The Return of the Question of the Week!

Last year The Area Wide Book Battle and our official Book Battle Blog posted a question a week to help teams prepare for the competition in May.

I am happy to report that starting next Monday, 1/ 31/11, the Question of the Week will once again be a part of a weekly post. All schools are invited to participate, and the school who answers the most questions correctly will receive a prize that will be announced at the book battle.

Here's how it works!

Each Monday a new question pertaining to one of the books on the 2010/2011 Book Battle List will be posted. Schools wanting to participate will leave a comment with their answer. On Thursday, the correct answer to Monday's question will be posted along with the names of each school who correctly answered that week's question. The school with the most correct answers will win.

When leaving a comment please make sure you...

• Identify your school's complete name
• Identify both the title of the book and the author's name

Any comments without both of the above written in the comment will be disqualified.

Good Luck! 

Also make sure you check out the Feature Book of the Week every Tuesday. This week I have a very exciting announcement to make and it will greatly affect everyone's Book Battle experience this year. Don't miss it!

Featured Book of The Week Faith, Hope and Ivy June by Phyllis Naylor

FEATURED BOOK OF THE WEEK

Ivy June Mosely and Catherine Combs, two girls from different parts of Kentucky, are participating in the first seventh-grade student exchange program between their schools. The girls will stay at each other’s homes, attend school together, and record their experience in their journals. Catherine and her family have a beautiful home with plenty of space. Since Ivy June’s house is crowded, she lives with her grandparents. Her Pappaw works in the coal mines supporting four generations of kinfolk. Ivy June can’t wait until he leaves that mine forever and retires. As the girls get closer, they discover they’re more alike than different, especially when they face the terror of not knowing what’s happening to those they love most. (publisher's summary from Goodreads)

Guest Post from Phyllis Naylor

I'd been thinking a long time about two girls from different cultures, trading places--inspired, I suppose, by Mark Twain's "The Prince and the Pauper," which Dad read to me as a child.  But more than that, I wanted to explore stereotypes as well as our defenses--the things we should examine in our own backgrounds as well as the things we should cherish. 

But somehow the plot just wasn't coming together for me, until Michelle Poploff, of Delacorte, wrote to ask if I would consider doing a book about a coal mining family.  My first thought was to decline, as I had written about a coal miner many years ago in my novel, "Wrestle the Mountain."  But the more I thought about it, the clearer the plot became.  I still had a huge amount of old research in my files, but it was a fairly recent news story on a mine accident that tipped the scales for me and brought it all into focus. 

I dearly love the characters in this book.  I rarely base characters on people I know, but in many ways Papaw in the story is my dad's father, though Ivy June's grandfather is a coal miner and mine was a country preacher.  And my paternal grandmother, Mammaw, became Ivy June's grandmother (though mine was a midwife).  Both families in my book, the rich and the poor, have their failings, but also much to admire, and as I wrote their stories, I came to understand my own background even better.   --Phyllis Naylor

About the Author 

Naylor was born on January 4, 1933 in Anderson, Indiana. Her father was a traveling salesman so they were always on the move. Many of her novels were set where her grandparents lived in Iowa and Maryland. She spent many summers with her grandparents in these places.

Naylor grew up during the Depression. She never really thought that her family was poor because her family owned a number of good books, which her parents read to her and her siblings. When she was in primary school, Naylor began making up her own stories. She also illustrated them. Her reputation as a good writer followed her, and she was often called upon to give poems and stories for special occasions at school.

When Naylor was sixteen, her Sunday school teacher asked her to submit one of her stories to the church magazine she was publishing. Naylor's story was accepted and this encouraged her to write and submit more.  Naylor admits that these stories were, in her own works, "not very original" and "predictable." (Grummond)

At the age of eighteen, Naylor married. After she graduated from junior college, she moved to Chicago with her husband. Here she worked as a clinical secretary while he attended graduate school. She also worked as an elementary school teacher. She was assistant editor for the NZA Journal. Years later Naylor's husband began showing signs of severe mental illness. He was later diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia.  When it became apparent that her husband was not going to recover, she filed for divorce and married Rex V. Naylor.

