The Write Stuff: Walter Dean Myers

Showing posts with label Walter Dean Myers. Show all posts

Sunday, October 25, 2015

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.

Sunday, October 11, 2015

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.

Sunday, December 16, 2012

I Am Here to Help -- Last-Minute Shopping Suggestions

Thought for the day:

“I see small orbs of light, spaced like night lights in dark hallways. I see forks in the road, in the form of distractions and small ideas. Too much plotting, too much worry. Does a caterpillar plot and worry its way into butterfly-hood? Hell no. It has things to do, like eat poisonous milkweed.” ~ Margaret Duarte, writer ~

A gift for my writer friends:

Here are a three links I think you will find valuable.

Wonderful blog on how to succeed:

http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2012/09/to_succeed_forget_self-esteem.html

An extraordinary poem about life: http://christinemasonmiller.com/2012/10/26/because/

Blog with some terrific writing tips:

http://onceuponasketch.com/2012/11/joss-whedons-top-10-writing-tips/

My friend and critique partner, Elizabeth Varadan, featured ME on her blog this week. Take a peek by clicking HERE.

For my fabulous giveaway, the winner is Christina Mercer! (Cue the spotlight!) Christina, I will be sending you a signed copy of The Ballad of Jessie Pearl. Christina is also a children’s writer. You can read her blog, Christina’s Writing Buzz, by clicking HERE. Check it out and see what she’s buzzing about. I have another giveaway for today, so stay tuned.

I’m doing something a little different today. In an effort to make your last minute holiday shopping a breeze, I’m linking you to several of the books I reviewed this year for Sacramento Book Review or in a couple of cases, books I reviewed on my blog. I wrote over 150 book reviews this year, so there are lots of choices, but I’m going to link you to the ones I enjoyed the most in several categories. There is something for everyone here. Make sure you read all the way through, because at the end of this I will feature one book that will be my giveaway for this week. If you click on the title of any of these books, you will be linked to the review I wrote. The reviews are short, but will give you a pretty good idea of the book.

For the very youngest booklovers (Picture Book readers) I have five recommendations:

Neville by Norton Juster

You Can’t Scare a Princess by Gillian Rogers

Noah Webster and His Words by Jeri Chase Ferris

Stuck by Oliver Jeffers

The Unruly Queen by E. S. Redmond

For the middle-grade crowd, I recommend these:

One for the Murphys by Lynda Mullaly Hunt

A Diamond in the Desert by Kathryn Fitzmaurice

An Elephant in the Garden by Michael Morpurgo

What Came from the Stars by Gary D. Schmidt

Liar & Spy by Rebecca Stead

The Amazing Harry Kellar: Great American Magician by Gail Jarrow

I don’t read as many books for teens, but I have these to recommend:

Guy Langman, Crime Scene Procrastinator by Josh Berk

Warriors in the Crossfire by Nancy Bo Flood

Just Write: Here’s How! by Walter Dean Myers

What She Left Behind by Tracy Bilen

I even have a few recommendations for the grown-ups on your list:

Fairy Tales from the Brothers Grimm: a New English Version by Philip Pullman

The Laws Guide to Drawing Birds by John Muir Laws

Lies, Knives, and Girls in Red Dresses by Ron Koertge Andrea Dezo

For absolutely anyone, I recommend:

An Awesome Book by Dallas Clayton

You might win a gently-read copy of Illusionology by Albert Schafer. It’s great fun for those who love magic and is suitable for middle-graders on up. You can see the review HERE. I will put your name in my proverbial hat if you are kind enough to leave a comment. Link this post on your blog or Facebook or Tweet about it, let me know, and your name will be entered twice. In your comment, please share what your favorite book of 2012 was. I'm always looking for a good book to read!

Don’t forget to stop by Shannon Messenger’s wonderful blog for more Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday links. Click HERE to find it.

On the book giveaway, this is for U.S. only. Sorry, but it would be too expensive for me to send books out of the country. But please leave a comment. I’d love to hear from you. Remember, if you have trouble leaving a comment, click on the title of the post and it will give you just this post with a comments section on the bottom. Also, if you haven’t signed up by email, please do. Just look in the upper right-hand corner of this page, pop your email address in, and you will receive an email each time I put up a new post. Your information will not be shared with anyone.

