Ruby Lee and Me -- Review and Giveaway

Thought for the Day:

“One day I will find the right words, and they will be simple.”

~ Jack Kerouac ~

Gifts for My Writer Friends:

K. M. Weiland has a very good post HERE on avoiding the deadly anticlimactic ending. Check it out. 

Janice Hardy will help you avoid too much backstory with her post HERE. 

Kim van Alkemade has a terrific guest post on The Writer’s Dig about research for writing historical fiction. Click HERE to read it.

Let me start by wishing all of you a happy Christmas and wonderful New Year. I doubt I will be here for the next two weeks, but who knows. Sometimes I think I won't have the time or energy to write a post and then everything changes. In any case, I will be back soon.

When last we met, I offered a copy of Big Top Burning by Laura A. Woollett. The winner this time is Jess Haight, one of the authors of The Secret Files of Fairway Morrow and someone who happens to live in Connecticut, where Big Top Burning takes place. You can find Jess at her blog HERE and read more about her book, answer some riddles, and other fun things. Congratulations, Jess. I will get the book out to you this week.

I fell in love with the writing of Shannon Hitchcock a couple years ago when I read her debut novel, The Ballad of Jessie Pearl, which went on to win a Crystal Kite Award. I wrote about it HERE on my blog if you happened to miss it.  It's a terrific book. So I was very excited when I heard she had a new book coming out. I was not disappointed. I lived it just as much. Here is the review of Ruby Lee and Me I wrote for San Francisco Book Review.

Sarah is supposed to be watching her little sister, Robin, when she hears screeching brakes and screams. Everything changes. Robin is in the hospital, and Sarah moves to her grandparents farm while everyone waits for Robin to wake up. Granny’s neighbor Miss Irene’s granddaughter Ruby Lee is Sarah’s best friend. Being with her makes waiting tolerable. Robin’s healing is long and hard. Hospital bills mount, and Sarah’s parents sell their house and move near the farm. Sarah will have to start a new school. At least she will have her best friend. But Granny warns Sarah since she is white and Ruby Lee is black and North Carolina schools are just integrating (it’s 1969), their friendship best be kept at home.

“This house was like opening a box of underwear on 

Christmas morning. It wasn’t a present I would have

pick out, but I’d put it to good use anyway.”

Shannon Hitchcock has written a rich, complex story set in a time and place

Shannon Hitchcock

filled with tension. The first-person narrative in the voice of 12-year-old Sarah is pitch perfect, the characters are well-rounded and absolutely believable, the story is compelling, and the writing is beautiful. This is the kind of coming-of-age story that should become a staple in middle-grade classrooms. Kids will love it, but it deserves a much wider audience.

I have an ARC of this book I would be happy to send to one of you. To win, all you need do is have a US address, be a subscriber or follower, and tell me that in a comment you leave on this post. If you are reading this in your email, click HERE to go to the blog so you can leave a comment. If you would like extra chances, please spread the word by posting the link on a Tweet, blog post, Facebook, or any other way you like. Let me know what you have done in your comment, and I will put in extra chances for you for each that you do.

Don't forget to check out Shannon Messenger's wonderful blog HERE for many more Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday reviews and giveaways.

Big Top Burning -- Review and Giveaway

Thought for the Day:

"Love what you do and do what you love. Don't listen to anyone else 

who tells you not to do it. You do what you want, what you love. 

Imagination should be the center of your life." 

~ Ray Bradbury ~

Gifts for My Writer Friends:

We can all learn from the masters. HERE is a list of 36 Killer writing tips from Stephen King. 

Cutting scenes is really hard to do, but Erika Wassall has an excellent post HERE on Kathy Temean’s Writing and Illustrating to help you with that. 

Anne R. Allen, along with Catherine Ryan Hyde, has a terrific post on rejections — how to handle them and what you can learn from them. Click HERE to check it out.

I hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving. It is my favorite holiday and we had lots of good food and family time. Now comes the quick march to Christmas. We will all be busy, I know, and I will be particularly so with the move and all, so I will be here when I can and hope for your patience when I can't.

Last time, I offered an ARC of Mister Max: The Book of Kings by Cynthia Voigt to one of you. This week's winner is Elizabeth Varadan. If you haven't met Elizabeth, she is the author of Imogene and the Case of the Missing Pearls which I reviewed HERE. Elizabeth also writes two blogs -- Elizabeth Varadan's Fourth Wish and Victorian Scribbles. If you click on the titles, you can visit them. Congratulations, Elizabeth. I will get your book to you soon. For the rest of you, I have another terrific giveaway, so please keep reading.

