Two acclaimed authors — Kate DiCamillo and John Schu — will jointly launch their new middle-grade books from Candlewick Press at 6 p.m. Thursday, March 7, at  O’Shaughnessy Education Center, University of St. Thomas, 2115 Summit Ave., St. Paul, presented by Red Balloon Bookshop in St. Paul.

DiCamillo, who lives in Minneapolis, will introduce “Ferris,” a hilarious love story about a girl, a ghost, a grandmother and growing up. It’s the summer before fifth grade and for Ferris Wilkey, it’s pandemonium. Her little sister, Pinky, has vowed to become an outlaw. Uncle Ted has left Aunt Shirley and is holed up in the Wilkeys’ basement to paint the history of the world. Her grandmother has started seeing a ghost in the house, but the ghost is not there to escort Charisse to the Great Beyond; She has other wild plans. DiCamillo, a former National Ambassador for Young People’s Literature, debuted with “Because of Winn-Dixie” and went on to win Newbery Medals for “The Tale of Despereaux” and “The Tiger Rising.” Her books have inspired theater versions, films and an opera.

In Schu’s “Louder Than Hunger,” he looks at a teenage boy with anorexia, OCD and depression, based on the author’s experiences with these conditions. Jake likes skating and singing, playing bingo and Name That Tune and listening to Broadway music with his beloved grandmother. But in seventh grade he is suddenly an outsider — the weird one, the kid his former friends laugh at and insult. That’s when the Voice takes over in his head, telling him that nobody loves him and that he’s worthless. He would do anything not to be that kid, including shrinking himself down to nothing. Schu, who lives in Naperville, Ill., is a teacher, librarian and story ambassador who explores anorexia  and self-expression as an act of survival in “Louder Than Hunger.” Readers will enjoy the book’s unusual design, with changing type faces, one-word sentences that mimic his skinny body, and paragraphs made up of one repeated letter.

A ticket is required for this event, for which there are a number of options. Go to redballoonbookshop.com/event/kate-dicamillo-john-schu-university-st-thomas.

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