So I really don’t want to say to much about the book because I didn’t know a single thing about it when I read it, so the little twist at the end was a really nice surprise.  It’s also the type of book that as soon as you close the very last page, you want to open the first one again and start all over again.  I borrowed this one from the library but it’s a keeper that I’d like to add to my library and I think would also make a great read-a-loud as a family.

A perfect compain book to When You Reach Me is A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle (which by the way I hated! Previous link is my review).  Our main charater in When You Reach Me, Miranda, has this FAVORITE book which she reads over and over again.  When she first mentions the plot but without mentioning the title (not given till much later – so the comparison between the two books may go over some people’s heads), I thought to myself – ugh, that sounds like it’s SO not my type of book.  At the next book reference I realized that her favorite book was A Wrinkle in Time and yep – so not my type of book!

But When You Reach Me IS my type of book.  One that I would wholeheartedly recommend even if I didn’t tell you anything about it.

Links of interest: Rebecca Stead website and blog, more book blogger reviews.
Genre:  Middle Grade Fiction, approx ages 9-12.
Publisher: Wendy Lamb Books.  July 14, 2009.
Hardcover, 208 pages. ISBN 0385737424
When You Reach Me is available from your favorite independent bookstore, Powell’s, and Amazon.

What I found fascinating about The Secret Keeper is that the author Paul Harris is also a journalist who covered the war in Sierra Leone.  I wanted to know how much of his personal experience played into the writing of this book and was thrilled to be able to ask Paul some of those questions.  Please welcome Paul to the Maw Books Blog . . .

Maw Books:  How and why did you become a journalist? Can you briefly share a few highlights from your career?

Paul Harris: I always wanted to be a journalist and I think I have been lucky to have had that ambition from a young age. When I was about 9 years old I started a newspaper at my school (it lasted one edition!). So it was simply a matter of doing student journalism, getting a journalism qualification and then battling to get a job. The reasons why I  wanted to be a journalist are a mix. Every journalist (I would hope) wants to change the world a little bit for the better. But every honest journalist should admit that it’s a chance to have an awful lot of fun, see some exotic places and get to see your name in print. My main highlight would be covering the Truth and Reconciliation Commission in South Africa. It was a panel set up by archbishop Desmond Tutu to examine apartheid era crimes by all sides. It was a privilege to watch a nation try to heal itself like that, with all the moral compromises and complexities that that involved.

Maw Books:  Starting a newspaper at nine?  It’s no surprise you became a journalist!  You spent a month in Sierra Leone covering the civil war.  It is obviously this experience that drove you to write The Secret Keeper.  But you’ve also covered many other conflicts across Africa and elsewhere. Why did you choose this story over any of the other stories that you could have told?

Paul Harris: I think Sierra Leone held the most fascination because for me it was the most extreme experience.  More so than two months embedded with the military during the invasion of Iraq or other conflicts which I just dipped in and out of.  In Sierra Leone I was operating alone, in a strange country amid utter chaos.  It was a heady mixture of excitement and fear.  It was also the conflict that put a full stop on my African experience. I decided to leave shortly after.

Maw Books:  I can only imagine the things you must have seen and heard.  Why write a novel in the first place?  Is it something that you have always wanted to do or have been interested in?  What led you to turn from journalism writing to novel writing?

Paul Harris: I always wrote fiction, especially when I was a child. I fell in love with Tolkien and spent many hours writing my own stories set in fantasy worlds (writing a fantasy book is still a secret ambition of mine). Then, after I had left Africa, I decided to take my desire to write a novel seriously and followed the dictum: write what you know. So I began the process of taking some of my own experiences as a setting and starting to work what sort of themes I wanted to explore.

Maw Books:  Was it easy or difficult to switch to a different style of writing for The Secret Keeper from your journalism writing?

Paul Harris: It was very liberating actually. Fiction is an opportunity to play around and say exactly what you want. Journalism has rules to stop that sort of thing.

Maw Books:  I imagine being an war correspondent stationed abroad can be very frustrating when faced with the ignorance of others who either have little to no interest in the stories that you are risking your life to bring to them.  Do you think you can reach a new demographic with a novel (as opposed to journalism writing), to those who may not be aware of some of the current conflicts around the world?

Paul Harris: Definitely. The best fiction can bring the most obscure parts of the world to people’s attention and reach people that don’t consume too much news or have become disillusioned with it. I imagine that Khaled Hosseini has done more to bring Afghanistan alive for people than a thousand news stories.  Perhaps, hopefully, what happens is someone will read the fiction and then be inspired to find out more about the reality.

Maw Books:  I must admit that Hosseini spurred my desire to read more books that take place in Afghanistan, which I’m lucky to say I have.  What do you hope the reader learns, if anything, after reading The Secret Keeper?

Paul Harris: I think, at heart, it’s a story about moral complexity. That very few things are black and white. Good people do bad things, bad people do good  things. Everything is a shade of grey.

Maw Books:  What was the personal emotional impact on you from your experience in Sierra Leone?  How does covering war stories change you?  And how do you suppress this emotion in your journalism writing?

Paul Harris: It was pretty intense. I thought I was fine but after I left (and was incredibly relieved to get out) I noticed that I was behaving in certain strange ways: edgy, short-tempered, constantly nervous. I remember walking through a Nairobi street when a car exhaust backfired several times and it set my heart racing so much I thought I was about to have a panic attack.  But I think for most journalists the impact of covering conflicts will be as varied as the person. Some very fine friends make their whole careers out of it. Some of them thrive, others become very damaged. For me, it gave me a great sense of perspective and the preciousness of life and a feeling that war truly is the greatest folly of mankind. As for suppressing the emotion in writing, I think the simple rules of writing journalism will keep a lot of it out. But also a little bit of emotion – and breaking those rules – is generally a good thing. There is no such things as true objectivity, especially about tragedy, and nor should there be.

