1 Write.
2 Put one word after another. Find the right word, put it down.
3 Finish what you’re writing. Whatever you have to do to finish it, finish it.
4 Put it aside. Read it pretending you’ve never read it before. Show it to friends whose opinion you respect and who like…
From the questions, I think it’s a safe bet to assume there are a lot of young writers reading this Tumblr.
If you’re aged 18-25, and you write children’s fiction then you should check out the Hotkey Press (a new publisher, headed by Sarah Odedina, who was my editor, and J. K. Rowling’s, at…
(Source: hotkeyblog.wordpress.com)
Nineteen: Sizzling Sixteen by Janet Evanovich
While I almost feel as if Evanovich is running out of steam on Stephanie (how much more can really be done with Morelli and Ranger, as fun as that is?), I also think her plots are well-played. When you start cutting off family members - even if it’s not forever…and how much more of the town can be burned down? I’d like to see more Diesel. ;)
Publishers Weekly:
“Stephanie Plum, half-Italian, half-Hungarian, a shrewd mixture of smarts and dumb luck, works for her cousin Vinny as a bail bondswoman in Trenton, New Jersey. Vinny, however, is in deep fecal matter, owing too much money to the very scary guys who have kidnapped him. Stephanie, office manager Connie, and Lula, plus-sized and focused (if not on the job at hand), manage to spring Vinny (more than once) and find a lot of money to pay what he owes. Along the way, they facilitate a cow stampede and an alligator escape; are assisted by a bunch of Hobbit con-goers; and find their office going up quite thoroughly in flames. Stephanie wrecks the usual car and ping-pongs between the hot and dangerous Ranger and the hot and domestic Morelli. Ranger says the “love” word to Stephanie, but it is Morelli at the end, offering her a pink, lacy thong. In the first few pages, Evanovich both catches readers up on the hilarious and cockeyed history of the preceding 15 books and gives fans a little more of everything they want, including the return of beloved stoner Mooner. Funny, scary, silly, and sweet.”
Eighteen: Who’s Reading Darci’s Diary? by Martha Tolles
This is a cute book, but really rather predictable. Three guesses on who’s actually reading it.
Amazon.com:
“Frantic when her secret diary suddenly disappears, eleven-year-old Darci is convinced that her crush on the handsome Travis will be revealed to the whole school.”
Seventeen: Cheater, Cheater by Elizabeth Levy
A girl doesn’t cheat at school, but ends up feeling guilty and getting accused anyway. Well-written, and truly portrays how a preteen feels with peer pressure.
School Library Journal:
“Everything seemed to be turning out right for Lucy Lovello at the start of 7th grade-until she cheats at a friend’s birthday bowling party. One boy sees her and tells the others, and Lucy has a new nickname-CHEATER! She is distraught by what she has done and fears it will label her for life. Levy deals with some of the realities of middle school life: peer pressure, boy-girl relationships, and learning how to overcome obstacles. All of her characters show realistic idiosyncrasies associated with young teens. Incidents are well paced, building on each event as well as incorporating into the narrative contemporary topics, such as the scientific theory of chaos. The author keeps the tone and tenor equally matched to Lucy’s mood, ranging from lighthearted conversations to deep-seated dread of rejection and ridicule. A well-tempered portrayal of young adolescent life.”
Sixteen: Belle Teal by Ann M. Martin
Unexpectedly, this was about racism, class relations, and Alzheimer’s. Touching and poignant.
Publishers Weekly:
“In this honest and moving novel, Martin (the Baby-Sitters Club series; P.S. Longer Letter Later) takes readers back to the era of the civil rights movement in the rural South to share the experiences of a poor white girl when her school becomes integrated. The author evokes the aura of hatred and fear permeating the small community of Coker Creek as skillfully as Belle Teal’s empathy for her African-American classmate, Darryl. Martin sensitively captures the narrator’s reactions to the events around her, such as when Belle Teal sees racist picketers outside of her school: “I feel my face grow warm, like I’m embarrassed, even though I haven’t done anything.” Besides feeling anger towards her insensitive classmates and their bigoted parents, the fifth-grade narrator resents a new rich girl named Vanessa (whom she dubs “HRH” for Her Royal Highness), who makes fun of the way she dresses. Yet the heroine learns some important lessons about not judging people by their appearances; she later learns a tragic secret that sheds some light on Vanessa. As well as capturing the climate of the early ’60s, the author adroitly tackles timeless issues. Preteens will relate to Belle Teal, whose observations and realizations provide an eye-opening introduction to social and personal injustice.”
