Jones delivers a surprisingly sweet story despite the darkly comedic setup, and readers will relish the suspense . . . Hesper, the family’s very own Cruella de Vil, is an effective villain, helping to move the story along with her manipulative schemes. Underlying the wacky comedy are more serious messages about different ways of coping with loss and using humor to sort through tough emotions.”
Yipee!!
February 2021
I’m thrilled to share another review for SIX FEET BELOW ZERO!
Booklist says: ” . . . Rosie and Baker are well-developed and likable, and secondary characters and subplots bring an added level of fun to the proceedings. It’s a wild ride brimming with family feeling and adventure in the vein of Lemony Snicket.”
Hooray!
February 2021
I’m happy to share the first review of SIX FEET BELOW ZERO. Kirkus Reviews says it’s “A delightful, briskly paced caper.” And, “Jones dishes up a delicious denouement on the way to a resolution rich in just deserts.”
Read the full review here: https://www.kirkusreviews.com/book-reviews/ena-jones/six-feet-below-zero/
January 2021
My novel, SIX FEET BELOW ZERO, is a fictional story about a family. However, there were key memories and/or images that helped me along as I wrote. One was the seahorse birdbath from my husband’s grandmother’s home that now sits on our property. Another was a piece of yard art, “When Pigs Fly.” Another was the image of a heavy metal gator band that inspired the one that welcomes visitors to Great Grammy’s home in the book. I saw the photo online and thought, “The character of Great Grammy would have loved that!”
November 2020
I was going through old photos and came across some that I took of our favorite trees on my husband’s grandmother’s property; the person and place that inspired SIX FEET BELOW ZERO. The real “Great Grammy” would sling rope over a branch of a tree and fashion a swing for our children’s visits (if you look carefully you can see one of the swings she made!). She’d scavenge garage sales for games, books, puzzles, toys, bikes, pogo-sticks, stilts, and scooters—whatever she could fit in her trunk. She’d test drive everything once she got home, even into her 90s! She’d put cots in the “Little House” where my husband and his siblings would “camp out” when they were young. And her garage held so many treasures (including the car that she drove till just before she died at the age of 94!) Anyway, looking at these photos sure brings back memories.
October 2020
Big news! Recorded Books will produce SIX FEET BELOW ZERO as an audio book. It will be simultaneously released with the hardcover on April 20, 2021. Stay tuned for updates!
July 2020
Lookie! Lookie! SIX FEET BELOW ZERO among Holiday House titles listed on Publishers Weekly Spring 2021 Preview List:
HOLIDAY HOUSE
Holiday House says “cheese” for Amira’s Picture Day by Reem Faruqi, illus. by Fahmida Azim, in which Amira can’t wait to stay home from school to celebrate Eid, but doesn’t want to miss school picture day; Fat Chance, Charlie Vega by Crystal Maldonado, introducing an aspiring writer who is smart, funny, Puerto Rican, and fat, a lot of things her mostly white Connecticut suburb frowns on; Go Be Wonderful! by Donna Gephart, illus. by Francesca Chessa, featuring parents, family, and neighbors rallying around Daisy as she starts school; Houdini and Me by Dan Gutman, following 11-year-old Harry, who lives in Harry Houdini’s old New York City home and receives a text from someone claiming to be the great magician offering to take him back in time to experience Houdini’s tricks for himself; and Six Feet Below Zero by Ena Jones, about two siblings who must pretend their great grandmother is still alive until they get her will into the right hands.
See the Publishers Weekly full preview list of children’s books coming spring 2021 HERE:
June 2020
The cover for SIX FEET BELOW ZERO is official!
In SIX FEET BELOW ZERO, 12-year-old Rosie and her younger brother, Baker, must honor their great-grandmother’s final wishes by pretending she’s still alive until they can find her will and locate their dear Aunt Tilly—the only person who can save them and their home from the horrible Grim Hesper. SIX FEET BELOW ZERO will be released by Holiday House, spring 2021.
October, 2016
A review at Sally’s Bookshelf! Sue Heavenrich calls CLAYTON STONE, FACING OFF an election season “must read!”
“Just in time for this year’s elections: a book of political intrigue, dirty tricks and lacrosse.”
Click here to read the full review!
And a new SERIES DISCUSSION GUIDE courtesy of Holiday House!
August, 2016
Mindy Alyse Weiss recently interviewed me for the From the Mixed-Up Files of Middle-Grade Authors website!
Read the interview here, and don’t forget to hang around and explore; it’s a fabulous website for anyone who loves middle-grade lit!
July, 2016
A Kirkus Review for CLAYTON STONE, FACING OFF!
” . . .what makes this series so special is that it also has heart. . . . The layered plot and fast-paced action make for a quick read that will be especially appealing to middle-grade boys who might otherwise be reluctant to pick up a book. Politics and espionage combine for a great read. (Thriller. 8-12)“
April, 2016
The cover for CLAYTON STONE, FACING OFF is official!
Middle-school spy Clayton Stone is back in business, this time going undercover to protect the President’s son in the page-turning sequel to Clayton Stone, At Your Service.
July, 2015
A Booklist review!
“Meet Clayton Stone: average seventh-grade student, above-average lacrosse player. . . recruited to help foil an organized group of criminals kidnapping wealthy moms and children from upscale malls. Soon his life is full of missions and gadgets and more secrets than he can keep up with . . . this book combines family and school drama with Nancy Drew–style precocious sleuthing . . . most will recognize his conflicts as he tries to incorporate the responsibilities of his new secret life with his responsibilities to his team and friends. Hand to readers who loved Stuart Gibbs’ Spy School series.”
June, 2015
A Kirkus review!
“ . . . there are plenty of cool gadgets and action-packed predicaments to keep middle-grade readers entertained. However, what really makes this take on the kid-turned-spy story special is that it has a heart … Clayton’s endearing senses of loyalty to and responsibility for both family and friends is the undercurrent that gives this story depth and sets it apart from the rest. (Thriller. 8-12)”
May, 2015
CLAYTON STONE, AT YOUR SERVICE is listed by Publishers Weekly among the “Can’t Miss Kids’ Galleys” at Book Expo America 2015.