I was selected to review “Remarkable Minds” by JKS Communications: A Literary Publicity Firm. JKS is the first publicity firm I started working with when I launched Jorie Loves A Story in August, 2013. I am honoured to continue to work with them now as a 2nd Year Book Blogger. As I was speaking with the publicist at JKS, I realised this was a duology release (at least at this point in time) thereby I enquired if it were possible to receive both editions rather than the last. I received my complimentary ARC copy of Remarkable Minds and a hardback copy of Magnificent Minds direct from the publisher Tumblehome Learning in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.
Why I am extremely excited and wicked happy for these biography anthologies:
The following note is an excerpt of my reply to JKS when the review was first pitched:
I just pulled up the pub site and found out this is a companion to *Magnificent Minds*! I never read the first collection of stories either, but what I liked about both releases is how women in history are being showcased! I learnt a small bit about Augusta Ada Bryon yesterday when I was looking through Creston Book’s front list; as they have an Early Reader story upcoming this Autumn about her! Nice to see she made the cut in *Magnificent Minds!*
*Remarkable Minds* is truly the type of book I would have loved to have found as a fourteen year old freshman who was struggling through Biology 101! I loved learning about DNA & Genetics but science, math, and medicine did not come easy to a dyslexic! It was the film “The Race for the Double Helix” where I saw in a teleplay format how Rosalind Franklin gave so much to the understanding of DNA yet is sidelined in both history and science. She was only one of a few women I was seeking out at that point in time and so, I definitely agree on the need for books that can help others like me who are curious to follow history’s mirror of women fore-founders of science to discover these wicked awesome books!
The reason I wanted to share this excerpt with you is to share my initial joy in finding out there are two anthology collections of biographies celebrating women in science & medicine on equal ground. For girls like me who grew up with a deep appreciation for the sciences but without a clear-cut way to pursue them with their learning difficulties and/or in combination with a harder road to navigate in general (most Academia paths are hard on funding long-term, especially when you get into research, etc) – it was quite lovely seeing a publisher take the time to find a way to encourage those of us who are on the brink of discovering our niche in the world. Perhaps a young reader similar to me will find a renewed encouragement about pursuing the Sciences (or Medicine) full-time and re-define how a path can be forged to do so!
Similar to anthologies of Fantasy I regularly review, I decided to select the women who stood out to me the most from the collective whole of whom are featured within both biographies.
Remarkable Minds Subtitle: 17 Pioneering Women in Science and Medicine
For centuries, women have risen above their traditional roles to pursue a new understanding of the natural world.
This book, which grows out of an exhibit at the Grolier Club in New York, introduces the lives, sayings, and dreams of 16 women over four centuries and chronicles their contributions to mathematics, physics, chemistry, astronomy, and medicine.
Some of the notable women portrayed in the book include French mathematician Marie-Sophie Germain, known for her work in Elasticity theory, differential geometry, and number theory; Scottish chemist Elizabeth Fulhame, best known for her 1794 work An Essay on Combustion; and Rita Levi-Montalcini, who, with colleague Stanley Cohen, received the 1986 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discovery of nerve growth factor.
A companion volume to Magnificent Minds by the same author, this book offers inspiration to all girls and young women considering a life in the sciences.
Pendred E. (Penny) Noyce is a doctor, education advocate, writer and publisher.
Penny grew up in California’s Silicon Valley when it was still mostly apricot orchards and fields of mustard. Along with her brother and sisters, she rode ponies, put on plays, and explored the rapidly changing countryside. She graduated with a degree in biochemistry from Harvard University and an M.D. from Stanford University. After her internship and residency in internal medicine in Minneapolis-St. Paul, she worked at the East Boston Community Health Center. During a year in London, she received a diploma in Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. Subsequently, she supervised medical residents at Newton-Wellesley Hospital, but she left the practice of medicine after the birth of her fifth child.
In 1991, Penny became a founding trustee of the Noyce Foundation, which supports K-12 mathematics and science education across the U.S. For nine years she also helped lead a statewide effort to improve mathematics, science, and technology education in Massachusetts. Currently she serves on the Massachusetts Board of Elementary and Secondary Education.
A past trustee of Radcliffe College, Penny has served on a number of nonprofit boards, mostly of organizations involved in science and math education. She currently chairs the boards of the Rennie Center for Education Research and Policy and Maine’s Libra Foundation.
Penny is author or co-author of eight novels for children ages 9-12, including Lost in Lexicon and The Ice Castle from Scarletta Press and six books in the Galactic Academy of Science series from Tumblehome Learning. Her most recent book, this one nonfiction, is Magnificent Minds: Sixteen Pioneering Women in Science and Medicine. As cofounder of Tumblehome Learning, which publishes science mystery and adventure stories for young people, Penny serves as Tumblehome’s editor and chair.
