ORRIS AND TIMBLE LOST AND FOUND & MERCY WATSON IS MISSING! — Reviews

Thought for the Day:

Writing is rewriting. A writer must learn to deepen characters, trim writing, intensify scenes. To fall in love with the first draft to the point where one cannot change it is to greatly enhance the prospects of never publishing.

~ Richard North Patterson ~

Gifts for My Writer Friends:

Good posts on antagonists are always welcome. HERE is an old one I ran across by Janice Hardy at Fiction University with 10 Traits of a Strong Antagonist.

Much has been written about dialogue tags, but HERE is a fresh look by Margie Lawson writing on Writers in the Storm that is worth your time – Tag Your Dialogue with Big-Time Power. It has great examples.

Handling foreshadowing well is a tricky business. Tiffany Yates Martin, writing on Foxprint Editorial, has a great post HERE to help you with How to Foreshadow with Finesse.

I have my trip all set up. I can’t fit Toronto in, but I will be seeing a game at Fenway, and that will be pretty cool. And I will get to spend some nice time with my daughter. I’m really looking forward to that. It seems there are some deals to be had in travel. I think since so many fewer Canadian and overseas travelers are coming to the U.S. because their countries are warning them it isn’t safe to come here, it might be a good time to travel within the U.S. It may be the one good thing to come out of the mess in Washington. I have been reading some very alarming things about what is hidden in the so-called big, beautiful bill that is being rammed through. If it goes through as it is, our democracy is over. I hope you will all take the time to find out what is really in it. I’m going to be making some calls and writing some postcards this week. It doesn’t sound like much, but what else can we do?

Last week, I offered a gently-read ARC of OCTOPUS MOON by Bobbie Pyron to one of you. The winner this week is Melanie B. Congratulations, Melanie! I will get our book out to you soon. I don’t know anything about Melanie except that she is a new subscriber and that she was kind enough to share my link on social media for an extra chance. This time, doing that was just the ticket.

I received some books not long ago from Candlewick Press for review. I just love Kate DiCamillo‘s works. She has such range. I never quite know what I’ll be getting with her books, but I know I will enjoy whatever it is. This time I received two of her books — ORRIS AND TIMBLE LOST AND FOUND and MERCY WATSON IS MISSING. I’ve read several of the Mercy Watson books and they are so much fun. I knew I would love it and I did. I wasn’t familiar with Orris and Timble, but I liked the one I got very much. Here is a little about each of these.

Orris is a rat and Timble is a very young owl. Orris lives in an old barn. Every night, Timble visits the barn and listens to the stories Orris likes to tell. Orris, is seems, is quite the reader, and he has a lot of books that he reads and learns stories from. These are the stories he shares with Timble. It’s odd for a rat and an owl to be friends, but for these two, it’s a very nice friendship. Timble is growing up and getting bigger. But one night, Timble doesn’t show up at the usual time. Orris waits and waits. The next night, Timble doesn’t show up again. Orris is really worried. After a a couple more nights without Timble, Orris feels deserted and angry. But Timble does finally return. What happened? And can their friendship be mended?

This is a perfect book for emerging readers. The writing by DiCamillo is, of course, wonderful, and the story is very engaging. The characters are endearing, and they overcome a problem young readers will relate to. Beautiful illustrations by Carmen Mok throughout are painted in muted colors and filled with delightful details.

When Mercy the pig goes missing, the Watsons are distraught, and all the neighbors on Deckawoo Drive are trying to help find her. Well, everyone except Eugenia Lincoln. She seems quite happy that Mercy is gone. Some of the neighbors decide to hire a private detective, but he’s not very good at his job, but some of the neighborhood kids are pretty clever. There is a lot of silly shenanigans going on throughout the story that kids will simply love. Of course, the writing is great. This fun chapter book has lots of cute illustrations by Chris Van Dusen to keep young readers engaged. MERCY WATSON IS MISSING! is a great addition to the Mercy Watson franchise. This must be a new edition of this book, because it seems I reviewed this a couple years ago.

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