With all the hype about my latest book, I mustn’t forget Amanda’s other adventures. Here is an awesome review of Amanda in Holland: Missing in Action by one of my favourite teachers! If you read Jennie’s blog posts you will wish you were back in school.
I’m the book guru at school. That’s what they call me. Finding a good children’s book is one of my greatest pleasures, next to reading aloud to children. Teachers and parents lean on me for good books. The storyline of “Amanda in Holland, Missing in Action” was intriguing to me – adventure, history, WWII, Anne Frank… and more. A few months ago I ordered the book. I was so excited!
Darlene Foster is the author, and she did not disappoint. I was enveloped in Holland with Amanda. I could not put the book down.
Here’s what Amazon says:
Amanda is in Holland to see the tulips with her best friend, Leah. They travel the canals of Amsterdam, visit Anne Frank House, check out windmills, tour a wooden shoe factory, and take many pictures of the amazing flowers of Keukenhof Gardens. She is keen to find out what happened to her…
I was nominated by my blogging friend Geoff LePard at TanGental to post one favourite travel picture a day for ten days without explanation, then to nominate someone else to participate. That’s 10 days, 10 travel pictures, and 10 nominations. It doesn´t have to be 10 consecutive days. Thanks, Geoff!
The photo from Day 5 is from the Keukenhof Gardens in the Netherlands which Andrew guessed right away. Many of you guessed Holland/The Netherlands, a country renowned for its beautiful flowers. I had wanted to visit Holland for a long time and was delighted to be invited by a friend living there to visit. She surprised me with a trip to these amazing gardens. Here is a post with tons more pictures of the flowers. These amazing gardens are featured in Amanda in Holland: Missing in Action.
Today I nominateKaren from Backroad Journal On her blog sheshares mouth watering recipes, interesting places and enjoyable pastimes that she finds no matter where in the world she happens to be.
If I nominate you and you don’t want to participate, please do not feel obliged, but if you do, please link back to me so that I can see your post. In these times vicarious travel is a great escape, I would love to see what you choose to post.
This is my picture for day 6. If you want to guess where this is, leave your answer in the commentsor just comment on the picture.
Introducing children’s author Darlene Foster. She has several books in the Amanda series: Amanda in New Mexico, Amanda in Danube, Amanda in Alberta, Amanda in England, Amanda in Spain and Amanda in Arabia. Her Most recent book, Amanda in Holland – Missing in Acton, was released in September 2019. In this interview, she shares a little about it.
1) What is the title of your recent book? Is it a series, what genre is it and is it suitable for all ages?
My most recent book is Amanda in Holland: Missing in Action, book number seven in the Amanda Travels series featuring a young girl who has an exciting adventure wherever she travels. Although this a series, each book can be read as a stand-alone and does not have to be read in any order. The books are written for children between the ages of 7 to…
We have so much to be thankful for. What was I doing at this time last year? I was launching Amanda in Holland and visiting friends and family. I am so thankful I was able to do that. For now, I am thankful I have the pictures to look back on. Stay safe everyone. xo
I was missing in action for the last month as I went to Canada to promote the latest Amanda Travels book as well as visit friends and family. It was a very successful trip, although a bit tiring. Here’s a sample of what I was up to.
I visited four schools in Alberta and BC, consisting of a variety of class sizes and students. All delightful with many questions and comments. My favourite part of being a published author is visiting schools and reading to the children. When I walked into one class, a young boy shouted, “She´s here! She´s here! I can´t believe she´s here!” For a moment I felt like a rock star.
I launched my latest book, Amanda in Holland: Missing in Action, at Albany Books in Tsawwassen, BC, a community I lived in for fifteen years. I love this friendly, locally-owned, independant bookstore that has…
Today I am a guest over at Anne Stormont’s wonderful blog, Put it in Writing. Anne is an excellent author and a great supporter of other writers. If you wonder what a “typical day” looks like for me, read on.
