The Life and Times of Benny Alvarez -- Review and Giveaway

Thought for the Day:

“I believe that there is one story in the world, and only one. . . . Humans are caught—in their lives, in their thoughts, in their hungers and ambitions, in their avarice and cruelty, and in their kindness and generosity too—in a net of good and evil. . . . There is no other story. A man, after he has brushed off the dust and chips of his life, will have left only the hard, clean questions: Was it good or was it evil? Have I done well—or ill?”

 ~ John Steinbeck ~

Gifts for My Writer Friends: 

K. W. Weiland has a great post HERE on how to get your message across in your story without beating your readers over the head with it. 

I ran across a good post a while back reminding us of ways to cut words. Click HERE to see what Kaylee Baldwin has to say about that.

Kristen Lam always has something interesting to say, and this is now exception. Click HERE to find the Five Warning Signs Your Story Needs Revision. 

Every Sunday morning, I try very hard to make time to watch all the major news shows. It really helps me to put things into perspective for myself. This morning there was a special treat on Face the Nation. Bob Schieffer had five mystery/thriller writers -- Sandra Brown, Lee Child, Jeffrey Deaver, Karin Slaughter, and David Ignatius -- on his show to discuss their craft. It was a lot of fun. If you missed it, you can see it by clicking HERE. It reminded me that sometimes I need to read something that is just for fun -- not for review or as homework for my own writing. The segment runs 15 or 20 minutes and you can build a good escapist reading list while you watch.

Last week a offered a copy of Fake ID by Lamar Giles, kind of a mystery/thriller for the younger set, to one of you. This week's winner is Jen Garrett! WooHoo for Jen!! She is a writer and mother. She has written award-winning scripts, articles, and poems and is hoping to have one of her children's books published one day soon. You can find more about her at here site HERE and you can also find her blog there. Jen, I will get the book out to you this week. For the rest of you, I have another giveaway this week so keep reading.  

Since it is summer, and since I am getting ready to fly to Minnesota tomorrow for a very short trip, I am going to take it easy and post a review of wrote for the San Francisco Book Review a while back. The Life and Times of Benny Alvarez by Peter Johnson is my choice for this week. Here is my review.

For seventh-grader Benny Alvarez, life is never dull. At school, where he hangs out with best friends Jocko and Beanie, he has a special teacher the boys call Ms. D (for Demigoddess). Benny is always, it seems, in conflict with pretty Claudine and her girlfriends. His family is very interesting. He has a younger brother, Crash, an older sister, Irene, and her odd boyfriend, Aldo. Benny’s father is retired, his mother is an executive, and his grandfather has suffered a couple of strokes which affects his speech and thinking. Ms. D has decided to have the students work on poetry, not a subject the boys are too crazy about, and she brings in a visiting poet. The girls believe poetry must have rhyme and line breaks, but the boys think poetry in sentences and paragraphs is just fine. The competition heats up and forces Benny and Claudine into head-to-head conflict.

“Another one of my traits is that I can argue you to death. You want 

to argue that the cafeteria pizza is great, I can counter with a 

hundred reasons why it isn’t, even if it’s my favorite meal.”

 
Peter Johnson has created an engaging cast of characters, all very realistic and believable, and placed them in a likewise believable setting and situation. The writing is funny and smart, and the story is told in a pitch-perfect voice of a very likable and shrewd Benny.

Peter Johnson

If you would like to win my gently-read ARC, all you need do is be a subscriber or follower (free and easy in the right-hand column), have a US address, and leave a comment. Next time I post I will draw a name of one commenter. If you want extra chances, please Tweet the link or post the link on your Facebook feed or your blog. Tell me you have done this and I will give you extra chances. Be sure to check Shannon Messenger's wonderful blog for more Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday reviews and giveaways. Click HERE to find it.

By the way, I have no idea why I can't get all my text to be in the same font. Blogger seems to take on a life of its own sometimes, and I can't control it. Sorry. 

Fake ID -- Review and Giveaway

Thought for the Day:

"I write when I'm inspired and I see to it that I'm inspired at nine o'clock every morning." 

~ Peter de Vries ~

Gifts for My Writer Friends: 

Rick Riordan wrote a terrific post on getting published. You can find it HERE.

Have you ever wondered about what makes great writing? You might be surprised. Click HERE to find an excellent article on that topic.

Great stuff from Martina Boone at Adventures in YA Publishing on the old bugaboo of showing vs. telling. Click HERE to see it. 

George & my sister Nance

I have had a down and up weekend. Yesterday morning, I heard my sweet brother-in-law, George Docken, had finally lost his battle with Parkinson's Disease after a very, very long fight. I will miss him very much as will anyone who knew him. That was the down. Today my grandson Gehrig played in his first Little League All-Star game for this season. He caught four innings and had two throw-downs at second for outs. Then he moved to third base. There he made a magnificent bare-handed catch and throw

Gehrig, my All-Star

to first for an out while on the run. His whole team played really, really well and beat a tough team 9-6. That was a tremendous up to end the weekend.  

Speaking of baseball, last week I offered a copy of Screaming at the Ump by Audrey Vernick for one of you. I am happy to announce the winner this week is Joanne Fritz. Let's hear it for Joanne!! WooHoo!! Joanne writes picture books and middle-grade novels and writes about this business at My Brain on Books which you can find HERE. I try to never miss it. I have another giveaway, so stay tuned. Joanne, I will be sending out Screaming at the Ump to you this week. I was doing some of my own screaming at the ump today. I don't like it when the strike zone is different for the two teams. A woman came by selling tickets for a raffle. She announced they were raising money to send the umps to the Western Regionals. I must say, I feared for her life there for a minute. You don't often here a raffle-ticket seller roundly booed at a baseball game!

Since I have had a ridiculously busy and somewhat stressful weekend -- I also

had a workshop on Saturday on revision and a critique group meeting today -- I am going to post a review I wrote for the San Francisco Book Review a while back. It's a terrific book and I never got around to reviewing it here. The book is Fake ID by Lamar Giles. Here is my review.

Being the new kid at school is never easy, but it can be particularly difficult in high school, especially when you’re busy learning a new identity. Nick Pearson is not the first identity he has had to learn. At least Nick seems to have made a friend at his new school, but it’s clear he has made some enemies as well. The family is in Witness Protection, and the guy Nick makes friends with, Eli, runs the school newspaper all by himself and happens to have the hottest girl in the school for a sister. Eli is a true investigative reporter and is about to blow the lid off the little town they live in and, Nick realizes, will blow his family’s cover at the same time. Before that can happen, though, Eli is dead. The official story is suicide, but Nick and Eli’s sister, Reyna, know it isn’t, and they intend to find out what happened and who did it. Terrible things start happening around them and to them. Eli is not the only one to die.

“Truth: growing up around the people I’d been around, being part of a family like mine, I used to think being dragged to a police station was cool—a rite of passage. I heard my dad’s friends tell jail stories like they were vacation memories.”

This debut novel by Lamar Giles is full of tension and mystery with lots of twists, turns, and dead ends.

I liked Fake ID a lot. It was really hard to put down. It should be very popular

Lamar Giles

with the middle-school crowd and those in high school. I have a gently-used ARC for one of you. All you need do is have a US address, be a follower or email subscriber (Let me know which and if you haven't signed up yet, check the right-hand column. Free and easy. ), and leave a comment. Your name will go in a drawing. If you would like extra chances, spread the word about the giveaway by Tweeting or posting on Facebook or your own blog. Let me know what you have done, and I will give you extra chances. 

Be sure to wander on over to Shannon Messenger's Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday list for more reviews and maybe some giveaways there as well. Click HERE to make that journey.

Screaming at the Ump -- Review and Giveaway

Thought for the Day:

“I've never known any trouble that an hour's reading didn't assuage.”   

~ Charles De Secondat  ~

Gifts for My Writer Friends:

Shaping sentences and choosing just the right word is explored nicely HERE in a post from The Editor’s Blog.

There is a great list of books HERE that every creative person should read. I have much work to do! 

K. M. Weiland at Helping Writers Become Authors has an interesting post HERE on bringing minor characters to life.

When we last met, I offered a signed copy of Sherrie Petersen's wonderful new book, Wish You Weren't to one of you.  This week's winner is Claire M. Caterer, a writer of middle-grade fantasy and you can read about her book, The Key & the Flame, by clicking HERE. She also writes  blog I try to never miss. You can find that HERE. It's worth your time. Congratulations, Claire! WooHoo for you! I will be mailing the book to you this week. If you didn't win, hang on. Read to the end. I have another great giveaway this week. 

A few months ago, I received my list of books available for review for the San Francisco Book Review. I spotted one I had to read -- Screaming at the Ump written by Amy Vernick. I laughed out loud when I read the title. Now there is something I do every week of my life. And I loved the concept of the book. Believe me, this book does not disappoint. Since it's summer, I will be a little lazy here and simply reprint my five-star review they published. I hope you enjoy it.

Casey Snowden has spent his entire twelve years steeped in baseball, but not in the usual way. Sure, he played a couple years of Little League, but most of his baseball knowledge comes from growing up at Behind the Plate, an umpire school that trains umpires for the big leagues. One might think such a boy would have dreams of playing in the bigs or taking over the school, but Casey wants neither. He just wants to become the best sports reporter ever, and reporting has amazing parallels to umpiring. Casey is surrounded by interesting characters – his best friend Zeke, a bit of a geek, who is funny, smart, and a true friend; Sly, an eight-year-old girl, who is annoying, bright, and dedicated; Ibbit, Casey’s father and head of Behind the Plate and many other clever characters. There is also Casey’s mother, Mrs. Bob the Baker, who bailed on the family and the school, but now wants a relationship with Casey.

“You couldn’t say, I did it because everyone was doing it. Rules govern the fame of baseball – rules govern everything! – and you don’t get to pick which rules you want to follow. There’s integrity to the game. And the rules apply to everyone.”

Audrey Vernick has written a complex, many-layered story that will satisfy readers from ten up. Both boys and girls and many grown-ups will find this a fun and heartwarming story, and if readers are baseball fans,

Audrey Vernick

that’s a bonus.

I am offering my gently-read hardback copy of Screaming at the Ump to one of you. All you need to is  have a US address, leave a comment below, and be either a follower or subscriber to my blog and tell me that in your comment. If you spread the word by posting the link to this post on Facebook or your own blog or if you Tweet it, let me know and I will give you extra chances. Thanks for being here. 

Don't forget to check for other Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday reviews at Shannon Messenger's blog by clicking HERE.