Breaking news;)

I just learned that The Compound made the 2011-12 Oregon Battle of the Books list for grades 9-12. Here's a photo of the finalists.

And yes, there is The Help, the book I recently read and blogged about. I never expected to have a book of mine end up on the same list as that. Very cool.

The Book I Just Finished Reading by Betsy Woods

I have just finished a novel by British author, Sarah Dunant, titled Sacred Hearts. The read was a time-machine. The novel is set in 1570 and is set inside the walls of an Italian covent. It was a treatise in part on the shackles young women had to bear then, and how those bindings limited their life experiences. The novel also revealed the interior workings of the covent and how, it both thwarted the off-cast women, and encouraged their passions and intelligence.

The intricate Renaissance world is exposed admist a passionate love story, stories of love and friendship, horror, and the biting political climate of the Counter-Reformation. It is also a story that at its core is about secrets.

Studying the Master of Barnyard Fantasies

Like others on this blog, my recent reading list has consisted of titles thematically related to the story I’m currently writing—in my case, a chapter book involving barnyard animals. And so for inspiration I naturally turned to the books of Dick King-Smith, dubbed the “Master of Barnyard Fantasies.”

King-Smith is most famous as the author of Babe: the Gallant Pig, but with over a hundred titles to his credit, he wrote many other great books. Some of my personal favorites, all of which I have reread this spring, include The Fox Busters, Pigs Might Fly, Martin’s Mice, and Three Terrible Trins. I also discovered a book I had not read before, Clever Duck, which is now on my list of favorites.

When you delve into a King-Smith book you are assured of a funny, thoughtful, and entertaining read. My only qualm is that he sometimes sacrifices character development in favor of plotting—but his plotting is frequently so brilliant that there is still plenty to inspire me and also to study.

Do you have a favorite King-Smith book?

What I just finished and What I am currently Reading...

I have just finished reading SPARROW ROAD, a new middle grade novel by the author, Sheila O'Connor. It is her first middle grad novel. She has published two adult novels that are brilliant. Sparrow Road takes place over a summer at an artist's colony somewhere in the midwest. Raine, the 12 year old main character, meets artists and writers, a composer, and even a spirit of an orphan boy who used to live there when the artist colony was an orphanage. The blend of writing, visual arts, history of the colony and Raine's own mysterious past make for one of the most colorful, heartfelt books I have read in a long time. I cannot recommend it enough!

Currently I am reading THE FAR CRY, by Emma Smith. It is one of the Persephone books-- a publisher I recently discovered and am completely in love with. This wonderful tale begins in England, post WWII and follows a 14 year old Theresa on a boat journey to India. When the boat docks at Bombay, Smith's descriptions of not only the visuals, but also the emotional intensity of her main character brings this world alive so vividly, I cannot stop reading it-- but I have a book deadline and it is killing me!

What I've Read, What I'm Reading, and What I'm Going to Read

The last book I read was MOON OVER MANIFEST by Clare Vanderpool, this year's Newbery winner. I don't always agree with the Newbery committee, but I liked this one a lot. Set during the Depression, it tells the story of 12-year-old Abiline Tucker whose father sends her away to his hometown of Manifest, Kansas for the summer. As she tries to piece together her father's childhood, she discovers secrets about the town's past and its residents. The interwoven stories of the various characters were intriguing and I was happy to return to this book each evening.

The book that I'm reading now is Anne Ylvisaker's THE LUCK OF THE BUTTONS, another historical fiction novel set in the Midwest at about the same time as MOON OVER MANIFEST. I am just easing my way into the novel, but I'm already captivated by the narrator, Tugs Button, a girl born into a hard luck family. Tugs, a sympathetic and believable character, reminds me of children I've known who try hard to make friends, but just fall short of the social graces needed to make things work out. I'm rooting hard for Tugs, and I hope in the end she'll succeed in overcoming her family's history of misfortunes. Funny, fast-moving, and touching, I'm enjoying this one a lot.

And next on my to-read list: the middle grade novel OKAY FOR NOW by Gary Schmidt. I don't know a lot about this book, other than it's by the author of THE WEDNESDAY WARS, which is one of my all-time favorites (a book that made me laugh out loud as well as cry, which doesn't happen very often). It's also been recommended to me by people I respect, so I'm happy to have it waiting for me. The fact that I broke down and actually bought the book (rather than waited for it at the library) shows how highly I think of Gary Schmidt as an author.

What I am reading now...

As I've been working on my current novel, I've been seeking other novels written from 2 or more points of view. Two books, in particular, have stood out, and surprisingly they both deal with the World War II era.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows, is brilliantly written in the form of letters, revealing vivid personalities and unfolding in a compelling plot. Now that I'm finished reading the book, I miss the characters and am left with a huge desire to visit the Island of Guernsey.



Sarah's Key, by Tatiana De Rosnay, is another captivating and heart-wrenching novel told from two very different perspectives.





On a different note is Passing The Music Down, a brand new picture book (Candlewick Press) by my friend, Sarah Sullivan, and beautifully illustrated by Barry Root. I had the pleasure of purchasing and reading it this past weekend when I was in West Virginia. This Appalachian story was inspired by the lives of two renowned fiddlers, and the lyrical words and vivid illustrations bring sweet mountain music to my ears.

What I am Reading Now

Franny Billingsley takes a long time to write a novel. Too long for me to wait. But when that novel comes out, it's the best!

Author The Folk Keeper and Well Wished, she hit it again with a trillion starred reviews for Chime. This fantasy-mystery novel has been worth the wait.