Library loot ~ and writing that novel

Rick the Rock of Room 214 ~ by Julie Falatko and illustrated by Ruth Chan, 2022, children's picture book, 40 pages

Even rocks have big dreams in this sweet and wacky picture book about a display rock who longs to explore the great outdoors!  Rick is a rock.  For as long as he can remember, he’s lived on the Nature Finds shelf in Room 214 alongside an acorn, some moss, and a piece of bark.  One day, the teacher shows the class what rocks do outdoors, and Rick is captivated.  Exploding out of volcanos?  Plunging off cliffs?  Now Rick’s determined to get outside — after all, he’s a rock, and rocks are made for adventure.  When Rick does make his way into the great outdoors, he finds it’s not quite what he imagined and sometimes the greatest adventure of all is being a friend.

Thanks to Deb Nance, who mentioned this book on her blog.  I collected rocks when I was a child.  Once, my mother was quietly gathering up our clothes after we children were asleep.  BLAM!  A huge rock fell out of the pocket of my jeans onto the floor and startled my mother.  It didn't wake me, though; I was always a sound sleeper.

When I read this short children's book, I discovered it is dedicated to ME!  Yes, me!  The illustrator dedicated it to "all of us who love looking at, collecting, and treasuring rocks."  That's me, isn't it?  I collected rocks as a child.  I still pick up interesting pebbles I see, and I do look at the rocks between the covered walkway into my building and the wall of windows next to it.  If you ever collected pretty pebbles, this book is for you.  It made me smile.

Once again, my novel

Here's what I've come up with:  Betsy and Diane are a couple of book bloggers who go on a road trip together, after Betsy retired at 62.  The two had met in a group of people who discussed books online.  Their little group had started calling itself Book Buddies.  Driving to visit a few of their book friends in other states, they laughed at the idea that people once had that it's dangerous to meet with strangers you have only "met" online.  You know, that stranger could be an axe murderer!  At least, that's what people thought a quarter of a century ago.  (See illustration above.)  They laughed at the absurdity, since each of them thought the other seemed absolutely okay.  They'd known each other a couple of years online, but had just met in person yesterday, when Diane traveled to Betsy's town so they could go on this adventure together in one car.  The book's title could be:  Happenstance: The Case of the Axe Murderer.

What the two didn't notice as they drove along was that they were being followed by a man one was involved with, a man who was still very afraid of strangers met online.  When the man saw them pull off the road and get out of the car with one of them holding ... gasp! ... an axe, he pulled up behind the car, sprang into action, shoved the two apart, and wrestled the axe away from the "would-be murderer."  The other woman fell and hit her head on a rock.  Ironically, the one who fell was his girlfriend.  She wound up in a coma, in the hospital and totally unaware for most of the novel.  And that means, she was not able to say, "Wait a minute!  That's not the way it was at all!"  Now, which woman is in a coma, and who is on trial for attempted murder?  And why did one of them have an axe in the car in the first place?  I guess that means I need to decide whose car they were driving on this trip to visit their online friends.

That's the background, leading up to a trial for attempted murder.  The novel itself could be told through documents, like emails and instant messages and newspaper articles about the case.  Hmm, I'm not sure whether Clawdia will still fit in this novel or not.  Sorry, Clawdia, but you may have to stay at home for the whole novel.  Or were you in the car when all this happened?  And whose cat ARE you, anyway?  Betsy's or Diane's?

Deb at Readerbuzz hosts The Sunday Salon.