Maw Books:  Was the experience of writing The Secret Keeper cathartic in any way?  A way for you to release some of the emotions that you felt while in Sierra Leone or any other war torn country?

Paul Harris: I think it was. It felt good to get it out on the page, probably more than I realized I needed.

Maw Books:  After witnessing so much real-life drama how do you recreate that drama in The Secret Keeper?  How are real life emotions different than emotions as written on a page?

Paul Harris: What a fascinating question. I think (I hope) that I tried to recreate that drama as accurately as possible and give my characters emotions that would ring true. I think authors should aim to recreate authenticity. Because readers are not fools and will spot a fake. So I guess it is up to the readers to say if I have succeeded or not.

Maw Books:  How have the real life people you met in Sierra Leone influenced the characters/personalities in your book?

Paul Harris: A lot, but not all. The romance between Danny and Maria was inspired by an affair that a colleague and a local aid worker were having.  Kam, Danny’s driver and fixer, was based entirely on my driver in real life. Ali was inspired by a guy I met on a helicopter trip.  I did not even speak to him, but he just looked so… shady and yet totally at home in his environment. I just extrapolated him from there. The scenes in the hotel bar were all taken from real life. That place was a real “Star Wars” bar that everyone went to every night. Covering a conflict like that at leaves gives one a vast amount of exotic source material.

Maw Books:  I thought Kam was quite the character!  How much (if any) of you is there in Danny?  Is there anything specifically that happened to him that is based upon your real life experiences?

Paul Harris: I think inevitably there is a lot there. A friend pointed out that there is very little physical description of Danny in the book and I guess that is because in my mind’s eye he was basically me. There are several specific incidents inspired by real life events: the shooting outside the RUF leader’s house, the trip to Bo and the fire fight up country towards the end of the book. Mining those events for fictional purposes did feel a little surreal at times.

Maw Books: Knowing what your author photo looked like I have to admit that I kept picturing Danny as you.  And what fascinating experiences!  Was there a particular scene that you knew you had to write about?  That never changed from the moment you conceived it?

Paul Harris: Weirdly, the last sentence was pretty much the first sentence that came to my mind. Writing the book felt like a journey to get to that point and though it took lots of turns and twists, I felt I never really lost sight of it.

Maw Books:  What surprised you most about your book and/or characters as you were writing? Did anything turn out radically different than you’d originally thought it would?

Paul Harris: This is a tough one. I had an unusual experience writing the character of Danny’s girlfriend, Rachel. I wanted her to be a sympathetic, good person.  But at the end of the first draft my editor said she didn’t really care for her at all, saying she came over as negative and complaining. With that in mind I went back and reread those bits of the book with a fresh eye and was astonished to discover she was right. I had written her in print in a way completely different than what I thought I had. So I went back and rewrote her parts to do her more justice.

Maw Books:  While I was reading The Secret Keeper I kept visualizing the story as a movie playing out in my head.  If The Secret Keeper were a movie, who would you cast as your characters?

Paul Harris: That’s a fun question. A lot of people say it feels very cinematic. Perhaps Penelope Cruz as Maria. As Danny is inspired by some of my own experiences, I think modesty forbids me making any suggestions. I’ll leave it to readers’ imaginations. They are likely to be more honest than mine.

Maw Books:  I could totally see Penelope Cruz as Maria.  Good choice!  Can you briefly share with us what you think the current state of Sierra Leone is and what you think is in it’s future?

Paul Harris: Sierra Leone – I am delighted to say – is doing well. It is still desperately poor and has huge needs, but the war is over and has been for almost a decade now. Progress is slow but with such a history any sort of progress is to be celebrated. The same can be said of much of the rest of the region where equally devastated countries, like Liberia, are also recovering and stable. It is good news in a troubled world.

Maw Books:  I was haunted with the blank stares and listless ex-child soldiers as you wrote about them in the book.  Maria, works for an orphanage that took in ex-child soldiers in an attempt to rehabilitate them and place them into homes.  Will you share with us some of your experiences with child soldiers in Sierra Leone? Is enough being done for them?  What, in your opinion, needs to be done?

Paul Harris: My experiences were mostly limited to meeting them at  roadblocks and trying to negotiate my way through them. It is incredibly scary and also incredibly sad, to meet such young children, armed with machine guns, drunk and high and dangerous, and yet fundamentally still children who respond to a laugh and a smile. It is a problem that felt almost impossible to solve and I am no expert. But they need all the help and understanding they can get to help them recover from traumatising experiences that we can never imagine and yet not lose sight of the fact that they remain children.  Like everything else in Sierra Leone, resources are small and the need is great.  But, at the very least, no more child soldiers are being created.

Maw Books:  I have a special interest in Sudan.  You have spent some time in Sudan.  Can you briefly share a little bit about some of the stories that you covered there?

