Thought for the Day:
“If you set your goals ridiculously high and it’s a failure, you will fail above everyone else’s success.”
~ James Cameron ~
Gifts for My Writer Friends:
Anne R. Allen always has such good posts. The post HERE on tips for strong writing is really, really good. Do not miss it.
Just in time for Halloween writing — a wonderful post HERE from The Write Practice on how to create a monster .
It’s important to make our characters fully-rounded or 3D, so our characters must have layers. Jami Gold has a great post HERE on creating layered characters.
Last week I offered a gently-read ARC of Bobs and Tweets Trick or Tweet by Pepper Springfield and illustrated by Kristy Caldwell. The winner this week is Suzanne Warr. Congratulations, Suzanne! She shared my link for extra chances. Thanks for sharing, Suzanne, and I will get your book out to you soon. If you don’t know Suzanne, you should check out her blog Tales from the Raven HERE for some great middle-grade reviews. She is a North Carolina writer, and I hope she is staying dry in this terrible storm.
This week I would like to talk a bit about the latest Welcome to Wonderland book, Sandapalooza Shake-Up from the very prolific and extremely funny guy, Chris Grabenstein. Whenever I see a Chris Grabenstein book come up for review, I grab it. I know I will be highly entertained. This is no exception. Here is the review I wrote for the San Francisco Book Review.
P. T. Wilkie is back with more problems to solve, although the Wonderland Motel is doing pretty well after the Surf Monkeymovie was filmed there in the second book in this series. Gloria, P. T.’s business-savvy sidekick, is there to help. This time, there are royal visitors to the motel, and with the snooty royals come problems. They have brought the Twittleham Tiara to display, but it is stolen, and suspicion is cast on employees of the Wonderland Motel, which allows the owners of the Conch Resort next door to sully the reputation of Wonderland. Suddenly short staffed, the crew at the Wonderland are kept really busy, but P. T. and Gloria are on the case, trying to solve the mystery.
Author Chris Grabenstein really knows how to grab a middle-grade audience and keep them enthralled with non-stop entertainment. The cast of characters in this series is just terrific and seems to get better with every book. The writing is snappy and there is a LOT of silliness and fun, as well as mystery and adventure enough to keep youngsters turning the pages. Like the rest of this series, this book is fabulous fun.
There will be no giveaway this week. I am giving the nice hardbound copy I received for review to the library at my granddaughter’s charter school. They have a tiny budget and really need books. Check back next week. I might have a giveaway then. If you are reading this in your email, please click HERE to get to my blog, then click on the title of the post, and leave a comment. And don’t forget to check for other Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday posts at the Greg Pattridge’s blog HERE.
Rosi Hollinbeck 
Great set of thought provoking and helpful links. I had to read the first one twice. The Wonderland series is one of my favorites as the fun and silliness is just what kids are looking for. This third book sounds like the best of them all. Thanks for your review.
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Glad you liked this so much. With all the humor, I bet kids will really like it. And awesome that you’re donating it.
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This sounds fun. I think there is something about motels/hotels that captures one’s imagination.
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Yay for winning! After reading it myself I plan to give this one to my nephew for his bday, and feel sure he’ll love it!
I love that you’re passing some of your beautiful books on to your granddaughter’s charter school! Charter schools have meant the world to our family, since they’ve been the best option for my daughter given her health challenges. It makes my heart all warm and fuzzy to think what that must mean to them. ❤
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I wish I knew how to write funny! Great talent!
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Congratulations Suzanne! Love the author’s photo, as you can tell he is kind of goofy and silly. I have never read a Chris Grabenstein book — sounds like a hilarious read. I could use a good laugh because I’m not normally funny — only by accident!
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I hadn’t yet heard of this author, but it sounds like I need to check out some of his books! Thanks for sharing this on MMGM, Rosi.
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I love Chris Grabenstein’s books! I’m glad to hear this one meets the expectations.Thanks for the review!
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I haven’t read this series, but you are right about Grabenstein. I read his “Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library” and laughed out loud many times. He has just a wonderful way with words.
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Whew! I saw your new post on my readers newsfeed and thought you had moved again. Glad you are still at your new site.
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How awesome that you are donating the book to your granddaughter’s school library. 🙂
I haven’t started this series- but I have read other books by Chris Grabenstein and was lucky enough to meet him a few years ago. He’s very entertaining for sure.
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Scratchings are like pork rinds. Why I know this, I’m not sure. Probably read it somewhere. Look up “pork scratchings”!
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Thanks! I appreciate it.
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Thanks for all the links. Sounds an awesome adventure in this story!
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Thanks for the links. Looks fantastic!
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