Hurricane Season — Review

Thought for the Day:

“Writing is hard work. It isn’t just sitting around fantasizing, or having a drink with somebody and talking about how cool it would be if you wrote a story. It’s work.”
~ Patricia Cornwall ~

Gifts for My Writer Friends:

Just Publishing Advice has a great post HERE called When the Plot of a Story Gets Things Wrong. This is important.

Amber Wyss has a good post HERE with Seven Submission Tips.

Ah, the dreaded synopsis. I always look for articles to help with that. HERE is a good one from Writers Helping Writer.

Day 9 and the isolation is no fun. Last night we had a virtual family dinner with my daughter Maggie checking in from Rochester, NY, my grandson, Gehrig, checking in from Bemidji, MN, and my daughter Sara, son-in-law, Gordon, and granddaughter Gracie from just two miles away. We compared recipes and ways we are coping, then watched a movie on Netflix Party. It helped. My granddaughter left a care package on my doorstep one evening last week and spoke to me from the end of the walkway. Not nearly as good as a hug, but the brownies were still warm. It helped. I have come to realize I am dealing with a level of depression and have to find ways to overcome it. I’m sleeping a lot — 9-10 hours at night and a nap during the day. Occasional walks around the back yard with my little dog Mason and a couple trips to the mailbox are the only times I have left the house. I have hardly written a word except for my blog. I watch way too much news, and it increases my depression. I am vowing to cut that out and do more reading! This is a tough fight, and I am one of the lucky ones. I have a lovely home, everything I need to survive at least another month, and ways to stay in touch. I hope all of you are staying well and dealing with this business better than I am.

Last week I offered a copy of Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made by Stephen Pastis. This week’s winner is Carol Baldwin. Congratulations, Carol! If you don’t know her, Carol is a  writer from the Carolinas who also teaches writing and has a very instructive blog, cleverly named Carol Baldwin’s Blog you can find HERE. It is worth your time. No giveaway this week, but I have a terrific book to tell you about.

I have to be better about keeping the books I donate to the school on my radar. Once the book is out of my house, I sometimes forget to put the review up on my blog. But you know I never think it’s too late to review a good book. A few months ago, I read an incredible book called Hurricane Season by Nicole Melleby for the Manhatten Book Review. And that cover! How could you not pick it up? Here is the review I wrote for them.

Fig and her father have been just the two of them for as long as Fig can remember. She is the only one who can take care of him properly when the storms come. Now that she is in middle school, her father’s emotional problems seem to be getting worse. He shows up one day, bursts into art class begging Fig to come with him. Fig has to deal with him in front of all her friends. Her teacher calls Child Protection and Permanency, and they start checking on Fig and her dad. When a storm comes and Fig finds her dad gone, she has to ask a new neighbor, Mark, for help. Mark rescues dad and brings him home, starting a relationship no one expects. All this while Fig is discovering who she really is.

Author Nicole Melleby has written a compelling story deftly dealing with serious and important issues of mental illness, homosexuality, bullying, and building friendships that will speak to her middle-grade audience and keep them turning pages. The writing is lovely and the characters and situations believable. This might well be used in classrooms for discussion starters about all these issues.

No giveaway this week. I donated my hardbound copy to the school library. But check back next week. I expect to have a giveaway then. And don’t forget to check for other Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday posts at the Greg Pattridge’s blog HERE.