Read When the Music Stops Online
Authors: Paddy Eger
When the Music Stops (34 page)
Connect:
Find Paddy at a local book talk or meet and greet. Visit her blog and website for dates, times, and locations or to set up your group’s virtual discussion. For excerpts, author interviews, news and future releases, visit PaddyEger.com
Acknowledgements
Novel characters, like the rest of us, look for solutions. While some rush to a speedy conclusion, many unravel slowly. In Marta’s case, the story dances out across three books. I hope you’ll ‘stick around’ for the conclusion in
Letters to Follow
.
Getting a book on it’s feet requires early readers like Gretchen Houser and web and social media support from Julie Mattern and Emily S. Hill. My young writing friend, Lucile Marshall, created the energetic character Lily Rose Costello. Together they provided direction and encouragement.
Technical details add to a book’s authenticity. My thanks to Russell Warren for Bremerton, WA history, Judge Goodwin and attorney at law David Murdach for legal language and issues, Mark Allen for military details, and my husband for owning and remembering how eight-track tapes work. Also, I thank Camille Saint-Saëns for creating
The Carnival of the Animals
in 1886, furthering the notion that good music lasts.
Once the words are written, a good editor helps shape the story. Thanks to Sarah Overstreet’s amazing patience and scrutiny
When the Music Stops
found its way from the first page to the final curtain. She made it possible for my publisher and creative designer, Karin Hoffman, to envision artistic details that embellish the pages of the book.
Marta’s story began two decades ago with a writing class I took from my friend and author, Lauraine Snelling. I had no vision that writing about a young girl, dreaming to become a professional dancer would become three novels and begin my career as an author. Thanks to Lauraine as well as my critique groups. Your valued suggestions changed my life.
Special thanks to Margie Speck for being my principal dance instructor from the time I was seven until I left for college. Your studio and your commitment to all forms of dance were my inspiration for the fictional Holland Dance Studio.
About the Author
Paddy Eger is an award-winning author in Washington state. Her love of story, coupled with her years as an educator, encourages her to write for teen and older readers, to share glimpses of reality through one young dancer’s struggle to face new challenges as she steps into adulthood.
Paddy’s multiple award-winning debut YA novel,
84 Ribbons
, springs from her years of dance lessons. Between age three and twenty she performed ballet, character and tap routines for local recitals, hospitals, area musicals and for a World’s Fair.
When the Music Stops: Dance On,
the second book in the trilogy,
continues Marta Selbryth’s story as she returns home and begins to face new challenges.
Although she never became a professional dancer, Paddy is an avid supporter of dance and the arts. She says, “The world of ballet is a wonderful, graceful place peopled by extraordinary dancers, musicians, directors and choreographers. I hope my ballet stories help readers understand more about the sacrifices each make to bring the world of dance into all our lives.”
General Reader’s Guide
All of us lead complex and multi-faceted lives.
What are Marta’s strengths? Her deficits?
What factors contribute to Marta’s reluctance to begin her personal life?
What advice would you have given her during her recovery?
Marta is eighteen when the story begins and nineteen when its end.
What growth do you see in her over the year she’s at home and helping at the Holland Dance Studio?
What do you imagine happens over the next year?
The world of ballet and American society have made major changes since the late 1950s.
What changes have you noticed or heard mentioned?
How do you view those changes?
Check paddyeger.com for more information, articles and news as the ballet trilogy continues.
School Reader’s Guide
For an extensive guide that follows the Common Core State Standards for ELA 6-12, download the guide file from paddyeger.com The guide covers:
Key Discussion Questions
Post Reading
Creative Writing Prompt
Internet Resources
Related Readings
Select Interdisciplinary Activities
84 Ribbons
“A pure coming-of-age tale with moments of quiet drama
84 Ribbons
is about thriving despite the imperfections of life.” YA Foresight,
Foreword Reviews,
Spring 2014.
DanceSpirit
Magazine’s Pick of the Month, April 2014. “Any young dancer will find herself in Marta’s story”, Newbery Honor Author, Kirby Larson,
Hattie Big Sky
.
Coming Soon from Paddy Eger
Letters to Follow
Marta’s best friend Lynne begins a grand adventure when she travels to Paris to join a dance troupe. Her move to a wacky boarding house is not a good fit for an outspoken American dancer but it creates humorous encounters with the tenants. At the end of the exchange, Lynne becomes the travel companion for her harebrained Uncle Leo. She sends postcards and letters to Marta to retell her madcap adventures.
Tasman
In 1850, sixteen year-old Irish lad, Ean McCloud, steps off the boat, his legs in iron shackles, and steps into serving a three-year sentence at the Port Arthur Penal Colony in Tasmania. Falsely convicted, he must now survive the brutal conditions, the backbreaking labor, and time in the silent prison—a place that breaks men’s souls. Follow Ean’s adventures as he seeks not only to survive but to escape!
Table of Contents
