Thousand Tweets

Posted on October 3, 2013 by Regina Garvie

I’ve been on twitter for a while, even though I didn’t use it much for a long time. I don’t have a smart phone, so I’m not really into texting, and that made twitter less fun, I think.

Anyway. I wanted to see how long I’ve been on there. I tried a couple of online tools, and they all said I was typing in my username incorrectly, which I most certainly was not, thank you very much. Finally I found How Long on Twitter at TWOP Charts, which was nice enough to work, yay.

So here’s what I got.

Yes. I have been on twitter since May 2009.

I started learning about twitter to help my sister publicize her acting group for children, and to help spread news about my church. Now I don’t do the church info. My sister died in November of 2009, but I am still involved with the children’s acting group. My niece runs it now. It is just notable how much life can change. I went back to working at the newspaper after that, and did a twitter for the paper as well. Then the paper sold to another company and I ended up writing my novels.

That’s why I started getting into twitter. The Internet says that twitter’s where the action is, in the publishing business. I think they’re right. I’m following lots of agents and editors and writers on there. I’ve learned quite a bit and made some contacts, and I feel like I’m closer to that world than I would be without it. So I keep reading, and posting, even when I’m not really sure it’s the most comfortable place for me to be.

And this isn’t even what I was planning on writing about when I started today. I wanted to write about the thousandth tweet.

You might have noticed on the above chart that I am currently sitting at 999 tweets. This is monumental for me. I also have 123 followers, which is pretty mind-blowing. Everyone else on twitter seems to say such witty, fantastic things and I feel like the village idiot, blathering to myself in a corner and trying to fit in.

But the 999 tweets.

It seems like 1,000 tweets is kind of a big deal. How did I get to 1,000 tweets? I have a hard time coming up with anything to say on there. It’s hard being slick and fun in 144 characters or less, and I’m more of a “best left unsaid” type of person anyway. Well, mostly.

So when I saw that I was at 999 this morning, I froze. I tweeted last night a couple of times – no big deal – but I didn’t know how close I was.

I wish I had just gone over 1,000 and not noticed. But I did. This morning I noticed. Nine hundred and ninety-nine. And now it seems like it must not only be noticed, it must be commemorated.

But how?

Oh, sure. I could blow it off. Ha ha, one thousandth tweet. Or, wasting my life, 1,000 tweets. Or, celebrate! One thousand tweets! But it doesn’t feel right.

I’d like it to be more poignant. Something better. Something deeper.

But then that feels silly. It’s not really a milestone. it’s just a thousand tweets. That’s not really anything. It’s like rolling over to all zeros on a car odometer. It’s not a real thing. It’s only a thing because we make it a thing in our heads.

And still, I can’t stop sitting here with a little smile on my face. Because anything could happen today. It’s my thousandth tweet. Something fantastic could happen today, and I could give tweet about it.

And maybe not.

It’s almost exciting.

Almost.

What will be my one thousandth tweet?

What would you tweet about?

Business and pleasure at the Teen Author Talk

Posted on September 26, 2013 by Regina Garvie

Today I mixed business with pleasure when I visited a library in the next town over and listened to three Young Adult authors talk about their books and careers.

Oklahoma authors Sonia Gensler and Tara Hudson were in attendance, along with Tessa Gratton, who lives in Kansas. That’s pretty close.

My homeschooled trio came with me, along with my mom, who lives in Blanchard. We picked her up on the way and headed for the library in our van ‘o fun.

A class of high schoolers were already there, and they were joined by a pack of kids from the middle school. My oldest daughter is 13, and she was really interested by the whole thing. She loves reading but has never been into writing, but after the talk, she said she might try writing some short stories and see what happens.

All three of the authors talked about their books and the paths they traveled to publication. They were asked numerous questions by an audience that was a lot more attentive than I thought they would be – the speakers were that good.

We stuck around for a few minutes after and said hi, but I didn’t want to keep them, and we had to get back home for dance lessons and things like that, so with thoughts of short stories and autographed bookmarks, we filed back to the car.

It was good. I’m glad we went.

This was one stop on a big tour they did with all of the Pioneer Library system. They’ve been all over – to schools and libraries in Norman, Moore, OKC, Shawnee, etc. Sonia’s blog says they’ll be at Noble tomorrow night, and that’s the last one. It’s worth it if you’re in the area. Check out the details here.

