The Abigale Chronicles - Book Blast and Reviews

Happy Thursday, good people of the blogosphere! Today, I'm gonna talk a little bit about my Middle Grade series The Abigale Chronicles, tell you a little about my special offer for the first three books, and share some of the awesome reviews they've gotten. Let's get going!

First, a little, personal story:
I wrote these books with a ton of input from my little girl. She has a wild imagination and thought how great it would be if she could be sucked into her books' world. Not into the story, but into the world behind the story. And what if she became the main character in that land. Perhaps someone who'd gone missing. So, I sat down and went crazy. Then it came time to design the book cover. What you see is the handwriting of a thirteen-year-old girl who lived next door to us. I couldn't have expected more authenticity and was thrilled. Each cover tells a little about the story to be found on the inside. I hope you all enjoy getting to know these books.

The Abigale Chronicles

by Jo Michaels

Book One Synopsis:
Abigale Fontenot is a twelve-year-old girl living in West Bluff, Louisiana, who believes she is perfectly ordinary. When she is threatened by a bully on her way to school one day, what happens causes Abigale to begin a new journey. She has to ask herself, "Is it real or is it all just a dream?" As Abigale learns in Book One, things are rarely exactly as they seem. Friendships are formed with unlikely people: a wizened old woman and Abigale's arch nemesis, Emmett, and with their help Abigale learns she is far from ordinary. Book One of The Abigale Chronicles will leave readers itching for more to find out for themselves just what in the World is happening to Abigale.

What reviewers are saying:
"I found this book very interesting. It puts the imagination into action. There is something for everyone no matter the age." ~ sweet pea

Book Two Synopsis:
Twelve-year-old Abigale Fontenot is struggling to figure out whether her adventures are real or imagined. After an adventure with Amazonian women in book one, Abigale and Emmett have formed a bond through mutual trust and secrets, but Kristy has turned against Abigale because of it. Now, Abigale again finds herself in a precarious situation with a city full of talking cats. Emmett is once more by her side as she faces down a vicious cat queen in an attempt to avoid certain death and restore the leadership of the city to its rightful owner. Will they succeed, or will they be roasted alive? What will happen when Kristy overhears the discussions about the adventures with Ada?

What reviewers are saying:
 "I enjoyed the 2nd book in the series better than the first, there was more action, and even though I don't usually like books with talking animals, I found this one fascinating." ~ Crystal Lee

Book Three Synopsis:
Abigale Fontenot is turning thirteen. Just when she thinks her birthday couldn't possibly get any worse, a new adventure takes hold. Abigale and Emmett are whisked away to a world of fantasy where knights, dragons, and princesses are the order of the day. Abigale is kidnapped by an evil prince in a nearby kingdom, and it's up to Emmett to rescue her. But Abigale finds that escape is not the most important thing; restoring the evil prince's kindness that has been locked away in a magical book by a wicked sorceress must come first. While Emmett is trying to rescue Abigale, she is trying to free the prince from his curse. Will she succeed in her quest before the evil prince kills Emmett, or will she fail and lose her new best friend? Will death matter if the whole thing is a dream, or are the adventures real and truly dangerous?

What reviewers are saying:
"Nice quick read. Written for somebody a little different from me, althought I still enjoyed it My niece just starting to read chapter books would probably love it." ~ Ray

Where can you get these books?
Amazon, Smashwords, B&N, iBooks, anywhere fine books are sold. They're just $0.99 each. You can find the links here: My Published Works

But wait! Last year, I released a special edition box set that has all three books and priced it at $2.99. For a limited time, this set will be just $1.95 on Amazon. The reduction was made recently, so be sure and check the price before you buy.

Here's the link for the 3 in 1: Gimmie the books!

If you prefer paperbacks, they're $5.99 each over at CreateSpace. They make great stocking stuffers for kids. Here are the links for those:
Book One
Book Two
Book Three

Remember, these books are geared toward those who are on a third grade reading level or higher. I wrote these books for my daughter and she simply loves them (she's eight). However, I also had a review on Smashwords from a young man who was fifteen and he loved them, too. So, I'd say the age range between those two is pretty bang on.

I hope you get a chance to grab a sample.

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo

Lionel's Christmas Adventure Blog Tour

Good morning, lovely people of the blogosphere! Today, I bring you a guest post! Please enjoy.

Hello there everyone, Paul R. Hewlett here. I'm a children's book author and today I like to discuss what it's like writing chapter books for children. First, I would like to than Jo for having me and Kathy at I Am A Reader Not A Writer for hosting the Got Great Giveaways Hop. Thanks also go to Candace at Candace's Book Blog and Lori at Pure Imagination for hosting the Saturday Situation Giveaway linky. I'm currently on the Lionel's Christmas Adventure blog tour, for a full list of dates click here. For a sneak peak at what the books about, watch the trailer below. Make sure to enter the Rafflecopter below for your chance to win a $25 Amazon gift card and a 3-pack of my ebooks.

Writing for the children's/middle grade age group that the Lionel's Grand Adventure series targets can be a challenge. One doesn't want to talk over their heads, but you don't want to dumb things down too much either. This age group is actually quite amazing. On one hand they are perfectly willing to accept magic and fantasy, but on the other hand they do not like having things explained over and over to them.

Another thing about this age group, in some cases the older reader might need things explained to them and are willing to accept and even expect it. This age group, not so. They are remarkable, particularly those that seek out reading, in their ability to make leaps without a lot of explanation. They are able, or at least more willing to do this than older readers.

The middle grade, and even the lower YA age, are really eager to be bigger and more grownup than they are. They really want to experience grown up things. I know that I loved Encyclopedia Brown books growing up for that very reason. Here was a boy my age that was working as a detective, solving grown up crimes. This age group really want to experience grown up things. It's important to use your main character for this. Kids usually relate to and want to read about characters a bit older than they are. As an example a nine year old will be happy to read about a twelve year old, while a twelve year old probably won't be interested in the adventures of a nine year old (unless it's Harry Potter of course).


It's important not to use too sophisticated of words. It is okay to use bigger words, but in that case it's best to define them within the sentence and story. If you can't do that effectively, it's probably too big of a word. I personally like to keep the sentence structure simple. I think that is goes without saying that 6-12 year olds are much more mature these days than I was at the same age, but I still don't see the benefit of complex sentence structures. One thing that I feel goes over particularly well with this age group is similes. Using the description "like" really brings things to life for this age group. Compare the following sentences.

"Well you better...hey! What are you doing with Ma's yardstick?" asked Feeney.

"Well you better...hey! What are you doing with Ma's yardstick?" asked Feeney, his jaw sticking out like a cash register.

Certainly in the first sentence it's obvious that Feeney is unhappy, perhaps even angry, but in the second sentence he is indignant, even outraged. It's simple things like this that are often overlooked when writing for older readers that really make the pages come alive for middle grade readers.

These are few of my thoughts on writing chapter books for children. I
think my favorite quote, from the Russian writer Maxim Gorky says it
best, "You must write for children the same way you write for adults,
only better."




I'd like to thank Jo once again for having me on her blog. Make sure to pick up your copy of Lionel's Christmas Adventure, available now on Amazon in paperback or ebook. If you haven't read any of Jo's books, make sure you take a look at them all here.



For more information about author Paul R. Hewlett click here. He co-authors a middlegrade/YA blog at SherAHart: My Written Art. Keep up with what's new on Lionel's Grand Adventure FB page.

 My next stop on the tour is tomorrow at Kindle Book Promos. Now onto the giveaway. As a thank you to the reader's, I'm  giving away a
$25 Amazon gift card and 3-pack of my ebooks. Be sure to leave a comment!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I hope you've all enjoyed this post! Thank you, Paul, for coming by and giving us a guest post talking about your books AND for the lovely giveaway!

Well, that's all for today, folks! Until next time, WRITE ON!

Jo