Avenging the Owl -- Review and Giveaway

Thought for the Day:

“Maybe you’ve made something mediocre–there’s plenty of that in any artist’s cabinets–but something mediocre is better than nothing, and often the 

near-misses, as I call them, are the beckoning hands that bring you to perfection just around the blind corner.” 

~ Sally Mann, Photographer ~

Gifts for My Writer Friends:

Alex Limberg did a guest post on Kristin Lamb’s blog that is worth your time. He talks HERE about making every page interesting. Check it out. 

Writers Helping Writers always has such good stuff. The post HERE is the first post I’ve seen in a long time on pacing. Don’t miss it. 

I tend to write in close third person PoV and often my critique partners think my stories would be better in first person. I am not comfortable with that PoV, but maybe I should try harder. Anyway, it’s something I think about a lot. Janice Hardy at Fiction University has a really useful post HERE on this very subject. 

Thanks for all the lovely birthday wishes. We had a nice quiet family evening, which is exactly what I wanted. My sister and brother-in-law were here almost a week and we got so much done! Now I feel like the move is doable. Before, I was, frankly, really freaking out. My husband's health has not improved, but we continue with tests but no answers. And of course, there is a lot of brownie baking for my contractor. I do what I have to do to get that remodel finished. 

Last time I wrote, I promised an ARC of Gary D. Schmidt's fabulous Orbiting Jupiter. The winner this week is Natalie Aguirre. Congratulations, Natalie! If you don't know Natalie (have you been living in a cave with no wifi?), she is a writer and blogger extraordinaire. You can find out more about her HERE at Literary Rambles, a blog which should not be missed. Natalie, I will get the book out to you this week, assuming I haven't packed it already. For the rest you, please keep reading. I have another terrific book for you this week.

I had an email a few weeks back from author Melissa Hart asking if I would be interested reviewing in her middle-grade novel, Avenging the Owl. I am something of a bird lover, so found the premise interesting and requested a copy. I'm glad I did. Let me tell you about it. 

Solo Hahn, whose mother was a big Star Wars fan, has a perfect life in Southern California. Nice house near the beach, terrific friends, and plenty of time to surf. But the wheels are about to come off. Solo's father, a writer, falls into depression and tries to kill himself. Solo's parents decide the best thing to do is to move to Oregon where they can get a fresh start, but nobody bothers to ask Solo what he thinks. The next thing he knows, they are having a big yard sale and everything is being sold. The only good thing to come out of it is a little stray kitten Solo finds while they are having the sale. The family moves to a trailer house in the middle of nowhere (nowhere near the beach, that is) and Solo and his kitten begin their new life. What keeps him going is his plan to run away back to Southern California to stay with his best friend. 

But when you live in the backwoods, sometimes nature has a way of changing everything, and when an owl snatches Solo's beloved kitten, he loses it. He grabs a gun owned by the father of the only friend he's made and goes after the owl, but injures his friend instead. He is assigned to community service working with raptors at a rescue center. Solo is angry and afraid -- afraid of the birds, afraid his father will try to kill himself again, afraid he will never see his surfing buddies or the ocean again, afraid he will be sent to juvenile hall if he doesn't succeed at the raptor center, and more. It's a lot for a kid to deal with and it makes for a rich, complex novel. The cast of characters is filled with diverse, fully-rounded people who readers can relate to and care about. Melissa Hart's

Melissa Hart

writing is crisp and polished and her story is very compelling. The book won't be out until April, but I suggest you put it on your TBR list and keep an eye open for it or, better yet, pre-order it. It's worth it. And look at that cover. How can you resist? 

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.

Orbiting Jupiter -- Review and Giveaway

Thought for the Day:

"There is a vitality, a life force, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is; nor how valuable it is; nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours, clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep open and aware directly to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open. No artist is pleased. There is no satisfaction whatever at any time. There is only a queer, divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that makes us more alive than the others."
~ Martha Graham ~

Gifts for My Writer Friends:

Writers Helping Writers have a terrific post on Mastering the Art of the Cliffhanger Chapter Ending HERE. Don’t miss it. 

The Editor’s Blog has a fun post HERE with lots of good reminders of how to engage readers. 

Anne R. Allen always has good advice. HERE you will find a good post on editing your first chapter. C’mon. We all have to do it! 

