Poetry Craft and a Review and Giveaway of Carrying Mason

Thought for the Day:

"Poetry is the art of creating imaginary gardens with real toads." ~Marianne Moore~

Some Gifts for My Writer Friends:

I love this post by K. M. Weiland on strengthening character voice. Click HERE to see it. 

Click HERE for one of the best posts on that old bugaboo Show Don’t Tell that I’ve ever seen. 

Darcy Pattison has a terrific post on Point of View: Techniques for Getting Inside a Character’s Head. Click HERE to see it.

Annnnnd! We have a winner. Last week I promised to send out copies of Mouse, Bird, Snake, Wolf and Jump Start Your Creativity to one lucky reader who left a comment. The winner is Helen! Congratulations, Helen. I will be getting those books in the mail to you this week. And there is another giveaway this week, so stay tuned.

I have been spending time on poetry lately and delving into some books on the craft. I've found a couple I'd like to mention here. I don't spend enough time talking about craft and hope some of you will find this useful. 

The first book is really a book for kids -- A Crow Doesn't Need  A Shadow: A Guide to Writing PoetryFrom Nature by Lorramel Ferra. I will be passing this along to my granddaughter, a future writer and illustrator. There are some wonderful exercises and prompts in this one for any poet, no matter how old. I'm enjoying it. The writing is lively and it has many good examples and ideas.

If you are like me (and I'm not asking anyone to confess to that), you need to know the words for, well, just about everything. So when I found The Poetry Dictionary by John Drury, I had to have a copy. It really has shown me a lot of forms of which I was not aware, and it has solid examples for all of them. I like it. You might, too.

 

 But the best of the bunch, in my mind, is Poem-Making: Ways to Begin Writing Poetry by Myra Cohn Livingston. I am only about halfway through this one, but I've already been inspired to write some of the best stuff I've written. Really. I'm very excited about this book. It is simple and straightforward and chock full of excellent examples. Unfortunately, it has gone out of print, but there are plenty of used copies for sale. I've been using a library copy, but ordered a copy of my own before I finished the first section. This is one that will end up in tatters held together with tape, if you know what I mean. 

Now for a short review and the giveaway. Last March I reviewed a book by Joyce Magnin, Cake: Love, Chickens, and a Taste of Peculiar. I really liked that book. If you missed my review, you can click HERE to see it. I had the pleasure of interviewing the author, and she mentioned she had another book out, Carrying Mason, which I hadn't read at the time. I had a chance to read it last summer, and I liked it even better than the first. I don't know why I have waited so long to review it here.

Luna is thirteen years old and lives with her parents, three sisters, and a brother in a small town. It’s a

full house, but, for the most part, a happy one. Until, that is, Luna’s best friend Mason dies when hit by a car while riding his bicycle. Luna and Mason had a very special bond. It affects the whole town, but Luna more than anyone. Anyone except Mason’s mother, Ruby Day. Mason had taken such good care of his mother. She is somewhat developmentally delayed and, while some are cruel to her, many in the town look out for her. But she needs more than that. When Luna visits Ruby Day, she finds mildewed clothes in the washer and dirty dishes in the sink and realizes Ruby Day hasn’t bathed in too long. Luna decides it is up to her to take care of Ruby Day. She convinces her parents to let her move in with Ruby Day and promises she will keep up with her school work and will go to college when the time comes. She does remarkably well in her new role, but is faced with her greatest challenge when a relative shows up and insists she should take Ruby Day away. Luna is in for the fight of her life.

Readers will cheer for Luna and appreciate the difficulty of her situation. Most will imagine what it is

Joyce Magnin

like to take on such responsibility and will be interested in the idea of living away from their family. They will learn the kind of strength of character it takes for such a task and will also learn they have that kind of strength within themselves. 

I am offering my gently used paperback copy of this wonderful book to one of you. All you need do is be a follower (easy peasy on the right part of this page) and leave a comment. If you tweet the link to this post or post it up on the social media of your choice and tell me about it, I will give you an extra chance. 

Please check out Shannon Messenger's blog for more Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday book reviews. There is always a lot to see over there. Just click on her name to go there.

Deadweather and Sunrise -- Review and Giveaway

Thought for the day:

"We don't turn to story to escape reality. We turn to story to navigate reality."

-~Lisa Cron of Writer Unboxed~

A gift for my writer friends:

 Here are some links I think you will find valuable – three great ones this week.

Tempted to use song lyrics in your writing? Make sure you check out this very useful post on the problems that come with song lyrics by clicking HERE.

Kristen Lamb’s blog is really worth reading. She is funny, smart, and gives lots of great writing information. Click HERE for her post on five tips for tighter, cleaner writing. 

Click HERE for Writer’s Digest article on the Two Pillars of Novel Writing: 

 

For my wonderful giveaway, and autographed copy of Cake, the winner is Books4Learning! (Cue the balloon drop!) Books4Learning is a blog run by an anonymous teacher and reader. She also runs lots of book reviews and maybe she will add this blog to her blog roll! Hope so. Check out her blog by clicking HERE. Books4Learning, look for an email from me about getting the book to you.

 

I was contacted a while back by a publicist asking if I would be interested in reviewing the first two books in a middle-grade series called The Chronicles of Egg. I’m always looking for books for my reviews, so it seemed like a good offer. The publicist also offered to host a giveaway of each of these two books on my blog for readers in the US and Canada. I don’t send to Canada – it’s too expensive for me – so this is especially attractive. So check at the end of this post to see how to have a chance to win the first book in this series.

I must tell you, when I received my copies of the books, I wasn’t too sure it was quite my cup of tea. I could tell from the cover (which I really like, by the way) that fantasy would be involved, and you know that isn’t a genre I usually read. Although I must admit, I am becoming more of a fan the more I read it. But the first book in The Chronicles of Egg series, Deadweather and Sunrise, is a rollicking good adventure, and I loved every bit of it.

Egbert Masterson is a thirteen-year-old boy living in pretty dreary circumstances. The island of Deadweather lives up to its name – it is sticky-humid, hot, with hardly a breeze for relief. Egg’s family consists of a completely detached father, no mother, a nasty older brother who enjoys nothing more than making Egg’s life miserable, and a mean-spirited older sister who takes her unhappiness out on Egg. The closest thing to someone who cares are a couple of pirates who work for Egg’s father doing cooking and other chores around the ugly fruit plantation owned by Masterson.

Geoff Rodkey

Egg’s father seems particularly preoccupied and suddenly announces he will take the family to Sunrise Island the next day. Although the family normally goes there a couple times a year, they’ve never done it precipitously. At Sunrise, an elegant place where this family doesn’t seem to fit, Masterson says he has to see his lawyer and the kids should get some food from street vendors while he does. When he comes out, he seems much more upbeat and offers to take them to get a real meal at a nice restaurant. While there, they are invited be the guests of a wealthy, prominent man, Roger Pembroke for dinner. He seems very interested in learning more about Masterson’s business. Everyone is flattered by their treatment. Pembroke takes the whole family to his home and entertains them there. He introduces them to his lovely wife and young, beautiful daughter, Millicent. Egg is smitten. Pembroke offers the family a hot-air balloon ride, but they are too heavy, so first their tutor is put out, then Egg jumps out to allow the balloon to go up. The tethers do not hold and the balloon floats off into the evening, never to be seen again.

Pembroke spends a lot of time talking to Egg about papers his father had brought to show his lawyer. Egg knows little about it, but shares what he does. Pembroke offers to adopt the poor orphaned Egg, but when Egg realizes that would make him Millicent’s brother, and a brother cannot marry a sister, he refuses. Pembroke’s attitude changes and he sends Egg on an errand with one of his men, who tries to kill Egg. Egg escapes and Millicent helps him to get safely off the island. This is where the adventure really begins. We have pirates – bad ones and not-quite-so-bad ones – a quest for great treasure, a clever, loyal friend for Egg, and strange places and people along his journey.

"I might have been able to outrun him, back to the porch where I could pick up a gun and defend myself, if I’d focused on the knife and not his face. But the face froze me in place, baffled, unable to believe what I was looking at was real."

But what really carries this story is the voice of young Egg. He tells his remarkable story in a most authentic thirteen-year-old boy’s voice and draws the reader in, never letting go until the end of this book. One of the best things about reading this book was that I already had book two of the series in my hands, because I just couldn’t wait to get to it. I’ll be reviewing that one when it comes out in May and you’ll have a chance to win that as well. This is a really fun, engaging series. Boys will love these books, but I think girls will as well. To paraphrase Roger Ebert, I give this both thumbs way up. It’s fun and exciting and will generate loyal readers.

You can have a chance to win paperback copy of Deadweather and Sunrise. If you are not yet a follower, please become one and tell me that. I will put your name in twice. If you are already a follower, thank you very much, let me know and I will put your name in twice. You can receive extra chances by linking to this post on your blog, Facebook, Twitter, or other social media and tell me you are doing that. You can also receive an extra entry by following Geoff Rodkey on Facebook  or Twitter and telling me that as well. (If you click on the words Facebook and Twitter, you go to the appropriate link.)

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