Young Reader's Choice Awards: 2014

The YRCA is the oldest children's choice award in the U.S. and Canada. Sponsored by the Pacific Northwest Library Association (rep. Alaska, Idaho, Montana, Washington; Alberta and British Columbia), the award was first established in 1940 by Harry Hartman, a book seller in Seattle. He believed that every child deserved the opportunity to read a book that gave them pleasure. Award nominations come from children, teachers, parents and librarians. 

(WINNERS)


--Cabin Fever by Jeff Kinney, series "Diary of a Wimpy Kid." (Harry N. Abrams, 2011) 

--The Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan, series "Heroes of Olympus." (Disney-Hyperion, reprint, 2013) 



 

--Divergent by Veronica Roth, Book 1.
(Katherine Tegen Books, 2011)

 
(NOMINEES)

Junior Division (12 under)

--Cabin Fever - Jeff Kinney (Harry N. Abrams, 2011) 

--Wonderstruck - Brian Selznick (Scholastic Press, 2011)

--13 Gifts - Wendy Mass (Scholastic Inc., 2013) 

--Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life - James Patterson (Little, Brown and Company; Reprint, 2012)

--Darth Paper Strikes Back - Tom Angleberger (Harry N. Abrams, 2011)

--The Last Council - Kazu Kibuishi ("Amulet" series, GRAPHIX, 2011)

--Big Nate Out Loud - Lincoln Peirce (Andrews McMeel Publishing, 2011)

--The Medusa Plot - Gordon Korman ("The 39 Clues" series, Scholastic Incl, 2011)

 
Middle Division (mostly 12 up) 

--The Son of Neptune - Rick Riordan ("Heroes of Olympus" series, (Disney-Hyperion, reprint, 2013)
  
--Between Shades of Gray - Ruta Sepetys (Speak, 2012)

--Scorpio Races - Maggie Stiefvater (Scholastic Press, 2011)

--Okay for Now - Gary D. Schmidt (HMH Books for Young Readers; Reprint, 2013)

--The Outcasts - John Flanagan ("Brotherband Chronicles." Puffin; Reprint, 2012)

--Legend - Marie Lu (Speak; reprint, 2013)

--Michael Vey: the Prisoner of Cell 25 - Richard Paul Evans (Simon Pulse/Mercury Ink; Reprint, 2012)

--This Dark Endeavor - Kenneth Oppel (Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers; Reprint, 2012)

Senior Division (teen)

--Divergent - Veronica Roth (Katherine Tegen Books, 2011)
  
--Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children - Ransom Riggs (Quirk Books; Reprint, 2013)

--Angel: a Maximum Ride Novel - James Patterson (Little, Brown and Company, 2012)

--Tiger's Curse - Colleen Houck (CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform, 2014)

--What Happened to Goodbye - Sarah Dessen (Speak (April 9, 2013)

--Ruby Red - Kerstin Gier (Trilogy-Book 1; Square Fish, Reprint,  2012)

--Ready Player One - Ernest Cline (Broadway Books, 2012)

--Karma - Cathy Ostlere (Razorbill; Reprint, 2012)

The Classics - Opening Lines: Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte

"There was no possibility of taking a walk that day. We had been wandering, indeed, in the leafless shrubbery an hour in the morning; but since dinner (Mrs. Reed, when there was no company, dined early) the cold winter wind had brought with it clouds so sombre, and a rain so penetrating, that further outdoor exercise was now out of the question."      Published 1847


I love the classics and plan to share some "opening lines" over the coming months. Comment if you like, or read for inspiration. Writing styles were different then, but were they really?

Sharon M. Himsl

Writer/Author. Blogging since 2011. 
Published with Evernight Teen: 
~~The Shells of Mersing
 

Celebrate the Small Things: Chisel in Hand

 "It is well with me only when I have a chisel in my hand."   Michelangelo


I have never seen the works of Michelangelo. Have you? I would dearly love to see his Pieta and David, or his frescoes in the Sistine Chapel in Rome. Heck, I just want to see Rome and that part of the world, period. Someday....

 I was first introduced to this artist in Irving Stone's The Agony and the Ecstasy. I wonder how many of you remember this novel. It was like reading one of James Michener's novels. Seven hundred pages plus and you were lost in thought for weeks at a time. Did you know that Michelangelo was also a talented poet, architect and engineer? He was truly a Renaissance man. 

Reading the above quote I also thought of the commonality of all artists (yes, YOU), the desire to create something from the heart. Whether it be with chisel, pen, pencil, paint brush, chalk, keyboard, needle, scissor, chisel, fiddle, voice, or shovel.....it makes no difference how we go about it, the goal is to create something memorable and worthwhile. And it's true, isn't it? We are more complete when we do.