Just a heads up. I probably won't be here next week. My sweet sister and brother-in-law are coming to celebrate my birthday and giving me the best birthday present ever -- helping us sort out and pack up as we get closer to our move, which will happen after the world's longest renovation is done -- soon, I hope. But I will be back and when I write next, I will be seventy. Yup -- the big seven-oh! Holy smoke but I'm getting on. I'd like to thank all you young whippersnappers for sticking around and reading.

Last week I offered my gently-read copy of Nanny X Returns by Madelyn Rosenberg to one of you. This week's winner is Suzanne Warr. Congratulations, Suzanne! If you don't know her, Suzanne is a North Carolina writer and Tae Kwon Do Black Belt who blogs at Tales from the Raven. You can find her blog HERE. It's worth checking out. Suzanne, I will get your book out to you this week. For the rest of you, I have another giveaway, so please keep reading.

I cannot believe I haven't written about this book before, but it's another book I ran across as I sorted and packed books. If you have read my blog for awhile, you probably know I think Gary D. Schmidt is one of the best writers around. I have reviewed a couple of his books before, Okay for Now HERE and Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy HERE. This week I'd like to tell you about Schmidt's latest book, Orbiting Jupiter. It's simply terrific. Here is the review I wrote for the San Francisco Book Review. 

Jack gets the news his parents are taking in a foster child, a boy Jack’s age who will share his room and chores on the farm. They will also both be going into sixth grade. But when Jack finds out Joseph had spent time in juvenile hall for trying to kill a teacher and that he is a father, Jack wonders what they’ve gotten themselves into. There are no secrets that last very long in a small-town middle school, and word about Joseph soon travels through the halls, and bullies get to work. But Jack has Joseph’s back, even though it costs him. As time goes on, Jack learns Joseph’s whole, heart-breaking story and meets his abusive father. Then everything changes.

“That was how Joseph heard for the first time that he never would see Madeleine again, never touch her again, never talk to her again, never walk through the woods with her again.”

When Gary D. Schmidt has a new book come out, it is cause for celebration in

Gary D. Schmidt

the world of middle-grade readers. His sense of story and his elegant writing carries readers through even the most difficult of subjects, and Schmidt never shies away from honestly examining the difficult things young people face. This moving coming-of-age tale is one of his finest books and deserves readership far beyond the middle-grade crowd.

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.

Nanny X Returns -- Review and Giveaway

Thought for the Day:

“The writer can do nothing for men more necessary, satisfying, than simply to reveal to them the infinite possibilities of their own souls.” 

~ Walt Whitman ~

Gifts for My Writer Friends:

Steven Pressfield has some great stuff on his blog. HERE, HERE, and HERE you will find a three-part series on making your hero suffer. I think he may have added a couple more posts to this series after I put this in my file, so you might want to check at his blog. Enjoy! 

Writer’s Digest has a good post HERE with 10 Habits of Highly Effective Writers by Robert Blake Whitehall. 

Tara Lazar has a terrific post on Writing for Kids (while raising them) that will help explain the language in those pesky rejections. Check it out HERE. 

Last week I offered my copy of My Secret Guide to Paris by Lisa Schroeder to one of you. This week's winner is Violet Tiger. Congratulations, Violet! I wish I could tell you something about her, but she is a wee bit secretive. That said, she has a book review blog that is worth checking out. It's called Reading Violet and you can check it out by clicking HERE. She is featuring a book by one of my favorite writers this week. Violet, I will get the book out to you this week. 

About a year ago, I reviewed a book called Nanny X by Madelyn Rosenberg. If you missed that review you can see it HERE. It was a lot of fun, and I enjoyed this first book of a series for the younger middle-grade readers. When I had a chance to read the second in the series, Nanny X Returns, for the Manhattan Book Review, I asked for it right away. I wasn't disappointed. Here is the review I wrote.

Alison and  Jake walk home from school with Nanny X and they discover their grandmother broke her leg. The kids’s parents leave town, and before you know it, Nanny X has a new case from NAP — Nanny Action Patrol. Someone has threatened the president. If he doesn’t place a large fish sculpture on the White House lawn, national treasures will be damaged or disappear. Nanny X takes the kids fishing where they meet their friend Stinky and his nanny, Boris, also a member of NAP. When they catch a robot fish, they know they are onto the villain they have dubbed The Angler. The chase ensues through Washington D.C. and there is plenty of excitement and danger.

“Jake pulled out his stink-bomb pacifier. He 

squeezed the nub and threw it.

Hard-boiled-egg smoke poured out.”

