Mandy's Song

 

One of the joys of librarianship is discovering and promoting authors! I love making connections with authors and businesses, and I had the privilege to do just that this past weekend. 

On Friday, my library, along with Bella's Bookstore and Curiosities, based in Nappanee, IN, hosted a meeting space for five talented writers of youth and young adult literature. One of those amazing women, and the one who reached out to me, was Mary Ann Steinke-Moore. Mary Ann and I worked together for many years at the St. Joseph County Public Library, and now we reconnected in another way. One of her dreams (like mine) is to be an author. It's wonderful to witness her dreams manifest first-hand! 

I just finished her book, Mandy's Song, this afternoon. The story takes place in northern Indiana, and stars a promising young musician (vocal and flute) named Amanda. There are several themes to the story such as depression, high school rivalry, love, and suicide. The heavier topics are balanced with flutters of authenticity and inspiration- a prayer here, a verse there, a nice balance between regular YA fiction and heavily religious narrative. (Basically, it's the Goldilocks effect of inspirational fiction: just right.) Also, the reader can tell that Mary Ann is a mid-westerner by the fun word references like pop instead of soda

We are adding this book to our library collection and I am honored to have  an autographed book in my home library. 

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