Showing posts with label Beverly Stowe McClure. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Beverly Stowe McClure. Show all posts

What Makes a Home Perfect?

Author: N A Sharpe / Labels: , , ,



Frankie’s Perfect Home by Beverly Stowe McClure

Frankie wishes he had a perfect home. What exactly is a perfect home? ‘One that doesn’t have someone’s claw on his nose, or their tail in his eyes or their foot in his mouth’ he grumbles. Face it, with three brothers his mama and him, Frankie’s home is just too crowded.

The young armadillo makes up his mind that enough is enough and strikes out to find a perfect place to call his very own. He travels across the countryside exploring nooks and crannies everywhere: the muddy area beside the creek, a dark hole under a farmhouse, the corner of an old abandoned barn, the hollow log and even a tunnel secluded under the roots of an old tree that seems absolutely perfect until he discovers one small problem… it is already occupied…by someone really scary. On his adventure Frankie meets many of his neighbors, and some of them are not so friendly. He is sleepy and hungry…and very lonely.

Join Frankie on his quest and help him discover the most important thing he needs to make his new home positively perfect.

Ms. McClure is a talented storyteller and this well crafted tale will not disappoint. The illustrations by Alex Morris are a perfect compliment to this delightful story that children will enjoy over and over again.




Greenbrier Academy Cybrarian














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Caves, Cannons and Crinolines by Beverly Stowe McClure

Author: N A Sharpe / Labels: , , , , ,


Beverly Stowe McClure is an award-winning, multi-published author. In Caves, Canons and Crinolines she delves into the pages of history, bringing them to life in this young adult historical novel. The story has been inspired by events of the American Civil War, and chronicles the hardships and triumphs of her engaging characters as the horrors of war invade their lives.

Fourteen year old Elizabeth (Lizzie) Stamford and her family live in war-torn Vicksburg. The family is deeply involved with the war efforts – the father is a doctor working diligently in the nearby hospital tending to the wounded; brothers Willie and Joseph are serving with the troops in Virginia. Not unlike many of the surrounding families, Lizzie, her mother and young tender-hearted brother Nat, have to abandon their beautiful home after a shell comes crashing through the home. They seek refuge in a local cave and begin to set up housekeeping in this dingy hole in the earth in order to avoid the blast of cannons and gunfire. Every time the artillery fires the ground shakes and dust and dirt falls all around them in their cave. McClure’s vivid descriptions draw you right into the chaos and fear of the time.

I was immediately drawn into the story with the emotional letter from Lizzie to her brother Willie. She is quite upset with the separation of the family, and life is no longer as they once knew with the city under siege. Civilians are caught in the middle and no where is safe…not even the caves, but they do their best to find shelter and survive this ordeal…and the precocious girl hatches a plan. She cuts her hair, and, disguised as a young man, enlists to wage battle against their attackers.

Soon she finds war is not as black and white as she once thought. Living through the horrors of battle and seeing the fields littered with corpses, she is quite overwhelmed and overcome with it all and she quickly retreats towards home. In her journey she meets a Yankee soldier and finds he isn’t at all what she expected a Yankee to be like. She learns many life lessons in her adventures including compassion and the “enemy” is not necessarily the monster she imagined but, confusingly enough, has beliefs and ideals that are very much like her own.

I highly recommend this story. The characters are compelling, the story well written and thought provoking. Please, if you have a chance, stop by Realms of Thought for a guest post and interview with Author Beverly Stowe McClure!













Millicent Prendergild, Cybrarian
Cybrarian Chronicles
News from the Realms

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Just Breeze is Just Wonderful!

Author: N A Sharpe / Labels: , , , , , , , ,

Just Breeze
by Beverly Stowe McClure

The perils of middle school are real – ask anyone who has survived the ordeal, or is about to go through it. You worry about everything – about fitting in, having the right look, the right clothes, the “right” friends. Will you be popular…at least enough to not be a total social outcast? These are real worries that every middle-schooler must learn to deal with. Breeze Brannigan is no different.

Breeze is the tallest student in her class, towering over even the tallest of the boys. She has fire-red hair that is always out of control, wears shoes that she believes are “canoe sized”, and a blinding smile, literally…when the light hits her braces just so… you get the picture. All the boys in her class think of Breeze as a buddy, a pal, one of the guys as she is a “Ms. Fix-It” and can fix anything. Then there’s her family. A practically perfect older sister – you know the type: petite, blonde and (of course) the captain of the cheerleading squad; an annoying little brother (well, aren’t they all at that age?) and let’s not forget her mother…did I mention her mother is going to be one of her teachers this year?! Breeze does not have high hopes for her eighth grade year.