Madelyn Rosenberg has created a fun series for the middle-grade set. This

Madelyn Rosenberg

second book doesn’t have quite the excitement of the first book since the kids have already discovered all the mysteries of Nanny X, but it is still a fun mystery for the group to figure out. Excellent writing and terrific characters carry the day. Being set in Washington D.C. has the added benefit of mixing in a little American history for readers to learn.

I have a gently-read hardback copy of this book 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.

My Secret Guide to Paris -- Review and Giveaway

Thought for the Day:

"Nurture yourself. Read a great book. Sit in the back yard for ten

minutes and listen to all the sounds. What rests you? A rested writer

can tackle any problem, including schedules!"

~ Joan Broerman ~

Gifts for My Writer Friends:

Every now and then I get a post from Writer’s Village that is pretty helpful. The guest post HERE by Renee Vaughn has some interesting ideas. You might get some good hints. 

James R. Tuck has a great guest post on Fiction University HERE on how to add tension. 

If you are doing re-writes, and who isn’t, You need to read The Editor’s post HERE to help you with that. 

Last time I wrote, I promised one of you my gently-read copy of My Teacher is an Idiom (LOVE that title!) by Jamie Gilson. This week's winner is Patty Hawthorne. Congratulations, Patty! Patty is an aspiring children's writer and lives in Grass Valley, CA. Patty, I will get this out to you very soon. For the rest of you, read on! I have another giveaway this week.

We are getting closer and closer to our move. The demo has finally been done at the new house, the cabinets are being made, the appliances ordered, and I feel like this is finally going to happen. Things are a bit stressful though. My husband has been sick for a couple weeks with something that is to date unidentifiable. I can't seem to find much he feels like he can eat, and I'm feeling kind of helpless to do anything more than take him to doctor appointments and to the lab to get work done. When I'm not doing that, I am trying to sort things out and pack things up. One good thing that comes out of this, though, is rediscovering some books that somehow ended up in the wrong place and were overlooked. That happened with the book I'll tell you about this week. It came out nearly a year ago, but I liked it a lot and want to share it here. It is My Secret Guide to Paris by Lisa Schroeder. If you missed it, you should really check it out. Here is the review I wrote for the San Francisco Book Review.

Twelve-year-old Nora has dreamed of going to Paris for as long as she can remember. For a long time the plan has been in place that her Grandma Sylvia would take her, since Sylvia goes to Paris a couple times each year on business. When Sylvia dies suddenly, Nora is devastated. Nora goes with her mother to clean out Sylvia’s apartment and finds a stack of letters and a treasure map for her, along with three plane tickets to Paris for Sylvia, Nora, and Nora’s mother—odd because Nora’s mother and grandmother had been estranged for years. Her mother’s idea is to sell the plane tickets, but Nora talks her into taking Nora and her older brother and going on the trip. She keeps the letters a secret until she discovers her grandmother has left gifts for her she cannot claim without her mother. 

“It could have just been my imagination. Or maybe

Paris really was magical, just like Grandma had

made it sound when she shared her stories.”

Lisa Schroeder has written an engaging story middle-grade girls will find

Lisa Schroeder and friend

fascinating. The family dynamics are completely believable, the characters are realistic and well-rounded, and the writing is lovely. This could well garner readership beyond the middle-grade audience for which it is intended, and readers may feel a trip to Paris is mandatory after reading it.

I have a gently-read hardback copy of this book 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.

My Teacher is an Idiom -- Review and Giveaway

Thought for the Day:

"Because this business of becoming conscious, of being a writer, is ultimately about asking yourself, How alive am I willing to be?"

– Anne Lamott

Gifts for My Writer Friends:

In honor of the great David Bowie who, it turns out, was quite a reader, HERE is the list of his 100 favorite books. What an extraordinary list! 

Have you been dangling modifiers lately? If so, Janice Hardy’s post HERE will help you out. 

Do you ever struggle with setting? K. M. Weiland has an excellent post HERE to help you out. 

Now a quick report on my experience with the amber glasses from the link last week. I got mine on Monday and tried them three times this week. I got such a colossal headache from wearing them, I couldn't sleep!  8-(

Last week I offered a copy of The Seventh Most Important Thing by Shelley Pearsall to one of you. This week's winner is Mima Docken. Congratulations, Mima! Thanks for reading and commenting regularly. I do appreciate it, and I will get your book out to you this week. For the rest of you, please keep reading for another giveaway this week. 

