THE BLOSSOMING SUMMER — Review & Giveaway

Thought for the Day:

“Imagine tension like holding a reader’s feet under water; you don’t want to pull them down until they drown. You have to let them come up for air.”
~ Lauren Magaziner ~

Gifts for My Writer Friends:

Sarah (Sally) Hamer has a wonderful post HERE on Writers in the Storm about How to Write: Conflict is NOT Tension. Well worth your time.

I hadn’t really thought too much about paragraphing, but when I saw the great post HERE by Lori Freeland on Writing in the Storm, I realized I should pay more attention to how I can punch things up with The Power of Paragraphing.

Melissa Donovan on Writing Now has a wonderful post called Five Things Your Characters Need. A lot of good reminders HERE.

It was a banner weekend in the world of baseball. Despite the ongoing efforts of trump and his minions to roll back all the progress we have made in this country for minority rights, for the first time ever, a woman umpired in a regular-season major league game. Jen Pawol worked her way through all the normal steps of the umpiring world, and her time came yesterday when she was slotted into a crew for a double-header between the Atlanta Braves and the Miami Marlins. Today, she took the spot behind home plate, calling balls and strikes. The park was filled with people carrying congratulatory signs, and the cheers were loud when she rang up a player halfway through the game. I didn’t agree with her strike zone, but she was consistent, and that is more important than anything else. She did a great job, and it was a great day for women and for baseball.

Last week, I offered a gently read hardback of QUEENIE IN SEVEN MOVES by Zanni Louise. This week’s winner is Melanie B. Melanie shared my link for an extra chance, and it worked! Congratulations, Melanie. I will get your book out to you soon. Thanks for reading and commenting.

I received a copy of THE BLOSSOMING SUMMER by Anna Rose Johnson from the publicist at Candlewick Publishing, although the book is actually published by Holiday House. I guess there is more consolidation in the publishing industry than I was aware of. In any case, it is a middle-grade historical novel, one of my favorite genres, so I was happy to read it. And look at that gorgeous cover! Here are my thoughts.

Rosemary is twelve and living with her aunt and uncle in London. World War II is raging in Europe, and the Nazi’s are even bombing England. Rosemary misses her parents and her two little brothers. The family has been separated for a while as Mom and Dad didn’t have steady work. They had sent their three children to different friends and relatives until they could get back on their feet. Recently, both parents had gotten good jobs, and Rosemary hoped the family would be reunited, but she is in for a shock when her uncle tells her that her parents are coming for her, but they will all be boarding a ship and sailing to America. She knew her father was American, but she didn’t know much else. She found out they were to go to Wisconsin, where they would stay with her grandmother, her father’s mother. She also knew her father and grandmother had not gotten along. Rosemary’s most fervent wish is that her family will all get along and live happily ever after. But things aren’t as simple as that. Rosemary doesn’t really know her brothers or parents anymore. There are some important family secrets and a lot of healing that needs to take place, and little of it is something Rosemary can control, though that doesn’t keep her from trying.

Anna Rose Johnson has chosen an interesting time and place for her story. It takes place before the United States was drawn into World War II, and much of it takes place in Wisconsin, where the war wasn’t front and center. The characters are well-drawn, the writing is lovely, and the story is pretty compelling. There isn’t a great deal of tension in the story, and everyone is so nice! Rosemary is pretty much perfect. There could be more edges to the characters and greater tension to make this a bit more interesting. That said, there is a cohort of sophisticated middle-grade readers who love quiet stories and love historical fiction. They will find this story to their liking.

I have a gently read hardback to give to 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 US 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 an extra chance. And please don’t forget to check for other Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday posts at Greg Pattridge’s blog HERE.