Applesauce Weather -- Review and Giveaway

Thought for the Day:

"So you're taking a few blows. That's the price for being in the arena

and not on the sidelines." 

~ The War of Art, by Steven Pressfield ~

Gifts for My Writer Friends:

Janice Hardy again. This time she discusses Story Questions and it’s a good one. Click HERE to read it. 

Anything to make our characters richer is a good thing. Check out this post from Adventures in YA Publishing HERE for some great ideas on building rich characters. 

Writers Helping Writers has a great post HERE on using Twitter as a research resource. Who knew?

I may disappear for a bit. My husband's illness marches on. He had two surgeries last week -- Sunday night they tried to place a stent, but the colon was perforated and Monday morning at about 5:30 they called telling me they would have to operate again and remove his colon. It was not the outcome we hoped for, but we hope it will give him a chance for good health. His recovery is rough. He is still in the hospital, has had some setbacks this week, and when he is able to leave will have to go to a skilled nursing facility for rehab. Our remodel is a day or two from finished, and I need to get us moved to our new house and get this house on the market. So if I disappear for a couple weeks, don't be too surprised. On the other hand, writing this may be good therapy for me, so I might just show up.

This week I'd like to introduce you to a new middle-grade book written in verse. Here is the description for Applesauce Weather by Helen Frost from Goodreads: In a touching poetic novel, a fall apple ritual—along with some inventive storytelling—brings a family together as they grieve the loss of a beloved family member.

When the first apple falls from the tree, Faith and Peter know that it’s applesauce weather, even though Peter is getting a little old for such things. It also means Uncle Arthur should be here to tell his stories, with a twinkle in his eye as he spins tales about how he came to have a missing finger. But this is the first year without Aunt Lucy, and when Uncle Arthur arrives, there’s no twinkle to be found and no stories waiting to be told. Faith is certain, though, that with a little love and patience, she and Peter might finally learn the truth about that missing finger. Paired with warm, expressive illustrations by Amy June Bates, this heartfelt tale by award-winning poet Helen Frost highlights the strength of family and the power of a good story.

I love this little book. It's only 112 pages and you can read it in no time at all. It has quite a lot of illustrations, perfectly charming ones at that, and looks like a book for very early middle-grade readers, but the richness of the story and the complexities of the characters and the mature issues discussed along with the beautiful, lyrical writing may well garner some older readers as well. I particularly love the inclusion of a verse from Aunt Lucy, the great-aunt who has passed away and who was so important to the characters, at the beginning of each chapter. It really gives texture to the story to have some of her memories woven throughout. I received an ARC from the publisher in exchange for an honest review.

This book won't be out until August, but you can surely pre-order it, and it's

Helen Frost

worth doing. Heck, the cover alone is worth it! This book is simply lovely. I have a gently-read ARC for 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 Adventures of Hamish and Mirren -- Review

Thought for the Day:

“When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane

takes off against the wind, not with it.” 

~ Henry Ford ~

Gifts for My Writer Friends:

This is such an important post on point of view. Janice Hardy at Fiction University discusses the significance of prior knowledge HERE as it relates to point of view. Don’t miss this one. 

Need to cut words? I know I do. The post HERE on Adventures in YA Publishing will help you get there. 

The Editor’s Blog has a great post HERE called Piling On - Frustrate Your Characters. This is a good one. 

Things have been difficult this week. My husband, who came home from the hospital last Saturday, went back into the hospital on Friday for an even more serious problem, an obstructed colon, which will require at least one surgery.   The good news is I have great confidence that a terrific team of doctors and nurses has been put together to deal with this issue, and Dave will come out of this much healthier. Feel free to send healing thoughts. I will take all the help we can get. This week's quote is really for me, but I hope you all find something in it for you as well.

Last week I offered an ARC of The Terrible Two Get Worse to one of you. This week's winner is Jenni Enzor, an Oregon writer of YA historical fantasy, middle grade mysteries, and historical non-fiction. If you aren't familiar with her, hop on over to her blog HERE and check it out. You will find some great reviews there. Congratulations, Jenni! I will get your book out to you as soon as I can. 

I don't have a giveaway this week. Most of my books are packed away for the move (will that ever happen????), but I do have a review of a very fun book for you. I love folk tales and fairy tales and I LOVE the British Isles, so when I ran across The Adventures of Hamish and Mirren: Magical Scottish Stories for Children as a choice for the Manhattan Book Review, I jumped on it. Here is my review for them.

Hamish lives with his old mother on a farm by a silvery loch, near the small village of Camusbuie, on the west coast of Scotland. Mother tells Hamish a lot of stories, but he doesn’t believe all that nonsense. One day, a big wind comes and steals his hay stacks. Hamish goes after the wind to get them back. Not only does he bring back the hay, but he brings back a wife as well. Mirren and Hamish are often warned by Mother about the Wee Folk, as well as the fairies, witches, and all kinds of personified creatures and natural objects. But they don’t always listen to the good advice of Mother, and find themselves in strange difficulties, sparring with weird and wondrous beings. Fortunately, Mother knows a lot about how to overcome these dour happenings.

“Before Mirren could stop them, the Wee Folk had eaten and drunk everything they could lay their hands on. Even the porridge that Mirren had put to simmer for breakfast by the side of the fire had gone.”

Moira Miller has written a delightful collection of Scottish tales for youngsters,

Moira Miller

and anyone else who is a fan of folktales and myths. They are magical, funny, and absolutely charming. The writing is superb. Illustrator Mairi Hedderwick augments the fun with simple, but enchanting, drawings throughout, to add life to an already lively book. 

Don't forget to check Shannon Messenger's wonderful blog HERE for more Marvelous Middle Grade Monday reviews. Always worth your while.

The Terrible Two Get Worse -- Review and Giveaway

Thought for the Day:

“Great heroes need great sorrows and burdens, or half their

greatness goes unnoticed. It is all part of the fairy tale.” 

~ Peter S. Beagley ~

Gifts for My Writer Friends:

Ruth Harris did a post on Anne R. Allen’s blog that is one of the richest posts HERE for writers I’ve ever seen. It is about hooking readers and getting them to turn the pages and it is full of links. I may feature some of these links once I get a chance to look at them all. 

This is just plain fun. We all know writers have great imaginations. If you click HERE you can see some inventions writers came up with. 

Janice Hardy discusses the Internal Core Conflict and the External Core Conflict HERE. This is important stuff! 

I spent a lot of time at the local hospital with my husband this week. I had to take him to the emergency room because he was so sick. He had an extreme lack of potassium due to an intestinal infection called C Diff. I had a battle royal with the doctor assigned to him to keep him there for three days. I felt she was much more interested in getting the bed emptied out than in his health and well-being. Grrrr. But he is home now and on the mend.  I hope this is what has kept him down for so many weeks and that there isn't anything else going on! Now maybe I can get back to packing for the move.

Last week I offered an ARC of Avenging the Owl by Melissa Hart to one of you and this week's winner is Susan Olson. Congratulations, Susan! If you don't know her, Susan is a North Carolina writer and blogger. You can read some great reviews of time travel books HERE on her blog, Time Travel Times Two. Susan, I will get your book out to you very soon. For the rest of you, I have another giveaway, so keep reading. 

Just over a year ago, I reviewed HERE a really funny middle-grade book called The Terrible Two. When I saw a follow-up book come up for review, I grabbed it. It's called The Terrible Two Get Worse, and it is a really good one as well. Here is the review I wrote for the San Francisco Book Review. 

Miles and Niles are back at their pranking best in this new chapter of their story. The prank they have come up with for Principal Barkin and his son, Josh, is simply a stinking piece of beauty. But there is trouble ahead for the boys, and they never see it coming until it is too late. The father of Principal Barkin, Principal Barkin, manages to get Principal Barkin fired and take back his old job. And this Principal Barkin is not going to put up with any pranking under his watch. In fact, he sets up a calendar at the school to count the days to the end of the school year they can go without having any pranks. He has a method that is nearly impossible to overcome by pranksters.  Can Miles and Niles get back to their prodigious pranking procedures?

“All right, it was time to make this official. He reached over the desk and removed the brass nameplate that said PRINCIPAL BARKIN, replacing it with a brass nameplate that said PRINCIPAL BARKIN.”

Jory John and Mac Barnett have another winner on their hands with the second book in this very funny series. Kevin Cornell’s illustrations just make everything funnier. Middle-schoolers will cheer for the boys and their clever antics and keep on turning the pages, becoming kids who love books because of books like this.

I have a gently-read ARC for 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.