And now I’m ready to get busy on a new Oklahoma author review for this blog – I just added Tara Hudson’s trilogy to my Kindle!

My darling daughter with authors Tessa Gratton, Sonia Gensler and Tara Hudson.

Golden Kite, Golden Dreams

Posted on September 20, 2013 by Regina Garvie

One of the neat things about being a part of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) is that it not only provides a fantastic support base and introduces me to new friends, it also opens the world of illustration.

If not for SCBWI’s inclusion of both writers and illustrators, I would have never met many of the interesting artists in our local group. I also wouldn’t have attended a beautiful art show.

The OKC part of our state’s SCBWI generally meets once a month at a magical, old-fashioned, wooden-shelved, rolling laddered(!) bookstore called Full Circle Books. Local people, it’s at 50 Penn Place, and if you haven’t been there, please go. Please.

But this month, we were invited to attend a special art show at Oklahoma City University, Golden Kite, Golden Dreams: The SCBWI Awards. We were hosted by Mike Wimmer, Department Chair and SCBWI member.

The different pieces of art were fascinating. Pictures representing winners from each year of the Golden Kite awards were on display, along with information about the artists and the books they appeared in. It was interesting to see how styles have changed over the years.

It also struck me how each illustrator truly has their own style. You hear it again and again – how each artist must find their own voice – but when the art was all lined up like that, it was apparent how true it really was. There was so much beauty in those pictures, and each person told it in their own personal way.

The exhibit will be on display at the Nona Jean Hulsey Art Gallery, on the Oklahoma City University Campus, through October 20, and is well worth a visit. The gallery is open 10 a.m. until 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. Golden Kite, Golden Dreams: The SCBWI Awards is presented by the National Center for Children’s Illustrated Literature.

Looking at all the beautiful artwork made me think of some of the beautiful scenes I remember from books. My mind immediately goes to the work of Garth Williams – his black and white drawings in Charlotte’s Web and the Little House on the Prairie books still tug at my heart when I see them – and the deceptively simple beauty of Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats. I know there’s more that I’ve loved and admired, but for some reason, those two illustrators are the first in my mind when I think about art that’s touched me in children’s literature.

Who are some of your favorite children’s illustrators?

The Dark Between

Posted on September 18, 2013 by Regina Garvie

When I was focused on newspaper and the small town I covered, I didn’t read much, excepting each newly released Stephen King novel.

Now I’m back to reading a lot – and most of my attention is on Young Adult novels. I don’t read too many new ones, since I’m trying to play catch up on all the great ones I’ve missed over the years.

The Dark Between, by Sonia Gensler, was released August 27, 2013.

I did get the opportunity to read a very new book this month, however, when I received a copy of THE DARK BETWEEN by Sonia Gensler.

Sonia is an Oklahoma author. Her first book, THE REVENANT, was published several years ago, but I read it in the spring and mentioned in on this blog in April.

Here’s the blurb about THE DARK BETWEEN, from Sonia’s website, soniagensler,com: At the turn of the twentieth century, Spiritualism and séances are all the rage—even in the scholarly town of Cambridge, England. While mediums dupe the grief-stricken, a group of local fringe scientists seeks to bridge the gap to the spirit world by investigating the dark corners of the human mind.

Each running from a shadowed past, Kate, Asher, and Elsie take refuge within the walls of Summerfield College. But their peace is soon shattered by the discovery of a dead body nearby. Is this the work of a flesh-and-blood villain, or is something otherworldly at play? This unlikely trio must illuminate what the scientists have not, and open a window to secrets taken to the grave—or risk joining the spirit world themselves.

Spooky, right?

And I’ve got to say – the three characters are all so well defined that I’m still thinking about them. The writing was crisp; the story was direct and clear. I really, really enjoyed this book.

And when I got to the end, I turned the last page and wished there was more. I hope she writes a sequel, because I’m not ready for story to be done.

To get your copy, on Amazon, click this right now! THE DARK BETWEEN

And there’s a trailer!

Disclaimer: I received my copy of THE DARK BETWEEN absolutely free(!) but not for review purposes – it was because I follow Sonia’s blog (even though I don’t really like tea) and she had a contest back in February for a free copy of Maurissa Guibord’s book, REVEL, plus a pre-order of THE DARK BETWEEN, and I entered on a whim, and amazingly won! REVEL was fantastic, and then, after all those months, having THE DARK BETWEEN appear in my mailbox was almost like Christmas. What luck that reading the books was just as enjoyable as winning them! Thank you, Sonia!

