Thought for the Day:
“Fiction gives us empathy; it puts us inside the minds of other people, gives us the gifts of seeing the world through their eyes. Fiction is a lie that tells us true things, over and over.”
~ Neil Gaiman ~
Gifts for My Writer Friends:
September C. Fawkes has a really interesting post HERE on Understanding the Mirror Moment. No, it’s not what you think. It’s something else entirely. Check it out.
K. M. Allen has a thought-provoking post HERE on Writing Tricks: Unanswered Questions. Doing this more deliberately can really ramp up the tension.
Melissa Donovan has an interesting post HERE on Writing Forward that will give you Tips for Developing Your Voice in Writing.
My sister posted this on Facebook, and I couldn’t think of anything more fun to post here. It comes from an author by the name of Lynn Miclea.
• An Oxford comma walks into a bar where it spends the evening watching the television, getting drunk, and smoking cigars. • A dangling participle walks into a bar. Enjoying a cocktail and chatting with the bartender, the evening passes pleasantly. • A bar was walked into by the passive voice. • An oxymoron walked into a bar, and the silence was deafening. • Two quotation marks walk into a “bar.” • Hyperbole totally rips into this insane bar and absolutely destroys everything. • A question mark walks into a bar? • A non sequitur walks into a bar. In a strong wind, even turkeys can fly. • Papyrus and Comic Sans walk into a bar. The bartender says, “Get out — we don’t serve your type.” • A mixed metaphor walks into a bar, seeing the handwriting on the wall but hoping to nip it in the bud. • A comma splice walks into a bar, it has a drink and then leaves. • Three intransitive verbs walk into a bar. They sit. They converse. They depart. • A synonym strolls into a tavern. • At the end of the day, a cliché walks into a bar — fresh as a daisy, cute as a button, and sharp as a tack. • A run-on sentence walks into a bar it starts flirting. With a cute little sentence fragment. • Falling slowly, softly falling, the chiasmus collapses to the bar floor. • A figure of speech literally walks into a bar and ends up getting figuratively hammered. • An allusion walks into a bar, despite the fact that alcohol is its Achilles heel. • The subjunctive would have walked into a bar, had it only known. • A misplaced modifier walks into a bar owned a man with a glass eye named Ralph. • The past, present, and future walked into a bar. It was tense. • A dyslexic walks into a bra. • A verb walks into a bar, sees a beautiful noun, and suggests they conjugate. The noun declines. • A simile walks into a bar, as parched as a desert. • A gerund and an infinitive walk into a bar, drinking to forget. • A hyphenated word and a non-hyphenated word walk into a bar and the bartender nearly chokes on the irony.
Last week I offered a gently-read paperback of Nobody Likes You, Great Grump by Cathy Malkasian to one of you. This week’s winner is Natalie Aguirre. Congratulations, Natalie! I will get your book out to you this week. If you don’t know Natalie, she is a writer from Michigan, and she posts wonderful, informative interviews with agents, authors, and others as well as plenty of giveaways HERE on her blog Literary Rambles.
I had The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise by Dan Gemeinhart on my TBR list for a very long time, and finally got to it over the winter. I kept meaning to get around to posting a review, but other books kept getting in the way. This is actaully one of my favorite books of the year. I do love journey books, and this is a great one. I know it’s been out for a while, but it’s never to late to review a good book. And how could anyone pass up a book with that amazing cover?
Coyote and her dad, Rodeo, live in an old school bus. They have been traveling all over the United States for five years in that bus, but have never been back to their hometown in Washington State in all that time. They left there on the bus after the tragic death of Coyote’s mother and two sisters. Coyote talks to her grandmother often, but visiting seems out of the question as far as Rodeo is concerned. But on one phone call, Coyote finds out the little park near their home is going to be demolished soon, and Coyote needs to get there. She and her sisters and mother buried a kind of a time capsule there, and if Coyote can’t get there in time, it will be gone. She doesn’t think she could bear that, but Rodeo is going to have to be tricked into going there. No way he will agree to the trip. But Coyote is determined and smart and pretty tricky, so she gets Rodeo headed in the right direction, and along the way they pick up some interesting travelers who end up being just what Coyote needs to keep things going in the right direction, until Rodeo figures out where they are headed. Can she pull it off?
Dan Gemeinhart has written an absolute gem of a middle-grade novel filled with heart, humor, and hope, but also lots of tension and tears. I simply LOVE this book. When I finally got to it (What took me so long?), I just couldn’t put it down. Gemeinhart’s writing is beautiful and his storytelling is terrific. I loved the characters, who were all complex and believable. Grab some tissues and a copy of this book. It is well worth your time.
I have a gently-read paperback for one of you. All you need do is be a follower or subscriber (it’s free!), have a U.S. address, and leave a comment below. If you would like extra chances, please share the link to this post on Facebook, Twitter, or any other social media outlet and let me know you have done that. And don’t forget to check for other Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday posts at the Greg Pattridge’s blog HERE.
