As a former teacher there is something extra special about having my book chosen as a teacher favorite 🥰

Thank you Keystone State Literacy Association for choosing The Extraterrestrial Zoo for the Keystone to Reading Book Award list! It is such an honor to see my book popping up on these state reading lists among these other incredible authors 👽

So honored that The Extraterrestrial Zoo: Finding the Lost One was selected for the 2026-2027 Maine Student Book Award reading list!
My FMC, Ava, would be proud her story is on her home state’s reading list!

Find me @librarypalooza.bsky.social today! Lunch session and breakout session will be different talks and reading different chapters! Perhaps join both 🙃

If you’re in the #sanantonio area come on by! I’ll be doing a short read aloud of #TheExtraterrestrialZoo and a fun writing and drawing activity for all ages.

Lot’s happening this month! Come say hi 👋

📚JANUARY PICK 📚
My Allstora book club, Raising Readers, will be kicking off with a book near and dear to me🙋‍♀️ The Extraterrestrial Zoo: Finding the Lost One! This is the first book in my new mg sci-fi series.
Join my club and get your signed copy and book club guide.
See you next month ✌️

Raising Readers Book Club Mother, teacher, and NYT's best-selling author Samantha van Leer shares her top middle grade and children's books to read with kids. Every month she will explain how she would build meaningful convers...

allstora.com/pages/raisin...

So excited to announce my collaboration with Allstora! Join my book club Raising Readers to get diverse, incredible, own voice children’s and middle grade books delivered to your door step!
🔗 link in bio!

✨ BIG ANNOUNCEMENT COMING✨

Check my socials December 1st for some fun news! And perhaps the perfect holiday gift for the parent or educator in your life 🎁

🛸 Best welcome of the year 👽
#schoolvisits #authortalks #aliens #middlegrade #scifi

Samantha van Leer, Author New York Times Best Selling Author of Between the Lines,Off the Page, and The Extraterrestrial Zoo series.

New Website Alert!
Check out my new website where you can learn about me, purchase my books, link to watch/listen/or buy rights to the Between the Lines Musical, and book me for an author visit.

Check it out now!
www.Samanthavanleer.com

🍎TEACHERS🍏
No better way to start the new year than an author talk! Book me for a visit through my website (link in bio).

💻:virtual options available as well

✨I have Special Ed certification k-8 and can cater my talks to the specific needs of your classroom.✨

Have you posted your Goodreads rating yet?
#theextraterrestrialzooseries #middlegrade #scifi #goodreads

🎧 SHE’S HERE! 📚

The audiobook of The Extraterrestrial Zoo is OUT NOW! Nothing says summer like listening to a story about aliens by the pool. So sit back, relax, and let your ears do the reading. 😎
#audiobook #scifi #mglit #summerreading

Beyond the Stars: Writing Science Fiction for Young Readers Podcast Episode · Reading With Your Kids Podcast · 06/15/2025 · 56m

@jedlie.bsky.social thanks for having me on the Reading With Your Kids Podcast! Listen along to the incredible @michellebarrybooks.bsky.social and I talk about our latest series and what it’s like to write in the middle-grade science-fiction genre.

podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/r...

My 2025-2026 calendar is filling up fast! Want me to come speak (in person or virtually) to your class next year? Book me through my website!

samanthavanleer.wixsite.com/website

✨AUDIOBOOK✨ coming to headphones near you.

Pre-order today!

www.audible.com/pd/B0F7J5JQQ...

#aubiobook #scifi #preorder #middlegradebooks #summerreads

🚀 TAKING OFF THIS SUMMER?

I’ve got your summer travels covered! My middle grade sci-fi adventure novel, The Extraterrestrial Zoo: Finding the Lost One, comes out THIS JUNE on audiobook. It’s got enough twists and turns to keep everyone entertained…even for those long car rides. #mglit #scifi

Come back Friday for a little 📖📚 surprise!

Local signings means my daughter gets to see Mom at work ❤️
@thetwigbookshop.bsky.social
#author #middlegradebooks

Thank you @thetwigbookshop.bsky.social for hosting me today! What a perfect day for a signing 😍
#indiebookstores #shoplocal #scifi #middlegradebooks

Support a local author, celebrate #FiestaSanAntonio, walk the farmers market, and support an indie bookstore all in one day!

Catch me @thetwigbookshop.bsky.social this Sunday.

✨bonus points if you bring me a dog to pet✨

You know you're brave when you project a photo of yourself at 13 in front of a class of high school students.
#schoolvisits #author #middlegradebooks #YA

Samantha van Leer, "Extraterrestrial Zoo! #1 Finding the Lost One"

Catch me this Sunday 11:00-1:00 @thetwigbookshop.bsky.social signing copies of my latest book The Extraterrestrial Zoo: Finding the Lost One! Enjoy the farmer's market, explore Fiesta, and grab a middle grader in your life a new sci-fi adventure!

thetwig.com/event/2025-0...

😍😍😍 thank you @mrschureads.bsky.social for featuring me on your amazing blog!

The Extraterrestrial Zoo: Finding the Lost One by Samantha van Leer Happy Thursday! I'm grateful Samantha van Leer stopped by Watch. Connect. Read. to finish my sentences. We discussed Ava, ELBs, musicals, an...

"The Extraterrestrial Zoo: Finding the Lost One tells the story of thirteen-year-old Ava, who helps run her family’s zoo, where all the alien creatures who have been sent to Earth are cared for and kept." — @samanthavanleer.bsky.social mrschureads.blogspot.com/2025/04/the-...

Between the Lines

Off the Page

"Musicals make life more interesting. Adapting my two books, Between the Lines and Off the Page, into an off-Broadway musical was truly an experience I never expected to have." — @samanthavanleer.bsky.social mrschureads.blogspot.com/2025/04/the-... @jodipicoult.bsky.social

The Extraterrestrial Zoo: Finding the Lost One by Samantha van Leer Happy Thursday! I'm grateful Samantha van Leer stopped by Watch. Connect. Read. to finish my sentences. We discussed Ava, ELBs, musicals, an...

"The Extraterrestrial Zoo: Finding the Lost One tells the story of thirteen-year-old Ava, who helps run her family’s zoo, where all the alien creatures who have been sent to Earth are cared for and kept." — @samanthavanleer.bsky.social mrschureads.blogspot.com/2025/04/the-...

Samantha van Leer appears at the Texas Library Association's annual conference. A woman with shoulder-length brown hair is seated at a table on which stands the aquamarine cover of her book.

Samantha van Leer appears at the Texas Library Association's annual conference. A woman with shoulder-length brown hair is seated at a table on which stands the aquamarine cover of her book. Behind her is another woman, smiling for the camera, with short permed reddish-hair. Behind them both is a banner featuring the bright covers of a dozen or so children's books.

“Sorry, but we don’t do aliens,” is what @samanthavanleer.bsky.social heard from publishers who were considering her novel THE EXTRATERRESTRIAL ZOO. Now, her book is recommended by School Library Journal. Read her take on Middle Grade sci-fi in the SLJ ⤵️

teenlibrariantoolbox.com/2025/03/04/a...