Readers, last week I promised you an exclusive guest post from the authors of A Dragon's Guide to the Care and Feeding of Humans by Laurence Yep and Joanne Ryder (see my review here). Now, I'm thrilled to present their post. Giveaway details below.
We were happy to agree to Joanne’s request to do a guest blog post about writing A Dragon’s Guide to the Care and Feeding of Humans. Since Larry and I met in journalism school at Marquette University, we decided to answer some traditional reporter-type questions for you.
Who are we? Larry and I are married and children’s book writers. We’ve written well over 100 books, but until recently we wrote books separately. Larry usually writes novels, and I write poetry and picture books.
What has changed? We fell in love with the idea of a dragon who has a pet human. We both were so charmed by our 3000-year old dragon, Miss Drake, and her 10-year old pet, feisty Winnie, we wanted to work on the book together. It is our first collaborative work.
When do you write? Larry is a lark and writes in the morning. I am an owl and write best in the quiet of night. We talk about our work at lunch…often away from home with a picnic at the beach or enjoying a meal in town. It’s nice to take a break from writing, share problems we’re having, and get new ideas. We always end up writing notes on napkins and stuffing bits of scribbled paper tablecloths in our pockets.
Where does the story take place and where do you write? We set the book in San Francisco because we both love the city. Larry was born there, we lived there for years, and we both think of it as a unique and rather magical place.
When we moved away and looked for a home in Pacific Grove, we had two conditions. We needed two studies and lots of wall space for bookcases. We each have our own writing spots, computers, and our books nearby.
How do two people write one book? I am sure there are many different ways to write together, but this seems to be ours. Larry writes the opening, we work on the overall plot, he writes some chapters, and I write others. We share what we’ve done and rewrite and edit all the parts till we are happy. Larry, as a novelist, has a much better understanding of plotting and dramatic arcs, etc. As a poet, I work on images and details and the emotional thrust of the book. So we each bring the elements we know best to the story.
Larry and I have lived together for 30 years. That most likely made this project easier to do. Earlier on we might have had some clashing of egos. But we do respect each other and treat each other kindly most of the time. I think we both kept our relationship in mind as we tussled a bit over plot points. In addition, we do laugh and tease a lot. The banter between Miss Drake and Winnie came quite naturally to us.
We both hope readers can see how much fun we had creating these two ever-so-different friends and that they will join us in seeing what Miss Drake and Winnie do in the future. There’s more magic to come!
_________________________________________
Thank you so much, Joanne and Larry! I loved hearing about your process and especially how a novelist and a poet who are happily married can create magic together. I look forward to more adventures.
Readers, the authors have generously offered one signed hardcover copy for a giveaway. To enter, you must be a follower of this blog and you must leave a comment on this post. If you spread the word via Twitter or Facebook, please let me know and I'll give you extra chances for each mention. This giveaway is open to US and Canadian addresses only and will end at 10 pm EDT on Sunday March 22, 2015. Winner will be announced on Monday March 23. Good luck!
About the Kindle Fire HD Kids Edition 7" Tablet
I was pretty excited to see this pretty cool new product available through Amazon. This is a HOT PRODUCT! The all-new Kindle Fire HD Kids Edition Tablet also comes with 1 year of Amazon FreeTime Unlimited (which means kids get unlimited access to 5,000 books, movies, TV shows, educational apps, and games—at no additional cost!). It includes a quad-core processor for great performance, a vivid HD display, front and rear-facing cameras, and Dolby Audio PLUS comes with a Kid-Proof Case, and a 2-year worry-free guarantee - if they break it, return it and Amazon replaces it for free. No questions asked! Um... can you say Christmas present?
Fabulous Sponsors (Bloggers)
Thank you to the following bloggers who are sponsoring this giveaway. Please consider visiting at least one or two and thanking them personally.
