Rebecca M. Douglass, Author

Today's post is late, and not entirely up to snuff, because I have been traveling and had limited opportunities to work on it. I'll try to do better in future! Title: When You Reach Me Author: Rebecca Stead Publisher:  Wendy Lamb Books, 2009, 199 pages Source: Library digital resources Publisher's Summary: By sixth grade, Miranda and her best friend, Sal, know how to navigate their New York City neighborhood. They know where it’s safe to go, like the local grocery store, and they know whom to avoid, like the crazy guy on the corner. But things start to unravel. Sal gets punched by a new kid for what seems like no reason, and he shuts Miranda out of his life. The apartment key that Miranda’s mom keeps hidden for emergencies is stolen. And then Miranda finds a mysterious note scrawled on a tiny slip of paper: I am coming to save your friend’s life, and my own. I must ask two favors. First, you must write me a letter. The notes keep coming, and Miranda slowly realizes ...

Title: Paperboy Author: Vince Vawter; read by Lincoln Hoppe Publisher: Random House/Listening Library, 2013. 240 pages in hardcover. Source: Library (digital resources) Publisher's Summary: An 11-year-old boy living in Memphis in 1959 throws the meanest fastball in town, but talking is a whole different ball game. He can barely say a word without stuttering, not even his own name. So when he takes over his best friend's paper route for the month of July, he knows he'll be forced to communicate with the different customers, including a housewife who drinks too much and a retired merchant marine who seems to know just about everything. My Review: Paperboy is a good story, though at times it feels like it's taking on too much--coming of age and stuttering might be enough without the segregation issues. But that's the life the lead character gets (and, I gather from the Author's Note at the end, the life the author got), and the story doesn't try to reso...

  I recently ( thanks, Jemima Pett! ) stumbled on the Flashback Friday blog hop run by Michael G D'Agostino , and couldn't help thinking it would be a great help during the summer when I'm often on the road--or the trail--and can't post in the usual way. This is one of those weeks, plus Chuck didn't give us a prompt this week, so I've crawled around in the archives and hauled up and old story. A little dusting off, and here we go. From 11/31/2013: The Cat Did It Now, I’m not saying the cat was plotting to kill me.  But. It started with football practice.  I’m not really supposed to be there anyway, since no one thinks a girl should play football.  Mom says nobody should play football, and she was only letting me play as long as it was flag football.  That gave me one more year.  After that, the only options were to convince her I could play tackle ball or quit.  Maybe I could find a rugby team.  Bet Mom would love that! But at practice last week,...

  Title: Wintersmith Author: Terry Pratchett Publisher: HarperTempest, 2006. 323 pages. Source: Library I don't have the gall to review Terry Pratchett. But I'm happy to share the musings I've had while reading Wintersmith , the 3rd of the Tiffany Aching books. I'm happy to find there is one more. I shall savor the pleasure. I am a huge fan of Pratchett and his Discworld, and like to think about how he does it, whatever "it" may be. Here, in no particular order, are some thoughts engendered by Wintersmith . 1. Third Thoughts. Pratchett proved his genius when he came up with this one. We all know what Second Thoughts are. I'm going to eat a quart of ice cream. No, on second thoughts, that might not be a good idea. Third Thoughts stand outside the head and study it all, and probably argue with the first and second thoughts. Not everyone gets to have them, but I'm thinking that for a writer, Third Thoughts are the editor that can actually decide that the ...

Today I have the pleasure of hosting a stop on another Great Escapes tour and giveaway, for a fun sea-going mystery! Title: Oliver Twisted (An Ivy Meadows Mystery) Author: Cindy Brown Publisher: Henry Press, 2016. 280 pages ISBN-13: 978-1635110418 E-Book ASIN: B01DAPK14Q Publisher's Synopsis: Orphans. Thieves. Murder. And an All-You-Can-Eat Buffet! When Ivy Meadows lands a gig with the book-themed cruise line Get Lit!, she thinks she’s died and gone to Broadway. Not only has she snagged a starring role in a musical production of Oliver Twist, she’s making bank helping her PI uncle investigate a string of onboard thefts, all while sailing to Hawaii on the S.S. David Copperfield. But Ivy is cruising for disaster. Her acting contract somehow skipped the part about aerial dancing forty feet above the stage, her uncle Bob is seriously sidetracked by a suspicious blonde, and—oh yeah—there’s a corpse in her closet. Forget catching crooks. Ivy’s going to have a Dickens of a time j...

