Susan Uhlig

Ideas are the cheapest part of writing. They are free! The hard part is what you do with the ideas you’ve gathered.
Jane Yolen

Ideas are the cheapest part

Quote• Posted on February 20, 2018 by Susan Uhlig

Award Winners, So Many Good Books, YA Novels

Strange the Dreamer

Posted on February 14, 2018 by Susan Uhlig

Strange the Dreamer (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2017) by Laini Taylor is a fascinating book. And it just was named a 2018 Printz Honor Book. Woo hoo!
Lazlo Strange–foundling, loner, and now librarian–has always been fascinated by the Unseen City, or Weep as it is now called, the city that was cut off from the rest of the world 200 years ago. As a librarian Lazlo has made his own books about the Unseen City from every scrap of information he can find. He’s even learned to speak the language. So when visitors from the Unseen City arrive in the Kingdom of Zosma asking for help, Lazlo must figure out a way to make the trek to the Unseen City and find out what their problem is.
As I neared the end of the book, I wondered how Laini was going to pull off a satisfying ending, and she did, but I was thrilled to find out there’s going to be a sequel. Maybe even this year…
Read about author Laini Taylor and her books here.

If writing is easy, you’re doing it wrong.
Bryan Hutchinson

If writing is easy

Quote• Posted on February 13, 2018 by Susan Uhlig

MG Novels, So Many Good Books

Wonderling

Posted on February 12, 2018 by Susan Uhlig

Wonderling (Candlewick Press, 2017) by Mira Bartók is a touching story perfect for the middle grade reader.
The wonderling is an 11-year-old groundling (part animal, part human) with only a number instead of a name. Number Thirteen has only one ear and is foxlike, but has not tale. He lives in the Home for Wayward and Misbegotten Creatures run by Miss Carbunkle. Mistreated, overworked and bullied, he keeps his head down and does what he’s told. But he yearns for something more. His life begins to bloom when he makes his first friend, a young bird groundling he defends. Trinket gives him a real name, Arthur, and through an invention of hers the two friends escape the home. And that’s just the beginning of their adventures.
This book is Mira Bartók’s first book for children and will be the first of a fantasy series. I just read on the author’s website that a movie based on the book is in progress. Read more here. I’m looking forward to both.