Summer Reading! Time for a fresh sticky post for my August BINGO board, part of the Summer Reading Challenge for #MGCarousel at Elymnifoquent.com, where Elza and I blog about middle grade books.
Play along! Grab your August bingo board here >>
Can’t read those tiny book covers? I’ve listed the titles/authors. Continue reading #MGCarousel – Summer Reading Bingo
Got one! I didn’t read as much as usual during July because of #CampNaNoWriMo, but I did manage one BINGO for #MGCarousel’s Summer Reading Bingo.
Don’t miss out on the fun. Elza posted the August Bingo Board, and the new categories have loads of potential!
My writing group is tackling a short story project this year, and I used #CampNaNoWriMo to get my thoughts down. Naturally, my story concept took on a life of its own and got entirely out of hand. Now, it’s been structured as a 6-book mystery series in a historical setting. I’ll need to do a bit more research before I go any further with my notes, but I’m cautiously pleased. Maybe sometime down the line, I’ll be announcing its debut!
Olive’s Ocean has a wistful, nostalgic ambiance. On the day before her family leaves for summer vacation, Martha is visited by the mother of a girl in her class who recently died. With Olive on her mind, Martha sees things a little differently. The Dagger Quick is a fast-past adventure of the swashbuckling variety. Vivid and thrilling. And Bliss is a family-centered story of the magical bakery variety. Recipes awry and heartwarming moments.
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When Zane’s nose leads him to a sweet-smelling town, he, Jovan, and Brielle encounter WARNING signs everywhere. Something Wild is in the woods. We’ve taken a peek behind the Byways header on several of books in the series. In the case of Byways Book #9, Through the Notches: A Zane Johns Adventure, the header hides a special secret. Continue reading BYWAYS: Behind the Header
Drizzle
Kathleen Van Cleve
Polly Peabody’s family lives on what can only be called a magical farm. Their house is a castle. Nobody can drown in their lake. The insects are surprisingly intelligent. And it rains every Monday at 1:00 p.m., without fail. Continue reading Drizzle
Through a series of autobiographical poems, Jacqueline revisits her childhood in Brown Girl Dreaming. Yes, it’s a peek into the civil rights moment, but even more, a celebration of family and beginnings and cherished things and stories. Beautiful. The Poet’s Dog is a short story about two lost children who are led to safety by a dog. And Inside Out & Back Again is the story of a Vietnamese family who leaves behind their war-torn home in Saigon. Poetic snippets give us glimpses of the home Ha loses, the fear and uncertainty, the hunger and grief, the desperation and frustration … and everything else that comes with the total displacement that allowed her, her mother, and her three brothers to survive.
Every one of the Byways Books includes beautiful full-color art by my illustrator, Hannah Christenson. Here’s a sampling from Book #1, On Your Marks: The Adventure Begins.
The Evil Wizard Smallbone
Delia Sherman
Neil runs away from the uncle who beats him and the cousin who bullies him and finds himself at the door of the Evil Wizard Smallbone. Getting away proves impossible Continue reading The Evil Wizard Smallbone