I'm beginning to conclude I work best under pressure. Every week I read Chuck Wendig's writing prompt , and think I'll jump right on that, have the story written by Monday, and for once have time to post it early. And every week I realize Thursday morning that I've not quite finished a draft (if I've even begun it), and every Thursday evening I end up editing the story at 9 or 10 p.m., barely making my deadline. This week is no exception. We were to start with a knock at the door. Here's the result, another bit of fun for JJ MacGregor of the Pismawallops PTA as she sits working upon a midnight dreary. I ran a few words over my 1000. Knock, Knock Rap-a-rap-a-rap! Thump! I practically crawled out of my skin when the knock—more like a pounding—sounded on my door. I was working late, trying to finish a short story, and the house was both empty and dark, aside from the light over my desk. Brian was at Justin’s house for the night so I was alone. It wouldn’t have been...

  Publisher's Synopsis: The author of A Gilded Grave returns to Newport, Rhode Island, at the close of the nineteenth century, where headstrong heiress Deanna Randolph must solve another murder among the social elite. With her mother in Europe, Deanna is staying with the Ballard family, who agree to chaperone her through the summer season and guide her toward an advantageous marriage proposal—or so her mother hopes. Relishing her new freedom, Deanna is more interested in buying one of the fashionable new bathing costumes, joining a ladies’ bicycling club, and befriending an actress named Amabelle Deeks, all of which would scandalize her mother. Far more scandalous is the discovery of a young man bludgeoned to death on the conservatory floor at Bonheur, the Ballards’ sumptuous “cottage.” Deanna recognizes him as an actor who performed at the birthday fete for a prominent judge the night before. But why was he at Bonheur? And where is Amabelle? Concerned her new friend ...

Today we are featuring a Great Escapes blog tour, for the cozy mystery Mrs. Odboddy, Hometown Patriot by Elaine Faber Publisher: Elk Grove Publications, 2016. 258 pages.   Source: I was given a copy of the ebook in exchange for my review as part of this blog tour.   Publisher's Summary: Since the onset of WWII, Agnes Agatha Odboddy, hometown patriot and self-appointed scourge of the underworld, suspects conspiracies around every corner…stolen ration books, German spies running amuck, and a possible Japanese invasion off the California coast. This seventy-year-old, model citizen would set the world aright if she could get Chief Waddlemucker to pay attention to the town’s nefarious deeds on any given Meatless Monday. Mrs. Odboddy vows to bring the villains, both foreign and domestic, to justice, all while keeping chickens in her bathroom, working at the Ration Stamp Office, and knitting argyles for the boys on the front lines. Imagine the chaos when Agnes’s long-lost ...

It's summer, it's Monday, and the Ninja Librarian has nothing new to say. Instead, enjoy this repost of a little Pismawallops PTA mystery, to kick off a sale on the books. For the rest of June, Death By Ice Cream will be just 99 cents for the ebook, and Death By Trombone just $2.99. Get a jump start on the series, as I contemplate returning to work on Book 3 (while Book 3 of the Ninja Librarian is with the beta readers). The Baffling Case of the Missing Socks A Minor Domestic Mystery “Mom!  I can’t find my socks!” There are few words more chilling to the heart of a mother on a schedule.  No use ignoring him, though.  I’ve known Brian almost 16 years, and he doesn’t give up. With a sigh, I hit “save” and turned from the computer to call up the stairs, “There were a dozen pairs in your sock drawer yesterday.” “I mean my new running socks.  The ones Coach brought me from Seattle.” I began the standard litany.  “Are they in your gym bag?” “No!” “Did you leave them i...

Our Chuck Wendig challenge this week was simply that the story must contain a map .  That fit nicely with a story I began writing (in my head) while on a hike a couple of years ago. You may draw whatever conclusions you like. 990 words. For Want of a Map “You said you knew the route. You said you didn’t need a map.” Rosa’s tone was deceptively calm, and Hal swallowed. After 27 years of marriage he knew when he was in trouble. “I, ah, must have missed the junction. It can’t be far back, though.” He tried to picture it, but he’d been thinking about a problem at work, and had really no idea where the junction had been. Rosa looked at her husband a moment, hands on hips, and let him squirm. Then she dropped her pack, opened the top pocket, and extracted a map. Unfolding it, she turned her back to the wind—and to her spouse. The effect was somewhat ruined when she had to dig in the pack again to extract her reading glasses. They never listed those in the “10 Essentials,” but after a cer...

Title: Where You Go is Not Who You'll Be: An Antidote to the College Admissions Mania Author: Frank Bruni Publisher: Grand Central Publishing, 2015. 218 pages Source: Library Publisher's Summary:  Over the last few decades, Americans have turned college admissions into a terrifying and occasionally devastating process, preceded by test prep, tutors, all sorts of stratagems, all kinds of rankings, and a conviction among too many young people that their futures will be determined and their worth established by which schools say yes and which say no. That belief is wrong. It's cruel. And in WHERE YOU GO IS NOT WHO YOU'LL BE, Frank Bruni explains why, giving students and their parents a new perspective on this brutal, deeply flawed competition and a path out of the anxiety that it provokes. My Review: Every parent of a kid finishing high school needs to read this book, or at least the blurb. Bruni's message is important, whether you are one of the parents gett...