Some of you may be surprised to learn that until I read this post by agent Suzie Townsend on Claire LeGrand’s blog a few weeks ago, I’d never heard of THE WESTING GAME. When I mentioned it to my husband, he said that, like Suzie, he read THE WESTING GAME in school. At that point,…
reading
YA Series Recommendation: Kiersten White’s PARANORMALCY Trilogy
Like many others out there, I’ve been anxiously awaiting the final installment in the PARANORMALCY trilogy by Kiersten White. Since I prefer paperbacks (they’re not so heavy!), I was waiting quite impatiently in the hold line at the library for ENDLESSLY. Then a fairy godmother appeared in the form of Shannon Messenger, who hosted #StealShannonsBooks…
MMGM: THREE TIMES LUCKY
I love getting recommendations from other writers. In this case, Krista Van Dolzer saw one of my MMGM tweets and said I should cover THREE TIMES LUCKY by Sheila Turnage. I immediately requested it from the library, and it was waiting for me when I returned from the cruise. (Krista also did a review. Go…
MMGM: LIESL & PO
I had this book queued up on my Kindle when Shannon Messenger reviewed it a few weeks ago, so I was very excited to read it. I’m not sure what I expected. It reminded me of BREADCRUMBS by Anne Ursu–the language, darkness and magic. Despair is evident throughout, but the novel left me with a…
MMGM: A FAREWELL TO CHARMS
If you’ve read my query letter in a contest or my post on where I get my ideas, you already know I’m a big fan of Lindsey Leavitt’s PRINCESS FOR HIRE series. So of course I had to pick up the final book as soon as it came out. If you haven’t read the first…
MMGM: THE HERO’S GUIDE TO SAVING YOUR KINGDOM
As you’re reading this post, I’m somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean on an epic family cruise (note to crazies: I have a house sitter and an alarm system). I’ve read so many great middle grade books lately I didn’t want to miss a week of MMGM and scheduled this one in advance….
MMGM: THE SEVENTH LEVEL
I’ve been meaning to read THE SEVENTH LEVEL ever since I saw it on the local authors table at the Missouri SCBWI conference in 2010. I’m excited to feature a book from a fellow St. Louisan. I’ve read a couple lately, although the other one (KATANA by Cole Gibsen) was a YA book. In both…
MMGM: THE STRANGE CASE OF ORIGAMI YODA
I first learned about THE STRANGE CASE OF ORIGAMI YODA on the agent’s* Twitter feed, but I didn’t decide to read it until I saw it crop up repeatedly in an impromptu Twitter survey of the best recent middle grade books. I figured if that many people recommended it, I should pick it up, too….
MMGM: BREADCRUMBS
I’m sure BREADCRUMBS has already been covered by someone for Marvelous Middle Grade Monday, but I’m going to do it anyway. There was so much hype about this book when it came out–and not just from the author’s agent* and publisher, both of whom I follow on Twitter. I had read one other book by…
MMGM: THE DEAD GENTLEMAN
I mentioned last week that I’ve found a few new middle grade authors through my agent search*, and here’s another one – Matthew Cody. I read POWERLESS last summer and loved the way he turned things upside down with a main character who doesn’t have superpowers. When THE DEAD GENTLEMAN came out last fall, I…
MMGM: THE FOURTH STALL PART II
Twitter doesn’t give me enough characters to gush about the books I’m reading, so I’ve decided to join in Marvelous Middle Grade Mondays, created by author Shannon Messenger. Basically, she put out a call for bloggers to post about middle grade books each Monday. I’ve found several books to read this way, so I’m going…
How Writing Changed My Reading Habits
I’ve always loved to read. My parents have a picture of me reading a book at age two. I’m sure I wasn’t actually reading at two, but my love of books goes back that far. I was the kid who would stay inside to read instead of going out to play. The outdoors–with weather, bugs…
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