Author Showcase
By Good Harbor Press, The Children’s Book Review
Published: December 2, 2011
ISBN 978-0-9799638-1-0
Hardcover 5 ¾ X 8 ¾” 207 pages, includes recipes and photos.
Ages 8 – 14
Official Publication Date: October 15, 2011
Distributors: Ingram, Baker and Taylor, Pathway Book Service, Amazon
In The Taste of Snow, author Stephen V. Masse invites you into an Alpine wonderland of Gartendorf, Austria a few days before the Feast of Saint Nicholas. Eleven-year-old Nicole Kinders begrudgingly stops at Boznik’s market stall on the way to school so her younger sister, Ashley, could buy a sweet. Boznik offers Nicole a candy cane and tells her, “This, my dear girl, is a magic candy cane. The magic will be revealed.” After her first taste, it seems the whole world becomes more colorful and more delicious.
. . . It was as if all the most wonderful flavors in her memory could be tasted at once. Instantly she could taste warm stew, and the garden vegetables that she would pick herself, and fresh purple grapes that came from her grandma’s vine, and lemon ice that cooled her on the hottest summer day. She could smell the snow that the breezes blew in puffs off the trees, gleaming like diamond dust as it settled to the ground. The Gartendorf Mountains glistened pink in the setting sun, and the sky seemed a more brilliant hue than she had ever noticed before. She watched as a flock of tiny birds danced against the sky like confetti, then suddenly disappeared as they all turned sideways, only to reappear in a different place like fireworks.
But trouble soon follows. A quarrel between students on the tram home from school leads Nicole to intervene, beginning a frightening series of events. Nicole finds herself losing the joy of holiday preparations, and realizes that the vexing secret she keeps is influencing every part of her life. She finds no help from the magic candy cane, and decides she must return it to the shopkeeper.
In The Taste of Snow, Masse deals with real-life issues including
- Keeping secrets
- The consequences of actions
- Self-reliance and survival
- Appreciation of family
- Enjoyment of celebrations
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Stephen V. Masse was born in Boston, Massachusetts. He wrote his first practice novel at age 13, handwritten into a school composition book.
Educated at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, he studied creative writing, and was author of a weekly newspaper column, “Out of Control.” His first novel for children, Shadow Stealer, was published by Dillon Press in 1988. Short Circus was published by Good Harbor Press in 2010. The Taste of Snow is his third novel for children.
In addition to children’s books, Masse has written A Jolly Good Fellow, winner of the Silver Medal in the 2008 Independent Publisher Book Awards, as well as Honorable Mention in the 2008 New England Book Festival for best books of the holiday season.
When not writing, he restores and renovates homes in the Boston area, and serves as an ambassador each year in the Santa Claus Anonymous fundraising benefit.
ENDORSEMENT
“A darling children’s book set in Austria at Christmastime. Nicole and her sister have a warm family and friends, and some scary neighbors. How can a magic candy cane affect them? . . . We are delighted that we are to present the eBook version of this book, currently planned for the end of 2012.”
Joy Calderwood, Calderwood Books
For more information, visit: www.stephenvmasse.com
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