MMGM: A TALE OF TWO CASTLES

If you've read any of Gail Carson Levine's fairy tale retellings (ELLA ENCHANTED, FAIREST, THE FAIRY'S MISTAKE and so on), you know she makes them her own. Knowing the fairy tell doesn't give away her plot lines. So, I wasn't surprised when she turned Puss in Boots on its head.

In A TALE OF TWO CASTLES, people (and fabulous creatures like ogres and dragons) aren't always what they appear to be. Gail Carson Levine mixes classic fairy tale with classic mystery (think CLUE) to deliver a story unlike anything I've ever read.

 

And while the ending does wrap up the mystery, it could lead into a sequel. I hope so. I would happily follow Elodie and her friends through another adventure/mystery. If you've read it, would you read a sequel?

If you'd like to read about more Marvelous Middle Grades (ones you haven't already read), the following people would love to oblige you: 

Joanne Fritz

Barbara Watson

Michael Gettel-Gilmartin

Have a Marvelous Monday!

   

Cool Beans

If you have a manuscript that you're querying or ready to query, you should check out Krista's post on her agent critiqued contest. But don't delay. The contest opens on Monday, and she's only taking the first twenty entries.

Good luck!

And if you're wondering what "cool beans" have to do with anything, the phrase is a mutation of "course bien," which means "good run" in French. I have three older sisters, and one of them says it whenever she thinks something is really cool.    

MMGM: HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER'S STONE

I've decided to read the Harry Potter series again while I'm revising. It's been several years since the last time I read them, and yet they're familiar enough that I can put them down to work on my own stories. It's been about 12 years since my cousin's wife gave me HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER'S STONE. She said I'd love it, and she was right.

I'm not going to summarize. I'd be surprised if anyone reading this isn't already familiar with the series. I'm just going to share a few of my impressions from this time through. J.K. Rowling writes fabulous dialogue. Pull a line from anywhere in the book, and I can probably tell you which character said it. And while my favorite lines usually come from the redheaded kids, something Dumbledore said to Harry hit me this time: "It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live, remember that."

I'm excited to see the last movie, next month, but every time I read one of the books, I wonder why they cut Peeves. My absolute favorite part in the series is in the fifth book when Peeves salutes Fred and George. LOVE. But even without Peeves, the movies do a great job of capturing the characters and story, much better than most book-to-movie adaptations.

Did I mention I'm excited to see this? :o)

Tags: Movie Trailers, Movies Blog

What do you think? And have you seen the countdown that Rowling's new website links to? Does anyone want to make a guess?

If you'd like to read about more Marvelous Middle Grades (ones you haven't already read), the following people would love to oblige you: 

Shannon Whitney Messenger (our founding mother)

Joanne Fritz

Brooke Favero 

Sherrie Petersen

Shannon O'Donnell 

Barbara Watson

Michael Gettel-Gilmartin

Aly Beecher

Deb Marshall
Natalie Aguirre

Have a Marvelous Monday!

My Love/Hate But Mostly Love for Second Drafts

Last month was rather insane due to the fact that teachers are expected to cram all kinds of evil projects and wacky fun into the last six weeks of school, so I didn't get very far into my second draft. However, this week, I am very much back in saddle (an appropriate metaphor, if you ever get to read my story).

For me, revising is the part where I notice the sparkles (love) and tar pits (hate) in my writing. I'm still not sure where the beginning of this story needs to be (hate). But I'm making improvements. Last night, I handed the power in a relationship (no, not THAT kind of relationship) between my main character and a minor villain to the villain, creating vulnerability in my MC. This makes everything that happens between them later better than it was before (love). It also gives her more depth and a problem readers can sympathize with (love) within the first couple of chapters.

Am I making any sense? I worry about losing you when I discuss examples from my own writing.

Anyhow, I've been out of school for a week now, and I'm excited to be making progress again. I love this story.

What are you excited about?

MMGM: IDA B

I only had five people enter my seed giveaway*, so I decided not to draw a name. If you're one of the five and I don't already have your address, please e-mail me, and I'll send you some seeds. Everybody wins.

:o)

And for this week's Marvelous Middle Grade Monday, we have a book that was "printed on 100% postconsumer recycled paper (that means that no trees were cut down to create the paper)" and blurbed by Kate DiCamillo: "I feel a deep gratitude that Ida B exists." Kate DiCamillo!

Katherine Hannigan's IDA B made me cry. If you don't like books that tear you up before they set things right, it might not be for you. This is a story about a girl who knows what she wants, a girl who gets angry when her plans fall apart. It's an honest look at grief and how we can find healing. I agree with Kate DiCamillo. I'm grateful that Ida B exists and that I read it.