Penny and her husband, Leo X. Liu, MD, live in Boston with their youngest child, who will be leaving for college in one more year.
I was selected to review “In A Village by the Sea” by JKS Communications: A Literary Publicity Firm. After I was putting together this showcase, to highlight both the story and a conversation with the author, I learnt of her second picture book “Little Tree”; enabling me to combine my showcase to feature both releases. JKS is the first publicity firm I started working with when I launched Jorie Loves A Story in August, 2013. I am honoured to continue to work with them now as a 2nd Year Book Blogger. I received my complimentary copy of In A Village by the Sea (hardback) and Little Tree (PDF) direct from the publicist at JKS Communications in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.
I decided I wanted to switch things up a bit today, and offer the conversation before my thoughts on behalf of the illustrated stories contained within the picture books of Muon Van! In this way, I wanted the author’s own words to help define the stories and in some ways, give an extra layer of enjoyment to my readers as they read this ahead of knowing what I found inside the books themselves! Enjoy!
My convo with Muon Van on her creative way of giving children a beautiful ‘first start’ towards embracing creative stories built on family, hearth and love:
How did you create In A Village by the Sea to bespeak of such a grounding of autobiographical inspiration and homage to your heritage whilst renewing the spirit of Vietnam for those of us who are not as familiar with the country?
Van responds: I come from a long line of fisherfolk on both sides of the family, which is pretty unusual for both an American and Vietnamese-American. I grew up with my dad at sea most of the time, and eating seafood for breakfast, lunch and dinner, so I wanted to write a story that would reflect those experiences.
Whilst your father was away fishing, how did your mother encourage you and your siblings not to worry about his safety and well being? Were the passages of home and hearth reminiscent of your mother tending to the home? I ask as there is such a lot of warmth and love set inside this story, it softens the concerns of dangers at sea.
Van responds: Even though fishing is considered one of the most dangerous occupations around, my siblings and I didn’t consider it as such while we were growing up–it was just what our dad did. My mother definitely tended the home–cooking, cleaning, washing, shopping, dressing, educating nine kids! I always knew she was a superwoman and supermom but after I had my first kid, I was amazed!
I was curious about the process you took with April Chu to bring your story to life through her illustrations – can you explain how you worked together to give the reader such a wellspring of living realism whilst deepening it with thought-provoking narrative?
Van responds: Unlike what most people think, April and I did not collaborate in real-time on the book–we only met once it was completed! April only received a plain, unannotated manuscript and knowledge that the story was dedicated to my father, a Vietnamese fisherman. With just those pieces of information, she was able to imagine and execute the brilliant art in the book. I, and the readers, are truly lucky!
The spirit of Vietnam is strongly lit inside you, as the story that is set inside this picture book is alarmingly clear and visually stunning – when you wrote the words that are featured against the illustrations did the final copy read to you like the internal visuals you had whilst you had written the story?
Van responds: I believe the published visuals are faithful to the story but in my imagination, they were spare and monochromatic, sort of like the verse. I was surprised, and delighted, by the outcome.
What has caused the fishing lifestyle of the villages in Vietnam to disappear? Is it the culture of the time that is changing or is the fishing industry unable to support itself, as this happens in other countries as well?
Van responds: I can’t speak to all fishing lifestyles in Vietnam–just the one in my ancestral village. The villagers there, and the ones who have migrated to America, have found the the income derived from fishing is not as great, or sustainable, as it is through other means. While most of my relatives worked in fishing when they first arrived in America, most now work in the cosmetic (nails) industry, as it’s lower-risk and more profitable.
In your heart, your drawn to the sea as it states in your biography you live near it; what do you find the most alluring balm about the sea and how it’s set a harmonic pulse inside your life?
Van responds: Probably that it seems so vast and unknowable (you can only see a bit of it at a time, from a beach or a boat or an airplane). I also like the color blue :)
In The Little Tree the colour contrasts are brilliantly bright and pop with vitality whereas the colour contrasts in In A Village by the Sea is more traditional and classic. Did you have input about the colour spectrum for the illustrations and books?
Van responds: No, but I love that they are so different.
The Little Tree is philosophical and intuitive, giving children a pause to think about the larger scale of life and how the circle of life evolves during our lifetime. How did you tap into this life lesson whilst writing such a cleverly witty story?
Van responds: I was inspired after my first (and so far, only) trip back to Vietnam in nearly thirty years. I thought about how my parents must have felt when we left and how they would felt about it now, thirty years later.
