Using joke books is a great way to check your child’s comprehension - and guess what? Children LOVE jokes and funny riddles! Choose some joke books, funny poems, funny stories, or articles for your child to read. Observe what tickles his/her funny bone. Giggle with him/her and tell your child what you thought was funny. With time, as your child becomes better at listening and reading, he/she will laugh without any explanation from you. When this happens, you will know that his/her comprehension is increasing.

I would recommend some of the following books/authors to try this with: Shel Silverstein, Roald Dahl, any riddle or knock-knock joke book, Junie B. Jones, The Black Lagoon series, and there are many more. Maybe you could recommend some?

First of all, I just loved this book. There were many unique aspects to it. I loved the way we had a current mystery and the mystery of the past and what really happened in Grace Gulch through letters at the beginning of each chapter. How did you come up with this idea?

The heroine, Cici, loves the history that goes along with the vintage clothing she sells. She is eager to read Bob Grace’s letters to his fiancée Mary. As an author, I wanted to capture the land run experience for my readers, and what better way than with a first-hand account?

Secondly, the “mystery of the past” provides a motive for murder. Were Dick Gaynor’s accusations against Bob Grace true? Should the town have been named Gaynor Gulch, and not Grace Gulch? The answer still matters a great deal to their descendants more than a century later. The murder victim, newspaper editor Penn Hardy, wrote about the land run. Did he discover or cover up new information that would provoke someone to murder?

Cici runs a period clothing shop. I loved reading about the different pieces she carried. Is period clothing a hobby of yours or did you have to do some research for this?

No, period clothing was not a hobby of mine when I started. (It’s becoming one!) I read an article about a vintage clothing store and thought that it like an intriguing occupation with lots of possibilities for foul play.

Clothes and hair styles say a great deal about a time period or setting. I watch the television drama Cold Case, where detectives solve murders as much as seventy years old. Music helps set the time, but so does the clothing the characters wear.

Why did you decide to write a cozy mystery?

I’ve loved reading mysteries ever since I started with Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys as a girl. But I never expected to write one myself, until Barbour started a book club just for cozy mysteries: Heartsong Presents: Mysteries! (HPM) at heartsongmysteries.com.

I was already a Heartsong author (Romanian Rhapsody, Barbour, 2005) so I had a tiny advantage. If I ever wanted to write a cozy mystery, here was my opportunity to try. Three proposals later, I sold Gunfight at Grace Gulch as the first book in the Dressed for Death series.

What is the most rewarding part of writing for you?

Having written! The writing process is hard work; but I gain intense satisfaction from putting my thoughts and feelings and stories into words. My daughter died a little more than a month ago. Rarely has writing helped me, personally, so much, as working through my grief. I am blogging about it at darlenefranklinwrites.blogspot.com.

What is the most challenging?

I find writing synopses the most difficult to plan. Coming up with story ideas is easy. Writing a book, while not easy, is predictable. I plan to write about 2,000 words a day; it’s a specific, measurable goal. Writing a synopsis is different; I can’t say “I’ll plot 3 chapters today.” I can’t plot the first three chapters until I know how the book will end.

Can you tell I’m not a SOTP (seat of the pants) writer? Barbour requires chapter-by-chapter synopses, so that helped me develop the discipline of writing one; and they’re a huge help once I start writing.

Who are some authors you enjoy reading?

I’ll plug my great critique partners: Susan Page Davis, Rhonda Gibson, Lisa Harris, and Lynette Sowell. They are all multi-published authors and three of them are fellow HPM authors.

For a detailed list of my favorite mystery authors, check out my interview with Chris Wells at http://chriswellnovelist.blogspot.com/2008/03/q-darlene-franklin-gunfight-at-grace.html.

What are you currently working on and when can we expect another book from you?

2008 is turning out to be a banner year for me! I am currently working on the second book in the Dressed for Death series, A String of Murders, which is scheduled for release in late December. I expect to write the third and final book, Paint Me a Puzzle, for publication in 2009.