Paul Harris: I spent some time traveling with Christian missionaries who were buying back black African Sudanese who had been captured in slave raids by Arab Sudanese. I know that sounds incredibly medieval but the South of Sudan back in the 90s was just that kind of place. It is a different world.  I also covered a lovely story on a sort of ‘Olympics’ that aid groups organized in the area for local kids who had little else to enjoy in tough childhoods defined by the ongoing civil war. I loved south Sudan.  People were generous and kind and it really felt like going back in time.  My favourite moment was sleeping in a south Sudanese village, deep in the bush and being awoken by terrible screams and shouts. In the middle of a war zone, you could imagine all sorts of horrors. But the next morning we discovered one of the village elders had had too much to drink and his wife had kicked him out of their hut. It was their argument we had heard.  As someone who fundamentally believes that every human being is basically the same, it was a good lesson in the universality of human experience!

Maw Books:  I’ve read a bit about the slave trade in South Sudan.  It’s just so crazy!  And now for a few more “lighter” questions.  What’s the last book you finished and what’s on your nightstand right now?

Paul Harris: The last book I read was the excellent Columbine by Dave Cullen. I have not got anything on my night stand just yet as I am about to start doing research for a new book and am going to draw up a long non-fiction reading list based around US politics to kick things off.

Maw Books:  What is the best writing advice you have ever received and in turn the best writing advice that you could give?

Paul Harris: The best advice I got was write what you know. It was a great help in giving me the focus to write a book after several false starts over the years on less solid ground. My advice would simply be: a writer writes.  So many people say they have books in them, but never finish what they start.  You have to persevere. To the end. It sounds blindingly obvious, but the main reason most people don’t get published is because they don’t write a book.

Maw Books:  That makes perfect sense.  If you could have dinner with any five people, dead or alive, who would they be and why?

Paul Harris:

Jesus Christ (just to solve the mystery of who he actually was)
Archbishop Desmond Tutu (the most ‘good’ person I have ever met) Aristophanes (great sense of humour)
JRR Tolkien (he created an entire world inside his head)
Mae West (she would make it a proper party)

Maw Books:  Speaking of dinner, a question that I ask of every single author I interview is to share with us a recipe that I will later make and blog about.  Do you have a favorite from your world travels that you would care to share with us?

Paul Harris: Food during a lot of my travels has not been that good (two months of military rations in Iraq!). But here is a dish from Cape Town in South Africa, with its origins in the Cape Malay community, people descended from Malaysian slaves brought over by the Dutch in the 17th Century.  It is called Bobotie and is a bit (only a bit) like a moussaka.

Link to Bobotie recipe.

Maw Books:  Seriously, sounds delicious.  I’m going to try to get everything I need for it.  So what are you doing right now?  Do you have any more books in your future?

Paul Harris: I am just starting a second book. Set against the backdrop of an American presidential campaign. I covered the 2004 and 2008 elections and want to capture some of that amazing excitement and drama. As I said earlier: write what you know.

Maw Books:  Anything else you would like to share with the Maw Books readers?

Paul Harris: Just to say thanks for reading and commenting.  The experience of doing this sort of thing online is a lot of fun and also blogs like Maw Books are so important these days. For readers and for authors.  We’re entering a whole new world together.

Giveaway: I was able to pick up a second copy of The Secret Keeper that I would love to pass on to you.  To enter, leave a comment on this post telling me what you found the most interesting from this interview with Paul Harris.  If you would like to double  your chances of winning, also leave a comment responding to my book review of The Secret Keeper.  Giveaway is open world-wide and I’ll pick a winner on May 27th.

Links of interest:  The Secret Keeper website.  Maw Books review of The Secret Keeper.
Genre:  Mystery/thriller.
Publisher:  Dutton Adult.  April 2nd, 2009
Hardcover, 336 pages.  ISBN: 0525951024
The Secret Keeper is available from your independent bookstore, Powell’s, Barnes and Noble and Amazon.
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The Tales of Beedle the Bard are as stated by the introduction:

. . . a collection of stories written for young wizards and witches.  They have been popular bedtime reading for centuries, with the result that the Hopping Pot and the Fountain of Fair Fortune are as familiar to many of the students of Hogwarts as Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty are to Muggle (non-magical) children.

. . . it was a surprise to discover a set of notes on The Tales of Beedle the Bard among the many papers that Dumbledore left in his will to the Hogwarts Archives.  Whether this commentary was written for his own satisfaction or for future publication, we shall never know; however, we have been graciously granted permission by Professor Minerva McGonagall, now Headmistress of Hogwarts, to print Professor Dumbledore’s notes here, alongside a brand-new translation of the Tales by Hermione Granger.

The stories are definitely strange.  A one footed hopping pot?  A hairy heart locked away in a box?  But they kept me entertained.  My favorite was probably The Tale of Three Brothers (which if I’m not mistaken is not an original tale, I’ve heard of this before), where three brothers meet Death at a river crossing and Death gives each of them a gift of their asking.

Dumbledore’s commentary gave this book the extra something that this book needed.  Without it I don’t think it would be as fun.  Overall,  a nice read for Harry Potter fans but I really missed Harry and his gang.  Makes me want to go back and read about him instead.

Links of interest:  J.K. Rowlings website.  Harry Potter website.  All net proceeds from the sale will be donated to The Children’s Voice campaign through The Children’s High Level Group.
Genre:  Fantasy, ages 9-12
Publisher: Scholastic, December 4, 2008
Hardcover, 111 pages.  ISBN: 9780545128285
The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J.K. Rowling is available from your local independent bookstore, Powell’s, Barnes and Noble, and Amazon.

Everything becomes even more strange to the two sisters when they discover that their so called grandmother is a detective, but not a normal detective as she’s investigating a possible house squashing by nothing other than a giant.  It doesn’t take long for the girls to realize that the Grandma Grimm and themselves are the descendants of the Brothers Grimm, who’s classic book of fairy tales is more truth than fiction.

When the giant kidnaps their grandmother, the two sisters must rely on all the magical fairy tale creatures that  live in Ferryport Landing to get her back alive.  Perhaps what I enjoyed the most about The Sisters Grimm was finding out what all my favorite characters were up to.  Prince Charming is the mayor, the three little pigs are the town’s law enforcement, Ichobad Crane is the jailer and so on.  Overall, the book was a fun, quick read which I think will make for a good read-a-loud books with parents and their kids, particularly girls.  I’m curious to know where the rest of the story takes us, but not rushing out to pick them up immediately.

Once again, my husband also read this book.  And I asked him for his book review.  It’s his first and I must say much more entertaining than mine!

Taylor’s Book Review:

I picked up The Sisters Grimm because of the title.  I am a big fan of twisted fairy tales and fairy tales reimagined.  I also liked the cover.  I read this book about a year ago.  I remember it clearly like it was my unbirthday or something.   It was sitting on the shelf at the library all alone.  And I looked at the little orange book and it looked back at me.  It was like a stranded puppy but square and bookish.  Then it magically floated into my fingertips and opened to the first page.  The pages were cut all cool and jagged like it was handmade by the Brothers Grimm themselves and buried for hundreds of years, waiting all this time for me to find it and read its pages.

I think The Sisters Grimm started out really fun.  In the middle like most books its slowed down.   The two sisters are relatives of the Brothers Grimm and solve mysteries.  They met some character that wasn’t from a fairytale so I thought that was a little strange.  I liked the premise a lot.  I was expecting a little more “pow” at the end but it was still good.  I think Harry Potter has spoiled me forever.

You know what else has spoiled me?  The Sixth Sense.  Even after watching it almost nine years ago I still compare endings to that movie.  I don’t know why I thought of that.  The Sixth Sense is nothing like the Sister’s Grimm.  Except that they . . . No, I really can’t think of how they are alike in any way.  I probably said that because its almost 2:00 am and my wife wants me to write a book review for her.  This is the worst book review I’ve ever written.  I look forward to reading the rest of the books in the series and going to sleep for three hours before I getting up to start the day.  Thundercats Ho.

Links of interest:  Sisters Grimm website.
Genre:  Juvenile Fiction, Fantasy, Fairytale
Publisher: Abrams Books for Young Readers. August 1, 2005.
Hardcover.  192 pages.  ISBN 0810959259.
The Sisters Grimm is available from your local independent bookstore, Powell’s, Barnes and Noble, and Amazon.

It’s been a while since I read the book (simply because my husband and I trying to do this joint review which seemed to take forever!) so I’m not sure I could do a plot summary justice.   At the heart of The Little Giant of Aberdeen County is a story of two sisters.  One beautiful, petite sister, Serena Jane, whom everybody adores and then there’s Truly, who came into this world at the cost of the death of her mother.  She’s plain looking and abnormally large.  Their father does his best to raise them but ultimately fails and both sisters are split and live in different homes.

Truly narrates this beautiful story as they grow into adulthood and their lives take very different paths.  Also, at the heart of this story is Robert Morgan, the town doctor and Serena’s husband.  When Serena Jane abandons her family, Truly steps in to relieve the burden and take care of her nephew.

The story is so simple but yet so deep.  Although big on the outside, Truly has a heart to match and I found myself wishing and hoping that she’d gain everything she loved and desired.  Including true love and her long lost sister.

There is so much more to this story than that very, very basic story line.  You just have to read it.  It was nothing short of amazing.  I loved it.  It’s the type of book that I look at sitting on my bookshelf, and saying, oh yes, I enjoyed reading that book (the book on the bookshelf, not me sitting on the bookshelf!).

It’s very rare for my husband and I to read the same book but he finished reading The Little Giant of Aberdeen County before I even started.  He was thoroughly engrossed with this book and quickly finished it.  In fact, with the exception of Twilight (that’s a whole other story) and Harry Potter, I’ve never really seen him so involved.  I’m taking advantage of the situation and bringing to you my very first joint review with my husband.

Our Conversation About The Little Giant of Aberdeen County

Natasha:  So you normally don’t read these type of books, why did you pick this book up?

Taylor: Because it was sitting on the floor.

Me:  Yeah, but that doesn’t mean that you have to read it.

Taylor: Because of the nice cover.  And this first line was really good, “The day I laid Robert Morgan to rest was remarkable for two reasons.  First, even though it was August, the sky overhead was as rough and cold as a January lake; and second, it was the day I started to shrink.”  I kept reading it and the rest of it was just as good as the first line.  And I just kept on reading until it was all done.  I liked the style of the writing, the way the words sounded together.

Natasha:  I really liked the cover too.  That’s the first thing that I was drawn to about this book.

Taylor: Her words are just so cool, I haven’t read anything like it before.  ” . . . his spindly fingers gnarled together in a knot over his heart, awaiting judgment.”  There was another sentence in here, I really liked, “Amelia and I ate together alone on the big rock shaped like a turtle, peeling the waxed paper off of our sandwiches silently and eating glumly, hunkered into our own separate miseries.”  Also,

The morning my sister left him, Bob Bob woke up and knew it without opening his eyes.  It was the absence of the usual odors in the house – the cottony scent of her breath captured in hollow of the pillow next to him, the slightly acrid aroma of coffee wafting up the stairs, followed by the grease of bacon frying.  He lay perfectly still in the bed, his nose twitching, but there was nothing.*

So, what did you like about this book?

