Spotlight on THE ATTIC OF SAND AND SECRETS

Today, I'm happy to feature Medeia Sharif's middle grade novel, THE ATTIC OF SAND AND SECRETS! Check it out if you have the chance. I absolutely loved mysteries as a kid, and reading this brought me right back to being a 10-year-old wannabe detective. It's awesome!

In THE ATTIC OF SAND AND SECRETS, the main character, Lily, has a learning disability. Her
mother has been kidnapped and she plays the sleuth, meanwhile many doubt her. She even doubts herself.

This is a quote from the book regarding her disability: “[Although] she was average in intelligence, she significantly lagged behind others in reading and math skills with her poor memory and short attention span.”

Here are her weaknesses in the beginning of the book:

*Reading frustrates her.

*She believes in “dummy” comments people hurl her way.

*She feels bad when comparing herself to others and their abilities.

Here are some ways in which she grows:

*She sticks to books, even when the text is hard, because the material helps her piece clues together.

*She starts to make connections between things.

*She’s empowered when she gets closer to finding her mother and the person who kidnapped her.

It was a pleasure creating this character. I have met young people like Lily, and they should never believe that a label or other people’s opinions define who they are. They are capable of doing so much.  

THE ATTIC OF SAND AND SECRETS 

by Medeia Sharif

Purchase from Amazon, OmniLit, Barnes & Noble, Kobo, Featherweight Press, The Book Depository, Books-A-Million

Middle Grade Historical and Fantasy, Featherweight Press, November 2014

Lily, a learning
disabled girl, attempts to unravel the mystery of her abducted mother using
supernatural clues from an ancient stranger, even when it means posing a danger
to herself.

Learning-disabled Lily desires
to prove herself, although her mind freezes when presented with big problems -
such as her mother's abduction. With a French father and Egyptian mother, Lily
worries that her mother hid her ethnicity from her French in-laws. However,
there's something deeper going on. Lily finds a way into an attic that's
normally locked and encounters a mysterious, moonlit Egyptian night world.
There she finds Khadijah, an ancient stranger who guides her to finding clues
about her mother's whereabouts. Lily becomes a sleuth in both the real world
and magical desert, endangering herself as she gets closer to the kidnapper.

Find Medeia – Multi-published
YA and MG Author

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