Wishmaker

With us today is DD Roy. She's going to tell us what three wishes she'd wish for if given the opportunity. They're good ones:)

Wish #1. Everyone would know their talent. See, everybody has something they are good at. But sometimes it’s really hard to figure out what it is. Many people give up and assume they aren’t good at anything. Not true. We all have something special. You just have to keep searching to figure it out.

Wish #2. People would never be mean to others who are different from them. Man, it’s everywhere. Athletes. Nerds. Races. Religions. Maybe we should all decide who we want to be around based on the time of day we were born. “I can’t stand the 10:02 people.” “You shouldn’t talk to anyone who is a 7:34.” It’s just about as arbitrary.

Wish #3. Everyone was born healthy. My daughter goes through challenges every day that I don’t know I could face. And yet, she’s happy. But I wish no babies were born with epilepsy, or heart defects, or blind or deaf or brain damaged or sick. But if it happened, I definitely wish they weren’t treated any differently. (See Wish #2.)

That was all serious, wasn’t it? Okay, okay, here are the real wishes:

1: A midnight blue 1966 Ford Mustang convertible. Just too cool.

2: To be able to draw. I can’t even make a stick figure anyone would recognize.

3: Chocolate every day. No wait, every meal. Yes. Every one. Wait. Non-fattening chocolate. That’s better. Non-fattening but utterly delicious chocolate at every meal. 

BLURB:

Eleven-year-old Jinnie has a dilemma--she can grant wishes, but she can't control the results.

The school counselor tells Jinnie to join the Troubled Tweens, a group of kids with similar power problems. Maddy’s touch makes anyone explode in anger. Grace can make people like her--as long as they don’t let go of her arm.

But their loose use of magic attracts the attention of the Loki, a group of magic thieves and pranksters. They want to steal an open-ended wish from Jinnie, and it will take all the limited and messed-up magic she and her friends possess to make sure their powers don’t fall into the Loki’s greedy hands.

Jinnie Wishmaker is the first book of the Troubled Tweens series for 9-12 year olds

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Excerpt

The Magic Mood Ring

The lid opened with a sharp pop, revealing a large black oval ring with a scalloped silver trim.

“Let’s see what everyone’s mood is like today.” Mr. Kent slipped the ring on his fourth finger. The oversized oval gem turned vivid blue. “I’m looking very calm.” He passed the ring to Maddy.

Jinnie’s face blazed. She knew the ring was going to go off the chart with anxiety when she put it on. She tried to relax, to breathe normally. She already hated Troubled Tweens.

“Oh, look, it’s gone black again. Negative and brooding. Big surprise.” Maddy yanked it off and tossed it at Jinnie. The ring bounced off her chest.

“Catch,” Maddy said, sneering.

Jinnie fumbled her hands against her shirt, finally trapping the ring and cupping it in her palm. She took one more long breath, willing the ring to be green, and slipped it on her middle finger.

The ring shifted from black to gray, then slid into yellow before turning perfectly clear.

Everyone leaned forward, even Maddy.

“Whoa,” Marcus said. “It has no color at all.”

“It’s creepy. Maybe you don’t really exist,” Maddy said.

Mr. Kent smiled. “I think it means you are special.”

AUTHOR Bio and Links:

D.D. Roy wrote her first story "Blackie and the Garbage Dump Dogs" when she was in elementary school. As a teen, she tried to destroy her little hand-made books, but if you get a chance to meet D.D.'s mom, she will whip out the one surviving copy, still to D.D.'s total embarrassment.

Her first middle grade novel, JINNIE WISHMAKER, became a Hot New Release on the Nook, and was re-released as a hardcover School Library Edition through Casey Shay Press in spring 2012. Her story book app for the iPad, DUST BUNNIES: SECRET AGENTS, just came out in May through Polycot Labs.

http://ddroy.blogspot.com
http://www.twitter.com/deannaroy

 

The author is offering the following prizes to randomly drawn commenters during the tour (this is an international contest):

As a tie in to Jinnie Wishmaker, each blog will have two Magical Mood Rings to give away. Mood rings are a central item in the book as it is how the Troubled Tweens determine if a new member has a magical power or not. Very fun!

For the grand prize, Casey Shay Press is offering their bestselling balloon animal kit. It includes the paperback book Kids Show Kids How to Make Balloon Animals (for the same age group as Jinnie Wishmaker) as well as a professional pump and balloons.