Mundie Moms

Friday, December 17, 2010

Author Guest Post with Helene Boudreau

We are thrilled to share a guest post we have from Real Mermaids Don't Wear Toe Rings author Helene Boudreau!


Writing for different age groups: From “Wah!” to “Whatever!”


Real Mermaids Don’t Wear Toe Rings is an upper middle grade novel, though I’ve also written a middle grade novel, early chapter books and have a picture book being released in a few years. My work-in-progress is young adult.


Writing for so many different age groups can be challenging but no matter who your audience might be, your main character always has a unique point of view. A neat exercise is to write the same scene from different characters’ perspectives. Imagine a Dugger-like family with a baby, a two year-old, a five year-old, a ten-year old, a thirteen year-old and a sixteen year-old.

They’re all sitting around the breakfast table and Mom comes in the kitchen and says:

“So, guys, what would you like for breakfast? Pancakes or bagels?”


Each kid will have a different reaction to this question, depending on his/her perspective.


The baby is sitting in his highchair and has just filled his diaper. He was up all night, teething, plus why doesn’t anyone notice the Cheerio he just stuck up his nose??

Answer: “Wahhhhhhhhhhhhhhh…….”


The two year-old is lost in the shuffle. The baby is getting all the attention; her five year-old brother won’t share his Legos and she wants grilled cheese for breakfast. Doesn’t her mommy know that? She ALWAYS wants grilled cheese for breakfast. Only her dolly listens to her. Ugh. Her dolly just fell to the ground.

Answer: “No. No. Nononononono. No.”


The five year-old has been waiting forever for his tooth to fall out. *wiggle* He has to lose his tooth before his friend, Kyle, loses his. *wiggle* *wiggle* What will the tooth fairy bring him, he wonders? Two dollars? TEN dollars, maybe? *wiggle* *wiggle* *wiggle* One more bite into something hard and this tooth is coming out!

Answer: “Bagels!”


The ten year-old is doodling in her notebook. She wants to be an artist when she grows up. Or a writer. Or a chef. Or maybe she can do all three. Maybe she can write and illustrate cookbooks. After she travels the world and swims with dolphins. She wants to do it all. She CAN do it all.

Answer: “Both!”


The thirteen year-old just mastered this awesome aerial on his skate board. He might try that slide at the skate park later if he can get there before the tenth-grade jerks show up and take over the whole park. Will they try to sell him drugs again? What will he tell them this time? Oh. What? Did someone just ask him something?

Answer: “Whu…?”


The sixteen year-old doesn’t even eat breakfast and, just great, her dad just finished off the coffee. Why didn’t that guy text her back last night? She shouldn’t have sent him that picture; it’s probably all over Facebook by now. Ugh, if her brothers burp one more time she’s going to freak on them. OMG, can her sister chew with her mouth shut for once? And for god’s sakes, what’s that smell?


Everyone in this house is stupid, stupid, stupid.

Answer: “Whatever!”


So, whether you’re writing from a diaper-wearing baby, doodling middle-grader or disillusioned teen’s point of view, you always have a unique story to tell.

Like the mom in this story, however, I just wish someone would make ME breakfast. J

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Thank you so much Helene for being with us today!


Additional information:

*Audiobook Contest: Dreamscape Media produced the audiobook of Real Mermaids Don’t Wear Toe Rings and is offering three chances to win one HERE. (Contest closes December 20th, 2010)

*Signed Bookplates: Also, in a fun promotion for the holidays Helene's publisher, Sourcebooks/Jabberwocky, is offering signed Real Mermaids Don’t Wear Toe Rings bookplates with proof of purchase. More info HERE.


*You can find Hélène on Twitter, Facebook and on her Website.

Our Favorite 2010 Reads- Our Top 2011 Titles We Can't Wait To Read + A Giveaway

We're continuing with our favorite reads of 2010 and the books we're looking forward to reading next year. We've narrowed down are really long list of books we can't wait to read by established authors in 2011. It was hard narrowing it down to 20, as we know there's a lot of great books we'll be reading next year that aren't shown here. *note some books on our list don't have covers*












































































2011 Releases By Established Authors:

Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare

City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare

WOLFSBANE by Andrea Cremer

The Vespertine by Saundra Mitchell

The Dark and Hollow Places by Carrie Ryan

Red Glove by Holly Black

DEMONGLASS by Rachel Hawkins

Drought by Pam Bachorz

Darkest Mercy by Melissa Marr

Cryer's Cross by Lisa McMann

Forever by Maggie Stiefvater

Always a Witch by Carolyn MacCullough

Demon's Surrender by Sarah Rees Brennan

Secrets and Shadows by Shannon Delany

Vanish by Sophie Jordan

Supernaturally by Kiersten White

Tempest by Becca Fitzpatrick

The Iron Knight by Julia Kagawa

The next book in the Beautiful Creatures/Darkness series

Circle of Fire by Michelle Zink

Nocturne by Syrie James
__________________________________________
You can see our list of Debut Author Releases for 2011 here

Our list giveaway for Our Favorite 2010 week is a pre-ordered copy of one of these books from this list. This will also be from the Book Depository and this is open internationally, but please be sure TBD ships to your country before entering.

To Enter:
* You must be a blog follower
* 1 Entry per person
* Leave comment telling us which book or books you're looking forward to reading in 2011.
* You must be 13 yrs or older to enter
* This Giveaway will end on January 17th, 2011.

Book Review- Glimmer

By Stacey Wallace Benefiel
Published by Stacey Wallace Benefiel
Released on November 1st, 2010
Source- the author
2.5 stars- If you liked Gimpse or are looking for a YA/Adult cross over pick it up.

Zellie Wells life is changing. Her relationship with Avery is growing stronger every day, but their parents are still giving them ultimatums and trying to keep them apart. Her newly discovered powers have all but disappeared. Benjamin, another young Retroact, is back and has brought with him a painful shared vision and a troubled past. While working together to figure out what the vision means, Zellie discovers that Benjamin is a worthy friend and mentor. If only he could keep his hands off of her-if only she wanted him to... (quoted from Goodreads).

Glimmer is the sequel to Stacey's debut book, Glimpse, which I found to be a quick read. I liked seeing how the characters grew from when we first met them to now. I think the characters will be relatable to readers as they aren't perfect and each of them have their flaws. I really liked the roles the parents play in the story, as they they make decisions best on what they feel is the best out come for their kids. I liked that they aren't absent in the story and are there looking out and protecting their kids, even if their kids don't agree with their rules. I liked that Zellie and Avery's relationship continues to grow, as the odds are stacked against them, but they are determined to make it work.

I didn't like the story as much as I wanted to, and what hindered my ability to enjoy it as much was the strong sexual content in the story. It took away from feeling like a YA book for me. I personally didn't enjoy all the sexual references and hearing about other character's fooling around. I felt that the story could have been built up more with out a lot of that.

I enjoyed the plot and Stacey's world building, as her unique paranormal spin she has in this series is one I've read in other books before. I liked seeing more of her secondary characters, and what different character motives are. This book may not be suitable for everyone as there is a lot of sexual references in this book, including two scenes and strong language. I would recommend this to older teens and adults readers who are looking for a cross over read from YA to adult.

You can find out more Stacey's series by visiting her site here- http://staceywb.webs.com

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