How to use this Page

Love me some McCorkle,
but this was a case of
wrong reader, wrong time.

Life After Life by Jill McCorkle. Shannon Ravenel Books, 2013, 352 pages.

Another gem about
our favorite neurotic --
with one big loose end!

Alvin Ho: Allergic to Babies, Burglars, and Other Bumps in the Night by Lenore Look. Schwartz & Wade, 2013, 192 pages.

Superpower wish-
fulfillment at home: if Anne
Tyler wrote The Flash.

What the Family Needed by Steven Amsterdam. Riverhead, 2013, 272 pages.

My Beloved Brontosaurus, concluded

• As I said earlier, I’m not interested in dinosaurs. A few hours ago, I wouldn’t have been able to tell you much more than Tyrannosaurus had short arms, Triceratops had horns, Archeopteryx had feathers, and Velociraptor were those scary dinosaurs from Jurassic Park.
• But! Quoting from p. 121: “However, what we think of as Velociraptor was really Deinonychus. … An actual Velociraptor wouldn’t have been very threatening. While exceptionally well armed, the predator would have been about the size of a turkey, too small to consider a full-grown human a meal.”
• So, needless to say, I learned a lot reading this book. I did struggle to keep all the different dinosaur names and categories straight, and had to stop and refer to the index several times before I could remember what a sauropod was, so some kind of dinosaur ID chart would have been handy (though I suppose that’s what the internet is for…).
• But that’s just me. Otherwise, Switek’s writing is thoroughly engaging, with humor and pop culture references to keep it entertaining, but without overshadowing the solid science. And it’s not so scholarly that I couldn’t understand what Switek was saying.
• It’s about how we know what we know about dinosaurs. So not just this is what we know about dinosaurs, but also how early paleontologists may have reached the conclusions they did, and how scientists since then have come to different conclusions. I think it will interest both dinosaur aficionados and the general science reader.

The Summer I Became a Nerd by Leah Rae Miller

• The book in brief: for the past five years, Maddie has been determined to hide her geeky interests. She’s a cheerleader, dating the quarterback of the football team, and everyone seems to have forgotten the Spectrum Girl incident from sixth grade. Until, desperate to read the final issue of The Super Ones, she sneaks in to her local comic book store and the cute classmate working their recognizes her.
• This is one of those books I’d struggle to review, because while it was a pleasant, temporarily diverting read, and not a bad book, it also didn’t make much of an impact on me. I don’t really have much to say about it.
• There is a support small businesses! angle (Logan–the cute classmate–works at the struggling comic book store his parents own) and Maddie learns that her friends are more tolerant than she thought they’d be, but otherwise… Yeah, I don’t know what else to say about this one.

Today’s stats
Reading time: 4 hours
Blogging time: 35 minutes
Pages read: 404

I was very indecisive this evening and could not decide what book to read. I picked up Martha Wells’ Emilie & the Hollow World but wasn’t feeling it, so put it down after reading the first chapter. Maybe I’ll get back to it later.

I did finish the next book I tried, which was

Itch: The Explosive Adventures of an Element Hunter by Simon Mayo (fiction)

• The book in brief: Some people baseball cards. Others collect books. {looks around} Itch collect elements. You know, as in lead, sulfur, phosphorous. His collection is pretty small, since he has to buy what he can’t scavenge from home and other elements are too dangerous to sell. When Itch gets his hands on what he thinks is uranium, but turns out to be an extremely radioactive unknown element that could change the world, he must figure out how to keep the rocks out of the villains’ clutches.
• Continuing the trend of reading long, 400+ page books for this year’s challenge…
• It’s overly long. It takes a while before the radioactive rock part of the plot is introduced, and I thought the denouement dragged a bit. Also, there’s reluctant reader appeal in terms of plot and characters, but I think the length will turn off some potential readers.
• On the other hand, how often do you see a middle grade/YA fiction storyline with this much science that doesn’t involve cloning, genetic engineering, or extreme weather? If you can think of other recent books, let me know in the comments!
• Another thing I liked: kids in school think Itch is weird, so he is very close to, and has positive relationships with, his younger sister and a female cousin.
• Includes an author’s note with some background information about the scientific topics that are mentioned during the story.
• Possible readalikes: The Project by Brian Falkner (which is a much shorter book), the Alex Rider series by Anthony Horowtiz (except Alex is a trained spy and Itch is not), maybe Icecore by Matt Whyman. And Digit by Anabel Monaghan has a similar geek-whose-love-of-math/elements-leads-them-to-a-discovery-with-serious-like-we’re-talking-national-security-here-implications plot.

