Too Big - #TeaserTuesday and First Chapter / First Paragraph / Tuesday Intros

     If you're looking for a book for an 8- to 12-year-old, you'll like TOO BIG by Judy Dearborn Nill. It's the story of Shelby Bradshaw (AKA "BIGshaw") who's large for her age and a target of bullies. Shelby has been offered a chance to skip fifth grade; but when she makes friends with an older girl, she must make difficult choices.

     Topics of bullying, peer pressure, self-esteem, and friendship are addressed in this thoughtful and true-to-life story.

     FYI: I've featured another of Ms. Nill's books for younger children (SAMUEL AND SOPHIA, A Tale of Two Teddies) on my blog HERE.

First Paragraph(s):
     Shelby Bradshaw threw herself into an empty bus seat. "I hate fifth grade," she muttered with a fierce swipe at her curly bangs.
     This had been the worst first day of school in her life. The ride home promised to be just as bad. Already sweat pooled under her legs, and her jeans stuck to the hot plastic bench. Shelby's glasses slipped to the end of her nose. Pushing them back, she twisted sideways to open a window. It felt like a hundred degrees in the bus.     

Teaser (from page 72 of my paperback copy):
Shelby glowered at them all. These boys had needled her about her weight, her height, her glasses, and her smarts every day for longer than she cared to remember.

Genre: Children's Book / Growing Up (Ages 8-12)
Book Length: 160 Pages
Amazon Link: Too Big
Other Books by This Author: Amazon Author Page

Synopsis (from Amazon):
Shelby Bradshaw seizes an opportunity to skip fifth grade for all the wrong reasons. She expects to escape the teasing she suffered all last year for being the biggest girl in her class. But her problems follow her, growing even more difficult when she tries to act older than she is.

Teaser Tuesday is hosted by The PurpleBooker. Post two sentences from somewhere in a book you're reading. No spoilers, please! List the author and book title too.
Link up HERE

First Chapter/First Paragraph/Tuesday Intros is hosted by Bibliophile By The Sea. To participate, share the first paragraph (or a few) from a book you're reading or thinking about reading soon.

Link up HERE

Kelly Marshall Interview

I'm over at Kelly Marshall's blog today, being interviewed. Stop by and say "hi." Comments are always appreciated.

Here's the link: Kelly Marshall News

Shelter Us - First Chapter / First Paragraph and Teaser Tuesday

Shelter Us is the story of a woman whose daughter died at the age of six weeks. Now, several years later, the mother of two preschool sons is still overwhelmed by her daughter's death and barely functioning. When she becomes obsessed with a young homeless woman and her baby, her life changes, and her marriage is in jeopardy.

I was hesitant to read this book, mainly because it involves the death of a child, but I'm glad I stayed with it. It was nicely written and edited, and the story was compelling. The author takes her readers deep inside her character, and the plot will stay with me for a long time.



First Paragraph:
     This Ferris wheel revolves faster than I remember. It was Robert's idea to come tonight. "A great way to say good-bye to the old year -- right kiddos?" Oliver and Izzy jumped up and down, squealing their agreement. There was no saying no. And so we ride.

Teaser from 11% on my Kindle (three sentences, instead of two):
True, I didn't plan on being a full-time mom, didn't expect my maternity leave to end in an abrupt resignation. But now that I have them, I wouldn't give up these days with my children, no matter how trying of my nerves and patience they can be. I should remember this feeling the next time Izzy throws a fit because I've sliced his sandwich the wrong way, or when I envy Robert's pristine law-school setting, where the young people in his charge respect his opinion, listen to every word--take notes, for Chrissake--and let him use the bathroom in private.

Amazon Link: Shelter Us
Length: 246 Pages
Genre: Women's Fiction

Synopsis:
     Lawyer-turned-stay-at-home mom Sarah Shaw is struggling to keep it together for her two young sons and law professor husband. Since the death of their infant daughter, her husband has been buried in his career, her friendships have withered, and Sarah remains lost in a private world of grief. Then one day walking in L.A., Sarah’s heart catches at the sight of a young homeless woman pushing a baby in a stroller—and saving them becomes her obsessive mission. An unlikely bond grows between Sarah and the young mother, Josie. When tragedy threatens Josie, Sarah discovers that she is capable of deceptions and transgressions she never imagined. Her lies unleash a downward spiral that will threaten her marriage, family and her sanity.
     Shelter Us speaks to the quiet joys and anxieties of parenthood and illuminates a place all parents know: that shadowy space between unconditional love and fear of unbearable loss.

Teaser Tuesday is hosted by Miz B of A Daily Rhythm. Post two sentences from somewhere in a book you're reading. No spoilers, please!

Link at ADailyRhythm.com

First Chapter/First Paragraph/Tuesday Intros is hosted by Bibliophile By The Sea. To participate, share the first paragraph (or a few) from a book you're reading or thinking about reading soon.

Link at BibliophileByTheSea

A Quilt for Christmas - Book Beginnings on Friday and The Friday 56

A Quilt for Christmas is the story of a woman whose husband enlists in the Union army to fight in the Civil War, leaving her to cope with running the family farm. It's also about friendship, courage, hardship, forgiveness, and family (and quilting, too). This is an engrossing 5-star book that paints a vivid picture of rural Kansas in the 1860s and shows the effects of war on the wives and children back home.
     Seems like I've been reading books lately that have Christmas in their titles. This one was a birthday gift from Sandra Allen, my friend (and I.O.U. Sex co-author). She knows I enjoy quilting and reading a good story, and she sent along some beautiful fabric (for quilting) too. 
Thank you, Sandra!

Book Beginning:
Prologue - November 20, 1864
     It was a fine fall evening. The wind carried the smell of rotting apples and wood smoke and a hint of frost that would likely come after midnight. The setting sun made the stubble in the fields shimmer like flakes of mica and sent rays of light through the clouds as if the Almighty Himself were casting down the fiery shafts. Far off were the night sounds of cattle lowing, and nearer, of chickens clucking. The wind swirled papery dead leaves across the porch.

Friday 56 (from Page 56):
Eliza put her hands over her eyes, then shook her head. Will wasn't dead, she thought. He couldn't be.

Genre: Women's Fiction / Historical Fiction
Length: 242 Pages (hardback)
Amazon Link: A Quilt for Christmas
Author Info: Sandra Dallas Website

Synopsis from the author's website:
The Civil War, 1864: Eliza Spooner’s husband, Will, has joined the Kansas Volunteers to fight for the Union. Confident that he will return home, Eliza helps pass the time by making a special quilt to keep Will warm during his winter months. When the unthinkable happens, she takes in a woman and child who have been left alone and made vulnerable by the war, and she finds solace and camaraderie among the women of her quilting group. And when she is asked to help hide an escaped slave, she must decide for herself what is right and whom she can count on to help her.

                         

Anyone can participate in Book Beginnings on Friday and The Friday 56.
Click HERE to connect to other Book Beginnings posts (sponsored by Rose City Reader)
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