Enter Cam, the new boy at school and things are definitely beginning to look up. Cam is like no boy Breeze has ever known. He speaks with an accent that assures you he did not grow up locally. He’s…polite. What’s up with that?!? Obviously he must be from Mars, Breeze thinks. And…Cam has a secret. A big one that must be protected at all costs. Don’t you just love solving a mystery?

This is a wonderful story that captures the true spirit and angst of the character’s age. Ms. McClure is an excellent story teller with an innate talent for creating characters that are easy to identify with. You feel an immediate connection to both her characters and storyline. It is easy to recognize the life situations that are a sort of “rites of passage” we all navigate through and the author weaves an intriguing story around it all filled with style and grace.


This award winning book is a reader's choice favorite in the 2009 Editors and Preditors Readers Poll and it is easy to see why.



I highly recommend this book, not only for the young adult audience Ms. McClure writes for, but for anyone who enjoys a brilliant story with engaging characters. I have thoroughly enjoyed this author's work and can hardly wait to see what she will delight us with next.












Millicent Prendergild, Cybrarian
Cybrarian Chronicles
News from the Realms

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Just Breeze by Beverly McClure - Just Released!

Author: N A Sharpe / Labels: , , , ,


Just Breeze
by Beverly Stowe McClure
Visit: http://justbreeze.wordpress.com/ for a great new contest!


Product Description

Eighth grade starts out the same as every other year for Breeze Brannigan. She's still the tallest student, boy or girl, in her class, wears shoes that would fit an elephant, and her smile reveals dazzling braces that blind everyone within ten feet. Then she meets Cam, the new boy in school who speaks with an accent and must be from another planet, for none of the earthling boys she knows are so polite. He also has a secret, a secret that could mean life or death for Cam and his mother and that Breeze must help him keep.


If you are familiar with Ms. McClure's work you know exactly what I'm saying when I tell you I can't wait to review this one! If you're not familiar with her work - do yourself a favor and check it out! You won't be disappointed, she is a wonderful author of middle grade and young adult novels.
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Rebel in Blue Jeans (Beverly Stowe McClure) A Must Read for your YA Library

Author: N A Sharpe / Labels: , , , , ,



In the blink of an eye, Rebel Ferguson’s world turned upside down and shattered. Her mother’s announcement that she was leaving the family behind…to be with the drummer of a rock band came as quite a shock. This simply couldn’t be happening - after all, parents don’t run away….do they?

What an attention grabbing opening scene!

I thoroughly enjoyed Rebel and would most definitely recommend it. Ms. McClure has an amazing sense of the relationships between her characters. The characters in this novel are very realistic and easy to identify with. The story is told from the sixteen-year-old protagonist’s point of view and you are immediately pulled into her world. Having to cope with the imminent divorce of her parents, a budding romance with a childhood friend, and all the attention she is getting from a very cute college guy (who just happens to have a really bad reputation), Rebel Ferguson finds many challenges being thrust upon her and faces them with courage and humor. She is lucky to have the help of some compassionate friends that are determined to help in her time of need by providing the support and voice of reason she needs to get her past the feelings of betrayal and anger.

I think the author definitely knows her audience and young adult readers will relate to the contemporary theme of dealing with the parents’ pending divorce, the support system of friends and family teens rely on, dealing with new relationships and established relationships that take an unexpected turn into something completely new. Suddenly, it seems like everything Rebel depended on in her world has changed. She feels as though there isn’t anything she can count on – people are not what they seem and nothing is turning out the way she always thought it would. The author shows some tender moments where the teen identifies very strongly with her love for animals and all the pets she keeps in the country home.

Ms. McClure has done an excellent job of capturing the range of emotions the young protagonist is going through, the roller coaster of feelings from the cornucopia of life events she is experiencing. In the midst of all the serious and intense story threads woven into this tale, Ms. McClure has built in many humorous antics from some of the characters in this book to lighten some of the scenes and make this a very enjoyable read. I definitely give this book a five star rating and a place on my bookshelf with my other favorite books.

Rebel in Blue Jeans can be found at retailers where books are sold, online at Amazon, and through the publisher.

REBEL IN BLUE JEANS
By Beverly Stowe McClure

Publisher: Twilight Times Books
www.twilighttimesbooks.com
Genre: YA Fiction
ISBN: Paper: 978-1-933353-49-4
1-933353-49-X
1st edition October 2008