Soon after, she returned to college and majored in clinical psychology at America University. By the time she earned her Bachelor of Arts degree, she decided she would become a full-time writer. Her first book, The Galloping Goat and Other Stories. Since then she has published a book every year. She has won many awards over the years including: Junior Literacy Guild, the Edgar, the Newberry Award for Shiloh (1991).

Naylor and her husband live in Bethesda, Maryland. They have two grown sons. Despite her busy schedule, the author is active in peace and civil right organization. (Grummond) Biography written by Laura Beil and Sarah Lasham Campbell County High School, Gillette, Wyoming)

Feature Book of the Week Scorpia by Anthony Horowitz

FEATURED BOOK OF THE WEEK

When an investigation into a series of mysterious deaths leads agents to an elite prep school for rebellious kids, MI6 assigns Alex Rider, fourteen-year-old reluctant spy, to the case. Before he knows it, Alex is hanging out with the sons of the rich and powerful, and something feels wrong. Very wrong. These former juvenile delinquents have turned well-behaved, studious-and identical-overnight. It's up to Alex to find out who is masterminding this nefarious plot, before they find him. The clock is ticking-is Alex's luck about to run out?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Anthony Horowitz's life might have been copied from the pages of Charles Dickens or the Brothers Grimm. Born in 1956 in Stanmore, Middlesex, to a family of wealth and status, Anthony was raised by nannies, surrounded by servants and chauffeurs. His father, a wealthy businessman, was, says Mr. Horowitz, "a fixer for Harold Wilson." What that means exactly is unclear — "My father was a very secretive man," he says— so an aura of suspicion and mystery surrounds both the word and the man. As unlikely as it might seem, Anthony's father, threatened with bankruptcy, withdrew all of his money from Swiss bank accounts in Zurich and deposited it in another account under a false name and then promptly died. His mother searched unsuccessfully for years in attempt to find the money, but it was never found. That too shaped Anthony's view of things. Today he says, "I think the only thing to do with money is spend it." His mother, whom he adored, eccentrically gave him a human skull for his 13th birthday. His grandmother, another Dickensian character, was mean-spirited and malevolent, a destructive force in his life. She was, he says, "a truly evil person", his first and worst arch villain. "My sister and I danced on her grave when she died," he now recalls.

A miserably unhappy and overweight child, Anthony had nowhere to turn for solace. "Family meals," he recalls, "had calories running into the thousands…. I was an astoundingly large, round child…." At the age of eight he was sent off to boarding school, a standard practice of the times and class in which he was raised. While being away from home came as an enormous relief, the school itself, Orley Farm, was a grand guignol horror with a headmaster who flogged the boys till they bled. "Once the headmaster told me to stand up in assembly and in front of the whole school said, 'This boy is so stupid he will not be coming to Christmas games tomorrow.' I have never totally recovered." To relieve his misery and that of the other boys, he not unsurprisingly made up tales of astounding revenge and retribution.

So how did an unhappy boy, from a privileged background, metamorphose into the creator of Alex Rider, fourteen-year-old spy for Britain's MI6? Although his childhood permanently damaged him, it also gave him a gift — it provided him with rich source material for his writing career. He found solace in boyhood in the escapism of the James Bond films, he says. He claims that his two sons now watch the James Bond films with the same tremendous enjoyment he did at their age. Bond's glamour translates perfectly to the 14-year-old psyche, the author says. "Bond had his cocktails, the car and the clothes. Kids are just as picky. It's got to be the right Nike trainers (sneakers), the right skateboard. And I genuinely think that 14-year-olds are the coolest people on the planet. It's this wonderful, golden age, just on the cusp of manhood when everything seems possible."