This fall, my first novella will appear in Snowbound Colorado Christmas. Four couples fall in love during Colorado’s worst-ever snowstorm, the blizzard of 1913. I wrote a perpetual calendar, 365 Fun Family Activities, for Barbour, and contributed several devotions to two volumes for single mothers and today’s woman.

Recently I learned that I have sold another romance. Check out my website (darlenehfranklihn.com) for details once I have the contract.

What is something you want your readers to know?

God’s love and grace meet us at the crossroads of our life. Rarely have I experienced that so strongly as in these recent days since my daughter’s death.

And finally, coffee or tea?

Caramel truffle decaf coffee, of course! Just like my heroine, Cici Wilde.

Thanks so much for the interview Darlene! I can’t wait for the next book in the series!

About the book:  Cici Wilde, owner of Cici’s Vintage Clothing in Grace Gulch, Oklahoma, is delighted when the centennial of Oklahoma statehood brings additional business to her store. Events take a tragic turn when an actor dies in the reenactment of the town’s most famous gunfight. Cici’s sister Dina and her childhood friend Cordell Grace are among the suspects. Will Cici and Audie Howe, director of the town theater, solve the mystery in time to prevent further tragedy?

 My Review: This is such a fun book.  I personally found it to be very original, I have never read a mystery quite like this one before so that made it all the more enjoyable.  Cici runs a vintage clothing shop and so there are fun descriptions of the clothes throughout, a bit of a love triangle, and current mystery alongside an older mystery.  Franklin’s prose is solid as well, which as you know for me is very important!  I highly recommend this book for lovers of cozy mysteries, westerns, and fans of a good story.  This novel is available through the Heartsong Mysteries book club.  You can find out more information about the Heartsong Mysteries book club by visiting Heartsong Mysteries.

Come back tomorrow for my exclusive interview with author Darlene Franklin!

As for me, I love going to a movie that I only half-way want to see or that I’m only seeing for a friend’s sake, and then LOVING the movie.  Isn’t that just the best?  Lord of the Rings was one of those for me.  Fantasy isn’t really my thing, but it was such a big movie that I thought I should just go ahead and see it.  Now even though it is not a short movie by any means, I still found myself at the end of it saying, “That can’t be the end!  They HAVE to tell us what happens next!”  I was pleasantly surprised by how much I got into the movie and then couldn’t wait for the next one to come out.

Books can be the same.  Sometimes we pick up a book just because we have nothing else to read or because it is a book we think we “should” read.  And every once in a while that book ends up being one of our favorites.  I cannot tell you how much I enjoyed the Mark of the Lion series by Francine Rivers.  I read them because a friend said I should.  And I could not put them down until the last word was read. 

So tell us - what book has pleasantly surprised you?   We’d love to hear from you.

Several posts ago, I mentioned that I was doing weight watchers and exercising with Leslie Sansone DVDs. I also have begun cooking at home more, which involves finding recipes for my crock-pot, OR easy enough recipes to fix in very little time when I get home from work. I found some excellent recipes in Dawn Hall’s books. AGAIN these books were a find at Sam’s Club, although lately I haven’t seen any of her books there. Ms. Hall also has books for the crock-pot, Christmas recipes, and a new one I just bought (but haven’t tried) named “Down-Home Cooking without the Down-Home Fat.” Another thing I LOVE about these recipes is that they use 7 ingredients or less. I’ve been looking seriously at cookbooks again since I began weight watchers and in most of them the list of ingredients is incredibly long. Just the thought of shopping for all of those gives me the hives! (I hate grocery shopping!)

I am just beginning to try the recipes in these cookbooks, but so far my husband and I have been very pleased with them.

A portion of the profits for these cookbooks goes to “Solid Rock” in Toledo, Ohio. Solid Rock attempts to reach inner-city kids and teens in Toledo, Ohio. The programs are establishing a moral foundation based on Biblical principles.

