OUR REVIEW:
Nate Rocks the City is the final book in the series by Karen Pokras Toz, and it does not disappoint. For all the Nate Rocks fans out there this is a bitter sweet moment for an awesome character. Nate Rocks the City is full of adventure and funny at the same time. There is never a dull moment between Nate, his friends, his annoying sister or his Mom with the worst cooking! This series is directed towards the middle school audience but don't let that stop you from picking it up for a younger reader, as my 7 year daughter old LOVES Nate and can't wait for me to continuing reading it at bedtime. Or you could even pick it up for yourself for a fun, light read! The adventures never end with Nate, and we are sad to see him go. I highly recommend Nate Rocks the City, or any book from the Nate Rocks collection for your children and/or as a gift. We are looking forward to seeing what Karen Pokas Toz does next.
Interview with Author Karen Pokras Toz: Creating the Perfect? Character
One comment I get a lot that always makes me smile is: “I love your characters – they’re perfectly flawed.” At first, I didn’t know if that was actually a compliment. Were my readers being sarcastic? But as I started reading more middle grade fiction (partly to get a grasp on the market and partly as favors from other authors who asked me to review their books), I noticed a trend: there were a lot of perfect ten year olds out there.
How was that possible? As the mom of three kids, I can tell you, there is no such thing as a perfect ten year old. There is no such this as a perfect eleven, twelve, or thirteen year old either. Get where I’m going here? So why create perfect characters in books? It just didn’t make sense to me. How can I say this nicely ... while reading some of these books, I found these perfect fictional children to be a bit, well, boring.
In my humble opinion, imperfect characters are much more fun to create. They can be goofy, nerdy, whiny, annoying, or whatever their little (or big) quirks and flaws are that make them interesting ... because when it comes right down to it – those personality traits are the things that make the characters interesting and fun ... both to read and to write.
Enter the Giveaway:
A GWR Publicity event paid for by the author. Happygreenbaby.com received a copy of the book to review, but received no compensation for the post. The giveaway is sponsored by the author who is responsible for the delivery of the prize.
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