Grace Writing

Book: To Kill a Mockingbird Author: Harper Lee I recently read To Kill a Mockingbird  by Harper Lee for school and I decided to do a book review on it. So here's a quick description of the story, in case you haven't heard much about it:    Living in a small town called Maycomb and experiencing the fun of summer and the sufferings of school, a young girl named  Scout Finch watches her father  Atticus Finch,  an attorney, risking everything - his job, reputation and even his life - to prove the innocence of Tom Robinson, a black man accused of a crime he didn't commit.  The characters - Atticus Finch, Scout Finch, Jem Finch and Calpurnia, as well as others - were well-rounded and had a sense of reality to them that I know as a writer I struggle to create. They spoke, acted and thought like one would think them to, but not in an overdone or annoying way. I loved the perspective on the story that it had. Written in light of the events of the C...

Children's books - the foundation of a love for reading. - Magic Tree House, Book One: Dinosaurs Before Dark -    Author: Mary Pope Osborne    Back Cover Description:  Where did the tree house come from?    Before Jack and Annie can find out, the mysterious tree house whisks them to the prehistoric past. Now they have to figure out how to get home. Can they do it before dark…or will they become a dinosaur’s dinner?     I loved these books growing up!! I'm pretty sure everyone in our family read them, and they were some of the best early reads ever! - Frog and Toad, Book One: Frog and Toad are Friends -    Author: Arnold Lobel    Back Cover Description:  From writing letters to going swimming, telling stories to finding lost buttons, Frog and Toad are always there for each other—just as best friends should be.     I learned to read with these books! They're great for early readers, an...

   And on to the treasure! - The Christy Miller Series, Book One: Summer Promise -      Author: Robin Jones Gunn    Back Cover Description: As fourteen-year-old Christy leaves her family's Wisconsin farm to spend her summer at her wealthy aunt and uncle's beach home in Newport, California, she realizes this could be the best summer of her life. Her aunt is bending over backward to see that Christy's every wish is granted, the popular beach crowd is talking to her, and she catches the attention of a cute surfer named Todd.    But the summer doesn't turn out as Christy hoped. Suddenly, she is faced with choices she's never had to make before, and the safe world that she's always known comes crashing down around her. Through it all, Christy struggles to keep her promise to her parents to not do anything she'll regret. But will she stop at nothing to get Todd, to be accepted, and to force her summer to give her everything it promis...

   Today is something a bit different. It's more like a list and a mini-description of fantasy novels that I've loved over the years and what I loved about them. Looking for new fantasy books to read? Well, these are all parts of series - all of them pretty long series that I thoroughly enjoyed reading. Let's get started! - The Secrets of Droon, Book One: The Hidden Stairs and the Magic Carpet - Author: Tony Abbott Back Cover Description: Underneath the steps leading down the Eric's basement is a hidden storage space. It's dusty and old - nothing special at all. But when Eric, Julie and Neal all huddle inside the gray room together, something unbelievable happens. A rainbow-colored staircase appears. And as the kids take their very first step down into the mysterious land of Droon, they know that only magic and adventure awaits them!    Flying cities, hidden palaces, and magical ocean storms - Droon is full of secrets. And for Eric, Julie and Neal,...

   I recently did a post asking what I should write about and, though I didn't get a bunch of feedback, I did get some. One of the suggestions was hearing about books I liked and read recently and "If I Run"   by Terri Blackstock was one of them. In fact, I loved it so much, I finished it in a day. All (roughly) 300 pages.  I began reading it when I woke up, and finished it just in time for me to get to bed at a reasonable time of night.  Needless to say, it caught my attention.     If I Run  is about a woman named Casey Cox, who's wrongfully accused of murder, and Dylan Roberts, who's hired to find her when she runs from the police.    I started reading this book as research for writing a novel of mine. Some of the characters suffer from PTSD, and one of the characters in my novel Forsaken  suffers from the same thing. I wanted to see how other authors handled writing it, what sorts of things to look out for, and how to write ...