Mundie Moms

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

We're Chatting With Grace Author, Elizabeth Scott Tonight!


*Our chat will start at 8 pm CST/ 9 pm EST. To join, hit join and enter a screen name.

*Please know that we will be discussing Grace by Elizabeth Scott!

*We do our best to make sure all comments are published, so that Elizabeth can answer your questions. With the high volume of guests expected tonight, not all the questions may be answered in the hour time frame of the chat. If that is the case, we will be sure to send them to Elizabeth so that she can answer them, after which we will post them on the blog and our forum.

*In respect to Elizabeth's time, we will only publish comments that pertain to their current writings, and book.

*We will not post any personal questions or comments.

* Any rude, disrespectful, or spam like comments will not be published.

*Thank you and we look forward to chatting with everyone tonight!

Banned Books Week Guest Author Post by Myra McEntire

Are You There, Judy? It's Me, Myra

When I was in elementary and middle school, I was the nerdiest kid alive, like, ever.

Seriously.

When you’re young, you don’t know how to own your inner nerd, you just feel every single second of being different. You pray one day you’ll get rid of the glasses and the too skinny legs and the propensity to fall over (especially when seventh graders tripped you).

I had two saving graces back then. Dancing was one. I didn’t always follow the steps (okay, I never followed the steps, sorry Ms. Humphries). I just followed my imagination and went where the music took me. The smells of the studio - rosin for the toe shoes, the leather of the ballet slippers, Chapstick – soothed me in a way nothing else could.

Except for the smell of books.

Whether they were from the tiny Colonial Heights Library or from B.Dalton bookstore, or from the shelves at my home or my grandmother’s, books were always the cure for everything. They gave me a chance to live in someone else’s world, escape my own. I could solve mysteries like Trixie Belden (and I still own all the originals), paint a cat like Ramona, or write secrets in my notebook like Harriet the Spy. I could live in a New York City apartment building like Peter Hatcher or Shelia the Great. I could ride horses like Black Beauty or The Black Stallion.

I could learn about very mature things, such as different religions and menstruation, like Margaret.

My parents had no issues with me reading these books. I reckon my teachers didn’t either. The problems came when I tried to tell my second grade class about them.

I can still see the look on Mrs. Cheeseburger’s* face when I ended my oral book report on ARE YOU THERE GOD, IT’S ME, MARGARET with, “And then she got her period.”

My mom had to meet me in the principal's office.

That book started a love affair with Judy Blume’s works, a love affair that had more influence on the way I think as an adult than I can properly assess. I went to a tiny rural school. Almost everyone was Protestant – we thought even Catholics were a little bit touched. I certainly never met anyone who was Jewish, or interacted with anyone of another race. In this case, it wasn’t because of prejudice. It was because of exposure.

So when Margaret questioned religion, so did I. When an African-American family moved into IGGIE’S HOUSE, I didn’t doubt Winnie’s choice to stand up for them when certain neighbors got ugly. I felt empathy for Jill when people called her BLUBBER, because even though I was on the opposite end of the weight spectrum, I caught hell for looking different, too.

Even today, when my youngest child tries to take flight from the top of the refrigerator or takes off his pants in the grocery store, I repeat this mantra: Farley Drexel Hatcher, Farley Drexel Hatcher, Farley Drexel Hatcher …

Judy Blume’s books took me places I never would have gone, physically and emotionally, if I had been left to my own devices. They helped me grow up. They made me socially aware.

Imagine if her books hadn’t been allowed on the shelves?

Who would that nerdy girl be today?

Not the same at all. So I raise a glass to Judy Blume and all the other authors out there who aren’t afraid to tell the stories that should be told.

I owe you who I am, and ultimately, I owe you what I do for a living.

And I’m grateful.

--
Myra McEntire is the author of the upcoming HOURGLASS (Egmont USA, May 24, 2011). She lives with her husband and two children in Nashville, where she is most likely at this very moment trying to convince her youngest to wear pants.

You can find out more about Myra by visiting her blog: http://writingfinally.blogspot.com

*names have been changed to protect the guilty

Book Review- Jack Blank And The Imagine Nation

By Matt Myklusch
Published by Aladdin/Simon and Schuster Kids
Released on August 3rd, 2010
Source- Simon and Schuster
5 Stars- Brilliant Story

Jack Blank doesn't know who he is or where he comes from. He doesn't even know his real last name. All Jack knows is his bleak, dreary life at St. Barnaby's Home for the Hopeless, Abandoned, Forgotten and Lost. Everything changes one morning when Jack receives two visitors The first is a deadly robot, straight out of one of Jack's favorite comic books, that tries his best to blow him up. The second is an emissary from a secret country called the Imagine Nation, where all the fantastic and unbelievable things in our world orginate-including Jack. Jack soon discovers that he has an amazing ability-one that could make him the savior of the Imagine Nation and the world beyond, or the biggest threat they've ever faced (taken from the back of the ARC).