Natasha:  That’s too general of a question.

Taylor: What did you find intriguing about the characters?

Natasha:  I really like how the author never told us exactly how big she was.

Taylor:  And you like that because it’s audience participation.  You fill in the blanks and you become part of the story.

[So we Googled the condition that Truly has (and if I can find the official name again, I'll edit it in) and apparently as a giant you can either grow vertically or laterally.  The images that we found were fascinating.]

[long, long silence from Taylor]

Natasha:  Do you have anything else to say about how big she is?

Taylor: No.  I can’t think of anything.

Natasha:  This is going to be the most boring review ever.  You’ve got to work with me here.

Taylor: How can we make it funny?

[nobody speaks for about five minutes . . . I'm waiting him out]

Taylor: I’m drawing a blank.  Wait!  Don’t put that in there.

Natasha:  Well, it has been a while since we read the book because it’s been hard to get us to sit down.

Taylor: It’s one of my favorite books I’ve read. And I was really surprised because there wasn’t time travel in this story . . . or werewolves.  It was a simple story but it was so well written, I enjoyed it.

Natasha:  What did you think of the doctor?  Do you think that by treating Truly he had good intentions?

Taylor: That’s giving to much away!

Natasha:  No, it’s not.

Taylor: It seemed like he didn’t, but I think it’s left up to the reader to decide.  I can imagine that guy as a cross between William Defoe and Crispin Glover.

Natasha:  William Defoe.  I don’t even know who that is.

Taylor: The green goblin in Spiderman.  And there’s this girl at Trax [our light rail system] that reminds me of Truly.

Natasha:  Why?  Is she really big?

Taylor: Yep.

Natasha:  Do you think this is more of a women’s book?

Taylor: Yes.  It’s about relationships.  And because the main character is a woman. 

Natasha: Would . .  [gets cut off]

Taylor: Unless the main character is Angelina Jolie then it’s probably a woman’s book.

Natasha:  Would you recommend it to your all male book club?

Taylor: I would.  Right now we are reading The Thirteenth Tale.

Natasha:  Have you started that one yet?

Taylor: Not yet.  Still trying to finish Mistborn 2. I definitely would like to read whatever book she writes next.  The story was so simple, I wonder if she wrote a fantasy book, or a more complex book, if it would work with her style.

Natasha:  I don’t think that a book needs to be fantasy to be complex.

Taylor: Take that line out.  Are you taking it out?

Natasha:  No.

Taylor: Hey!

Natasha:  We aren’t getting very deep.

Taylor: You’re not erasing stuff.  You’re typing everything I say.  Usually, when I ask you about a book you say that you liked it and that’s all you say.

Natasha:  Well, ask me a deep question.

Taylor: What’s a deep question?

Natasha:  You’re not giving me much to go on. This is really boring.

Taylor: Well, you’ve got to edit!  That’s all I had to say about the book.

Natasha:  Okay, then I think we’re done.

[argument takes place about how awful this whole thing went]

Go forth and read.  It was beautiful.

Links of interest:  Tiffany Baker website and blog.
Genre:  Literary Fiction
Published:  Grand Central Publishing, January 8, 2009.
Hardcover, 341 pages.  ISBN 978-0446194204
The Little Giant of Aberdeen County by Tiffany Baker is available from your local independent bookstore, Powell’s, Barnes and Noble, and Amazon.
*Quotes taken from an Advance Reading Copy and may not reflect bound copy.

I was super excited when I realized that Ingrid Law was going to be at the LA Times Festival of Books!  I even brought two copies of the book to get signed.  So then I was super bummed when I missed her panel and couldn’t find her signing at any other time.  So, so sad.  I would have loved to chat with her for a moment & get a photo as well.  So many authors there and I didn’t get to see half that I wanted to.

BUT I’ve got the next best thing: a fantastic interview with Ingrid today!  I’m thrilled to present another author who can claim a Newbery under their belt.  So please welcome Ingrid Law to the Maw Books Blog!

Maw Books:  You wrote Savvy in a relatively short amount of time (five months, I believe).  Was this a story that you had been thinking about writing about for awhile before you sat down to write it or did it just hit you with a force that you just had to get it all out?

Ingrid Law: I think of Savvy as a gift.  It came into creation so quickly and with so much excitement and love.  I had been submitting a different manuscript to agents for about six months but kept getting the usual “Dear Author” responses.  However, a couple of the agents who read the whole thing told me in personal notes that they like my writing and to send them future projects.  That boosted my confidence so much and made me realize I needed to start a “future project.”  I sat down to write Savvy without knowing a thing about what I wanted to write.  I decided to write the craziest sentence I could think of without judging it too much.  That sentence became the first sentence of Savvy and stayed the first sentence forever.  After that, the words just rolled out. I think it was a story that just wanted to be here. I just feel fortunate that I got to be the one to tell it.

Maw Books: I’d thought I’d share that first sentence with our readers:  “When my brother Fish turned thirteen, we moved to the deepest part of inland because of the hurricane and, of course, the fact that he’d caused it.”

What surprised you the most as you were writing Savvy? Did anything turn out different than what you intended or did any of your characters/story evolve on their/its own?

Ingrid Law: There were connections in the book to things that were happening for me through the writing process, connections I didn’t consciously recognize until after the book was in print and I had to start talking about it publicly.  That may sound strange, but sometimes I think we know things, yet don’t truly understand their impact until we talk them out.  As feelings become words they alter into concrete meanings.  The biggest example of this in Savvy is, while writing the book, I very consciously told myself to ignore any voices that popped into my head that whispered to me that it might not be good enough, that an idea might be too strange or weird, that told me not to trust myself and tell the story my own way.  Of course, it’s this very same thing that Mibs has to learn as well.  But I can’t remember making a conscious connection between these two things at the time.

