Book Muse: Paris Pan Takes The Dare by Cynthea Liu
One person whom I have the great pleasure of meeting at AFCC was Cynthea Liu, the creator of 'Great Call from China (S.A.S.S)' and 'Paris Pan Takes The Dare' (G.P. Putnam Sons, 2009 and Scholastic, 2010). I was very lucky to sit next to her during the SCBWI dinner reception and very soon I discovered how amazing and big heart she is.
Besides writing for children, she has raised funds for Tulakes Elementary, she is the founder of Authorsnow! and the coach behind the top ten website www.WritingforChildrenandTeens.com, which is based on her non-fiction (self-help guide?) publication 'Writing For Children and Teens: A Crash Course'. She also conducts writing workshops, provides copyediting services and is also a guest speaker at conferences associated with the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators as well as universities and colleges.
I had the privilege to receive an autographed copy of 'Paris Pan Takes The Dare' for my daughter. Something quite amazing happened - she broke her reading record! She finished this 248 pages middle grade mystery novel in one sitting. Her comment afterward was, "This book gotta be made into a movie!". I emailed Cynthea to tell her about that. She 'laughed': 'Aw, I knew it! Every girl who reads Paris Pan blazes through it quickly. YES!!!! … I want them to devour the book like its a meal." And she nailed it!
So who is Paris Pan? She is a 12 year old Chinese American girl whose life was, as the author described, in a mess. Every time her father finishes building a house that the family lives in, he sells it and moves them to another place, which happens virtually every seven or eight months. This time, Paris has moved to Sugar Lake, a very small town in Nowheresville, Oklahoma, where every single girl in her new school plays on the basketball team, which does not quite excite this girl who faces difficulties developing friendships that last because of her family's nomadic lifestyle.
Where is the excitement then? It all happens when Paris has no other choice but a must to take The Dare to get her chance to 'win' over a new girl friend, or two out of the three in the entire level. And what exactly is The Dare? It is a rite of passage that every local girl who is turning 13 has to go through by staying out all night in the woods which was said to be haunted. Years ago, that was the location of a murder. Nearly everyone living in Sugar Lake believes the ghost of the murdered girl still haunts the site.
Soon enough, Paris starts hearing noises coming from the run-down shed in her backyard, thinking that the mysteriously dead girl is trying to communicate with her. While she has no plans to make contact with the spirit, her new 'friends' have other thoughts. If that wasn't bad enough, how about plotting Paris's new home right in middle of the creepy woods? To further complicate matters, the protagonist has other 'growing up' problems to deal with - peer pressure, 'cranky' siblings, first crush, adolescence embarrassments, struggling parents, friendship, etc.
To sum up, I love the book and definitely looking forward to Cynthea's upcoming picture book 'Wooby and Peep' (Sterling, 2013) and 'What I Didn't Tell You', a novel. For now, I am enjoying 'Paris Pan', for her courage and the good sense of humour she has towards her problems and 'frenemies'. She reminds me that kids can be much more resilient than we adults. As for her parents and siblings, I like them for being as genuine as they can be - characters who aren't 'linguistically perfect', who have flaws and live in circumstances that I can identify with. And like everyone in the Pan family, the personalities of her school mates, as well as Paris's pet dog, are also so carefully crafted that they leap off of the pages into full life and propel me through the story. 'Paris Pan Take The Dare' has satisfied me with laughter, suspense and some moments that make me go 'aaahh!'. I am glad Cynthea took 'The Dare' to write this engaging novel - one book that shall stay on my daughter's and mine list of favourites.
You can find more about Cynthea Liu's books on her website:
http://www.cynthealiu.com/books
♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
Besides writing for children, she has raised funds for Tulakes Elementary, she is the founder of Authorsnow! and the coach behind the top ten website www.WritingforChildrenandTeens.com, which is based on her non-fiction (self-help guide?) publication 'Writing For Children and Teens: A Crash Course'. She also conducts writing workshops, provides copyediting services and is also a guest speaker at conferences associated with the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators as well as universities and colleges.
So who is Paris Pan? She is a 12 year old Chinese American girl whose life was, as the author described, in a mess. Every time her father finishes building a house that the family lives in, he sells it and moves them to another place, which happens virtually every seven or eight months. This time, Paris has moved to Sugar Lake, a very small town in Nowheresville, Oklahoma, where every single girl in her new school plays on the basketball team, which does not quite excite this girl who faces difficulties developing friendships that last because of her family's nomadic lifestyle.
Where is the excitement then? It all happens when Paris has no other choice but a must to take The Dare to get her chance to 'win' over a new girl friend, or two out of the three in the entire level. And what exactly is The Dare? It is a rite of passage that every local girl who is turning 13 has to go through by staying out all night in the woods which was said to be haunted. Years ago, that was the location of a murder. Nearly everyone living in Sugar Lake believes the ghost of the murdered girl still haunts the site.
Soon enough, Paris starts hearing noises coming from the run-down shed in her backyard, thinking that the mysteriously dead girl is trying to communicate with her. While she has no plans to make contact with the spirit, her new 'friends' have other thoughts. If that wasn't bad enough, how about plotting Paris's new home right in middle of the creepy woods? To further complicate matters, the protagonist has other 'growing up' problems to deal with - peer pressure, 'cranky' siblings, first crush, adolescence embarrassments, struggling parents, friendship, etc.
To sum up, I love the book and definitely looking forward to Cynthea's upcoming picture book 'Wooby and Peep' (Sterling, 2013) and 'What I Didn't Tell You', a novel. For now, I am enjoying 'Paris Pan', for her courage and the good sense of humour she has towards her problems and 'frenemies'. She reminds me that kids can be much more resilient than we adults. As for her parents and siblings, I like them for being as genuine as they can be - characters who aren't 'linguistically perfect', who have flaws and live in circumstances that I can identify with. And like everyone in the Pan family, the personalities of her school mates, as well as Paris's pet dog, are also so carefully crafted that they leap off of the pages into full life and propel me through the story. 'Paris Pan Take The Dare' has satisfied me with laughter, suspense and some moments that make me go 'aaahh!'. I am glad Cynthea took 'The Dare' to write this engaging novel - one book that shall stay on my daughter's and mine list of favourites.
You can find more about Cynthea Liu's books on her website:
http://www.cynthealiu.com/books
♥ ♥ ♥ ♥ ♥
Labels: AFCC, Asian Festival of Children's Content, Author, Book Muse, Children's Book
posted by Christine Lim at 5:12 PM
1 Comments:
Great story and so nice to get an autographed copy for your daughter :D
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