POISON--Marvelous Monday Blog Tour

I'm taking a break from my normal MMGM (and from my 50th birthday celebrations, which have been stretching on for days) to celebrate the release of POISON, the debut of the late Bridget Zinn.

Bridget was only 33 when she died from cancer in 2011, with her book under contract. She and her husband, Barrett Dowell, had moved to Oregon from Wisconsin, and the first I ever heard of Bridget was the auction that our local SCBWI chapter held for her to help with her medical bills. Sad to say, I never got the chance to meet her, but in her short time in Oregon she made many friends and touched many hearts.

I am thoroughly enjoying POISON, with its spunky heroine, its whimsical humor, and its adventure. Here is what it's about:

Sixteen-year-old Kyra, a highly-skilled potions master, is the only one who knows her kingdom is on the verge of destruction—which means she's the only one who can save it. Faced with no other choice, Kyra decides to do what she does best: poison the kingdom's future ruler, who also happens to be her former best friend. But, for the first time ever, her poisoned dart…misses. Now a fugitive instead of a hero, Kyra is caught in a game of hide-and-seek with the king's army and her potioner ex-boyfriend, Hal. At least she's not alone. She's armed with her vital potions, a too-cute pig, and Fred, the charming adventurer she can't stop thinking about. Kyra is determined to get herself a second chance (at murder), but will she be able to find and defeat the princess before Hal and the army find her?

Kyra is not your typical murderer, and she's certainly no damsel-in-distress—she's the lovable and quick-witted hero of this romantic novel that has all the right ingredients to make teen girls swoon.

About Bridget:

Bridget grew up in Wisconsin. She went to the county fair where she met the love of her life, Barrett Dowell. They got married right before she went in for exploratory surgery which revealed she had colon cancer. They christened that summer the "summer of love" and the two celebrated with several more weddings. Bridget continued to read and write until the day she died. Her last tweet was "Sunshine and a brand new book. Perfect."

Bridget wanted to make people laugh and hoped readers would enjoy spending time with the characters she created. As a librarian/writer she loved books with strong young women with aspirations. She also felt teens needed more humorous reads. She really wanted to write a book with pockets of warmth and happiness and hoped that her readers' copies would show the watermarks of many bath time reads.

I can't think of anything sadder for a writer than not to hold a precious copy of his or her debut book. It is wonderful that many hands have been holding Bridget's book, and enjoying the fruits of her creative and ingenious mind. Please consider buying a copy, or asking your local library to order a copy. Sunshine, and a brand new book to you all.

Here's where you can buy POISON:

Barnes & Noble   POISON

IndieBound  

iTunes Bookstore POISON

Powell's Books 

And, if you must, Amazon 

Add Poison to your Goodreads pile! 

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday: ALMOST HOME

ALMOST HOME by Joan Bauer (Viking, 2012)

Hey, it's my second week in a row featuring a novel with a dog on the cover. (And isn't that just the sweetest looking dog?) But, despite the cover dogs and despite being Cybils' finalists, ALMOST HOME and FOURMILE couldn't be more different.

HERE'S WHAT IT'S ABOUT: (via Goodreads)

When twelve-year-old Sugar's grandfather dies and her gambling father takes off yet again, Sugar and her mother lose their home in Missouri. They head to Chicago for a fresh start, only to discover that fresh starts aren't so easy to come by for the homeless. Nevertheless, Sugar's mother has taught her to be grateful no matter what, so Sugar does her best. With the help of a rescue dog, Shush; a foster family; a supportive teacher; a love of poetry; and her own grace and good humor, Sugar comes to understand that while she can't control the hand life deals her, she can control how she responds.

OPENING LINES: 

"Mr. Bennett walked into room 212 carrying a plastic bag. He smoothed his sweatshirt that read DEATH TO STEREOTYPES, tucked Claus his rubber chicken under his arm, raised one eyebrow, and jumped on his desk. He opened the bag, lifted a loaf of bread in the air and shouted, "Sell it to me."

(My note: This is an interesting opening, as it starts with an adult, and we don't know until several paragraphs later that this is even a first person narrator.)


