Sea View 12

My 2 cents: Q: I love Shirley, your 8th grade super-sleuth! Where did you get the inspiration for her? Shirley came from years of listening to girls (and parents) complain about the female heroes in their books. I mean, how many stories can you have about a girl "fitting in"? How many heroines are thrown into adventure against their will and eventually stumble upon victory? I shared their frustration. I wanted to offer a series where the main character uses her intellect to stay one step ahead of everyone. The result was Shirley Link. Shirley seeks out adventure. She gets bored if she's sitting around. Shirley is the smartest person in a really smart town, and everyone around her knows it. And she uses those smarts to overcome all obstacles. It's funny, I saw a filmed interview with Sir Arthur Conan Doyle ( here's the link ) where he details the origins of Sherlock Holmes. Apparently, he created Holmes when he became frustrated with protagonists ...

My 2 cents: Middle readers will love Ben Zackheim's new series about an 8 th grade super sleuth named Shirley Link. Hindered (I mean, assisted) by best buds, Wylie and Marie, Shirley tackles a mysterious theft at school in The Safe Case. Picture a middle-school Velma (minus Scooby Doo), add a little Nancy Drew and Hardy Boys with a wicked sense of humor, and you just about have it. In The Hot Comic (second book in the series), Shirley and company confront a dangerous thief, and maybe discover a new ally. Shirley's powers of observation are staggering, and the dialogue is sharp and zippy. Zackheim's YA novels are short, easy-to-read, and will interest and engage both the advanced and reluctant reader. My 12-year-old daughter loved both books, and flew through the pages, partly because of lines like these: “We do things just because it's always been that way. But we shouldn't. We should always question, always pry, and never, ever get so bored with ...

My 2 cents: “ You are what you eat.” Everybody's heard that. But, what if “you are what you read ” was true? In that case, I'd read One White Dolphin, by Gill Lewis, again and again. Lewis's YA novel is set on a coastal English town, a small fishing village, present day. The story revolves around the families of three young villagers - Kara Wood, Jake Evans and Felix Andersen. Kara, the only daughter of an out-of-work fisherman, is dyslexic, and missing her marine biologist mother, who disappeared the year before. Jake, a classmate, is the son of the town's richest boat owner. Felix, the newcomer, is brilliant, talented, a natural sailor and was born with cerebral palsy. Then, there's Angel, the albino dolphin who gets injured, and beaches herself in the cove near Kara's home. One White Dolphin is a story of discovery and loss, boats and bullies, fishing and friends, salt-spray and water, the past and the future. Full of twists and turns, ...

My 2 cents: Dante and Aristotle Discover the Secrets of the Universe is like its title – large . Benjamin Alire Saenz's new YA novel covers a large amount of territory between its end flaps. It's a coming-of-age story, for sure, about two high-school boys, Dante and Ari, who experience a lot of “firsts.” First car, first job, first kiss, first great poem, first fight, first serious accident, and first time smoking pot. Some parents will not want their teens reading this book, because <spoiler alert> not all the first kisses are between a boy and a girl. Some parents will not want their kids reading this book, because a few of the characters try marijuana and alcohol. I would say this to those parents: read the book for yourself before you decide. Saenz addresses a number of sensitive topics in Secrets of the Universe with a tender, insightful touch. Length: 359 pages Worth Your Time? Yes, for high-schoolers and up. 

My 2 cents: I like a book that includes recipes. Alex Witchel's new novel is called All Gone (A Memoir of My Mother's Dementia, with Refreshments) . Every chapter ends up with at least one recipe; some are Jewish comfort food, some are retro 70's fare, most look fairly easy to do, and all belong in somebody's cookbook. And that's just dessert! The main course of the book is the lovely story of a mother and daughter; the good and bad, the beginning and the end, some of it funny, and some of it, of course, sad. Alex Witchel chronicles her mother's illness, a stroke-induced form of dementia. She weaves doctor's visits and nerve-wracking, late-night telephone calls together with memories of her own childhood, lavish get-away-weekends, holidays with relatives, and stories from her mom's career as a college professor. If you're facing the challenge of caring for a parent with dementia, or you have a teen or adult child whose grandma or papa i...

My 2 cents: I'm not a fan of horror movies or gore. I skip past the newspaper articles with headlines screaming atrocities. So you will understand when I say I did not enjoy reading Mike Mullin's newest YA novel, Ashen Winter. Ashen Winter is the second book of the Ashfall trilogy. A shfall is the story of Alex Halprin, an almost-16-year-old boy living in Cedar Falls, Iowa whose life is disrupted and forever changed by the eruption of a supervolcano at Yellowstone National Park. Meant to be home alone for the weekend, while his sister and parents visit family in nearby Warren, Illinois, Alex finds himself fighting for survival in a desperate search to find his family. Along the way, Alex meets Darla, befriends her, and together the determined duo fight murderers, hunger, thirst, cold, ash, darkness, bandits, injuries, grief and more, as they band together to reach Illinois. Well-written, Mullin's riveting, debut novel garnered all kinds of award...

1) Will there be a sequel to BEACH HOUSE MEMORIES? Yes, there will be another in this popular series.  I still work with sea turtles, after all, and there are more stories to tell.   As there are as yet many questions to be answered for Cara and Brett. I'm eager to revisit my favorite characters.   In my upcoming book (July, The Summer Girls), I bring Toy and Ethan back!  It's the first time I've had fictional characters from other books reappear.   The reader can see where this couple is in their life, their children...    I did this because it makes sense that people involved with marine life in our community would know each other.    Charleston  is really a small town that way.  It was fun to write and I'm sure my readers will enjoy seeing the characters again.    2) Do you have a favorite place to write? Where? I've always needed to be in my own private space to write a novel. This ...