Maw Books:  That is a fantastic lesson in follwing your own heart!  As a debut author, did you have the confidence or premonition that Savvy would do so well with readers and critics or were you taken completely by surprise with its reception?

Ingrid Law: Completely surprised!  I thought of it as such a little story.  Cozy and fun.  I knew it was quirky and had some unusual elements.  My sense of humor is usually one that comes out in mostly in my writing, but being a bit of a shy person, I wasn’t sure how other people would respond to it.  I’ve been really amazed and so incredibly thankful for the reception it has received.

Maw Books:  You say that if you could pick your own savvy, you would probably want to fly or breathe underwater.  I’d like to know more about that.  What about flying or breathing underwater would be cool to you?

Ingrid Law: I’m such an escapist and I love solitude.  Flying or breathing under water would allow me the ultimate escapes in beautiful, serene ways, into places where there aren’t a lot of people.  And both would feel weightless, which would be nice, being a fairly weighty person myself!

Maw Books:  I think I’d rather fly than breathe underwater.  Large bodies of water terrify me!  Where were you and what were you doing when ALA called to tell you that you Savvy received a Newbery Honor?  How did you react and what did you do to celebrate?

Ingrid Law: I was sitting in bed hoping that they would call, but not wanting to hope too hard so that I wouldn’t be too disappoint if they didn’t.  They called at about 6:55am.  I was playing a game on my iPod–one that keeps my mind focused when I’m anxious.  After the call, I immediately woke up my daughter to tell her, then cried for fifteen minutes (you would have thought that someone had died), called my family, talked to my fabulous editor, agent, and publishers.   To celebrate, first my daughter and I went and filled a shopping cart for the local food bank–spreading the good, you know?  Later, we had fondue dinner with some wonderful friends from Walden Media who were in town for ALA.

Maw Books:  I love hearing those stories!  Brandon Dorman, Savvy’s illustrator, is a BYU graduate – my alma mater. I loved this cover as soon as I laid eyes on it. After reading the book, I loved the cover even more. What was your reaction when you first saw the book cover of Savvy?  And likewise, what do you think about the other covers for the other editions.

Ingrid Law: Brandon is a genius!  I just got to meet him recently, too, and he’s such a great guy with a really beautiful family.  He is doing the cover of my next book as well and even the sketches are amazing.  I was over the moon when I saw his cover for Savvy.  But I’ve also loved seeing what other art departments for the foreign editions come up with.  In Finland, they used Brandon’s cover.  But the German, Dutch, and UK covers are all so different and interesting!  I can’t wait to see what kinds of covers appear in Korea or Croatia or China (not to mention Indonesia, Italy… am I missing any?).

Maw Books:  Savvy has been optioned for a feature film.  If you could control everything about the movie (ha!) who do you think would be the perfect actors/actresses to be cast into your characters roles?  And if somebody else were to write the screenplay, what would you say they weren’t allowed to change at all and something that you feel has a bit more of a creative license?

Ingrid Law: Oh, such a hard question about actors!  And I almost hate to say who I can imagine in the roles, because I know that if Walden Media does decide to greenlight the film, they will do a great job.  But…. since you asked. bI think Madeline Carroll might make a great Mibs, Luke Benward could match her well as Fish.  Rocket?  A younger, dark haired version of Zac Efron, maybe (he’s got to have those awesome blue eyes)… or maybe Ben Barnes (probably still too old)… who else? Bobbi?  I’m not sure.  Maybe Anna Sophia Robb?  Now you’ve got me thinking and having too much fun.  Someone like Robin Wright Penn, perhaps for Momma–but not quite so thin.  I don’t know!  I love to know what other people think, though.

Enough about actors.  The folks at Walden Media love Savvy and are very protective of the book, so I feel like it’s in good hands.  The screenplay is already close to done and I actually get to meet the screenwriter, Karen Janszen, in LA (or will have just met her when this interview goes up).  So, I’m excited about that.  In regard to changes, I’m doing my best to hold onto a kind of flexible open-mindedness for now. Rigidity makes things more fragile, right?  I am open to seeing what other people’s talents bring to the story.  But I do want it to have heart.

Maw Books:  I would see this movie the day it comes out!  This is a question that I ask every single author I interview and that’s to share a recipe with us – either a family favorite or a food that is featured in the book.  Later, I try to make the recipe and then blog about it.   In Savvy, Mibs wants the perfect cake for her birthday – a cake with pink and yellow frosting, and perfect sugar roses – which isn’t really asking for much since her mothers savvy is being perfect.  Are you the type of mom who would make a cake from scratch, out of a box or buy it from the store?  Do you have either a cake recipe or a family favorite that you could share with our readers?

Ingrid Law: Right now, I can barely manage ordering take out, I’m so busy.  A cake from scratch would be like climbing Everest.  My daughter’s birthday is at the end of the month.  I’ll be sure to buy her something beautiful and delicious.  For years, a dear friend always made my daughter’s cakes because she had mad cake skills!  I’ll make one now and then from a great gluten-free mix (I have a family member who needs this concession).  Then I’ll have fun decorating it.  But that’s pretty easy.