The Princess and the Pee

Posted on September 5, 2013 by Regina Garvie

Thanks to my lovely critique partner Gayleen, I have several books by Oklahoma authors to read and review. Of course, I’m taking forever on it, but I really have the best intentions of reading the books and getting them on here.

The latest one I’ve pulled out from the bag was a short children’s book, The Princess and the Pee, by Oklahoma author Susan A. Meyers. Admittedly, my first thought was Ew. Pee. I don’t like the word pee. Of course, with small kids, we use it sometimes, but I much prefer the daintier sounding “pee-pee” or even “tinkle.”

But besides that.

The book is about Princess Pia Scarlet, who wants to sleep on the top bunk so she can see the fireflies outside. Her sister refuses to switch bunks until Pia Scarlet stops wetting the bed. (The sister says “peeing the bed,” which the Fair Queen says is a rude term. I have a few things in common with the Fair Queen!)

Anyway, the girls made a bet. Since the sister understandably doesn’t want to be peed on, she tells Pia Scarlet that if she doesn’t wet the bed for a whole week, she’ll switch with her.

The book is very cute as it goes through Pia Scarlet’s seven nights of attempted dryness. The illustrations (by Manelle Oliphant) are lovely and add to the story.The book is fun, never preachy, and has been enjoyed by my six year old.

Susan is also a member of the Oklahoma chapter of SCBWI, and I’ve gotten the pleasure of starting to get to know her. I’m definitely looking forward to seeing more or her and enjoying the rest of her books. She’s a good writer and nice person too!

To learn more about Susan A. Meyers and her work, visit her website: http://susanameyers.com/

Anna Myers

Posted on August 14, 2013 by Regina Garvie

So, after reading Assassin by Anna Myers recently, I went on an all-out Myers binge.

I read Time of the Witches, Tulsa Burning, Stolen by the Sea, Graveyard Girl, Flying Blind, Fire in the Hills, and When the Bough Breaks.

I read them one after another. Some took me one day. Some took a little more.

I enjoyed them all, but my favorite, hands down, was When the Bough Breaks. I liked the complexity of the book. Instead of one storyline, there were two, woven together – and I liked both of them. Sometimes when I read a book from multiple points of view, I prefer one character and want the other to shut up and let me get back to my favorite. This time, both were intriguing. Both had terrible secrets – and both were satisfying to discover.

I also still love the little things you find in a book written by a person you actually know in real life. One of the storylines – the one featuring teenager Ophelia – includes a scene at the cemetery, which is across the street from the school. I’ve been to Myers’ hometown, and the cemetery in that town is indeed right across from the school. I was driving around, killing time before a SCBWI Oklahoma workshop, when I went by the school and noticed the cemetery nearby. I thought it was a little creepy and strange, and wondered what the students though. Later, when I read the When the Bough Breaks, I was delighted to see the school and cemetery put to use in literature.

Myers’ books are such a good way to combine fiction with historical events. We homeschool, and I think her work will be a great way to supplement history when we are doing studies this year. My oldest daughter doesn’t care for history, but I think that’s just because she hasn’t had it come alive for her yet. She enjoyed Assassin. Now I just need to add more historical fiction to the curriculum.

Time of the Witches – This one focuses on the Salem witch trials and the effect on the life of an orphan named Drucilla. She is separated from her bff, Gabe, and moves in with a crazypants woman and her weird family. After she and her foster sister start visiting the servant of the town’s new reverend, several girls, including Drucilla, start claiming they are being attacked by witches.

Tulsa Burning – A story of a boy named Noble who lives in the small town of Wekiwa and faces the Tulsa race riot of 1921. His friend is trapped in Tulsa, and Noble (nicknamed “Nobe”) goes into the burning city to find him. Wekiwa had a lot of twists with who was related to who – I would have liked to have seen a dossier on all of the people who lived in the town!

Stolen by the Sea – A girl named Maggie rides out the Galveston hurricane of 1900. I didn’t even know about this event before reading the book. According to Wikipedia, the Galveston hurricane is the deadliest natural disaster to ever strike the United States. An estimated 6,000-12,000 people died. In the book, Maggie stays in her home, struggling for survival with the help of Felipe, a Mexican boy from the orphanage who works for her father.

Graveyard Girl – Another new event for me – the yellow fever epidemic in Memphis in 1878. I loved the newspaper quotes at the beginning. I also adored a quote from Grace, the Graveyard Girl, about life and death. This was a library book, and I meant to write it down before I returned the book yesterday, but of course I didn’t. Figures. I did not really love the artwork on the front, and I was surprised at how that colored my view of the title character. It reminded me of someone, and that was hard to shake. On Amazon there’s a different cover for the paperback, which obscures Grace’s face. I wish I’d seen that one first.

Flying Blind – Told from two points of view – a young boy named Ben and…wait for it…a macaw named Murphy! I enjoyed it. This book looked at the problem of plume hunting in Florida at the turn of the 20th century. The line between right and wrong isn’t so clear when Ben learns that two of the plume hunters are orphans that use the sales of feathers to survive. Plume hunting took a terrible toll on birds, with millions being killed every year just for fashionable hats for women.

Fire in the Hills – This one was about a girl in a tiny Oklahoma town who loses her mother and cares for an ill military deserter during World War I. I liked the main character, Hallie, quite a bit and wouldn’t have minded this story going on a little longer.

All in all, eight enjoyable books. I probably should have spread them out a little more so I could give each one a post. Or maybe I should get back to writing my own novels.

When you find an author you like, do you rush and read everything by them that you can get your hands on? What authors have inspired you to race through all their books?

The writing mom

Posted on July 31, 2013 by Regina Garvie

It is hard to be a mom sometimes. Okay. It’s hard a lot of the time.

I stress and worry that I’m not a good enough mom. When I worked in newspaper, I had to put in my 40 hours a week even though I worked from home. I went out to interviews – kids in tow if it was daytime hours – and sometimes hid on the porch so I could talk uninterrupted to mayors and police chiefs on the phone. Favorite kid memory from that era – stopping in front of a burning house and snapping a picture from the car, then waving to the fire chief. “Kids in the car! I’ll call you!” I shouted, and he waved back in agreement.

Small town.

Now I’m in a corner of a different room in the house with my laptop, but I’m still trying to do it all. Headphones help to muffle the bickering of three (sometimes four) children while I slip into the worlds of my novels. A chapter here…a few sentences there.

I write what I can. I spend time with the kids when I can. I take a break from writing to make lunch or put laundry on the clothes line or admire a newly-captured baby frog. Or to yell at someone to clean up their mess. It’s not all sunshine, for sure.

And instead of feeling like I’m doing an adequate job at writing and at parenting, I feel like I’m doing a mediocre job at both.

I guess it’s my perfectionist nature.

Easter Egg coloring…yay Mom!

When I look at all I’ve accomplished: three awesome children and several completed books – I’m kind of impressed. But when I look at dishes stacked up and stains on the carpet and messy bedrooms and unrevised novels, I feel like I’ll never match up to what I’d like to be.

A friend posted a link to a blog post today that made me feel a little better. I need to remember to read it often, and try to live by it.

I’m not Supermom. I’m a real mom. That is enough.

http://rachelmariemartin.blogspot.com/2013/07/why-being-mom-is-enough.html

Assassin

Posted on July 13, 2013 by Regina Garvie

Even as a kid, I always loved Oklahoma authors.

We didn’t buy a lot of books, but read every S.E. Hinton and Bill Wallace book at the school library. I read “A Dog Called Kitty” when I was pretty young. One of the librarians probably turned it face out, so I noticed it. Then I read the blurb about the author. Bill Wallace…from Chickasha? Chickasha, Oklahoma? That was our county seat. It was only half an hour away. And a real-live author lived there?

Didn’t get to S.E. Hinton until later – junior high or high school. Probably high school would have been the first time they would have had her books available for us. But still. Published as a teenager? From Tulsa? What?

I understand how kids like writers to be accessible on Twitter or blogs nowadays, because that’s how I felt about Wallace and Hinton. The fact that they lived in my state – saw the things I saw and knew the places I knew – made them more accessible to me…more real to me. I felt a kinship with them. I almost felt like I knew them. Reminds me of Twitter.

I think it’s unfortunate that I missed so many other Oklahoma authors, and I’m sure there’s more. I’m trying to find them all now.

I like to think that my librarian would have pointed me to Anna Myers, had she been published then. Her first book came out in 1992, the year I graduated from high school. I apparently missed its release.

I met Anna this year. She’s the regional head of the Oklahoma Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI), and she’s fantastic. I liked her so much, in fact, that I sought out her books. She’s had nineteen (19!) published.

I started with her first, Red-Dirt Jessie. I enjoyed it, so I picked up the next one, Rosie’s Tiger. That one was good too. They were both middle grade, which really isn’t my favorite genre, but they were well-written and had good ideas and storylines.

And then I was in the library the other day, looking at the YA section for something new, and her books caught my eye. (They’re on the top row in my library, and I don’t even remember seeing them before!) Assassin looked good. I grabbed it, and a couple others, and checked out. Went home and cracked it open.

Oh, My. Word.

So good. So very good.

Assassin tells the story of Bella, a young girl who finds herself between John Wilkes Booth and Abraham Lincoln. The handsome, charismatic Booth uses her to help him with his plot to kidnap Lincoln. Even though Bella knows what’s she’s doing is wrong, she helps Booth anyway, endangering the president and causing her to lose the trust of the boy who’s always loved her.

This is spot-on good historical fiction. I read every word and sped through the book. I haven’t read a lot of YA historical fiction, but you can bet I’m going to keep reading these! I also recommended it to my 13-year-old daughter. I know she’s going to enjoy this story too – and even learn a little more about the time period to boot, like I did.

I’ve moved on to Time of the Witches, and it is proving to be as mysterious and exciting as Assassin.

Now I can’t help thinking of what else I’m missing.

I wish the library would have a list of all the books by Oklahoma authors. Full Circle Bookstore in OKC does a pretty good job of identifying books by local writers, but it would be nice if the library would do it too. I know that reading a book by someone from my state meant a lot to me as a kid (and now). I imagine there are other young men and women who would feel inspired and encouraged by these writers, just like me.

Do you have any ideas on how to raise awareness of local authors and their work?

S.E. Hinton and Taming the Star Runner

Posted on June 19, 2013 by Regina Garvie

When I was a teenager, our high school library had four S.E. Hinton books: The Outsiders, Rumble Fish, That was Then, This is Now, and Tex.

Guess which four S.E. Hinton books I read as a teenager.

I didn’t even know there were any others. That was the only library I got to visit very often, and that was pre-Internet. We had a copy of Books in Print, but it wasn’t that much fun to peruse.

And S.E. Hinton is seriously awesome. She wrote The Outsiders when she was in high school. High school! It was published her freshman year of college. And she’s from Oklahoma. Tulsa…but that’s still close enough to me to be incredible. She was a teenage me’s dream – a young writer of amazing books from the same state I was in. It was almost too much to be believed.

She’s still active in the writing community and interacts with fans online. She is on Twitter (and has replied to my tweets – bliss!) and did a big Q & A on Goodreads this week. She’s done some books for children and adults that are in my To Be Read pile.

ANYWAY! S.E. Hinton wrote one more young adult book – Taming the Star Runner, which was published in 1988.

I was at the Mustang Library the other day, being a grown-up creeper in the young adult section, as usual, when I saw Hinton’s young adult books. I saw the original four, and then I spotted Taming the Star Runner.

My mind puzzled at the name. Taming the Star Runner? I wondered if it was sci-fi and pulled it off the shelf. Even with the horse on the front, I still figured it was going to be in the future or something.

Well, that was wrong. The Star Runner is a horse. Not a space-ship-y thing.

It’s about this kid named Travis, who loves to write but doesn’t love his stepfather, and gets sent to live with his dad’s brother in Oklahoma. The uncle has horses and kids come out for lessons, and people board their horses there. The instructor, Casey, owns the Star Runner, this wild-acting stallion. Casey also becomes Travis’ love interest.

I liked this book for several reasons.

First, I really connected with the horse aspects of the story. I know Hinton loves horses, and it’s obvious she knows her way around a barn. My daughter actually has a horse and we board it near our house. My daughter also takes lessons there. Having this experience really let me see the books’ horse stuff clearly in my mind. There was even a horse show in the story, and we’ve done that too. I still feel awkward at the barn and at shows, but it was neat reading about it in the story.

Second, Travis is a writer, and he has sent his book off to a publisher. Now, I’m sure that Travis’ experiences are not exactly S.E. Hinton’s, but I imagine she let some of her life shine through these pages. Travis’ thoughts and emotions during the submission and revision process felt almost like a mini-biography of Hinton’s life during publishing of The Outsiders. As an aspiring author, that was a real gem tucked away in the book.

Third. Dang, just reading a S.E. Hinton book again was good. She’s a great writer. Taming the Star Runner was different than a lot of the books I see today. Young Adult books today seem to really have to be quick paced to make the cut. Every page is just go, go, go, go, go! Every plot line and action is sharp and purposeful. Taming the Star Runner feels more like real life. There’s not always a huge incredible climax. Sometimes life just happens, and it’s not whiz-bang capers all the time. This book is more about feelings and emotions and less about action – although there is a big action scene at the end that was almost too fast for me to keep up!

I’m a little sad that unless she writes another, I won’t be reading another young adult book by S.E. Hinton again (at least for the first time.)

She was the person who first taught me that a kid from Oklahoma could be an acclaimed author, writing books she loved. She planted the seed that allowed me to start work on a first novel when I was in high school. That book was never finished, but I still think about it sometimes. Maybe I can do something with it in the future.

S.E. Hinton still provides inspiration to me today.

Do you have a favorite S.E. Hinton book? Who inspires you?

The Babbs Switch Story

Posted on June 2, 2013 by Regina Garvie

Last week I found another book by Oklahoma author Darleen Bailey Beard. I had never read The Babbs Switch Story and had no idea what it was about.

The Babbs Switch Story is fiction, but is set amid the real story of the town of Babbs Switch, Oklahoma.

I consider myself kind of a Oklahoma history buff, but I did not recognize Babbs Switch as the community where a tragic fire burned a schoolhouse and killed 35 people in 1924. I also feel like I should have at least realized Babbs Switch was a town name, based on the train car and tracks on the cover. The Sooner Switch is near my town, and I know that is a place that was used as a train switchyard. I didn’t connect the dots, however, and thought that the book must be about a girl named Babbs Switch.

The book is actually about a girl named Ruth. The book opens with the death of a kitten, killed by her mentally disabled sister Daphne. Daphne doesn’t mean to kill the kitten – she loves soft things, and she doesn’t understand that squeezing them tight can hurt them.

When Daphne almost hurts a neighbor’s baby, the girls’ parents decide that Ruth shouldn’t sing at the Christmas Eve celebration at the schoolhouse – to protect both girls from accusations from the other townspeople. Ruth is angry. She sings the big solo each year at the celebration, and her “daffy” sister is ruining it for her.

This leads up to the fire that destroyed the schoolhouse and took the lives of thirty-five people. Before the sun rises on Christmas morning, Ruth realizes what is truly important.

Marker at the site of the fire

I liked this book. Like I said before, Oklahoma history is one of my big things, and I had heard about this story. I know the site is near the Wichita Mountains, and for some reason, I think we might have gone there at one time and seen the monument there. But…I have a terrible memory for someone who likes history so much. I’d like to go see the monument next time we’re over that way, just in case I’m just dreaming that I was there.

This book had a lot of difficult themes – from the death of the little kitten at the beginning to the horror of the fire and aftermath. I think some children might not be ready for this subject matter, even if it was at their reading level, but it would be a good book for a classroom of students studying Oklahoma history. It really brought the event to life.

On another personal note, I was surprised when another of the kittens was named Nutmeg. I thought I was being so creative when I suggested that name for my daughter’s cat.

And, even more of a shock was the name of Ruth’s friend’s big sister. LeNora. That’s my daughter’s name (except we don’t capitalize the N.) When I ran across that name in the story, I flipped to the copyright date – 2002. My daughter was born about two years before…and I personally know Darleen Bailey Beard. She used to live in the same town as us, and we went to the same small church. They moved away years ago, and we haven’t been in contact until recently.

I don’t know this for a fact, but it seems awfully coincidental that her character would have the same uncommon name as my little girl. I’m going to have to choose to believe that the inspiration for LeNora came from my daughter’s name. And I like that very much.

Of course I recommend this book! Maybe it’s not right for younger kids – especially very sensitive ones or those who might harbor excessive fear of fire. But I do think that it is a well-written book that adults and older kids will learn a lot from – both about the true fire at Babbs Switch, and about the fictional relationship between a young girl and her unconventional sister.

Great link with reprints of stories from the Oklahoman about that awful night.