Summer Reading Challenge, Week 3: Mr. Popper’s Penguins
Introduction We’ve added a Summer Reading Challenge tab at the top of our website, to help you keep up with the posts as the summer goes on. Here’s a link if you’d like to check it out! This week in our trip Around the World in 60 Days, we’re staying in the U.S. for a…
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Book News, Freebies & Cheapies
News Happy Monday! It’s a busy week here at RR, find with Mr. Popper’s Penguins up next in our Summer Reading Challenge for kids. (Here is our post on The Middle of Somewhere and our Around the World post.) Watch for that post Tuesday, Lord willing. We’ll also have a tasty post on Thursday from…
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Lemonade and Lit Read Along, Week 1: Booked by Karen Swallow Prior
Other Lemonade and Lit posts: Introduction, Week One: Booked, Week Two: Booked Discussion, Week Three: Beauty, Week Four: Sexuality in Booked, Week Five: Beauty Discussion, Week Six: The Last Thing I Remember, Week Seven: Klavan Discussion. Lemonade and Lit: An Adult-Teen Read Along, Week 1 Happy Saturday, guys! I’m sitting here at a coffee shop,…
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Let’s Take a Road Trip: Our Final Destination
Before I started writing The Middle of Somewhere, I did some research. Every novelist has to do some research, especially if she’s writing historical fiction (three of my published novels are historical fiction). An author has to have a sense of the lay of the land before she can determine which direction to go. And…
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Let’s Take a Road Trip (and the Second Key to Great Writing)
How’s the road trip going? Have we arrived in Dodge City or stalled out in Pittsburg? I’ll let you in on a secret: when I’m writing a novel, I almost always stall out around the third or fourth chapter. Beginnings are easy—in fact, the beginning of this one was especially easy because I was struck…
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Let’s Take a Road Trip–and Write a Story!
Our Around the World reading challenge book this week is The Middle of Somewhere, and it’s written by . . . um . . . me. If I were not me, I might be objecting right now that assigning one’s own book for a readers’ challenge is incredibly self-seeking (and actually, a small corner of…
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Adult-Teen Summer Reading, Introduction: Conversation and a Contest!
Other Lemonade and Lit posts: Introduction, Week One: Booked, Week Two: Booked Discussion, Week Three: Beauty, Week Four: Sexuality in Booked, Week Five: Beauty Discussion, Week Six: The Last Thing I Remember, Week Seven: Klavan Discussion. Adult-Teen Read Along This month has been a whirl-wind as we’ve begun our family Summer Reading Challenge. But by…
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What’s In the Handbag, Nelly Bly? 6 Items For Your Trip Around the World
I ran out of time in last week’s post to include my travel tips for your Summer Reading adventure. So, taking inspiration from the humorous scene of Nelly Bly packing her suitcase in Matt Phelan’s book, here are a few things you might want to pack for your journey: 1. Music: My kids and I…
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Summer Reading Challenge, Wk 1: Interview with John Branyan
It’s Thursday, and that means it’s time for our Summer Reading Challenge (SRC) extras! In case you missed it, here is the Introduction, our list of 100 Great Adventure Books for Kids, as well as week one’s Book review and discussion questions. Enjoy! A Journey of Funny Next week, Janie will introduce the SRC writing contests, including…
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Summer Reading Challenge, Week 1: Around the World by Matt Phelan
***To find out more about this challenge, see our Summer Reading Challenge introduction. Other posts related to Matt Phelan’s books include our Interview with John Branyan and What’s in Your Handbag, Nelly Bly?*** Introduction As Betsy said yesterday in her fantastic introduction (which contained our list of more than 100 Great Adventure Books for Kids),…
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