Review: BETWEEN TWO ENDS by David Ward

Product Description from Net Galley:

When Yeats and his parents visit his grandmother's creepy old house, Yeats reunites a pair of pirate bookends and uncovers the amazing truth: Years ago, Yeats's father traveled into The Arabian Nights with a friend, and the friend, Shari, is still stuck in the tales. Assisted by the not-always-trustworthy pirates, Yeats must navigate the unfamiliar world of the story of Shaharazad--dodging guards and tigers and the dangerous things that lurk in the margins of the stories--in order to save Shari and bring peace to his family.

David Ward has created a fantasy rich with atmosphere and full of heart-stopping drama.

Title: Between Two Ends
Publisher: Abrams Books
Imprint: Amulet Books
Pub Date: 05/01/2011
ISBN: 9780810997141

My Review:

Characters: The reader can't help but like Yeats, a twelve-year-old boy willing to jump into the dangerous unknown to save his family, which is being torn apart by his father's depression. The magical pirate book ends kept me smiling and actually had me laughing out loud during the trip back into the book.

Setting: David Ward has created interesting surroundings both at Yeats' grandmother's house and in the world of Shaharazod. Although I haven't recently read One Thousand and One Arabian Nights, I felt like David Ward knew every possible detail about the setting.

Plot: The action is non-stop from the time Yeats finds the magical book ends through the time he completes his quest. The action and plot twists made it difficult to put the book down. The one problem I had was the story did not take off until about Chapter Three.

Overall: I highly recommend this book for middle grade boys and girls. My caution is to make sure young readers are not discouraged by the opening chapter. I fear some of them might find the multiple points of view hard to follow while Ward initially introduces us to the characters at Grandmother's house. I might add the issue disappears for the remainder of the book. Find a way to keep them interested through Chapter Three -- they won't be disappointed.

Overall Rating: 4 of 5 stars.

(Galley supplied via Netgalley.com)

A Poetry Month Review

Review: Your Own Sylvia: a verse portrait of Sylvia Plath by Stephanie Hemphill Stephanie Hemphill (left) with Alison Hertz at the 2011 Anderson's Breakfast.

What could possibly be more appropriate than reading the story of a gifted American poet during National Poetry Month? And the answer is: reading that story written in verse by another gifted American poet.

Stephanie Hemphill has taken the story of Sylvia Plath and told it using a series of moving verses through the eyes of the people in Sylvia's life. Each verse is accompanied by a short, unobtrusive history of facts surrounding it.

If you're looking for a great National Poetry Month read, I highly recommend YOUR OWN SYLVIA. The book was published in 2007 by Alfred A. Knopf and was a Printz Honor Book recipient.

Things Recently Learned about my WIP

I was reminded recently while attending a Heartsaver First Aid course for work that writing material can come from just about anywhere. The instructor told a true story about an auto accident/rescue attempt that wound up costing the rescuer's life. It fits so much better than him just being killed in the crash itself. Had you told me I would change the story based on something from that class, I probably would have just laughed.

The second thing I learned based on reading I did for the Anderson's YA Conference is that a lot of YA is told in multiple voices. I'm doing that now too!

The third thing I learned (today) is how excited I am about this WIP. Ghost story + YA + in verse + kind of aimed at guys (involves sports) + multiple voices = Jim Excited.

Anderson's YA -- Part 4 : The final chapter

Writing friends Michelle Sussman and Karly Kirkpatrick shopping for books.

A picture of the author that graced our table. (At one point, an Anderson's employee pointed out to David Levithan that the author chair reserved at our table was empty--he looked ever so briefly and headed toward the back of the room. In all fairness, there were more tables than authors.)

John Green, David Levithan, Sioban Vivian and Dana Reinhardt after "Contemporary Edge" breakout session.

Kenneth Oppel holding a copy of his book HALF BROTHER.

And a slide of the half brother.

A few tidbits:

John Green says "maybe when I get old I'll have to do the Richard Peck trick and write historical fiction."

David Levithan says "Our job as writers is to choose the exact right words to express our feelings."

Siobhan Vivian picked up the phrase " wild pack of Freshman slut La Crosstitudes" talking to a high school upper classman.

Pam Munoz Ryan said "momentum developes creativity" (refering to writing)

Blue Balliett wrote the ending of Chasing Vermeer on a piece of cardboard she pulled from her garbage can in the middle of the night. It turned out to be packaging cardboard from her son's boxers. He made her swear she'd never tell anyone. Hmmm... I wonder if she kept that promise.

When Lisa asked about interesting fan letters, Kenneth Oppel said something to this effect:

He got a letter about his Silverwings series which avoids using colors because it is about bats (which can see only in black and white). The young girl said you mention "yellow" on page 12. You said "an" instead of "and" on page 50. I've noted similar problems in C. S. Lewis' Lion, Witch and Wardrobe series. I wrote him too. He never wrote back or made the corrections because he's dead. Hopefully you can correct yours. Kenneth suspects she will someday be a copy editor.

I hope you've enjoyed my four part account of the conference!

Anderson's YA -- Part 3 : Multiple Author Tidbits

That's Charles Benoit after a "Contemporary Edge" breakout session talking to an audience member. His featured speech, by the way, was fantastic. He told the story of his mom always having a book when he was a child and encouraging him to come sit with her and read. At some point he realized she wasn't actually reading and questioned her. She replied that she needed glasses and couldn't afford glasses for both herself and her kids. When questioned why she always had a book: because she wanted to be a good influence. He also told other very funny "mom" stories. This was his first YA conference and he spoke of his book YOU which is in second person! Writing in second person would scare the crap out of me.

Simone Elkeles told another story about cover demands--she had to write a scene into RULES OF ATTRACTION for the scene of the guy and girl leaning out of car windows kissing (my last blog talked of Stephanie Hemphill's change for matching cover art). I have another note of Simone talking of cover art for another book showing a flat model representing a well endowed main character, but my notes are a bit vague. One of Simone's fears: Being seen in public (and recognized) when she's in the midst of an intense writing period and hasn't showered or washed her hair in days. One of my fears: That Simone will kill me for blogging that she said this.

Stacy Kade compares the banter between her two main characters to that on the old TV show "Moonlighting". I might add I read the first couple chapters of THE GHOST AND THE GOTH and loved the voice.

I still need to talk about friends I saw and which author graced my table. Oh, and John Green, David Levithan and Kenneth Oppel. But that will be another day or three.