But a favorite family recipe?  I’ll give you a favorite pie recipe from when I was growing up, since Momma’s all about the pies…

Close to Perfect Chocolate Pie

Crust:
1 1/2 cups Nilla Wafer crumbs
6 Tbsp melted butter

Mix well and pat into pie pan. Chill for one hour (more or less) OR bake it at 375 degrees for 15 minutes.

Filling:
Blend for a minute with a mixer or in a blender:
1 package INSTANT (don’t make the mistake and not get instant) vanilla pudding
1 package INSTANT chocolate pudding
1 1/2 cups milk

Now add one pint (2 cups) of softened vanilla ice cream and mix it into the pudding blend. Pour this into the crumb crust and chill for several hours. Top it with grated chocolate, mini chocolate chips, mini marshmallows, or whatever your heart desires! I tried whipped cream once, but it put it too far over the top!

Maw Books:  Whoa!  Sounds too easy and too delicious!  Now that you have a Newbery Honor under your belt, for your debut novel no less, do you feel the pressure when you sit down to write your second book?

Ingrid Law: Yes. I’m going bald.

But . . . since I probably should elaborate a bit (not about going bald, that’s not true–yet): I didn’t think about awards or accolades at all when I was writing Savvy. I just wrote it because I loved it.  With the next book, I’m not trying to out-do Savvy.  I think Savvy will always be the most special book to me, and maybe to everyone else as well, because it came first.  I’m happy to have the chance to write more about this crazy family tree.  But again, while writing, I’m just trying to tell a good story.  After the success of Savvy, I couldn’t ask for more.  I just hope that kids enjoy reading the new book.

Maw Books:  Tell us a bit about the new book that you are writing now, which is a companion novel to Savvy and when we can expect to see it hit bookstores?

Ingrid Law: My second book will come out next year–in summer, I think.  Savvy will be out in paperback next March.  I wish I could tell you the title of the next book, but it’s still being tossed around.  Anyway, yes, it is a companion to Savvy and is told from the perspective of an all new character–a cousin of the Beaumonts–Aunt Dinah’s oldest son, Ledge.  I felt that Mibs’s story had been well told for now, and didn’t want to simply plunk her down into a new adventure just because the book was popular.  Since the books are just as much about the inner journey as the outer, I was ready to explore a savvy birthday from the point of view of someone with different concerns–someone with different things to learn.  Plus, I liked the idea of switching to the POV of a boy character.  It’s been fun to create a new “savvy” voice.  For those people who may be going “Wait! What about all the characters I love?” do not fear.  There will be some familiar faces along the way… only they will be 8-9 years older!  Rocket will be there, as will Gypsy.  And Samson will–and won’t–be there as well. *Mwaa-ha-ha* More savvy-powered fun on the way…

Maw Books:  Argh!  Now you made me want to read it!  Thanks so much for joining us today!  It was fantastic!

Ingrid Law: Thank you, Natasha!

Ingrid Law’s website and blog.  Many thanks to Kidz Book Buzz for coordinating Ingrid’s blog tour!  Check out what other bloggers are saying about Savvy: A Christian Worldview of Fiction, All About Children’s Books, Becky’s Book Reviews, Booking Mama, Cafe of Dreams, Dolce Bellezza, Fireside Musings, Hyperbole, KidzBookBuzz.com, Looking Glass Reviews,  Never Jam Today, Olive Tree, Our Big Earth, The 160 Acrewoods, Through a Child’s Eyes.

Want your own copy of Savvy?  (And why wouldn’t you?!)  Check back tomorrow for a giveaway of Savvy.  Don’t miss it!  Now you must excuse me.  I have a pie that I must go bake . . .

At our party, James talked about how personally knowing an author changes your opinion of the book they wrote.  And this can be a good thing or a bad thing.  Good if the book lives up to your opinion of the person behind the written pages.  Bad if the book ends up being plain awful.  What do you say then?  This is especially true of writers reading other writers books.  Thank goodness, I’m not going to say The Hunt for Dark Infinity is awful!  But I will admit that I can see so much of James’s wacky humor and personality coming through on the pages and he’s just one heck of a nice guy that I just can’t help but like it.   (And yes, James, I still have your jacket hanging in my front closet.  By the time I fork it over, the weather will be warm again.)  See how great of friends we are?  He, he.  That second picture is in my living room.  My living room.  Sorry, I’ve got to act like I’m “famous” wherever I can get it.

The Hunt for the Dark Infinity is even better than its predecessor.  After being inducted into a group known as the Realitants – an organization sworn to discover and chart all the known Realities (a separate and complete version of the world – of which twelve major branches have already been discovered) – Tick, Paul and Sofia have had a very quiet summer.  Too quiet in fact.  They are anxiously awaiting for Master George, the Realitant leader to whisk them away on another adventure.

But when that day finally comes, everything goes wrong.  Instead of being whisked away to Master George’s presence they are instead kidnapped by the evil Reginald Chu who has infiltrated the minds of people on different realities, controlling their thoughts, movements, and speech.  Tick, Paul, and Sofia are the only ones who can get close enough to destroy his new weapon.  But first they must solve Chu’s riddles and tests, all of which put their lives in extreme danger.  And if that’s not enough, Mistress Jane, a power hungry ex-Realitant wants her hands on the weapon as well.  It’s a race to see who can get their first and ends with a duel with Tick and Mistriss Jane.

The Hunt for the Dark Infinity is fast-paced.  A whirlwind of adventure.  I can’t help thinking how this would be a perfect book to read out loud with younger boys and make for a great selection for an all boys book club.  The dialogue is funny, the names are even funnier (Mothball, Muffintops, Sally – for a lumberjack or how about Hans Schitiggenschlubberheimer anyone?) and the story is just complex enough and has you guessing the direction it’s going to go to have you turning the pages for more.  The whole thing ends on a twist that makes me want to read book three right now!  I can’t wait to see where this story is going to go.