If you have read my blog for awhile, you know I love history. I have been reading quite a bit of middle-grade and tween non-fiction lately, The book I will tell you about this time falls into that category and it is terrific. Big Top Burning: The True Story of an Arsonist, a Missing Girl, and the Greatest Show on Earth by Laura A. Woollett is a fascinating story. Here is the review I wrote for the Manhattan Book Review.

It was a hot July afternoon in 1944 when the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus came to Hartford, Connecticut. Even as World War II raged and many fathers were gone, this was an exciting day for many. Since the circus train had been late, the Saturday matinee was cancelled.

Consequently, Sunday’s matinee was a full house with over 6000 people crowded into the big top. Because of the lateness of getting the tent up the day before, some things were left undone. Perhaps most importantly, fire extinguishers were not placed around the arena. Some of the staff had to leave their posts at the seats to help move chutes blocking exits after the animal act. Suddenly, flames appeared high up on the side of the tent. Thus began the worst circus tragedy to date.

“Donald was safe in the comforting arms of his aunts and uncles. 

Doctors and nurses cared for Mildred at Municipal Hospital, and 

Edward had gone to a place where pain could no longer touch 

him. But where was Donald’s sister, Eleanor?”

To write a book about such a terrible event that is for young readers is a difficult

Laura A. Woollett

task, but author Laura A. Woollett has used impeccable research and personal stories of people involved to tell the story in a way young people will find fascinating and will inspire them to learn more. This is non-fiction at its very best.

I have a hardback copy of this book I would be happy to send to one of you. To win, all you need do is have a US address, be a subscriber or follower, and tell me that in a comment you leave on this post. If you are reading this in your email, click HERE to go to the blog so you can leave a comment. If you would like extra chances, please spread the word by posting the link on a Tweet, blog post, Facebook, or any other way you like. Let me know what you have done in your comment, and I will put in extra chances for you for each that you do.

Don't forget to check out Shannon Messenger's wonderful blog HERE for many more Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday reviews and giveaways.

Mister Max: The Book of Kings -- Review and Giveaway

Thought for the Day:

“Almost anything will work again if you unplug it for 

a few minutes. Even you.” 

~ Annie Lamott ~

Gifts for My Writer Friends:

Stephanie Gayle did an interesting guest post on The Writer’s Dig that outlines seven fatal flaws that will tell you your novel isn’t ready to submit. You can find it HERE. Number four is one I really need to watch for. 

Mary Blount Christian has a terrific post on Keeping Viewpoint Straight HERE. She always has very good advice for writers.  

Janice Hardy at Fiction University has a great post HERE on creating more depth in your story. 

With the holidays upon us and with my move finally starting to move (we closed on our new house last week a month later than we had hoped to and will now start renovations), don't be too surprised if the occasional week goes by without a post. Just saying'.

Last week I promised an ARC of The Disappearance of Emily H. by Barrie Summy to one of you. This weeks winner is Mimadocken. Congratulations, Mima! Thanks for spreading the word on FaceBook and getting an extra entry. It paid off for you. I will get the book out to you this week. Stay tuned, everyone. I have another giveaway this week.

Cynthia Voigt has written plenty of books for teens and tweens and middle graders. I have enjoyed all I have read. Her latest series is the Mister Max books and I have read and enjoyed two of the three books in the series. I reviewed the first book in the series a couple years ago. You can read that review HERE if you like.Here is the review I wrote for the San Francisco Book Review of the third book, Mister Max: The Book of Kings.

Max has been on his own since his parents disappeared a few months earlier. Max kept himself busy with his business as a Solutioneer, finding solutions for client’s problems. Now he receives coded messages with buttons attached that seem to be from his father. Max finds out his parents, well-known stage actors, are living as king and queen of a small South American country, Andesia. Max can only believe they are there against their will, and he needs to rescue them. He comes up with a plan to take an embassy to Andesia, but first he must convince the king of his own country, whom he has never met, to help.

“His thirteenth birthday had been not-celebrated in the Estrella’s large first-class dining room. There had been no candles on no cake, no wrapped packages, and no singing of the traditional birthday song.”

This final book in the Mister Max trilogy by Cynthia Voight is a satisfying

Cynthia Voigt

conclusion for all questions raised in the three books. The characters are interesting and well-rounded, the story has lots of adventure and excitement, and this will be a very gratifying read for those who have read the earlier two books, but as a stand-alone, it makes some assumptions of prior knowledge. The more mature and patient of middle-grade readers will be the audience for this somewhat overly-long, detailed story.

