Laurisa White Reyes's Blog, page 92

MMGM: WHY I LOVE HARRY POTTER

Middle Grade Monday is a weekly collection of blog posts assembled by author Shannon Messenger. For a complete list of posts, visit Shannon's blog HERE.
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It's hard to believe that it's been 19 years since HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER'S (or Philosopher's) STONE was first published in 1997. My oldest daughter was not quite four years old. My oldest son had just been born. It would be several more years before I would snuggle up with my daughter to read it to her, and a couple years after that before I'd read it to my son.


I hate to admit it, but until 2015, I had only ever read book I and most of book V in the series (I had to read book V as assigned reading in my graduate children's lit class). However, I was a devoted fan of the movies since the moment THE SORCERER'S STONE came out in theaters in 2001. Every year since then, my kids and I have held our annul Harry Potter Fest, complete with watching all the films over the course of several days, eating tons of popcorn and candy, and wearing all the Harry Potter stuff we can get our hands on.

When I finally introduced my youngest (of 5) child to Harry Potter a little over a year ago (he had just turned 7 and was finally old enough to handle it), he and I watched all 8 movies. And we started reading THE SORCERER'S STONE every night at bedtime. Over the course of the past year, we have also read THE CHAMBER OF SECRETS and THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN. We started THE GOBLET OF FIRE on New Year's Day.

It is pretty amazing to think that Harry Potter is delighting a whole new generation of readers (and viewers). His story is as entertaining and complex and imaginative today as it was 19 years ago, and I predict it will continue to inspire young (and old) fans for many generations to come, in the tradition that THE LORD OF THE RINGS and the Narnia series have. I suppose that is the true test of greatness when it comes to literature. Will the stories be as loved and cherished by succeeding generations as they were by the first? Will kids who love them grow up and hand them to their own kids and grand kids and say, "You have to read this! You'll love it!"


Harry Potter is that kind of story for me. I love reading them to my kids, and I've already decided that when I start having grand kids, I plan to gift each a set of Harry Potter books the moment they are old enough to read.


Why do I love Harry Potter so much? Because Harry could be anyone of us. He is, on the outside, rather ordinary. He's not much different than most other kids his age. And yet he is extraordinary, just like each of us deep down long to be extraordinary too. Harry keeps our dreams alive. And, quite simply, Harry's stories are plain old fun and unforgettable.

I've noticed that my paperbacks are getting rather worn out. I've decided it is time to replace them with hardcovers, something that might stand a chance at lasting as long as my love for Harry Potter will.

MMGM: ENTER TO WIN A COPY OF THE STORYTELLERS

Middle Grade Monday is a weekly collection of blog posts assembled by author Shannon Messenger. For a complete list of posts, visit Shannon's blog HERE.

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Goodreads Book Giveaway The Storytellers by Laurisa White Reyes Giveaway ends January 31, 2016.
See the giveaway details at Goodreads. Enter Giveaway SUMMARY:

12-year-old Elena Barrios' father has AIDS, a new disease in 1991 with a 100% fatality rate. Rather than face certain ridicule and ostracism, Elena tells her friends anything but the truth, fabricating stories about her father being a writer and researcher. But the reality is that Elena resents her father’s illness and can’t face the fact that he is dying.

When she is befriended by an older black woman named Ang who tells stories about her own father, Elena is transported into these stories, allowing her to experience them first hand. With Ang's help, Elena gains the courage to stand up to the bully at her school, mend her relationship with her father, and finally say goodbye.
EXCERPT:  

