Before & After: Terry Lynn Johnson

Terry Lynn Johnson has a passion for sled dogs. Her own adventures with her team of eighteen Alaskan Huskies have provided her with a rich background to write from.

She's an award winning member of the Outdoor Writers of Canada for her magazine articles. DOGSLED DREAMS is her first novel. Learn more at terrylynnjohnson.com

Two main emotions:

Stage fright nervous. Like - omg, it's going to be available for ANYONE to read. (Yes, I'm aware this is a lame reaction. What did I think was going to happen?)

Promo frazzled. There is so much to think about and do! I've got a junior musher video contest in the works, blog interviews to set up, dogsled races to send promo packages to, book reading requests are coming in, as are school visit requests. And I've got a publicist that does most of the work! I had no idea promo would take this much time! The advice I've heard from published authors is "writing your next book is more important than promoting your last one." I was glad to hear this, and expected I would just happily ignore my new release. But, how can I not do everything I can to help its success? If I look back on it, I want to make sure I know I did the best I could.

So, I'm realizing that getting cranked and nervous about the whole thing was a slight waste of energy. The book came out. People are buying it (soooo thankful for those people). My family thinks I rock, (but not enough to get out of doing chores around the house) and all the stress and worry melted away as soon as I saw my book on a bookshelf. Such an amazing feeling! Now I have to concede that it's out there alone in the wild. Readers are keeping it alive. I feel so blessed when bloggers take the time to write a review! Or when I get an email from a young reader. That just makes my whole day!

Now, on to the second book!

Praise & Reviews for DOGSLED DREAMS

A captivating and exciting debut novel -- Superior Outdoors Magazine

...demonstrates the bond between mushers and their dogs, the devotion mushers feel for their dogs, and the lengths to which they will go to ensure their dog's well-being -- Pam Flowers, author of Alone Across the Arctic

Any teacher using Gary Paulsen's Woodsong would want Terry Johnson's Dogsled Dreams as a part of their classroom library -- Iditarod Education Department

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Review: Five Flavors of Dumb, by Antony John

Five Flavors of Dumb
Antony John
Dial Books (Penguin)
Hardcover; 352 Pages

Schneider Family Teen Book Award (2011)

The Challenge: Piper has one month to get the rock band Dumb a paying gig.

The Deal: If she does it, Piper will become the band's manager and get her share of the profits.

The Catch: How can Piper possibly manage one egomaniacal pretty boy, one talentless piece of eye candy, one crush, one silent rocker, and one angry girl? And how can she do it when she's deaf?

Piper can't hear Dumb's music, but with growing self-confidence, a budding romance, and a new understanding of the decision her family made to buy a cochlear implant for her deaf baby sister, she discovers her own inner rock star and what it truly means to be a flavor of Dumb.

I'm going to try to write this review without gushing too much about how it's one of my favorite reads of the century. I'm also going to try to prevent myself from ranting about how a GUY excelled at writing a book from a GIRL's POV. It makes me wonder if we females are getting a little too predictable/readable... Hmm.

I digress.

Okay, so, Five Flavors of Dumb IS on my list of best YA books of all time. I have backing, too. It's won the Schneider Family Teen Book Award and for good reason. Piper, your main girl in the story, is deaf. That doesn't make Piper an outcast in any way. She adapts well with reading lips and signing. As a matter of fact, Piper is pretty average yet strongly unique at the same time. What do I mean by that? She's smart, independent and funny, but she's not popular and never catches the eye of the popular boy at school. She sounds ordinary, yet she somehow manages to shine through on every page with her fierce determination and witty comments. She's also very human in that she has to deal with making mistakes, learning, moving on and struggles to understand her two parents who seem to put more time and effort into her infant sister than her.

The story grips you not in the way that most books do by its action, but rather its intense emotional roller coaster that you go on with Piper as she grows and finally breaks out of her shell. Just when you think she's going to give up, she pulls out more strength that you never realize she has and saves the day.

The supporting characters were all just as amazingly written, each with their own issues and quirks. I think the only ones I was annoyed with in the story was her parents, who drained Piper's funds given to her by her grandparents for college all so they could give her little sister a "chance to be normal" with a cochlear implant. The way they went about it was completely inappropriate and devoid of any concern for how it may affect Piper. If you ask me, it was almost selfish ... like they just couldn't bear the idea of having two deaf daughters. Thankfully, they do somewhat redeem themselves in the story. The love interest in the story completely blindsided me, although looking back I can say that it was there - I was just too wrapped up in other things to notice all of the hints at it within the story. I think of all the characters, Piper's brother Finn ended up with my heart. The love interest was all well and good, but Finn showed that he was much more than what met the eye - and my heart was pretty much jello there at the end.

I don't think that I can do this book justice by just writing a review. Instead, you should go out and buy this book. Read it for yourself, and I dare you to not fall madly in love with it.

Source: SFBR, Publisher

Avg Rating: 4.0

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