Category: Mystery

*Giveaway** & Review: The House That Wasn’t There

The House That Wasn’t There is written by award winning author, Elana K. Arnold. Thank you to Walden Pond Press for having us on the book’s blog tour. We are so happy to share Elana’s latest middle grade book with you.

When I saw the cover months ago, I knew I had to read this book. When the ARC (advanced reader copy) arrived, I was immediately drawn to the story and the two main characters, Alder and Oak. Each have very different and unique in personalities, but qualities I know readers can easily see in themselves. Alder, who is more quiet and reserved. Oak is outgoing, and has an easier time making friends. When Oak moves in next door, Alder is not sure what to make of her and her family. Oak’s family decides to cut down the oak tree that is between their houses, a special tree for Alder and his mother. As the book continues, we learn of many odd coincidences that draw Alder and Oak close. But when a weird, unexpected chance encounter happens to them together, a friendship begins to take place.

I enjoyed how the book has so many realistic elements with just the right amount of magic and mystery thrown in! A taxidermy opossum is an important symbol & character in the story and I am not sure I can see an opossum in the same light again. Elana’s descriptive writing had me excited as the lives’ of all the characters unfold.

This book will be a hit with many kids! I am excited this book is officially published, so I can discuss with readers how the ending was both surprising, magical, and fulfilling. Read below to see how you can win a copy and then reach out and let us know what you think!

To win a copy of The House That Wasn’t There courtesy of Walden Pond Press, please follow our blog, comment on this post and head to our other social media pages for more chances to win! US only. Giveaway ends 4/16/2021 @ 8pmET.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Elana K. Arnold is the author of critically acclaimed and award-winning young adult novels and children’s books, including the Printz Honor winner Damsel, the National Book Award finalist What Girls Are Made Of, and Global Read Aloud selection A Boy Called Bat and its sequels. Several of her books are Junior Library Guild selections and have appeared on many best book lists, including the Amelia Bloomer Project, a catalog of feminist titles for young readers. Elana teaches in Hamline University’s MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults program and lives in Southern California with her family and menagerie of pets.

Tour Stops:

March 28 Nerdy Book Club @nerdybookclub

March 29 YAYOMG @yayomgofficial

March 30 Unleashing Readers @UnleashReaders

March 31 Teachers Who Read @teachers_read

April 2 Maria’s Mélange @mariaselke

April 7 Bluestocking Thinking @BlueSockGirl

April 10 A Library Mama @librarymama

April 12 Storymamas @storymamas

Two Truths and A Lie & **Giveaway**

We are so excited to be on the Two Truths and A Lie: Forces of Nature blog tour. We love this series!

If you aren’t familiar with the series, this is the 3rd book by Ammi-Joan Paquette and Laurie Ann Thompson. In each book the authors have given us three stories in each chapter. All the stories are engaging, fun, detailed and written with such conviction that you have to believe them. But things aren’t always what they seem, it turns out one of the stories isn’t true. Your job as a reader is to figure out which one is a lie. Seems easy enough? Well, you’ll just have to dive in to see!

What we think is so wonderful about this book (and the other two) is that it makes the readers detectives. In this day and age with so much content being presented at kids, it is nice to see a book that makes us use many of the reading skills we have been taught to figure out what is real and what isn’t, because, truth be told when you read it, all the stories are written so well, it is hard to figure out the lie. At the end of the book, and included in the educator’s guide, are tips to help readers determine what is the truth. These are such great tips and strategies that we can all follow in the “fake news” day and age.

Questions for Ammi-Joan (AJP) and Laurie (LIE):

Can you give us an inside scoop that we wouldn’t learn from reading your book?

AJP: One of the most fun parts about working on these TWO TRUTHS AND A LIE books has been spotting and selecting the stories that we want to tell. Something you might not know is that Laurie and I have an enormous spreadsheet on Google docs; every time we come across a fantastic story, we put the info about it into our spreadsheet. Then, when it comes time to write the next book, we have a whole mountain of material available to choose from. 

What is one book that has stuck with you since you’ve read it?

AJP: This is SO hard! I’ve been sitting here for ages trying to answer this question, and finally I started scrolling down my list of books I’ve read over the past years. Reader, this did not help! Instead, I just spent a highly enjoyable twenty minutes going, “Oh my goodness, that was such a good one!” and “I loved that read!” So many books have stuck, and all in different ways, that it seems impossible to spotlight just one. That said, the book I am in the middle of reading right now is MERCI SUAREZ CHANGES GEARS, and it is definitely one that will stick with me for a long time—it’s fantastic!

What is currently in your fridge that tells us about you?

