Today on The #WriteSkills, I'm excited to welcome fellow Clean Reads author Krysten Lindsay Hager to tell you all about her True Colors Series. Here's what she has to say about her amazing and successful series: The Landry’s True Colors Series is an award-winning clean reads middle grade series about friendship, self-esteem, fitting in, middle school (and worrying about high school!), frenemies, and self-image. It’s a clean reads book so it’s suitable for ages 10 and up. Landry Albright is an 8th grader who just wants to be one of the interesting girls at school who always have exciting things happening in their lives. She wants to stand out, but she also wants to fit in, too. Landry tries to make new friends, but gets caught up between wanting to be herself and conforming to who her new friends want her to be. Along the way she learns that being in the spotlight is nowhere as glamorous as it seems, how to deal with frenemies, and that true friends see you for who you really are and like you because of it. Reading Guide for at home discussion and writing exercises: As schools closed down for social isolation and as summer is starting, I thought I’d offer a reading guides to go along with the book series for at home learning opportunities. These reading sessions include some of the group activities I do with readers at book events. Normally I do these as presentations where I share info and the students or readers can ask questions, so I adjusted the usual presentation and questions so they can work for discussions at home with an adult, as writing exercises, or they can be done with friends online. There are also writing exercises that can be shared or used as journaling prompts. These are great ways to discuss what’s going on at school and it can be helpful to have the adults share their own experiences along with them. Some of the themes we focus on are talking about developing healthy friendships, dealing with having issues fitting in, self-esteem, finding your tribe, and positive self-image. Since I often have preteens, teens, and younger kids in the mix, these questions and prompts can be used for different ages. Sometimes younger siblings attend events and I had a teacher’s helper suggest that the younger kids can draw pictures instead of doing the writing exercises, so they can be included as well. Usually the readers for the Landry’s True Colors Series are around ages 10 and up. Landry is in 8th grade, but kids like to “read up” age-wise. I will have different sets of questions up on the blog each week as we go through all three books in the series during the summer. All the links will be on the main page. https://www.krystenlindsay.com/teacherparentbook-club-guide.html Review of True Colors for Readers’ Favorite Reviewed by Anna Smith True Colors (Landry's True Colors Series Book 1) by Krysten Lindsay Hager is a middle grade book about fitting in and learning to love yourself. Landry desperately wishes to have an interesting life. She wants to be one of the girls at school that has a funny and clever story to share with her friends. But she feels that her life is too boring. She is ignored and chosen last in gym class. She doesn't fit in, let alone stand out to the popular crowd. Because of this desire to fit in, Landry agrees to audition for a teen reality show modeling competition with her best friends, Tori and Ericka. Landry is nervous but impressive and makes it to the next round. When her friends get cut from the competition, Landry realizes how little they were her true friends when they stop speaking to her at school. She desperately wants new friends, but has to choose between being herself and impressing her new potential friends. And along the journey, she begins to see how unglamorous modeling can be. She learns how to deal with mean girls, her newest crush, and that true friends are those that accept you for who you are, not what stories you have to tell. True Colors is a fantastic middle grade story with a healthy message for tweens. The story is definitely geared toward 8th graders and 12 to 13-year-olds. It is a fun story, with the characters modeling, having sleepovers, and hanging out at the mall a lot. Krysten Lindsay Hager did a great job of capturing that young tween voice and I think young girls will absolutely love this story! And parents will certainly approve of the healthy message about friendship and staying true to oneself. Review of Landry in Like for Readers’ Favorite Krysten Lindsay Hager's young adult and preteen coming of age story, Landry in Like: Landry's True Colors Series, Book 3, continues the story of Landry and her friends in their last year of middle school. Hager touches on the many social issues facing young teens, including self-esteem, meanness and bullying, and transitioning from middle school into the high school atmosphere. Her main character, Landry, shares her deepest fears about losing her friends and her conflict between wanting to stay at home and play video games or go out to a teen club. This is the third book in Hager's True Colors Series, but I felt instantly at home with the story even though I hadn't read the first two books in the series. This novel should go a long way towards helping adolescent readers realize that they're not alone in having to cope with the mean girls and rude boys who seem to be targeting them, and help those being bullied understand why and learn to develop their own coping strategies. Landry in Like is well-written and while boyfriends, kisses and dancing are inevitably part of any coming of age tale, this story is squeaky clean and recommended for preteens as well as young adults. Review of Landry in Like by Literary Classics. "Being a teenaged girl has its challenges. And life for Landry is no different, even though she somehow believed things might be better for her this year. But she thought wrong. Nothing seems to be going her way, and to make matters worse, it seems her best friend is leaving her behind for a new group of friends. Staying true to herself and maintaining a positive attitude isn’t always easy when it seems like she’s always on the defensive. Author Krysten Lindsay Hager captures the true essence of life for teens today in book three of the Landry’s True Colors series. Packed with a cast of well-developed characters and highly plausible scenarios, this book sends just the right message to young girls today who are trying to navigate troubling teen years. Recommended for home and school libraries, Landry in Like has earned the Literary Classics Seal of Approval." Author bio: Krysten Lindsay Hager writes about friendship, self-esteem, fitting in, frenemies, crushes, fame, first loves, and values. She is the author of True Colors, Best Friends...Forever?, Next Door to a Star, Landry in Like, and Competing with the Star, Dating the It Guy, Can Dreams Come True, and In Over Her Head: Lights, Camera, Anxiety. Her debut novel, True Colors, won the Readers Favorite award for best preteen book and the Dayton Book Expo Bestseller Award for children/teens. Landry in Like is a Literary Classics Gold Medal recipient. Best Friends...Forever? is a 2019 Readers' Favorite Silver Medal Winner in the Children - Preteen genre Competing with the Star is a Readers' Favorite Book Award Finalist. She received her BA in English and master’s degree from the University of Michigan-Flint. Krysten's work has been featured in USA Today, The Flint Journal, the Grand Haven Tribune, the Beavercreek Current, the Bellbrook Times, Springfield News-Sun, Grand Blanc View, Dayton Daily News and on Living Dayton. Author Video: https://wiki.ezvid.com/m/5-women-penning-exceptional-ya-fiction-MhyCIxeJuG1q9 Book Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFp2fPFbvTQ Purchase the Series: Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B074CH4WVM Barnes & Noble: https://bit.ly/2UqkRj2 Book Depository: www.bookdepository.com/author/Krysten-Lindsay-Hager Author links: Website: http://www.krystenlindsay.com/ Discussion Sessions: https://www.krystenlindsay.com/teacherparentbook-club-guide.html Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/krystenlindsay/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KrystenLindsayHagerAuthor Pinterest: http://www.pinterest.com/krystenlindsay/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/KrystenLindsay Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Krysten-Lindsay-Hager/e/B00L2JC9P2 Thank you, Krysten, for joining me on the blog today. It was great to have you here! Dear #WriteSkills readers, once you've checked out this series and discussion questions, leave a comment to let me know what you think!
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AuthorHi! I'm Lora Palmer. I wrote THE MIRRORMASTERS, a YA fantasy adventure. Contact Me
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