Alex Rider is unwillingly recruited at the age of fourteen to spy for the British secret service, MI6. Forced into situations that most average adults would find terrifying and probably fatal, young Alex rarely loses his cool although at times he doubts his own courage. Using his intelligence and creativity, and aided by non-lethal gadgets dreamed up by MI6's delightfully eccentric, overweight and disheveled Smithers, Alex is able to extricate himself from situations when all seems completely lost. What is perhaps more terrifying than the deeply dangerous missions he finds himself engaged in, is the attitude of his handlers at MI6, who view the boy as nothing more than an expendable asset.

The highly successful Alex Rider novels include Stormbreaker, Point Blank, Skeleton Key, Eagle Strike, Scorpia, Ark Angel, Snakehead and most recently Crocodile Tears. And 2010 sees the Alex Rider series celebrate its 10 year anniversary!!!

Anthony Horowitz is perhaps the busiest writer in England. He has been writing since the age of eight, and professionally since the age of twenty. In addition to the highly successful Alex Rider books, he is also the writer and creator of award winning detective series Foyle’s War, and more recently event drama Collision, among his other television works he has written episodes for Poirot, Murder in Mind, Midsomer Murders and Murder Most Horrid. Anthony became patron to East Anglia Children’s Hospices in 2009.(Author biography retrieved from author's website)

Featured Book of the Week The Academy by Ridley Pearson

 Featured Book of the Week

 Steven "Steel" Trapp has been placed in an East Coast boarding school for gifted kids by his FBI agent father. He soon discovers that there's a clubby element of the faculty and upper classmen that is very secretive and protective. To his surprise, his friend Kaleigh arrives to board at the school and it isn't long before the two realize that this is not your normal boarding school. It seems a select few students are recruited, while still minors, to serve as special "translators" for the US Government. People—including diplomats and dignitaries—will say things around kids that they wouldn't otherwise dare speak outside of embassies. The willing student "agent" takes a semester abroad and ends up spying for his country.

   But there are dark elements at play at the school. Foreign agents may have penetrated the school's secrecy and may have sleepers in place: kids spying on future kid spies. There is conspiracy and competition among the elite faculty that threatens security. As Steel and Kaileigh are recruited for their first test run—trying to break a ring of pickpockets in a Boston hotel—things go impossibly wrong. Betrayal and conspiracy cloud what should have been a straightforward assignment. And all too soon, their very lives are in danger. (Publisher's summary from Amazon)

Interview With Ridley Pearson

Mr. Pearson graciously took time out of his busy writing schedule to answers a few questions about Steel Trapp and his writing life.

Jan: Where did the idea to create an adolescent protagonist with a photographic memory come from, and did you know when you first began developing Steel that his mind would be so useful to creating suspenseful plots?
 
Ridley Pearson (RP): I think photographically, so creating this character came naturally. The more I wrote in Steel's world, the more unfolded and I realized how big the canvas was.

Jan: Your first adult novel was released in 1985. What prompted you to begin writing books for adolescents, and how is writing for this audience different than adults?
 
RP: I became a dad.  That's about it.  That led me on unexpected adventures; and since I read each night to my kids and invented stories at bedtime, I started to want to write  something more permanent.

Jan: I read that you often work on four books a year?  Can you explain a little about the process it takes for you to accomplish such a feat?
 
RP: I'm writing three at the moment. I actually enjoy the process. Nothing gets stale -- to say the least.

Jan: Steel Trapp seems like a natural extension of your adult crime novels, all of which have intricate and twisting plots, and like your crime novels, both of the Steel Trapp novels are “aerobic fiction,” a term you used to named “good old page turners”. Can you provide insight into your writing process that helps you create fast paced exciting plots?
 
RP: With Steel, and to a certain degree the Kingdom Keepers, I wanted to write books of a slightly more "adult" level.  Not "See spot run," as so many YA books are.  I wanted to write my crime novels but PG-13 or PG instead of R.

Jan: In addition to creating such great plots in the SteelTrapp novels, you also write very realistic characters and carefully described settings. Is there any one element of fiction that you feel is more important than another or that seems to be more difficult to create?

