Congratulations to Clara Gillow Clark who was over-the-top excited to win Darcy Pattison's book, 30 Days to a Stronger Novel. ****** I am late to the party celebrating WONDER’s impact on the literary world. I’d heard of the book but didn’t cross paths with it until I received a copy at last year's mid-year SCBWI-Florida… Continue reading WONDER: A Review and a Giveaway
After reading Guardian, which I blogged about last week, I was curious about some of the choices Mr. Lester made while writing this thought-provoking book. I contacted him through Facebook and he graciously allowed me to post his answers here. Carol: How did you decide to write this in the omniscient point-of-view? Or maybe it’s the… Continue reading Julius Lester on Multiple POV, Backstories, and Finding the Right Publisher
Congratulations to Sheri Levy who won LIKE A RIVER on last week's blog. Thanks to many of you who entered this popular giveaway. Ironically, Sheri is the reason for this week's review. Read on! ********* As my faithful blog readers know, I generally read and review middle grade or young adult books, but every now and… Continue reading The Hanged Man's Noose: A Glass Dolphin Mystery– A Review and a Giveaway
Congratulations to Clara Gillow Clark who won "Diary of a Waitress" off last week's blog. ******* Fans of Between the Lines, a young adult novel that crosses back and forth between fantasy and contemporary fiction, will be happy with the recent release of Off the Page (Delacurte Press, 2015); the companion book which Jodi Picoult wrote in collaboration with… Continue reading Off the Page by Jodi Picoult and Samantha Van Leer
This new young adult novel by Atia Abawi, a foreign news correspondent stationed in Afghanistan during the war, has all the elements of Romeo and Juliet: young lovers from families of different social status and backgrounds, parents who disapprove of their relationship, a jealous cousin, deaths of innocent secondary characters, and a clandestine marriage performed by a sympathetic… Continue reading The Secret Sky:A Novel of Forbidden Love in Afghanistan and A Giveaway
Congratulations to Vida Zuljevic who won the good braider audio recording in last week's giveaway. I met Diane Chamberlain at WNBA's Bibliofeast in 2013 and purchased her book, Necessary Lies, despite telling myself that I had enough books and wasn't going to buy one more! But when I saw it was set in North Carolina and written from… Continue reading Necessary Lies- A Review and a Giveaway!