Book Review: Tacky the Penguin by Helen Lester and illustrated by Lynn Munsinger

Published 1988 by Houghton Mifflin Books for Children, ISBN 0395455367

Although this children's book is over 20 years old, its message can still reassure and inspire any child feeling like the odd one out.

Tacky the Penguin is a charming story about a Hawaiian shirt-wearing penguin who doesn't quite fit in with his polite and proper companions. Where they swim gracefully, Tacky jumps in with a cannonball. Where they sing beautiful songs, he squawks loud, tacky songs like "How Many Toes Does a Fish Have?" But Tacky's different style actually saves the day when hunters looking for pretty perfect penguins to trap and sell find Tacky instead.

Lynn Munsinger's bright illustrations add layers to the story told by Helen Lester. One of the things I found most enjoyable about this story is despite the potential for making Tacky a despised outcast, the illustrations show the other penguins treating Tacky with a bemused tolerance, and they continue to spend time with him. As for Tacky himself, he is always smiling and seems to be blissfully unaware of how his antics disrupt others. His earnest nature shines through, and no one ever seems truly upset with him.

Helen Lester tells her story with an engaging rhythm that small children will love. The sentences are short and several phrases keep popping up (like "Tacky was an odd bird") that kids will love to read over and over. There are even two short songs, encouraging children to make up music and sing along.

But Tacky the Penguin's real charm lies in its message that individuality has its own advantages. Anyone who has ever marched 1-2-3, 4-2, 3-6-0, 2 1/2, 0 will recognize Tacky's unburdened comfort with being himself.

Making Modern Names More Fantastic

When I'm creating a new character, no matter what genre I'm writing in, I like to start with the name. Names carry a lot of baggage, and it's not so much the way a name sounds but how it looks on the page that gives it personality. A name can be a great way to get to know a character, especially a fantasy character.

I find baby names books especially helpful for finding a great name that sparks life into a fantasy character. I prefer them to most of the fantasy name generators available out there because the resulting name has the same rhythm and cadences as the modern name, without the harsh anachronism of seeing a contemporary name in a historical or fantastic setting. Here's an example of one of my own name-tweaking sessions for my fantasy Zephyr's Awakening.

I started out with my trusty 35,000+ Baby Names, skimming the boy's name section until I hit Darren. Pretty modern, but already a fantastic cultural history from Bewitched (always a good idea to be aware of the cultural connotations when picking a name). Other suggested spellings: Darin, Daren, Derren.

I took the final suggestion, and with a short list of my own adjustments, ended up with the name that went on to inspire one of my favorite characters, Dheren (who in a nutshell is a tender, quiet, quasi-immortal soldier-priest with a deep, secret, and potentially lethal passion for a holy avatar--and a fondness for gardening).

The great thing about this system of name creation is most of the names you end up with are easy to pronounce (not always readily available in fantasy names) and each version conjures up a different kind of personality for your character. To help you get started recreating modern names for your fantasy characters, here's a short list of ordinary, familiar, and possibly boring names that have been given a little touch of the fantastic:

• Mairi
• Alyss
• Jeska
• Lehri
• Danne

If you have any recreated names you'd like to share, please leave a comment!

Storytelling Inspiration from Ray Bradbury

Ray Bradbury is attributed with saying, "The most improbable tales can be made believable, if your reader,through his sense, feels certain that he stands at the middle of events."

So not only should all stories (not just fantasy and sci-fi) have believable worlds built around them, but authors are also responsible for relaying action, dialogue, and events in a way that the reader feels like a part of the story. In a nutshell, this is how good stories are written.

Book Review: Coraline by Neil Gaiman, illustrations by Dave McKean

Published 2002 by HarperCollins Childrens Books, ISBN 0-380-97778-8

If you saw this year's animated feature-length adaptation of Coraline and hated it, you should read this book. If you saw the movie and loved it, you should definitely read this book so you can kick yourself later for liking the movie so much.

Where the film's Coraline was whiny and petulant, the book's heroine is smart and resourceful, if a little lonely and bored. Her parents are not the bitingly impatient workaholics (who are crazy enough to move right before a critical deadline), but simply busy and tired from moving. Don't even get me started on Whyborn, or should I say Why-are-you-here-except-to-muck-up-the-ending?

If you can break away from the movie, or better yet if you haven't seen it, you'll find Coraline (the book) is funny, smart, and more than a little freaky. The deliciously creepy illustrations have a chilling effect late at night when you're tucked under the covers, as well they should with a terrifying Other Mother determined to sew buttons on to replace your eyes. You'll cheer for Coraline each time she discovers another clue, your heart will pound along with hers as she runs for her life, and when the story eventually ends, you can't help but wish for more.

Chisholm Trail Book Festival

I'll be attending the first annual Chisholm Trail Book Festival in Duncan, OK on Oct. 24th this year. The festival was previously known as the Border Queen Book Festival and was held in the small town of Comanche just south of Duncan, but since its move it has almost doubled in size and promises to be quite the event. Hope to see you there!

For more information about the festival (including a list of attending authors), click here.

Pronunciwhaticka? Creating Character Names in Fantasy and Sci-Fi

I think several writers come up against this problem every time they create a new character: giving that character a name he or she can live by, an unusual name that rolls off the tongue, that personifies everything that person has been through and embodies the difficulties to be faced in the coming pages. Many writers I've known, even published ones, sometimes overlook the simple matter of pronunciation when they dream up a character's name, to the eventual confusion of their readers.

Let's face it, if a reader can't read it, there's two possible outcomes. One, they'll stop reading the story, and that's something no writer wants. Two, they'll make up a simple alternative name to say in their head each time they read the character's name. When I began reading Deborah Chester's The Sword, half of the first sentence was a main character's name, and I had no idea how to pronounce it.

Tobeszijian.

I worked my way through it until I thought I had it right, but halfway through the chapter I found myself calling him Toby in my head--not nearly as regal and exotic as the name of the half-elf king was meant to be. (For those who are interested, the author pronounces the name TOW-bez-ih-GEE-uhn.)

One solution for this could be to take J.K. Rowling's path and pronounce the name as part of the story, like she did in Goblet of Fire, when Hermione taught Viktor Krum how to correctly say her name. Jacqueline Carey spelled her protagonists' names differently when foreigners spoke them to show pronunciation (Kushiel's Dart and sequels). Charlaine Harris simply included a pronunciation guide in her heroine's inner monologue for the name of her French-Cajun werewolf Alcide Herveaux: "Al-see, with the d barely sounded." (Club Dead).

It's easy to go overboard here and begin to patronize the reader, slipping in descriptions for pronouncing the name of every stablehand and chambermaid in your story. It's the names of your main characters that need the closest attention.

If it's important to you that your readers understand your character's names, take in consideration how the name looks on paper, not just how it sounds in your head. Exotic names can add flavor and texture to an alien world, but only if your readers are able to enjoy them. Ask friends and family how they would pronounce the name. If most of them are right, you've got a winner.

Storytelling Awesomeness: How Does Your Cat Get Food?

I came across this and it completely matches my own kitties' behavior at about 6 in the morning--every morning. It's hilarious in its accuracy! It's also a great example of visual storytelling with (almost) no dialogue. Enjoy!

"Wake Up Cat" aka "Cat Man Do" by Simon Tofield.

Some Storytelling Wisdom from Tom Hanks

This quote was attributed to Tom Hanks sometime around the Apollo 13/Saving Private Ryan/Cast Away era. It has given me something to think about every time I sit down to tell a story.

"I try to do what I call the three Es--educate, entertain, and enlighten. If you don't entertain, no one will show up. But you also have to educate, because people want to discover specific things about a world unlike their own--whether it's how hard it is to go to the moon or how scary it is to be on Omaha Beach. A story also has the opportunity to enlighten us, because as we connect the extraordinary moments on film with the ordinary moments of our lives, we ask ourselves, 'What am I going to do the next time I'm scared? What would it be like to say goodbye to my family for the last time?' Despite the fact that these movies are big engines of commerce, the characters remind us that we're part of a greater humanity and that we can actually affect the world by the choices we make once we leave the theater."

What are your thoughts about this quote?

Book Review: The Blue Sword by Robin McKinley

Published 1982 by ACE, ISBN 0-441-06880-4

Almost 30 years after its debut, The Blue Sword is still a must-have for any young adult's fantasy bookshelf. It follows a strong, independent teen heroine who finds herself full of questions and doubt as she becomes a bridge between two very different and antagonistic cultures, and unites them against a common threat.

Harry Crewe comes to live at the military outpost where her brother is stationed after the death of her father. The desert outpost is on the edge of the uneasy border between the Homeland empire and the remnants of Damar, a country where desert tribesmen wear robes and sashes, the horses are infamously well bred, and the royalty is rumored to practice magic. Harry begins to love her slice of the desert. Then one day, Corlath, king of Damar, comes to the outpost to warn of the threat of war with the Northerners. Although his warnings go largely unheard, his kelar--the Damarian magic--sees promise in Harry, and against his own wishes he abducts her. In the desert, Harry unlocks her own talents as she struggles to live within a completely foreign culture and save both her homeland and her adoptive country from an unimaginable threat.

The first two chapters of the book are a little slow, but things definitely pick up with the introduction of the desert tribesmen. McKinley's voice is wonderfully engaging, and her descriptions build a vivid, magical landscape as beautiful as it is harsh. Although there are many sword fights and battles, the story doesn't focus on the action or beat you over the head with the magic. It's full of subtleties in a way that many newer fantasies fail to accomplish.