WHY I LIKED IT:

Sugar Mae Cole, the MC, is sweet, spunky, and a survivor. She finds herself having to fill an adult role for her mother, who has what used to be called a nervous breakdown when the two of them move to Chicago to find work.

The adult characters are also nicely drawn. Mr. Bennett, Sugar's first language arts teacher, is the sort of teacher we'd all wish for our kids to have. The foster parents are also upstanding and caring. The "villain" is Sugar's father, who has a gambling problem and is a total flim-flam artist. We are glad when Sugar refuses to be taken in by him again.

Dogs. The dogs in this novel are the greatest. Shush, the puppy Sugar 'rescues,' is adorable, as is the old hound, Merlin, whom she takes to walking through her new Chicago neighborhood. Be warned: tears will be shed over these dogs.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

ALMOST HOME is Joan Bauer's 11th novel. Her novel, HOPE WAS HERE, was a Newbery Honor winner in 2000. She lives in Brooklyn, New York, with her computer scientist husband, Evan Bauer, and their wheaten terrier, Max. 

Joan Bauer's website

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday: FOURMILE

FOURMILE by Watt Key (Farrar Strauss Giroux, 2012)

What it's About (Goodreads blurb): 

Twelve-year-old Foster knows in his gut that Dax Ganey, the man dating his widowed mother, is a bad seed. Then a mysterious stranger arrives at their Alabama farm, a former Army Ranger in Iraq rambling across the country, and Foster believes he has found an ally against Dax. The stranger proves a fascinating mentor, full of wisdom and secrets. And Dax soon has reason to resent not just him and Foster but also Foster’s mother. A spurned Dax will be a dangerous enemy, but Foster is increasingly aware that the stranger is just as dangerous, if not more so.

Opening Lines: 

I heard Mother calling, but I didn't answer. I lay in the scattered hay and stared at the afternoon sunbeams angling through the big bay doors of the barn. Against the wall were damp, moldy bales that had been in the same place for over a year. They smelled more of wet dirt and decay than anything fresh-cut. Two sheets of tin had blown off the roof during the winter and the place was rotting. There was too much to do now. Mother and I couldn't keep up."

Why I Liked It:

This novel was a Cybils finalist, and I found it a compelling, if tough read. As you can see from the opening lines, Watt Key is a master of setting and does a beautiful job of describing this rundown farm on the edge of the town of Fourmile. The place is going to seed because Foster's (the main character's) father has been killed in an accident and his mother has become involved with a nasty piece of work called Dax Ganey. 

Watt Key also does a marvelous job of creating well-rounded characters, and imbuing their situation with menace. The reader cares about Foster, and whether he and his mother will be able to escape Dax's orbit, while at the same time being drawn into questions about just who Gary--the former army ranger--is.

There are scenes of violence (and animal cruelty) in this book which, while integral to the story, might make it a difficult book for the "tender-hearted" reader. It is certainly at the upper end of middle grade, and might be characterized as a "boy book." If you have a boy in your life who is scrabbling about for something compelling to read, I would recommend taking a look at FOURMILE. 

About The Author:

Watt Key hails from Alabama and is the author of two other novels, Alabama Moon and Dirt Road Home.  You can find out more about him at his website.

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday: Icefall

ICEFALL by Matthew J. Kirby (Scholastic, 2011)

What it's about: (via Goodreads) 
Trapped in a hidden fortress tucked between towering mountains and a frozen sea, Solveig, along with her brother the crown prince, their older sister, and an army of restless warriors, anxiously awaits news of her father's victory at battle. But as winter stretches on, and the unending ice refuses to break, terrible acts of treachery soon make it clear that a traitor lurks in their midst. A malevolent air begins to seep through the fortress walls, and a smothering claustrophobia slowly turns these prisoners of winter against one another.

Those charged with protecting the king's children are all suspect, and the siblings must choose their allies wisely. But who can be trusted so far from their father's watchful eye? Can Solveig and her siblings survive the long winter months and expose the traitor before he succeeds in destroying a kingdom?

Opening Lines: "The fjord is freezing over. I watch it from the edge of our cliff near our hall, and each day the ice claims more of the narrow winding of ocean. It squeezes out the waves and the blue-black water, while it squeezes us in. Just as Father intended it to. Winter is here to wall us up, to bury us in snow and keep us safe."

