LOST IN THE SUN

I'm a fan of Lisa Graff's books. 
You can plug her name into my blog's search box and find several mentions. 
Check it out HERE.

I finished her newest novel right after we sat next to each other at our BOOKS OF WONDER panel. Really, you won't find a nicer, funnier person to share a table with than Lisa. We had some great questions that day from the audience. 
(One young book enthusiast asked what books had influenced or inspired us. Lisa answered HOLES, among others.)

Three Things I really like about LOST IN THE SUN:






1. Fallon Little. What a great character. Unusual girls are not easy to write, let me just say (from experience). 
Lisa has created a likeable, funny, smart, but not necessarily the expected sassy and spunky girl. 
I love Fallon.

2. The emotions in this book are so true to middle-graders, especially one who's angry at himself, at life, at his family. Writing kids' honest reactions to situations can be difficult. 

Check p. 138 to see what I mean. 

For example:

Fire in my chest.
Intestines boiling.
Fingertips twitching with heat.
Pull.
Smack
Kick and yell.

Trent is mad. And with a good reason. Lisa writes it so well.

3. A teacher who isn't perfect, isn't universally loved, but is exactly what Trent needs, even if he doesn't realize it. Love Ms. Emerson.

And now, of course, there has to be a follow-up to this book. I'm hoping Fallon's story is going to be told. 
Okay, Lisa? 
How long do I have to wait?

Words of Wisdom From Books of Wonder

 BOOKS OF WONDER.    (the link)

Yesterday's Middle Grade event was The Best!
Check out the fabulous authors.
Christ Grabenstein
Dan Krokos
M.E. Castle
Lee Bacon




True confessions. I was there to hear two in particular.

Wendy Mass and Richard Peck.
(I stole Wendy's Facebook post for the picture. She won't mind, I'm sure.) 


Both have new books hot off the press.
I'm reviewing Peck's THE MOUSE WITH THE QUESTION MARK TAIL right now. I absolutely love it. Ages 10 and up, according to Dial Books (thank you for the ARC, publicists!). But really, I think good readers as young as 8 will totally get it.

Wendy's newest, PI IN THE SKY, is waiting. I've known Wendy since she popped into the Chatham Library where I worked a few years ago. She's smart, funny and full of great ideas.   
One of my very favorite books by Wendy is Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life. Oh, wait, I also adore Every Soul a Star.

I could go on and on.

Both Wendy and Richard answered the terrific questions with such humor. But I didn't dig out my notebook to scribble down quotes until the end so I won't quote the other authors, though much of their wisdom was worth remembering.

Richard Peck was the last to speak...

"Our readers don't read reviews."

"When I get a page exactly the way I want it, I take out 20 words."

"Focus on your first scene. Because if the reader doesn't like that, he won't read the rest."

"When you get your first line, the whole thing unfolds for you."
(on the perfect First Line, which his new book totally has!)

"Your characters must sound like real people. Not like the author."
(on why he reads everything aloud)

All of the above are pretty much verbatim from Mr. Peck.
Glad I found that notebook.



Authors in the audience     ☞

Michael Northrop. Love his new book, ROTTEN.


Florida Friends!  New and old.

Sue Laneve was one of my very first Florida writer connections.
I just met Leslie Zampetti, former Tampa resident, now in NYC. 

You just never know who you'll run into at BOOKS OF WONDER, do you?