Review and Giveaway of Ice Dogs

Thought for the Day:

"Any fool can make history, but it takes a genius to write it." ~ Oscar Wilde ~

Gifts for My Writer Friends:

There is a great post by Maureen Doyle McQuerry on Kirby Larson’s blog all about subtext. Check it out HERE. It is worth the time.

This post from Writer’s Digest, entitled Persistence Doesn’t Matter if You Make This Common Mistake, is quite good. Check it out HERE. 

The ladies at Writers Helping Writers have the best post I’ve ever seen on avoiding clichéd characters. And they have some gifts for writers inside! Check it out HERE. 

New Book on My TBR List:

Martina Boone is part of a wonderful blog called Adventures in YA Publishing. I never miss it. First of all, they have lots of writing craft posts and TONS of giveaways. Every week they give overviews of what's coming out. I never miss it. If you are not familiar with it, check it out HERE. Anyway, Martina has a book coming out in October, Compulsion, that sounds terrific. You can check it out HERE on Goodreads.

I hope none of you thought I fell off the face of the planet. No, we just suffered from a particularly bad computer crash. It turned out we had an encounter with some serious malware that not only messed up the computer I use to write my blog, but it went through our little local area network in our house and messed with all our computers. It was not pretty. We are still recovering in some ways, but we were completely off the air except for cell phones for several days. But I'm back and ready to get to work.

When I last posted, I offered a copy of Stained by Cheryl Rainfield to one of you. Our winner this week is Greg Pattridge! Congratulations, Greg! You can find Greg's blog, Always in the Middle, by clicking HERE. He teaches middle school (talk about courage!) and blogs mostly about middle-grade teaching and books. Greg, I will be sending Stained to you this week. I wouldn't suggest it for your students, but it is an excellent read for YA and adults. 

I am back to middle-grade reading this week and have a really wonderful adventure to write about.  I have been hearing for several months about Ice Dogs by Terry Lynn Johnson. I am a huge fan of adventure stories for middle-grade kids. I came to this fairly late in life. I never read this kind of books as a kid, but when I started teaching and needed to find books for my boy students who simply didn't read. Even though they were in high school, middle-grade books were what I needed for these boys. I discovered Gary Paulsen's books. Hatchet was the first one I found and I loved it. So did my reluctant boys. I taught some Jack London stories in class and loved those as well. I reviewed Will Hobbs book Never Say Die for the Sacramento Book Review about a year ago. Fantastic book. You can read my review HERE. When I had the chance to get my hands on Ice Dogs, I grabbed it, and I'm really glad I did.

Victoria Secord is fourteen and lost her father not long ago. She is a musher -- driving sled dogs in races over sometimes-brutal Alaskan open land. Her father taught her to take care of herself in the wild and to take care of her dogs which might mean her survival. Victoria thinks her mother doesn't understand or appreciate what is most important to Victoria. She also carries a load of guilt, thinking

Terry Lynn Johnson

if she had just been with her dad, he wouldn't have died. One day when her mother is gone, Victoria decides to take her sled several miles overland to see about getting a couple of new dogs. Since she won't be gone long, she doesn't take much in the way of supplies. Unfortunately, she doesn't bother to check the weather. She finds herself in a storm when she discovers an injured boy lying near a crashed snowmobile. She needs to get him to where he can get medical help, packs him into her sled bag, and keeps going. The storm turns into a blizzard, the boy turns out to be a handsome city boy, and they have the fight of their lives on their hands. 

Terry Lynn Johnson has lived the life and it shows in this book.This much excitement might not be good for an old lady like me, but I enjoyed every word of it. The story is well-crafted, the characters are fresh and interesting, the setting is a perfect antagonist. It is so refreshing to find a female protagonist in such a great adventure story. There is a touch of romance, but just a touch, and it never gets in the way. Both boys and girls will be completely engaged by this story, and I think adults will as well. 

I have a nice hardcover copy of Ice Dogs for one of you. To have your name in the drawing, you need to be either a subscriber or follower, have a U. S. address, and leave a comment. If you aren't one of my regulars, please tell me if you are a subscriber or follower. If you are neither, just sign up for a subscription or become a follower and let me know. It's free and easy! Check the right-hand column. If you want an extra chance, spread the word. Post the link to this post on your own blog or on Facebook or Tweet about this and tell me you have done so, and I'll put your name in the hat an extra time.

Make sure you visit Shannon Messenger's Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday blog for more reviews and giveaways. You can find it HERE.