There are a lot of different triggers for me as I decide what books to read. When I get the list of available books for review, I'm like a kid in a candy store, but I never quite know what it is that will attract me. When I was going through one list a few months ago, I came across a book called My Teacher is an Idiom by Jamie Gilson. The word Idiom is what caught my interest. I love idioms. I love finding out about them and how they come about. We have had five exchange students over the years, and I had a boatload of students for whom English was their second language. Idioms were always part of fun conversations with them. So, when I saw the title, I had to choose that book. I'm glad I did. It's very cute. Here is the review I wrote for the Manhattan Book Review.

Richard is having lunch, but it isn’t much fun since he lost both of his front teeth just the day before. It was because Patrick tricked him into biting into a gummy octopus. Now, Patrick is back, and Richard knows not to trust him. There is no one left in the lunchroom, except the two boys and the new girl, Sophie, who just moved from France. Patrick talks Richard into eating his soft gelatin through a straw, and to say it doesn’t go well would be an understatement. Things are at their worst when the vice-principal shows up. In the discussion that follows, Sophie gets an introduction to American idioms. Things get more interesting when the boys’ punishment is meted out.

“Patrick and I were standing in the lunch line. It wasn’t

moving. Some kid threw up, and they had to call

a custodian to bring a mop and pail.”

Jamie Gilson has written a fun story for early-elementary schoolers. The first-

Jamie Gilson

person narrative is pitch perfect with details — burps, bugs, and barf —  that will make youngsters laugh. Paul Meisel’s cute, cartoonish illustrations are a perfect complement to this funny story. The lesson in idioms will have kids learning an important language lesson without them ever knowing it, and a lesson in manners is equally well-hidden. A perfect chapter book for young, independent readers.

I have a gently-read hardback copy of this book 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.

The Seventh Most Important Thing -- Review and Giveaway

Thought for the Day:

“Writing is easy. All you have to do is cross out the wrong words.” 

~ Mark Twain ~

Gifts for My Writer Friends:

You never know what you will find on writing blogs. I have a LOT of trouble sleeping — getting to sleep, staying asleep, getting back to sleep if I wake up in the night. When I read Marilyn Knowles post on Writer’s Rumpus I knew I had to try what she has to say HERE. You might want to check this out. 

Janice Hardy at Fiction University always has such good advice. HERE you can read her suggestions on showing vs. telling. 

K. M.Weiland has a post HERE full of good examples and great reminders about the use of “said” in our writing. 

Last week I offered a copy of Lost in the Sun by Lisa Graff to one of you. This week's winner is Cindy Tran. Congratulations, Cindy! I will get the book out to you this week. If you don't know Cindy, she is a 12-year-old reader and blogger who runs a lot of book reviews. Check out her blog HERE. For the rest of you, I do have another wonderful book to give away, so keep reading.

This week I want to tell you about a terrific middle-grade novel that was a real surprise to me. It is The Seventh Most Important Thing by Shelley Pearsall. When I read the description of the book, I asked the San Francisco Book Review to hang onto it for me. Here is the review I wrote for them.

Arthur Owens loses his father the same year Kennedy is killed. Life isn’t easy. His mother works two lousy jobs to keep things going. Arthur, 13, is angry when his mother gets rid of the last of his dad’s things, but when he sees an old junk picker wearing his father’s hat, without even knowing what he is doing, Arthur picks up a brick and throws it at the old man. Facing a long time in juvenile hall, he tells the judge what set him off. The old man he had hit stands up in court and asks to speak to the judge. The next thing he knows, Arthur is working for the junk picker with very strange assignments to find particular junk each week. Still, it’s better than going back to juvenile hall. Then something extraordinary happens, and Arthur’s life is changed.

“As they stood there in the darkness, with little sunbursts 

of light from the tree shining on their clothes and faces, 

Arthur felt strangely hopeful for a minute. It was as if 

their old life had briefly flickered back on, like an old 

movie—as if none of the bad things had happened to 

them yet.”

This amazing coming-of-age story will enthrall middle-grade readers and anyone

Shelley Pearsall

else lucky enough to come across it. Shelley Pearsall’s writing is lovely and her story compelling. All the characters are fully formed and relatable. And what a delight to discover there is a strong connection to a real person with a most interesting history. 

I have a gently-read hardback copy of this book 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.

Lost in the Sun -- Review and Giveaway

Thought for the Day:

“A writer needs three things, experience, observation, and imagination, any two of which, at times any one of which, can supply the lack of the others.” 

~ William Faulkner ~

Gifts for My Writer Friends:

Janice Hardy has a guest post by James Tuck on her Fiction University blog HERE that will give you tips to make your writing life easier. 

K. M. Weiland has so many good things on her blog. The one HERE is on creating multiple antagonists. Check it out. 

I don’t know if I have linked to any of Randy Ingermanson’s posts here, but now and then he has a really good one. HERE you will find a helpful post on backstory and flashbacks. 

I have just spent hours on the phone trying to get our main credit card straightened out. I received a text as we were coming home after the theatre and dinner with our daughters and grandkids when I got a text from Citibank asking if we had charged almost $300 at Sheikh Shoes in Hayward, California -- about 115 miles from where we live. Someone had been busy around the Bay area with our credit card and, thanks to Citibank's vigilance, we stopped them in their tracks after only five fraudulent charges. Check your accounts often. There are bad people out there.

When I last posted, I promised one of you an ARC of Ruby Lee and Me by Shannon Hitchcock. This week's winner is Greg Pattridge. If you don't know Greg, he is a writer of middle-grade novels, a brave middle-school teacher, a Cybils judge, and blogs twice a week at Always in the Middle with lots of excellent books reviews and other good information. Check it out HERE. Congratulations, Greg! I will get the book out to you this week. For the rest of you, please keep reading for another giveaway.

Some time ago, I won a copy of Lost in the Sun by Lisa Graff. Sure wish I could remember where I won it. (Blushing here.) I've had it in my TBR pile for months, but I didn't have time until we went with our kids and grandkids to Lake Tahoe for four relaxing days this week. Three books and two jigsaw puzzles is a perfect mini-vacation for me. This book came out last May, and I know I'm late to the party, but I'm sure not everyone has read this wonderful book, so I'd like to tell you about it. 

Trent Zimmerman is about to start sixth grade and is sure it will be a better year for him. He wants it to be. It almost has to be. His fifth grade year is marked by -- no, emblazoned with -- one horrible moment during a pick-up hockey game when a puck came off Trent's stick and hit Jared Richards in the chest, discovering a heart defect no one knew Jared had until he died that day. That alone is enough, maybe too much, for most kids to handle. But Trent's father has left his mother and married a much younger woman who is about to have a baby. Trent has two brothers and the younger one has become close friend of Jared's sister who radiates hatred toward Trent, or so it seems to him. Trent is carrying so much anger and guilt inside, it's amazing he can function. 

Sixth grade turns out not the be the fresh start Trent is hoping for. His homeroom teacher seems like an old crone and his gym teacher isn't much better. There is a school bully who likes to pick on him. But there is one bright spot -- Fallon Little. She has a horrible scar across her face, but she has a great smile and an even better attitude. She decides she and Trent are going to be friends and, as much as Trent pushes her away, that's just how much she pushes her way in. And this is just what Trent needs. 

Lisa Graff

Lisa Graff somehow manages to channel a twelve-year-old boy and lets Trent tell his own story in an absolutely true voice. It's an amazing coming-of-age story of loss, anger, and friendship that will resonate with anyone lucky enough to get their hands on this book. To facilitate that, I am offering my own gently-read ARC to 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.

Ruby Lee and Me -- Review and Giveaway

Thought for the Day:

“One day I will find the right words, and they will be simple.”

~ Jack Kerouac ~

Gifts for My Writer Friends:

K. M. Weiland has a very good post HERE on avoiding the deadly anticlimactic ending. Check it out. 

Janice Hardy will help you avoid too much backstory with her post HERE. 

Kim van Alkemade has a terrific guest post on The Writer’s Dig about research for writing historical fiction. Click HERE to read it.

Let me start by wishing all of you a happy Christmas and wonderful New Year. I doubt I will be here for the next two weeks, but who knows. Sometimes I think I won't have the time or energy to write a post and then everything changes. In any case, I will be back soon.

When last we met, I offered a copy of Big Top Burning by Laura A. Woollett. The winner this time is Jess Haight, one of the authors of The Secret Files of Fairway Morrow and someone who happens to live in Connecticut, where Big Top Burning takes place. You can find Jess at her blog HERE and read more about her book, answer some riddles, and other fun things. Congratulations, Jess. I will get the book out to you this week.