which put me in a scientific mood, so I followed that up with the first third of

My Beloved Brontosaurus: On the Road with Old Bones, New Science, and Our Favorite Dinosaurs by Brian Switek (adult nonfiction)

• I’m not actually interested in dinosaurs per se, but how and why our knowledge of them has changed? And what “they’ve begun to teach us about evolution, extinction, and survival”? I’ll give a book about that a try.
• Hey, he quotes Mike Brown in How I Killed Pluto and Why It Had It Coming.
• Switek is a genial paleontological tour guide, part of what I’m beginning to consider the Mary Roach Road Trip School of Science Writing. Case in point: chapter three, “Big Bang Theory,” about dinosaur sex.

Then I decided I needed to go to sleep and will finish the book in the morning.

Today’s stats
Time read: 4 hours 9 minutes
Blogging time: 50 minutes
Pages read: 511

I think my book reviewing muscles are out of shape, so back to the bullet points.

This Is What Happy Looks Like by Jennifer E. Smith

• The book in brief: an email accidentally sent to the wrong address sparks a relationship between two strangers. Ellie lives with her single mother and doesn’t know the guy she’s emailing is movie star Graham Larkin. So what will happen when the movie Graham’s filming goes on location in Ellie’s small hometown in Maine?
• Great choice for a book challenge like this one. I don’t know how memorable it’ll be in 48 (well, 46) hours, after I’ve hopefully read a bunch more books. But it was a very fast read. Fun, charming, and sweet, without being heavy or making me feel like I need to take a break.
• Liked it better than Smith’s last book, The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight, which I thought was pretty meh. Maybe because the time span of this one covers more than one day? Or the third person narration being less distant? Or, even though Graham is a movie star, it seemed more grounded (no pun intended).
• Possible readalikes: Shooting Stars by Allison Rushby, Teen Idol by Meg Cabot

Maid of Secrets by Jennifer McGowan

• The book in brief: Meg was raised in an acting troupe. Although women are not allowed to perform on stage, Meg has learned how to disguise herself, to act, to pick pockets. Which catches the attention of Queen Elizabeth I and Sir William Cecil, who press Meg into the Queen’s service as a spy.
• A typo (smell instead of small on p. 26) and some anachronisms, or what I think might be anachronisms (e.g., Meg calling herself an actress, when, at least according to this, the word didn’t come into use until 1580-90 and the book is set in 1559, though of course it could have been used in speech prior to it appearing in print…) took me out of the story several times.
• Which, yes, is totally nitpicky, but otherwise, the book is enjoyable. I mean, the last Elizabethan-set YA novel I tried was The Other Countess by Eve Edwards, and I don’t think I got more than a fourth of the way through it before giving up. Maid of Secrets, on the other hand, features spy girls. (Which, obviously, is a point in its favor.) Plus a complex plot, a sympathetic and engaging narrator, and female friendship.
• Possible readalikes: Grave Mercy by Robin LaFevers (although Maid of Secrets doesn’t have as much swoon, or depth), the Lady Grace mysteries by Patricia Finney (although the series is for a younger audience)

Reading time: 4 hours 58 minutes
Blogging time: 50 minutes
Pages read: 812. Yeah, besides being written by an author named Jennifer, both books are 400+ pages and, though they don’t feel bloated, could still be tighter.

A classic daydream --
"A movie star loves me!" -- gets
the smart-girl treatment.

This Is What Happy Looks Like by Jennifer E. Smith. Poppy, 2013, 446 pages.

When dystopian-YA
plot tropes meet a
middle-grade master. Sweet.

A Tangle of Knots by Lisa Graff. Philomel, 2013, 240 pages.

Everybody's crazy
'bout a three-legged pigeon.
(No, not this one.)

On the Road to Mr. Mineo's by Barbara O'Connor. FSG, 2012, 208 pages.

I love the vital,
yet casual, role of faith
in Mirka's mishaps.

Hereville: How Mirka Met a Meteorite by Barry Deutsch. Amulet, 2013, 144 pages.

Predictable conflict,
unpredictable resolution.
Fun stuff.

Hollywood, Dead Ahead (43 Old Cemetery Road) by Kate Klise and M. Sarah Klise. Harcourt, 2013, 144 pages.

