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GUT REACTION & HALF MOON SUMMER — Double Review & Giveaway

rosihollinbeck

Thought for the Day:

“The idea is to write it so that people hear it and it slides through the brain and goes straight to the heart.”


~ Maya Angelou ~

Gifts for My Writer Friends:

Showing our characters’ emotions isn’t always easy to accomplish, but it’s critical. HERE is a good article from the Institute for Writers about How to Show Your Characters’ Emotions, and it has excellent examples to help keep you on track to SHOW rather than TELL those emotions.

Settings are so important and really bind a story together. Without a good, clear setting, things can fall apart easily. HERE K. M. Weiland has a good post called How to Choose Story Settings: The 4 Basic Types of Setting.

And while we are on settings, HERE K. M. Weiland has another post that covers 4 Ways to Choose the Right Story Setting. They are different and both are worth your time.

When I was teaching in San Jose some years ago, I had the good fortune to work in an academy. We were at a huge high school. I think there were over 6000 students, and academies gave kids a chance to have a community within that big school. Our academy was focused on electronics, and our industrial arts teacher was a great guy named Richard Starks. When he retired, he became a sculptor, working mostly in large metal pieces. He had an artist’s open house this weekend, and yesterday I went to see what he was up to. It was great to reconnect after such a long time, and we both had a surprise treat when one of our former students showed up. It was almost 8 hours of driving round trip to go, but so worth it.

Last week I offered a gently-read ARC of KEEPING PACE by Laurie Morrison. What a terrific book. The winner is Carol Baldwin. Congratulations, Carol! If you don’t know Carol, she is a North Carolina writer with a new book coming out soon. Check out her new website HERE. She has lots of great content. Carol, I will get your book out to you soon.

I have fallen far behind on posting reviews, so this week I decided to post two to make a small dent in the list. And I’ll give away both books to help clear a little space in my bookcase. GUT REACTION was written by Kirby Larson and her daughter, Quinn Wyatt. HALF MOON SUMMER was written by Elaine Vickers. Both are terrific books. Here are the reviews I wrote for the book reviews.

It is never easy to be the new kid, but when it’s middle school and part way into the school year, it’s doubly hard. Tess loves her new stepfather but still misses her dad who died suddenly a few years ago. She honors his memory by baking, his great love and vocation. But suddenly when Tess tastes her baked goods, she gets terrible pains in her stomach and has other digestive problems. She is trying to navigate a new school, find a way to make some friends, and now this! But she’s too embarrassed to tell anyone, even her mother. She finally makes some friends thanks to her baked goods and is invited to be in a prestigious baking contest, but then her illness puts her in real crisis. Everything is so hard!

Quinn Wyatt & Kirby Larson

Kirby Larson and her daughter, Quinn Wyatt have written an important book for middle-graders about living with Crohn’s disease. The writing is exceptional, the characters are well-rounded and endearing, and the story, with themes of loss, grief, friendship, and family, is most compelling. The background of baking and the baking contest really highlight Tess’s battle with her illness. This deserves readership beyond middle-graders. Don’t miss this book.

Drew had never been a runner, but when his dad buys him cool new running shoes and invites him on a run, Drew can’t say no. Soon the two are joined by a new girl in town, Mia. Mia’s father has gone to Alaska, and her family is staying with her grandmother. They train together, but Drew’s dad has a bad fall, and other things are happening to him that are worrisome. Mia and Drew discover that they were born the same day at the same hospital, an interesting connection. Mia tells Drew she is training for a half marathon. She thinks running the half-marathon will give her a way to save her family’s home. Both seem to have insurmountable problems.

Elain Vickers

Elaine Vickers has written a terrific book with two stories woven together into a wholly satisfying one. The writing is lovely, the characters are fully developed and completely credible, and the complimentary stories are very compelling. It’s nice to see a platonic relationship between a boy and a girl with no hint of romance in middle-grade literature, and this meets that standard as well. The problems the kids face are very real-world and ones young readers will relate to.

I have a gently-read ARCs of both these books 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.

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Published by rosihollinbeck

36 thoughts on “GUT REACTION & HALF MOON SUMMER — Double Review & Giveaway”

  2. Kirby Larson will be attending our Humboldt County Children’s Author Festival (the 50th anniversary). i was unaware that she had written a book with her daughter. She writes mostly historical fiction, so I was surprised to see this more contemporary book.

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  3. Pingback: MMGM for MAY 20, 2024 | Always in the Middle…

  4. That’s great you reconnected with someone you worked with. I must sadly pass on the giveaway. I can’t get caught up on my reading and am having to return some books to the library without reading them. At least I can put them back on hold.

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  5. I have several friends with Crohn’s Disease, and am really looking forward to reading GUT REACTION! I had listened to HALF MOON SUMMER last month, and loved it—Elaine did a fabulous job with that alternating POV.

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  6. Thank you for sharing your ARCs! I have both of these books on my want to read list–both sound emotional–and how cool is a mother/daughter writing duo! I shared on tumblr, Twitter, and Facebook.

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  7. Like Natalie, I will need to pass on the giveaway as I too have some catching up to do. Both of these books do look fantastic, and I will add them to my TBR list. Happy MMGM

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  9. Both of these books sound like great stories about facing trial and adversity of health challenges on top of being a kid and all the day-to-day challenges that entails like making friends. Have been looking forward to reading these books! Also shared the link on social media!

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  11. Loved the setting posts by K.M. Weiland. Thanks for tracking those down. I’ve read both of the books you reviewed and enjoyed them both. Such great stories with memorable characters. Happy MMGM!

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  12. Both of these books sound excellent, Rosi! Gut Reaction sounds so compelling, between the baking and the exploration of chronic illness—I know several folks with Crohn’s disease or other GI troubles, so I love that the story explores that topic. And Half Moon Summer is one I think I’ve seen reviews of before—I love that both Drew and Mia are going through their own struggles, but their training and time spent together serves as a kind of escape for them (at least it seems from the synopsis).

    Also, wow, how wonderful that you got to visit a teacher you worked with, see the art he’s been working on, and reunite with a former student! It’s also wild to imagine a high school with 6000 students—it makes sense that each academy within the school became its own smaller community.

    I’m afraid I’ll have to pass on the giveaway again this week—but thanks so much for the thoughtful post, as always, and enjoy your week!

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    1. I ask the library to buy books often, and they always order six copies! I love that you asked for Kirby’s book. Thanks for reading and commenting. Good luck in the drawing.

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  14. Great books this week! I’ve read other books by Kirby, so am eager to read some outright fiction. As always, thanks for the “writers’ gifts” you include – I need to work on showing character emotions.

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  17. Both of those sound like good reads. I’ve read some of Kirby Larson’s other books and found them good. Adding to my TBR pile!

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  18. I love both your shares. Kids do need to see other faceing difficulties in their lives. Sorry I’m late responding, but couldn’t respond on many blogs last week due to comment format. Will see it this works.

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