Loralee Evans's Blog: Loralee Evans, page 47

Summerlost by Ally Condie

Summerlost by Ally Condie (c)2016Summerlost by Ally Condie is the winner for Best Middle Grade, and best Youth Novel in the 2016 Whitney Awards. I was lucky enough to read it in order to vote in the categories, and I really enjoyed it. It takes place in Cedar City, during the Shakespeare Festival, but those names are never given. If you've ever lived in Cedar City (as I have) and gone to the Festival (as I have) you would know.

The main character, Cedar, and her mom and brother have just moved here, and have recently suffered the lost of their dad and special needs brother. Cedar makes a new friend, and has all sorts of adventures thoughout the story, learning as she goes, making mistakes, fixing them, and strengthening relationships.

This is a great novel for young people, and for adults, too, teaching us how to build what we have, holding onto memories while gently letting go of what we can't keep.

LDStorymakers Writers' Conference and Whitney Awards Gala

I joined LDStorymakers in 2005 not long after my first book was published. I met Tamra Norton at a booksigning where she was just leaving, and I was just arriving. We bought each others' books, and she told me about a great group of supportive writers called LDStorymakers and asked if I was interested in joining. Of course I was, and the story went from there. I've been to every Storymakers' conference since then, and to every Whitney Awards Gala ever since that was begun in 2007.

The Conference was awesome this year. I got to volunteer a little bit which was crazy fun (although i did make a few mistakes, [I am so sorry, Renee' and Crystal) I got to get reacquainted with old friends, and I met a new friend, Emily Bleeker a Whitney Award Finalist (more than once) who is awesome! The Whitney Awards for books published in 2016 was a fantastic event. I've enjoyed it every year it's been in existence, and this year marks the 10th anniversary. I have gone to every single one, and each year they manage to make it even more fantastic than before!

The categories and the finalists in them this year, were:

Middle Grade:

*Ghostsitter, by Shelly Brown
Mysteries of Cove: Gears of Revolution by J. Scott Savage
Red: The True Story of Red Riding Hood by Liesl Shurtliff
Summerlost by Ally Condie
The Wrong Side of Magic by Janette Rallison

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General Young Adult Fiction:

*Blackhearts by Nicole Castroman
P.S. I like You by Kasie West
The Passion of Dolssa by Julie Berry
*The Serpent King by Jeff Zentner
The Truth About Fragile Things by Regina Siroir

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Speculative Young Adult Fiction:

Beyond the Rising Tide by Sarah Beard
Bluescreen by Dan Wells
Calamity by Brandon Sanderson
Death Thieves by Julie Wright
The Girl Who Heard Demons by Janette Rallison

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General Fiction:

The Dragons of Alsace Farm by Laurie Lewis
The Orphan Keeper by Camron Wright
The {Re}Model Marriage by Maria Hoagland
The Soldier's Bride by Rachelle J. Christensen
When I'm Gone by Emily Bleeker

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Historical Fiction:

Born to Treason by E.B. Wheeler
Deliverance by H.B. Moore
Exodus by H.B. Moore
From Sand and Ash by Amy Harmon
A Place for Miss Snow by Jennifer Moore

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Mystery/Suspense:

The Chemist by Stephenie Meyer
Pimpernel by Sheralyn Pratt
Revenge in a Cold River by Anne Perry
Slave Queen by H.B. Moore
Walk of Infamy by Sheralyn Pratt

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Contemporary Romance:

A Date with Danger by Kari Iroz
How I Met Your Brother by Janette Rallison
Love at First Note by Jenny Proctor
Love's Shadows by Nichole Van
Southern Charmed by Melanie Jacobson

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Historical Romance:

The Fall of Lord Drayson by Rachael Anderson
Lady Helen Finds Her Song by Jennifer Moore
My Fair Gentleman by Nancy Campbell Allen
The Sheriffs of Savage Wells by Sarah M. Eden
Willowkeep by Julie Daines

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Speculative:

The Bands of Mourning by Brandon Sanderson
The Bird and the Sword by Amy Harmon
Extreme Makeover by Dan Wells
The Longest Con by Michaelbrent Collings
Over Your Dead Body by Dan Wells

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*Indicates a Debut Novel

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Winners of each of the categories were:

Middle Grade: Summerlost by Ally Condie

General Young Adult Fiction: The Passion of Dolssa by Julie Berry

Speculative Young Adult Fiction: Calamity by Brandon Sanderson

General Fiction: The Orphan Keeper

Historical Fiction: From Sand and Ash by Amy Harmon

Mystery/Suspense: Pimpernel by Sheralyn Pratt

Contemporary Romance: Love at First Note by Jenny Proctor

Historical Romance: My Fair Gentleman by Nancy Campbell Allen

Speculative: The Bands of Mourning by Brandon Sanderson

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The Best Debut Novel was: The Serpent King by Jeff Zentner

The Best Novel for Youth was Summerlost by Ally Condie

The Best Novel for Adults was From Sand and Ash by Amy Harmon

Ishkabiddle!

I am a fan of J. Scott Savage's books, including his Farworld books. In Farworld, there is a creature called an Ishkabiddle. It is a small, furry, rolly-polly creature about the size of a cantelope, but not quite so round. They have little feelers on their heads, but otherwise seem to be more or less mammals. They are absolutely adorable little creatures, and so when I met an ishkabiddle today at my daughter's soccer game (It looked somewhat like a small dog) I was absolutely delighted. The Ishkabiddle's person friend was kind enough to let me take a picture of said ishkabiddle as proof that I'd actually met one. So here it is! Isn't it cute? Ishkabiddle with person friend!

