Thought for the Day:
“There are some themes, some
subjects, too large for adult fiction; they can only be dealt with adequately
in a children’s book.”
~ Philip Pullman ~
Gifts for My Writer Friends:
I
know some of you write picture books or want to. I have several PB manuscripts
I’m working on in addition to my novels. I just ran across a series of ten short blog posts by Josh Funk
that are quite good on this topic. These will be especially good for beginners,
but there are always things to learn even if you’ve been at it awhile. The
first one is HERE and you can click right through them at the bottom.
Angela
Ackerman has a guest post HERE at Writers in the Storm you won’t want to miss.
It is What Type of Secret Does Your Character Keep? Great stuff.
Want
to punch up your action scenes? Click HERE for Alex Limberg’s guest post on
Fiction University to help you with that.
Last week I promised one of you a hardback copy of Random Body Parts by Leslie Bulion. Our winner this week is Patty Hawthorne. Congratulations, Patty! Patty is a writer who works mostly in science articles for kids magazines. For the rest of you, I have another terrific giveaway this week, so please keep reading.
This week I have a really funny book for your summer reading pleasure. The book is The Tapper Twins Go to War (with each other) by Geoff Rodkey. This is not the first time I've written about Geoff Rodkey's books. He is a very prolific author and I've reviewed two of his earlier books -- Deadweather and Sunrise HERE and New Lands HERE. I think I like this one even better! Here is the review I wrote for the San Francisco Book Review.
Claudia and
Reese are twelve-year-old twins who live with their parents in New York. They
are bright and attend a private school. One day, someone announces a foul smell
in the cafeteria. Reese tells everyone his sister farted and calls Claudia
Princess Farts-a-Lot. Needless to say, she is embarrassed and angry. Claudia
thinks long and hard how to get back at her brother, and what she comes up with
is masterful. Let’s just say it involves a dead fish, and when Reese’s favorite
backpack is ruined, it’s on. The stakes are raised, reinforcements are called
in, and battles are waged.
“Unfortunately, The
Cheese Incident (which, if this were French class, I would call //L’Affaire du
Fromage//), had a major and completely accidental side effect: it brought
Xander into The War as an enemy combatant.”
This
incredibly funny story is told as an oral history by the siblings. Claudia acts
as editor, and her editorial comments are worth the price of admission. Geoff
Rodkey, a former screenwriter, has his pacing down to a science. He seems
completely and comfortably in touch with his middle-school self. The voices of
the two characters telling the story are absolutely pitch perfect. The language
is today and the emotions shown by the characters are perfectly pre-pubescent. The
situations are believable, while at the same time outrageously funny. Kids are
going to gobble up this new series. Adults will enjoy this too.
 |
| Geoff Rodkey |
I have a gently-read hardback copy 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.
