Breadcrumbs -- Review and Giveaway

Thought for the Day:

“Use the talents you possess, for the woods would be a very silent

place if no birds sang except the best.”

~ Henry van Dyke, poet~

Gifts for My Writer Friends:

Writers Helping Writers are busy helping writers again with a guest post HERE by Warren Adler with 11 Novelist-Tested Ways to Defeat Writer's Block.

Kristin Lamb has a terrific post on adding tension. Click HERE to get some great tension tips.

Erika Wassall has a great guest post HERE about mastering kid-speak on Kathy Temean’s Writing and Illustrating blog. Check it out. 

I have two winners to announce this week. First from my post on Friday, Nov. 7 when I offered an ARC of Leisl's Ocean Rescue by Barbara Krasner, the winner is Patricia Tilton. Patricia blogs at Children's Books Heal and reviews a wide variety of children's book. Click on the title to check out her blog. Last Sunday, I offered an ARC of At Your Service by Jen Malone. Joanne Fritz is the winner of that book. Joanne blogs at My Brain on Books and also reviews middle-grade books. It's worth the trip over there (click on the title) to read the About Me and find out why her blog has such in interesting title. Congratulations, ladies. I will get your books out this week. 

I have a couple of books I'd like to recommend. I've read these recently and will

be passing them along in our family reading circle, so won't give them away here. Both are terrific, both deal with young people who have a parent with mental illness, and both are stunning books. The first for middle grade readers -- Nest by Esther Ehrlich -- has a main character, Chirp, who will absolutely steal your heart and leave you wanting the book to go on and on. Don't miss this one. The second -- Crazy by Linda Vigen Phillips -- is a young adult book written in lyrical verse, yet with a great sense of reality and some surprising turns, that is also not to be missed. 

This week, I would like to tell you about a book I won from Jennifer Rumberger's blog, which you can find HERE. Jennifer is a writer and features a lot of terrific books, mostly for middle-graders, on her blog. Anyway, I had been hankerin' after a book I'd heard a lot about, Breadcrumbs by Anne Ursu, and was lucky enough to win a signed copy from Jennifer. This is a re-told fairy tale, a form I'm falling more and more in love with.  But this one may well be the best of the bunch, certainly the most engaging I have read. 

Hazel and Jack have been best friends for, well, just about forever -- from the time they were six. Now eleven, they are still best friends until suddenly and

inexplicably they are not. Jack stops speaking to Hazel, then disappears into the woods. Jack's heart has been frozen and he has been led away by a woman all in white. She has taken him to her ice palace. Hazel must leave everything she knows and venture after Jack to save him. Will either of them survive this harrowing journey? How will it change them? 

Ursu has written an amazing story that is gripping, heart-wrenching, and brilliant. It is based on Hans Christian Anderson's The Snow Queen, but as Hazel goes on her way, Ursu weaves in many other of Anderson's tales.This is a story of friendship, love, and heroism. It is a coming-of-age story as well. I can't say enough good things about this book. Find it. Read it. Soon.

It's hard for me to give this one way, but for a couple of reasons I will. First, I

Anne Ursu

want to share it; it deserves to be shared. Secondly, I know I won't have time to re-read it although I wish I had that time. It's lovely. So, I am offering this signed copy to one of you. 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.

Liesl's Ocean Rescue -- Review and Giveaway

This is a special edition of The Write Stuff to run in conjunction with Susanna Leonard Hill's Perfect Picture Book Friday. If you aren't familiar with Susanna, she is pretty much the queen of picture book blogging with all kinds of contests, reviews, and opportunities for writers on her blog. You can click HERE to see what's going on. Every Friday, Susanna runs Perfect Picture Book Friday and for those who love picture books, it is a can't miss day.

I don't often review picture books, but sometimes I run across something pretty

special, and I want to help spread the word. Linking it to Susanna's blog is a great way to garner some extra readers. Liesl's Ocean Rescue is a very special book. I first heard the basic outlines of this story several years ago when I attended one of several workshops and retreats hosted by the Highlight's Foundation. It was there I met Barbara Krasner. She was working on a book about the MS St. Louis, the ill-fated ship that carried Jewish passengers away from Germany during the horrors of the Nazi regime. I had read Katherine Anne Porter's story Ship of Fools, so I had some idea of it, but the passion Barbara had for this important story was riveting. I knew someday it would make an extraordinary book. Now it is out and everyone should know about it.

