EXTINCTOPEDIA: Discover what we have lost, what is at risk, and how we can preserve the diversity of our fragile planet — REVIEW

Thought for the Day:

“If I can get a ‘happy’ ending – which is when for the characters I’m writing about, something happens that they move from wherever they are in the beginning to knowledge or wisdom, they know something they never would have acknowledged or realized if it hadn’t been for my book — that for me is what literature does.”

~ Toni Morrison ~

Gifts for My Writer Friends:

I had never thought about using setting to drive the pace of a story until I read the great article HERE by Mailan Doquang in Writer’s Digest about Place and Pace in Thriller Novels. It’s a good one.

There are lots of articles about beginnings and endings, but the ones about the sagging middle are gold. HERE is a really good one by Diana Stout writing on Writers in the Storm called Dead Zone Ahead: The Sagging Middle.

Andrea Lundgren has a good post HERE on A Writer’s Path with good reminders for all writers — 5 Things Your Readers Need from You.

My recovery is going fine, but, my goodness, I can’t believe how long six weeks feels. I’m a third of the way through, and I feel like the end of August will never come. But I know it will. In the meantime, I will keep hoping the time goes quickly. Between the Olympics and the state of politics (don’t worry — I won’t go into that), there is always something going on that is, to say the least, interesting. I was surprised how much I enjoyed watching the bicycle racing. It was pretty exciting to see an American woman just take over and win the gold medal when it looked for a long time she would have to fight for third. And Simone Biles — holy smoke, what a great story. So exciting to watch all the gymnasts, but she is surely something special. The archery and shooting has also been fun. I especially liked the coach and his student battling it out for gold in the skeet shooting. How cool is that? Anyway, I’m watching sports I have never watched before, and it has been an education. I hope you are getting to see some of it.

You have probably noticed I haven’t been having giveaways. I won’t until I’m back on my feet. I don’t have any way to get things mailed. But I’ll get back to it soon.

My love affair with middle-grade picture books continues this week. It is really such a beautiful form. Kids learn so much while reading them, but they probably don’t think about it as learning because they are enjoying them so much. I saw EXTINCTOPEDIA: Discover what we have lost, what is at risk, and how we can preserve the diversity of our fragile planet written by Serenella Quarello and illustrated by Alessio Alcini on the review list for the Manhattan Book Review, it captured my interest. I was not disappointed. Here is the review I wrote for MBR.

We live in a world that has many challenges for all kinds of animals. We have already lost many animals, large and small, forever. Some were hunted to extinction by man—hunted for their fur or feathers or because they were misunderstood or simply because man had the power to destroy them. We are losing some because of climate change or because we are stealing their habitats to use the land for other purposes.

It is important for young people to know about these creatures so they can care enough to find ways to help protect them. This wonderful book tells the story of species that have been lost and those that will be lost if we don’t make some serious changes soon. The writing is accessible and conversational, yet carries the urgency of the situation. The illustrations are absolutely stunning. They are detailed and very realistic, yet they have the warmth only illustrations can carry.

There are concrete suggestions for what we can do to help protect animals as well as hopeful news about some successes and the discovery of new species. A good glossary rounds things out. This is an excellent resource that will make a difference.

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