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Why I liked it: As you can see from the opening lines, the SETTING of the novel is a character in itself. The opening manages to convey two apparently contradictory things: they are trapped, and they are safe. As someone who, shall we say, finds setting a challenge when writing, I enjoyed seeing how Matthew Kirby brought the Nordic-like landscape to life.

I adore the COVER on so many levels. Great colors, and you immediately know you are in some mythic past which will be brimming with action.

Solveig, the narrator, is a very interesting CHARACTER, the plain child who is last-placed of her siblings in her kingly father's affections, but who proves she has strength of character as she works to become a skald or storyteller/minstrel.

There is ACTION aplenty, with the arrival of "berserkers" who are there to protect the children, but are scary in their unpredictability. And there is the constant TENSION, as we wonder who is the traitor. This is one of those rare books that kept me up past my bedtime!

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Awards: ICEFALL won the 2012 Edgar Award for Best Juvenile Mystery and the 2012 PEN Center USA Literary Award for Children's Literature, among many others.

About the Author, from his website: Matthew J. Kirby was born in Utah, but with a father in the navy lived all over: Rhode Island, Maryland, California (twice), and Hawaii. As an undergraduate at Utah State University, he majored in history. He then went on to earn M.S. and Ed. S degrees in school psychology. he lives in Utah with his wife and works as a school psychologist for a large district.

Other novels: The Clockwork Three (Scholastic 2010). Matthew Kirby is also part of the Infinity Ring Series. His book (#5) will appear in September 2013.

Sidenote: Matthew Kirby's agent is my agent too. (Stephen Fraser at The Jennifer De Chiara Literary Agency.) So I am in exalted company!

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday: The Lions of Little Rock

The Lions of Little Rock by Kristin Levine (G.P. Putnam's Sons 2012)

This was a Cybils' MG finalist, and I completely adored it--although I have to admit that the cover did not immediately draw me in. However, once I was involved in the story, I did not want to put it down!

What It's About: (Via Goodreads) Two girls separated by race form an unbreakable bond during the tumultuous integration of Little Rock schools in 1958

Twelve-year-old Marlee doesn't have many friends until she meets Liz, the new girl at school. Liz is bold and brave, and always knows the right thing to say, especially to Sally, the resident mean girl. Liz even helps Marlee overcome her greatest fear - speaking, which Marlee never does outside her family.

But then Liz is gone, replaced by the rumor that she was a Negro girl passing as white. But Marlee decides that doesn't matter. Liz is her best friend. And to stay friends, Marlee and Liz are willing to take on integration and the dangers their friendship could bring to both their families.

Opening Lines: "I talk a lot. Just not out loud where anyone can hear."

What I Liked: You lovers of historical fiction: this one is for you. I admit I am not well-versed in the history of the Civil Rights movement, beyond knowing Martin Luther King Jr. So this was eye-opening for me, that fact that Governor Faubus of Arkansas in 1957 was willing to close down the high schools rather than integrate them.

I really liked Marlee, and her arc was superb. She went from being incredibly shy to being incredibly brave. Her friendship with the more outgoing Liz was beautifully rendered. Kristin Levine also made Marlee's family very well-rounded, with understandable tensions arising between the parents and the children as they all face the fact of segregation and violence in their own way.

There is also quite a bit of action, including a scene where a character is locked in the trunk of a moving car being driven by the story's villain, and a bombing which narrowly misses being fatal.

The writing itself was beautiful and engrossing, and I found myself emotionally moved numerous times. This would be a great novel to read to a 5-8 grade class, or as part of a unit dealing with the civil rights movement.

About the Author: (From the back cover of The Lions of Little Rock) Kristin Levine, author of the critically acclaimed The Best Bad Luck I Ever Had, received her BA in German from Swarthmore College and an MFA in film from American University. She spent a year in Vienna, Austria, working as an au pair and has taught screenwriting at American University. Currently, she lives in Alexandria, Virginia, with her husband and two daughters.

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday: From The Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler

From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler (E.L. Konigsburg, first published 1967)

The Story (from Goodreads): When suburban Claudia Kincaid decides to run away, she knows she doesn’t just want to run from somewhere, she wants to run to somewhere — to a place that is comfortable, beautiful, and, preferably, elegant. She chooses the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Knowing her younger brother Jamie has money and thus can help her with a serious cash-flow problem, she invites him along.