I love how you’ve stitched familial history inside your stories – you write from the heart and your stories have a living spirit about them. How did you capture the moment of recognition to be given to the Little Tree by the Little Seed’s leaf? It was such a warm gesture of love from a child to a mother.
Van responds: Parents will always know their children, right? (Ask me this again in thirty years; my older child is only four :))
You give so much of your own heart to your writings and you leave fingerprints of affection in your closing statements where your ancestry and your family are illuminated in short stories of recollection. How did your family react to the picture books and of your continuance of carrying forward your living histories to inspire children and adults alike?
Van responds: My family likes to play it cool but I think one day soon, one of them will get choked up reading it to their daughter or son. Three, soon to be four, of my brothers just had their first child!
Truly blessed to have had the chance to ask these questions of Ms Van and to have your responses threaded inside my showcase! I was truly touched by the warmth of her words in her stories and wanted to gain a bit more insight into how she created the world in which I lived for the time I soaked inside her picture books! I can definitely foresee many Mums and Das appreciating ‘reading time’ with their children as they pick up either volume and enter a world of family and timeless love!
In a Village by the Sea by Muon Van Illustrator/Cover Designer:April Chu
Written in a spare, lyrical style using fresh, evocative imagery, this richly illustrated picture book is about longing for the comforts of home while braving the adventures and perils of the wide world.
In a house by the sea, a woman is cooking. Near the woman, a baby is crying. Under the floor, a cricket is painting. In the painting, a fisherman rides stormy seas, longing to get home to his wife and infant…
The perfect book for teaching about diverse cultures and lifestyles, children will delight in this beautiful story which pays homage to the vanishing fishing culture in Vietnam, honors courage and sacrifice, and celebrates hearth and home.
APRIL CHU began her career as an architect with a degree from the University of California, Berkeley, but decided to return to her true passion of illustrating and storytelling. April currently lives and works in Oakland, California.
MUON VAN was born on the run in the southern port city of Rach Giá, Vietnam. When she was nine months old, she left Vietnam as part of the “boat people” mass exodus. She now lives in Northern California.
Her previous book, In a Village by the Sea, is also a family story and received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly and Kirkus, as well as rave reviews from The New York Times and School Library Journal’s Fuse #8 Production.
I was selected to review “The Contaminated Case of the Cooking Contest” by JKS Communications: A Literary Publicity Firm. JKS is the first publicity firm I started working with when I launched Jorie Loves A Story in August, 2013. I am honoured to continue to work with them now as a 2nd Year Book Blogger. I received my complimentary copy of The Contaminated Case of the Cooking Contest direct from the publisher Tumblehome Learning in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.
Why I am finding Tumblehome Learning such a great publisher:
My introduction to the publisher was by way of The Walking Fish, a story that left a firm impression on my mind and heart about two authors who were attempting to make ‘science palpable for young readers’ and turnt out a wicked good story! As you will see in my review of that particular story, I applaud writers who can create a niche out of science and bring science to an audience of younger readers who may not already find science a stimulating entreaty into understanding life and the environs in which we live.
Being able to ‘try out’ one of the serial installments for the Galactic Academy of Science was a special treat because this series has sparked supplemental materials for both teachers and parents, who want to encourage their science-curious young minds to explore more than what is contained inside the book itself. I find it quite wicked that a publisher has found a cross-media way to explore stories and how those stories are evolving into thought-provoking projects to get kids interested in science. Anything that engages with hands-on learning and thought-producing after effects is something I will be standing behind as I grew up learning science at the community Science Center where nothing was off-limits and topics of discussion grew out of natural bourne curiosity. It was a lot of wicked fun over the Summers, but more than anything, I appreciated a stimulating environment to ask ‘how’ and ‘why’ and find answers that re-inspired me to continue to learn even more.
If books and publishers can bring that same sense of curiosity to readers, who might not even have a Science Center to attend – what explosive fun that would be! Definitely applaud Tumblehome Learning to continue to bridge the gaps between where those of us who are naturally curious about science and those who are not entirely sure they want to love science can come together through the craft of stories with characters who inspire everyone who picks up this series to read.
The Contaminated Case of the Cooking Contest
Middle school students Mae and Clinton are excited to be aboard a Caribbean cruise that features cooking contests for adults and teens. But when passengers start falling ill, Selectra Volt, their Galactic Academy of Science guide from the future, challenges them to find the cause. Is the outbreak a result of poor food handling, or is someone purposely sabotaging the ship’s food supply?
Mae and Clinton learn about food safety through a series of visits to scientists, doctors, and inventors of the past and present. They visit Nicholas Appert, who invented canning to feed Napoleon’s army; Clarence Birdseye, who learned about freezing fish from the Inuit in the Arctic; John Snow, who discovered the cause of a cholera outbreak in Victorian London; Typhoid Mary, who unknowingly caused illness in seven families she worked for; Ferran Adria, a master of creative cooking; and present-day scientists studying food-borne illness at the CDC in Atlanta and a U.S. Army research facility in Natick, Massachusetts.
Between trips, Mae and Clinton make new friends, compete in the kids’ cooking contest, help out in the ship infirmary, test food samples for bacteria, gather clues, and follow suspicious characters. As the ship sails through the edge of a hurricane and the ship infirmary fills to overflowing, the Clinton and Mae risk their lives getting medical supplies, gather evidence, and sift through a pile of suspects.
Peter has been involved with engineering research and education throughout his career as a Research Associate Professor in the Mechanical Engineering Department at Tufts University (Medford, MA); Director of University Relations and Director of Middle School Engineering Curriculum at the Museum of Science, Boston, MA; Founder and Director of the K2 Enrichment Program in Newton, MA; and Board Member of the Massachusetts State Science and Engineering Fair. He has taught undergraduate courses ranging from fluid mechanics to gourmet engineering (heat transfer in the kitchen). He has produced over 85 technical journal and conference publications, one patent, three middle school algebra and engineering supplemental books, and one women in engineering outreach guide. He has directed dozens of undergraduate students in research, advised 13 graduate engineering students, and reviewed 18 graduate students as a thesis committee member. His after-school program, K2 Enrichment Program, has been running since 2005, generating science & engineering interest in numerous young children ever year.
Peter graduated from Boston Latin School in 1986. He received his Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering (senior thesis work related to thermal processing of High Temperature superconductors) and Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering (master thesis work numerical modeling of zone-melting recrystallization of silicon wafers) from Tufts University in 1991. His doctoral research focused on numerical modeling of radiant thermal processing of semiconductors. He received his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Tufts University in 1995.
I am happily welcoming Cara Bertrand, the writer of the Sententia series to Jorie Loves A Story tonight as I decided to opt-out of reading her second novel “Second Thoughts” and host an Author Q&A instead — as if you read my ruminations on behalf of the first novel in this parapsychological series you will have noted my angst in finding such a confluence of frequency in regards to the strong words peppered throughout the text itself.
Take a moment to visit with us as we discuss the origins of the first novel as well as the parapsychological building blocks for the series overall! The topic is one that I have always keenly attracted to conversing about and therein lies the joy of hosting this Q&A!
She's going crazy. Everyone thinks she has severe migraines from stress and exhaustion. What she really has are visions of how people died - or are going to die. When doctors insist she needs a new and stable environment to recover, Lainey's game to spend two years at a private New England boarding school. She doesn't really think it will cure her problem, and she's half right. There is no cure, but she's not actually crazy.
Almost everyone at Northbrook Academy has a secret too. Half the students and nearly all of the staff are members of the Sententia, a hidden society of the psychically gifted. A vision of another student's impending death confirms Lainey is one of them. When she's finally getting comfortable with her gift of divining deaths, and with Carter Penrose, a recent Academy graduate and resident school crush, they uncover her true Sententia heritage. Now Lainey has a real secret.
Once it's spilled, she'll be forced to forget protecting secrets and start protecting herself.
Book Synopsis for Book Two of the Sententia Series:
The continuing adventures of an ordinary teenage girl with extraordinary mental abilities, perfect for readers who love books and series such as “Vampire Academy,” “Spellbound” and “Sweet Peril.”
Secrets, lies and looming deaths – all things Lainey Young deals with in a typical day of high school. In her senior year at Northbrook Academy – a New England boarding school where the majority of the students and nearly all the staff are members of the Sententia, a hidden society of the psychically gifted – Lainey has even more to worry about, things like classes, college, her boyfriend and, of course, the vision she glimpsed of her impending death. But to her surprise, Lainey finds one worry she can cross off her list, namely Sen. Daniel Astor, the leader of the Sententia.
After a shocking discovery when they finally meet, Lainey realizes maybe she was wrong to distrust the senator. She relaxes even further when he seems to accept her refusal to work for him after graduation. But with her secrets mounting and the time to solve them running out, there’s a final enigma Lainey hasn’t yet encountered: Daniel Astor doesn’t take no for an answer. Ever.
Author Biography:
Photo Credit: Vallarta Adventures
Cara Bertrand is a former middle school literacy teacher who now lives in the woods outside Boston with: one awesome husband, two large dogs, one small daughter, and lots of words. LOST IN THOUGHT is her first novel and was a finalist for the Amazon/Penguin Breakthrough Novel Award.
Your titling for ‘Lost in Thought’ is a bit of a play on words and eludes to the general notion that ‘thoughts are things’ and it is always a bit wise to be cautious where our thoughts can lead us. Especially when considering the differences between Light & Dark / Good vs Evil; did you originally seek out to have a title of a series start with a thought provoking impetus or did it naturally piece together as you wrote the story itself?
Bertrand responds: The title was, in fact, the most difficult and literally last thing I applied to the story. I wish I could say it was a grand design or an act of forethought (heh heh), but it was the product of a furious chat session with my best friend when I needed a title and didn’t have one. It’s an interplay of the concept of Thought—the power wielded by all Sententia—and a scene in the book where Lainey contemplates feeling lost in her new, unfamiliar world.
You have a very unique perspective on the parapyschological gifts your characters are given in ‘Lost in Thought’. Specifically what drew me into the background of how their gifts manifested was the consideration of whom the gifter of the gifts actually is. Did you intend to impart a sense of faith and centering on a celestially being to have an omnipresence in the background or was this a naturally line of thought woven into the sequences of how the story unfolded?
Bertrand responds: From the beginning, I knew the Sententia origins. What they can do is beyond science, but in the modern world we no longer call those things magic. There’s a higher power involved, something bigger and broader than all of us that connects all of us. The Sententia acknowledge this, but they don’t worship it. Sometimes they call this higher power God, but it’s semantic more than anything. The story is not rooted in faith in the Christian God or any particular god at all. Faith as a concept, however, plays heavily throughout the stories—faith in oneself, one’s choices, one’s abilities, faith in each other, faith in what we know of the world. Lainey’s faith in things is tested constantly, and she responds, sometimes well, sometimes not, to these tests. She learns.
Lainey has a very interesting take on the theory of the Grim Reaper, which I previously uncovered in a different spin in the BBC series Mulberry. I was curious how the plausible aspects of her talent for being in such a unique position was curated and if there was a lesson in of itself on the gift Lainey was given?
Bertrand responds: Being so intimately connected to death is a burden Lainey didn’t ask for and certainly doesn’t want. Throughout not just Lost in Thought but the whole series, she struggles to come to terms with what she can do. It’s a process, because that’s what life is. Self-acceptance is a tricky thing, and it can take years to accept parts of ourselves that we don’t like or don’t know how to focus. I wanted Lainey’s journey to reflect that. In Lost in Thought she makes a bold promise to use her abilities for good, and this is her struggle—to find a positive way to wield an ability that doesn’t seem to have any positive aspects.
What kind of research did you conduct for this novel as I was quite impressed with the accuracy of the parapsychological aspects of the backstories? Did you perchance contact the parapsychologists who are actively researching the same types of gifts featured in your novel? Or perhaps visit The Rhine (Institute for Parapsychology in Durham, North Carolina)?
Bertrand responds: The real question is will you be more or less impressed when I admit I did none of those things? Readers regularly ask me if I’ve had first-hand paranormal/parapsychological experience, and the answer is no. In fact, if pressed, I’d say that I’m barely even a believer. I think if I were, if I had been touched by the parapsychological, it would change my ability to write about it. I did very limited reading on different kinds of extra-sensory abilities, and the rest I let my imagination shape.
What was the impetus which gravitated you into writing? And, when did this occur? Who was your best cheerleader?
Bertrand responds: I wasn’t a creative writer until very recently, though I am a life-long reader and lover of stories. When I was young, I always thought being a writer would be great, but it was an idea not a goal. I never did anything more than dream about it. Instead, I did what so many lovers of words do—I became a teacher. Eventually I left the profession, but I never stopped reading. One day while in the car with my husband, telling him about whatever I was reading at the time—and I can tell you exactly where we were on the highway, though not what day it was, where we were going, nor even what book I was talking about—he said, “I’m surprised you never wrote a book.” I answered, “I don’t think I could finish one,” which, later, made me angry. See, I’d never tried writing a book, so how did I know if I could finish? So I set out to prove myself wrong. And I have, going on 4x at this point. That conversation was in the summer of 2010. Undoubtedly my husband was and remains my best cheerleader, but I couldn’t do this without the continued encouragement of my parents, my best friend and first reader, and the love and enthusiasm from the rest of my family and friends. And, of course, the readers.
What are your favorite tools to use whilst writing? And, where do you write to gain the most inspiration?
