CM Magazine recommends Midnight-Blue Marble

As Cole Porter said, "Make 'em laugh, make 'em laugh. Don't you know all the world needs a laugh?"

Well, CM Magazine got lots of yuks over my adventures in Midnight-Blue Marble. The result: a solid CM recommendation! As Marie Antoinette would say, a thumbs-up is way better than a heads-down.

Not sure what the reviewer means by calling me "scatterbrained," though. I don't think I am. Well ... okay. Let's just say I'm open to many different ideas at once. And there's nothing wrong with that.

Here's an excerpt from the review:

"This engagingly silly mystery pits a scatterbrained, impulsive heroine and her longsuffering friend, Feezer, against a strict aunt, a perfectly accomplished cousin, an assortment of nasty villains and a puzzle hidden in a pack of letters. ... the farcical action and slapstick humour make for a light, easy read, with a few facts about Marie Antoinette and the French Revolution thrown in for good measure ... Jackson uses real historical events (there was a scandal involving the French queen and a necklace, though Jackson modifies it considerably) but tells them in a chatty first-person voice ...

"This is just a fun ride, and, if the reader comes away with a few facts about the French Revolution, she probably won’t even notice!"

Oh, Marie: answers to some Midnight-Blue queries

Bright, inquisitive young readers plied Melanie with questions about glamorous, doomed Marie Antoinette (1755-93) the other night during her visit to Christianne Hayward's Lyceum. Having studied The Midnight-Blue Marble as part of their Chronicle Crusaders activities, the kids were fascinated by the tragic French Queen who lost her head to the sharp caress of Madame Guillotine in the French Revolution. The Crusaders wanted to know: How did Melanie become interested in Marie Antoinette? Answer: the mystery of the extravagant diamond necklace. No one has ever figured out just who craftily disguised herself as the Queen and stole the necklace from two Parisian jewelers. In MBM, Melanie postulates her own theory.

Another question: was Louis XVI really fascinated with clocks, as Melanie depicted him in MBM? Answer: mais oui. Louis adored taking clocks apart and putting them back together again. A pity he didn't notice that his country was falling apart around him!

Now, for some Crusader comments on MBM: "Best book that we've read in Chronicle Crusaders." "Totally awesome." "Really scary." This last one from a reader who ran off and hid when we discussed the guillotine. So ... we'll chop this post off now.

Thanks to Dr. Christianne Hayward for deeming MBM worthy of Lyceum study, and for inviting Melanie! As for the French Queen, what can one do but throw up one's hands and exclaim, "Oh, Marie!"

Peeling the crust off the story of Little Jack Horner's pie

Anne Boleyn notwithstanding, some people enraged Henry VIII and got away with it.

This week my author, Melanie Jackson, talked with students at Vancouver's Wilfred Laurier Elementary about the chilling history of the mystery. Nursery rhymes, a key part of my presentation, are quite inappropriate for the nursery, Melanie explained to my increasingly avid listeners. (Amazing how the more bloodthirsty a topic is, the more it happily resonates with audiences.) I've already gleefully described Mary, Queen of Scots, so I won't go into Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary -- about Mary's none-too-subtle bombing of her husband's house.

Instead, let's pull up a chair and join Little Jack Horner as he delves into his Christmas pie. Here's the story behind that particular ditty:

It seems a businessman eager to please Henry VIII followed the custom of placing a boon, or gift, inside a pie. Enter his courier company, i.e., Jack Horner. Crafty Jack removed the treasure before delivering the pie. Jack fled, probably changing his name, and set up a prosperous living in another city. Henry, meanwhile, was furious to peel back the crust and find -- only plums. And we need not ax how Henry dealt with those who incurred his displeasure.

Growing ideas, imagination at Christianne's Lyceum

If you're a kid of any age, and you're into reading, painting, history and that ultra-fab country called Imagi Nation, you should visit Christianne's Lyceum of Literature and Art. Maybe you'll sign up for a class! They're fun, and lots of new ideas and knowledge sprout in your noggin. My author, Melanie Jackson, will be guest author on June 13. The topic: The Midnight-Blue Marble. Being MBM's protagonist, I'll naturally be right in on the action.

