Under the Egg -- Review and Giveaway

Thought for the Day:

“A musician must make music, an artist must paint, a poet must write, if he is to be ultimately at peace with himself. What one can be, one must be.”  ~ Abraham Maslow, psychologist ~


Gifts for My Writer Friends:
An interesting article titled “What Poets Know That Most writers Don’t” from the Write Practice can be found HERE. This is worth your while.

I always watch Jeopardy and one of my favorite categories is Stupid Answers. I was pretty excited when I saw K. M. Weiland had a good post on How to Write a Stupid Character. That’s right up my alley. Check it out HERE.

The ladies at Writers Helping Writers have a really excellent post on fair use. Those of us who blog need reminders about this, so take a moment to check it out. Click HERE to see it. 

I absolutely intended to post last weekend, but there was a baseball tournament going on, and I had to get ready for my last week of teaching a lovely home and hospital student I had this month, and I was in the midst of an on-line poetry/writing class with Renee LaTulippe called The Lyrical Language Lab (which I highly recommend, by the way. See more information HERE). Anyway, I just ran out of time and energy. And, fair warning, I may not get to blog as frequently as I would like during the summer, so if I disappear for a week, just be patient. To quote the Govanator, I'll be back.

When I last posted, I offered a copy of Rebecca Petruck's terrific book, Steering Toward Normal. This week's winner is Helen Jacobson, a Minnesota ex-pat just like Rebecca. It seems destined. Congratulations, Helen! (WooHoo!) I will be sending your book out this week. If you aren't the lucky winner this week, stay tuned. I have a very special giveaway this week.

This week I'd like to tell your about a wonderful book I really meant to review here quite a while ago, but it was put into the wrong stack and disappeared for awhile. Anyway, I simply loved this one. Here is the 5-star review I wrote for the San Francisco Book Review about Under the Egg by Laura Marx Fitzgerald. 

Theodora Tenpenny lives a life many thirteen-year-olds would envy. Well, except for that grandfather-dying-right-in-front-of-her thing. But he has a message for her as he lays dying in the streets of New York City. He tells her to look under the egg for a letter and a treasure, before it is too late. That’s it. Pretty cryptic. It isn’t as if Theo has nothing else to do. Her mother doesn’t seem to have a grasp on how difficult their situation is. Mom spends her days working on her manuscript and drinking incredibly expensive tea from the very expensive shop next door, even though there is little money left. Theo finds a painting under a painting in her grandfather’s studio, and here begins a quest to discover what the painting is, who it really belongs to, and if it can save Theo’s home. Along the way, Theo finds a best friend (something she’s never had before), answers about her mysterious grandfather, and help finding answers.

“It was hard enough discovering that Jack had been in the war in the first place. But it

Laura Marx Fitzgerald

was near impossible to imagine my grandfather—a man who stood over six feet four in his eighties, who commanded the sidewalk with every stride, my hero, my protector—as one of the skeletal survivors who appeared on the web page.”

Laura Marx Fitzgerald has written a spectacular Tween book, but the characters, writing, and story are great and should grab the attention of many readers beyond the Tween group.

If you would like to win my gently-read hardcover copy of Under the Egg, all you need do is have a U.S. address, be a subscriber or follower (be sure to tell me in your comment) and leave a comment. If you have not yet become a subscriber or follower, just look in the right-hand column. It's free and easy. If you want to have extra chances, spread the word by posting about this giveaway on Facebook or Tweet about it or any other way you can think of and tell me in your comment what you have done. I will give you extra chances. And for the Specialness of the giveaway, if you are a writer or know a writer or think you might want to be a writer someday or have a friend...well, you get the idea. If you are the lucky winner, I will also send you an ARC of Between the Scenes. You can read my review HERE. Sure, it was written for screenwriters, but there is much to learn from screenwriting books for the rest of us writers.

Don't forget to check Shannon Messenger's wonderful blog for more Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday reviews. Click HERE to visit.

 

Steering Toward Normal -- Review and Giveaway

Thought for the Day:

"It's never too late to have a happy childhood." Berke Breathed

Gifts for My Writer Friends: 

A good article can be found HERE on 10 Easy Ways to Improve Your Dialogue. 

Great article HERE on “Write What You Don’t Know.” 

And for another take on why you should write what you don’t know, click HERE. 

I didn't have a chance to post last week. I spent Mother's Day with my husband, our younger daughter, and our two grandchildren at a baseball game. I do love baseball, so it was a great way to spend the day. In the evening, my husband and I went to our older daughter's album launch party. If you love beautiful music, click HERE for Amazon or HERE for iTunes to check it out. You can sample on iTunes without buying anything. 8-) Anyway, it was a long, wonderful day with no time for blogging. 

If you are wondering why a couple of things are highlighted in white boxes, I have no idea. Sometimes Blogger just does these things, and I am unable to correct them.

When I did post last, I promised a signed copy of What Flowers Remember by Shannon Wiersbitzky. I am happy to announce that our winner is Carl R. Scott! WooHoo, Carl. I will be sending your book out this week. It pays to tweet the link for extra entries! Carl did and he's the winner. Stay tuned even if you didn't win, because I have another great giveaway this week.

This week I'd like to tell you about another really terrific book, Steering Toward Normal by Rebecca Petruck. First, I'd like to thank Rebecca for naming her book Steering Toward Normal instead of Steering TowardS Normal. (Using towards instead of toward is a pet peeve of mine.) Second, this is a book set in Minnesota, my home state, and made me ever so comfortable. Third, it's just a darned good book with engaging characters and a fabulous, rich, complex story line. Fourth, that cover just cracks me up every time I look at it!

Diggy Lawson is looking forward to his eighth-grade year. He has a great calf to raise to compete for a top prize at the Minnesota State Fair. He has great friends at school and in 4-H, where he gets to spend a lot of time with July, the girl he has a secret crush on. He and his dad, Pop, have a great time together, just the two of them. (Diggy's mom had left when he was a baby.) But the wheels start to come off when a guy from school, one Diggy hardly knows, Wayne Graf, is tossed out in their driveway by his father and told he should live there with his real father. This was news to Diggy and not very good news. Wayne's mother, who had been Diggy's third-grade teacher, had recently died. Now this! Sure Diggy felt sorry for Wayne, but that didn't mean Diggy wanted to share his life and his Pop with Wayne. To top things off, Wayne decides to get a calf of his own when he finds out the prize for Grand Champion is huge. AND July seems to pay a LOT of attention to Wayne now. So does Pop. Suddenly it seems to Diggy, he is on the outside looking in.

Rebecca Petruck

When you get around to reading this book, carve out some time. It doesn't have any lulls or good stopping places. It practically demands to be read straight through. It is fun, funny, poignant, sweet, imaginative, and very real. I am offering my gently-read ARC to one of you. All you need do is have a U.S. address, be a subscriber or follower, and leave a comment. If you are not yet a subscriber or follower, it's free and easy. Check the right-hand column to do either or both. Please let me know in your comment if you are a subscriber or follower. If you would like extra chances in the drawing, you can get the word out and link to this post by Tweeting, posting on your blog, linking on Facebook, or use some other social media and tell me about it in your comment. I will give you extra chances for doing so. It paid off for Carl R. Scott. It can pay off for you.

Don't forget to stop by the lovely Shannon Messenger's blog for links to more Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday book reviews. Just click HERE to find your way.