A boy must choose between keeping a treasure and saving a
monster in Nessie and the Living Stone, by Lois June Wickstrom and Jean
Lorrah, published by http://www.crossroadspub.com.
Similarly, book buyers now have a choice between
old-fashioned tree-books and new instant-downloadable e-books. The
Independent E-Book-Award was created to bring attention to and honor the
best of this new type of book.
"For e-books to be judged correctly," said
Sunny Ross, owner of Mystic-Ink which sponsored the awards, "one has
to look at the total reading experience, which includes words but doesn't
have to stop there." Nessie’s artist Sara Silvestris Strand created
the illustrations to be seen on a computer screen, allowing parts of each
picture to glow. Ross adds, "One should take into account the
suitability of the work to be in e-book form and the quality of the
complete presentation which often includes multimedia arts," she said
Wickstrom and Lorrah have written a clear, compelling
story of a child's moral choices, and learning to care about the world
around him. The authors deftly handle the siblings' growing affection and
developing independence as the story's events demand their strengths. When
Craig faces his ultimate test at the door of Nessie's grotto the reader
feels the difficulty of Craig's choice.
On one level this is an adventure story with a
satisfying ending. It's also a tale of a maturing sibling relationship and
a growing awareness of the world. Mostly, it's a story about Nessie. As
the landlady says, "Most of the folk around here think that we need
Nessie—to give this place a bit of mystery. Truth is she needs us—to
keep her house in order."
On another level, Nessie brings story telling to a new
medium – the computer. Downloadable e-books are priced under $5, less
than most paperback books, so children can afford them. The same
story-telling skills are required, but e-books must also appeal to
computer savvy-children, and their parents.
Plus authors don’t just rely on the appearance of
their book on the bookstore shelf. Many build websites, such as www.nessiebook.com
to promote not only their e-book, but their subject matter. Nessiebook.com
was selected by Yahoo as one of the top four lake monster sites on the
internet. Nessie and the Living Stone is available as a downloadable
e-book, a CD-ROM, and a paperback book. If you email the authors, you can
even request a digital autographed page.
|