Rosi Hollinbeck 
Ahhh, this has been on my TBR list since it came out. Thanks for the reminder, all the ‘shares’, and 🤣
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You’re welcome. Funny how things can be on our lists for so long and they just get buried. Glad to remind you of this one. It’s great. Thanks for the comment.Good luck in the drawing.
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Tried to subscribe but for some reason your blog thinks my email address is not valid. Hmmm. Actually I thought I had subscribed a long time ago although I don’t get notifications so I don’t know. So much to keep up with! At any rate, Coyote’s story looks really great! Hope you are well, Rosi!
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Thanks for being so persistent! It is nice to see you here. I am well. Thanks for coming by and commenting. Good luck in the drawing.
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Thanks for including my post 😊.
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You’re welcome. Thanks for the good content and the comment. Good luck in the drawing.
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😊
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Thank you for consistently finding books I enjoy reading. I’ll be posting this on Twitter and Facebook as well.
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I know you are quite a reader. I’m glad you find some books here you enjoy. This is a great one. Thanks for the comment and for sharing my link. Extra chances for you. Good luck in the drawing.
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Like Donna, this has been on my TBR pile for a while. I am definitely going to have to move it up after reading your thoughts about it.
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Thanks for the kind words. I know you will enjoy it. Thanks for the comment. Good luck in the drawing.
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What an interesting story with engaging plot. Losing loved ones is difficult, but is taking to the road for five years healthy? I’m going to have to check this one book out to understand the entire story. Am curious about the return to their hometown–and the time capsule.
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I think you will like this book. It’s a terrific story. Thanks for always reading and commenting. I appreciate it. Good luck in the drawing.
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What a great review! I had heard about this book a few times, but I still haven’t had a chance to read it, and you make it sound quite good. I love the paragraph you shared of grammar jokes—those were all hilarious, and I might need to share that with even more people! (I never realized that hyphenated is non-hyphenated and non-hyphenated is hyphenated—yikes.) I also love the quote you shared! I’ll pass on the giveaway, but thanks so much for the great post!
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Thanks for your kind words. I’m so glad you like the jokes. I thought they were too fun not to share. Thanks so much for reading and commenting. I appreciate it.
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I’ve had this book on my TBR for too long. I’m so happy to read that you enjoyed it. I have to share the grammar jokes with friends and family–we love this kind of humor. Congrats to Natalie! I love her blog too. I shared this post on tumblr, Facebook, and Twitter.
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Thanks so much for sharing my link. Extra chances in the drawing for you. You will like this book. I hope you get to it soon. And I’m glad you enjoyed the jokes. Thanks for the comment. Good luck in the drawing.
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Excited to win! And thanks for the shout out about my blog. Loved your sister’s Facebook post. I’ll pass on the giveaway this week. I have too many books, including the one I just won, to read and I see a lot of commenters are excited about this one.
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I finally got your book in the mail on Friday, so you should have it soon. Thanks for stopping by and commenting.
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The book looks good and please thank your sister for the bar stories. SO cute! I’m going to share this on FB and twitter.
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I’m glad you liked the bar stories. They were very popular. Also thanks for the comment and for sharing my link. Good luck in the drawing.
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I have a copy already so no need for an entry into the giveaway. I will be reading this story in the upcoming summer months as it has always gotten pushed to the bottom of my review pile. I have a nephew with a similar real life journey tale so this interests me even more. Thanks for featuring on MMGM. No time to get to the links today. I’ll dive into them tomorrow.
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You are going to like this book. Don’t let it get buried again! Thanks for reading and commenting. I appreciate it.
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Hi Rosi, Thanks for the jokes: I hadn’t heard a lot of them! I discovered a website of writing advice the other day and thought of you. She’s a Canadian YA author who gives really good writing classes at our local university (I’ve taken a few), and she just recently started a blog with both motivational and craft advice posts. https://eileencook.com/exploring-creativity/
(Also the book sounds really great!)
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Thanks for the link to your friend’s site. I will be checking it out. It’s always nice to see you here. Thanks for stopping by and commenting. I appreciate it.
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Great review! It certainly does sound like a gem of a book. I also enjoyed the “gifts” for writers, expecially the one about the Mirror Moment. (Bookmarked that.) And thanks for a good laugh: I loved the share about all the grammar and punctuation examples.
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It is a real gem of a book. I’m glad you found a link to link and a good laugh. It’s always nice to see you here.
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Hi Rosi. This sounds like a great book! Would love to read it. I actually knew someone who lived in a bus for a while. But it was a parked one, they couldn’t ride around in it. :o) I tweeted the post!
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Hi Janet. Nice to see you here. It’s a terrific book. Thanks for the comment and for sharing my link. Good luck in the drawing.
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