Eyes Like Stars~ Day 3 (a bit late...)

So, the night before last I had some weird episode and ended up going to bed hours early, and getting 13 hours of sleep. I spent almost all of yesterday sleeping, and laying around, being incapable of really doing anything. Then last night when I was almost asleep my eyes opened wide and I realized I hadn't posted day three of the Eyes Like Stars tour..... so here I am giving excuses and trying to make it up by posting on Thursday.

I believe I promised a review and tour searching tips for today... so, open the curtain:

Bertie has lived in the theater for as long as she can remember. She doesn't know who her parents are, or why she lives in the theater. There are a couple people there who run different departments of the theater( and their squabbles are fun to watch:) ) but other than that there are immortal actors and actresses everywhere. Every character from every play ever written lives in this theater, and they cannot leave- The Book has bound them there.

But Bertie is not one of them. She doesn't really fit in anywhere. She continually seems to get in the way, doing things she shouldn't and pulling pranks. And finally the Theater Manager has had enough. He tells Bertie she must leave the theater forever, or find some way to make herself indispensable.

When I first finished the book I think I had an interesting expression on my face. (Kind of like the time I first tried coffee with french vanilla creamer...) The book had not been at all what I was expecting. For one, I had had no idea that it had romance. Not that that's a bad thing, I just wasn't expecting it. Also, I had had no warning that it was the beginning of a trilogy- so count this as YOUR warning. Its a trilogy and the story will not be wrapped up and finished on page 352 when the text reads 'CURTAIN'. Another thing was that Bertie was not the cookie cutter heroine I had imagined... she smokes, and she swears, and she isn't always that nice... And like many other people in this tour I was confused the first several pages.

But somehow the book grew on me (kind of like the coffee....). There was plenty of good in the book too. (I'm a bad news first kind of person). The fairies had some pretty good lines, and did a pretty good job keeping her balanced. Well, at least they tried to. Anyway, the allusions I caught were good as well. I havn't read much Shakespeare, but Macbeth has been on my mind lately (The Cousins Drama Club starts filming our version in just four days...) I recognized a couple lines from Shakespeare's script in Lisa's novel. The rest of the writing was well written, too. Maybe a couple scenes or paragraphs seemed forced, but other than that I was lost in the world of the Theatre Illuminata.


And now for Tour Searching Tips: (hmm, I'm having a problem with the links, so I just have lists of blogs below. Please look to the upper right column for the actual links....)

Each of these blogs have reviews up:

A Patchwork of Books
Abby the Librarian
Another Book Read
Becky
Dolce Belleza
The Friendly Book Nook
Becky's Book Reviews
Homeschool Buzz
Hyperbole
Never Jam Today
Superfast Reader
Through a Child's Eyes


A Christian Worldview of Fiction and All About Children's Books give their lists of strengths and weaknesses

For a list of the cast you can visit 160 Acre Woods and Homespun Light

For more information on Shakespeare, go to Homeschool Buzz

For some thoughts on a Midsummer's Night Dream, visit Never Jam Today
She also has a book give away open until the 17th.

For a list of other books you may like, visit Through A Child's Eyes.
She also has a list of activities and favorite quotes.

Close Curtain

Eyes Like Stars~ Day 2

And the curtain goes up on day two of the 'Eyes Like Stars' tour.

I promised an interview for today, did I not? So, without further to do, grab some popcorn and enjoy the show!

Marie: How long did it take you to write 'Eyes Like Stars' from the first glimmer of an idea to the last draft?

Lisa: I started in July of 2006 and finished the first draft three months later. Then it was editing and acquiring my agent (March, 2007) submitting the novel (May, 2007) and then three editing passes, galleys, page proofs, the Advance Review Copies, and now the final hardcover. So three years, start to finish!

Marie: Are any of the characters in your book based off people you know?

Lisa: The fairies are an ombination of my four-year-old and the wild conversations I have with my friends on the phone. And Bertie has some of my foibles and passions (like coffee.) The rest of the characters tromped in, already in costume and ready to go, just like they would at an audition.

Maire: Do you listen to music as you write? Why or why not?

Lisa: Not very often... I find lyrics very distracting, so if I listen to music, it's usually instrumental only. And I had "The Assassin's Tango" from the Mr. & Mrs. Smith soundtrack on repeat as I choreographed the Tango scene in the Properties Department.

Marie: Why did you give the main character, Bertie, the flaws that she has?

Lisa: Flaws are usually the flip-side of a character's strengths, so Bertie is persistent to the point of being pushy, tenacious until she ends up being obstinate about certain things. With the theatrical setting, I felt it was important for her to be a passionate character, so her reactions have extreme highs and lows, with lots of drama (sometimes self-inflicted.)

Marie: The ending of 'Eyes Like Stars' leaves plenty of room for a sequel, is there any information on that that you can share?

Lisa: I'm just completing a set of revisions on the second book, Perchance To Dream, which will be out in the Fall of 2010. Then the third (and last) book will be out in 2011.

Marie: Please explain the dedication in your book that says: "For my mother, who left a half-crimped pie crust on the kitchen counter to take me to my first audition."

Lisa: I was seven years old, in the kitchen with my mom, who was baking a pie for some office function. The phone rang, and it was another parent from my school who also directed the local community college musicals... he was holding auditions for South Pacific and needed more kids for the chorus. I, of course, got skippity-excited over the idea, and my mom left the pie crust sitting on the counter to toss me in the car and drive me down to the theater. I felt that moment summed up our relationship really well... my mom has shown me nothing but love and encouragement and support my entire life.

Eyes Like Stars~ Day 1

Let the Tour begin!