Fabulous Sponsors (Authors and Publishers)
A big thank you to all of the participating authors and publishers who are sponsoring this giveaway. Below you will find their fabulous books broken down by category. Please note that these categories are not mutually exclusive. For example, some of the middle grade books featuring dogs also feature a great adventure or some great tween books also have a hint of magical realism.
* PLEASE READ *
Under each category you will see a button to "Add to Amazon Wish List" and "Add to Goodreads". If you click on these buttons, you will be directed to a Listmania list or one of my bookshelves where you can add each book to either your wish list (Amazon) or want-to-read shelf (Goodreads). Doing this will earn you entries in the giveaway below.
AMAZON: Hint...if you scroll to the bottom of the list on Amazon, you will see a button "Add All Items to Your Wish List". One click is all it takes!
GOODREADS: If you do not see the column entitled "my rating", click on "settings" and make sure that the "shelves" box is checked. This will make it super-easy to add the books to your "to-read" shelf.
Please consider purchasing one, two or more books that interest you as a "Thank You" to these generous sponsors. Some books are free, others only 99 cents!
★★★★★★★
Picture Books for the Holidays
★★★★★★★
Rhyming Picture Books
★★★★★★★
Award Winning Picture Books
0 Comments on Find some Fantastic MG Authors and their Books during this Massive Holiday Giveaway... as of 11/17/2014 6:51:00 AM
By: Sharon Ledwith,
on 11/10/2014
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Attention teachers, librarians, tweens, and parents of tweens! Announcing a contest just for you... The Emblazon authors are giving away a brand new touch screen Kindle loaded with over 50 of their books. That’s a $300 value and hours of reading entertainment!
Emblazon is a collection of authors who seek to create lifelong readers by creating top-notch literature for kids. They have a particular focus on ages 11 to 14. They’re hosting this fabulous giveaway to celebrate their first year and to treat you, the readers. The Rafflecopter contest runs
November 3 through November 17 and is open to anyone who loves tween literature.
a Rafflecopter giveaway Note: Signing up for the catalog is required for entry. Current subscribers are also eligible for entry
. Winners must reside in the United States or Canada. List of Stops on the Blog Tour:
November 3rd:
You can help even more by sharing this post with your friends and family. If you know teachers or librarians let them know about how awesome the Emblazoners are by sharing the link to their website: http://emblazoners.com/
Yes, it's another Marvelous Middle Grade Monday!
MMGM is the brainchild of Shannon Messenger. For other participants see my sidebar or Shannon's links.
A Thunderous Whisper by Christina Diaz Gonzalez (Knopf, October 2012, for ages 10 and up)Source: hardcover won from
Medeia Sharif's blog (and if you haven't checked out her blog, you should! She's the author of
Bestest. Ramadan. Ever. and she reads more than anyone I know.)
Synopsis (from Indiebound): Ani believes she is just an insignificant whisper of a 12-year-old girl in a loud world. This is what her mother tells her anyway. Her father made her feel important, but he's been off fighting in Spain's Civil War, and his voice in her head is fading. Then she meets Mathias. His family has just moved to Guernica and he's as far from a whisper as a 14-year-old boy can be. Ani thinks Mathias is more like lightning. A boy of action. Mathias's father is part of a spy network and soon Ani finds herself helping him deliver messages to other members of the underground. She's actually making a difference in the world.
And then her world explodes. The sleepy little market town of Guernica is destroyed by Nazi bombers. In one afternoon Ani loses her city, her home, her mother. But in helping the other survivors, Ani gains a sense of her own strength. And she and Mathias make plans to fight back in their own unique way.
Why I liked it: This is historical fiction as it was meant to be. Gripping. Moving. Beautifully written. The Spanish Civil War and the plight of the Basques come alive through Ani. Before reading this, I knew absolutely nothing about Guernica, other than the fact that Pablo Picasso created a famous painting about it. And if you're looking for multi-cultural books, you can't go wrong with this one. (Parental note: This might be a bit scary for younger readers, with the descriptions of dead bodies after the bombing.)
 |
| Christina Diaz Gonzalez (from her website) |
You can find the Author's website here.