Elena stood at the street corner, the toes of her sneakers timidly peeking out over the curb. Waves of heat rose from the asphalt, warping the air like water ripples. She took off her glasses and wiped them with a tissue. Then she put them back on.No, it wasn’t her glasses. The air really did seem to move. Elena had never seen that before, not in Idaho where October mornings were cool and crisp. But now the term ‘Sunny California’ made sense to her. It was as hot as a July afternoon back home.She shifted her backpack from one shoulder to the other. Would the light ever turn red, she wondered? This neighborhood was nothing at all like Idaho, everything concrete and brick, the only patch of earth being a vacant lot squeezed in between apartment complexes. And the intersection of Fair Oaks Boulevard and Lake Avenue seemed as wide as the Grand Canyon, with cars zooming past in all directions. Elena wanted to cover her ears and run all the way back to the farm where she had spent her entire life until now, but unfortunately that was something she just could not do.Everywhere Elena looked, there was movement. Across the street in front of a café, a man wearing a white apron around his waist held up a large square of red and white checked fabric. He snapped it in the air before letting it glide down onto a round table. At a florist shop next to the café, a woman arranged bundles of roses and lilies in long, black canisters. Across the street on the opposite corner, a large man with a thick brown mustache stiffly swept the sidewalk in front of a drugstore. And there were people everywhere, men in business suits, women in high heels or active wear, kids with backpacks—everyone walking or jogging or even running. Elena suddenly missed Idaho more than ever.“Off to school, are you?”Elena started. Was someone speaking to her? She glanced around. On the steps of the building next door to Elena’s sat an old woman with skin the darkest shade of brown Elena had ever seen. She wore a flowered bandana tied around her head, and in her hands a strand of yellow yarn twitched between two long, metal needles. Elena wondered what she was making. Mittens? A sweater? No, not in this heat, she thought.The woman looked up from her knitting and spoke again, a little louder than before. Her accent sounded slanted and round, like people who came from the South.“I said are you headin’ off to school?”Elena allowed herself a brief glance in the woman’s direction but then quickly looked back to the street. This was the city after all, and Papi had warned her about strangers.The light turned red and the flow of cars stopped, their engines grumbling and growling like animals pulling against invisible leashes.Elena reached into her pants pocket and pulled out a brown plastic tube the length of her palm. She held the inhaler to her lips and pressed the button on the bottom of the canister. A cool mist filled her lungs. She felt a little better now, but the cars still snarled at her, and the street loomed in front of her like a black void that could swallow her whole.Elena knew she should cross. She would be late to school if she didn’t. There was nothing epic about it, really. She just had to take one step after another. But the longer she waited the harder it was to pry her feet from the curb.“What’cha scared of?” said the woman. Elena felt her staring at the back of her head. “Cars don’t bite, y’know. The way you jus’ standin’ there, you’d think they was a pack of alligators.”The woman was talking to her, but why? What could she possibly want?Elena stiffened. She had to get to school. It was her first day, after all. As she willed herself to step off the curb, she tried to picture her farm and the way the fading daylight cast lacy shadows across the barley fields. She took a deep breath and lifted her foot.Suddenly, the street rippled. Elena leapt back with a start. Scrunching her eyebrows, she peered curiously at the street, which swelled and sloshed like water in a bucket. Then the color of it shifted from black to a sickly shade of green.Elena looked up at the city’s squat concrete buildings with their sharp, straight edges. She watched with astonishment as her new neighborhood, section by section, began to transform—the café, the florist shop, even the apartment buildings all melted into mud, street lamps sprouted leaves and became trees, and where the cars had been appeared the ridged backs of alligators half submerged beneath the murky water.Soon the entire city had vanished, replaced with a hot, humid swamp that smelled of earth and damp moss. Elena listened to the sound of croaking frogs and swatted at a mosquito buzzing in her ear. For a single moment, she forgot about the cars, and the city, and school, and just stared. She was too amazed at her new surroundings to be afraid. Then, curiosity getting the better of her, she dipped the toe of her left sneaker into the water.All of a sudden, a monstrous gray gator sprang up like a giant mousetrap and snapped its tooth-filled jaws, missing her by inches. Elena threw her arms in front of her face and screamed.The frog sounds and the mossy smell vanished, and the all too familiar stench of exhaust fumes filled her nose. Elena lowered her arms. She was back on the corner of Fair Oaks Boulevard, the woman’s knitting needles clicking away. The signal turned green, and the cars at the intersection lurched forward. Elena turned and ran as fast as she could up the front steps to her complex. Then she rushed inside, down the hall to her apartment, and slammed the door shut behind her.

REVIEWING 2015 AND WHAT LIES AHEAD FOR 2016

The new year has begun, and for me that means several things--another 12 months of keeping very, very busy...and a whole lot of new books to be read.


2015 was a great year for me and my family. My oldest daughter, Carissa, got married. My oldest son, Marc, became an Eagle Scout and also left for college. My daughter, Brennah, and youngest son, Jarett, both joined our city's children's chorale and have been in many performances. My middle child, Stuart, entered high school and has been turning his bedroom into a home theater.