Character Interview MURMUR by J. Leigh

Character Interview
Adama Mahoney from MURMUR by J. Leigh

Click here: http://goo.gl/uWBLw

http://bigworldnetwork.com/site/character-interview-adama-from-murmur-by-j-leigh/#comments

Standing out to fit in
seemed like a good idea
at the time. Smart, sad.

Peanut by Ayun Halliday, illustrated by Paul Hoppe. Schwartz & Wade, 2012, 216 pages.

Dog rescuers become
kid rescuers. Bring your
hankies -- and lint brush.

White Fur Flying by Patricia MacLachlan. McElderry, 2013, 128 pages.

Lydia and Julie
try their hands as rock stars.
It doesn't go well.


The Popularity Papers #5: The Awesomely Awful Melodies of Lydia Goldblatt & Julie Graham-Chang by Amy Ignatow. Amulet, 2013, 160 pages.

I didn't love the
first one, but I couldn't stop
snorting at this one.

Lulu Walks the Dogs by Judith Viorst, illustrated by Lane Smith. Atheneum, 2012, 160 pages.

A day late on this, I know,
but what a ridiculously
good time.

Fake Mustache by Tom Angleberger. Amulet, 2012, 208 pages.

On the first anniversary
of his death, a
marvel for the eyes.

My Brother's Book by Maurice Sendak. Harper, 2013, 32 pages.

Surprisingly poignant

2013 GradeReading.NET Summer Reading Lists

You know you should try writing your story in first v. third point of view, but for some reason, you put it off. Why? Because you’ve gotten a first draft of a scene or chapter and you just want to keep going.

It’s exactly the feeling that elementary school children have: “Why do I have to revise?”


Your answer is straightforward: because you are a professional writer. Revising will help you write a book.

You must find the right way to tell this story. I often say that the purpose of a first draft is to find the story, but the purpose of all other drafts is to figure out the best way to TELL that story. Pros experiment, play, explore.

Here are some explorations of character that you can complete in an hour. Just set a time for 5-10 minutes and write something on each of these. If the prompt reveals nothing, drop it. But if it strikes a chord—keep going!

1. 1st v. 3rd. Write a scene using first person point of view and then rewrite it using third. If you want to play with present tense, feel free. Play!
2. Attitude. Choose a scene and look to see what attitude your main character has. Maybe, s/he comes in arrogant, sad, discouraged, or excited. At the top of your page/file, write the opposite attitude and write the scene again, working to make the character’s opposite attitude work.
3. Setting. Choose a scene and change the setting. If it’s in the kitchen, send your characters on a picnic. If it’s set on a spaceship, move the story to a cruise ship on the Mediterranean.
4. Write a Letter. Give your main character a reason to write a letter to someone. It could be written to a family member or to a Congressman. Let your character vent, rant and cry on paper.
5. Put something in your character’s hand. Put a physical object in your character’s hand. Perhaps a mother goes into a grown son’s room and picks up his old baseball glove and sits in a rocking chair and oils the glove and remembers something important about her son. Or, a grandmother is in the kitchen and getting ready to cook and pulls out an iron skillet. Write a couple paragraphs or a scene putting the object in the forefront.
6. Cubing is a way of exploring a topic by looking at it from different angles. I’ve chosen just four ways, but you can think of others.
   • Describe. Using the character’s voice (your choice of POV, tense, etc) describe something important in your story. Repeat with a different POV, tense, etc. if you have time.
   • Compare. Using the character’s voice, compare something in your story. Maybe you want to compare what the character thinks about his/her current situation with where s/he was ten days ago. Or compare two characters. Or compare today’s supper with yesterday’s supper. Any type of comparison that makes sense for your story is grist for this mill.
   • Associate. When your character thinks of roses, what does s/he think? This prompt asks you to enter your character’s point of view and make some associations. While most of your writing in a scene should be pointed, there are places where you can slow down and give the reader a glimpse of how the character’s mind works. When faced with X, s/he thinks of Y or Z.
   • Analyze. What will your character do next? Stop and let him/her analyze what has just happened, thinking about the ramifications of the actions or conversations. If s/he goes this direction, what will it mean for the rest of the story? What is an alternate direction and why should s/he choose that alternate? Analyze, then let the character decide on a plan of attack for the next section of the story.

Take the time to explore your story and your storytelling choices early in your drafting process. It will probably mean fewer drafts—and a stronger story. Great trade-offs for a mere hour of work.