Bertrand responds: My tools for writing are: my laptop, a pair of wrist braces (an unfortunate necessity), and Scrivener. That’s it. Helpful additives are: sunshine, coffee, and time. I spend most of my writing time split between my home and my local coffee shop (where I pen this now!). I like to be by windows, so I can see outside. Or to be outside, if it’s nice enough. Lately, I write best first thing in the morning, though, honestly, that’s by demand not nature. For most of my life, I’ve been a night owl fighting to survive in a daytime world.
What do you foresee as the best takeaway a story set in this captivating world of ‘thought’ generating gifted souls could teach the minds of those who are seeking a different kind of adventure in Young Adult Fiction?
Bertrand responds: We spend a lot of time seeking adventure outside ourselves, or in books looking for mythical creatures and different worlds—and believe me, I’m no exception. So when I started writing, I wanted to go in a slightly different direction, to look inside rather than out, so to speak. There’s magic in us, too, hiding in our everyday world.
I found it beyond incredible to have learnt through this conversation with the writer herself that she is practically a skeptic of parapsychology and yet has such a curious ability to breathe truism into this aspect of her book series? It made me suspect that she is naturally aware of things that perhaps she has not yet chosen to accept as plausible because this was one part to the novel Lost in Thought that had me at ‘hallo’ as they say and pulled me into the theory of origins for the Sententia themselves. It was a very cleverly writ back-story and one that felt grounded and true to it’s own accord of perimeters to exist.
I was also struck with a bit of shock on the explanation of where the origins originated from for the Sententia, as I never read a story that evoked the name of God not to be a direct reference of whom we would all attribute the name to be referring to directly. I walked away with a different perception of understanding than what was revealed in this Q&A as I actually disagree with this as a reader from the point of view that I read something different in the pages of the book itself. Whether it was ever intended to have this reaction or understanding from a reader, I cannot comment on, but I can say, that where the book led me to alight my thoughts is now counter-current to where the writer intended me too. I also found it odd that it was referred that God is only related to Christianity whereas throughout all my readings of World Religions this is simply not the case at all. Nor was I referencing a connection to Christianity in my review, as faith and religion goes beyond denominations.
I think it was quite brilliant how her husband encouraged her to pursue something she did not entirely have the confidence to do without his inspiring words of motivation. We all need cheerleaders in our lives and people to rally behind us when our own confidence falters. I never fail to smile whilst reading the answers to this particular question I love to ask writers I interview!
I do agree with her sentiments on the last Question I asked, as sometimes the greatest journey we can all take is within us all along. I was simply a bit surprised by some of her replies, as I had alighted a different level of understanding on a few things, but I accept too, that she came from a different place of thought when she penned the stories. It is a direct instance of where once a story leaves a writer’s mind & heart, the readers who pick up the story will have their own interpretations of where the story takes them; even if where the reader’s mind goes is opposite of where a writer intended them to travel. Stories are constantly evolving experiences as they fuse and shape differently inside the mind of whom reads them and carries a different piece of their message as they are read.
I am thankful I could interview Ms. Bertrand and provide a bit of a back-story to the Sententia series for my readers & visitors alike! I do hope everyone has clicked through to the rest of the tour stops and enjoyed this introduction to Luminis Books!
I hosted two authors for the Luminis Books Blog Tour:
Happily click-through to visit each stop on the tour & leave a note behind for either myself or the two authors I happily hosted for Luminis Books! It was such an esteemed honour to have both of them on my book blog! It was a great experience to host a new Publisher I had not yet discovered and gathering a sense about the type of stories they are publishing under the umbrella of Children’s Lit!
Similar to blog tours, when I feature a showcase for an author via a Guest Post, Q&A, Interview, etc., I do not receive compensation for featuring supplemental content on my blog.
I positively *love!* comments in the threads below each of my posts, and as CommentLuv only requires Email to leave a note for me I cannot wait to see what starts to populate below! Kindly know that I appreciate each thought you want to share with me and all the posts on my blog are open to new comments & commentary! Short or long, I appreciate the time you spent to leave behind a note of your visit! Return again soon!
{SOURCES: The tour badge & Book Synopsis for “Second Thoughts” were provided by JKS Communications and used with permission. Book Cover Art for “Lost in Thought” & “Second Thoughts”, Author Biography & Book Synopsis of “Lost in Thought” were provided by the author Cara Bertrand and used with permission. Blog Tour badge provided by Parajunkee to give book bloggers definition on their blogs. Post dividers by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination. Tweets are embedded due to codes provided by Twitter.}
I was selected to be a tour stop on the “Amy’s Choice” virtual book tour through JKS Communications: A Literary Publicity Firm. As this was the second novel in a book series, I was able to put in a request to receive the first novel Call Me Amy of which I received a complimentary copy of direct from the publisher Luminis Books without obligation to review. I received my complimentary copy of Amy’s Choice direct from JKS Communications in exchange for an honest review. I did not receive compensation for my opinions or thoughts shared herein.
