Big Top Burning -- Review and Giveaway

Thought for the Day:

"Love what you do and do what you love. Don't listen to anyone else 

who tells you not to do it. You do what you want, what you love. 

Imagination should be the center of your life." 

~ Ray Bradbury ~

Gifts for My Writer Friends:

We can all learn from the masters. HERE is a list of 36 Killer writing tips from Stephen King. 

Cutting scenes is really hard to do, but Erika Wassall has an excellent post HERE on Kathy Temean’s Writing and Illustrating to help you with that. 

Anne R. Allen, along with Catherine Ryan Hyde, has a terrific post on rejections — how to handle them and what you can learn from them. Click HERE to check it out.

I hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving. It is my favorite holiday and we had lots of good food and family time. Now comes the quick march to Christmas. We will all be busy, I know, and I will be particularly so with the move and all, so I will be here when I can and hope for your patience when I can't.

Last time, I offered an ARC of Mister Max: The Book of Kings by Cynthia Voigt to one of you. This week's winner is Elizabeth Varadan. If you haven't met Elizabeth, she is the author of Imogene and the Case of the Missing Pearls which I reviewed HERE. Elizabeth also writes two blogs -- Elizabeth Varadan's Fourth Wish and Victorian Scribbles. If you click on the titles, you can visit them. Congratulations, Elizabeth. I will get your book to you soon. For the rest of you, I have another terrific giveaway, so please keep reading.

If you have read my blog for awhile, you know I love history. I have been reading quite a bit of middle-grade and tween non-fiction lately, The book I will tell you about this time falls into that category and it is terrific. Big Top Burning: The True Story of an Arsonist, a Missing Girl, and the Greatest Show on Earth by Laura A. Woollett is a fascinating story. Here is the review I wrote for the Manhattan Book Review.

It was a hot July afternoon in 1944 when the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus came to Hartford, Connecticut. Even as World War II raged and many fathers were gone, this was an exciting day for many. Since the circus train had been late, the Saturday matinee was cancelled.

Consequently, Sunday’s matinee was a full house with over 6000 people crowded into the big top. Because of the lateness of getting the tent up the day before, some things were left undone. Perhaps most importantly, fire extinguishers were not placed around the arena. Some of the staff had to leave their posts at the seats to help move chutes blocking exits after the animal act. Suddenly, flames appeared high up on the side of the tent. Thus began the worst circus tragedy to date.

“Donald was safe in the comforting arms of his aunts and uncles. 

Doctors and nurses cared for Mildred at Municipal Hospital, and 

Edward had gone to a place where pain could no longer touch 

him. But where was Donald’s sister, Eleanor?”

To write a book about such a terrible event that is for young readers is a difficult

Laura A. Woollett

task, but author Laura A. Woollett has used impeccable research and personal stories of people involved to tell the story in a way young people will find fascinating and will inspire them to learn more. This is non-fiction at its very best.

I have a hardback copy of this 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.

Mister Max: The Book of Kings -- Review and Giveaway

Thought for the Day:

“Almost anything will work again if you unplug it for 

a few minutes. Even you.” 

~ Annie Lamott ~

Gifts for My Writer Friends:

Stephanie Gayle did an interesting guest post on The Writer’s Dig that outlines seven fatal flaws that will tell you your novel isn’t ready to submit. You can find it HERE. Number four is one I really need to watch for. 

Mary Blount Christian has a terrific post on Keeping Viewpoint Straight HERE. She always has very good advice for writers.  

Janice Hardy at Fiction University has a great post HERE on creating more depth in your story. 

With the holidays upon us and with my move finally starting to move (we closed on our new house last week a month later than we had hoped to and will now start renovations), don't be too surprised if the occasional week goes by without a post. Just saying'.

Last week I promised an ARC of The Disappearance of Emily H. by Barrie Summy to one of you. This weeks winner is Mimadocken. Congratulations, Mima! Thanks for spreading the word on FaceBook and getting an extra entry. It paid off for you. I will get the book out to you this week. Stay tuned, everyone. I have another giveaway this week.

Cynthia Voigt has written plenty of books for teens and tweens and middle graders. I have enjoyed all I have read. Her latest series is the Mister Max books and I have read and enjoyed two of the three books in the series. I reviewed the first book in the series a couple years ago. You can read that review HERE if you like.Here is the review I wrote for the San Francisco Book Review of the third book, Mister Max: The Book of Kings.