So, I suppose, will my cousin. She's preening already. Hey, watch that hairspray, Katie -- yeowch, right in the eye!

While I go off to bathe my injured eyeball in water, here's the Lyceum philosophy.

"As a result of globalization and educational research, the "image of a child" has changed from that of an empty vessel or thirsty sponge to that of a "competent and unique individual" bringing her own strengths and learning competencies to the table. This in turn has brought about a shift from theories of learning that support the top-down transfer of select information to theories that support the co-construction of knowledge in the classroom and beyond.

"This shift is reflected in the philosophical base of all programs offered at the Lyceum.

"At the Lyceum we choose to concentrate on the perceptual dimension of learning in an effort to challenge binary thinking and encourage exploration of "possibilities." Nurturing a lens through which to view personal, local, and global interactions helps children develop guiding principles when approaching problematic situations inherent in a diverse society."

The Lyceum's run by one of my fave people, Dr. Christianne Hayward.

The three motives, including Mary's

In every mystery, true or fictional, the villain has a MOTIVE, or reason, for committing a crime. The great English mystery writer PD James says there are three types of motive:

1. Profit, e.g., the bank robber steals money so he can live in a nice Riviera villa!

2. Power, e.g., Macbeth kills the king of Scotland so he can become king instead. Or, my favourite Stupid Crime of History: Mary, Queen of Scots (pictured) bombing her husband Lord Darnley's house so she could marry her lover Lord Bothwell. Subtlety was not Mary's strong point.

3. Passion, e.g., Othello kills his wife Desdemona because he thinks she is fooling around on him.

In The Midnight-Blue Marble, the motive is sparklingly clear: profit ... with a chilling dose of revenge ...

Out, out, damned frog!

Here's a guest post from Cyd, the costar of Dead Frog on the Porch, by Jan Markley.

My twin sister Jane and I solve mysteries. We’ve already tackled scientists creating giant frogs. Let's just say those scientists are now simmering in a giant flask of you-won’t-get-out-of-jail-soon juice.

Our parents are scientists. Did you know that we share 60 per cent of our genes with bananas?! That was last night’s dinnertime science talk. Gee, maybe that’s why I like banana bread so much. So, to keep out of science camp each summer we snoop out a mystery to solve. Like the one we’re embroiled in now. You’ll be able to clamp your eyes on it in the fall.

It all started when Jane’s cat Yin dragged a Dead Bird through the Cat Door. That led us to discover that the director of the bird sanctuary, Aviary Finch, was stealing cats to kill birds. Dead birds? Stolen cats? C’est what? When Yin gets kidnapped, it gets personal. We’re up to our bird beaks in intrigue cracking the latest Megabyte Mystery. We’ve got a new sidekick Todd, but whose side is he on?

We use the latest technology (and I’m not talking about the gramophone, or the fax machine – that’s so last century). You know Shakespeare? It turns out that his character Macbeth helps solve the mystery.

Will Jane and I be able to save the sanctuary, free the birds, and return the cats to their natural habitat of their owners’ laps? It’s predator eats predator when evil meets crazy! Then there's website meets blog, i.e., our author Jan Markley.

A gem of a review for The Midnight-Blue Marble

This is from a student of our BCLCIRA friend Meredyth Grace Kezar:

The Midnight-Blue Marble Author: Melanie Jackson
Summary: Ailie and her identical looking cousin are completely different personality-wise, Katie is perfect in almost every way. But when a mysterious and drab lady tells Ailie her uncle Claude has died, and she hands over a bag of his mementos that leads to the central stone of a necklace worth as much as the French treasury! But people who see the diamond are pulled in, and become greedy. And is it possible a ghost is after the diamond? Ailie, Katie and their friend Feezer will have to find out!
Reaction: This is a good mystery novel, as it litters a trail of clues through the book that are hidden in plain sight. This book is also very "real" too, it doesn't make the characters do things that aren't possible for them. This book uses previous elements from the book and uses them at later times too. Plus, the cliffhanger ending makes me want to read more.

And here's a review from a Calgary reader, T.S.Y.: "I LOVED YOUR BOOK!!!!!!!" Well, that's putting it succinctly. Thanks to both readers. May sinister shadows NOT dog your footsteps.