Fifteen: Bad, Badder, Baddest by Cynthia Voigt
This is not a bad book, but as it involved kids in the 1990s and some people very relatable to kids I knew, I wanted to slap them all at least three times per chapter. Too close for comfort, I suppose.
School Library Journal:
“Mikey and Margalo are back and as clever and mischievous as they were in Bad Girls (Scholastic, 1996). This time, the focus of their escapades has shifted from school to Mikey’s family and taken a serious turn as the girl struggles with her parents’ impending divorce. Margalo, having lived through two divorces, and now comfortably ensconced in a happily blended family, offers sage advice, but joins Mikey as she schemes to keep her unhappy parents together. Classmates from the previous story are back, though with minor roles, and a new character, Gianette the “baddest,” is introduced. She is a Creole orphan from New Orleans sent to live with her “grandmother.” She captivates everyone with her knowledge of witchcraft, tarot, and the like, and plays a pivotal part in the plot, but is not given as much depth as one might wish for in a character this tantalizing. However, she does enlighten Mikey about the harsher side of life and adds flavor to the story. The book has likable characters, interesting adults, and honest situations. Margalo’s mother and stepfather offer a foil as good and loving parents to their brood, as Mikey’s family disintegrates. A rebelliously entertaining tale.”
- An Athlete: What was the greatest moment in sports history?
- Me: Viktor Krum caught the snitch but Ireland won.
Fourteen: Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli
This one is about being different. Stargirl is memorable, not just as a character, but thought-provoking. My problem was frustration with the narrator, who just could not live with his girlfriend being unique - or the same as everyone else.
Amazon.com:
“”She was homeschooling gone amok.” “She was an alien.” “Her parents were circus acrobats.” These are only a few of the theories concocted to explain Stargirl Caraway, a new 10th grader at Arizona’s Mica Area High School who wears pioneer dresses and kimonos to school, strums a ukulele in the cafeteria, laughs when there are no jokes, and dances when there is no music. The whole school, not exactly a “hotbed of nonconformity,” is stunned by her, including our 16-year-old narrator Leo Borlock: “She was elusive. She was today. She was tomorrow. She was the faintest scent of a cactus flower, the flitting shadow of an elf owl.” In time, incredulity gives way to out-and-out adoration as the student body finds itself helpless to resist Stargirl’s wide-eyed charm, pure-spirited friendliness, and penchant for celebrating the achievements of others. In the ultimate high school symbol of acceptance, she is even recruited as a cheerleader. Popularity, of course, is a fragile and fleeting state, and bit by bit, Mica sours on their new idol. Why is Stargirl showing up at the funerals of strangers? Worse, why does she cheer for the opposing basketball teams? The growing hostility comes to a head when she is verbally flogged by resentful students on Leo’s televised Hot Seat show in an episode that is too terrible to air. While the playful, chin-held-high Stargirl seems impervious to the shunning that ensues, Leo, who is in the throes of first love (and therefore scornfully deemed “Starboy”), is not made of such strong stuff: “I became angry. I resented having to choose. I refused to choose. I imagined my life without her and without them, and I didn’t like it either way.”“
Thirteen: Child of the Owl by Laurence Yep
Casey is sent to live with her grandmother in Chinatown, a culture of which she knows nothing. As the months pass by, she relationship with her grandmother grows and she recognizes her true heritage. Laurence Yep is an incredible author, so although I wasn’t sure I would be interested in this book at first glance, it turned out to be not only educational but intriguing.
Amazon.com:
“”I can’t remember when Barney’s story began but all my life I’d heard this story about how a little girl and her father were going to hit it big one of these days….I knew more about race horses than I knew about myself — I mean myself as a Chinese.” Race horses aren’t any help when Barney lands in the hospital and Casey is sent to live with Paw-Paw — her maternal grandmother-in San Francisco’s Chinatown. She’s not prepared for the Chinese school, the crowds, the noise, the small room she has to share with Paw-Paw — and she’s not prepared for missing Barney. But Paw-Paw tells Casey about Jeanie, the mother Casey never knew, about her true Chinese name, and about the story of the family’s owl charm. This shows Casey that being a child of the owl means that sometimes, like this ancestral owl spirit, you can feel like a stranger, trapped in the wrong place, in the wrong time, even in the wrong body. And as Casey begins to understand the intricacies of Chinatown and the people who become her friends, she realizes that this, Paw-Paw’s home, Jeanie and Barney’s home, is her home too.”
