Sunday, August 20, 2017

Mrs. Master is a Disaster -- Review and Giveaway

Thought for the Day:
“There is progress whether ye are going forward or backward! The thing is to move.” 
~ Edgar Cayce ~

Gifts for My Writer Friends:
Have you ever heard of the First Person Plural point of view? I never had until I read the essay HERE from Aerogramme Writer’s Studio. Fascinating. I suspect we will be seeing this perspective more often. 

HERE are some great tips about writing from writers. My personal favorites are 3, 15, and 17. There may be an ad when you open this, but it’s worth waiting for. 

Have you received a Revise and Resubmit request from an agent? I sure hope it happens to me one of these days. Anyway, HERE is a good post from Guide to Literary Agents on that topic. 

On the Writing News from Rosi front, I have a couple of things to report. I had an email from High Five Magazine recently. They bought a little story from me back in 2011. They are going to (finally!) publish it in the March 2018 issue, and they have a wonderful artist lined up to illustrate it. I don't think I'm allowed to mention who, but I'm excited! The other news is that I have been accepted to the SCBWI Nevada mentorship program for this year! WooHoo! It's a great program and am so honored to be part of it. I really think this will be a huge step for me in my writing.

Last week, I offered a copy of Greek Myths: Three Heroic Tales by Hugh Lupton and Daniel Morden, and illustrated by Carole Henaff. Our winner this week is Danielle Hammelef. Congratulations, Danielle! She always shares my link lots of places for extra chances. I appreciate that and it's fun for me when her name pops out as winner. Danielle, I will get the book out to you soon. For the rest of you, I have a really fun book to give away this week.

I was looking for some really light middle-grade books to keep my review list from being too overwhelming. I saw a couple Dan Gutman books on the list and grabbled them. His books are pretty funny stuff. I love his footnotes. Here is the review I wrote for Mrs. Master is a Disaster.

It is Grandparent's Day in A.J.’s classroom. The old fogies (A.J.’s grandfather's word) come trooping in and tell their stories. Some are pretty funny and some are pretty interesting. But the most interesting of all is Alexia's grandmother, Mrs. Master. She is an inventor. She has invented some amazing things such as self-tying shoes and eyeglasses with little windshield wipers on them. Needless to say, the kids are very intrigued. They decide if they can invent something, they can all become bazillionaires! Mrs. Master agrees to mentor them. First they must come up with an idea for a product that everyone would want or need. After kicking around a few ideas, they decide that everyone needs a toilet seat — but one that glows in the dark, smells nice, can carry on a
Dan Gutman
conversation, and is heated. What could go wrong?

Dan Gutman is a very, very funny guy who writes very, very funny books. This is no exception. And his partner in crime … um, I mean funny books … is illustrator Jim Paillot who makes Gutman’s funny books just that much funnier. Early middle-grade readers will race through this latest offering.

I have a gently-read paperback of this book to share with one of you. To win, all you need do is have a US address, be a subscriber or follower, and tell me that in a comment you leave on this post. If you are reading this in your email, click HERE to go to the blog so you can leave a comment. If you would like extra chances, please spread the word by posting the link on a Tweet, blog post, Facebook, or any other way you like. Let me know what you have done in your comment, and I will put in extra chances for you for each that you do.

Don't forget to check out Shannon Messenger's wonderful blog HERE for many more Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday reviews and giveaways.