RP: Character is what carries the reader through a book.  Place can be an important character. Plot is the engine.  If the engine's too loud it can drown out the characters -- it's that balance that either works or not in "fun" fiction.  I'm not writing to deliver a message; I leave that others.  My message is: have fun.

Jan: Steel Trapp is told from third person limited. Why did you choose this perspective instead of writing it from first person?

RP: As much as I like writing in 1st person, I rarely publish in it.  3rd person allows the writer multiple view points -- inside the head of the girl, the boy, the criminal.  It expands and is a more complex world to create.  I like to be challenged.

Jan: You have a home in Idaho and in St. Louis. From what I’ve read you spend the school year here in St Louis do you consider yourself a Missouri resident or an Idaho resident? What advantages does St Louis have over other cities?
 
RP: I am very much a Missouri resident, but my heart is probably more firmly rooted in Idaho where I spent 20+ years of my middle life.  There is nothing like a hike or ski in the Idaho countryside.

Jan: You are a bass guitar player and play in a band called the Rock-Bottom Remainders with other published authors. How did the band begin? How often do the members get together to jam, and when and where is your next gig?

RP: Most of this can be read about on my web site.  The Remainders had a strange beginning indeed!  Our next tour is April:  Washington, DC; Philadelphia; New York City; Boston. Should be a great one.

Jan: What is up next for Steel Trapp?

RP: China?  My family just got back from living in Shanghai for a year.

Jan: You will be releasing a new Kingdom Keeper book in April 2010. Can you tell us about this series and what to expect from Disney in the Shadow.
 
RP: This is SUCH a fun series to write.  Disney gives me full access to their parks, and the Imagineers give me back stage, behind the scenes tours when the park is closed at night, or in the early, early morning.  I translate that research into the lives of five teenagers battling Disney villains.  Shadow enters the world of EPCOT and takes us to places we have not been before.

 About the Author

  

Ridley Pearson is the author of more than twenty novels, including the New York Times bestseller KILLER WEEKEND; the Lou Boldt crime series; and many books for young readers, including the award-winning children's novels PETER AND THE STARCATCHERS, PETER AND THE SHADOW THIEVES, and PETER AND THE SECRET OF RUNDOON, which he cowrote with Dave Barry. Pearson lives with his wife and two daughters, dividing their time between Missouri and Idaho. (bio retrieved from Bookreporter.com)

Happy Holidays/Winter Break

The Area Wide Book Battle Committee would like to wish you all Happy Holidays

The Feature Book of the Week will resume after Winter Break.

Also look for the question of the week which will begin late January.

~ The greatest gift is a passion for reading. It is cheap, it consoles, it distracts, it excites, it gives you knowledge of the world and experience of a wide kind. It is a moral illumination. ~ 
Elizabeth Hardwick 

Featured Book of the Week/A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park

FEATURED BOOK OF THE WEEK

Tree-ear, an orphan, lives under a bridge in Chulpo, a potters village famed for delicate celadon ware. He has become fascinated with the potters craft; he wants nothing more than to watch master potter Min at work, and he dreams of making a pot of his own someday. When Min takes Tree-ear on as his helper, Tree-ear is elated — until he finds obstacles in his path: the backbreaking labor of digging and hauling clay, Mins irascible temper, and his own ignorance. But Tree-ear is determined to prove himself — even if it means taking a long, solitary journey on foot to present Mins work in the hope of a royal commission . . . even if it means arriving at the royal court with nothing to show but a single celadon shard.

The winner of the 2001 Newbery Medal is now in paperback. Set in 12th-century Korea, "A Single Shard" is the story of an orphan boy who dreams of making beautiful pottery at the King's Court. An ALA Notable Book and ALA Best Book for Young Adults.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Linda Sue Park was born in Urbana, Illinois on March 25, 1960, and grew up outside Chicago. The daughter of Korean immigrants, she has been writing poems and stories since she was four years old, and her favorite thing to do as a child was read. 

