Last Minute Shopping List

Thought for the Day:

"Don’t bend; don’t water it down; don’t try to make it logical; don’t

edit your own soul according to the fashion. Rather, follow your

most intense obsessions mercilessly." 

~ Franz Kafka ~

Gifts for My Writer Friends:

Janice Hardy did a guest post HERE on The Seekers blog that is soooooo good. I especially like the section on narrative distance, but the whole thing is terrific. 

I love this post at The Mixed Up Files of … Middle-Grade Authors HERE that talks about how writers get ideas for stories. 

Rhay Christou guest blogs on Writers in the Storm about Diving Deep into Deep Point of View HERE. These are great tips.

Last week, I offered a copy of The Best Man by Richard Peck to one of you. This week's winner is Liz! If you don't know Liz Steinglass, she is a wonderful poet and blogs HERE, although I think she is on a break right now. Congratulations, Liz. I will get your book out to you this week. 

This is my annual LAST MINUTE SHOPPING SUGGESTIONS. There is no giveaway, just some hopefully helpful information. This is a shock -- all my suggestions are books! Here is this year's list. If you click on the title, it will take you to a review of the book or the link on Barnes and Noble. The San Francisco Book Review and Manhattan Book Review had a terrible crash this year and some reviews were lost, so no way to link to them. 

CHILDREN'S PICTURE BOOKS

Stories from Bug Garden by Lisa Moser, illustrated by Gwen Millward

When Green Becomes Tomatoes by Julie Fogliano, illustrated by Julie Morstad

Now You See Them, Now You Don't by David L Harrison, illustrated by Giles LaRoche

A Friend Like You byAndrea Schomburg and Barbara Rotten, Illustrated by Sean Julian 

MIDDLE GRADE AND TWEEN BOOKS

Mayday by Karen Harrington

Sweet Home Alaska by Carole Estby Dagg

Dragonolia by Chris Barnardo

All Rise for the Honorable Perry T. Cook by Leslie Connor

The Thing About Leftovers by C. C. Payne

YOUNG ADULT -- Okay, I just didn't read many of these this year, but all the ones in the MG and Tween category would be great for YA.

P. S. I Like You by Kasie West

ADULT

Rain Dogs by Adrian McKinley

The Atomic Weight of Love by Elizabeth J. Church

Drinking from the River by Chip Dameron

What the Dickens?: Distinctly Dickensian Words and How to Use Them 

by Bryan Kozlowski

I wish all of you a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukka, Happy Kwanza, and/or Delightful Winter Solstice and a Happy New Year. I hope this was helpful to you for your last minute shopping. I will be taking a couple weeks off to relax and spend time with family. If you need a shopping break, my daughter Maggie Hollinbeck's first TV show will air Wednesday, Dec. 21. It is an episode of Investigation Discovery called Grave Secrets. (She will, I believe, be brutally murdered, but, hey, it's a paying gig.) I will be back here after the first of the year with more reviews and giveaways. Hope to see you here. And don't forget to check out Shannon Messenger's blog HERE for Marvelous Middle Grade Monday links. 

The Best Man -- Review and Giveaway

Thought for the Day:

“This sentence has five words. Here are five more words. Five-word sentences are fine. But several together become monotonous. Listen to what is happening. The writing is getting boring. The sound of it drones. It's like a stuck record. The ear demands some variety. Now listen. I vary the sentence length, and I create music. Music. The writing sings. It has a pleasant rhythm, a lilt, a harmony. I use short sentences. And I use sentences of medium length. And sometimes when I am certain the reader is rested, I will engage him with a sentence of considerable length, a sentence that burns with energy and builds with all the impetus of a crescendo, the roll of the drums, the crash of the cymbals--sounds that say listen to this, it is important.

So write with a combination of short, medium, and long sentences. Create a sound that pleases the reader's ear. Don't just write words. Write music."

~ Gary Provost, author of 110 Ways to Improve Your Writing ~

Gifts for My Writer Friends:

Writers Helping Writers always has great stuff. The post HERE on how to stay organized during a revision is great. 

Kristen Lamb has the best stuff on her blog. The post HERE is a guest post by Alex Limberg with three tips to create more real characters. 

Janice Hardy at Fiction University has an interesting post entitled Which Character is the Heart of Your Novel HERE. It might be a surprise to you. 

Last week I offered an ARC of Things That Make You Go, Yuck!: Crooked Critters by Jenni Dlugos and Charlie Hatton. This week's winner, who always shares my link for extra chances, is Danielle Hammelef. Those extra chances pay off! Congratulations, Danielle. I will mail your book this week. For the rest of you, another giveaway. Please keep reading.

