Thought for the day: “Don't romanticize your
"vocation". You can either write good sentences or you can't. There
is no "writer's lifestyle". All that matters is what you leave on the
page. And work on a computer that is disconnected from the internet.” ~Zadie
Smith
A gift for my writer
friends. Creating characters seemed to be on more than one mind than just
mine when I wrote my last post. Others were writing about character
creation. The following two links are
very good and continue the discussion. Enjoy!
The first book I want to talk about is Ted & Me by Dan Gutman. This is a middle grade novel that is eleventh book in a series called the Baseball Adventures. I can’t believe I didn’t discover this series sooner. I LOVE this book! If the others are even close to this good, I will be reading them all.
Joe Stoshack, Stosh to his friends, is a thirteen-year-old, baseball playing All-American kid. But there is another piece to him. He can time-travel and his vehicle is baseball cards. If he holds a Honus Wagner card, for instance, from the year 1910, he will travel to wherever Honus Wagner is at that time. Pretty cool, huh? Only a few people – his mother, father, uncle, and coach – know about his ability, and yet, one day an agent from the FBI shows up on their doorstep and knows about Stosh’s time traveling. We never find out how the FBI knows, but that is just about the only glitch in this book. The agency wants Stosh to go back in time to warn FDR about the bombing of Pearl Harbor. The agent claims it will save millions of lives. He leaves a signed Ted Williams card for Stosh and asks him to think it over. Stosh’s mother says it’s his decision. Interestingly enough, Stosh’s coach is against it. He feels if the bombing of Pearl Harbor never happens, the U.S. won’t get into the war, Hitler will win, millions more will be killed, etc., etc. But Stosh’s uncle tells him a story of a missed opportunity, and Stosh decides he should go for it.
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| Dan Gutman |
However, I’m not giving this book away. My grandson, whose given name is Gehrig and who is a terrific baseball player, will be getting my copy. I think he will love it.
Guy, who happens to be Jewish, is talked into joining the after school forensics club by his best friend, Anoop, who is of East Indian descent (and breaks any stereotypes people might have about that) so Guy can meet the girl of his dreams. I love quirky side-kick characters, and Anoop is the best I’ve read in a long time. (The best side-kick character is from another hysterically funny YA – the character of Victoria in Robin Benway’s laugh-out-loud Audrey, Wait! If you haven’t read that, do!) Anyway, back to Guy Langman. Guy is left with very little from his father – some advice and three gold coins. Guy tries to work through his grief by writing a book about his father and his witty advice. He and Anoop also keep busy with the forensics club and girls. When the three gold coins are stolen from Guy’s house, the club decides to solve the crime. The club also gets involved in a forensics competition and finds a dead body, another crime they think they can solve. Now things really get interesting.
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| Josh Berk |
On the book giveaway, this is for U.S. only. Sorry, but it
would be too expensive for me to send books out of the country. But please
leave a comment. I’d love to hear from you. Remember, if you have trouble
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