North Star Academy

I had another great school visit today, when I went to North Star Academy for a school visit. North Star Academy does this awesome thing when they have professionals come and talk to their older kids about different careers, and I thought it was a really good idea. Before I gave my presentation to the younger grades, I got to meet a couple of very smart, very polite, and very curious young ladies from the older grades during lunch and talk to them about what it takes to become an author. It was fun and casual, and we ate lunch together in the library while I told them about some of my experiences in becoming an author. It was so fun!After my visit with them, I got the chance to give my presentation to the younger grades. It was great, and their participation was fantastic! I absolutely enjoyed my visit to North Star Academy, and I hope they learned something about writing their own stories!

My Father's Kingdom by James W. George

I read an extremely well-written and well-researched book recently about life in the Massachusetts Bay colony some years after the historical dinner that drew both natives and European immigrants together. At least for a little while. My Father's Kingdom: A Novel of Puritan New England by James W. George looks from the perspective of several different people involved in the difficulties of the time, from the perspective of natives, to the perspective of white settlers. I personally thought the author did a good job looking at what motivated different people to act the way they did. My Father's Kingdom (c)2017 James W. George


Here is my review which I put on Amazon, Amazon UK, and Goodreads: This story was a brilliantly written historical novel. The story of Massachusetts Bay and the conflicts between the European immigrants and the Wampanoag people and others has always been a sad part of American history. I think the author did a fantastic job bringing historical figures and fictional characters to life, interacting with each other, giving personality and humanity to what would otherwise be just a dry history lesson. These were real people, and their conflicts were real and often devastating. I hope that I will have the chance to read further books in this series. This book was very well written and researched, and I highly recommend it! 

Cleveland Elementary School

Cleveland Elementary SchoolToday, I went down to Cleveland Elementary in Emery County, and had a great visit with the students and faculty. I enjoyed it a lot, and I hope they did, too! The students had some great things to say about both reading and writing.  And many have even written stories already, with others who have some great ideas for future stories! I hope the assembly helped them think of even more ideas, and that they'll write some fantastic stories in the future.

It was really fun to eat lunch with several of the kids and talk with them. The Cleveland Elementary Mustangs are some pretty great young people!

Bean's Dragons by Mikey Brooks

Bean's Dragons (2014) by Mikey BrooksChildren's stories always help to cheer me up when I'm feeling down. And this sweet book, Bean's Dragons by Mikey Brooks is no exception! It's a quick little read, meant to be read by a child, or a parent and child together. Bean is a little girl with a houseful of dragons that are completely invisible to her parents, and the dragons create messes for which poor Bean gets blamed! She has big and small dragons her parents can't see, (but she and the baby can) and they have all sorts of personalities, likes, and dislikes, but the one thing they have in common, is they like to create messes. How is Bean going to get out of this fix? If you'd like to find out, you should read the book yourself and see! 

Candace E. Salima's Life Celebration

Yesterday, I had the great privilege of going to Candace E. Salima's funeral today. Or more appropriately, her Life Celebration. The speakers gave wonderful tributes, each focusing on an aspect of her life, Nathan Osmond, Sean Reyes, and Linda Scanlan all gave beautiful tributes to her, and to her husband. As Attorney General Reyes mentioned, it's hard to speak of Candace and Alvin separately. Because they were always involved in things together.  The musical numbers were wonderful and uplifting. The whole room was just filled with a wonderful feeling that words can't describe. 
Her sister, Heather Sluyter Hunt and Niece Stormy Hunt gave a beautiful life sketch. I am so glad I went. I am sad that Candace is gone, but knowing that she is back with Alvin gives me a bittersweet feeling of comfort. She is where she wants to be, and she is happy. So I'm okay.

The Great and the Grand

The Great and the Grand (c)2015, Benjamin FoxToday, while at my local library, I read a short, delightful book called The Great and the Grand by Benjamin Fox, illustrated by Elizabeth Robbins. It is copyrighted 2015, and is published by Familius.

In this short, beautifully illustrated children's book, a little baby is getting ready to meet Great Grandpa for the first time. It compares and contrasts great grandchild with great grandpa in wonderful ways as they go through the day, the baby and mom getting closer to Great Grandpa on a train, until finally they meet.

The book uses simple language and wonderful pictures to tell the story, and the effect is very moving. I strongly recommend this book to everyone who enjoys children's books, especially ones that celebrate the relationships between grandparents (in this case, great grandparents) and little children.

Candace E. Salima

Alvin and Candace E. SalimaA wonderful lady, Candace Salima passed away this morning at 10:48. She had been suffering for a long time, and finally succumbed to Progressive Bulbar Palsy. I'm so glad I was able to visit her on Thursday for a short time, and am grateful to my school's principal, Mr. Ben Pugh who let me take part of the day off to hurry to Orem to see her. I'm so grateful for the little note she was still able to write to me. She is with her husband Alvin again, whom she lost back in 2014, and missed so much. They are back together again. I am so grateful for my understanding that this life is just one part of our eternal journey.
Please consider donating to help funeral expenses HERE.