AJP: In my fridge you will find… (a) three different types of butter; (b) multiple varieties of cheese; (c) a can of non-fat whipped cream. One of these facts is NOT true – can you guess which? ☺

Thank you to Walden Press for providing us with a copy to giveaway. (US only) There are several ways to enter:

  1. Follow our blog (if you don’t already do so) and leave a comment on this post
  2. Follow us @storymamas and authors Ammi-Joan Paquette & Laurie Ann Thompson on Twitter and Retweet
  3. Follow us and the authors on Instagram and Like/Comment on the post
  4. Follow us and the authors on Facebook and Like/Comment on our post

Be sure to checkout the educator’s guide that accompanies the series!

Lastly, did you figure out the lie from above?  It is a true fact that non-fat anything is not welcome in my fridge… if there is a more fundamental food fact about me, I don’t know it!

Where Do Your Wishes Go? The Collectors- Inside Scoop & *GIVEAWAY*

I was at an arcade with my 4 year old son this weekend. I gave him a set amount of quarters he can spend. His eyes immediately set on the claw machine. The claw machine that is known to cause frustration and heartbreak among its players. My son was adamant about using his money to get one of the balls inside. As a parent I am doing my best to convince him not to waste his time, but he kept putting his money in and getting no results. Although outwardly I was trying to set him up for failure, I can see the scene now, all quarters gone, no ball and one hysterical crying kid; so what did I do quietly inside my head? I made a wish and asked for him to win a ball. And you know what, two attempts later, when quarters were almost gone, he moves his claw and gets THREE balls! Not one, not two, but 3! He was so happy! As I was for him and I knew I would not leave with a crying kid.

As we exited the arcade a thought passed over me, it took me back to one of the theme’s in the book I just finished. In The Collectors, we find out that some wishes won’t ever come true, as they aren’t wished in a correct manner, but the ones done in a correct way, will come true. When a real wish goes through, you don’t wish for how it comes true, so at times it might end up being granted, but at the expense of someone or something. Truth be told, the way I wished for my son winning, according to the book, wouldn’t have come true, but the fact that it did come true and I could have never predicted the how (him winning 3 balls!) made me stop and think more about this book after finishing it. And that’s what good books do!

The Collectors by Jacqueline West just took home the Schneider Family Book Award Honor for Middle School book! This action packed story follows our main character of Van. Van likes to keep to himself, but while at a park one day, he finds his curiosity take over when he observes unusual behavior from a girl and a squirrel, it appears they are stealing coins from the fountain. Van tries to figure out what he just witnessed and in doing so is thrown into a good vs. evil underworld of the collectors, a group collecting and keeping wishes from coming true. With a hidden world, talking animals, and not knowing who to trust, Van tries to navigate this world and find out who is being genuine and what the real truth is about our wishes.

This book keeps you on the edge of your seat with some valuable messages along the way. Van, our main character wears hearing aides, but it was fascinating how Jacqueline writes how he hears the world around him, and that in Van’s eyes, his disability is viewed as his normal, despite what others feel. Friendship, what makes a true friendship, and that many of us can struggle in different ways but by giving people chances, we can open doors to understanding new things.

Jacqueline stopped by the blog to answer this question. (Read to bottom to see how you can win a copy of the book).

Can you give us any inside scoop on the book that we wouldn’t learn from reading it? 

When I started writing the story that would become The Collectors, I didn’t know that Van was hard of hearing. Most of the other elements of the story were in place — Van’s collecting hobby, his life with his opera-singer mother, his discovery of an underworld filled with secretive people, odd creatures, and gathered wishes — but it wasn’t until I was halfway through the first full draft that I realized: Oh. Van wears hearing aids. It felt like the character had told me this important fact about himself only after I had gotten to know him well. And once I knew that fact, everything else in the story fell into place. All of the logic and all of the magic worked in ways they hadn’t before. It was incredibly exciting, and incredibly scary,because, as a hearing person, I wasn’t sure I could do Van’s perception justice. But I had wonderful help with my research, from librarians to teachers to several deaf and hard of hearing students. (Of course, you can learn that bit from reading the book — at least, you can if you read the acknowledgements!)

***GIVEAWAY INFORMATION**** Thank you Jacqueline for sharing the book with us! She was kind enough to donate a signed copy of The Collectors to one lucky reader! Here are three ways to enter, (US only: Giveaway closes on Tuesday, 2/12 @ midnight ET).

  1. Follow our blog and comment on the this post
  2. Follow us on twitter @storymamas and retweet
  3. Follow us on Instagram, like the post, and tag a friend

Take a trip to the Amazon Rainforest: Let’s Celebrate Multicultural Children’s Book Day

Bom Dia! Good Day! We want to join in celebrating multicultural day by sharing a wonderful travel series!