I have an ARC of this book I would be happy to send to one of you. To win, all you need do is have a US address, be a subscriber or follower, and tell me that in a comment you leave on this post. If you are reading this in your email, click HERE to go to the blog so you can leave a comment. If you would like extra chances, please spread the word by posting the link on a Tweet, blog post, Facebook, or any other way you like. Let me know what you have done in your comment, and I will put in extra chances for you for each that you do.

Don't forget to check out Shannon Messenger's wonderful blog HERE for many more Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday reviews and giveaways.

The Disappearance of Emily H. -- Review and Giveaway

Thought for the Day:

“Don’t use words too big for the subject. Don’t say ‘infinitely’ when you mean ‘very;’ otherwise you’ll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite.”
-C.S. Lewis

Gifts for My Writer Friends:

Feeling a little delusional about your writing? Maybe we all are a little delusional about our work. Anne R. Allen has some great advice HERE about dealing with those delusions.

Another great post from Janice Hardy HERE on Fiction University. This one is about characters that are too perfect, a problem my critique group can attest I often have. 

Stephanie Gayle did an interesting guest post on The Writer’s Dig that outlines seven fatal flaws that will tell you your novel isn’t ready to submit. You can find it HERE. Number four is one I really need to watch for. 

When I last wrote, I offered an ARC of Lincoln's Spymaster by Samantha Seiple to one of you. This time, Janet Smart is the winner. Congratulations, Janet! If you don't know Janet, you should check our her blog, Creative Writing in the Blackberry Patch, HERE. She is a West Virginia writer specializing in children's stories and writing about Appalachia. I will be getting your book out to you this week, Janet. For the rest of you, please keep reading. I have a wonderful book to give away.

I don't read a lot of fantasy. It just isn't my cup of tea. But I do like books that are set in the real world and have some fantastic elements. When I read about The Disappearance of Emily H. by Barrie Summy, I asked the Manhattan Book Review to get it for me for review. I'm really glad I did. Here the the review I wrote. 

Raine has a special ability. She can see sparkles on people or things and, when she picks them up, can read memories from them as her grandmother had before her. She is starting eighth grade at her third middle school and fifth school over all. As she is picking up her schedule, she meets Shirlee who is also new, having only been homeschooled. Before long the newbies are targeted by the mean queen of the school and her minions. Raine discovers she and her mother are living in the house of a girl who had recently disappeared and is thought to be dead. When Raine steals a sparkle, she discovers the mean girls may have had something to do with the disappearance. At the same time an arsonist is on the loose. And there’s more that creates real danger for Raine and others.

“Jennifer uploads a few more videos on YouTube about me, then stops. It’s not really her thing. She prefers to bully in real life, up close and personal. She wants to see her victim’s reaction.”

Barrie Summy has created a delicious mystery with some magic added in that

Barrie Summy

will have readers turning the pages as quickly as they can read. The writing is excellent, the characters real and sympathetic, and the story compelling. It deserves to be read well beyond the tween audience to which it is marketed. 

I have an ARC of this charming book I would be happy to send to one of you. To win, all you need do is have a US address, be a subscriber or follower, and tell me that in a comment you leave on this post. If you are reading this in your email, click HERE to go to the blog so you can leave a comment. If you would like extra chances, please spread the word by posting the link on a Tweet, blog post, Facebook, or any other way you like. Let me know what you have done in your comment, and I will put in extra chances for you for each that you do.

Don't forget to check out Shannon Messenger's wonderful blog HERE for many more Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday reviews and giveaways.

Lincoln's Spymaster -- Review and Giveaway

Thought for the Day:

"There is no passion to be found playing small – in settling for a life 

that is less than the one you are capable of living."

~ Nelson Mandela ~

Gifts for My Writer Friends: 

Beth Stilborn at By Word of Beth has a great post with lots of terrific links all about character names and titles. Check it out HERE. 

Some thoughts on writing from John Steinbeck. Worth the time. Click HERE. 

I took a nonfiction workshop a couple years ago through the Highlights Foundation. Peggy Thomas was on the faculty, and it was a terrific workshop. Peggy writes about nonfiction at her blog Anatomy of Nonfiction. She has a great post on Using Fair Assumptions in Nonfiction HERE. If you ever work in this genre, this is really worth your time. 

