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When people talk about music playlists that they wrote their book too, I always pause and think about how I could explain what my own personal playlist is. I'm a very moody writer. Sometimes I want to write where there's lots of background noise and people moving around. Sometimes I have to write in complete solitude. Sometimes I need music and sometimes I need quiet.

But there was an underlying musical theme that was always there in the back of my head as I wrote. And it is simply drums.

Drums are such a huge part of Korean culture that it is definitely an influence in my writing. But, the two drumming scenes I had in my book were both cut out in revision. That's ok. While it wasn't integral to the plot of my story, drums were a big part of what played in my head as I wrote it. So here are some video clips of some awesome Korean drums. I hope you enjoy them!
 







Also take a look here at my FB Prophecy Series page for some cute PROPHECY SWAG that you can win. All you have to do is like the page to be entered in!

Lastly, if you are a book reviewer/blogger/librarian/teacher and would like to request an ARC of PROPHECY. I've got an easy form you you to fill out right here. Thanks!

It’s been almost a year since Gaby Winters was in the car crash that killed her twin brother, Jude. Her body has healed in the sunshine of Pandanus Beach, but her grief is raw and constant.

It doesn’t help that every night in her dreams she kills demons and other hell-spawn. And then Rafa comes to town. Not only does he look exactly like the guy who’s been appearing in Gaby’s dreams, he claims a history with her brother that makes no sense.

Gaby is forced to accept that what she thought she knew about herself and her life is only a shadow of the truth—and that the truth is more likely to be found in the shadows of her nightmares.

Who is Rafa? Who are the Rephaim? And most importantly—who can she trust?

When talking or reading about YA Urban Fantasy or YA Paranomal Romance, I think we’ve all become a little leery over the last few years. There came a time, for me, where I was beginning to get derisive of the genre. I felt maxed out, like there was nothing fresh or new coming through. This, of course, is a heinous lie. There’s always the good, I was just sick of wading through the bad. Upon reflection I have been more than a little unjust.

There are some great books and series out there, you just have to know where to look, or more importantly, who to trust. Not to mention, I think the genre is actually fighting back. You have talent like Laini Taylor with her rich, electrifying and beautifully written, Daughter of Smoke and Bone. Courtney Summers (YA contemporary issue-based writer), who has forayed into the zombie apocalypse with a suicidal teen protagonist with This is Not a Test.

We also have home grown talent, which is where the real gems often lay. I originally had little intention of reading Shadows by Paula Weston, but something began to gnaw at me. There were great reviews beginning to trickle through, people who I liked and trusted were giving it five star ratings, so I said ‘well heck, just go for it.’

Shadows works. It has managed the knack of creating plausibility in an unreality. Fallen angels and their offspring aren’t hanging out on Earth fighting each other and demons, I know this. But if you’re going to write a book about it then you need to make me believe, at the very least, that the dialogue is authentic and the characters could be someone you know. Paula Weston gives us this. She gives us a main character that moves through the book; Gaby isn’t passive and woebegone, too much is happening, she doesn’t have time to laze about! Her reactions to situations weren’t extreme, she took to The Rephaim with the appropriate amount of cynicism and skepticism. The characters felt present and engaged in their own storyline.

Shadows plays into some tropes of the paranormal romance genre, there’s a love triangle technically, but the circumstances around Gaby and her memory add a unique twist to the situation. I also thought it was one of the better written fighting and action scenes I had read in YA.

All in all, Shadows is a fast-paced, page-turner with likable and believable characters. I would advise caution when deciding to recommend it to teenagers, as there is several instances where there is severe language (the F word being the offender) used.

Text Publishing

I know your library’s probably closed for the holiday, but here are some patriotic storytime ideas for when you get back (or next summer… or for Patriot Day in September!):

Books to share:

Olivia Forms a Band by Ian Falconer – When Olivia finds out that there won’t be a band for the evening’s fireworks display, she’s determined to start her own band to play.

Fourth of July Mice by Bethany Roberts – Simple, rhyming text takes us through the day as a family of mice celebrate the Fourth of July, from marching in a parade to playing baseball to sharing sparklers on a summer’s eve.

Meet Our Flag, Old Glory by April Jones Prince – Verse about the flag also contains some information about the flag’s history.

Hats Off for the Fourth of July by Harriet Ziefert – Rhyming text describes the various acts that go by in a Fourth of July parade.

Mouse’s First Summer by Lauren Thompson – Mouse does many summer things in this sweet, simple book, including celebrate the Fourth of July.

Happy 4th of July, Jenny Sweeney! by Leslie Kimmelman – People all over the town get ready for their Fourth of July celebration.

Apple Pie Fourth of July by Janet S. Wong – A Chinese-American girl worries that Americans won’t want to eat the Chinese food her family is preparing at their restaurant, but she’s pleasantly surprised to find out that people DO want to eat Chinese food on July Fourth.

How to Bake an American Pie by Karma Wilson – Rhyming text presents things that make America great: a thirst to be free, a giant melting pot, etc.

Songs:

Sing some patriotic songs or play recordings and march around the room or use scarves, bells, or Mel’s flannel rings (see below) for kids to dance or play along.

Yankee Doodle

You’re a Grand Old Flag

The Star-Spangled Banner

“The Irrational Anthem” by Jim Gill from his CD Jim Gill’s Irrational Anthem - a fun participation song to the tune of “The Star Spangled Banner”.

Take Me Out to the Ballgame (hey, baseball is America’s pastime, right?)

Felts, Rhymes, and Activities:

Me and Momma and Big John
By Mara Rockliff
Illustrated by William Low
Candlewick Press
$16.99
ISBN: 978-0-7636-4359-1
Ages 4-8
On shelves August 28th

The people of New York City are spoiled beyond belief. Many’s the time I’ve traipsed down the street and glanced at one of the passing skyscrapers or cathedrals thinking “in any other town that building would be considered the pride and joy of the city”. Heck, I grew up in Kalamazoo where the Comerica building downtown was, when I was a kid, considered by me to be the tallest building in the world. But even as kids in every city, in every state, in every country pass and glance at the local architecture, they rarely stop to consider their construction. Occasionally you’ll run across a kid David Macaulay fan who knows their stuff, but even those books take a lot of time thinking about the big picture. What about the little picture? The folks who do the down and dirty work? If Mara Rockliff’s Me and Momma and Big John does nothing else (and it does a lot) it leads kids to understand that for every great awe-inspiring behemoth in their lives, there were countless everyday joes working hard, making a living, turning pencil sketches on blue paper into reality.

Her first day home from her new job and already John’s momma looks exhausted. A former factory line worker she’s now a trained stonecutter and her new job involves working on Manhattan’s magnificent and perpetually unfinished Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, also known as “Big John”. It’s hard work and when John hears that she’s spent all her time on just a single stone he is amazed. At last, one day he and his little siblings accompany their momma to Big John and even in the midst of being awed at the sheer size of the place, John can’t help but be incensed that his mother’s stone won’t even bear her name. How will anyone ever know it was hers then? But watching that stone go up into its space he comes to realize that this is a place where art isn’t just to be looked at but to “be”. And even if the world never knows her stone is there, he will. And she will too.

If any other book were to contain an African-American mom working as a stonecutter, you know exactly how that would play out. The book would begin with a rote “My mom has the best job in the world” then launch into a description of her day, ultimately ending at some point with the requisite “girls can do anything” (and if it’s feeling particularly bold it might even use the term “women”). The phrase “show, don’t tell” is lost in a large swath of literature for kids these days. Now compare that kind of blunt moralizing with what Rockliff has done here. Our first shot of John’s mom shows her trudging (her word) up the stairs to her apartment, covered in stone dust, exhausted after a long day. We hear about her new job, what she does, and what it’s like, but the thrust of the story itself is o

Don’t mind me, I’m just watching this on repeat forever and ever: Dubstep Dispute (by Fluxel Media aka Jason Giles)