Our local children’s book discussion group (made up of mostly children’s book authors) met yesterday to discuss Ingrid Law’s Savvy. Fabulous book, by the way…and I’m not normally a huge fan of fantasy. But this is the kind of fantasy I like…fantasy that has some sort of anchor in what I think of as “the real world.” What I liked about it is the simplicity of the story, while at the same time this sense that there’s so much more to these characters than we’ve seen here…the voice…and sense of timelessness. It has all the qualities of a “classic.” (We ALL loved it!)
It’s also a book that truly appeals to all ages! My fourteen-year-old son is reading it (and enjoying it) now, but if I had a six-year-old daughter to read it to, I would think she would enjoy it just as much. How many books out there would appeal to that broad of an age range?
I wanted to ask everyone in the discussion group, “what is YOUR savvy?” or “what savvy would you LIKE to have?” (which are two different questions), but I forgot! I’ll have to ask them next time we get together. In the meantime, I’ll think about how I’d answer those questions myself. I think my savvy is probably the same as the father’s (which is how I became a published author in the first place). What savvy would I LIKE to have? I’d like to be able to travel through time…
I LOVED SAVVY! I’ve been raving to anyone who will listen how this is my favorite midgrade 2008 title. My family has read it. I’ve congratulated the author on the verkay.com boards where she hangs out. And I just ordered the audio CD so I can enjoy it again while I stuck driving for long periods.
As for my own SAVVY, it might be a way to make time stand still so I’ll never lose anyone I love. Of course there could be risks, here, like little kids not getting older. Sounds like a good plot twist (g).
I like your SAVVY! With my youngest starting high school today and my oldest still gone for the summer, the idea of time standing still is very appealing! (What would be really nice is to advance/rewind through time at your leisure!)
(Well, only advance to the current date/time)
Of course if time stood still then my newest book, due out anyday, wouldn’t ever hit the shelves or my eager hands. So maybe I’d have to figure out a way to make time curve in a way so the things I wanted to stay the same did but the rest of the world could continue on. We’re writers–we can do what we want…right?
Well, that’s why we’d stop time and restart it again at will…in fact, while we’re dreaming, how about we just speed certain things in our lives up (like book pub. dates) and slow other things down?