JUST KEEP WALKING — Review & Giveaway

Thought for the Day:

“There’s no need to plan everything out beforehand. Part of the fun is setting up high stakes without knowing the outcome. This way you’ll be right there with your protagonist, struggling to come up with solutions, even as the walls close in deliciously around you.” —Julia Bartz from “Writers on Writing”

Gifts for My Writer Friends:

HERE is something I’ve never run across or even really considered before. Eldred Bird on Writers in the Storm has an interesting post called How to Show Emotion in Characters Who Hide Their Feelings.

Jan Fields from the Institute of Children’s Writers always has articles worth reading. The one HERE is on the bane of my existence, revision — Revision is the Tortoise, Not the Hare.

We think a lot about our characters, but do we think enough about their relationships? HERE Janice Hardy has an excellent post with 6 Crucial Character Relationships.

I won’t be here next week. It is Super Bowl Sunday, which is like a national holiday at my house. I am a big fan of both teams, so all I can really hope for is a great game, and I think it will be that. I think the teams are well-matched. We will, of course, eat a lot of junk food and make sure we don’t miss any of the funny ads. It’s serious business for us. I am fascinated by all the brouhaha surrounding Taylor Swift in the last few days. Here we have a brilliant, beautiful, accomplished young woman who is beloved by millions (maybe even billions) of people, and now suddenly she is at the center of a conspiracy to defeat the presumptive republican candidate? I think certain people have lost their collective minds. I have enjoyed watching the sweetness between Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce, and I have never felt threatened by any of it. I hope they just shake it off and go on with their lives. Anyway, here’s to a great Super Bowl game and a fun day.

Last time I was here, I promised a used copy of WILD RIVER by Rodman Philbrick to one of you. I guess it pays to share my link for extra chances. That’s what Carol Baldwin did, and she won the book. Congratulations, Carol! Thanks for sharing my link. I will get your book out to you soon. If you don’t know Carol, check out her cleverly-named blog, Carol Baldwin’s Blog, HERE. Carol is a South Carolina writer and has a YA novel coming out soon.

I’m always, always on the lookout for survivors stories, and when I ran across JUST KEEP WALKING by Erin Soderberg Downing on the list for review for the San Francisco Book Review, I thought it looked like something I would like. It isn’t your run-of-the-mill survivor story, but it’s close, and it certainly has a lot of the things I like about survivor stories. Here is the review I wrote for SFBR.

Jo’s father promised her they would hike nearly a hundred miles of the Superior Hiking Trail, just as he had done with her brother years before. But Dad left two years ago, choosing another family over Jo and her mom. Mom and Jo are hiking together, and Jo isn’t going to settle for anything under a hundred miles. It’s so much harder than Jo ever thought it would be. Their packs are heavy and the freeze-dried food isn’t great. They meet one of Mom’s former students on the trail, traveling with her partner and dog, and they decide to travel together for a while. It’s a good thing they do because Mom hurts her ankle badly. Is this the end of their trip? Does Dad win after all?

Erin Soderberg Downing has written a compelling adventure that will keep young readers engaged. Themes of loss, family, and perseverance make this a rich story. The writing is fine, and Downing’s personal experience hiking the SHT brings a real sense of the place. Jo’s first-person point of view draws readers in, although they might be put off by Jo’s very repetitious focus on her father. Otherwise, this is a fine story.

I have a gently-read ARC copy for one of you. All you need to do is be a follower (it’s free and easy — see the top, right corner of the post) with a U. S. Address, and leave a comment. If you share the link to this post on social media, please let me know in your comment, and you will get extra chances. And please don’t forget to check for other Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday posts at Greg Pattridge’s blog HERE.