I've gone on a lot of "fieldtrips" with my kids: saw Idina Menzel in concert at the Hollywood Bowl, visited the Queen Mary and several museums, and have been to Disneyland 3 times.
 
 

For me, one of my publishers closed its doors and left my young adult novel, CONTACT, an orphan. But then another publisher offered me a contract for it. So that ended well. I also finished 3 years of graduate school and earned my MA in English.



I spent many months preparing for a job interview (the first I've had in nearly a quarter of a century) to teach as an adjunct professor at my local college. I'm still waiting to hear how that went.

I published a middle grade novel, THE STORYTELLERS, and helped several other authors publish their books through my little publishing company, SKYROCKET PRESS.


 So, it's been a busy year. What's in store for 2016?

Hopefully, I'll start teaching at the college this summer, if not sooner. I will wrap up my rewrite of my novel MEMORABLE and submit it to editors. CONTACT will be coming out with Evernight Teen Publishing. I plan to publish at least 3 books via Skyrocket Press, one of my own and at least 2 for other people. And I will keep producing issues of MIDDLE SHELF MAGAZINE.

As far as books to read...my goal is to read 50 books. I had that goal in 2015 but didn't quite make it. So I'll try again. Here just a few books I'd love to read this year...


WINTER by Marissa Meyer
RELIC by Gretchen McNeil
SHIFT by Hugh Howey
DUST by Hugh Howey
WICKED by Gregory Macguire
RADIOACTIVE by Winifred Conkling
A TINY PIECE OF SKY by Shawn Stout
ALL THE MISSING GIRLS by Megan Miranda
THE MISTLETOE BRIDE by Kate Mosse

MY FAVORITE READS OF 2015

At the end of every year, I post about all the books I've read in the past twelve months and decide which were my most and least favorites. In 2015, I read (or listened to) a total of 35 books. Unfortunately, I missed my goal of 50 books this year. Last year I read 45, and the year before that I read 61. But still, 35 isn't bad, and some of them were really fantastic.
So, here are the top 5 winners for my favorite books read in 2015:

#5:  TEN by Gretchen McNeil


#4:  DEAD WAKE by Erik Larson

#3: THE NIGHT CIRCUS by Erin Morgenstern

#2:  A MONSTER CALLS by Patrick Ness



And finally, drumroll, please...

#1:  SAND by Hugh Howey




Other books I loved include:

THE TAXIDERMIST'S DAUGHTER by Kate Mosse

AFTER THE ASHES by Sarah K. Joiner

UNBROKEN by Laura Hillenbrand

WENDY DARLING: STARS by Colleen Oakes

BLACK DOVE, WHITE RAVEN by Elizabeth Wein

And I've fallen in love with the JACK REACHER series by Lee Child. Also, I read the first three Harry Potter books out loud to my son. Those of course, are the best books ever. It would be unfair to the other books I read to include them on my top list--but they are there.

As far as my least favorites of the year, this was more difficult. In fact, impossible. I didn't read a single book this year that I didn't like or that disappointed in any way.

Some positive surprises, however, were AFTER THE ASHES by Sara K. Joiner, PROMISE by Judy Young, and RUNNING OUT OF NIGHT by Sharon Lovejoy, all remarkable middle grade novels that I think everyone should take the time to read.

BOOK REVIEW: THE TAXIDERMIST'S DAUGHTER by Kate Mosse

THE TAXIDERMIST'S DAUGHTER
Kate Mosse
HarperCollins
Historical Suspense

In a remote village near the English coast, residents gather in a misty churchyard. More than a decade into the twentieth century, superstition still holds sway: It is St. Mark’s Eve, the night when the shimmering ghosts of those fated to die in the coming year are said to materialize and amble through the church doors.
Alone in the crowd is Constantia Gifford, the taxidermist’s daughter. Twenty-two and unmarried, she lives with her father on the fringes of town, in a decaying mansion cluttered with the remains of his once world-famous museum of taxidermy. No one speaks of why the museum was shuttered or how the Giffords fell so low. Connie herself has no recollection—a childhood accident has erased all memory of her earlier days. Even those who might have answers remain silent. The locals shun Blackthorn House, and the strange spinster who practices her father’s macabre art.
As the last peal of the midnight bell fades to silence, a woman is found dead—a stranger Connie noticed near the church. In the coming days, snippets of long lost memories will begin to tease through Connie’s mind, offering her glimpses of her vanished years. Who is the victim, and why has her death affected Connie so deeply? Why is she watched by a mysterious figure who has suddenly appeared on the marsh nearby? Is her father trying to protect her with his silence—or someone else? The answers are tied to a dark secret that lies at the heart of Blackthorn House, hidden among the bell jars of her father’s workshop—a mystery that draws Connie closer to danger . . . closer to madness . . . closer to the startling truth.
MY REVIEW:

Big fan of Kate Mosse here! I loved her books LABYRINTH, SEPULCHRE and CITADEL. So I was chomping at the bit to read her latest release, THE TAXIDERMIST'S DAUGHTER, which I received as a birthday gift from the owner of Shelf Media Group, Margaret Brown.
The book did not disappoint. Deliciously creepy and macbre, it has all the elements of a gothic thriller: a remote seaside village, a large ominous house, an approaching storm, mysterious disappearances, a hint of romance, bizarre deaths. Mosse is a master at detail and drawing out the suspense. And while the story was a tad predictable at times, I never got bored or failed to feel that need to turn the page to see what happens next.
A thrilling and addictive read that lives up to Mosse's reputation.

Merry Christmas 2015

WHAT'S IN MY MAILBOX

With my job as Editor-in-Chief of Middle Shelf Magazine, I receive books in the mail almost daily. Often I get books that are so exciting, they immediately move to the top of my TBR list. Here are some titles I received this week...

Buck Anderson’s life seems to be changing completely. His best friend, David, has moved away; his anxious parents are hounding him more than ever; he has reluctantly agreed to fill in for his uncle and do odd jobs for a grumpy old veteran in town; and his twin sister has a new boyfriend and is never around anymore. To top it all off, Buck is bullied by a group of boys at school—mainly because he stutters.

There is one thing that frees Buck from his worries. It is the heart-pounding exhilaration he feels when exploring underground caves in and around his hometown. He used to go caving with David, but he's determined to continue on his own now. He doesn’t know that more changes are headed his way—changes that just might make him rethink his view of the world and his place in it.
 Fifteen-year-old Amadou counts the things that matter. For two years what has mattered are the number of cacao pods he and his younger brother, Seydou, can chop down in a day. This number is very important. The higher the number the safer they are because the bosses won’t beat them. The higher the number the closer they are to paying off their debt and returning home to Moke and Auntie. Maybe. The problem is Amadou doesn’t know how much he and Seydou owe, and the bosses won’t tell him. The boys only wanted to make some money during the dry season to help their impoverished family. Instead they were tricked into forced labor on a plantation in the Ivory Coast; they spend day after day living on little food and harvesting beans in the hot sun—dangerous, backbreaking work. With no hope of escape, all they can do is try their best to stay alive—until Khadija comes into their lives. 
She’s the first girl who’s ever come to camp, and she’s a wild thing. She fights bravely every day, attempting escape again and again, reminding Amadou what it means to be free. But finally, the bosses break her, and what happens next to the brother he has always tried to protect almost breaks Amadou. The old impulse to run is suddenly awakened. The three band together as family and try just once more to escape.

BOOK REVIEW: DEAD WAKE by Erik Larson

DEAD WAKE: THE LAST CROSSING OF THE LUSITANIA
Erik Larson
Crown Books
Non-Fiction

On May 1, 1915, with WWI entering its tenth month, a luxury ocean liner as richly appointed as an English country house sailed out of New York, bound for Liverpool, carrying a record number of children and infants. The passengers were surprisingly at ease, even though Germany had declared the seas around Britain to be a war zone. For months, German U-boats had brought terror to the North Atlantic. But the Lusitania was one of the era’s great transatlantic “Greyhounds”—the fastest liner then in service—and her captain, William Thomas Turner, placed tremendous faith in the gentlemanly strictures of warfare that for a century had kept civilian ships safe from attack. Germany, however, was determined to change the rules of the game, and Walther Schwieger, the captain of Unterseeboot-20, was happy to oblige. Meanwhile, an ultra-secret British intelligence unit tracked Schwieger’s U-boat, but told no one. As U-20 and the Lusitania made their way toward Liverpool, an array of forces both grand and achingly small—hubris, a chance fog, a closely guarded secret, and more—all converged to produce one of the great disasters of history.
It is a story that many of us think we know but don’t, and Erik Larson tells it thrillingly, switching between hunter and hunted while painting a larger portrait of America at the height of the Progressive Era. Full of glamour and suspense, Dead Wake brings to life a cast of evocative characters, from famed Boston bookseller Charles Lauriat to pioneering female architect Theodate Pope to President Woodrow Wilson, a man lost to grief, dreading the widening war but also captivated by the prospect of new love. 
Gripping and important, Dead Wake captures the sheer drama and emotional power of a disaster whose intimate details and true meaning have long been obscured by history.
MY REVIEW:

Riveting! Erik Larson is quite possibly the best non-fiction writer alive today. I've read all his his books, and this is one of his best. Weaving together strands from various story lines to finally culminate in the tragic sinking of the Lusitania by a German torpedo, Larson brilliantly brings to life that fateful moment that eventually led to the United States entering World War I, and bringing that war to its end.
Larson's books are equally compelling for both history buffs and fiction lovers alike. His books read like great fiction, keeping you turning page after page, and wishing the story would continue after the last page.
Recently named Best Non-Fiction Book of 2015 by Goodreads readers, DEAD WAKE should be at the top of everyone's TBR list. 

WHAT'S IN MY MAILBOX...

With my job as Editor-in-Chief of Middle Shelf Magazine, I receive books in the mail almost daily. Often I get books that are so exciting, they immediately move to the top of my TBR list. Here are some titles I received this week...

 
 

BOOK REVIEW: AFTER THE ASHES by Sara Joiner

Middle Grade Monday is a weekly collection of blog posts assembled by author Shannon Messenger. For a complete list of posts, visit Shannon's blog HERE._______________________________________________

AFTER THE ASHES
Sara Joiner
Holiday House
Ages 9 - 12

In this riveting coming-of-age survival story, a stubborn and intellectual teen must fight for her life when the mighty volcano Krakatau erupts and puts her hometown on the Javanese coast in mortal danger.
In 1883, on the island of Java in the Dutch East Indies, thirteen-year-old Katrien Courtland is determined to prove Darwin's theory of natural selection. Unfortunately, nothing causes her Aunt Greet more angst than Katrien crawling around the muddy jungle collecting bugs in the name of science—and in the company of a native boy, no less! If only Katrien would take an interest in running a household and making friends with other girls. But Katrien has no interest in changing, especially if it means socializing with the likes of mean Brigitta Burkhart
Then, one stifling afternoon, Katrien's world turns upside-down when the nearby volcano Krakatau erupts with a terrifying blast. For days, a deathly ash rains down on the Javan coast, and everything is soon buried under the dust or destroyed by the tsunamis that follow. Amidst the chaos, Katrien knows her only hope of survival is to flee the jungle with the one person she vowed she'd never befriend.Set against the backdrop of one of the most spectacularly horrifying natural disasters in human history, this debut novel by Sara Joiner is by turns exciting, funny, tragic and poignant.
MY REVIEW:

I received After the Ashes from the publisher for review. What drew me to the story was Krakatoa. I remember, vaguely, watching the old movie Krakatoa: East of Java many decades ago. And I've always been fascinated by volcanoes and the destruction they've wreaked. Last year I visited the museum exhibit on Mt. Vesuvius, the volcano that destroyed Pompeii in 79 AD. So I was really interested in how the most destructive volcanic eruption in recorded history would be depicted in a novel for middle grade readers.
The story is told through the POV of eleven-year-old Katrien, who is of Dutch descent but has lived her entire life on Java in the East Indies. The first half of the novel sets up her bitter rivalry with another Dutch girl, Brigitta. Katrien is a naturalist, always quoting Charles Darwin's The Origin of Species and collecting insects in the jungle.
Krakatoa, a volcano on an island 40 kilometers away, is believed to be harmless, too distant to do any damage even if it did erupt. The actual eruption occurs about half way through the novel, and from that point on, the book takes a sudden and chilling turn. The author superbly recreates the horror and devastation of the falling ash, the fearsome quakes, and worst of all, the tsunamis, which killed more than 34,000 people. Katrien and Brigitta are two of the very few survivors and must rely on each other to reach safety.
After the Ashes is brilliantly written, and I felt shattered reading about Katrien's losses and struggles. While this is a middle grade novel, listed for ages 9 - 12, some of the details are a bit graphic and might be too much for younger readers. But there is no other way to describe the effects of Krakatoa.
All in all, I couldn't put this book down and can't recommend it highly enough.