This is the first thing she ever published—a haiku in a children's magazine when she was nine years old:

In the green forest
A sparkling, bright blue pond hides.
And animals drink.

—Trailblazer magazine, Winter 1969

For this poem she was paid one whole dollar. She gave the check to her dad for Christmas. About a year later the company wrote to her asking her to cash the check! Linda Sue wrote back explaining that it was now framed and hung above her dad's desk and was it okay if he kept it? The magazine said it was fine, and her dad still has that check.

During elementary school and high school, Linda Sue had several more poems published in magazines for children and young people. She went to Stanford University, competed for the gymnastics team, and graduated with a degree in English. Then she took a job as a public-relations writer for a major oil company. This was not exactly the kind of writing she wanted to do, but it did teach her to present her work professionally and that an interested writer can make any subject fascinating (well, almost any subject ...).

In 1983, after two years with the oil company, Linda Sue left her job and moved to Dublin when a handsome Irishman swept her off her feet. She studied literature, moved to London, worked for an advertising agency, married that Irishman, had a baby, taught English as a second language to college students, worked as a food journalist, and had another baby. It was a busy time, and she never even thought about writing children's books.

In 1990, she and her family moved back to the U.S.  because of her husband's job. Linda Sue continued teaching English to foreign students. It took her quite a while, but she finally realized that what she really wanted to do was to write books for children. In 1997, she started writing her first book, Seesaw Girl. It was accepted that same year and published in 1999. 

The Kite Fighters came out in 2000. This book was especially exciting because the chapter-heading illustrations were done by Linda Sue's dad. 

A Single Shard was published in March 2001 and was awarded the 2002 Newbery Medal. Since then, Linda Sue has published several other novels, as well as picture books, poems and short stories.

Linda Sue now lives in upstate New York with the Irishman, their two children, and a dog. The dog is a Border Terrier named Fergus.

Besides reading and writing, Linda Sue likes to cook, travel, watch movies, and do the New York Times crossword puzzles (daily and Sunday). She enjoys baseball and soccer (watching); board games (playing—Scrabble and trivia games are her favorites); and video games like Tetris and Dr. Mario.(Biography retrieved from author website)

Linda Sue Park  has new book, A Long Walk to Water  that was released November 15, 2010. The book trailer has Ms Park discussing the book and its real life characters.

Featured Book of the WeekMorpheus Road: The Light by DJ McHale

 FEATURED BOOK OF THE WEEK

Marshall Seaver is being haunted. In the first installment of this chillingly compelling trilogy, sixteen-year-old Marshall discovers that something beyond our world is after him. The eerie clues pile up quickly, and when people start dying, it’s clear whatever this isit’s huge.

Marshall has no idea what’s happening to him, but he’s soon convinced that it has something to do with his best friend Cooper, who’s been missing for over a week. Together with Coop’s sister, Marsh searches for the truth about what happened to his friend, ultimately uncovering something bigger than he could ever have imagined

A GUEST POST FROM DJ MACHALE

I’m very psyched to hear that my book Morpheus Road:  The Light has been chosen to be a part of your book battle.  A book battle.  I’m picturing books with arms and legs holding swords fighting each other.  I guess the big books would win.  Or the smart books, though I guess all books are smart.  So maybe the scariest book would win, and in that category, I’ve got a shot.

I love scary stories.  That’s why I’m writing the Morpheus Road trilogy.  I’m the kind of reader who loves to get lost in a book and be taken to another place.  Certainly fantasy books do that, and so do scary books.  There’s something exciting about seeing a world where supernatural events become “natural” and anything can happen.  (It’s also great to know that it isn’t true and that once you close the book, you’re safe)  I also love the mystery of a scary story.  There’s always something going on that the heroes have to try and figure out in order to solve the puzzle.

Or save their lives.

The main character in The Light, Marshall Seaver, has to deal with a couple of mysteries.  His best friend has disappeared and he must try and find out what happened to him.  But stranger than that, he is being haunted by a frightening character that he himself created, a ghoul named Gravedigger.  Working through the clues and trying to solve the mysteries along with Marsh is what the story is all about.  I hope you have as much reading it, and experiencing it along with Marsh, as I had in writing it.