I noticed that the blurbs and jacket copy didn't give away anything about the story. In fact, in mentioning grief, I've already given more away than they did. So, I'm just going to list a few things that the author did really well: Ida B's relationships with her parents and their land, the description of her first day of school (especially of the teacher's smile, "where your mouth turns up but your eyes look pained"), the game that Ida B comes up with to teach Ronnie his math facts, and the way she feels about reading aloud. If you read the story, you'll understand why they didn't kill trees to print this book.

I loved the writing, and I will read more books by Katherine Hannigan.

If you'd like to read about more Marvelous Middle Grades, the following people would love to oblige you: 

Shannon Whitney Messenger (our founding mother)

Joanne Fritz

Brooke Favero 

Sherrie Petersen

Shannon O'Donnell 

Barbara Watson

Michael Gettel-Gilmartin

Aly Beecher
Deb Marshall

Have a Marvelous Monday!


*And for those of you who aren't sure how to use coriander, I'm linking to a curry recipe.  

        

MMGM: THE UNOFFICIAL HARRY POTTER COOKBOOK

With summer starting toward the end of this week, I'm recommending THE UNOFFICIAL HARRY POTTER COOKBOOK, by Dinah Bucholz. It has recipes that kids can make on their own and recipes that they should make with an adult.

If you've read the HP series, you can guess this book isn't chock full of healthy recipes. There are some healthy recipes, and some bizarre recipes, but everything we've tried so far has been delicious and very British. My family's favorite is Toad in the Hole (page 144). We've had it three times. I was disappointed not to find recipes for chocolate frogs and butterbeer, but since it does have recipes for things like peppermint humbugs and custard (canary) creams, I got over it. The internet has plenty of frog molds and recipes for butterbeer.

I like cookbooks that make me laugh out loud, and this one did its job. Each recipe (or sometimes section of recipes)  has a snippet that relates it to the Harry Potter books and another that relates it to British history. Many of these snippets are funny.  I'm sharing the historical one that goes with Hot Chocolate (page 74):

"Before Coenraad van Houten was born, people enjoyed hot  chocolate with pools of grease floating on top. But then along came the Dutch chemist, who figured out how to press the cocoa butter from the cocoa beans in the early 1800's. Plus, he invented Dutch cocoa, which is leaps and bounds better than natural cocoa. We modern folk owe him a big debt of gratitude: every city should have a statue of this man, and every village and hamlet should have a Coenraad van Houten Street."

So, this cookbook has great recipes, random facts, funnies, and it will make you want to revisit your Harry Potter books. My only real gripe would be the lack of pictures. I like photos, especially in cookbooks for children, but cookbooks with photos tend to be pricier than those without.

Have you used this cookbook? What did you think?



If you'd like to read about more Marvelous Middle Grades, the following people would love to oblige you: 

Shannon Whitney Messenger (our founding mother)

Joanne Fritz

Brooke Favero 

Sherrie Petersen

Shannon O'Donnell 

Anita Laydon Miller 

Barbara Watson

Michael Gettel-Gilmartin

Aly Beecher

Have a Marvelous Monday!

Seeds (the long awaited sequel to Carrots)

What? You didn't know you were waiting? 

I meant to write this over a week ago, but Blogger and I haven't been getting along. Your responses to Carrots made me think how it's easier for us to see things that we're struggling with than it is to see our improvement. Life has so many ups and downs. A couple of weeks ago, my favorite editor sent me a rejection for a poem that I still really like. Today, I got one of these (hint: they don't reject people with their own envelopes) from her. I'll have a poem in next January's issue of Highlights High Five.

 This post is mostly about writing and gardening, but I bet you have other strengths as well. For randomness, I hadn't made anything out of balloons for a couple of years, but when I needed one (or three), I found I could still twist a mean octopus. What are your strengths or hobbies, and how do they contribute to your happiness and, if you're a writer, your writing?

  

I like to grow my own herbs, and the last few years, I've been planting cilantro/coriander and poppies from seeds I've saved from my plants. Every year I've done this, my plants have grown better and produced more seed, and I've learned things without reading about them first (shocking, I know).

  Cilantro/coriander attracts ladybugs.

The kind of poppy seed you use in breads has different colored flowers.

*Also, I should apply lotion before taking pics of my hands ;)

But most of mine have been purple.

As I've written, revised and critiqued for other people, I've learned things as well. For instance, an early draft might be derivative, and then with each consecutive draft, the writer imbues their story with more of their voice and whatever vision prompted them to start writing in the first place. Revising makes a good story better.

So, I'm saving seeds for stronger plants and revising for better stories. I can see improvement. Where do you see improvement? 

And if you'd like to be entered in a drawing for coriander or poppy seed, just let me know in the comments by next Thursday. They're organic, and you can use them in your kitchen, if you don't want to plant them.