I had some good things happen recently I want to share. Last Monday, Sue Heavenrich posted an interview with MOI on Group Blog HERE about my experiences being a book reviewer. I have been included a few times on Michelle Heidenrich Barnes wonderful poetry blog, Today's Little Ditty. Michelle put together an anthology of poems from her blog, and one of mine was included. Her book is The Best of Today's Little Ditty, and you can see more about it HERE. Lastly, I received an email this week from Highlight's Magazine and they are purchasing a poem of mine called "Sky Zoo." I don't know when it will be published, but you can be sure I will let you know. Very exciting for me!

On to this week's subject. If you read the interview on Group Blog, you will see I read about 30 blogs a week. One of those I never miss is Greg Pattridge's Always in the Middle (HERE) because Greg has such great reviews, and it often informs my decisions about what I will read. When I read about The Best Man by Richard Peck on Greg's blog back in October, I checked with the San Francisco Book Review to see if I could get a review copy. I could, I did, and I loved it. Here is the review I wrote for them. 

When we meet Archer Magill, he is remembering a time he was five and suffering through an embarrassing incident at a wedding where he meets Lynette, new girl in town, who becomes his best friend. But the heart of the story takes place during Archer’s fifth-grade year. He has a close family and striking maturity allowing him to truly appreciate strong role models in his architect grandfather, car-restorer father, sophisticated uncle, and, most recently, first male teacher in the history of his school. All these men are heroic in their own ways, and all teach Archer lessons about loss and what love really means. The book ends with another wedding, more meaningful and less embarrassing for Archer.e bing in middle

“It was a little like being in middle school a year early.

You’re drop kicked into new territory. I was wondering

how much change you have to go through 

before your voice does.” 

Author Richard Peck is a great storyteller and has assembled a great group of well-realized characters who believably suffer through and overcome, for the

Richard Peck

most part, realistic problems. The story is told in first person narrative (with a couple of diversions to Lynnette’s point of view) in the voice of Archer. For the most part, it is a believable voice for a very mature fifth-grader. With important themes of anti-bullying, friendship, loss, and love, this is a winner.

I have a gently-read hardback 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.

Things That Make You Go Yuck!: Crooked Critters -- Review and Giveaway

Thought for the Day:

“The question is whether or not you choose to disturb the world around you, or if you choose to let it go on as if you had never arrived.” 

~ Ann Patchett ~

Gifts for My Writer Friends:

Jennifer Louden has a good post at Writers in the Storm HERE with 6 Ways to Increase Your Productivity as a Writer Without Burning Out. 

I keep finding posts about words one should take out of one’s writing. If I read enough of these maybe I can get rid of about 20,000 flabby words hanging on my fat manuscript. Melissa Allen has a guest post on Fiction University HERE that has 14 Words that are Hurting Your Writing.

Beth Lewis has a guest post HERE on The Writer’s Dig with Tips for Creating Voice in Your Character. It’s got some great ideas. 

Last week I offered a gently-read hardback copy of Jubilee by Patricia Reilly Giff to one of you. This week's winner is Greg Pattridge, middle-grade writer and middle-school teacher (brave soul!) from Colorado who blogs at Always in the Middle. Check it out HERE. He writes great book reviews and has other interesting stuff on his blog. Congratulations, Greg! I will get your book out soon.

The book I am highlighting this week is a really fun non-fiction book. I love science books with a fun twist. This is that. Here is my review for the San Francisco Book Review for Things that Make you Go Yuck!: Crooked Critters by Jenni Dlugos and Charlie Hatton.

Imagine a fungus that can attach itself to a living being and not only cover the being with pointy spikes but invade the being and dissolve its organs and kill it as well. With ants, the fungus can actually release a chemical into the ant’s brain that turns it into a zombie. That’s nasty! And that is just one example of the many, many rude, crude, and murderous critters in this fun volume. This is part of a series of four books that examine the yuck-factor found throughout nature. Filled with plants and animals that spit, strangle, suffocate, slather, and otherwise threaten, injure, and kill other critters will fascinate young (and older!) readers. 

There is little the middle-grade crowd, especially boys, likes better than a book with a very high yuck-factor. This book, as the title implies, is going to be a big hit with the middle-grade readers. Authors Jenn Dlugos and Charlie Hatton have gathered some of the most fun facts in the natural world to keep youngsters reading and learning. The writing is crisp and the accompanying photographs are up-close and a little terrifying. This book is a real winner!

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.