Chicago Tribune Young Readers Book Reviews 8/22/2009

Mary Harris Russell reviews three books including one by my fellow Illinois-SCBWIer Carolyn Crimi.

'Henry & the Crazed Chicken Pirates'
By Carolyn Crimi
Illustrated by John Manders
Candlewick Press, $15.99, ages 4-8

'Can You Make a Scary Face?'
By Jan Thomas
Simon & Schuster, $12.99, ages 3-5

'Lunch Lady and the Cyborg Substitute
'By Jarrett J. Krosoczka
Knopf, $5.99, ages 7-10

Chicago Tribune Young Readers Book Reviews 8/9/2009

In todays' Chicago Tribune, Mary Harris Russell reviews three picture books.

'Applesauce Season'
By Eden Ross Lipson, illustrated by Mordicai Gerstein
Roaring Brook, $16.99, ages 4-8

'The Hair of Zoe Fleefenbacher Goes to School'
By Laurie Halse Anderson, illustrated by Ard Hoyt
Simon & Schuster, $16.99, ages 5-8

'Hush, Baby Ghostling'
By Andrea Beaty, illustrated by Pascal Lemaitre
McElderry Books, $14.99, ages 3-7

Special congrats to my Illinois-SCBWI friend Andrea Beaty for another published book!

The Smell of Good Fortune

I had posted earlier in the week that I needed to figure out my next project. Well, I had decided to jump into the other revision and.....I already got back my full MS critique. The other project will wait a bit longer.

I can't believe my good fortune to have gotten it back in such a short time -- and done so well.

One of the line comments refered to my MC's mom not liking the smell of vanilla as an interesting characteristic (Who doesn't like the smell of vanilla?). Well, there's a reason for it. She associates someone/something with it.

What smells do you like or dislike based upon association rather than normal perception? My wife, for example, likes the summertime smell of dead alewives because it reminds her of growing up near the Lake Michigan beach.

I'm going to light a vanilla candle.

Picking Next Writing Project

I'm at the point where I've just sent out a full MS for critique and need to figure out which of my unfinished projects is attended to next.

Project A: Completed novel requiring both 3rd to 1st person change and gender change for MC. General subject is time suspension.

Project B: Ghost/basketball story. Originally a 3500 word short story, but it's in reality the beginning of a novel. (I pretty much need more than 3500 words to tell any story.)

I like both stories. A requires less time than B, but I'm coming off a lot of revision work and the change of pace of new writing might be good. Then again if I procrastinate long enough I'll be back to the project I just "finished" for the next round of revisions.

I'll wake up tomorrow with a decision and it won't be based on blood type (I'm O).