Reading Roundup III - Some Favorite Children's Books for 2011

To complete my reading roundup, here are some of my favorite children's books for 2011. The links are to books with my reviews for Kidsreads.

BLESS THIS MOUSE by Lois Lowry is a charming story for animal-loving readers of all ages.

DEAD END IN NORVELT by Jack Gantos weaves twentieth century American history with wacky scenes and memorable characters.

PAINTINGS FROM THE CAVE: THREE NOVELLAS is Gary Paulsen’s dark and gritty collection of stories about three children who use the beauty of art and/or the unconditional love of dogs to survive troubled childhoods.

THE CHRISTMAS VILLAGE by Melissa Ann Goodwin is a sweet and suspenseful tale filled with surprises.

THE CHRONICLES OF HARRIS BURDICK: FOURTEEN AMAZING AUTHORS TELL THE TALES, Chris Van Allsburg. Stories written by children’s and adult authors: Sherman Alexie, M.T. Anderson, Kate DiCamillo, Cory Doctorow, Jules Feiffer, Stephen King, Tabitha King, Lois Lowry, Gregory Maguire, Walter Dean Myers, Linda Sue Park, Louis Sachar, Jon Scieszka and Chris Van Allsburg, with an introduction by Lemony Snicket.

WARP SPEED by Lisa Yee is a touching story about belonging, being unique and standing-up to bullies.

Wishing you a blessed Christmas filled with wonderful books.

Winner of Melissa Ann Goodwin's The Christmas Village

Thanks to everyone who stopped by and left a comment or question for Melissa Ann Goodwin.

The winner of Melissa's charming Christmas book, The Christmas Village is:

BOOKIE

Congratulations, Bookie! I have forwarded your e-mail address to Robyn at WOW! Women on Writing, who will be contacting you soon.

If my other blog visitors would like another chance to win Melissa's book, Margo Dill at Read These Books and Use Them, is hosting Melissa until Nov 20.

Check out Melissa's post: " Every Town Has A Story: Ways to Encourage Kids (and Grown-ups) To Write" for some great tips to come up with ideas for stories or essays.

The contest on Margo's blog ends at 8 p.m. on Nov 20, so hop on over and leave a comment or share your favorite Christmas tradition for a chance to win a copy of The Christmas Village.

Thanks to Melissa for her generosity and wisdom and to Robyn at WOW! for inviting me to have Melissa as a guest blogger on Donna's Book Pub.

Guest Post from Melissa Ann Goodwin - "The Two Techniques that Improved My Writing the Most" and Special Giveaway

I am pleased today to welcome Melissa Ann Goodwin to Donna's Book Pub as part of the WOW! Women on Writing author's blog tour.

Melissa and I have been blogging friends for quite some time and have gotten to know one another through her friendly and helpful posts. She also has been a frequent visitor to my blog, always leaving uplifting comments.

So I was so happy to hear about publication of her book, The Christmas Village, and even more excited when Robyn from WOW! asked if I would like to host Melissa on my blog.

"Of Course!" was my immediate answer.

Melissa is author of the charming children's book, The Christmas Village. Here's a synopsis of the book: "Jamie Reynolds wished that he could live in Grandma's miniature Christmas village, and now that wish has magically come true. But is the village really what it seems? What stunning secrets does it hold? And how will Jamie ever get back home? Join the fun, come along on the adventure, and find out!"


Here's what Melissa has to say about the two techniques that helped improve her writing the most.

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As writers, we’re always looking for tips and techniques to make our writing better. Each of us has strengths and weaknesses. Some people are naturally adept at creating realistic dialogue; others paint us vivid pictures with their words. I’ve realized that I’m naturally pretty good at dialogue and plotting, but I have to work hard on description, and I have to be careful to avoid redundancy. There are two key activities that have helped me strengthen my writing and I’d like to share them with you.

Reading Your Work Aloud

The first activity I use to tighten my work is reading it aloud. The brain is a funny thing – when you think of a word that fits perfectly, your brain likes it so much that it wants to use it again – two sentences later! Reading aloud helps you to catch redundancies when silent reading does not. It also clearly shows up words or sentences that don’t flow smoothly and it helps you catch missing words and errors. Poor dialogue is especially highlighted when you read aloud – if it doesn’t sound realistic when you say it out loud, it won’t sound real to the reader either.

Including Description of All Five Senses

The second activity I recommend is making sure to use descriptors in all five of the senses. It’s pretty easy to describe sight and sound, but we usually have to dig deeper to effectively convey touch, smell and taste. The effort is well worth it though, because including a broad range of vivid descriptors is one way that we achieve “showing” versus “telling” - which is what makes our story come alive for our readers, and helps them get lost in the worlds we’ve created for them.

To illustrate, let’s take these sentences excerpted from page one of my book, The Christmas Village:

“ … They had been driving all day through gloomy weather, stopping only for bathroom breaks and a greasy hamburger at a place called Red’s Diner … The overly warm car smelled like stale air and leftover fries. Jamie’s eyes had grown weary from reading the book that now lay face-down in his lap. The monotonous thunk thunk thunk of the windshield wipers made him drowsy. To amuse himself, Jamie squinted so that the lights whizzed past in a kaleidoscope of streaks and swirls.”

I wanted to show that the characters have been driving for a long time on a dreary night. But more importantly, I wanted to show that Jamie’s mood is gloomy too. Using descriptors that crossed all the senses helped me achieve both those goals.

I found that using these two techniques tightened my story and brought it to life in a way that I’d never achieved before. I hope that you’ll find them helpful to your writing process too.

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Thanks for sharing those tips, Mellissa. Using examples from your book is especially helpful. And thanks for generously donating a copy of your wonderful book to one lucky visitor who leaves a comment on my blog about your post. The Christmas Village makes a great gift for a child or grandchild--or anyone who loves the magic of Christmas. 

If you would like to win a copy of Melissa's charming Christmas story The Christmas Village, leave a comment here by November 17. The name of the lucky winner will be announced November 18.