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The Cardturner by Louis Sachar
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The Cardturner

Best Seller
The Cardturner by Louis Sachar
Paperback $12.99
Oct 11, 2011 | ISBN 9780385736633

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    Oct 11, 2011 | ISBN 9780385736633 | Young Adult

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  • May 11, 2010 | ISBN 9780375896477 | Young Adult

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  • May 11, 2010 | ISBN 9780307712141 | Young Adult

    448 Minutes

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Product Details

Praise

Praise for Small Steps:
“Louis Sachar is magic to the toughest circle of critics: librarians, children’s booksellers, teachers – and, most of all, kids.”
— USA Today

“Part of what makes Small Steps so believable and appealing is that its characters do have insecurities, and they aren’t ashamed to let them show.”
BookPage

“Sachar is a master storyteller who creates memorable characters.”
School Library Journal

“Cleverly wrought…heartwarming, witty and suspenseful.”
Time Out New York Kids

Awards

ALA Best Books for Young Adults WINNER

NCSS-CBC Notable Children’s Trade Books in the Field of Social Studies WINNER

Young Adult Services Division, School Library Journal Author Award WINNER

Arizona Young Readers Award NOMINEE

Nebraska Golden Sower Award NOMINEE

Pacific Northwest Young Readers Choice Award NOMINEE

Bank Street Child Study Children’s Book Award FINALIST

Cooperative Children’s Book Center Choices FINALIST

Author Q&A

20 Writerly Questions with Louis Sachar


1. How would you summarize your new book in one sentence?
A seventeen year old boy helps his blind uncle to try to win a national championship at bridge, a game he doesn’t understand.
 
2. How long did it take you to write this book?
Two years.
 
3. How did you choose your characters’ names?
Arbitrarily. Sometimes I named them after streets.
 
4. How many drafts did you go through?
Eleven.
 
5. Who was the first person to read your manuscript?
My wife, Carla.
 
6. If your book were to become a movie, who would you like to see star in it?
Dustin Hoffman.
 
7.  What’s your favourite city in the world?
San Francisco.
 
8. Did you always want to be a writer?
Yes.
 
9. What was your very first story about? When did you write it?
I don’t remember.
         
10. What was your favourite book as a kid?
Yellow Eyes
.
 
11. If you could be any character from any book, who would you be?
Kissing Kate Barlow.
 
12. If there was one book you wish you had written what would it be?
There isn’t. Writing a book isn’t about ideas, or plot, or even characters. You can’t think, “Oh, I wish I had thought of that.” It’s about the day to day struggle to get your ideas onto the page, in your own unique way, and that’s nothing you can wish for.
 
13. If you could talk to any writer living or dead who would it be, and what would you ask?
Kurt Vonnegut.  “Is death all you expected it to be?”
 
14. How do you organize your library?
I tend to keep my favorite books together, but there isn’t much organization to it.
 
15. What’s on your nightstand right now?
I’m currently in Montreal teaching a writing seminar, so none of my usual things are there. I met a Canadian Author named Monique Polak, and I’m reading her book, What World is Left, but it’s on my desk, not my nightstand.
 
16. Where is your favorite place to write?
In my office in my house.
 
17. Do you have any writing rituals?
I either jog or walk first thing in the morning, then I shower and eat breakfast, and then write. I never talk to anyone during breakfast.
 
18. When do you write best, morning or night?
Morning.
 
19. What is the best gift someone could give a writer?
Moral support.
 
20. What is the best advice someone could give a writer?
Don’t talk about a book, until you have finished writing it, even if it takes ten years. Keep it secret. Otherwise you will lose the energy needed to write it.

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