Unbound -- Review and Giveaway

Thought for the Day:

“Much of writing might be described as mental pregnancy with 

successive difficult deliveries.” 

~ J.B. Priestley, author ~ 

Gifts for My Writer Friends:

The Group Blog has a good post HERE with great reminders about Active vs. Passive sentences. Making the change can help get rid of extra words. Just sayin’. 

Alex Limberg did a guest post HERE on Kristen Lamb’s blog all about world building. For those of you who write fantasy and scifi, this is a must read. 

I read a self-published book recently for review and the dialogue really stood out — and not in a good way. K. M. Weiland has an excellent post HERE about the very problem this author had. 

I'm still having spacing problems around imported pictures. I hope you don't find this too distracting. I can't figure out how to fix this.

Last week, I offered a gently-read hardcover copy of The Thing About Leftovers by C. C. Payne to one of you. The roll of the dice goes to Patricia Tilton this week. Congratulations, Patricia! I will get the book out to you this week. If you don't know her, Patricia is a children's book writer with a focus on children with special needs. You can read more about her and also read some of her wonderful book reviews on her blog HERE. Not the winner this week? Stay tuned. I have another terrific book to give away. 

I have been reading a lot of novels in verse in the last couple years. They are certainly becoming more popular and there are more of them. I must admit, sometimes I wonder if some are really written in verse or if they are just short novels with an interesting use of white space. This is not that. Unbound by Ann E. Burg is surprisingly lyrical considering it is told in first person from the viewpoint of a young slave girl with a strong dialect. Here is the review I wrote for the San Francisco Book Review.

Grace is only nine years old, but when one is a slave – Age doesn’t matter. Being old enough to work is old enough, especially when one has an uncaring master and a mistress who is mean as a hungry gator and vengeful as a startled skunk. Grace is ripped from her mother and brothers and taken to serve in the big house. She really has to watch herself and never let her thoughts slip out between her lips; not an easy task for a smart and headstrong girl like Grace. When she slips up, she puts her mother and brothers in great danger, and they have no choice but to go on the run. The road to freedom is fraught with peril and worry. 

Author Ann E. Burg tells this compelling tale of a little-known trail into the Great

Ann E. Burg

Dismal Swamp where some runaway slaves found refuge and freedom still within the Deep South. And she tells this tale entirely in verse, using the deeply-accented voice of her uneducated, stubborn main character, nine-year-old Grace. It is a powerful story that stands as a testament to those brave souls who survived so much. Don’t miss this one.

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.