Today it’s the turn of author Darlene Foster to give us a glimpse into the unpredictable and variety-filled days that make up her life as a writer. Darlene writes enthralling children’s adventure fiction. She also writes short stories and a wonderful blog with lots of posts and photos about her travels.
Darlene Foster’s Writing Life in a Day
I will start by saying there is no such thing as a typical day in my life anymore. I worked for 48 years and my life was very structured. During the latter part of my working life, I decided to follow my dream of becoming a writer and made a vow to write for two hours a day, no matter what. And I did, usually in the evening after dinner while others watched TV. As a result, I wrote and published four books and several short stories.
Now I’m retired and live for the most part in sunny Spain. I seem to have rebelled against structure in my day, so I write whenever I find some time. I no longer write every day either, although I write most days. In the past five years since I retired, I have written four more books.
Today, I want to introduce to you one of my favorite children’s authors. I’ve known her virtually for several years now. Her name is Darlene Foster and she’s written a series of books on a girl named Amanda in the Amanda Travels series.
Darlene, please tell us about you and your inspiration for this book as well as the series…
Why I Wrote Amanda in Holland: Missing in Action
My interest in the country of Holland began when a teacher read us a book called, Hans Brinker or the Silver Skates, by Mary Mapes Dodge, which I loved. The book, written in 1865, by an author who had never been to Holland herself but heard stories about it from her Dutch neighbours.
Over the years I read other books that took place in Holland, many of them…
Attention authors of children´s books! A great place to showcase your work and get the word out. Many thanks to Sally Cronin for putting this together.
Welcome to the new Children’s Cafe and Bookstore where authors with books suitable for ages up to 12 can share their work and reviews.
It is very difficult to market and books at the current time without physical launches, particularly for children’s books with many in print versions only.
The authors with books suitable up to 12 years old will have separate entries for their children’s books in this new Cafe but will still retain their entries in the main bookstore with a selection of all books they may have.
Getting into the bookstore
If you are already an author in the bookstore then I will automatically share your children’s books in this directory.
If you are not already in the Cafe and Bookstore please email me with the following to sally.cronin@moyhill.com
Link to Amazon for the book( and even if you have one book please set up an…
Once again, the amazing Sally Cronin has been busy promoting other authors. She recently featured an extract and a great review for Amanda in Holland: Missing in Action on her blog. If you haven´t seen it, check it out. Thanks, Sally!!
Welcome to the series where authors in the Cafe and Bookstore an extract from their most recent book. If you are in the Cafe, and would like to participate you can find all the details here:Share an Extract
Today’s author is Darlene Foster sharing an extract from her most recent book in the Amanda travel series – Amanda in Holland: Missing in Action.
About Amanda in Holland
Amanda is in Holland to see the tulips with her best friend, Leah; as well as travelling the canals of Amsterdam, visiting Anne Frank House, checking out windmills and a wooden shoe factory, and taking pictures of the flowers of Keukenhof Gardens. She is keen to find out what happened to her great uncle who never returned from WWII and was declared missing in action. What she doesn’t expect to find and fall in love with is Joey, an abandoned puppy…
One of my goals, when I started writing the Amanda Travels series, was to educate as well as entertain readers. So I am always delighted when I learn that parents are using my books for homeschooling. One parent even sent me her child’s work and reports. I was impressed with the lesson plans and projects, as well as the student’s answers.
Kegan, an eleven-year-old young man, admits he is not a keen reader but enjoys Amanda and her adventures. His mom told me she loved seeing his interest and attention to almost every detail which she hadn’t seen with any other books he’d read. Looking at his reports, I can see that he understood the idea of the story. I love it when kids get it!
Here are some of the worksheets and projects from his Language Arts class
For his first report he chose to read Amanda in Alberta: The Writing on the Stone because he is from Alberta and familiar with some of the sights in the story. He also plans to visit some of the other places mentioned.
He got 81% for his final mark. Which is excellent.
