ARTEMIS SPARKE AND THE SOUND SEEKERS BRIGADE — Review

Thought for the Day:

“When it comes to people – don’t write about who you know, but what you know of human nature.”
~ Candace Bushnell ~

Gifts for My Writer Friends:

In my early days of writing, I formed a critique group. One of the writers insisted that all writing had to be in a close third-person point of view. I asked her, “What about an omniscient point of view?” and she told me there was no such thing. It isn’t often used, but it might be just the thing you need for a particular story. It’s hard to do, but sometimes it is the right thing to do. If you want to see it done well, read BEL CANTO by Ann Patchett. Anyway, HERE is a great post on the topic by D. Wallace Peach, guest posting on Story Empire Blog.

One of the most foundational things in writing a story is the character arc. If you don’t have that, you probably don’t have a good story. This is true from picture books to adult novels. HERE Janice Hardy (always worth reading!) has a great post called Grow Up Already: Creating Character Arcs.

I am in the agent search, so when I run across a good article that can help me with that, I’m interested. HERE C. S. Lakin at Live Write Thrive has a good article with Querying Basics: 5 Tips for Landing a Literary Agent.

I have watched a LOT of tennis this week. Wimbledon is my favorite of all the tournaments and it never disappoints. This week, many of us fell in love with a young Ukrainian woman, Elina Svitolina, who showed the persistence and grit that has come to symbolize the Ukrainian people in the last couple of years. Elina didn’t win it all, but she got much further in the tournament than anyone expected, and it was so exciting to watch. She may be my new favorite on the woman’s side. The men’s final, which ate up a big chunk of my day today, was possibly the best match I have ever seen. Five sets over five hours of absolutely heart-stopping tennis. I won’t say how it ended in case any of you have it recorded and haven’t watched it yet. I am still having issues with WordPress, but I think I have finally found a way to reply to comments that actually notifies you that I have replied. If you have received a response to your comments in the last couple weeks, please let me know, so I will know it is working. Also, I will not be here next week. We have a family trip planned in celebration of my granddaughter’s 18th birthday. (Happy Birthday, Gracie!) The bonus is that I will check off one more ballpark in my quest to visit every Major League ballpark. Seattle will be number 10. 22 more to go. I need to hurry!

I read a review of ARTEMIS SPARKE AND THE SOUND SEEKERS BRIGADE by Kimberly Behre Kenna somewhere (sorry, I can’t remember where) and put it on my TBR list based on that review. When it came up on the review list for the Manhattan Book Review, I was pretty pleased that I could claim it. I love the cover and found the title intriguing. I think it’s great to find good books for middle graders that show flawed main characters (and, boy, is Artemis flawed!) learning to be better, and that show the importance of conservation and how young people can really make a difference. This is a book worth your time. Here is the review I wrote for MBR.

Artemis would rather spend time in the salt marsh with the birds and plant life than with people, who tend to bully her about her stutter. Many people dump trash and grass clippings into the salt marsh, and it is doing a lot of damage. Artemis keeps a nature journal and does everything she can to save the marsh, but she gets a lot of pushback from Mr. Hellander who owns the hotel, and even from her own mother, who is dating Mr. Hellander. And Artemis isn’t nice or understanding to her best friend, Warren, who needs and deserves her friendship. When Warren is badly injured, it helps Artemis realize what a good friend he is. She speaks up for him and for herself.

Kimberly Behre Kenna has written a very effective story with the importance of good conservation at its core. Artemis is an interesting character with a good heart who doesn’t always make great decisions and isn’t always likable, but her story is persuasive and should move young readers. The writing is excellent and the story compelling, but it wraps up a little too quickly and neatly to be entirely believable.

Please don’t forget to check for other Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday posts at Greg Pattridge’s blog HERE.