Announcing October's Author in the Spotlight

Announcing October's Minnesota Author in the Spotlight.

It is a cold, rainy Fall day here in Minnesota and all I want to do is wear a warm sweater and snuggle under blankets with a good book.  Alas this is hard to do with my teaching load this semester. I am so busy.  I still manage to sneak in a few books here and there but my reading has really dropped off as I read student papers, and educate myself on my subject matter.

I'm excited about this month's author.  Alison McGhee, is a former teacher and a prolific and varied author. She writes for children, teens and adults and has written 20 books.  Alison's newest book is for children and is called Star Bright, a Christmas Story.

I'm going to pick a few books of Alison's to highlight and I encourage you to go to her website http://www.alisonmcghee.com/ and Goodreads to check out the others.

Here are the synopsis from Goodreads:

Star Bright. A Christmas Story
This perfectly angelic and perfectly charming Christmas story offers a creative twist on the classic tale of the nativity, from the #1 New York Times bestselling creators of Someday.

The angels are aflutter: a baby is soon to be born! One small angel can tell this baby is especially special by the way the other angels are dashing and fussing about. And holy moly, are their presents extraordinary. The little angel wants to give a present too, but, what could she possibly offer that is as worthy as the others gifts?

At a loss for original ideas, she peeks over the side of her platform and spies something going on in the desert, a caravan of kings on camels, lost in the dark. And suddenly she knows she most do something, and does the only thing she can. Because the greatest gift of all? It can't be wrapped. It can't be bought. It can only be selflessly, joyfully given. And it ends up being the perfect gift for that little baby, the shiniest gift at all.

Shadow Baby

Eleven-year-old Clara is struggling to find the truth about her missing father and grandfather and her dead twin sister, but her mother refuses to talk. When Clara begins interviewing Georg Kominsky--her elderly neighbor--she finds that he is equally reticent about his own concealed history. Precocious and imaginative, Clara invents versions of Mr. Kominsky’s past, just as she invents lives for the people missing from her own shadowy history. Her journey of discovery is at the heart of this beautiful story about unlikely friendship and communion, about discovering what matters most in life, and about the search to find the missing pieces of ourselves.

Snap

"Children will come away thinking they have heard something quite profound about love, fear, and hope for the future."

- Booklist (starred review)

Eddie Beckey makes lists for just about everything and everyone in her life. And for matters of real importance, she wears (and snaps) an array of colored rubber bands on her wrist. Unfortunately, the world is not always so orderly and knowable. No list can help her cope with what's happening to her best friend, Sally - or change the course of things for Sally's grandmother, whom Eddie has grown to love and depend on as well. With subtlety and insight, novelist Alison McGhee tells the story of a young girl's first encounter with grief, and of the enduring power of friendship.

This month you can expect a book review (hopefully two), a giveaway, an author interview and possibly a guest post.

Come back often and enjoy the frightful month of October.

Happy Reading!