A great series for young readers who are looking for some fantastical adventure and entertaining for the stay at home mom like me too.

James Dashner website and blog.  James also has a new series coming out this fall called The Maze Runner for young adults.  I’ve enjoyed following his blog and watching this new series unfold.  I can’t wait to read it!

So what you do you think about what James said?  Do you know any authors personally?  Does that change the way you “read” their books and your opinion of them?

If you don’t know the premise by now, The Graveyard Book opens on a sinister note as we witness the murder of an entire family.  All but one.  A toddler avoids his own death by simply leaving his bedroom and walking out the door.  He ends up at a graveyard where he is adopted by ghosts and taken into protection by Silas, an individual who isn’t quite dead but not living either.  Nobody Owens, or Bod, as they call him grows up learning every nook and cranny of the graveyard and getting an ear full of history as his closest friends are the ghostly inhabitants of the graveyard.

The story is told in short episodes that could almost each stand on their own.  The story progresses as Bod copes with wanting to join the outside wold but remaining secure in the graveyard as his killer is still trying to finish what he started.

Did I like it?  Well, yes and no.  To be honest, I just don’t think this genre is the type of book that I enjoy in the first place.  The story just didn’t grab me.  I would often set the book down and leave it.  In fact, it took about a week to read which is unusual for me.  I also didn’t care for the illustrations by Dave McKean.  But all that said, I can totally see why The Graveyard Book is so popular.  It’s story premise is unusual and Gaiman is a natural born storyteller.  I enjoyed Bod’s adventures and the graveyard inhabitants.  Overall, I’m happy that I read it.  I’m always up for trying something new.  But, I just don’t think I’ll be runnning out to read his other books right away.  Maybe eventually, but not at the moment.

The Graveyard Book book trailer:

Neil Gaiman website and blog.  What’s your favorite Neil Gaiman book?

From the publisher:

Percy Jackson is a good kid, but he can’t seem to focus on his schoolwork or control his temper. And lately, being away at boarding school is only getting worse — Percy could have sworn his pre-algebra teacher turned into a monster and tried to kill him. When Percy’s mom finds out, she knows it’s time that he knew the truth about where he came from, and that he go to the one place he’ll be safe. She sends Percy to Camp Half-Blood, a summer camp for demigods (on Long Island), where he learns that the father he never knew is Poseidon, God of the Sea. Soon, a mystery unfolds and together with his friends — one a satyr and the other the demigod daughter of Athena — Percy sets out on a quest across the United States to reach the gates of the Underworld (located in a recording studio in Hollywood) and prevent a catastrophic war between the gods.

Fun book.  And a very creative way to teach Greek mythology.  If I had tried to learn how all the gods were related to each other by reading this book, rather than studying charts I probably would have had a lot more interest in the Greek mythology unit in school.  The story was very fast moving.  There was never a lack of adventure, nor humor in The Lightning Thief.  A great series for all ages.

I’m sure I’ll pick up the other books in the series at some point, although I admit that I need a little break from Greek gods for just a moment.  I’m looking forward to the movie that is coming out early 2010 directed by Chris Columbus.

Listen to the first chapter of The Lightening Thief as read by Rick Riordan.  Visit Rick Riordan’s website and blog. The other books in the series are The Sea of Monsters, The Titan’s Curse, The Battle of the Labyrinth, and book five coming out in May of this year is The Last Olympian.

Unfortunately, her father has just been admitted to the hospital after a terrible car accident and it’s unsure if he’ll live.  This means that Mibs is not only worried about him but must celebrate her birthday with the preachers family.  A big no no.  One of my favorite lines was when Mibs says, “That night, I prayed that no one – no one- would come to my birthday party.”

But her prayer didn’t come true.  Instead she finds herself on an adventure with her two brothers, two of the preachers childrens, and two unsuspecting adults that will take them on an unforgettable ride as Mibs tries desperately to get to her father in time to hopefully save him.  She’s not without her inner conflict though:

For half of a half of a half of a second I hated Poppa.  I hated him for working so far away from home and for having to take the highway every day.  I hated him for getting in that accident and for ruining our post roast.  Mostly, I realized that my perfect cake with its pink and yellow frosting was probably not going to get made, and I hated Poppa for wrecking my most important birthday before it had even arrived.  Then I felt the burning shame of even having those thoughts about my good, sweet poppa and sank low in my chair.  To make amends for my selfish feelings, I sat quietly and ate every last unwelcome green bean from beneath my mashed potatoes, as Fish’s rain lashed against the windows and Rocket caused every light bulb in the house to explode with a live-wire zing and a popping shatter, sending shards of glass tinkling to the floor and pitching the house into darkness.

Savvy was fun, whimsical, and touching.  Growing up in a magical family always has its adventures as each are trying to just pass for normal.  Each character is engaging, memorable, and makes a transformation at the end of the novel.  It just feels good. And while lighthearted, I came away with a appreciation for the simple things in life.

The Savvy book trailer:

Savvy is also a Cybils shortlist and has been getting some Newbery buzz as well.  Highly recommended.  I think it would also make a great book club selection or read-a-loud for middle readers

Visit Ingrid Law’s website.  Also, Book Dads is currently giving away a copy of Savvy.  You have until Feb. 1st to enter.  While you’re there, check out Steven’s review and author interview.