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MERCY WATSON IS MISSING — Review

rosihollinbeck

Thought for the Day:

“It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all, in which case you have failed by default.”
~ J. K. Rowling ~

Gifts for My Writer Friends:

Siblings are often a big part of middle-grade fiction, so when I ran across the article HERE from Writer’s Digest by Radhika Sanghani called 5 Secrets for Creating Tension Between Siblings in Fiction, I thought it could be very helpful. I was right.

Janice Hardy does it again. HERE she has a fantastic post with 4 Ways to Develop Character Agency. Don’t miss it.

Revision — some writers love it and some hate it. HERE is a great article from Gotham Writers by Barbara DeMarco-Barrett called On Revision. I need to learn to embrace it.

Well, it looks like my baseball season is pretty much over. My beloved Giants have slipped into an ennui of epic proportions, and their season leaves them to have only spoiler status at this point. Now I go into ABD mode (Anybody But Dodgers) and that will inform my baseball for the playoffs and World Series. I’m feeling hopeful for next season though. We have a lot of great young talent on our team that just need some development. I’m hopeful that will happen over the winter and through spring training. Being a Giants fan requires that one have the attitude of hope springing eternally. I have that. The good news is it frees up more time for me to work on my classes. Right now I’m taking a class on illustrating with collage. It is a lot of fun and is sparking my creative juices, giving me some fun ideas for my writing.

And speaking of creative juices, nobody seems to have more of them than Kate DiCamillo. When I got an email from the Candlewick Press publicist recently, Kate DiCamillo’s new book, MERCY WATSON IS MISSING! was one of my choices. I grabbed it. I’ve read some of the earlier Mercy Watson books, and they are always a lot of fun. This one is no exception.

Mr. and Mrs. Watson of Deckawoo Drive are heartbroken and totally distraught when their pet pig, Mercy, goes missing. They ask the police, the fire department, and animal control to help, but nobody seems to be able to help them. Eugenia Lincoln, who lives next door with her younger sister, Baby Lincoln, isn’t very sad about Mercy being gone, but Baby is and wants to help. It is her idea to hire a private detective. There is only one in town — Percival Smidgely — but he doesn’t have much experience. In fact, this is his first case. Fortunately, he has a pretty smart pigeon that helps him. But maybe the youngsters from the neighborhood, Frank and Stella Endicott and their friend Horace Broom, will be the best detectives for this case.

Kate DiCamillo

Kate DiCamillo has written a real romp of a story that continues the popular Mercy Watson series of chapter books. The characters are all so much fun, and the situations Mercy causes are always interesting. The writing, of course, is spectacular. DiCamillo comes up with such great names. It’s hard not to giggle while reading it. Of course, the great illustrations throughout by Chris Van Dusan just add to all the fun DiCamillo writes about. Emerging readers and reluctant readers will be happy to get this book, but don’t be surprised if slightly more sophisticated readers sneak a peek.

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

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18 thoughts on “MERCY WATSON IS MISSING — Review”

  3. Sorry about the Giants. But I gotta say that I think the Cubs have traditionally been the “next year” team, LOL. (Whispering as a Cubs fan who now lives in Giants territory)

    I love Kate DiCamillo’s books and re-read Tiger Rising, Flora & Ulysses, Because of Winn Dixie, and Raymie Nightingale last week. She never fails to amuse or astonish, sometimes both at the same time.

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  4. The links sound great, especially the one from Janice Hardy. I’ll be sure to enjoy them all when time allows in a few days. Kate DiCamillo has always been one of my favorite authors but have not had the chance to read any of the books in this series. Sounds like a good break from the more serious titles on my TBR list. Thanks for sharing your review on this week’s MMGM.
    (Nothing more epic than the 100 plus loss season for the Rockies. Ugh!)

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    1. This is really a fun series. Very cute. My library allows me to request them to buy books I want that they don’t have. You might check and see if you can. Thanks for the comment.

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  9. Having a book about finding a beloved pet pig sounds such fun! I haven’t read anything by this author yet but one of her books is in my TBR pile (though it’s been there almost two years…. time to move it up!). Thanks for links and the meme (I’m definitely still a child at heart!) and sorry about the Giants but more writing time is at least a plus! Have a great week! 🙂

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