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GLORY BE — Review & Giveaway

rosihollinbeck

Thought for the Day:

“Good writing takes place at intersections, at what you might call knots, at places where the society is snarled or knotted up.”


~ Margaret Atwood ~

Gifts for My Writer Friends:

The Creative Penn has a wonderful article on verbs HERE, or you can listen to the podcast of it. It’s a long article, but it has great examples and excellent resources. It is Verb Your Enthusiasm: Transform Your Writing With Stronger Verbs With Sarah Kaufman. Don’t miss this one.

Finding an agent may be as hard as writing your book. HERE is a terrific post by Nathan Bransford all about how to research a literary agent. This is pure gold.

Alison Hammer has a very good post HERE on Writers Unboxed on the subject of editing, writing about something I seldom do but should always do.

It’s all sports all the time at my house right now. Of course, I’ve been watching my beloved Giants lose waaaaay too many games. Sigh. They just can’t seem to get their collective act together. I’m sure their latest bozoness has brought joy to Greg Pattridge as they have lost the last two games to his Rockies. In addition to Giants games, the French Open has been on all week. I faithfully watch two tennis tournaments — the French Open and Wimbledon. Unfortunately, I not only seem to be a curse for my Giants, but I also seem to be something of a curse for my favorite tennis players. Ben Shelton and Coco Gauff both were knocked out early. That said, there has been some very interesting tennis to see. The first week was plagued by a terrible heat wave, and some players struggled to cope. The number one men’s player, Janik Sinner, was knocked out in the first round! The announcers said the heat has broken, and it is expected to be 20 degrees cooler for the matches this week. It should make for a great run to the finals.

Many years ago, I met Augusta Scattergood (Isn’t that a great author name?) at a Highlights workshop. She had just had her first book published. It was called GLORY BE. I loved the title, and I loved the book. HERE is the link to the review I wrote way back in 2013. When I was perusing the review list for the San Francisco Book Review, I was surprised to see GLORY BE on the list, but it is a different book with the same name. This one is by Jamie Sumner. I had read and enjoyed her book SCHOOLED (my review is HERE), so I requested a review copy. Here is the review I wrote for SFBR

Glory is nine, and life is not simple for her. She struggles with her hot temper and sassy mouth at school, getting herself into trouble more often than one should. When her beloved dog, Roux, goes missing, Glory cuts school to try to find him. Her mom has to take time from work, although she hates her job, so there’s that. Glory’s dad isn’t around much, and when he is around, he has just gotten a new job or just lost one due to his drinking, or he’s gambled all the family’s money away. Glory takes chances, going to dangerous places and meeting some sketchy people while trying to find Roux.

Jamie Sumner

Author Jamie Sumner has written a very compelling, complex story with plenty of family drama, friend drama, and non-stop problems for young Glory. The story is written in verse and has spot illustrations throughout, which will be attractive for young readers, and will likely draw in reluctant readers with all that white space. With such a young protagonist, many may think this is for very young middle-graders, but the subject matter is better suited for older middle-graders.

I have a gently-read ARC 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.

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Published by rosihollinbeck

28 thoughts on “GLORY BE — Review & Giveaway”

  1. I enjoyed Schooled, though I thought there were some issues with it. I’d be interested to read this one.

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  3. Pingback: Marvelous Middle Grade Monday (6/1/26) | Always in the Middle…

  4. So many wonderful gifts packed in this post, Rosi! Thanks so much. 💙
    I’m sorry about your team, I have been watching a few new series now that I only have streaming and no sports streaming. Sometimes I just don’t want to watch anything.
    This book sounds like a good one but I wonder about the choice to have such a young protagonist in what seems like an older MG book. I’ve been listening to a few adult books and that’s been a fun switch up.

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    1. What a nice thing to say. Thank you. I’m reading a lot more adult books these days and cutting back on kids books. It is nice to switch it up. Thanks for the comment. Good luck in the drawing.

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  5. I immediately thought of Augusta’s book also! And thought that the protagonist sounds young for the type of conflicts she faces. Please enter my name. Perhaps one of my teen bloggers will decide to read this. Thanks.

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  6. Sorry about the Giants. This sounds like a great story, but I’ll let someone else win who can read it now. I’m reading a really long, but good book right now and I have one to read for book club.

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  9. I’ve read and enjoyed this author’s previous books and have this one on my wish list. Thank you for sharing your ARC with one of us. I shared this post on tumblr, X, and Facebook.

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  12. Thanks for the links, Rosi! Sorry to hear about the Giants and the tennis, but I hope you are enjoying both sports all the same! Thanks for the review of Glory Be, interesting that the protagonist is so young, considering the subject matter sounds more suited to older readers, though that depends on the reader. I started on adult books when I was 9! Have a great week!

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