Liesl Joseph was a little girl when the Nazi's began their reign of terror. After her father had been arrested, the Joseph family knew when he was released a

Barbara Krasner

month later they had to leave the country. They joined a thousand Jews to board the MS St. Louis which was supposed to take them to Havana, Cuba. It was like a vacation on the ship. They were treated well, just as any passengers would be on a cruise. Liesl made friends all over the ship, with other passengers and with the crew. When the ship was turned away from Havana, many lost hope of finding safety. But through hard work by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, all the families were placed in Belgium, Holland, France, and England. 

Barbara has told this harrowing story in a beautifully-written and well-researched picture book that will allow very young children, first to third grade, an introduction to this very difficult time in our history. The illustrations by Avi Katz help to bring this story to life for youngsters.

I have a gently-read ARC for one of you. All you need do is have a US address, be a subscriber or follower (easy and free -- check the right-hand column) 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. The drawing will be held on Sunday, November 16. 

Say It Ain't So by Josh Berk -- Review and Giveaway

Thought for the Day:

"Unless you try to do something beyond what you have already 

mastered you will never grow." 

~ Ralph Waldo Emerson ~

Gifts for My Writer Friends:

Janice Hardy’s Fiction University has an interesting post called Why Should Anyone Help Your Protagonist. This will give you much to ponder. Click HERE to read it. 

The Editor’s Blog has a wonderful post on what doesn’t belong in your writing. Click HERE to read Exclude Us from Novels. Isn't that a great title?

An interesting article in the New York Times by Aimee Bender suggests what all writers can learn from Goodnight Moon. Click HERE for this fun and interesting article. 

Gehrig with Trophy

This is baseball week here at The Write Stuff. Actually, one of many baseball weeks for me. We spent this weekend at a baseball complex in 95 degree heat watching our grandson, Gehrig, and his team win a local championship. It was a great warm-up for the big tournament next week in Cooperstown, NY, home of the Baseball Hall of Fame. Yup. We are all trekking to New York to watch kids play baseball. I think this week's Thought for the Day is as apropos for baseball players as it is for writers. If I don't get around to posting next week, don't be surprised. I will be jet-lagged and baseball busy.

Last week I had two posts with a giveaway on each. First, the copy of Goldie Takes a Stand by Barbara Krasner will be going to Claire M. Caterer. Claire is also a writer and has a great blog you can check out HERE. Congratulations, Claire! The copy of Sniffer Dogs by Nancy Castaldo will be going to Michael GG. Michael has a blog with the interesting title of Middle-Grade Mafioso you can check out HERE. Congratulations to you, Michael. I hope to get these in the mail before I leave town. 

Sticking with the baseball theme this week, I have a nice little middle-grade baseball mystery. Say It Ain't So by Josh Berk is a book I reviewed for the San Francisco Book Review a couple months ago, and since my brain is baked today, I will simply reprint the review I wrote for them. Josh Berk is a funny guy. I reviewed his earlier YA, Guy Langman, Crime Scene Procrastinator, on my blog a couple years ago. If you missed it, you can see it HERE. Here is my review of Say It Ain't So.

Lenny, Mike, and Other Mike are in the glory that is seventh grade, when Mike decides he has to go out for catcher on the Schwenkfelder Middle School team. The fact that Davis Gannet, the biggest and meanest eighth grader, is the catcher doesn’t faze Mike. His dad builds a pitcher’s mound and backstop in their backyard, and Mike recruits Lenny to train him. Why? Because Lenny has the worst arm on the planet. If Mike can catch or block everything Lenny throws, Mike will have a shot. Not only does Mike make the team, but Davis Gannet is caught stealing a cell phone and is kicked off the team! Then it’s discovered that the Griffith Griffins are stealing signs. This doesn’t pass the smell test. Lenny decides to put his detective hat on to see what he can uncover. He is attacked at Griffith Middle School and the librarian’s niece, Maria, rescues him, and a partnership is born, and maybe a little romance as well.

 “Who wouldn’t get a little angry about that? You’re framed for a crime and kicked off the team. The guy who got you booted takes your place and gets all the glory.”

Josh Berk

Josh Berk has a winning formula with the middle-school setting and his wisecracking trio of characters, Lenny, Mike, and Other Mike. This will be a welcome addition to his middle-school baseball mystery series.

I have a gently-read hardback copy of this book for one of you. 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 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. 

For more Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday reviews, check out Shannon Messenger's wonderful blog by clicking HERE.