D.J. MacHale

MORE ABOUT THE AUTHOR

D.J. MacHale is a writer, director, executive producer and creator of several popular television series and movies.  As an author, his ten-volume book series:  PENDRAGON – JOURNAL OF AN ADVENTURE THROUGH TIME AND SPACE became a New York Times #1 bestseller.

He was raised in Greenwich, CT and graduated from Greenwich High School. While in school, he had several jobs including collecting eggs at a poultry farm, engraving trophies and washing dishes in a steakhouse…in between playing football and running track. D.J. attended New York University where he received a BFA in film production.

His filmmaking career began in New York where he worked as a freelance writer/director making corporate videos and television commercials. He also taught photography and film production.
D.J. broke into the entertainment business by writing several ABC AFTERSCHOOL SPECIALS. As co-creator of the popular Nickelodeon series: ARE YOU AFRAID OF THE DARK?, he produced all 91 episodes over 8 years.  D.J. also wrote and directed the movie TOWER OF TERROR for ABC’s WONDERFUL WORLD OF DISNEY which starred Kirsten Dunst and Steve Guttenberg. The Showtime series CHRIS CROSS was co-created, written and produced by D.J. It received the CableAce award for Best Youth Series.

D.J. co-created and produced the Discovery Kids/NBC television series FLIGHT 29 DOWN.  He wrote every episode and directed several. His work on FLIGHT 29 DOWN earned him the Writers Guild of America award for “Outstanding Children’s Script” and a Directors Guild of America award nomination.

Other notable writing credits include the ABC AFTERSCHOOL SPECIAL titled SEASONAL DIFFERENCES; the pilot for the long-running PBS/CBS series GHOSTWRITER; and the HBO series ENCYCLOPEDIA BROWN, BOY DETECTIVE for which he received a CableAce nomination for writing.
In print, D.J. has co-written the book THE TALE OF THE NIGHTLY NEIGHBORS, based on his own teleplay and penned the poetic adaptation of the classic Norwegian folk tale EAST OF THE SUN AND WEST OF THE MOON.  He is currently writing three new book series.  MORPHEUS ROAD, a spooky trilogy; THE EQUINOX CURIOSITY SHOP, a fantasy adventure and THE MONSTER PRINCESS, a picture book.

D.J. lives in Southern California with his wife Evangeline and daughter Keaton. They are avid backpackers, scuba divers and skiers. Rounding out the household are a Golden Retriever, Maggie; and a Kitten, Kaboodle.

A very special thanks to DJ McHale for providing a guest post. If you enjoyed Morpheus Road: The Light, then make sure you check out the sequel Morpheus Road: The Dark which will be release in April 2011. I know I cannot wait to find out what happens next!

Featured Book of the Week/Mrs Frisby and the Rats of Nimh by Robert C O'Brien

FEATURED BOOK OF THE WEEK

Mrs. Frisby, a widowed mouse with four small children, is faced with a terrible problem. She must move her family to their summer quarters immediately, or face almost certain death. But her youngest son, Timothy, lies ill with pneumonia and must not be moved. Fortunately, she encounters the rats of NIMH, an extraordinary breed of highly intelligent creatures, who come up with a brilliant solution to her dilemma. And Mrs. Frisby in turn renders them a great service. (Publishers Summary from Powell's Books)

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

In real life, Robert C. O'Brien was Robert Leslie Conly. He was born in Brooklyn, New York, attended Williams College and graduated from the Universtiy of Rochester. While there he studied piano at Eastman School of Music, and at one time considered being a musician. Instead, he became an editor and writer for Newsweek magazine from 1941 to 1944, and for Pathfinder from 1946 to 1951. From 1951 until the time of his death in 1973 he was employed as a writer and editor by the National Geographic Magazine. He made his home in New York City before 1944 and in Washington, D.C. after that. He also had a home in Morgan County, West Virginia, after 1965, a place he loved and visited as often as he could. He was married and the father of one son and three daughters. His books include The Silver Crown, Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH, which won the Newbery Award, and A Report From Group 17. His last book, Z is for Zachariah was nearly completed at the time of his death; the last few chapters were written from notes by this wife and one of his daughters. (Author biography from Powell's Books)