Jack Blank is such a brilliantly written book, with an amazing setting, wonderful characters and a lot of powerful messages written within it's pages. It's a place where all the super heros & real life heros I grew up with and even never before heard of heros, live. It makes the extraordinary seem ordinary.

Twelve year old Jack Blank has been living in a horrible orphanage, where he's constantly picked up on the bully Rex, and finds excitement in reading his comic books. Jack Blank has no idea where he came from, where his family is, and what his real last name is. On the morning a killer robot from one of Jack's comics becomes a reality and tries to kill him, Jazen Knight, an emissary from a secret country called Imagine Nation, has come for Jack. Jack soon finds himself in a place that is right out of his imagination. The way to get there is by believing.

Imagination Nation is in constant motion and travels between the countries of our world, though the members from this nation are from all over the world, make believe, real and from out of this world. I was really surprised that I loved Imagine Nation as much as I did. One of my favorite places in Imagine Nation is in Cognito. A city where people can go to, to "disappear", not even the streets have names. Imagine Nation is made of all sorts of living creatures from normal people to ninjas, kung fu masters, aliens, sorcerers, androids, regular people and more. It almost felt like it has a more updated Star Wars feel to it, complete with it's own Yoda in the form of one of my favorite characters, Stendeval, who's wisdom and encouragement help Jack find out who he is.

I really admired Jack's character. His life hasn't been easy and it gets tougher as soon as he arrives to Imagine Nation. He's been infected by a virus from a feared enemy, the Rustov, as known as Robie-Zombies, who all but destroyed many lives 12 years ago, in an invasion. Jack has few people who believe he's not a threat, Jenzen Knight and the wisest leader on Imagine Nation, Stendeval are two of them. I loved their characters. They convey such powerful messages not only to Jack, but to the reader.

Here's some of my favorite messages:

* "Be the change you want to see in the world" (pg 169)
* "Change begins with the individual" (pg 179)
* "... always remember that the path you choose to follow is your own." (pg 181)
* "Knowledge is power." (pg 209)
* "...we always have a choice. It's only the brave who choose not to surrend where there's no reason left to hope." (pg. 297)
* "The best way to predict your future is to create it." (pg 318)
* "Never underestimate the power you have over what happens today. Never forget the power today has over tomorrow." (pg 467)

Jack Blank is out to prove he's not a threat, and it will take Jenzen, Blue, Stendeval, and Jack's new friends to help him in his quest. Jack alone must believe in who he is and what his powers can do. Jack has a power that has not only kept his infection at bay, but it can destroy the Rustov. When the evil Rustov robot comes back to kill Jack and reveals who he is, Jack will be faced with a decision that can ultimately change his future forever.

I know this book is written for grade and middle school aged kids, but I really enjoyed Jack Blank and The Imagine Nation. I was reminded of how much fun it is to imagine. I can't wait for son my to read this when he's a little older. Matt Myklusch writing it truly what kept me glued to the book. Jack Blank and The Imagine Nation is an awesome, action packed, must have book, with some great plot twists. I'm really looking forward to the next book in the series.

You can find out more about Jack Blank on Simon & Schuster's site here http://tinyurl.com/2aegk5u

Jack Blank's official site here http://www.jackblank.com/

Author Cynthia Leitich Smith has a great interview with Matt Myklusch here http://tinyurl.com/234go97


Twitter Tuesday - Maggie Stiefvater


Yesterday, Maggie revealed her FOREVER cover on twitter and her blog. Have you seen it?

You can pre-order it at Maggie's favorite bookstore, Fountain Bookstore. And hey, she's got a contest going on so let's move our eyes away from Sam and go enter to win!

Banned Books Week Winner


Congratulations to #56- David Purse!

The winner has been notified and will get to choose from one of these titles:
Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
Burned by Ellen Hopkins (not mentioned in article but frequently challenged)
Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler
The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian by Sherman Alexie

Thank you to everyone who entered! Don't forget to enter our other giveaways we have going on, featured in our right hand side bar.

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