Last week I offered an ARC of Connect the Stars by David Teague and Marisa de los Santos. The winner this week is Joanne Fritz. Congratulations, Joanne! I will be getting the book out to you this week. If you don't know Joanne, you should check out her blog HERE. She is a writer with a fascinating and inspiring "About Me" on her blog. Every once in awhile I go to her blog and read her "About Me" just for inspiration. Seriously. Right now she is running a giveaway there for a fun book. Fear not. I have another giveaway this week, so read on!

My grandson is a history buff and his special area of interest are anything related to Lincoln and the Civil War. When I saw this book as an option for the San Francisco Book Review, I knew I had to get it. Here is my review for them of Lincoln's Spymaster: Allen Pinkerton, America's First Private Eye by Samantha Seiple.

Allan Pinkerton was a barrel maker. In an effort to get free wood, he visited a small island. There he found evidence of strange goings-on. After some investigation, he helped uncover a counterfeiting ring. This was his first step on a long journey through law enforcement and building of the greatest detective agency. As Pinkerton built his detective business capturing many outlaws, including train robbers, he came to know leaders in the railroad business. It was one of these, Samuel Felton, who hired Pinkerton to uncover a plot to destroy his railroad. In the process of doing so, Pinkerton discovered a plot to assassinate Lincoln before he could take office. In foiling that plot, Pinkerton sealed his future as an integral part of Lincoln’s inner circle in Washington D.C. throughout his administration, extending even to being a war spy during the Civil War.

“The information in Pinkerton’s reports to McClellan was not just collected by his spies. He also interrogated deserters, prisoners of war, refugees, and runaway slaves.”

Samantha Seiple has found a subject who will absolutely fascinate readers

Samantha Seiple

young and old in this well-written biography. The fast-paced story is told through clear, crisp prose and illustrated with great choices in very early photographs which emphasize the non-fiction aspect of the book. Readers will love this fresh take on Pinkerton.

I have an ARC of this wonderful book I would be happy to send to one of you. To win, all you need do is have a US address, be a subscriber or follower, and tell me that in a comment you leave on this post. If you are reading this in your email, click HERE to go to the blog so you can leave a comment. If you would like extra chances, please spread the word by posting the link on a Tweet, blog post, Facebook, or any other way you like. Let me know what you have done in your comment, and I will put in extra chances for you for each that you do.

Don't forget to check out Shannon Messenger's wonderful blog HERE for many more Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday reviews and giveaways.

Halloweensie Special Edition

This is a special edition of The Write Stuff. Every year, writer and teacher Susanna Leonard Hill runs a Halloween writing contest on her blog, and every year I mean to enter but never seem to get my little story done on time. She calls the contest the Halloweensie Contest "because it's not very long and it's for little people." The story must be under 100 words not including the title, contain the words "dark," "haunt," and "costume," or some form of those words, and can be rhymed or not. Then we are to post our entry on our blogs and post the link on her blog. It's fun and there is still time to enter. Check out Susanna's blog HERE. So this year, with fingers firmly crossed, I am entering my own little rhyming story, The Halloweensie Party. (93 words) I hope you enjoy it.

The Halloweensie Party

Little witches dance and sing.

Around them darkest bats take wing.

Their cauldron sits on crackling flames.

The little witches chant some names.

“Oscar, Wilma, Hank, and Jean,

come join us for Halloween!

Costumes can be fun or scary —

pirate, ghost, or glittered fairy,

mummy, bear, or wolverine —

all of them are pretty keen.

We’ll bob for apples, sing some songs,

dance until we hear twelve gongs.

Midnight calls all monsters home.

No more will the creatures roam 

or haunt the night for one more year.

Naught ‘til then for you to fear.”

For some reason, two notices did NOT go out this week and there is another post with the usual review and giveaway. Please check it out HERE.

Connect the Stars -- Review and Giveaway

Thought for the Day:

“Don't let the fear of the time it will take to accomplish something stand in the 

way of your doing it. The time will pass anyway; we might just as well 

put that passing time to the best possible use.”

~ Earl Nightingale ~

Gifts for My Writer Friends:

Erika Wassall has written a great post on Kathy Temean’s Writing and Illustrating blog on villains. Check it out HERE. She has great examples and good information.

Suzanne Warr has a guest post at Author’s Think Tank Blog about common novel problems she finds in her editing work. You can find it HERE. It’s an important one for writers and a good read. 

Kimberly Griffiths has a great post HERE on setting, something that is so important in making stories come to life. 

