Marvelous Middle Grade Monday
Heart of a Shepherd (Random House Books for Children, 2009) by Rosanne Parry is a lovely book. I enjoyed the intergenerational relationships, the faith of the main character, and a look into a military and shepherd family’s life.
12-year-old Brother (Ignatius) is not happy. His dad, who is in the Reserves, has to go to Iraq. His older brothers are away at school and he and his grandparents have to keep the ranch going. Brother thinks that keeping the ranch the same will help bring his dad home safely. But sheep ranching is not really his thing.
Here’s encouragement for other writers from Rosanne’s site: “It took me seven years to go from my first idea for Heart of a Shepherd to a finished book. But in those seven years I also wrote another novel, two mysteries, lots of short stories and many newspaper and magazine articles.”
I next plan to read Second Fiddle, another book by Roseanne about military families.
Great first line: “I’m alive today because I was grounded.” How could you not read on after that?
The title of the book Wild Things (Boyd’s Mills Press, 2009) by Clay Carmichael fits in so many ways: a wild main character, a wild cat, and other things you’ll have to read to discover yourself.
In Finding Family (Bloomsbury, 2010) by Tonya Bolden we get to see the characters grow and change in this historical middle grade novel set in 1905 Charleston, West Virginia. Author Tonya Bolden was Inspired by old pictures to create the story. Here’s a brief summary:
Selling Hope (Feiwel and Friends, 2010) by Kristin O’Donnell Tubb is one of those fascinating stories with characters so real you want to meet them. Here’s an introduction: