Smile -- Review and Giveaway

Thought for the Day:

"When you write any book you do not know who's going to read it, and you do not know when they're going to read it. You don't know who they will be, you don't know their age, or gender, or nationality, or anything else about them.

So books, anyway, really are like the message in the bottle." 

~ Margaret Atwood ~

Gifts for My Writer Friends: 

K. M. Weiland has a terrific post How to Write a Gut-Wrenching Tragic Scene–Thanks to One Surprising Detail! You can find it HERE. 

The Editor has two interesting posts on “nothing words.” Check HERE  and HERE for the great tips she offers. These are really good.

Kristin Lamb has a guest post by Marcy Kennedy that is chock full of great grammar advice. Click HERE to read it. I promise it is worth your while.  

Last post, I promised one of you an ARC of Kerman Derman and the Relic of Perilous Falls. After I posted the review, I had an email from the publicist who had originally contacted me telling me the release of the book had been delayed for the foreseeable future. I guess that makes this book a collector's item! Who knows if there will be other copies? Our winner this week is Greg Pattridge. Greg is a middle-school teacher and a writer. His blog, Always in the Middle, is a great read with lots of reviews and writing tips. You can find it HERE. Greg, I will get your book out to you this week.

A couple months ago, I read something about a book that intrigued me enough

to pick it up. I hadn't read a real review of it, just a line or two about a girl who had the kind of accident that could really put a crimp in her growing-up experience. What I didn't know when I picked it up was that it was a graphic novel. Yup, I never even opened it. Just bought it and brought it home. I don't generally read graphic novels. Okay. Not not generally. I never do. But I'm glad I didn't know or I never would have read it. 

Smile opens with Raina finding out she will have to have braces and, as kids are wont to feel, she thinks it's going to be awful and make her a real outcast in sixth grade. She has no idea how bad it can get. As she and some friends race after a Girl Scout meeting, Raina trips and falls in the street. Her two front teeth are gone, but they can only find one of them. The other had been driven in, out of sight. Rushed to the dentist, Raina's teeth are returned to their original place, but whether or not they would stay was another question. And, they do not. There had been bone damage, and Raina begins a long, long journey of trying to find an appropriate treatment that will allow her to look like a normal girl again. All this, of course, while she is trying to fit in

Raina Telgemeier

and find friends and have crushes and compete in school and all the other things kids need to go through. 

Smile follows Raina through middle school into high school. It is autobiographical and is written and illustrated by the very talented Raina Telgemeier. I know kids like this book. My grandson came over when I was reading it and told me he had read it right through when he got it. He doesn't read much right through, so I know he liked it. I also liked it a lot. It's fun, clever, had a great story, and will remind you what it's like to be a kid. I would like to pass my copy along to one of you. 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 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. And don't forget to check Shannon Messenger's wonderful blog for more Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday reviews and giveaways. Click HERE to visit.

 

The Secret at Haney Field -- Review and Giveaway

Thought for the Day:

“Mistakes are part of the dues that one pays for a full life.”

~ Sophia Loren ~

Gifts for My Writer Friends:

The Editor reminds us HERE that our characters do not live in a vacuum. Not only does nature abhor a vacuum, but our readers do as well. Read this one.

Such a great post on dialogue on Adventures in YA Publishing. You really must read this one. Click HERE to see it. 

Darcy Pattison has a great post, Tea Party or Fist Fights? Why Action Scenes are Hard to Write!, on her blog. Click HERE to read all about it. 

Our trip to Cooperstown, NY was a great deal of fun, but honestly, I am exhausted. A delayed flight on our way home made an already long trip just a little too long. But here we are and now, maybe I can start getting caught up. I have well over 300 unread emails (the internet was not good where we stayed) and, of course, there is unpacking, laundry, grocery shopping, etc. lurking in the

wings. The tournament was fun. Our boys played brilliantly four of their seven games, really well but not well enough in two of their games, and seemed to forget everything they had ever learned in their final game. (sigh) That's kids' baseball. The highlight of the trip? Seeing our grandson Gehrig's happy birthday message on the big board at the Mets' game and the huge smile on his face at the game we attended on his 13th birthday. Our granddaughter Gracie's highlight? Getting a shirt that said, "I have no life. My brother play's baseball." Sad, but true! It's good to be home, but I can't wait for the next tournament! Yeah. Really.

I did have some time to catch up on some reading and want to recommend a

couple of books that have been around for awhile, but I didn't get to until very recently. If you have not read Briar Rose by Jane Yolen, you have missed a truly great book. It is amazingly moving and absolutely unique. For those who love fairy tale retellings, you must read this. Even if that is not your cup of tea, this book is so worthy of your time. Just brilliant. I also read Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech. I don't know how I missed reading this one. It has been on my radar for years. I really liked it. If you love to be told a story, this is a wonderful, moving story told perfectly from 13-year-old Salamanca's point of view. It is a story of love and longing and is a true coming-of-age story. 

Last time I was here, I promised a copy of Say It Ain't So by Josh Berk to one of you. The winner this week is Kathy Speggen! Congratulations, Kathy. I will be sending the book out to you this week. If you aren't Kathy, keep reading, I have another giveaway this week.

To finish off my baseball-themed posts for the end of summer, I have another baseball-themed book. The Secret at Haney Field by R. M. Clark is a perfect mystery novel for middle-graders, third through fifth grades. The main character is 12-year-old April O'Day. Her real love is baseball,

and she really understands the game. When she wins a stint as bat retriever for the local minor league team, the Harpoons. She makes herself so invaluable with her great advice to the players, she is kept on through the summer. She even gets her best friend, Darren, a job retrieving bats for the visiting teams. But there is a mystery at Haney Field, ghosts of a time past, that few can see, but April is one of those few. She and Darren are determined to figure out what is going on, but obstacles are everywhere, and when the kids are fired, it seems the mystery may not be solved. 

The author, R. M. Clark, was kind enough to give me a signed copy of the book for my giveaway. I really like this book for a lot of reasons. First, I love the strong, smart, female protagonist with a wealth of baseball knowledge. She is someone a lot of kids, both boys and girls, will enjoy reading about, and readers will also enjoy beefing up their own baseball knowledge. Clark clearly has done his homework. He includes a nice glossary in the book chock full of interesting information. The mystery is not scary, but fun and interesting. This is a real

R. M. Clark

winner and any fan of baseball will like it. 

If you would like to win this signed copy (gently read by me) of The Secret at Haney Field, 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 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. And don't forget to check Shannon Messenger's wonderful blog for more Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday reviews and giveaways. Click HERE to visit.