After you finish reading my review of Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass, you might also want to check out others from The Card Catalog and The Latino Author.
Review: Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass by Meg Medina
After you finish reading my review of Yaqui Delgado Wants to Kick Your Ass, you might also want to check out others from The Card Catalog and The Latino Author.
Read it Right: Holly Black’s Curse Workers Series
I haven't reviewed it for the blog, because I'm just rotten like that. But I'd give Holly Black's Curse Workers trilogy as a whole a big fat 8/10. (And if you know about my rating system, you know that means it's really GOOD.)
Now, call me crazy if you will, but what we do in my family if we really like a book is incorporate elements into our everyday life as we read. We've cooked Harry Potter and Hobbit themed meals, for example. If it's worth a re-read, it's worth reading it right, and because I love you all and trust you not to mock my readerly excesses, I will share with you my elaborate plans for future … Continue reading the story "Read it Right: Holly Black’s Curse Workers Series"Workshop 101: How to Critique a Manuscript
I confess: I’m a writing workshop junkie. Once I was a normal person, but seven years, countless workshops, and 4.2 million novel drafts later…I’m an ink-stained creature who suffers from fits of metaphor and finds objective correlatives in blender repair manuals.
You would think I’ve had time to master the business by now, but every time I sit down to critique a manuscript for a workshop I get twitchy. How can I be most helpful? How do I provide a great manuscript critique? Will the author be offended if I get pizza stains on page six?
The answers depend on the individual writer, of course, and on whether or not I’m eating pizza, but I’ve found a sort of method that works for me, both before and during workshop. Here are my thoughts on how to critique a workshop submission. … Continue reading the story "Workshop 101: How to Critique a Manuscript"Review: A Game for Swallows by Zeina Abirached
After you read my review of A Game for Swallows: To Die, to Leave, to Return by Zeina Abirached, you might also want to check out opinions from Cameron Hathaway at Bleeding Cool and the LibrarYAn. But first you should read mine!
Introduction:
A Game for Swallows is a graphic memoir that tells the story of one night in Zeina Abirached’s childhood. Zeina and her younger brother are growing up in Beirut, Lebanon during a civil war, where even a brief trip onto the streets can be deadly. Zeina’s parents have been forced to master the art of avoiding snipers so that they can travel to visit her grandmother just a few blocks away. Normally, it’s a short journey, but on the night the … Continue reading the story "Review: A Game for Swallows by Zeina Abirached"The Beauty of Built-in Bookmarks
The Amazing Agent K has finally emerged from the shadows to post on KnowsProse. Let's all welcome her with open arms! Here's K on one of her favorite anal-retentive reader problems:
Greetings, all you prose knowers!
The mistress of this blog was warm enough to invite me in for a guest post! She probably expected me to use this opportunity to share something insightful about literature…
Oh dear. Hope she won’t be too disappointed!
Because, I want to share with y’all a tiny issue that’s been weighing HUGELY on me.
Bookmarks.
Yes, bookmarks.
Greetings, all you prose knowers!
The mistress of this blog was warm enough to invite me in for a guest post! She probably expected me to use this opportunity to share something insightful about literature…
Oh dear. Hope she won’t be too disappointed!
Because, I want to share with y’all a tiny issue that’s been weighing HUGELY on me.
Bookmarks.
Yes, bookmarks.
Last week I was reading a lovely anniversary edition of Edward Eager’s Half Magic (a classic in children’s literature – a must-read if you want to call yourself an expert in the field…I’m not an expert yet. More like a cadet). … Continue reading the story "The Beauty of Built-in Bookmarks"
Mini Review: Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
After you read my review of the book Beautiful Creatures, you might want to check out differing opinions about the series from: Reading Lark and Escape in a Book.
The Bad:
So, it's like this: I've got these super awesome gourmet lollipops that last for a whole hour. I could pop one in my mouth right now, hop in my car, and arrive in South Carolina before I would have to start chewing on the nasty paper stick. So I'm about as Southern as Southern gets. I drop my g's. I drink sweet tea and eat grits. I helped plant a field of tobacco when I was in middle school. (That's not a joke.) My point is that this is a book that's supposed … Continue reading the story "Mini Review: Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl"Review: Wolfborn by Sue Bursztynski
Back in action, folks. Let's jump right in with a review of Australian author Sue Bursztynski's YA novel Wolfborn. As always, after you read my review, you might want to check out other bloggers' reviews of Wolfborn: Tsana's Reads and Cup of Tea Reviews
INTRODUCTION:
"Break the curse or howl forever." In the kingdom of Amorique, you don't want to be too hairy. You don't want to be too familiar with the woods. You don't want to be the kind of person who disappears from time to time. Because in the kingdom of Amorique, some people make pacts with the Dark One, and they have the power to become wolves. Unfortunately, there are also the born werewolves, the bisclavret, who suffer persecution by association. As … Continue reading the story "Review: Wolfborn by Sue Bursztynski"Werewolves in My Mailbox and Angels on my Shelf
I've been super busy over the past couple of weeks, but my grad school residency for this semester is about to end so I'll be updating regularly again in a few days. Wolfborn, by Sue Bursztynski is waiting for me at home.
I'm looking forward to this one. Word on the (book nerd) street says that it's a different kind of werewolf novel, and I'm all for that! Wolfborn was named a Children's Book Council of Australia Notable Book for Older Readers, and I haven't seen any posts about it from US bloggers (it went on sale here in October).
There's a sample chapter up at Sue Bursztynski's website. Check it out … Continue reading the story "Werewolves in My Mailbox and Angels on my Shelf"Bringing YA To You
Have you ever wished that a big YA book tour would make a stop in your hometown? Well, here's your chance for that wish to come true! YA2U is a program that features five award-winning and best-selling authors who are holding a contest to see what city they should visit in an exclusive tour stop!Review: By the Sword (Kerowyn’s Tale) by Mercedes Lackey
After you read my review of By the Sword, you might want to check out other opinions, positive
and less positive. (Amazon link and Goodreads link...I couldn't find anyone reviewing this book thoroughly on a blog.)
So, Mercedes Lackey is one of those writers who fed my fantasy craving when I was a young teen. It's been awhile since I read one of her books, and I had almost forgotten their potato-chippy quality -- you can't read just one! I read Foundation, which tells about the founding of the Herald's Collegium, and then I couldn't stop. So I picked up By the Sword and didn't put it down until I reached … Continue reading the story "Review: By the Sword (Kerowyn’s Tale) by Mercedes Lackey"