Max has been on his own since his parents disappeared a few months earlier. Max kept himself busy with his business as a Solutioneer, finding solutions for client’s problems. Now he receives coded messages with buttons attached that seem to be from his father. Max finds out his parents, well-known stage actors, are living as king and queen of a small South American country, Andesia. Max can only believe they are there against their will, and he needs to rescue them. He comes up with a plan to take an embassy to Andesia, but first he must convince the king of his own country, whom he has never met, to help.

“His thirteenth birthday had been not-celebrated in the Estrella’s large first-class dining room. There had been no candles on no cake, no wrapped packages, and no singing of the traditional birthday song.”

This final book in the Mister Max trilogy by Cynthia Voight is a satisfying

Cynthia Voigt

conclusion for all questions raised in the three books. The characters are interesting and well-rounded, the story has lots of adventure and excitement, and this will be a very gratifying read for those who have read the earlier two books, but as a stand-alone, it makes some assumptions of prior knowledge. The more mature and patient of middle-grade readers will be the audience for this somewhat overly-long, detailed story.

I have an ARC of this 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.

Mister Max: The Book of Lost Things -- Review and Giveaway

Thought for the Day:

“I get up every morning determined both to change the world and to have one hell of a good time. Sometimes this makes planning the day difficult." ~ E. B. White ~

Some Gifts for my Writer Friends:

Poets & Writers Magazine published two essays arguing the importance of backstory. You can find the essays by clicking FOR and AGAINST.

An absolutely great and fun-to-read article from Writer’s Digest called 8 Things Star Wars Can Teach Us About Writing can be found by clicking HERE. 

 Darcy Pattison had a great post on dialogue recently. You can find it HERE. 

When I last posted, I offered a gently-read ARC of Shannon Messenger's wonderful book, Keeper of the Lost Cities: Exile to one lucky reader/commenter. That lucky person is Faith Hough! WooHoo! Faith writes historical fiction and you can find out more about her on her web page.  Faith, it turns out, is with child, so probably needs a good book to read to help fill the waiting hours. Faith, I will be sending Exile to you this week. Didn't win? Worry not. I have another wonderful giveaway for you. Read on to the end.

Some years ago, I picked up a book by Cynthia Voigt. I think it was something one of my students recommended to me. It was called Homecoming and I didn't know when I started reading it that it was the first in a seven-book series. I started reading and couldn't get enough of those characters and their stories. I read right through the series and wished it hadn't ended. When I noticed a book by Ms. Voigt on my options for reviewing for the Sacramento/San Francisco Book Review, I grabbed it. It is the first in a series, and I don't know how many books will be in this series, but I suspect I will read every one. Here is the review I wrote for the Book Review of Mister Max: The Book of Lost Things.

Max is used to drama. His parents are both actors who have their own theatre company, but Max is unprepared for all the drama he’s about to face. His parents are summoned by a Maharajah to teach theatre halfway around the world. Max insists he wants to go with. They arrange a ticket for him, but the day they are to sail, Max is late to the dock, his parents already gone. Although only twelve, Max feels he can take care of himself and stay in his parents’ home. His grandmother lives just across the fence. But Max needs to earn money. His grandmother doesn’t make enough to keep him without help. Max looks for work, but finds nothing until one day he finds a toddler in the park. When he returns the child to his mother, he is rewarded. This leads to other jobs solving disappearances. Max has a knack for solving problems for others, but seems unable to find his parents or solve the mystery of a group of long-eared people who are trying to get into his house.

“He saw the thing happen in chunks, as if it was happening at two different times. But it wasn’t. It happened all at the same time. The front door of the house burst open and a man emerged.”

Cynthia Voigt has another great series on her hands that the middle-grade crowd will devour. It’s a

Cynthia Voigt

great, fun adventure.

I know this is a little brief, but I am super busy working on some things for submission, including a major rewrite of my first novel. I've learned a lot the last few years and have a much better idea of how to fix the manuscript.Oh, and I had a little success last week. I sold an action rhyme to Highlight's High Five magazine.

I am offering my gently-read copy of Mister Max: The Book of Lost Things to one lucky follower/commenter. If you tweet or post the link to this on Facebook or your own blog, please let me know and I will give you an extra entry for each that you do. Please check out Shannon Messenger's blog for more Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday blogs and giveaways. And don't forget to leave a comment please.