Things That Make You Go Yuck!: Crooked Critters -- Review and Giveaway

Thought for the Day:

“The question is whether or not you choose to disturb the world around you, or if you choose to let it go on as if you had never arrived.” 

~ Ann Patchett ~

Gifts for My Writer Friends:

Jennifer Louden has a good post at Writers in the Storm HERE with 6 Ways to Increase Your Productivity as a Writer Without Burning Out. 

I keep finding posts about words one should take out of one’s writing. If I read enough of these maybe I can get rid of about 20,000 flabby words hanging on my fat manuscript. Melissa Allen has a guest post on Fiction University HERE that has 14 Words that are Hurting Your Writing.

Beth Lewis has a guest post HERE on The Writer’s Dig with Tips for Creating Voice in Your Character. It’s got some great ideas. 

Last week I offered a gently-read hardback copy of Jubilee by Patricia Reilly Giff to one of you. This week's winner is Greg Pattridge, middle-grade writer and middle-school teacher (brave soul!) from Colorado who blogs at Always in the Middle. Check it out HERE. He writes great book reviews and has other interesting stuff on his blog. Congratulations, Greg! I will get your book out soon.

The book I am highlighting this week is a really fun non-fiction book. I love science books with a fun twist. This is that. Here is my review for the San Francisco Book Review for Things that Make you Go Yuck!: Crooked Critters by Jenni Dlugos and Charlie Hatton.

Imagine a fungus that can attach itself to a living being and not only cover the being with pointy spikes but invade the being and dissolve its organs and kill it as well. With ants, the fungus can actually release a chemical into the ant’s brain that turns it into a zombie. That’s nasty! And that is just one example of the many, many rude, crude, and murderous critters in this fun volume. This is part of a series of four books that examine the yuck-factor found throughout nature. Filled with plants and animals that spit, strangle, suffocate, slather, and otherwise threaten, injure, and kill other critters will fascinate young (and older!) readers. 

There is little the middle-grade crowd, especially boys, likes better than a book with a very high yuck-factor. This book, as the title implies, is going to be a big hit with the middle-grade readers. Authors Jenn Dlugos and Charlie Hatton have gathered some of the most fun facts in the natural world to keep youngsters reading and learning. The writing is crisp and the accompanying photographs are up-close and a little terrifying. This book is a real winner!

I have a gently-read ARC 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.

Jubilee -- Review and Giveaway

Thought for the Day:

“I have written a great many stories and I still don’t know how to go 

about it except to write it and take my chances.” 

~ John Steinbeck ~

Gifts for My Writer Friends:

We all get a lot of writing tips. Some are great and helpful, some — not so much. Anne R. Allen has a terrific post HERE on Stupid Writing Tips. Check it out. 

Some great reminders in the article HERE on Bookfox that will tell you 25 Terrible Ways to Start a Novel. 

Writers Helping Writers always has great stuff. I don’t post links to their posts as often as I should, but I try to spread the love a little. Anyway, they have a TERRIFIC post HERE on inner conflict by Michael Hauge. Don’t miss this one. 

I hope all of you had a spectacular Thanksgiving. I had a lovely day with my daughter's family and she did most of the cooking! Then my 15-year-old grandson and I hopped in the car and drove to Seal Beach (south of L.A.) to visit friends. It was a great weekend, but the drive was ridiculous (pouring rain through the Grapevine -- yuck!), and I am ready to sleep for a week. It was a great weekend, though. So much fun!

Last week I promised one of you an ARC of The Poet's Dog by Patricia MacLachen. This week's winner is Susan Olson, a North Carolina writer and blogger and lover of time travel stories. She blogs HERE at Time Travel Times Two and always has great reviews. Check it out. Susan, I will get the book out to you this week. Now you won't have to wait for the library! For the rest of you, I have another giveaway so please keep reading.

As I have said before, I keep my eye open for certain authors when I am choosing books for review. When I saw that Patricia Reilly Giff had a new book coming out, I snagged it for review for the San Francisco Book Review. This is the review I wrote for them of Jubilee, her latest book, a middle-grade novel. 

Judith is called Jubilee by her Aunt Cora who took her in when Jubilee’s mother dropped her off like a load of laundry when she was quite small. Jubilee hasn’t spoken a word since that time, communicating only through drawings and gestures. She and Aunt Cora live on an island, which Jubilee loves to explore while watching the wildlife. When she starts fifth grade, she is no longer in a special class but is in a regular class with a new teacher who has some different ideas about learning. It is there Jubilee meets Mason, who is sloppy and talks too much, but he doesn’t mind that Jubilee doesn’t talk as the other children do. They become fast friends. On Aunt Cora’s birthday, she receives a card from Jubilee’s mother, and Jubilee discovers her mother is nearby. She decides to go and see her.

When Patricia Reilly Giff has a new book out, it is cause for celebration among

Patricia Reilly Giff

readers. This lovely, lyrical book has everything a reader would want — strong, believable characters, an interesting setting, and a well-crafted story full of conflict and drama. This will surely garner readers beyond the intended middle-grade audience.

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.

Double Review and Giveaway -- Whistle in the Dark & Hunter Moran Hangs Out

Thought for the Day:

“Have compassion for yourself when you write. There's no failure -- just a big field to wander in.” ~ Natalie Goldberg~ 

 

Some Gifts for My Writer Friends:

I read one good poem every day, thanks to Garrison Keillor’s Writer’s Almanac. Click HERE to check it out. You can sign up and get a good poem every day too.

 

Because I am so tired of judgmental people saying things like, “You’re not a real writer unless you . . .” whatever, I was thrilled to read this great guest post by Adrienne Kress (click HERE). If you read nothing else, get to the little story about Stephen King and John Irving. It’s classic. 

 

My friend Morgan Mussell has a not-to-be-missed blog called The First Gates. It is always a treat to read what he has to say. In this post, he links to a great article by James Rollins called Turning Science into Fiction. If you click HERE, you will be taken to Morgan’s blog and you can link to the article there. I’m doing it this way because I think everyone should find Morgan’s rich, useful blog. 

When last I wrote, I offered a copy of Kicking in the Wall by Barbara Abercrombie. I am happy to announce that this week's winner is Joanne Fritz! Congratulations, Joanne. She writes children's books, poetry, and flash fiction. You can learn more about her on her blog, My Brain on Books, by clicking HERE. Joanne, I will be putting your book in the mail this week. Thanks for playing!

I am really busy doing some re-writing and also in the midst of Shannon Messenger's latest book (you'll hear more about it soon right here!), so I'm simply going to post two reviews I've done recently for the Sacramento Book Review. The good news is 1) I really liked them both and 2) I'm doing a double giveaway this week!

The first book is Whistle in the Dark by Susan Hill Long. It's terrific! Here's my review.

Clem has but one wish. For his thirteenth birthday he wants a dog. But that isn’t what he gets. He gets a miner’s cap. His life is about to change. He is expected to work in the lead mine, deep underground, and to help support the family. His grandfather has miner’s lung and cannot work. His Pap works every day, but it is never enough. Clem’s sister, Esther, has epilepsy and the doctor’s bills make it impossible for Pap to earn enough on his own. But this is not what Clem has in mind for his life. He hates the dark, claustrophobic, physical work. He wants to be in school and able to make something more of his life.

 “Clem’s hand went to his mouth as if to stifle a cry. He’d never before considered how his own father got the moonshine whiskey in his Thermos that day Clem caught him at it.”

Clem comes to know a girl from school, one who had been bullied by everyone, even Clem. Lindy is terribly scarred on half her face, and the kids call her Frankenstein. But when Clem discovers she helped Ester when she had a fit, he thinks differently of her. They become friends, then more.

Susan Hill Long has created a time-and place-machine with this lovely coming-of-age story. She transports readers to the Ozarks of the early 20th century with her compelling story.

The second book is Hunter Moran Hangs Out by Patricia Reilly Giff. It's pretty cute. Here is my review from SBR.

Hunter Moran and his twin, Zack, discover there is an impending kidnapping in Newfield. Worse yet,

they figure out their little brother Steadman is the likely target. Sarah Yulefski has the inside information and charges them all they have for it. The kids erect a tree platform to keep an eye on things and find suspicious activity at the house across the street – the empty house – and decide the kidnappers must be using it to stage their crime. Their mother goes into labor and their parents head to the hospital. That’s when the boys find a note that looks like it’s from the kidnapper, but their sister Linny tears it up before they can read it. The boys find themselves in plenty of messes along the way, but ultimately discover that their dog Fred has been taken. They never seem to be at the right place at the right time to see anything useful. Will they ever find Fred? This book is fast-moving almost to the point of being manic. Younger middle-graders will enjoy the pace and story. It will help if they’d read the first book in the series and are familiar with this amazing cast of characters.

 “We slog our way across the street, dripping muck and weeds. I use my hands like windshield wipers, back and forth across my cheeks, my forehead, my eyes. Behind us, someone is laughing like a maniac.”

All you need to do to win BOTH these books in hardcover is be a follower and leave a comment. If you aren't yet a follower, it's easy. Just look on the right column. If you want extra chances in the drawing, tweet the link or post it on Facebook or something like that and tell me you've done it. I will put in extra chances for you.

Don't forget to check out Shannon Messenger's wonderful blogs for more Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday books and blogs. You can find it HERE.

Thanks for reading and don't forget to leave a comment.