Thank you to Janelle, a Medallion Level Sponsor for sending us the book, Mystery of the Troubled Toucan by Lisa Travis, illustrated by Adam Turner to review and enjoy. Thank you also to Valarie Budayr from Jump Into A Book and Mia Wenjen from PragmaticMom for raising awareness for multicultural books and for celebrating diversity! All opinions are our own.

The book Mystery of the Troubled Toucan is an adventure travel series for ages 6-9 called A Pack-n-Go Girls Adventure, this book takes place in Brazil and is the first in the series. It is about two girls, Sofia and Júlia, who develop a friendship when Sofia comes from Florida with her dad to visit the Amazon Rainforest. Along with the new experiences the rainforest brings she meets a new friend, Júlia.

It’s a mystery that involves a danger signaling toucan, pink dolphins, poachers and two girls who want to save the animals of the rainforest. Not only is it a story about the beautiful country of Brazil but Lisa does a wonderful job of embedding a tricky family situation for Sofia. Her parents are going through a divorce and she is constantly worried throughout the story about what her family will look like when she returns home. Meanwhile Júlia doesn’t seem to worry about too much and often says, “nao se preocupe”, don’t worry when Sofia starts to get upset or worried about something. The friendship the girls build throughout the story is heartwarming. We especially enjoyed the ending of the book when Sofia is on her way home and sees from the airplane the area where two bodies of water meet and she realizes that this is just like her family will be, “separate but not together”.

Lisa writes with such imagery you feel you’re in the rainforest as the girls experience various animals, plants, food and even the Portuguese language. Reading the story made us want to read more about Brazil and get on an airplane to experience it all ourselves! As a bonus feature at the end of the book there is a place with various lists of interesting facts about Brazil like: the history, government, a map, food, weather, Portuguese/English word translations and a travel journal for those that end up going to the country.

Check out the Multicultural Children’s Book Day website for more information about the wonderful event and their mission to spread the diverse book love!

 

Open If You Dare-Interview with Dana Middleton

If you’ve been following our blog for awhile, you’ve read about Dana Middleton’s first book, The Infinity Year of Avalon James (and if not take a look at the link). Even though Open If You Dare takes on a whole different genre it was just as good and couldn’t keep us from turning the pages. Dana graciously agreed to another interview with us and once again after the interview we decided that yes, in fact, we want to be friends with Dana and the characters she writes. Open If You Dare comes out tomorrow so pre-order today so you can read this awesome mystery, the perfect fall book!

3 ?s about Open If You Dare

What three words would you use to describe your book?

Mysterious, suspenseful, nostalgic. Not that nostalgia even exists for my target readers, but it was nostalgic for me.

Which character do you relate most to Birdie, Ally or Rose and why?

I relate most to Birdie, some to Ally, and not at all to Rose! Birdie is most like me. We like mysteries, we’re weirdly brave sometimes, and also sometimes selfish. And we’re very loyal friends. I played fast pitch softball so I was a little bit of a jock like Ally but definitely not as tough. Rose is an alien life-form to me. I have no idea where she came from and I think I’d be a little scared of her if we met in person!

This book is a mystery, was your writing process different than when you wrote The Infinity Year of Avalon James?

Yes! Because it was a mystery how it was going to happen! And I mean that on many levels. First, I wrote The Infinity Year of Avalon James without the pressure of a publisher waiting for it. Open If You Dare was different because I’d never written on a deadline before. I figured out quite quickly that I had to show up to the page almost every day or I might fail completely and never do it. Also, I’d never written a mystery before (and it turned into quite a strange mystery) so I hope readers will go down that path with me. Afterwards, I swore I’d never try a mystery again but lately, I’ve begun to think it might be fun to attempt another one. Funny how time lets us see things differently!

3 ?s about You

What is your “go-to” kidlit book to give as a gift and why?

When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead. I love time travel. I love mystery. I love strong girl characters. This book is challenging to the reader and it’s real in a way that makes you want to read it again and again.

Now that you’ve written a mystery and realistic fiction/fantasy (depending on the reader) books, is there another book genre you’d like to explore and possibly write next?

I’m working on that other book now. It’s steeped heavily in the realistic fantasy camp. And I’ve got a science fiction story up my sleeve that might come after that.

What does your workspace look like? 

My work space is everywhere. I share an office with my husband but I rarely write there. I’m often at our dining room table or at a local coffee shop tapping away among other writers. That’s one thing I love about writing. I can do it anywhere!

Thank you Dana for taking the time to answer our questions! To learn more about Dana Middleton visit her website.  Or follow her on Twitter and Instagram.