Well-Spoken Wednesday--Steps to Courage by Sandra Stiles Review/Interview and Giveaway (ends 9/3) (CLOSED)

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Summary from Amazon:  Trina Lacy knew all about survival. Since her accident, she has been determined never to feel like a victim, but live life as a survivor. Her classmate, Mark Jacobs did not think he deserved to be a survivor. Plagued by guilt for his role in his parent’s death, he felt life was not so great. Trina’s ex-boyfriend Lucas James felt guilty for the accident he caused that left his former girlfriend scarred. When Trina proposes a fundraiser to be held at Windows on the World for their community service project Lucas and Mark jump at the chance to help. Each of them has their own reasons. Once in the Towers, they decide to divide and conquer. They had not expected someone to fly planes into the Towers. They never expected to face escaping the burning towers with all the odds stacked against them. Now the fears they have been carrying with them must be dealt with as they take steps to get out. The question is, will they survive the events of 9/11?


Steps to Courage by Sandra Stiles
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is the first time I have dared to read any book--fiction or nonfiction--about 9/11, and I have to say that I was impressed and touched.

The first half of this book is absolutely stellar.  I was pleased to discover how much research the author had done concerning 9/11 and New York.  The descriptions of the terror attack and just afterwards were heart-wrenching and brought a tear to my eye.  I will say that I do not normally cry when reading a book, and had it not been for the well-written text, I would have dreaded picking it up each night to read.  I found myself so drawn into the story, and I cared about the three main characters--Lucas, Mark, and Trina.

My only criticism concerns the second half of the book.  Following the events of 9/11, I feel that the author tried to rush too fast through the rest of the story.  I realize this is a young adult book, and I understand that keeping the book short is important in this case.  I also realize that the reader cares about these teens and wants to know how 9/11 ultimately affected the rest of their lives.  But I would have preferred either spending more time on the event of 9/11 and only following the characters through the end of their school year or writing a sequel to detail how 9/11 affected the characters' lives so that we could learn more about the characters' journey to healing.  Because the second half of the book was rushed, I felt that much of the story became disjointed and too easy to predict. Granted, I was glad to discover what happened to the characters, but I would have preferred having more time for the stories to develop.

I was quite impressed with the writing style of this author.  It is her debut book, and it is neat to note that she wrote it in response to a challenge from the students she teaches.  I felt like the first half of the book was written by a seasoned professional, and the author accomplished her ultimate purpose.  I learned a lot about the events of 9/11, and it is important to be reminded of that horrific day as the 10-year anniversary looms near.  I look forward to reading more from this author in the future.


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Disclosure:  I received two signed copies from the author in exchange for my honest review--one for me and one for a giveaway.  No monetary compensation was received, and all opinions are 100 percent mine.

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Sandra Stiles graciously agreed to do an interview.  One blog reader submitted a question, so we will begin with that.

• What inspired you to write this story?

Our principal required us to keep the TV's on in our classroom all day.  The first concern my student's had was in regards to who was in the towers.  They wondered if there were kids in the towers.  They remembered the daycare center in Oklahoma and thought maybe there was a daycare center in the towers.  Over teh course of the day my students made comments about what they would have done if they had been in the towers.  That got me to thinking about how it might be different for a teen as opposed to an adult.  My sister lost a former roommate in one of the towers that day.  Her body was never recovered and they finally had her declared legally dead just to have some closure.  My husband's sister lived a few blocks from the Pentagon and when he finally got in touch with her she told us the impact was so great that she had dishes flung out of her cabinets.  We waited three days to find out if my husband's cousin's daughter was alive.  She worked in the Pentagon.  She had gone across the street just five minutes before the plane hit.  All of these things together floated around in my head and made the 

urge to write this story almost unbearable until I put pen to paper.

The rest of the questions are mine.  

1.  How long have you been teaching, and which subjects have you taught?  What is your favorite age/subject to teach?  Why?  Least favorite?  Why?

This will be my 19th official year teaching.  I've taught Kindergarten, PE, Elementary through High School Spanish,  High School English, Biology and American History to non-English speakers, Middle school Histories, Middle School Remedial Reading, Middle School Life Science, Middle School Language Arts And Middle School Remedial Math.  My favorite to teach is English/Language Arts because of my addiction to reading and writing.  I hated teaching math because I struggled with it myself.  I now understand it but it makes it difficult to teach it to someone else.

2.  It is clear from your book that you are strong in your faith with the Lord.  What is your religious/Christian background?