Featured Book of the Week/Middleworld by J & P Voelkel

FEATURED BOOK OF THE WEEK

Fourteen-year-old Max Murphy is looking forward to a family vacation. But his parents, both archaeologists and Maya experts, announce a change in plan. They must leave immediately for a dig in the tiny Central American country of San Xavier. Max will go to summer camp. Max is furious. When he's mysteriously summoned to San Xavier, he thinks they've had a change of heart.

Upon his arrival, Max's wild adventure in the tropical rainforests of San Xavier begins. During his journey, he will unlock ancient secrets and meet strangers who are connected to him in ways he could never have imagined. For fate has delivered a challenge of epic proportions to this pampered teenager. Can Max rescue his parents from the Maya Underworld and save the world from the Lords of Death, who now control the power of the Jaguar Stones in their villainous hands? The scene is set for a roller-coaster ride of suspense and terror, as the good guys and the bad guys face off against a background of haunted temples, zombie armies, and even human sacrifice! (Summary from Powell's Books)

GUEST POST FROM AUTHORS

Jon and I would like to thank you very much for choosing Middleworld for your Battle of the Books.  We had a blast writing it and, for me in particular, being an author is a dream that I never thought would come true.

The problem was that I got bad advice early on.  A teacher told me that great writers always write about what they know. For me, as a kid, that was like a door slamming in my face. I hated the world I knew. I had an unhappy childhood because my mother was very ill for most of it and I had no desire to write about it, ever.

Some people find that writing about their problems helps them feel better. I found it just made everything more real and more painful. I wanted to pretend that none of it was happening and I escaped by reading books. Adventure stories, boarding school stories, anything where kids lived in worlds without parents. (In those days, at my school anyway, they didn't have books about unhappy families - no Laurie Halse Anderson or Ellen Hopkins to reassure me that other kids’ lives weren’t perfect either.)

When I left college, I looked for jobs with writer in the title.  For twenty-five years I wrote catalog captions, book reviews, and advertising copy. I was resigned to never writing a book because I didn't want to write about what I knew. Then my husband, who was not a writer by trade, became obsessed with the idea of us writing a book based on his childhood.  He'd had a wildly adventurous time growing up in Latin America and had always kept our children entranced with his action-packed bedtime stories. 

It was the perfect solution! I would get to know his world! And now, thanks to the many trips we've taken down to Central America to research the rainforest and the Maya, it’s become my world too. (And that of our three children.) We’ve tracked howler monkeys in the jungle, made our own tortillas, and sailed down the mighty Usumacinta river with crocodiles watching from the bank. We've got to know many famous archaeologists, and made friends with teachers, librarians and booksellers all over America.

I wish I could go back to that unhappy little kid I used to be and tell her that it would all work out.  That one day she'd have exciting adventures, and a happy family, and finally get to write books.  But the funny thing is that The Jaguar Stones trilogy is about a lonely boy and a girl who’s had to grow up too quickly. Okay, so he’s from Boston and she’s a Maya, but – guess what? – in some ways, they’re both me. 

So my advice to students who want to be writers is this: remember that the story of your childhood is not the story of your life. But whether you’re having an interesting youth like Jon’s or a miserable one like mine, remember how you feel right now - because one day you’ll want to write about someone who feels the same way.  And if you’re brave enough to follow where your new story leads you, you’ll find yourself in places that you never dreamed existed.

Enjoy the adventure!

