Sunday, December 17, 2017

Last Minute Shopping

Thought for the Day:
“Use the talents you possess, for the woods would be a very silent place
if no birds sang except the best.” 
~ Henry van Dyke, poet ~

Gifts for My Writer Friends:
Fiction writers can learn a lot from screenwriters. HERE is a good post from Go Teen Writers by Caitlin Eha with 5 good tips. 

A good villain makes every book a little bit better. Laurence MacNaughton has a   post HERE on Fiction University that can help you build a great villain. 

Wonderful post on query letters HERE on Kathy Temean’s Writing and Illustrating written by Erika Wassal.   

First of all, I want to wish all of you happiest of holidays. I will be taking the next two or possibly three weeks off from posting to spend extra time with my family. 

Last week I offered a copy of Welcome to Wonderland #2: Beach Party Surf Monkey to one of you. This week's winner is Zoie. You can find out more about her at her blog, Whisked Away by Words HERE. Congratulations, Zoie! I will get your book out to you this week. No giveaway this week. Just good suggestions.

For those of you who may still have some last-minute shopping for the holidays, books always make a great gift. Here are my suggestions for some of the great books I ran across in my reviewing this year. A few of my reviews haven't been published yet, so I have linked to them on Goodreads. If you click on the title, it will take you to my review or the Goodreads page.

Picture Books

Bear's House of Books by Poppy Bishop Illustrated by Alison Edgson

Cricket in the Thicket by Carol Murray Illustrated by Melissa Sweet

William's Winter Nap by Linda Ashman Illustrated by Chuck Groenink

Second Grade Holdout by Audrey Veronica Illustrated by Matthew Cordell

Child's Christmas in Wales by Dylan Thomas Illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman

Middle Grade

Not on Fifth Street by Kathy Weichman Cannon

Ronit & Jamil by Pamela L. Laskin

Wicked Bugs by Amy Stewart


Snow & Rose by Emily Winfield Martin

Young Adult

Bull by David Elliott

Yearbook by Jess Edward Johnson

Solo by Kwame Alexander

Victoria: Portrait of a Queen by Catherine Reef

Adult

Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate


Last Shift -- Poems by Philip Levine 

The Seasonal Kitchen by Kerry Dunnington










I hope all of you have a most wonderful holiday season and a Happy New Year. I'll see you here in 2018. In the mean time, don't forget to find more Marvelous Middle Grade Monday posts over at Greg Pattridge's blog, Always in the Middle HERE.