Last time I posted, I offered an ARC of Walter Dean Myers's last book, Juba! A Novel to one of you. This week, Carol Baldwin is the winner. If you don't know Carol, she is a writer from North Carolina who blogs about writing and books at Carol Baldwin's Blog (HERE) and also has a fascinating newsletter with author Joyce Moyer Hofstetter called Talking Story (HERE). Congratulations, Carol! I will get the book out to you this week.

Some of you may remember one of my middle-grade favorites last year was Saving Lucas Biggs by David Teague and Marisa de los Santos. Imagine how excited I was to learn the two had written another middle-grade book. Connect the Stars came out last month. Here is the review I wrote for the San Francisco Book Review. 

Audrey knows when someone is lying. She is never wrong. It’s a gift or maybe a curse for this 13-year-old girl. When she realizes her best friend has not only lied to her but hung her out to dry, it’s almost more than she can bear. No point in having friends if you can’t trust them. Aaron, also 13, remembers everything he has ever read or heard. Everything. He may know a lot of facts, but that doesn’t mean he really understands anything. Both of these kids find themselves at a wilderness camp with about a dozen other kids and a very scary

Marisa de los Santos

camp guide. Some want to be there, some don’t. Some are angry, some are sad, some are lost. But something happens that forces everyone to work together, and everyone is changed by it.

“The place was oddly beautiful, like almost everything soft had been peeled away to reveal the Earth’s bone structure, which was as stark as truth.”

David Teague

Marisa de los Santos and David Teague have written a taut, exciting story that will draw kids (and anyone else lucky enough to get their hands on the book) in and keep them turning pages. The dual points of view and beautiful writing make this story a real standout and a very satisfying read. This should become a middle-grade classic.

I have an ARC of this wonderful book I would be happy to send to one of you. To win, all you need do is have a US address, be a subscriber or follower, and tell me that in a comment you leave on this post. If you are reading this in your email, click HERE to go to the blog so you can leave a comment. If you would like extra chances, please spread the word by posting the link on a Tweet, blog post, Facebook, or any other way you like. Let me know what you have done in your comment, and I will put in extra chances for you for each that you do.

Don't forget to check out Shannon Messenger's wonderful blog HERE for many more Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday reviews and giveaways. 

Juba! A Novel by Walter Dean Myers -- Review and Giveaway

Thought for the Day:

“The mind of a writer can be a truly terrifying thing. Isolated, neurotic, 

caffeine-addled, crippled by procrastination, consumed by feelings of panic, 

self-loathing,and soul-crushing inadequacy. And that’s on a good day.”

~ Robert De Niro, actor ~

Gifts for My Writer Friends

The Writer’s Circle post on useless words is a really good one. The word THAT is one we could all use far less and be better writers for it. Check out the post HERE. 

I have been suffering from the most mind-boggling writer’s block for so long. This post (HERE) on Adventures in YA Publishing by Jen Larsen says it all. It is a real day brightener. 

The ladies who brought you The Emotion Thesaurus and other writing books are starting a new venture. There is an announcement HERE about it, and it also has several great checklists for writers. This is worth a look. 

My blogging may become a bit sporadic over the next couple of months. We bought a house this week which we will close on early November, then make a slow move before we put our present house on the market. We have nearly fifty years of stuff we have collected to sort through and downsize. We will be moving closer to our grandchildren and into a more manageable home. Anyway, while my intention is to blog every week, there may be Sundays I simply don't get to my blog. But rest assured, I will be back.

Last week, I offered a copy of The Looney Experiment by Luke Reynolds to one of you. This week's winner is Helen. Helen is an occasional artist who lives in the mountains of New Mexico. Congratulations, Helen! I will get your book out to you soon. For the rest of you, I have a most interesting book this week and a giveaway.

It was a sad shock in July of 2014 when it was announced that Walter Dean Myers had died. I really liked the books of his I had read, and I knew he had legions of young fans. When I ran across his last novel on the list of choices from the San Francisco Book Review, I had to grab it. I'm glad I did. It's a great example of historical fiction called Juba! A Novel. Here is my review.

Juba lives with Stubby, another young black man, in a room they rent from a white man in New York City. It is 1842 and neither has much in the way of future prospects, but both have dreams. Stubby wants to be a great chef and Juba a dancer. Mostly they help their landlord in his smoked fish business, but it is barely enough to keep body and soul together. Juba dances wherever and whenever he gets a chance, making very little money doing it, but his fortunes change a bit when Charles Dickens attends a performance. Dickens is dazzled by Juba’s fast, intricate footwork. When Dickens returns to England, he writes about Juba which leads to what seems to be a great opportunity for Juba to work in London. But is it?