Today I promised a lot of information, so buckle your seatbelts; here we go!

In the past I always glased past the Library of Congress Cataloging-in Publication Data page in the front of books, but recently I have been taking a closer look at them... you can sure learn a lot about a book from this page! Let me share:

Here is the summary it gives:

Seventeen-year-old Bertie strives to find a useful role for herself at the
Theatre Illuminata so that she won't be cast out of the only home she has ever
known, but is hindered by the Players, who magically live on there, especially
Ariel, who is willing to destroy The Book at the center fot he magic in order to
escape into the outside world.

But the Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data page has more than just a summary, it also has seven basic things the story is about... seven important aspects of the novel... and those are:

Theater, Magic, Actors and actresses, Orphans, Books and reading, Identity, and Theaters

Now for that information on the author I mentioned...

Lisa Mantchev:

• began writing as a young girl... writing short stories and even adapting Maeterlinck's The Blue Bird for May Day Festival when she was in fourth grade.
• was an actress too... starting when she was about seven years old. She acted through high school, and even went to college to study drama.
• not only acted in plays, but wrote them too.
• taught English, and created an after school drama program at that school.
• sold her first short fiction in 2002, and her trilogy in 2007
• lives in the state of Washington with her husband, daughter, and four dogs.
• enjoys beaches, climbing trees, making jam, and doing repairs with gue guns

And now for the last part of the first day of this tour... some websites you should deffinatly check out.

Of course you should check out the other stops on the tour... these people have read 'Eyes Like Stars' too and also have a lot to say about it... their websites can be found at the top of the side bar.

You could also follow this link to the officiall 'Eyes Like Stars' website. Here you can find a biography, a bibliography, interesting links, and even Lisa Mantchev's blog.

To find her blog, you could also click HERE.

And don't forget to come back tomorrow for an interview!

Eyes Like Stars~ Intro

Today, being Monday, as well as Tuesday and Wednesday are the days of Kids Book Buzz's blog tour of Lisa Mantchev's new novel 'Eyes Like Stars'. This is an introduction that will sort of preview what you can expect from me, a participant of this tour.

Today, I am going to give you some interesting information . We'll look at the Library of Congress Cataloging - in -Publication Data page of the book, some background of the author, and some websites you should check out.

Tomorrow plan on reading an interview I had with Lisa Mantchev.

And Wednesday I will post my review, and some tour searching tips.

If you look at the top right of the colum, you should see a list of links to the other participants in the tour. I will leave that list up until about Friday... but I will also link to them a couple times during the tour. You should check out some of their blogs this week because they will be posting some really cool things about 'Eyes Like Stars'.

Orientation and Second Chances

Last Thursday, Friday and Saturday I spent on the campus of Olivet Nazarene University where I will be attending in the fall.

Thursday was CLEP testing day, and a very interesting one at that. My dad and I had to leave at 6:15 am to get to the school in time for my 7:30 am test. The earliest test they offered. The ONLY one I was taking. But having all that time Thursday was good because it gave me a little more time to get used to the campus.

(I have been to the campus numerous times for all kinds of events, but I never really learned my way around. There was always someone with me who knew exactly where we were going, so I would blindly follow them :) )

The rest of orientation went pretty well... I met my room mate; they had everyone play late night games; I registered for my fall classes; I got into all the classes I wanted to; I know my way around campus a lot better now; my room mate and I got our second choice dorm; although my phone almost died searching for service, it didn't; and I am becoming more and more excited about going to school there.

Four of my friends are also going to Olivet, and two were there early on Thursday too, so we hung out. One of them was taking 4/5th of the CLEP tests, so the other girl and I spent a lot of time in the testing building waiting to find out how she did.

There was another kid in the hall where we were who was reading 'Catcher in the Rye'. I overheard him telling someone that his school had them read it a couple years ago, but he didn't really like the book then, and now he was giving the book another chance.

Well, of all the books to give a second chance! Personally, I would be fine if I never had to read it again.

But it reminded me of a 'book' I read this last semester in school. We read a few snippets from Gulliver's Travels, and I really felt bored by it. I mean, the snippets we read were all narrative, and I didn't understand a lot of the satire...

When we grazed over Swift's book like that, I had decided that this summer I would read the whole thing. But I kept putting it off. I knew that there was no dialogue, and that I wouldn't get most of the satire. I had tried a couple times, but I never got past the first three chapters.

Yet when I got home from orientation I picked up the book. I read. And read. And read. And I am glad I gave the book a second chance, because so far I am really enjoying it!

What books have you been putting off giving a second chance? Or even a first chance?

Dandelion Fire by N.D.Wilson

I read Dandelion Fire a couple months ago, but for some reason I never actually posted my review of it... there are actually quite a few books that fall into that category. I am thinking of implementing a new rule for myself; I cant start reading a new book until I have posted my review of the one I just finished. (we'll see how long that lasts :D )

Dandelion Fire is a sequel to 100 Cupboards, and a very good one at that. I don't know what to say, I have so much praise for it! Some things that happen are so unpredictable, but everything that happens is just perfect. Once again N. D. Wilson had me reading 100 miles an hour on the edge of my seat.

Henry is still staying with his Uncle, Aunt, and cousins in Kansas, but he gets a letter saying he has to come home soon. His parents are getting a divorce and there will be a lot to sort out. And Henry isn't sure he wants to go home... there was still so much he wanted to do! And then one day when he is outside just before a Thunderstorm he sees a dandelion that seems to glow as if it was on fire, and how he goes blind... so many things happen I am having a hard time trying to touch on them all! But something happens... Henry finds out where he is from and who he really is. His uncle learns a few things too...

May

This is the cork board in my room as of the end of May: