The Boxcar Children Beginning -- Review and a Giveaway

Thought for the Day:

“It is not the critic who counts; not the man who points out how the strong man stumbles, or where the doer of deeds could have done them better. The credit belongs to the man who is actually in the arena, whose face is marred by dust and sweat and blood; who strives valiantly; who errs, who comes short again and again, because there is no effort without error and shortcoming; but who does actually strive to do the deeds; who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.” ~Teddy Roosevelt~

A Gift for My Writer Friends:

For a stellar blog post about parental voyeurism and a nice shout out to MOI!, click HERE. 

If you click HERE, you will find a terrific guest post on Criticism at the wonderful blog The Bookshelf Muse.

You will find a simply lovely poem about a garbage man if you click HERE. Yes, you read that right, a lovely poem about a garbage man. I highly recommend it.  

 

On my last post, I offered copies of Calvin Coconut: Extra Famous and Season of Change to one lucky winner. Tonight my grandson, Gehrig, picked (cue the follow spot!) Jill Haugh as the winner. WooHoo for you, Jill. I will get the books out to you this week. If you are not familiar with Jill's blog, I had a little nut-tree, you are in for a treat. Check it out. In fact, if you check out the first of the Gifts for My Writer Friends, you will see one of her great posts. Her blog can by found HERE, and it's always worth a look.

For the last week and a half, we had the pleasure of a good, long visit from one of our kids -- a former exchange student from Hamburg, Germany we hosted 28 years ago. Our little Sonni is now a most wonderful woman, wife, and mother of three. She brought the whole family, and we had a spectacular visit. The last evening they were here, we had the quintessential American experience and went to a minor league baseball game complete with a win for the home team and fireworks after the game. It was there Sonni and our two daughters, Maggie and Sara, recreated a photo taken in 1985. I think it is perfect. Sara absolutely nailed the expression, didn't she? Ah, the memories! I couldn't help sharing. Anyway, this is all leading up to a very simple blog post for tonight. I just don't have the time or energy to come up with something brand new for tonight, so I'm linking to a review I wrote a while ago.

Tonight, I am giving away a copy of one middle-grade book for younger middle-graders -- a hardcover copy of The Boxcar Children Beginning written by Patricia MacLachlan -- a new addition to the series from the 1940s written by Gertrude Chandler Warner. The publisher contracted with Patricia MacLachlan to write a prequel to the original series. I was particularly interested in reading the Boxcar Children because one of my critique partners told me how much my novel reminded her of the series. Not a bad comparison, as far as I'm concerned. There have been about a bazillion copies of Boxcar Children books sold! Anyway, if you click HERE, you can read the review I wrote some months ago for the Sacramento Book Review of this book.

That's it for me tonight. I need sleep! If you'd like to win this book, please be a follower and leave a comment. If you aren't a follower yet, just check the right side of this post and become one. Easy Peasy! The giveaway is for U.S. addresses only please.

If you aren't reading Shannon Messenger's wonderful blog where so many Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday blogs are listed, you might just want to check it out. Click HERE to join the fun.

Calvin Coconut: Extra Famous -- Review and Double Giveaway

Thought for the Day:

“I want to live other lives. I've never quite believed that one chance is all I get. Writing is my way of making other chances.” ~Anne Tyler~   

 

Some Gifts for My Writer Friends:

Here are some links I think you will find interesting and useful. Enjoy!

 

Writer's Digest's article Seven Reasons Writing a Book Makes You a Badass (their word, not mine 8-)) can be found HERE. 

 

Chicken Soup for the Soul emailed me an article called Lessons Learned in Writing My First Novel. You can find it HERE. I hope you enjoy it. 

 

If you don't read Adventures in YA and Children's Publishing, it's a blog you shouldn't miss. They recently had a post by Charles Price called What I Might Say to You if We Were Sitting Together Having Coffee. You can find it HERE and it's worth your while. 

 

Last weekend I was in New Mexico for a family reunion, so I had no time to post. When I last posted, I offered a copy of Anna Olswanger's wonderful book Greenhorn to a follower who left a comment. I'm happy to announce (imagine trumpets blaring here) Carol Baldwin is the winner! WooHoo, Carol. Congratulations. Carol is a teacher and writer and blogger. Right now she is running a series of posts about a book by Strom Thurmond's illegitimate, African-American daughter. Fascinating stuff. You can find Carol's blog HERE.

 

 While we were on the road, I got a LOT of reading done. I finally got around to reading Gone Girl. I might be the last person on the planet to read it, but I'm glad I got to it. It's pretty amazing. So many twists and turns. I wouldn't say I loved it, but it was riveting and well written. If you like adult mysteries, you will certainly like this one. I also read Hattie Big Sky by Kirby Larson. I won an autographed copy recently. It's a book I had never read, but it is my daughter's favorite book, so I finally got around to it. What a wonderful book! I loved every word of it and am very excited there is a recently-published sequel, Hattie Ever After. I sure hope I can get to it soon. I read a book by Jason Sonnenblick called Curveball: the Year I Lost My Grip. If you love baseball, as I do, and if you are a fan of great middle-grade writing, as I am, you will love this book. I know I did. Lots of layers to this one.

 

Now on to the main fare. I did a review for the Sacramento Book Review not long ago of Calvin Coconut: Extra Famous by Graham Salisbury. I discovered it is one of a series, but it certainly stands on its own well. Here is my review:

 

Calvin and his best friend, Julio, are hanging out together when Benny Obi shows up. They haven’t seen Benny in quite a while, since he changed schools. Benny tells them he is helping his uncle, a Hollywood millionaire, make a Zombie movie, and he can get parts for Calvin and Julio. They aren’t
quite sure they believe Benny. He tells them he can get them jobs as extras and they will be paid. He also needs to find a teenage girl and some other extras. Calvin suggests Stella, a girl who lives with his family and babysits his younger sister, Darci. They all troop down to the beach for auditions, and Benny really delivers, getting them all in while hundreds are turned away. Even Darci ends up in the movie.

“Mr. Purdy shuffled. He raised his claws and drooped his face. ‘Feed me,’ he slurred in a deep voice. ‘Brains or guts, gimme soy sauce and I don’t care.’”

Kids will be fascinated at this behind-the-scenes look at the making of a horror film while being thoroughly entertained by Calvin and his friends’ antics in this ninth in a series of comic novels by Graham Salisbury. Jacqueline Rogers’s fun illustrations are a nice addition. Even the most reluctant readers will whiz right through this one.


This is a really fun book. I highly recommend it and hope I get a chance to read more of the series. I am offering a gently-read hardcover copy of this book and, to show my appreciation for you who read my blog, I am offering a bonus of a paperback copy of Lisa Williams Kline's final book of the Sisters in All Seasons series, Season of Change. All you need do is leave a comment and be a follower. If you are not yet a follower, just look on the right and join up. I will draw a name from those who qualify the next time I post -- probably two weeks hence. This giveaway is for U.S. only. Sorry, I just can't send books out of the country.

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