“I ended up with a ‘yes,’ and Mr. Pell said he was glad and that he thought I would be glad as well. He set up a time for me to meet the other performers.”

Walter Dean Myers brings the true story of Juba to life for modern readers with

Walter Dean Myers

a first-person narrative based on impeccable, deep research. The voice is so real, readers will forget this is historical fiction and will come to believe they are reading a diary. Adding to the realism, it is illustrated with maps, photographs, and reprints of handbills and newspaper ads, stories, and drawings. 

I have an ARC of this wonderful book I would be happy to send to one of you. To win, all you need do is have a US address, be a subscriber or follower, and tell me that in a comment you leave on this post. If you are reading this in your email, click HERE to go to the blog so you can leave a comment. If you would like extra chances, please spread the word by posting the link on a Tweet, blog post, Facebook, or any other way you like. Let me know what you have done in your comment, and I will put in extra chances for you for each that you do.

Don't forget to check out Shannon Messenger's wonderful blog HERE for many more Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday reviews and giveaways. 

The Looney Experiment -- Review and Giveaway

Thought for the Day:

“I have often thought that this [East of Eden] might be my last book.

I don't really mean that because I will be writing books until I die. But

I want to write this one as though it were my last book. Maybe

I believe that every book should be written that way.”

~ John Steinbeck ~

Gifts for My Writer Friends:

If you write for middle graders, you sure don’t want to miss the guest post for The Writer’s Dig HERE by Luke Reynolds, 7th-grade teacher and author of The Looney Experiment. It is very good advice. 

Janice Hardy posted a good article on character development HERE. As always, this is well worth your time. 

A.J. Steiger has a guest post on Adventures in YA Publishing about when to break writing rules. Click HERE to read this excellent post.

Last week I offered an ARC of Cynthia Levinson's new book, Watch Out for Flying Kids. Cynthia offered a signed bookplate and a clown nose to the winner as well! How fun is that? This week's winner is Sue Heavenrich, a science and environmental issues writer for both adults and children and a blogger extraordinaire. She regularly posts to THREE blogs -- Archimedes Notebook, Sally's Bookshelf, and The Marcellus Effect -- all of which are worth visiting. I always learn something when I read her blogs. Click on any of their titles to see them. Congratulations, Sue. I will get the book out to you this week. I do have another giveaway this week, so please keep on reading.

A few months ago as I was choosing books for review for the San Francisco Book Review, I ran across a book called The Looney Experiment by Luke Reynolds and was attracted by the title. I read a little about it and requested it. I am so glad I did. It is an absolutely terrific book. Here is the review I wrote for SFBR.

Atticus Hobart’s life isn’t so good. He can’t bring himself to speak in public. He hears voices in his head. He’s in love with the most beautiful girl in school, and he’s sure she doesn’t know he exists. The school bully, Danny Wills, has too much power and is completely protected. Danny’s father is the baseball coach, and his mother is school board chairperson. He can call Atticus “Fatticus” all he wants and beat him up with no qualms. Just when Atticus thinks things can’t get worse, his father leaves and his English teacher is replaced by the strangest, oldest teacher on the planet. But this teacher, Mr. Looney, introduces Atticus to new ways of looking at things and, perhaps most important, new ways of looking at himself. Just as Attius seems to be getting his balance, something happens to threaten it all.

“Then you grow up and realize that’s all load of crap. Your 

parents decide they’re going to get divorced; you get bulled 

at school because you’re a mime compared to everyone else; 

and you’ve got the World’s Worst Name.”

Luke Reynolds has written a story that will resonate with a lot of young people,

Luke Reynolds

both boys and girls. The premise is surprisingly fresh, the characters real and believable, and the writing is simply terrific. This book deserves readership far beyond the middle-school audience for which it is intended. Don’t miss this amazing book.

I have an ARC of this wonderful book I would be happy to send to one of you. To win, all you need do is have a US address, be a subscriber or follower, and tell me that in a comment you leave on this post. If you are reading this in your email, click HERE to go to the blog so you can leave a comment. If you would like extra chances, please spread the word by posting the link on a Tweet, blog post, Facebook, or any other way you like. Let me know what you have done in your comment, and I will put in extra chances for you for each that you do.

Don't forget to check out Shannon Messenger's wonderful blog HERE for many more Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday reviews and giveaways.