  I am a Christian and have been since I was 8 years old.  I attend an evangelical Southern Baptist Church here in Florida

3.  Tell me a little about your family.  Parents, husband children?  Whatever you feel comfortable talking about.

     

 I am married with a son and daughter and a step-daughter.  My mother lives with us due to her health.  We are blessed to have her with us.    We lost my father in   1999.  In addition to his job he was a gospel singer and came from a performing family.  At the time of his death he played 14 instruments.  He was self-taught.   My husband works from home so that he is here with my mother.  We  have a total of 9 grandchildren.  Three of them we have only seen through pictures or on web cam due to their circumstances.  They range in age from 11 months to 12 years.  My son and his family live in El Paso Texas.  He is a sergeant in the army stationed at Fort Bliss.  My daughter and her family live here in Florida .  My husband's daughter lives in Illinois and her children live with their father in Wisconsin

4.  Where did you grow up?  What was your childhood like?

 I grew up on a farm in Indiana.  It had been my great-grandmother's house.  I loved it.  There are a lot of memories there.  This is where I honed my imagination along with my sisters.  I was pretty much a tom-boy.  I could be found either with a book or a notepad in my hands.  When it was too rainy outside we played school  inside.  Both of my younger sisters could read, write and do math when they started school.  I played for real.

5. Although this is your debut novel, have you written any other unpublished works?  Elaborate if you would like to.

I have a children's picture book called The Princess Pirate.  It needs some more work.    I write poetry when I am emotional, such as when I learned my youngest sister had cancer, or the poem called "The Training" after attending the world's most boring training program for school.  One day I will take the collection of poems I write each year as an example for my students and put them together into a book.

6.  How would you describe your personality?

 I actually have a very easy going personality.  I try to stay on the positive side.  That doesn't mean things don't get me down.  I've always been described as being extremely helpful and have had to learn how not to let people walk on me.  I can be fun but not in a loud manner.  I would never be described as the "life of the party".  I'm the one you would find hidng in a corner with a book.

7.  What do you like to do in your free time?

 Besides reading and writing, I quilt and I paint with acrylics.   I do other crafts such as crocheting Barbie clothes for grandkids.

8.  What other ideas/plans do you have for books/stories in the future?

I actually have 3 going right now.  I have a story half finished about an abusive mayor who takes his anger toward is son out on other kids by killing them.

I have a historical time travel back to the East side of the Berlin Wall

I have a story of a preacher's kid involved in a hit and run accident of an Amish man and the external and internal things he struggles with.

9.  How would you have described yourself as a teenager?  Anything you want to share there is fine.

My students think it is funny when I tell them how shy I was.  I walked with my head down and could barely talk to anyone.  Definitely could not talk to boys not even my male cousins.  I was always standing up for the underdog in school.  I started coming out of my shell when we moved to Florida.  The captain of the football team kept trying to talk to me and I told him he couldn't because he was a jock and I was not a cheerleader so he couldn't talk to me.  Difference in the school I came from and this one.  He fell out of his seat laughing and told me it was the most ridiculous thing he'd ever heard of and he would do whatever it took to bring be out of my shyness.  I was a very studious person.  Always had to do the extra research because one topic always led to another.

10. Tell me one thing that not everyone knows about you.  

My students found out this last year that I used to do puppetry.  I inherited an ventriloquist dummy from a gentleman who was in one of my dad's quartets.  I used them in Children's church and later had my father build me aportable puppet stage from pvc pipe and I made my own puppets and wrote my own scripts and traveled to churches in the area doing puppet shows for VBS and other things.  I can't project my voice anymore.  Five surgeries within a year damaged the vocal chords.

The other question I asked would spoil the story, but if you get a chance to read this (and you should!), know that she did a lot of research concerning 9/11 and New York.  If you question anything in the first chapter, check out this link for verification:

http://www.authentichistory.com/2001-2008/1-911/1-timeline1/index.html

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This must be the longest post I have ever published here, but there is still one more part.  Sandra Stiles has agreed to offer one of her books to one of my readers.  It is a signed copy, and I am willing to ship anywhere in the world.   She does ask that the winner will review it on Amazon so she will know what you thought of the book.  Please fill out the rafflecopter form below and only comment on this post as required or if you have a question.  The giveaway will end September 3 at 9:00 P.M. Pacific.

I want to thank Sandra Stiles for everything she has done.  She has gone far above the call of duty, and I am so honored to be featuring her on my blog!