Inspired to Read:
I am always on the hunt for wicked quality Children’s Literature – stories which carve out a special niche of childhood innocence and the mirth of exploring how to find growth through life experiences. I want to find even more stories than I had as a young child myself – striving to find the writers who keep the tone of their novels radiating with light and the darkness can be erased through the resolutions at the ending of any conflict that a character needs to overcome. I like finding stories which give children a free sense about how to differentiate between right and wrong, whilst allowing them the grievance for understanding there is a measure of wisdom in living through our mistakes, our misunderstandings, and our ability to be humbled through adversity. I like stories that break down barriers and also serve to teach a lesson of stewardship and diplomacy. When I first saw this series going on tour on behalf of the publisher’s showcase, I simply knew that I wanted to take part and high shine a light on two stories that would benefit any library of a child or adult who appreciates the same types of stories I am passionately addicted to myself.
For 13-year-old Amy Henderson, 1973 has been a lonely and uneventful year in her small Maine fishing village. With the help of a wounded seal pup, she gets to know Craig, who slinks around in an oversized army jacket. A new law against handling wild marine mammals brings suspense to the story. Where can they keep Pup until he heals? Their only hope is to trust Miss Cogshell, an elderly woman keeping to herself amidst jeers from the local kids, who catches them sneaking Pup into her woodshed in the middle of the night. Throughout the book, small challenges prepare Amy for her greatest one of all. A challenge that leads her to discover that everyone, herself included, has a voice worth hearing.
Call Me Amy was selected for the Best Children’s Book List by Bank Street College of Education.
For readers aged 9 & up.
Published by Luminis Books, 2013.
Marcia Strykowski works at a public library. Earlier, between earning her BS in Fine Arts and raising her children, she worked for seven years in textbook publishing. Marcia participates in writing groups and enjoys family, art, music, travel, and theater. She is a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators. After numerous magazine and anthology contributions, CALL ME AMY was Marcia’s first novel. It was chosen for the 2014 Bank Street College of Education’s prestigious Best Books of the Year list. AMY’S CHOICE, a sequel to CALL ME AMY, is now available. You can find out more about her and her books at marciastrykowski.com.
Maine : as a setting:
Northern New England always held an appeal for a girl like me who grew up on a state known for it’s panhandle, fierce fire of a sun, and the fact that at the southern most tip of her state you could wave to Cuba! I kid you not. Being as far South as you muster an interest to live, I oft wondered what it would be like to live somewhere blissfully different – where the changing seasons outweighed the blight of walking through volcanic heat and where you could snuggle into a season rather than being fearful of the extreme storm warning alerts blasting off your tv, radio, and reverse 911 phone messages. Anywhere where the pace of life wasn’t contingent upon tourism or at least wasn’t as blatant about flaunting that it was would even be a wickeder place by far. To settle into the texture of a place rather than the presumptions of a state’s reputation always felt ideal; where you could absorb into the curiousness nature of it’s townes, and visit with locals who would always have a hearty conversation to share.
For me, it was simply the fact that the Northern states were as far away from the Southern hemisphere as you could wrangle yourself without leaving the United States completely! All the top tier states flitted through my imagination as being the most seriously awesome place to live throughout my life, due to their hugged close nature of being a stepping stone into Canada. And, Canada to me was always the most unique place I could readily visit without needing to cross the North Atlantic and brave the high seas over a jaunt in a plane.
The whispering assurances that this novel is set in Maine is a credit to a writer who happens to call New England home herself. She has carefully etched a sounding stone of believability into how the setting is conveyed and how unique it is to call Coastal Maine home. I’ll admit that short visits are not enough to fully eclipse what is there to be found. It is a unique stretch of coastline that ebbs you further into it’s graces the more you go up and down Route 1. The road which angles and stretches itself from the upper lip of Massachusetts and zips you into New Brunswick outside of Eastport; the city which produces my absolute favourite brand of stone ground mustard!