HAVE A NICE WEEKEND!

Thank you Lexa Cain for hosting this blog hop!
And co-hosts: L.G. Keltner @ Writing Off The Edge  
and Katie @ TheCyborgMom

The Outside by Laura Bickle: Book Review

The Outside
Author: Laura Bickle 
Publisher: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Ages: 12 up, Young Adult, 2013
Pages: 313

Katie is unsure what happened to her parents and sister after she was banned from the Amish community. She only knows that after her indiscretion with Alex, a non-Amish man she had fallen deeply in love with, she could never return. Like all Amish teens, Katie had fantasized about seeing “the outside” world, an opportunity she would have been granted in time, but times were different now. A terrible plague had been unleashed into the world that turned people into vampires, including, she is certain, some members of her beloved community. The only safe thing to do is to leave the area. 

With a heavy heart, Katie sets off on a journey with Alex to find his family in the north, along with Ginger, an older non-Amish woman searching for her family, and a skittish horse named Horus. Travel is only safe during the day. At night they must find shelter quickly or face attack by roving vampires. Attacks are inevitable and the three become able-bodied vampire killers. Sadly, Ginger is eventually bitten and killed. 

Desperate for answers, Alex seeks a scientific solution, Katie a spiritual one. Katie knows that the holy Himmelsbrief, the letter she faithfully wears on her chest, has protected them more than once from vampire attacks, as has locating and standing on holy ground or a religious site. But when the letter is lost, their options begin to dwindle.

Hope surfaces when they meet a man who has discovered a serum that makes the body luminescent at night. Miraculously, vampires are warded off by the bright glow. Armed with the serum they set off to share the remedy with any survivors they can find. Katie heads for home, Alex continues north to find his family. They part ways, unsure if they will ever see each other again, but love triumphs in the end. 

The Outside is a wonderful tale read alone, a real page-turner, but for back story readers may want to read the prequel, The Hallowed Ones. Personally, I longed for more oomph in the final testing of Alex's and Katie's commitment to each other. The seeds of drama were certainly there, but it felt cut off. Perhaps word count was an issue. It's just that I wanted to hang out with these characters a bit longer. Perhaps there is a sequel. 

Copyright 2015 © Sharon M. Himsl
 

The Classics - Opening Lines: The Red Badge of Courage, by Stephen Crane

"The cold passed reluctantly from the earth, and the retiring fogs revealed an army stretched out on the hills, resting. As the landscape changed from brown to green, the army awakened, and began to tremble with eagerness at the noise of rumors."      Published 1895 



I love the classics and plan to share some "opening lines" over the coming months. Comment if you like, or read for inspiration. Writing styles were different then, but were they really?

Hopeful in 2015

Mt. St Helens and collapsed crater on right 
after eruption in 1980. You can see Vince's 
reflection through the canopy.

Not a good year for completing my novel. Moving didn't help, but I am tired of making excuses. I had hoped I could start another manuscript when I arrived. Instead, I
have unfinished business. 

Is it fear that keeps me from finishing? The other day I wondered if I had a creative bone left in me to work with. Apparently I do. I sat down to try some flash fiction, and out came the opening scene to another book I am anxious to start. It was so much fun, and uses my new setting here (we live in the desert on a runway!). At any rate, I have been caught in the revision process far too long. It's time to wrap things up, fear or no fear. 

JUST IN CASE IT IS FEAR, I have given myself a visual reminder, a recent trip to Mt. St. Helens in my husband's home built plane, an RV8. I have never been comfortable flying in the mountains, as there is no easy place to land, and weather and all kinds of things can go wrong.....or so my white-knuckled reasoning goes, even though I could not be with a more conscientious pilot. 

But all fears were unfounded. It was a perfectly beautiful day to fly, and THE SCENERY WAS AWESOME. By the way, Mt. St. Helens is Washington State's famous volcano that blew its top in 1980. We lived in Pullman, WA at the time, in a small college town, and the region was covered for miles with a talcum powder-like ash for weeks. Incredible. I still have a jar of ash as a souvenir.

You can see the reflections (my husband's) on the canopy in the photos. Photoshop can remove these, but I like that they are proof we were there. We did a clockwise flight around the mountain and landed in Packwood for lunch with our friends (they were flying an RV7) .

You can see a section of the wing in front. It appears blue 
in the sunlight, but it is really unpainted (bare aluminum).

Up close. (Mt. Adams is in the distance)

Safe and sound on the ground in Packwood, WA