The White Bicycle by Beverley Brenna

Taylor Jane is living in the south of France for the summer, with her mother, her mother’s boyfriend, and his two sons. The youngest son has cerebral palsy and Taylor is employed as his personal care assistant (that sounds better than babysitter.) She hopes that her mother and Alan Phoenix don’t get married this summer, because then they’d be family, and it wouldn’t be a real job she can put on her resume.

Taylor wants a professional resume so she can lead her own lie, without her mother’s constant watching. She yearns for the independence and freedom that most girls her age have, but Taylor doesn’t. Yet.

Taylor is autistic but by this point in her life she has learned many ways to cope with her anger and frustration. She uses a lot of these ways very consciously and walks us through such things as sending her anger through her feet. She also looks back on her early childhood to see if there are connections that can be made between then and now, but it gives the reader great insight into her mindset, but also her growth as a person.

This is the third book in a series and while it completely stands alone and you don’t need to read the other books, I fell so in love with Taylor that I can’t wait to read the other two to see where she was before France.

I love this book because while Taylor has autism and that causes some of the obstacles to her independance, it’s not really the focus of the story. Trying to break away from home while still loving your parents is a fairly universal story and delicate line to walk for every young adult. Taylor’s mom uses the autism both as part justification, part excuse for holding Taylor too close. (But not in an overbearing way-- Taylor’s mom is also trying to find that balance of wanting your children near you forever and letting them go. The autism is an added complication, but, once again, universal story.)

I'm so glad this was a Printz honor. It's such an amazing book and if it hadn't won, I would have never known about it, let alone read it.

Book Provided by... my local library

Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.

Damsel Under Stress Shanna Swendson

This is the 3rd book in the Katie Chandler series. Obviously, there are some spoilers for earlier books

Wahoo! Katie and Owen finally got their act (and themselves) together. But, of course, in the world of corporate magic, it all goes to hell in a handbasket immediately.

Ari’s escaped from MSI’s holding cells and it quickly becomes apparent that Irdis is a puppet in a larger plot to bring down Merlin and the MSI team.

Plus, every time Katie and Owen do get a moment together, Katie’s fairy grandmother tries to “help” with disastrous consequences.

Poor Katie and Owen! Owen just gets more and more adorable and Katie’s determination to keep her magical and non-magical lives separate gets harder and harder. I also love how the Irdis plot continues to deepen and thicken, giving it more teeth. Owen also takes Katie home for Christmas, and finally meeting his foster parents explains a lot.

Not my favorite book in the series, but a good bridge novel for the later part of the series.

Book Provided by... my local library

Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.

I'm not a fan of
practical jokes, but the ball pit
thing was genius.

Pickle: The (Formerly) Anonymous Prank Club of Fountain Point Middle School by Kim Baker. Roaring Brook, 2012, 240 pages.

Etiquette & Espionage by Gail Carriger.

In her mother's eyes, Sophronia is a failure. She's way too interested in mechanics, spying, and climbing and things just happen around her that tend to end with flying desserts landing on honored house guests. She's particularly dismayed when she discovers that a rather meddlesome honored houseguest has recommended her to attend Mademoiselle Geraldine's Finishing Academy for Young Ladies of Quality.

But Mademoiselle Geraldine's is not what one would expect-- first of all, it's a flying school, so it's harder to find. Second of all dance lessons also include lessons on how to pass messages back and forth without being noticed. Then there are the classes in fighting. And poisons. In the middle of this educational intrigue, there is real intrigue-- flying highway men are attacking the school, after something the school has, and hidden. What is it? And where? Secret late-night trips to the boiler room, mechanical dogs and more...

This is the first book in Carriger's new YA series, set in the same world as Parasol Protectorate. It's set several years earlier, but there is a bit of character overlap-- most noticeably one of Sophronia's classmates is Sidhaeg and the little boy running around helping Sophronia--you'll recognize that one, too.

This is a fun series, with fewer vampires and werewolves and more steampunk technology than Parasol Protectorate. There is no romance in this one, which on one hand-- YAY! A YA book with girls and no romance! On the other hand, BOO! Carriger writes romance so well!

I missed the paranormal politics of the first series, but enjoyed the quick adventure of this one and want to delve more into this part of this world and see how it develops.

Book Provided by... my wallet

Links to Amazon are an affiliate link. You can help support Biblio File by purchasing any item (not just the one linked to!) through these links. Read my full disclosure statement.

Genre-bending sequel