Hello, and welcome to Yellow Bird’s new ongoing series, Success In the Press. In each post, we will shine a spotlight on three of our published clients.
Shut It Down: Stories from a Fierce, Loving Resistance by Lisa Fithian
From the publisher: Described by Mother Jones as “the nation’s best-known protest consultant,” [Lisa] Fithian has supported countless movements including the Battle of Seattle in 1999, rebuilding and defending communities following Hurricane Katrina, Occupy Wall Street, and the uprisings at Standing Rock and in Ferguson. For anyone who wants to become more active in resistance or is just feeling overwhelmed or hopeless, Shut It Down offers strategies and actions you can take right now to promote justice and incite change in your own community.
Our take: Described by prominent author Naomi Klein as ‘warm and wise’, this thorough guide to community organization and activism also contains personal stories from the history of many activist movements, including Occupy Wall Street and Standing Rock. These behind-the-scenes looks serve not only to explore ideas of resistance, but also serve as examples for many of the strategies the book presents. Richer than a straight-forward guidebook, this book should be a fascinating read for those both inside and outside the activist community.
From a reader: “As a guide to using the tools of nonviolence in social movements, one could hardly do better than to pick up Lisa Fithian’s new book, Shut It Down. This book includes guides to planning campaigns and to staging all variety of actions in great detail, from how to plaster posters everywhere to how to relate to the police. This is a powerful resource because of the rules it lays out but also because of the examples it includes. The book is as much a personal memoir as a theory of social change, but the latter is its mission throughout.”
Sunborn Rising: Beneath the Fall by Aaron Safronoff
From the publisher: Cerulean.A distant world of Great Trees floating on an ocean surrounding a star.The flotilla forests cycle light and water through their boughs into their lush canopies. But the once vibrant treescape has grown dark, slowly, subtly over many generations. The civilization of creatures living among the boughs believe the darkness is normal. That is, until one willful young girl named Barra discovers the hidden journal of her late father.Poring over her fathers writing, Barra learns of a mysterious plague, a creeping vine choking the flow of light and water into the canopy. [...]Together with her two best friends, [...] Barra will explore every bark, wood, and leaf of the Great Forest to relight her world and complete her fathers story, even if it leads her beneath the Fall.
Our take: This YA fantasy epic comes with 40 pages of illustrations! Centering on a dying planet, once replete with greenery, and the young hero who must decipher cryptic clues from a past generation to save her world. This story will likely appeal to fans of Veronica Roth’s Divergent series.
From a reader: “Aaron Safronoff’s unique vision of an alien world formed from a ring of trees growing around the sun that sits at the world’s center and teeming with a myriad of intelligent (and often somewhat cuddly) life forms all springs into gloriously vivid life within the pages of this masterfully presented novel. This is as much due to the numerous illustrations spread throughout the book as it is to Safronoff’s meticulous world-building and excellent writing skills.”
Alyssa McCarthy's Magical Missions: Book 2: Wizardry Goes Wild by Sunayna Prasad
From the author: After months of living a normal life, thirteen-year-old Alyssa McCarthy faces magic again. Only this time, though, she is cursed with it, thanks to an old depressed skeleton named Errol. Alyssa's time with her godfather, Alex, will never be the same again, as she can perform sorcery, but never control it. [...]she can only get rid of her powers if she can boost her confidence levels and improve her bravery. [..] Will she be able to get rid of her unwanted wizardry?
Our take: This YA fantasy is the second book in a series about a young girl with magical powers she doesn’t want and constantly struggles to control, allowing the story to explore issues of isolation and self-acceptance. With a cast of characters supporting her journey, this book can teach great lessons to its target audience about self-acceptance and self-direction.
From a reader: “The story was fascinating, especially this unique world where technology and magic exist side by side. Alyssa is a normal girl who is cursed by uncontrollable magical mishaps that completely turn her life upside down. I loved the characters, especially Alyssa's three best friends who stuck by her no matter what. Alex, Alyssa's guardian, was wonderful and very understanding of his goddaughter's inability to contain or master her powers. The book taught teens a great lesson about bravery and self-confidence, not to mention trusting in yourself.”
Amazon | Goodreads | Author's site
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We hope you enjoyed this look at some of the Yellow Bird family’s success stories! Check back soon for more. If you are a former Yellow Bird client and would like us to consider featuring your published work, email info@yellowbirdeditors.com.