Tuesday, November 13, 2018

The 5 W's in Story: Sandy Carlson's Tales of the Lost Schooner, Giveaway

The 5 W's of Stories
Hello and welcome to the Focused on Story blog. We continue with the popular series, The 5 W's in Storytelling. Guest authors tell us about the who, what, where, when and why in their stories. This week our guest is multi-talented author, Sandy Carlson. She's a Michigan writer, like me, so we have become friends online. Today she is sharing one of her books based on Michigan history written for middle-grade readers. Her thorough research of the times is evident in her book slipping in information about Michigan, so while the kids are reading and being entertained, by ghost stories in today's book, they are learning history too!

Giveaway: Please leave a comment to enter the drawing for a chance to win a paperback copy of the book to a winner within the United States or an eBook to a winner outside of the US. Deadline for entry is 10:00 pm ET, Sunday, November 18.

Hi Sandy! Welcome. I've taken my Dramamine so I can sail the Great Lakes on the schooner with you!


Tales of the Lost Schooner by Sandy Carlson
Historical fiction ghost stories set in the mid-1800’s

Thanks for inviting me to your blog. Hello to all who’ve dropped by to visit. Today I am sending out the 5-W’s of my middle-grade historical fiction novel, Tales of the Lost Schooner.

Who:
In the mid-19th century, 12-year-old Honor Sullivan finds himself and his two younger sisters as street urchins, abandoned by their mother. They decide to join The Orphan Train, taking children off the streets of New York to the frontier “out west” for a better life.

What:
Before getting on the train to their final destination, Honor is shanghaied to work aboard a schooner. He keeps planning on jumping ship (if only he knew how to swim) to reunite with his sisters. He knows the town destination is Dowagiac and is in Michigan, but that’s all. 

Where:
The story starts on the streets of New York City. Then we follow Honor on the schooner, The City of Cheektowaga, from Detroit and around Michigan’s lower peninsula to near the southern tip of Lake Michigan.

When:

1854, to be more precise.

Why:
Honor needs to find his sisters, make sure they are safe and placed out in good homes.

How:
To keep him from missing them so much, a shipmate tells true ghost stories from around the Great Lakes as they pass those very spots. (The reader also learns a lot of history of early shipping on the Great Lakes.)


If you’d like to leave a comment about how you deal with missing loved ones, please share. Thank you for visiting. Remember any comment will enter you in the drawing.



***
Tales of the Lost Schooner by Sandy Carlson
for Middle-Grade Readers


Back of the Book: 


The schooner’s captain pulled 12-year-old Honor Sullivan apart from the other orphans. Captain Klaus claimed he needed a strong lad like Honor for a sister he didn’t even have. But Honor has a sister – two of them. The last he’d seen of their fuzzy red heads was the end of September 1854, as they headed down the ship’s plank for the Orphan Train, going off to be placed out with a new family.

Tricked by the captain, and sailing around Michigan’s Mitten, Honor learns the ropes and duties of a sailor. He passes the time aboard down in the dark hold, listening to Old Salty’s tales of shipwrecks and ghosts. The stories won’t distract him for long, though. As soon as he can, Honor plans to abandon ship and go in search of his sisters.



Buy Link: Amazon


About Sandy:
Sandy grew up boating on the Great Lakes. She loves and appreciates each of the five in their unique ways. She also grew up telling ghost stories to her siblings, cousins and friends. Among other places,
Author Sandy Carlson
she’s lived in Cleveland, in Buffalo, in Wisconsin, and in Michigan – a state with 3,126 miles of freshwater coastline.

Filled with the wonder of history, longing adventure on the inland seas and loving story-telling, she’ll be a’tellin’ stories until the day she dies, me maties.


Click here to visit Sandy online at her blog.




GOOD NEWS: Dr. Bob Rich is offering a FREE BOOK EDIT for the winner in his current contest. I'm thrilled to discover my entry, Looking Through Rose-colored Glasses, made the short list! You can read the 1000 word submission along with the other entries at his blog, Bobbing Around. Click here to see the 10 entries. Vote for 3 of your favorites. Deadline for voting is December 23. Thank you.


4 comments:

J.Q. Rose said...

Sandy, so happy to have you as my guest today. I love to read historical fiction,but when writing it, the writer has to do so much research to get it right. Where do you find your information about Michigan in the 1850's?

Jacqui Murray--Writer-Teacher said...

This sounds good. I think this sort of hijacking happened to lots of kids back in the day. I like that this sounds fairly upbeat for a downbeat event.

J.Q. Rose said...

Thanks, Jacqui. I think kids would enjoy the story and learn something too! Thanks for stopping in.

Julia Jhonson said...

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