Almost a year ago, I was finalizing my manuscript of The Wonders of the Peculiar Parasol. At that time, I felt that I needed to "test" the market and find out if my book hit the mark with middle school aged kids. My sister, Melissa, is an 8th grade reading teacher in Fort Dodge, IA and she created, on my behalf, a reading club with about 15 of her students to read the manuscript and to provide me feedback on the story. At the time, her students did not know that the author of the then-unpublished book was her brother, so we both felt we would get some honest feedback. And actually, the feedback was quite positive and they even...

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