Once settled into the museum, Claudia and Jamie find themselves caught up in the mystery of an angel statue that the museum purchased at auction for a bargain price of $225. The statue is possibly an early work of the Renaissance master, Michelangelo, and therefore worth millions. Is it? Or isn’t it? 

Claudia is determined to find out. Her quest leads her to Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, the remarkable old woman who sold the statue, and to some equally remarkable discoveries about herself.


Why I Liked It:  Okay, so this one's a classic, a Newbery winner, and over 40 years old. Yet I hadn't read it until my son and a couple of his friends decided to film their version of the novel for the 90-second Newbery. I decided to read it too, to see if it stood the test of time.

I have to say it did. The characters are intriguingly quirky, there's a lot of wry humor, and it's a total kid fantasy--I mean, who among us kids hasn't dreamed of escaping from having to live with those pesky grown-ups and their constant demands! Claudia and Jamie's intrepid spirits win us over (even while the grown-up me was worrying about why nobody had recognized the runaways. But that's a modern mindset, in these days of ubiquitous media.)

It's a quick read, so if you've been putting it off it won't take you long to speed through it!

About the 90-second Newbery: This appears to be the brainchild of author James Kennedy. It's a video contest in which filmmakers of any age make movies that tell the entire story of a Newbery award-winning book in 90 seconds or less. The results are shown in New York, Chicago, Portland (!!) and Tacoma. Here's the entry in which my son appears (and we've just had word that it is being screened here in a couple of weeks.)



Finally, I had to laugh at the letter published in the appendix of my 35th anniversary edition of the novel. It's from editor Jean Karl and starts "Since you came in with FROM THE MIXED-UP FILES OF MRS. BASIL E.FRANKWEILER, I have found myself chuckling over it more than once. I have read it only once... I do really want this book. I will be sending you a contract very shortly..." No mention of agents, editorial boards, sales reps not liking it--and all the other stories one hears about in modern publishing. It seems like you could just walk in to a publishing house with your novel and drop it on the editor's desk! (Nowadays, if you tried that, you'd be chased out by security and then made fun of on Twitter.)

Happy Middle Grade Monday, everyone. I look forward to finding out what you've all been reading!

Bye Bye Bloggie

Those two of you who have been following my blogging endeavors from the beginning may know that I initially threw myself into the blogosphere with a blog titled "The Year of Writing Dangerously." (It was only when I stumbled onto the Don and his love for middle grade novels that Middle Grade Mafioso was born.)

The Year of Writing Dangerously came online in February 2010. I intended it to chronicle the 12 months of my concerted effort to "put myself out there," both in social media and in actually querying agents instead of just talking about querying (or wishing that a fairy agent would flit through my window and fly me straight to publishing glory.)

12 months passed in a blur. I found myself--much to my surprise--enjoying the whole blogging thang. I got involved in a meme called Microfiction Monday, which was a blast--140 characters to describe a photo--and which I didn't realize at the time was honing my indomitable skill at Twitter. I started reading craft books, and posted what I learned from them. And then, as one does on the internet, I found literary contests and other cool bloggers and before I knew it I was receiving a paycheck from the Don and signing up to be on the crew of the good ship Project Mayhem.

And I was writing bunches too, and sending out queries and doing all that good stuff. And then the "Year Of" blog was two years old, and I had an agent, and I was reviewing books sent to me by publishers and I was judging the Cybils and I was a regular contributor to Marvelous Middle Grade Monday and... And I noticed that it was kinda hard to keep up with three blogs. So, taking stock of things at the beginning of this year, I have decided to stop at Three Years of Writing Dangerously and concentrate on my Middle Grade Mafiosoing.

Today and tomorrow, there will be a couple of grand posts over at the mother ship before she heads to dry dock. Loads of the lovely writers I have met over the past three years are sharing their Pearls of Writerly Wisdom. There's a lot of good stuff there, and even the Don approves. So, if you have a moment, pop on over, have a look around, pick up a virtual cappuccino e cornetto, and say "hi." We'd love to welcome you to The Year of Writing Dangerously.