Books! Books! Books!

And hey, it's Monday!
I can join the IT'S MONDAY, WHAT ARE YOU READING gang.

I've been thinking about Boy v. Girl books. I don't like that division but I'm willing to admit that there are some girls and some boys who like certain types of books better than others. Often, publishers push this with their cover designs.

But recently at our monthly workshop for the Tampa Bay area SCBWI group (The subject matter of the workshop taught so well by Nancy Stewart was Genre Jumping. We explored ways to connect your books and keep your readers, even if the books are different genres or sub-genres.), somebody asked if it was okay to write a boy character if you're female. And vice versa.

I can't imagine a hard and fast rule about this.
Having read many books written by male authors, with female protagonists, that I loved, I don't want to restrict this, not even a little bit.
(Hello, The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise! Written by a guy!) 

The best book I read this week might seem to lean toward being a boy-ISH book. 
I don't think so! Such a good book- for anybody!
ON THIN ICE.  
Loved Esme, the female supporting character, written by a guy of course. (She has a clever connection to the story. Excellent plotting!)
Some of the many things I loved about ON THIN ICE:
1. It's funny. The main character has so many issues-- physical, emotional, family-related, school problems. But he pretty much keeps his sense of humor through everything. 
2. It's fast-paced. I have a ton of admiration for writers who know how to do this.
3. The cover is totally cool. 

Another novel I finished last week that took me by surprise. Mostly because I knew so little, really nothing, about the history behind it.
Here's a bit of the review I wrote for UNDER THE BROKEN SKY by Mariko Nagai.

Natsu lives on a farm in Manchuria where she and her young sister are lovingly cared for by their father. But when he’s conscripted into the Japanese army and the Soviets occupy their country, Natsu and Asa must make a grueling escape. The 1945 Soviet occupation and the loss of  the woman who’s cared for them create an unbearable situation, and the older sister sells Asa to a Russian woman. A detailed Afterword enhances this period in history and the resulting refugee experience.

I suspect this story will be new to young readers and to many adults. Suggested for ages 10-14. 

I'm rereading LIZZIE BRIGHT AND THE BUCKMINSTER BOY by Gary Schmidt. Everything he writes astounds me. I'm wowed by his perfect use of "close first" person. A POV I really love but man, is it hard to write well!
 

For the first time in eons, I read a bunch of PICTURE BOOKS. 
All so very good. More on these soon.

Grownup books I've been reading:
New to me, author Ann Cleeves's RAVEN BLACK. Because I'm still on a British detective/ mystery kick and I'm getting in the proper mindset for the new Starz series, Dublin Murders based on the books by Tana French. 
Also, THE LAST ROMANTICS for a book club. Jury is out on this one. A fast read, but I saw the plot twist coming a mile away. Hate when that happens...


And now it's time to scurry around all the fun IT'S MONDAY WHAT ARE YOU READING POSTS, which you can find and link to HERE.

What I'm Doing Now: Reading Wendy Shang

Although you might assume differently from the picture, no, I'm not reading while sipping a lime-flavored drink and watching the birds.

But I am doing a spring-like thing. Reading a book about a spring sport!





I just finished Wendy Wan-Long Shang's new book-to-be. Thank you, Scholastic, for sending me the Advance Reading Copy (ARC). I adored this one!

I have added it to my list of favorite baseball books. 
Which, come to think of it, consists of TWO baseball books. 

THE WAY HOME LOOKS NOW.
PLUNKED (by Michael Northrop).

What I like about this new book (coming April 2015 but ready for pre-order now):

1. The subtle baseball references. Even the title!

2. Wendy managed to sneak in some timely (1972) references that kids might not totally get or even care about but I sure laughed.

Ms. Rowe is the first teacher at my school to use Ms., which , as far as I could figure, was meant to blend Miss and Mrs. What no one has been able to explain to me though is what Ms. is short for.

Oh, how I often wondered that myself, Peter!

3. There's a plot twist that surprised me. At first, I wasn't sure it was going to work. But under the masterful hands of Wendy Shang, it was perfectly executed. She convinced me and I know young readers will totally buy it. And love everything about this book, as I did.

Although baseball is a huge part of this middle-grade novel, THE WAY HOME LOOKS NOW is about so much more than baseball.

Anybody have more books to add to my growing list of spring sports/ baseball books? You know, we are gearing up for spring training down here!

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?

ARCs: a Quick Story in Pictures

This morning I'm thinking about ARCs.
No, not the character or the plot kind, though goodness knows I've been worrying over those lately. Fine-tooth combing the heck out of a few wandering Plot Arcs.
But that's a story for another blogpost.

These are the ARCs I'm talking about.

For those of you who get these Advanced Reading Copies of forthcoming books, you know what I mean. This is a TINY stack that happened to be within rolling distance of my desk chair this morning.

Many are unrequested, sent via mail or UPS by publishers, agents and authors.
Some are picked up at ALA, BEA, or any of those other initial shows you may be so lucky to get sent to.

To learn how a professional chooses from her much taller stack than mine,
check out what the fabulous Professor Nana says HERE .
Great list of ways to pick your next book, BTW!

Click to read what Wikipedia has to say on the topic of
 ARCs, AREs (Advanced Readers/ Reading Editions) or even galleys.

(What I think of as a galley doesn't look much like a book and somehow seems not as much fun to read. See below, the big one in the middle...)

(I took this picture on my deck early this morning and titled it Arcs On Deck, for identification. Then it occured to me. Yes, three of them are On Deck, next up, ready to be reviewed!)

They are not meant to be sold. I try to pass mine along to new readers if I don't want to save forever.
Most publishers- all publishers?- make it very clear that they are NOT FOR SALE...

(An aside. Although the ones I've read have been amazingly kind and positive, I try to stay away from Goodreads/ Amazon, etc. reviews of my own book. But last night someone sent me a pretty funny review of Glory Be via Amazon. The reviewer, who actually is a person I knew as a child, mistakenly bought an ARC and gave the book a "1."
My only Amazon #1, which is not good. 4 and 5 are good...
:)
She was disappointed that it wasn't a "REAL book." Though she loved the words inside.
About three people commented and set her straight. Thank you, whoever you are, nice people who commented.)


My most recent review for the Christian Science Monitor was a collection of YA Summer Reads and I got to include a book whose cover made me open it the day the mail came! Love, love, love the cover of Michael Northrop's new book, Rotten, not to mention the words inside.

Next up, one of the most delightful books I've read in a while. That fabulous mouse tale from Richard Peck.  Newly arrived, with publicity info from the publisher. Also cracked open upon arrival. And read in one sitting.

Now you know a bit about ARCs. Hopefully enough so that you won't buy one by mistake, anywhere. But if you do- hey, you never know!  They could eventually be valuable.
Hang on to them if you love them!

 Now. Back to those pesky plot arcs...

I love Texas!

If anybody ever invites you to the Texas Library Association's annual conference, go.

And if you ever hear of a breakfast sponsored by Scholastic, don't miss that either.
Writers get to act! A lot of writers are true hams.

The amazing team from Scholastic created Readers Theater scripts from our books. We read them, with feeling, while 200 librarians enjoyed a fabulous breakfast and got free books. What could be better?

Glory's team rocked! Elizabeth Eulberg was a sassy Jesslyn. She flounced with the best of them. Maggie Stiefvater's Glory = perfect! Of course, she had an advantage, being from Virginia.
And Michael Northrop killed with his lines, "Now, girls..." (Or rather noaw girrrlllsss.) and "Lemme think on it."

With very little practice, they perfected their drawls. Way to go, Yankees (and Maggie)!

We all have books just out or coming out, with Scholastic. Check them out!

And for those of you who may be contemplating casting a play that requires a bit of South Speak.
Resources here:

USA Deep South

And how about this?

Baseball: Plunked

Okay. Maybe I just lost some of my usual followers.
Baseball? Plunked? What tangent is she off on this time? But stick with me here. This is a book. A very funny one.

Our publisher, Scholastic, sent me an Advanced Readers Copy of Michael Northrop's new book, PLUNKED. I don't know Michael but we are going to meet at the fabulous (so I'm told) TEXAS LIBRARY ASSOCIATION Meeting in just two weeks. Can't wait. More on that later.







Don't get me wrong. It's not that I don't love baseball. I lived shouting distance from the old Memorial Stadium, home of the Orioles. Sigh.

So I get the Cal Ripkin references. Now I cheer loud and long, even in person on occasion, for my new home team. Go Rays!

But I don't often pick up a book I assume is so obviously going to appeal to middle-school boys, or at least sports fans. One so obviously about baseball. I thought I'd page through the book quickly. Just to be able to say, "Hey, Michael, nice to meet you. I liked your book" when we're sharing in Texas.

By page 35, chapter 6, I was laughing my head off. There's more to this book than baseball.

Don't take my word for it. Check out these funny passages.

Narrator Jack's parents are off to an Awesome Eighties concert.  

The show features not one, not two, but three bands I know nothing about. The funniest thing about it is seeing my parents getting all dressed up...Mom emerges from the bathroom with a hair cliff above her forehead and a faded T-shirt that says "The Go-Go's" on it. Her sneakers could not be any pinker.

And what does she say to her son?  

"I've got the beat!"

Yes, I know. Mortification. (And really, these parents are very nice, not that weird. Quite well portrayed if you're a parent reading and wondering.)

Jackson's dad's dressed in a polo shirt the color of pistachio ice cream. Can't you just see a kid wincing over these parents? Truly, this Northrup guy is really funny.

I also love the beginning of Chapter 12.
A kid's view of Friday night:

There are all of those songs and stuff about Friday night, but there's not much to it when you're twelve. I guess the big thing is that there's no school for two days, so you don't have to do any homework... No homework is good, but I don't' think anyone has ever written a song about it."

I totally enjoyed this book. In the words of Jack, Yeah. He aced it. And I haven't even touched on the baseball stuff, which I also loved.

And I somehow miraculously received TWO copies of PLUNKED, and it's your lucky day.
I'm sharing.

Kids who love sports--girls and boys, readers who like to laugh, teachers and librarians, check it out!
Leave me a comment on the blog or on this FACEBOOK post, and I'll enter your name for the ARC of Plunked.

I leave for Texas on April 17th, so let's give this Freebie a week to play out. Contest ends April 10th.

Flying Starts

Great story from Publisher's Weekly, re: debut children's authors. The "Flying Start" award, given to four outstanding books. Check it out!

1. The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly. She got the idea for the novel thinking about the house in Austin, TX where she lives, in the days before air-conditioning.

2. Heart of a Shepherd by Rosanne Parry. Main character is a boy whose father has been shipped off to war in Iraq.

3. Gentleman by Michael Northrop. a "dark, dread-soaked mystery" (wow!)

4. Because I am Furniture by Thalia Chaltas. A Young Adult novel-in-verse.