MORE ABOUT J & P VOELKEL

Jon Voelkel grew up in Peru, Costa Rica and Colombia. He was not a natural-born adventurer and found life in the jungle difficult, to say the least. Having survived monkey stew, an attack by giant rats, and a plane crash in the middle of the rainforest, he escaped to college in Minneapolis and went on to business school in Barcelona. After working in advertising agencies in Spain, Holland and England, he started his own agency in London with four other partners - one of whom would be his future wife. In 2001, the London Financial Times named him one of the top fifty creative minds in Britain.

While Jon was battling the daily perils of the jungle, Pamela Craik Voelkel was dreaming of adventure in a sedate seaside town in the north of England where nothing ever happened.  After graduating from Leeds University in English Language and Literature, she fled to London to take any job with “writer” in the title.  After stints reviewing books, writing catalogs and penning speech bubbles for photo-romances, she became an advertising copywriter. As Creative Director of Craik Jones Watson Mitchell Voelkel, she helped the agency win literally hundreds of creative awards.

In 2001, the Voelkels moved to rural Vermont and began work on ‘Middleworld’, the first book they have written together. In an interesting male/female collaboration, Jon plots out the action (much of it based on his own childhood memories and the bedtime stories he tells their three children), then Pamela fleshes out the characters and decides how they feel about things. (Author Bio from authors website)


I want to thank J & P Voelkel for being a part of the featured book of the week and encourage all you book battlers to visit their wonderful website to learn more about their lives and books. 

I am also very excited to tell you that the next book in this exciting series is due to be released in December, so you will have a chance to go on another thrilling adventure with Max and Lola.

Featured Book of the Week/The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins

FEATURED BOOK OF THE WEEK

Katniss is a 16-year-old girl living with her mother and younger sister in the poorest district of Panem, the remains of what used be the United States. Long ago the districts waged war on the Capitol and were defeated. As part of the surrender terms, each district agreed to send one boy and one girl to appear in an annual televised event called, "The Hunger Games." The terrain, rules, and level of audience participation may change but one thing is constant: kill or be killed. When Kat's sister is chosen by lottery, Kat steps up to go in her place.

MORE ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Bestselling author Suzanne Collins first made her mark in children’s literature with the New York Times bestselling Underland Chronicles series for middle grade readers. Her debut for readers aged 12 and up, The Hunger Games (September 2008), immediately became a New York Times bestseller, appealing to both teen readers and adults. It was called “addictive” by Stephen King in Entertainment Weekly, and “amazing” by Stephenie Meyer on her website, and was named a New York Times Notable Book of 2008 and a New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice.
 

Catching Fire (September 2009), the second book in The Hunger Games trilogy, debuted at #1 on the USA Today bestseller list and simultaneously appeared at #1 on the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, and Publishers Weekly bestseller lists. It was named a Time Magazine Top Ten Fiction Book of 2009, a New York Times Book Review Editors’ Choice, and a People Magazine (Top 10) Best Book of 2009. 

Foreign rights for The Hunger Games and its sequels have been sold in 39 countries to date. Movie rights for The Hunger Games have been optioned by Lionsgate, and Nina Jacobson’s Color Force production company will produce the film with Suzanne Collins set to write the screenplay. In April 2010, Suzanne Collins was named to the TIME 100 list of “the world’s most influential people.” The publication of Mockingjay, the thrilling final installment in The Hunger Games trilogy, was released August 24, 2010. 

Suzanne Collins has also had a successful and prolific career writing for children’s television. She has worked on the staffs of several Nickelodeon shows, including the Emmy-nominated hit Clarissa Explains It All and The Mystery Files of Shelby Woo. She received a Writers Guild of America nomination in animation for co-writing the critically acclaimed Christmas special, Santa, Baby!
 

Suzanne Collins lives with her family in Connecticut. For more information about her, please visit www.suzannecollinsbooks.com .

(Biography retrieved from Scholastic)

While many of you will be unable to view this terrific interview with Suzanne Collins talking about her inspiration for The Hunger Games  (due to firewalls blocking You Tube), I have included it hoping that you will take a look at it at home. It is fascinating to hear how Collins took a Greek myth and turned it into on one the best books of 2009.