C. LEE MCKENZIE GUEST POST AND SIGN OF THE GREEN DRAGON GIVEAWAY

Happy Monday Everyone! Today I'm SO excited to have C. Lee McKenzie here to share about her new MG SIGN OF THE GREEN DRAGON that recently was released. I'm really looking forward to it because of my own connection to China. And I'm excited for Lee, who is a follower and blogger friend. If you don't follow her blog, I really recommend you do.

Now here's Lee!

Thanks so much for letting me visit your wonderful blog today. I do appreciate the chance to talk about China and my newest middle grade book, Sign of the Green Dragon.

I write about Chinese mythology because it fascinates me and because I fell in love with China and her ancient stories a long time ago. 

When I was about six, a woman named Enid Mihilov took me under her literary wing. She had an amazing library with many books from all over the world, but the Chinese ones were distinct. I didn’t realize it at the time, but those books, which she allowed me to hold, were very old, one-of-a-kind, and in retrospect, must have been printed on handmade paper in a long-ago century. Enid read them to me in Chinese while I looked at the pictures. Misty mountains. Dragons streaming through the sky on important business for an emperor. Exotic silk gowns and palaces of gold.

Dragon on a Canal Barge

It was this person, who opened a lot of things about the world to me. In the center of her library was a globe in a wooden cradle that was bigger than I was. I still remember her turning that globe, tracing the Yangtze River across China and telling me about the beauty of the Three Gorges. When I was older, I understood how much this Russian woman had traveled, that she spoke several languages and knew more first-hand about geography than my teachers. 

When I finally did land in the Far East, I was primed to absorb as much about that culture as possible. I climbed the Great Wall, explored palaces and finally went up the Yangtze through the Three Gorges before the dam was completed and closed off one of the most beautiful areas in the world.

At the Top of the Great Wall with Two Friends

Enid and I kept in touch for years, even after my family moved. Unfortunately, when we returned to see her, she had died, so I never had a chance to tell her how important our time together had been to me. Someday I’m going to write what I remember of my afternoons with Enid Mihilov. And having written that, I think I have a title already.

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Buy now on AMAZON 

Here’s a bit about this story: 

Three plucky sleuths. A crumbling skeleton. A quest.

After six months in a new school, Sam’s finally fitting in. He’s the one kid with enough talent to hit the winning home run and bring the baseball trophy back to Haggarty Elementary. But Sam’s guardian is shipping him off to boarding school before that can happen.

When teammates, Joey and Roger, hear his bad news, they plot to hide him until the big game. Their secret cave is a perfect place until an earthquake shatters a wall and reveals a wooden chest with a red-eyed dragon carved into its top. Inside, a bony hand clutches a map with a note, promising treasure.

With Joey and Roger, Sam sets off to track down the clues and hopefully discover treasure. When some puzzle pieces start to make sense, the boys become lost in a labyrinth of underground tunnels, trapped by dangerous thieves and sealed inside an airless tomb. 

Sign of the Green Dragon gets a high five for fantasy, fun and some fearsome adventure. If you like intrepid would-be knights on impossible and dangerous quests, you’ll love this story. As one reader says, this book, “has more twists than a dragon’s tail.”

Buy now to jump into the adventure.

Come say hi to the author:

The Write Game
Twitter
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Lee has generously offered one e-book of THE GREEN DRAGON for a lucky winner. To enter, all

you need to do is be a follower (just click the follow button if you’re not a follower) and leave a comment through September 3rd.

If your e-mail is not on your Google Profile, you must leave it in the comments to enter either contest.

If you mention this contest on Twitter, Facebook, or your blog, mention this in the comments and I'll give you an extra entry. You must be 13 years old or older to enter. This is an international giveaway.

Marvelous Middle Grade Monday was started by Shannon Messenger. You can find the participating blogs on her blog.

Here's what's coming up:

On Monday I have a guest post by debut author Hannah West and a giveaway of her YA fantasy KINGDOM OF ASHES AND BRIARS.

I'll be back on Wednesday, September 7th with an interview with debut author J. Keller Ford and a giveaway of her YA fantasy IN THE SHADOW OF THE DRAGON KING.

The following Monday I have a guest post by debut author Traci Chee and her agent Barbara Poelle  with a three chapter critique by Barbara and a giveaway of THE READER, a YA fantasy, by Tracie

Hope to see you on Monday!