The Poppy Parker Series
Book 2
Description
A mysterious girl with a secret
A terrible dilemma
What’s worse, betraying someone’s trust, or losing another home?
Twelve year old Poppy Parker is still adjusting to her new life with Detective Trey Brannigan and his mother when she meets a strange, secretive red-haired girl named Presley. Presley is friendly and all, but why does she struggle to remember how to spell her own last name? And why is she afraid of Trey when he’s done nothing to her–after all, who’s afraid of a person they’ve never even met?
Confused and a little worried, Poppy soon discovers that Presley is hiding a secret. A big one. A bad one. She should tell Trey–but Presley is begging her not to tell anyone.
Poppy is now facing an impossible dilemma. If she reveals the truth, a life could be lost–the life of an innocent person. But if she keeps Presley’s secret, she will betray the trust of her new family and possibly lose her home. Again. Just six months after losing her old one.
Can she find a way to make the right choice? Is there a right choice in a situation like this?
Details
- Rating: ☆☆☆☆
- Title: True As Steel
- Author: Dianna Dorisi Winget
- Genre: Middle Grade
- Length: 148 pages
- Release Date: March 25, 2021
- Excerpt
My Thoughts
Though True As Steel is definitely a stand-alone book, I would highly recommend reading the book ahead of this one since the two tie together beautifully. That book is the award winning A Million Ways Home.
In the second of the two books Poppy meets a new friend who is lonely since she has had to move a lot and is also being home schooled. Poppy is anxious to have a new friend in the neighborhood and she quickly excuses her concerns over the girl’s unusual clothes reasoning that she probably just needs to do laundry. But when Poppy discovers where the girl lives and a little about her family, she begins to wonder if she should share some things with her guardian, Trey, who just happens to also be a detective.
Dianna’s stories, in my opinion, are perfect for classroom reading. They come with topics that are of interest and encourage discussions. In 2017 A Million Ways Home was Missouri’s winner of the Mark Twain Readers Award. If you’re not familiar with this award, the winner is selected annually by students in grades four through six. Missouri is a big state for children to vote this book a winner. So her writing obviously fits well with that age group.
And that’s why I really recommend that you read both of these wonderful books. It’s been several years since I read the first one, but the emotions it brought out in me within very few pages has stuck with me.
Now, regarding my thoughts on True As Steel, Dianna had a hard act to follow. And she did a wonderful job of not only showing Poppy’s life in her new situation, but introducing Poppy to a new friend with some mysterious things surrounding her. When Poppy begins to finally work through what is going on with her new friend and her family, she has a hard decision to make. A decision that is ideal for classroom discussions.
This set of books educate and cause deeper thinking. I hate to say it, but so many middle grade stories are filled with bad language and actions. Perhaps in many ways those more accurately reflect life in some areas of the country, but even if that is so, I wouldn’t feel comfortable okaying my child to read those books. Winget’s books don’t portray children as angelic, but her books are all clean reading at its best.
My Concerns
Small Concern: I had a little trouble emotionally connecting with the characters.
Final Thoughts
This is an interesting story with both a moral dilemma and a mystery. And it ties together nicely with the previous novel. If you’re not familiar with Winget’s books, now’s the time to change that. She is a top-notch author with books you’ll feel comfortable sharing with Middle Graders.
My thanks to the author for a review copy. I was free to post my opinion.
Rating
Very good. Just didn’t quite make it to the top
About the Author Interview
Dianna Dorisi Winget is the award-winning author of seven novels for young readers and has spent most of her life in the Pacific Northwest. When she’s not busy crafting her next middle-grade novel, Dianna is quite likely to be stuffed in her recliner beside her beagle Stella, reading. Or she might be walking in the field surrounding her North Idaho home, spending time with her husband and daughter, tending her small garden, or taking a soak in her hot tub. Once in a while she does house work. She loves receiving and personally answering fan mail, doing Skype visits with young readers and researching her next project. You can learn more about Dianna and her books by visiting her website. http://diannawinget.com
Tell us about your journey to publication.
I’ve always loved to write. At nine years old I’d watch my favorite TV shows and then rewrite the episode, inserting myself as a young character. (Dukes of Hazzard anyone? LOL!) But my professional publishing journey was a long and often frustrating one, interspersed with just enough success to keep me going. After graduating from the Institute of Children’s Writing in 1987 (a correspondence school done by snail mail back in the day) I sold a number of short stories and articles to children’s magazines, which helped to get my foot in the door and boosted my self-esteem. But my dream had always been to write MG novels. I decided early on that I would never go the self-publishing route, I was only interested in traditional publishing. So to make a long story short, I spent years trying to perfect my craft, querying agents and editors, getting rejected, and trying again. Little by little, the form rejections turned into encouraging notes scrawled on the side of my manuscripts, and I realized I was getting closer.
My agent, Mary Kole, from the Andrea Brown Agency at the time, who I signed on with in 2010, was terrific and made the long search for an agent worth it. Even after finding Mary, it still took 16 months to sell my first novel, A Smidgen of Sky. Many times I really doubted it would ever happen, but Mary was always there to bolster my sagging spirits. When the book finally sold to Harcourt, I’m not sure which of us was more excited! She put together a great article “Story of a Sale,” that tells the nitty-gritty of selling my first book. Here’s the link if you’re interested. http://kidlit.com/2011/07/04/story-of-a-sale-fly-a-little-higher-piper-lee-dianna-dorisi-winget/
Since selling Smidgen, I’ve gone on to sell several more titles, including A Million Ways Home to Scholastic Press. I’ve also totally changed my opinion of self-publishing, bringing out some of my recent titles on my own. While there are definite advantages and disadvantages to both traditional and self-publishing, it’s wonderful that authors now have a choice.
Where do you get your ideas?
Life. That’s the short answer. I don’t think I’ve ever had a fully formed plot spring to mind. Usually it just starts with an idea and then I keep thinking about it and asking questions. Something I’ve read, seen on the news, heard from a friend. Often times, the idea doesn’t go anywhere. But sometimes it does. For example, the idea for The Hidden Power of Dandelions begin when I read a newspaper article about two youngsters who had been arrested for dropping a rock off a highway overpass and gravely injuring a driver. I thought about it for a long time. I wondered what might motivate kids to do something so reckless. Peer pressure? Sheer carelessness? The desire to impress someone? Then I wondered how they might feel when they found out they’d severely injured someone? What if it turned out they knew the victim? I just kept asking myself questions until a rough outline formed in my mind.
Do you have a favorite character from your stories?
Such a tough question since I love all of my characters, especially my main characters. But I admit to having a crush on Detective Trey Brannigan in my Poppy Parker series J
How come you always include dogs in your books?
I love dogs! They’re my favorite animal. I grew up with them, and there’s never been a time in my life when I didn’t have at least one. They are such wonderful friends and companions. Of the seventeen dogs I’ve owned over the years, thirteen have been rescues. I’m a big advocate of pet adoption and love to promote that idea in my stories. My latest rescue is Stella, a two year old beagle, basset, Jack Russell, and who knows what else combo. She’s adorable and keeps my husband and me laughing.
Are you currently working on another book?
Yep, I’m always working on another book. My greatest love will always be middle grade. But just recently I’ve also began to dabble in another of my favorite genres—romantic suspense. Did I really just admit to that?