Thursday, August 2, 2012

Whole Lot of Tellin' Goin' On and a Giveaway

Thought for the day: "Many of life's failures are people who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up." ~ Thomas Edison ~

A gift for my writer friends. There has been a LOT of talk on the net the last couple of weeks (while I have been taking some time off) about a blogger who was sued for posting a photo she thought was copyright free. If you haven’t read it, and if you ever post photos other than your own anywhere on the net, you might want to read the first of the links below. The second link will tell you about some places to get photos you can freely use.

http://www.roniloren.com/blog/2012/7/20/bloggers-beware-you-can-get-sued-for-using-pics-on-your-blog.html

http://meghanward.com/blog/2012/06/21/where-to-get-photos-for-your-blog/

For my fabulous, albeit late, giveaway, the winner is Morgan Mussell!! Congratulations to you, Morgan. I will be sending you a copy of Guy Langman, Crime Scene Procrastinator. It’s a funny book and I think you’ll love it. I have another giveaway for today, so stay tuned.

I want to write today about writing rules. There are a lot of them, but perhaps the biggest one pushed by just about everyone I can think of is “Show – Don’t Tell.” I remember when I was teaching, one of my colleagues stated that her students just couldn’t stand a story that had any telling in it, that they would refuse to read such books. I asked what novels she was teaching, and they were mostly new. She pretty much ignored the classics. No Lord of the Flies for her kids. No To Kill a Mockingbird or Fahrenheit 451. I read some of the books she was teaching and felt they were pretty lightweight, short on symbolism, strong themes, and richness of writing, and was saddened that her kids missed out on such great books as I mentioned above. But, heck, those old books sure did have an awful lot of telling in them. Lots of exposition and lots and lots of narration. Shameful!

I recently had a chance to workshop the first chapter of my middle-grade novel on a blog. It was an interesting experience. I got lots of nice comments, followed by admonitions about too much telling and not enough showing. I think the chapter got better in some ways, but, honestly, there wasn’t a whole lot of tellin’ goin’ on to start with. Sometimes I think it’s a knee jerk reaction in the business of critique.

Back in April, I wrote a post about narration and about how a couple of books I’d read by Michael Morpugo were almost entirely narration and – hold onto your hats, now – I loved them. It didn’t bother me at all. I’ve been reading a lot lately. (You may have noticed I haven’t been writing much in the way of blog posts!) I’m finding that many really wonderful books have an awful lot of tellin’ goin’ on.

I ran across an article by Lee Child that Writer’s Digest posted and found it really refreshing. Now this is a guy who know a thing or two about getting pages turning! The title of the article is Lee Child Debunks the Biggest Writing Myths. You can find it by clicking HERE. You will have to click away an ad for Writer’s Digest, but it’s worth it. He reminds us that nobody ever asks anyone to SHOW them a story. They ask to have someone TELL them a story, and that’s just fine. It’s worth your time to read what Child has to say.

I’m reading a book right now that is almost all telling and am enjoying every page. Oh, there’s enough showing to keep the story moving at a rapid pace, but there’s a whole lot of telling and, frankly, that keeps the pace rapid too. It’s a YA about a teenager, Jazz, whose father was the most notorious serial killer of all time, and Jazz has to figure out who he is and whether or not he is destined to become like his father. And, just to make things interesting, there’s a new serial killer in town. Great premise, eh? It’s by Barry Lyga and the title is I Hunt Killers. As soon as I post this, I’ll be getting back to it. If you like Murder and Mayhem, as do I, you will love this book.

I think the whole Show – Don’t Tell thing has gotten a little out of hand. People of all ages love to have stories told to them. So, I’m just suggesting people shouldn’t get their panties in too much of a bunch about some well-written exposition or narration. Just relax and tell your story!

On to my giveaway for this post. I reviewed a book a while ago for the Sacramento Book Review called Just Write, Here’s How! by Walter Dean Myers. Myers has written a TON of very successful YA and Tween books. I’ve read and enjoyed many. So if someone has some good ideas about writing, it might well be him. If you’d like to read my review, click HERE. This is for writers of all ages, so even if you aren’t a writer, if there is a young person in your life who might like to write, you can pass this along. If you leave a comment, I’ll put your name in the hat. If you post a link to my blog on your blog or Facebook or some other such thing, let me know and I’ll put your name in the hat again. And even though I’m on summer hours and not posting too often, I promise I won’t wait too long again on a giveaway.