My Review of Call Me Amy:
The opening pages of Call Me Amy took me back to my first visit to Mid-Coast Maine, as I spent a bit of time around the area where Thomaston is located. My favourite memory of Thomaston is getting to see National Treasure whilst only paying $5 dollars for the ticket, a large popcorn, and a drink! I was properly gobsmacked you could get away with that price as even though it was the mid-2000s the prices were far steeper down in the Southeast! To the brink that going to see the film was the true joy over the snacks. The atmosphere of that cinemas was friendly with an old fashioned way of putting you at ease as soon as you walked through the door! Set around a backdrop of a rock manufacture across the street, the ocean not too much further past it – you had a unique impression of going to see a film was anything but ordinary in this small coastal towne! Being able to chat ahead of the show, munching on popcorn and getting free refills for your drink and popcorn prior to being seated was the supreme best! I think I was akin to Mum realising that we both felt that “we were somewhere wicked good” at the moment, as getting refills on snacks isn’t as easy back home. We loved the interpersonal touches and the manner in which we felt welcomed ‘home’ rather than being ‘from away’; we bonded over a deep passion for cinema and for the actors who create the stories we love to watch. It should always be as keen to go to the movies and I never forgot how much I ached to see National Treasure 2 up in Maine rather than back from where I had came.
I could relate directly to Amy’s sense of wonder about reading and the necessity of longing for a library located close to home. I was thankful I had branches throughout the cities and townes I lived in as a child for having locations within a commutable distance of where my house was located. Never close enough to walk too as everything was so spread out and in some ways, I could relate to her angst about always needing to travel a bit of distance to do what you wanted to do most. I do not think she realised though how blessed she was that she could walk outside her front door and easily walk to most of the places she wanted to visit regularly. There is a thread of narrative inside the story that reminded me a heap of the tv film Polly which was based around Pollyanna. Celeste Holm played an incredible role in bringing to life Miss Snow and I was equally captivated by another character inside the film Because of Winn-Dixie: Gloria Dump. Centrally important to the growth of the young characters in each of these stories is having the strength of an unexpected teacher, advisor, and mentor. My heart swelled with joy seeing how Strykowski knitted Miss Cogshell into the heart of Call Me Amy.
Amy’s voice in the novel is bang-on brilliant for her age in the story, as her curiosity and inquisitiveness about her life and the world around her comes out strongly perceptive. Her heart is open to the possibilities that first impressions are not always as receptively accurate as you first think they would be as much as she cares for those who are in need. I enjoyed watching her slowly emerge out of her shell once she had a project she could focus on that was outside of her own worries and insecurities. Amy starts to see the intricate balance of life, how staying true to who you are is key, and how being open to learning from misunderstandings enriches the spirit of who you become.
On the writing style of Marcia Strykowski:
I slipped into this novel as easily as I used to curl into the sofa to watch Flipper or Thunder Bay, a true note of appreciation goes to Strykowski for re-creating a soft-spoken story filled with lessons of life stitched into each page of Call Me Amy. The best blessing of all is that it is writ in such a voice as to fill your own mind with the reverie of your own growing years as much as a curious nod to places you’ve visited as an adult. She is the kind of gentle story-teller I would have felt wicked happy to have stumbled across as a nine year old and in full mirth of happiness to await each new release she would continue to pen!
I always liked feeling as though I was taking a journey within an adventure with a character who was sorting out who they were whilst defining how they wanted to grow into their own skin. Call Me Amy is a strong story for children who are seeking the same stories I was at the ages I did not always find I had a lot to pull off the shelf. Especially considering her attention to detailed descriptions and bolting a firm image into your mind about her quirky characters, gave me the most pleasure joy whilst reading the novel overall! I love finding writers who can etch alive their settings and characters for children with such wicked loveliness as to paint everything true blue to real life!
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{SOURCES: The tour badge was provided by JKS Communications and used with permission. Book Cover Art for “Call Me Amy” & “Amy’s Choice”, Author Biography & Book Synopsis provided by the author Marcia Strykowski and used with permission. The book trailer for “Call Me Amy” had either URL share links or coding which made it possible to embed this media portal to this post, and I thank them for the opportunity to share more about this novel and the author who penned it.Blog Tour badge provided by Parajunkee to give book bloggers definition on their blogs. Bookish Events badge created by Jorie in Canva. Post dividers by Fun Stuff for Your Blog via Pure Imagination. Tweets are embedded due to codes provided by Twitter. #KidsLitBlogHop badge created by Jorie in Canva.}
The setting of where #CallMeAmy is set sparked a happy memory of mine whilst taking in a film in Mid-Coast #Maine; #amreading in my reverie
— Jorie Loves A Story (@JLovesAStory) October 7, 2014
@JLovesAStory Nice!! I liked it and I talked it up at school, so one of my students is getting ready to read it :) so that’s good!
— Richelle Steinmetz (@rikkir77) October 9, 2014
@JLovesAStory It was a neat story and a super easy read. I really liked seeing the relationship between the boy, the girl, and the old lady!
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Call Me Amy
