Middle Grade Monday: James Ponti Author Event

 

On Friday, I went to RJ Julia's to see James Ponti and Alyson Gerber.

I've seen James Ponti a few times before and he never disappoints. 

Read my recaps of each event:

Time 1

Time 2

Time 3

I reviewed EUROPA already, I adore this series.

The room was packed, which was nice to see.

Themes:

James writes four themes in his books:

1. Family Drama

2. Mystery

3. Action/Adventure

4. Humor 

* He writes about Family because of his own story.

Writing Advice:

1. Write something small and work up to a book - it's like training for a marathon, you don't go out and decide to run a marathon in one day. You have to build up to it. It's the same thing with writing. 

2. Read your world aloud. You will catch more mistakes that way - of even strangely worded scenes.

On Coming up with the concept for The Sherlock Society

There’s a lake near his house. There are nine benches around the lake. One day, he decided to walk about the lake to plot his book. At each bench, he would stop and ask a question. Each question would be harder than the last and he couldn’t leave the bench until he solved the answer to the question.

Example: The new book would be a mystery.

The kids would get around Florida thanks to their Grandfather.

Why would he be taking them around to solve mysteries? He had a vested interested as a former investigative journalist.

After two laps around the lake, he had the book figured out.

Book three: Art Attack comes out in September and I'm so looking forward to it!  

Why Europa is Dedicated to Suzanne:

When James was coming up with the idea for the Shakespeare Code, he remembered a conversation with former co-worker Suzanne Collins. He wrote her a quick note about it. She immediately called him up. They had the same conversation again and then spent time figuring out the code for this book. 

Our newest pictures:

Alyson was busy with other readers, so we didn't get a chance to talk, sadly. 

But what another fun night! 

Middle Grade Review: Europa

* Book 7 in the City Spies series * 

There's a chatter of a major attack coming. Tru asks her team to review the evidence. Her adult agents are looking at an attack on London, but the City Spies think it's happening in Paris. They have a way of looking at things a little bit differently. It helps that they're teenagers. Could this be the work of a threat they thought they contained?

My Thoughts: As this is book 7, I don't want to say too much. But I loved it! I loved the moments with Tru - and her puzzles, games, and history. I liked learning more about the history of spies in England. I even learned about art. I love books that make me research, and I did look up some of the art mentioned. This series is fantastic and honestly, I never want it to end. 

Cover Thoughts: Perfect

Source: Book sent for review

Library Recommendation: A must have series for your public and school library's collection. 

* this book comes out tomorrow