#forestofreading2017

Have you ever met someone who seemed to be effortlessly clever and charming? Did they leave you dazzled, suspicious, or a little of both? . Today’s letter of #mybookalphabet is Q for Quiz, my heroine’s dauntless street boy sidekick in A POCKET FULL OF MURDER. Though they get off to a rocky start when he crashes into Isaveth by accident and nearly gets her arrested, he soon makes amends by rescuing her from the neighbourhood bully. And as you can see from the quote I’ve included, it doesn’t take him long to win over Isaveth’s curious younger sisters as well. . More importantly, though, Quiz has a generous heart and shares Isaveth’s passion for justice — they’re both fans of the weekly talkie-play AURADIA CHAMPION, LADY JUSTICE OF LISTERBROKE, after all! — so when he finds out Isaveth’s father is in prison for a crime he didn’t commit, he’s eager to join her in trying to clear Papa’s name. Together they pedal all over Tarreton in search of clues, finding plenty of excitement and adventure along the way. But as Isaveth gets to know Quiz better, she starts to realize that her new friend has a few mysteries of his own… . Quiz is a nickname, of course: as he tells Isaveth, it’s short for “inquisitive” because he can’t resist sticking his nose into everything. Early in the drafting process his name was actually Quill, because I had some idea of him being a printer’s apprentice and would-be junior reporter for one of the local newsrags. But when I heard that the protagonist of the then-new Marvel movie GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY was named Peter Quill, I decided to change my boy hero’s name a little — and I’m glad I did, because Quiz is much more fun, I think! . . . #middlegradebooks #middlegradereads #middlegrademonday #MGlit #kidlit #pocketfullofmurder #apocketfullofmurder #uncommonmagic #forestofreading2017 #silverbirchaward #bookstagram #reading #bookish #bookworm #booknerd #booklover #bibliophile #booksofinstagram #fortheloveofbooks https://www.instagram.com/p/B-8Ud9jAxGs/?igshid=mlncs5q95ubu

For our third entry in #mybookalphabet, I had to cheat a little since I don’t have any characters or book titles that begin with X… but I do have an important character whose name ends with one, so today it’s X is for ERYX. . That is to say, Eryx Lording, the handsome, charming and idealistic political heir to the magic-powered city of Tarreton in A POCKET FULL OF MURDER. His father the Sagelord might be grossly selfish and indifferent to the needs of Tarreton’s poor, but Eryx is determined to win back the hearts of the working class and change their struggling city for the better. . As I was researching POCKET I did a lot of background reading on 1930’s Toronto (on which the alternate-universe city of Tarreton is based) and how the Depression affected Canadians in general. My twelve-year-old heroine Isaveth lives with her father and three sisters on Cabbage Street, an allusion to the old Cabbagetown neighbourhood later known as Regent’s Park which was one of the poorest areas of Toronto during the Depression. The political rallies and protests in the story reflect those that were going on in Canada at the time, as so many citizens found themselves unemployed and desperate for the basic necessities of life. . Isaveth’s determination to support her family by baking spell-tablets and selling them on the street also echoes the real-life, not nearly so magical efforts of many young girls of Toronto’s past. But Isaveth has more than money to worry about, because her beloved papa has just been falsely accused of murder and taken away to prison. So when Eryx Lording heroically steps in to rescue Isaveth from a tight spot, it’s no surprise that she ends up a little dazzled… . If you’re interested in finding out more about A POCKET FULL OF MURDER, you can find the first chapter on my website — or you can read the whole book on @scribd, along with its sequel A LITTLE TASTE OF POISON, for the next 30 days free! . . . #middlegradebooks #middlegrademarch #MGlit #kidlit #pocketfullofmurder #apocketfullofmurder #uncommonmagic #forestofreading2017 #silverbirchaward #bookstagram #reading #bookish #bookworm #booknerd #booklover #bibliophile #booksofinstagram #fortheloveofbooks https://www.instagram.com/p/B-DX10xgyeb/?igshid=wvnnb05qj9da