One of the projects was to write a letter to the author. This is what he wrote to me:
Dear Darlene,
I am doing a book report on your book, titled “Amanda in Alberta.” I liked it! My favourite part is the horse ride. I have been to many of these places, mostly with my dad in the semi-truck. Did you visit all of the places in your books? Can you make a book of ” Amanda in Iceland”? I think that would be awesome!
Thank you for writing these amazing books!
Sincerely,
Kegan
I loved the story map he created summarizing the story via seven events Ten out of ten for his depiction of the cover and short summary
For his next book, he chose Amanda in Spain: The Girl in the Painting and got 83% as his final mark!
I always include a few more challenging words in the story to help increase the reader’s vocabulary. The words Kegan added to his vocabulary from this book were – monastery, boleros, distressed, dubious, spittoon, trance, alcove, apprehended. The teacher wrote, “It looks like this story was at the right reading level for you.”
I like how he described the characters.
Amanda – happy, determined, she does not listen to Leah, kind-hearted. An explorer.
Leah – helpful, loud scream, acting, kind-hearted. The tall one.
Dona – determined, kind, helpful, big heart. Loves her horse, Pedro.
He was required to summarize each chapter, which he did quite well, as well as predict what might happen at the end of each chapter. His predictions were 50% correct and 50% incorrect. The teacher wrote, “If your predictions were wrong, that means the writer was successful in her writing in order to keep you interested and surprised.”
I just heard from his mom that during lockdown, he has been reading Amanda in Holland for his current Language Arts class.
It makes me very happy to know that my books are being used in classrooms and for homeschooling. My goal has been accomplished.
My publisher reminded me that it has been ten years since we published my first book, Amanda in Arabia: The Perfume Flask. Ten years!!
It made me think back to my first book launch at Albany Books in Tsawwassen, BC. I was so excited and so scared. What if no one came? What if no one bought my book? What if no one liked it? How many times had I gone to a book launch or book signing and dreamt of one day having my own? Thanks to Central Avenue Publishing my life-long dream came true.
My first book launch!I brought Ali Baba along and he was a big hit.And lots of people cameAnd bought many books.
I was over the moon with happiness. I had to pinch myself, to make sure I wasn’t dreaming.
And the following year I had another book launch for Amanda in Spain: The Girl in the Painting.
Even more people came, the bookstore was packed and I sold more books.
So I wrote another book, Amanda in England: The Missing Novel, and launched it at Albany Books. No one could even tell I had a broken ankle.
I launched the next book, Amanda in Alberta: The Writing on the Stone, wearing the appropriate hat.
My biggest supporter!Amanda fans
Then I moved to Spain and wrote Amanda on the Danube: The Sounds of Music, but returned to Albany Books for the launch.
I was so pleased that my daughter could attend this launch
Amanda in New Mexico: Ghosts in the Wind followed with another fun launch.
And then there was my recent launch of Amanda in Holland: Missing in Action. Well attended in spite of a rainy Vancouver day.
Friends and long time supportersWith my amazing publisher, Michelle Halket, who made all of this possible. Nothing like seeing your books on the shelves of a bookstoreI’ve held all seven book launches at Albany Books, a wonderful independent bookstore with knowledgeable and super friendly staff.
Thank you to everyone who has attended my book launches over the past ten years, for buying my books and for spreading the word about them.
Thank you to Albany Books for hosting my book launches. Even though in lockdown, they are open for phone-in and online orders, with local curbside delivery and mail delivery otherwise. Please support your local bookstores at this time. https://www.albanybooks.com/
Thank you to Michelle Halket of Central Avenue Publishing for believing in me and my Amanda Travels series.
And thank you for coming along with me down memory lane. I wonder what the next ten years will bring. Stay strong, stay safe and stay home!
Introducing children’s author Darlene Foster. She has several books in the Amanda series: Amanda in New Mexico, Amanda in Danube, Amanda in Alberta, Amanda in England, Amanda in Spain and Amanda in Arabia. Her Most recent book, Amanda in Holland – Missing in Acton, was released in September 2019. In this interview, she shares a little about it.
About Amanda in Holland
Darlene Foster's Blog 