The Name of the Star / By Maureen Johnson / 384 pages / Putnam Juvenile / $16.99
When Maureen Johnson, author of "13 Little Blue Envelopes", "The Last Little Blue Envelope", and the "Suite Scarlett" series, announced her newest book, "The Name of the Star", her entire fan base was set atwitter (quite literally) via Twitter where she announced the release date and the title.
On August 31st, Johnson posted a link to read the first 78 pages of "The Name of the Star"for free online via her twitter account, and immediately fans took notice. At the time of this article, the preview of the author's new novel had over 15,000 reads on the website on which she uploaded it, www.scribd.com.
The preview of the novel is an enticing piece of prose that focuses on a young girl, Aurora "Rory" Deveaux, who moves from Bénouville, Louisiana to London, England in order to attend the boarding school, Wexford, for her senior year of high school. The move is prompted by her parents' sabbatical in Bristol. What Rory is oblivious to until she arrives on the campus is that earlier the morning she arrived in London there had been a murder that emulated the first of the five infamous Jack the Ripper murders of 1888. A body was found on the same street in the same position with very similar injuries as the first victim of the Jack the Ripper murders.
Maureen Johnson has a unique style of writing. Johnson writes as if the words between the dialogues are the thoughts of the characters. That is something which her fans have always been in awe of —Johnson's ability to really make you feel like you are in the minds of the characters and make you feel as if you are part of the story yourself, as well as her highly comical twitter feed. Johnson also infuses many of her characters with her own special form of sarcasm, a talent which escapes some writers. "The Name of the Star" will be released on September 29th, 2011 with a full review of the book to follow.
If you are interested in following the hilarious antics of Maureen Johnson and cohorts, her twitter handle is @maureenjohnson.
