THE POWER OF POSITIVE WORDS (HOLLY SCHINLDER)

Maybe it's because words are tools of the trade--because words are so special, so important to us...but review season can certainly be a tough one. As much as we don't want to admit it, a harsh review can rattle us down to our toes, and a positive review can make us breathe a sigh or relief or get a glow or dance around the kitchen. A few positive words can help us power happily through the rough draft of a WIP.

I recently received this utterly lovely review from Kirkus...the very first trade review to come in for SPARK (coming out from HarperTeen this May) and the best review I've ever received from Kirkus:

Quin hopes her drama-class senior project can save a local theater and change the course of history. "At Verona High, drama is for the shy." Quin and her classmates in Advanced Drama are "senior nobodies" who would prefer to blend into the scenery. But their teacher (who happens to be Quin's mom) wants to use their senior project to save the Avery, a local theater in their small town that was shuttered 70 years ago after a pair of star-crossed lovers, Emma and Nick, died on its stage. Reluctantly, the class begins to work on the project—a production of Anything Goes—with Quin as the director. At the same time, Quin learns that the Avery is somehow beginning to revive itself. She also discovers that her classmates Cass and Dylan are reliving the doomed romance of Emma and Nick. In Quin, Schindler has crafted a quick-witted, white protagonist who draws readers into her search for answers about her family's past as well as the Avery's. Scenes set in the past are rich with authentic voices and period detail, and Schindler's crisp prose flows easily between the past and the present. Even when it seems impossible for the show to go on, Schindler's imaginative story will have readers rooting for Quin and her classmates to "break a leg." A tale of love, family, and friendship, tailor-made for readers who believe in the mystery and magic of the theater.