Scavenger Hunts - The Perfect Distanced Activity, Indoors or Out!

 

 

How I loved scavenger hunts as a kid! And my kids loved them too! So it's no surprise that, eventually, I wrote a children's book that centered around one, the book that came to be known as SEVEN CLUES TO HOME.

WHEN YOU’VE LOST WHAT MATTERS MOST, HOW DO YOU FIND YOUR WAY BACK HOME?

Joy Fonseca is dreading her 13th birthday, dreading being reminded again about her best friend Lukas’s senseless death on this day, one year ago — and dreading the fact he may have heard what she accidentally blurted to him the night before. Or maybe she’s more worried he didn’t hear.

Either way, she’s decided: she’s going to finally open the first clue to their annual birthday scavenger hunt Lukas left for her the morning he died, hoping the rest of the clues are still out there. If they are, they might lead Joy to whatever last words Lukas wrote, and toward understanding how to grab onto the future that is meant to be hers.

Booklist called SEVEN CLUES TO HOME, "a modern day Bridge to Terabithia" and Kirkus Reviews, "a heartfelt tour de force."

We believe it's a sweet, page-turning story about what it means to love, to grieve and to be a friend, a story about holding on to memories even as you pick up the pieces and move on.

May 24th is National Scavenger Hunt day. Scavenger hunts are the perfect physically-distanced activity, indoors* or out. And what better way to engage your readers more deeply with Joy and Lukas's story?! Reach out to me through social media -- or my email g.polisner@gmail.com -- for engaging book-related activities, including mini book-related scavenger hunts, or ways to connect your readers to this story about healing and hope, including free zooms for classrooms or bookclubs of five or more!

*always wear a mask indoors! :)

Sunday Shadowing on I-94 - Part 3: No love lost for Nick's Dad?

Colby Sharp & Jen Vincent pretending to fight over my book.

So, here's Sunday #3 in Jen and Colby's series on The Pull of Gravity. You can meet Jen and Colby, and read an introduction to the series, by clicking right here.

During week #1, Jen and Colby discussed Nick's relationship with the Scoot and the general themes of friendship in the story.

During week #2, they talked about Nick and Jaycee's romance.

This week -- oh boy! -- they talk about Nick's Dad.

By far, the Dad is the most controversial character in the book. He's the most obviously flawed -- outwardly and inwardly.

To me, he is also sympathetic. But not all of my readers agree.

For instance, while finding the dad's actions wrong, Colby struggled to relate a little:

"COLBY: If I lost my job as a teacher, I could totally see myself ending up like Nick’s dad. It would be so hard to lose your identity like he did. I’m not sure if I would gain 100 pounds or lose 100 pounds, but it would not be pretty."

 while, we had to, um, delete Jen's cusses:

"JEN: WAIT! I have to clarify something before we go on... (spoiler deleted from here but not from the actual post) . . . Because after that I can only think of him as a really big (use your imagnation). I know people make mistakes but some things are just wrong. I don’t see that as being Nick’s fault..."

And, both are great with me! Really! I love it! That's part of what makes reading so personal. We bring to it our own values, our ideas of what's right and wrong.

We also read things into the text that often aren't there. We make assumptions. We read these assumptions into the story as rote.

And, I love this too: that, as a writer, we don't know what a reader will bring. We take a reader as they come to us, and we must give them room to breathe. But it's an interesting thing to see play out. It makes each reader-writer experience we encounter richer and more unique.

Continued thanks to Jen Vincent at Teach Mentor Texts and Colby Sharp at Sharpread for the tremendous honor of this series.

- gae