I fell in love with the writing of Shannon Hitchcock a couple years ago when I read her debut novel, The Ballad of Jessie Pearl, which went on to win a Crystal Kite Award. I wrote about it HERE on my blog if you happened to miss it.  It's a terrific book. So I was very excited when I heard she had a new book coming out. I was not disappointed. I lived it just as much. Here is the review of Ruby Lee and Me I wrote for San Francisco Book Review.

Sarah is supposed to be watching her little sister, Robin, when she hears screeching brakes and screams. Everything changes. Robin is in the hospital, and Sarah moves to her grandparents farm while everyone waits for Robin to wake up. Granny’s neighbor Miss Irene’s granddaughter Ruby Lee is Sarah’s best friend. Being with her makes waiting tolerable. Robin’s healing is long and hard. Hospital bills mount, and Sarah’s parents sell their house and move near the farm. Sarah will have to start a new school. At least she will have her best friend. But Granny warns Sarah since she is white and Ruby Lee is black and North Carolina schools are just integrating (it’s 1969), their friendship best be kept at home.

“This house was like opening a box of underwear on 

Christmas morning. It wasn’t a present I would have

pick out, but I’d put it to good use anyway.”

Shannon Hitchcock has written a rich, complex story set in a time and place

Shannon Hitchcock

filled with tension. The first-person narrative in the voice of 12-year-old Sarah is pitch perfect, the characters are well-rounded and absolutely believable, the story is compelling, and the writing is beautiful. This is the kind of coming-of-age story that should become a staple in middle-grade classrooms. Kids will love it, but it deserves a much wider audience.

I have an ARC of this book I would be happy to send to 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.

Big Top Burning -- Review and Giveaway

Thought for the Day:

"Love what you do and do what you love. Don't listen to anyone else 

who tells you not to do it. You do what you want, what you love. 

Imagination should be the center of your life." 

~ Ray Bradbury ~

Gifts for My Writer Friends:

We can all learn from the masters. HERE is a list of 36 Killer writing tips from Stephen King. 

Cutting scenes is really hard to do, but Erika Wassall has an excellent post HERE on Kathy Temean’s Writing and Illustrating to help you with that. 

Anne R. Allen, along with Catherine Ryan Hyde, has a terrific post on rejections — how to handle them and what you can learn from them. Click HERE to check it out.

I hope you all had a lovely Thanksgiving. It is my favorite holiday and we had lots of good food and family time. Now comes the quick march to Christmas. We will all be busy, I know, and I will be particularly so with the move and all, so I will be here when I can and hope for your patience when I can't.

Last time, I offered an ARC of Mister Max: The Book of Kings by Cynthia Voigt to one of you. This week's winner is Elizabeth Varadan. If you haven't met Elizabeth, she is the author of Imogene and the Case of the Missing Pearls which I reviewed HERE. Elizabeth also writes two blogs -- Elizabeth Varadan's Fourth Wish and Victorian Scribbles. If you click on the titles, you can visit them. Congratulations, Elizabeth. I will get your book to you soon. For the rest of you, I have another terrific giveaway, so please keep reading.

If you have read my blog for awhile, you know I love history. I have been reading quite a bit of middle-grade and tween non-fiction lately, The book I will tell you about this time falls into that category and it is terrific. Big Top Burning: The True Story of an Arsonist, a Missing Girl, and the Greatest Show on Earth by Laura A. Woollett is a fascinating story. Here is the review I wrote for the Manhattan Book Review.

It was a hot July afternoon in 1944 when the Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus came to Hartford, Connecticut. Even as World War II raged and many fathers were gone, this was an exciting day for many. Since the circus train had been late, the Saturday matinee was cancelled.

Consequently, Sunday’s matinee was a full house with over 6000 people crowded into the big top. Because of the lateness of getting the tent up the day before, some things were left undone. Perhaps most importantly, fire extinguishers were not placed around the arena. Some of the staff had to leave their posts at the seats to help move chutes blocking exits after the animal act. Suddenly, flames appeared high up on the side of the tent. Thus began the worst circus tragedy to date.

“Donald was safe in the comforting arms of his aunts and uncles. 

Doctors and nurses cared for Mildred at Municipal Hospital, and 

Edward had gone to a place where pain could no longer touch 

him. But where was Donald’s sister, Eleanor?”

To write a book about such a terrible event that is for young readers is a difficult

Laura A. Woollett

task, but author Laura A. Woollett has used impeccable research and personal stories of people involved to tell the story in a way young people will find fascinating and will inspire them to learn more. This is non-fiction at its very best.

I have a hardback copy of this book I would be happy to send to 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.