If you are like me, have a super busy life, but still want to cook and eat at home - I highly recommend Dawn Hall and her cookbooks. You can also visit her web site for some ideas of recipes and more information on her books - www.dawnhallcookbooks.com

When I student taught second grade, I learned the five finger rule for selecting appropriate reading material.  Tell your child to count the words he/she doesn’t know on a page.  If they get to the number five, the book is too hard for right now.  Tell your child that even though right now the book is too difficult, if he/she keeps practicing his/her reading, he/she will be able to read it in no time.  I love this rule, it’s easy and it works.

About the book: 

Look into the lace . . . When the eyes begin to fill with tears and the patience is long exhausted, there will appear a glimpse of something not quite seen… In this moment, an image will begin to form . . . in the space between what is real and what is only imagined.

Can you read your future in a piece of lace? All of the Whitney women can. But the last time Towner read, it killed her sister and nearly robbed Towner of her own sanity. Vowing never to read lace again, her resolve is tested when faced with the mysterious, unsolvable disappearance of her beloved Great Aunt Eva, Salem’s original Lace Reader. Told from opposing and often unreliable perspectives, the story engages the reader’s own beliefs. Should we listen to Towner, who may be losing her mind for the second time? Or should we believe John Rafferty, a no nonsense New York detective, who ran away from the city to a simpler place only to find himself inextricably involved in a psychic tug of war with all three generations of Whitney women? Does either have the whole story? Or does the truth lie somewhere in the swirling pattern of the lace?

My Review:  I really enjoyed this book.  The combination of pacing, unraveling the secrets of the past, and just incredible depiction of setting and casting of mood make it the kind of book you don’t want to put down.  The setting of Salem, Massachusetts is so well utilized in the story and developed that I immediately jumped on the internet to check out making a trip!

Having said that, there are a few things to be noted.  It’s a supernatural mystery and there’s a cult in the town called the Calvinists.  This was really confusing to me at first because I just thought they meant people who believe in predestination! :)  Also the book switches POV from present tense first person to third person which is something I generally don’t like.  It’s not too disruptive but the first POV change doesn’t take place until about halfway through the book, so it does feel like a surprise!

From the beginning, I was quite interested in learning about Towner, who she was, why she’d stayed away from her hometown for so long and what had happened to her Aunt Eva.  The story of the past unfolds in bits and pieces while the events of the present take place and you don’t feel that you have a really clear picture until the end.

Recommended to those who love character studies, supernatural mysteries, and rich settings.

The Lace Reader releases July 29, 2008 from William Morrow.  You can read more about the book, including the first two chapters,  here.

About the book: Lonely and a long way from her Iowa home, 12-year-old boarding school student Jeri McKane despairs when her mom can’t make parents’ weekend. Things get even bleaker when the bus carrying her roommate, Rosa, disappears! Does this reporter for the 6th-grade newspaper have the faith and courage to uncover the truth?

My Review: This is a great book for girls aged 8-12 who enjoy Nancy Drew or other mystery stories. Jeri is a fun character who wants to be an investigative reporter. She gets the chance to test out her skills when a busload of students from the school go missing. The setting is interesting and there’s enough snow in the book to make you cold while reading…which makes it a great summertime read! There is also some solid character development and lessons to be learned when Jeri discovers that things aren’t always as they appear.

The best thing is that if you preorder Fading Tracks from Amazon its only 4.99! What a bargain and a great way to keep your kids reading over the summer holiday.

Fading Tracks releases June 2008 from Zondervan.

Playful Professional won My Soul to Keep by Melanie Wells!  Congratulations!! Just email us at thefriendlybooknookATgmailDOTcom with your mailing address!!

If you are really interested in learning more about improving your child’s reading comprehension, or you are a home schooler, or you are a teacher, this is the book to get.  We were very blessed to have the author, Lori Oczkus do a workshop at our school last year.  She has tremendous ideas that help children with the comprehension skills of: predict/infer; question, monitor/clarify; summarize; and evaluate.  The book and cd include many reproducibles to support the strategies.  I have tried many of her ideas in my classroom.  They are fun, upbeat, and memorable.  The children learn.  Give it a try!