Mia and the Lightcasters: Umbra Tales 1 (The Umbra Tales)

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I tend to do most of my writing in my room with my headphones on, listening to a specific playlist. If I'm not on a deadline then I usually write first thing in the morning after my mindfulness meditation, or I write late at night. If I'm on a deadline then I will write in the morning and take a break every two hours until about 6pm.

I truly love my life as an author. It's been my dream since I was a child and after ten years of trying to become one, I made it and I feel blessed. Mia and The Lightcasters is perfect for children who love sci-fi, fantasy, adventure or technology. It is a really great addition to books of these genres and one I know many children in our school will enjoy reading. The novelty of The Lightcasters creates a difficulty for McCurdy. She can't rely on our familiarity with worlds like this -- she has a lot of explaining to do. There were definitely points in the early chapters when I felt I was on the receiving end of an infodump. These were deftly handled, never overbearing, but there is no denying that the story was slow to really get rolling.

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I think readers will also relate to the strong family bonds in Mia and the Lightcasters. Mia and Lucas's relationship is the heart of this first book. Whilst, like any brother and sister, they can annoy each other and fight, Mia will always be protective of her little brother and will fight anyone and anything to protect him. I’m sure those with siblings can relate! Lastly, can your character Mia give us any top tips on how to tame the fantastical creatures of her world, umbras? Von vorne bis hinten hat mir der erste Band der Chroniken von Lunis einfach richtig Spaß gemacht. "Wächterin des Lichts" ist eine tolle Fantasygeschichte (nicht nur) für Kinder (ca ab 11) mit einer starken Heldin und einer interessanten Welt, in die ich total gerne eingetaucht bin. Die Idee einer Stadt, die komplett in Dunkelheit liegt, und Wesen aus Schatten, die den Menschen im Kampf zur Seite stehen, fand ich total cool. Ich konnte mir beim Lesen alles richtig gut vorstellen und habe die Schattenwesen, genannt Umbra, förmlich vor mir gesehen. Die Geschichte beginnt mit Mia und ihrem besten Freund Miles, mit dem sie einen Ausflug unternimmt und dabei auf ein Umbra mit roten Augen trifft. Kurz darauf verschwinden Miles und seine Eltern und Mia wird seither von Alpträumen geplagt.

Janelle began her professional writing journey at just sixteen years old. Mia and the Lightcasters is the first book in her junior fiction fantasy series, Umbra Tales, and it was named as one of Books for Keeps magazine's books of the year in 2022. When she's not writing, she enjoys cosplaying as her favourite characters at comic cons and gaming events. You can probably guess, but it's definitely gaming! That's my favourite thing to do to help me unwind after a writing session. I also enjoy listening to music and taking pictures. I've recently found a love for Lego building as well, haha! Umbra are mysterious, magical creatures, which take different forms but bond with a particular human. Following a terrifying incident when she was much younger, Mia is going to need to dig deep into her resources of courage to discover her own umbra taming abilities. Gut gefallen hat mir allerdings die Beziehung zwischen Mia und ihrem Bruder Lucas. Sie ist ihm eine tolle große Schwester, passt auf ihn auf und versucht ihn vor allem zu beschützen, nimmt ihn dabei aber trotzdem ernst und gesteht ihm seinen eigenen Kopf und seine eigenen Entscheidungen zu. Die Szenen zwischen den beiden waren wirklich süß zu lesen. Dapo Adeola, Tracy Darnton, Joseph Coelho and Chitra Soundar are among the 19 authors and illustrators longlisted for the Inclusive Books for Child...What I love about gaming is the sense of fear and adventure all mixed into one. I also love being fully immersed in the game’s story and the world. The big, beautiful, and sometimes scary open worlds that you find yourself in when playing a video game is something which has inspired me massively. Games like Pokémon, Final Fantasy and Tomb Raider are all games I loved as a child, and now as an adult.

All right, I thought -- is there a kind of fantasy in which magical creatures and modern technology are both found? Yes, of course, urban fantasy. But as soon as I had that thought, I knew it was wrong. The Lightcasters is not urban fantasy. I had to think about why. It is because urban fantasy is, from a particular point of view, very conventional. Urban fantasy worlds have magic, they have witches and sorcerers, and magical beings: vampires, werewolves, fae, and ghosts. But, although each urban fantasy author puts her own spin on these beings, they are all drawn from folklore. McCurdy's umbra are totally new, to me at least. This is a difficult one, because there's not really a straight answer, it just happened. Compared to Lucas, who was inspired by the children I looked after when I worked at a nursery, Mia sort of just came about on her own in my mind. Through Mia’s perilous adventure, I wanted her, and readers, to realise that it's okay to be afraid. You can push through your fear, especially with the help of your friends and family. You're never alone. Mia’s friends and her little brother encourage her to be brave and push through her fear to save her parents and everyone in the city.So that's my point. I don't know what The Lightcasters is, because I have never read anything like this before.

Mir persönlich fiel es lediglich etwas schwer, sich die Umbra vorzustellen, was daran liegt, dass diese Kreaturen aus „mehreren“ Tieren bestehen und es mir hier evtl. an der nötigen Phantasie fehlt oder mein Bild bereits gefestigt ist. I think children who love and enjoy gaming will like Mia and the Lightcasters, or at least I hope they will!Ich LIEBE die Charaktere. Mia und Lucas gehört mein Herz. Die Beziehung der Geschwister sorgen bei mir einfach für all die Feels. Die ganze Familiendynamik war einfach wunderschön zu sehen. Bestselling author Alexandra Christo, author of TikTok sensation To Kill a Kingdom, introduces her new book, The Night Hunt (Hot Key Books), a dark...