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Friday, June 21, 2013
Thursday, June 20, 2013
“Heaven must be a place where the library is open twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week.No...eight days a week. (Flavia De Luce)”
If I could live at the library, I would.
This quote I used as the title of this post perfectly describes how I feel. I would read all day, every day if I could!!
It also reminds me why I absolutely love Alan Bradley, author of the "Flavia deLuce" novels, beginning with "The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie."
The year is 1950, and Flavia is the youngest of three daughters who live in a crumbing old manor house in England. A gifted chemist, Flavia spends time in her lab dreaming of various inventive ways to poison her enemies, including her sisters. She also solves crimes; specifically, murders. The best part is: she's eleven years old.
Brilliant!
What also makes these books so fantastic is Flavia's voice. Somehow, the author has been able to create a character who is a mixture of so many things: she can be somewhat naïve, very sweet, astonishingly intelligent, and at times frightening. Some of my favorite "Flavia" quotes:
“If there is a thing I truly despise, it is being addressed as "dearie." When I write my magnum opus, A Treatise Upon All Poison, and come to "Cyanide," I am going to put under "Uses" the phrase "Particularly efficacious in the cure of those who call one 'Dearie.” (The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie)
“You are unreliable, Flavia,' he said. 'Utterly unreliable.'
Of course I was! It was one of the things I loved most about myself.” (The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag)
“Books are like oxygen to a deep-sea diver," she had once said. "Take them away and you might as well begin counting the bubbles.” (I Am Half Sick of Shadows)
“Seed biscuits and milk! I hated Mrs. Mullet's seed biscuits the way Saint Paul hated sin. Perhaps even more so. I wanted to clamber up onto the table, and with a sausage on the end of a fork as my scepter, shout in my best Laurence Olivier voice, 'Will no one rid us of this turbulent pastry cook?” (The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie)
“Cheese!" I exclaimed. It was a secret prayer, whose meaning was known only to God and to me.”
(The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag)
My secret, well rather public prayer, is that Alan Bradley will continue to write Flavia de Luce mysteries until the stars wink out. :-) His fifth in the series, "The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches," is due out in 2014. Yep, next year. I've already pre-ordered mine.
Flavia forever!
This quote I used as the title of this post perfectly describes how I feel. I would read all day, every day if I could!!
It also reminds me why I absolutely love Alan Bradley, author of the "Flavia deLuce" novels, beginning with "The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie."
The year is 1950, and Flavia is the youngest of three daughters who live in a crumbing old manor house in England. A gifted chemist, Flavia spends time in her lab dreaming of various inventive ways to poison her enemies, including her sisters. She also solves crimes; specifically, murders. The best part is: she's eleven years old.
Brilliant!
What also makes these books so fantastic is Flavia's voice. Somehow, the author has been able to create a character who is a mixture of so many things: she can be somewhat naïve, very sweet, astonishingly intelligent, and at times frightening. Some of my favorite "Flavia" quotes:
“If there is a thing I truly despise, it is being addressed as "dearie." When I write my magnum opus, A Treatise Upon All Poison, and come to "Cyanide," I am going to put under "Uses" the phrase "Particularly efficacious in the cure of those who call one 'Dearie.” (The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie)
“You are unreliable, Flavia,' he said. 'Utterly unreliable.'
Of course I was! It was one of the things I loved most about myself.” (The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag)
“Books are like oxygen to a deep-sea diver," she had once said. "Take them away and you might as well begin counting the bubbles.” (I Am Half Sick of Shadows)
“Seed biscuits and milk! I hated Mrs. Mullet's seed biscuits the way Saint Paul hated sin. Perhaps even more so. I wanted to clamber up onto the table, and with a sausage on the end of a fork as my scepter, shout in my best Laurence Olivier voice, 'Will no one rid us of this turbulent pastry cook?” (The Sweetness at the Bottom of the Pie)
“Cheese!" I exclaimed. It was a secret prayer, whose meaning was known only to God and to me.”
(The Weed That Strings the Hangman's Bag)
My secret, well rather public prayer, is that Alan Bradley will continue to write Flavia de Luce mysteries until the stars wink out. :-) His fifth in the series, "The Dead in Their Vaulted Arches," is due out in 2014. Yep, next year. I've already pre-ordered mine.
Flavia forever!
Thursday, May 2, 2013
Query and First 250 Words
Dear Mr./Ms. XXXX,
Fifteen year old Rosemary has arrived in Nice, France, with
one goal in mind: to escape the strict
confinement of her former life and carve out a place for herself as a new
member of the host family she’s purposefully selected. Her
mother believes Rosemary is in Arizona, while her best friend thinks she’s in
Paris. Her host parents think she came
to study art and learn the French language.
Only Rosemary knows the truth.
Once summer ends, she has no intention of returning home.
Rosemary soon finds that living her carefully crafted new life
is harder than she ever thought, as she tries to hide her lack of artistic
talent and the one thing about herself she hates the most: the communication
disorder that keeps her from speaking clearly. While dealing with her far-too perceptive host
mother and a guy who can’t seem to leave her alone as she juggles her many
lies, Rosemary soon uncovers secrets that threaten to destroy her only chance for
success. She is so desperate not to
expose who she really is that she may tell the biggest lie of all to stay, even
if that lie could destroy the life of someone who cares for her.
My contemporary young-adult novel, The French
Impressionist, is complete at 60,000 words.
I have been a member of the Society of Children’s Book Writers and
Illustrators since 2009. I’ve been a
speech-language pathologist for thirteen years, a profession that continues to
increase my love for children’s literature.
I appreciate your time and consideration.
Sincerely,
Rebecca Bischoff
THE
FRENCH IMPRESSIONIST
by Rebecca Bischoff
CHAPTER ONE
I’m here because I
lied.
I know it was
wrong. My heart stings inside me; but I
don’t care. I got away. I’m the only fifteen year-old I know who has
never been alone with a friend. I’ve
never been to the mall, never been on a date, never walked half a block by
myself. But all that is about to change,
thanks to my lie.
The world is no longer
black and white. Outside is a crayon
box-full of colors; with the blues melting together into a perfect painting of
sea and sky. Through the open shop door I smell the freshness
of the orange and bergamot trees that quiver outside in the soft Mediterranean
breeze, along with the scents of hot sun on sand, salty ocean, and a puff of
sweet vanilla air exhaled from a nearby bakery. A tram whirs by and clangs its bell. Voices pass the shop, murmuring in the
unfamiliar cadences of a foreign language, leaving behind a cloud of gentle
laughter. I start to laugh, too. I take in my freedom like a drowning person
gulps the air. No matter how many more
half-truths or fibs I have to tell, or how much bold-faced BS I have to spew,
I’ll do it.
I won’t go back home.
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