Christina is the author of
The Red Umbrella, which I reviewed for my very first MMGM (you can see that
in this post from November 29, 2010 -- sheesh, have I really been doing this for more than two years?!). I had hoped to include an interview with Christina, but she's been too busy to answer my questions. And I'm happy for her that she has so many book signings to go to!
Be sure to come back on Friday December 14, when I'll be listing all the books I've read this year. That will be my last post before January, as I'll be taking a blogging break to work on the rough of my third MG novel.
What historical fiction has you excited this month?
Yes, it's another Marvelous Middle Grade Monday! UPDATED TO INCLUDE INTERVIEW!
MMGM is the brainchild of Shannon Messenger. For other participants see my sidebar or Shannon's links.
A Thunderous Whisper by Christina Diaz Gonzalez (Knopf, October 2012, for ages 10 and up)Source: hardcover won from
Medeia Sharif's blog (and if you haven't checked out her blog, you should! She's the author of
Bestest. Ramadan. Ever. and she reads more than anyone I know.)
Synopsis (from Indiebound): Ani believes she is just an insignificant whisper of a 12-year-old girl in a loud world. This is what her mother tells her anyway. Her father made her feel important, but he's been off fighting in Spain's Civil War, and his voice in her head is fading. Then she meets Mathias. His family has just moved to Guernica and he's as far from a whisper as a 14-year-old boy can be. Ani thinks Mathias is more like lightning. A boy of action. Mathias's father is part of a spy network and soon Ani finds herself helping him deliver messages to other members of the underground. She's actually making a difference in the world.
And then her world explodes. The sleepy little market town of Guernica is destroyed by Nazi bombers. In one afternoon Ani loses her city, her home, her mother. But in helping the other survivors, Ani gains a sense of her own strength. And she and Mathias make plans to fight back in their own unique way.
Why I liked it: This is historical fiction as it was meant to be. Gripping. Moving. Beautifully written. The Spanish Civil War and the plight of the Basques come alive through Ani. Before reading this, I knew absolutely nothing about Guernica, other than the fact that Pablo Picasso created a famous painting about it. And if you're looking for multi-cultural books, you can't go wrong with this one. (Parental note: This might be a bit scary for younger readers, with the descriptions of dead bodies after the bombing.)
|
| Christina Diaz Gonzalez (from her website) |
You can find the Author's website here.
Christina is the author of
The Red Umbrella, which I reviewed for my very first MMGM (you can see that
in this post from November 29, 2010 -- sheesh, have I really been doing this for more than two years?!).
And now, I'm updating this post to add a mini-interview with Christina Diaz Gonzalez. 1) Tell us a little about your research. It must have been daunting! Did it take you months or years? What was it like to travel to Guernica and see these sites with your own eyes? The preliminary research took a few months and then I added more detail and fine-tuning once I went to Guernica myself. The trip there was amazing (although way too short) and the people were fantastic. They were so incredibly friendly and helpful... really gave me a sense of understanding what it was like during that time period.
2) Do you outline your novels before beginning to write? I never outline my novels before writing but I do know how the book will end. It keeps me going in a certain direction.
3) As a pantser, I'm happy to hear that. I love the character of Ani and how much she grows and changes. I also loved Mathias. Is there any of you in Ani? And is Mathias like anyone you know? There is always a little of me in my characters.
4) Can you tell us what we can expect from you next? Will it be another historical novel?I'm working on a contemporary/ quest-like story. It has a touch of historical to it, also. More than that, I can't talk about!
That's understandable, Christine. Thanks so much for taking the time to answer my questions.Readers, be sure to come back on Friday December 14, when I'll be listing all the books I've read this year. That will be my last post before January, as I'll be taking a blogging break to work on the rough of my third MG novel.
What historical fiction have you read recently or look forward to reading?
Wow. I need to read this NOW. Exactly the type of book I love--thanks for spotlighting it!
I've seen the cover but didn't know what this was about It sounds great. Thanks for sharing it.