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.