It’s another Marvelous Middle-Grade Monday!
Today, I’m featuring MG author Kai Strand and her Weaver Tales.
Visit the village of The Tales, where residents are called Word Weavers, and speak in story. Each book in the series is a standalone story with a new set of characters. All except the one little gnome-elf, Unwanted, who manages to stir up trouble whenever he grants a wish.
The Weaver a story of persistence.
In a town of word weavers, Mary suffers through her third year of Novice Word Weaving. Mary thinks her troubles are over when she meets a gnome-elf who grants her a wish. But instead of weaving a better story, she’s weaving strange yarn charms to accompany her still pathetic tales.
GuardianAngel Publishing, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble. Add to Goodreads.
The Wishing Well a story of not letting others define you.
Molly Minstrel is treated worse than Cinderella by her mom and sisters. When Molly meets the magical creature, Unwanted, she wishes her problems away. However, you must first understand what you need before knowing what to ask for. Molly will have to look within for the solution to her troubles.
Guardian Angel Publishing, Amazon, and Barnes & Noble. Add to Goodreads.
The Lumpy Duckling a story of friendship and expectations.
Lumpy may be hefty with a misshapen mouth, but he’s funny and the most loyal friend Wheezy could ask for. When she meets Unwanted, she casts a wish for people to be able to see her best friend like she does. Her wish nearly kills him.
Guardian AngelPublishing, Amazon, Barnes and Noble. Add to Goodreads
Excerpt from Lumpy:
Chapter One
Sneezy Wheezy
The only thing they have in common
is that they are best friends
“Now where has that girl gone?” Mrs. Frickles grumbled. “Eloise Talemaker?”
Eloise popped up from behind the lab table. A clump of frizzy red hair, an escapee from her pigtails, rested like a veil over her left eye. She blew at it ineffectively. “Here, Mrs. Frickles. I guess I was carrying my folder upside down, because my papers fell out. I’m just retrieving them, ma’am.”
The teacher lifted her gaze to the ceiling before taking a deep breath. A frequent reaction she saved for the girl who squatted to the floor again and continued scooping up her papers. “Very well, Eloise. Make it quick.” Glancing across the room she smiled fondly at Wendell and checked his name off on the roll sheet.
Not one to allow an opportunity to make fun of a less popular classmate pass her by, Tosh hissed a tale at Eloise.
“Sneezy Wheezy—such a klutz.
The start of class she is prolonging,
by dropping all her prized belongings.
She should just sit on her…butts.”
Eloise, or Wheezy as all the kids called her, shook her head. “Tosh, stick to horror stories. Rhyme isn’t your thing.”
“Horror?” Tosh crossed her arms over her chest and spun on her lab stool presenting her back to Wheezy.
Smiling to herself, Wheezy stuffed her papers into her folder. Tosh’s usual style of Word Weaving was actually a pretty standard storytelling voice, nothing close to horror, but Wheezy couldn’t resist the dig at the girl’s mean personality. With all her papers collected, Wheezy scrambled onto her own stool at the table next to Tosh just in time for Mrs. Frickles to start the day’s lesson.
About the author: Kai Strand writes fiction for kids and teens. Her debut novel, The Weaver, was an EPIC eBook Awards finalist. Her young adult title, King of Bad, soared to the publisher’s #1 spot in its second month and stayed on the Top 5 Bestsellers list for eight months. She is a (very lucky) wife and the mother of four amazing kids. The most common sound in her household is laughter. The second most common is, “Do your dishes!” She and her family hike, geocache, and canoe in beautiful Central Oregon, where they call home. Learn more about Kai and her books by visiting her website: www.kaistrand.com.
Thanks for featuring The Weaver Tales, Rose-Marie!