Psssst!!! Come a little closer. I have a secret to share.

the Genie Scheme by Kimberly K. Jones

a review from a writers perspective

Do you ever have things magically disapper? Socks, toys, jewelry, books? Psst . . . . ! Come a little closer. I've got a secret to share with you.

I've done a little research on this "disappearing epidemic" and I found some interesting intel. The answer to this phenomenon? Genies. Yep. That's right.

I learned this info from Janna, a teen who feel like she lives in poverty because her mom drives an old car and they have to shop at second hand stores, showed a random act of kindness to a bag lady. Turns out this wasn't your run-of-the-mill bag lady. Nope! She was a Genie. Apparently when you show kindness to a Genie, this binds them to you as their master.

Janna was finally able to have everything she had ever dreamed about. Unfortunately, she learned very quickly that genies don't just *poof* things out of thin air. Anything that they give to you has to *poof* out of the possession of someone or someplace else. Janna learns that there are consequences to our greed and materialization of our wishes.

So . . . all those socks that you've lost, they've gone to some poor sap that needs to learn how to make better wishes. Missing books? Gone to some lucky reader who has a magical-endless supply of reading material.

Story: The Genie Scheme is a cute and humorous story best suited for the tween reader. I think an older teen audience would think the moral of the story might be too preachy.

Chracterization: The main character has realistic problems and realistic reactions to them, her character was written well. The genie is funny and likeable. I love the Genie!
The only downside to the characterization is that the "bad guys" fall flat. There seems to be little (if any) redeemable qualities in the antagonists making their personalities unrealistic. Also, there seems to be a blanket idea that all "rich" people are self serving and bad.

Voice: Each character had their own distinctive, consistent and believable voice. Great job on voice!

Overall this is a cute, fast and fun read. And with all our hopes and dreams building up in anticipation of the New Year, this is a good book to remind us to "be careful what you wish for because you just might get it!"

That lead me to ask . . . what do you wish for 2011 to bring?

Critter's new mom just started a blog!

Critter's new adopted mom has set up a new blog in honor of Critter's arrival. Please stop by her blog and welcome Sherri Carpenter and Critter to the blogosphere! http://followsherriandcritter.blogspot.com/

Critter is up for auction!

Click here to go directly to Critter's auction on e-bay!

It has been 15 month, and the time has finally come for Critter's auction! Along with Critter in all his autographed glory, I also made a nice little 20 page scrapbook documenting his travels. you can see the details of the scrapbook by clicking here http://www5.snapfish.com/snapfish/projectshareewelcome/l=2376313028/p=345131292260621756/g=1555904028/cobrandOid=1000/COBRAND_NAME=snapfish/otsc=SYE/otsi=SPBKlink/

this is a picture of what artist,Robert Bateman wrote on Critter's backside.


Are you just finding out about Critter right now? Who is Critter?
Good question.

For over 14 months Critter has traveled the world visiting talented writers, artists, and authors: while exploring their world. Christy Evers sent out Critter after an interactive art project, directed by the cutting edge artist, Ian Sands.

Critter has visited (and was signed) by PJ Hoover (author of the Forgotten Worlds trilogy) and the Texas Sweethearts, in Texas. Beth Revis in North Carolina (whose debut novel, Across the Universe, coming out in January 2011, is expected to be a HUGE success!). Christina Farley in Korea, New England with Nandini Bajpai, Illinois with Kelly Polark, (who is frequented in Highlights magazine), MG Higgins in California, Rena Jones (author of multiple picture books) in Montana, Cynthia Leitich Smith (NY Times best-selling author) in Texas, Bish Denham in the Virgin Islands, Jacqui Robbins (author of “The New Kid and Me”, and “Two of a Kind”) in Michigan, Tina Ferraro, (author of “How to Hook a Hottie, Top Ten Uses for an Unworn Prom Dress, and The ABC’s of Kissing Boys) in California, Cynthia Chapman Willis, (Picture book author of “Dog Gone” and “Buck Fever”) in New Jersey, Jill S. Alexander, (YA author of “The Sweetheart of Prosper County”) in Texas, Ellen Oh in Virginia, Alberta, Canada with Angela Ackerman (the blog-genius behind the “Writing Thesaurus”. The World-famous artist, Robert Bateman, also signed Critter (on his backside) as an honorary host.

Critter’s Travels have caused him to be beaten around the edges and cracked just a bit, but I think that adds to his charm . . . scarred like a foam-board Indian Jones (for St. Jude) or something like that. It hasn’t taken away from the integrity of the signatures, though. He has traveled the globe in 14 months. He looks pretty good (for being handled by the U.S. post office) The signatures of fabulous people (in addition to his worthy cause) well makes up for his worn edges. Upon his return trip to me he was cracked a bit, but it was easily repaired with super glue.

The winning bidder will receive THE autographed (by the notable people mentioned above) Critter as well as a 20-page scrapbook documenting his travels.

He will be shipped in the flag-case, as shown in the picture, along with the 20 page scrapbook (designed by Snapfish).

You can view Critter's travels on the sidebar of my blog at http://ChristysCreativeSpace.blogspot.com

%100 of the winning bid will go to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.