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Reviews and Comments
I purchased "Custer and His Naked Ladies" at your booth on July 4 in Steilacoom and promised
I'd let you know what I thought of it.
After I finished it my husband decided to read it (we both had enjoyed "A
Three-Turtle Summer" a few years ago) so I waited to hear his comments.
We thoroughly enjoyed the book. We both agreed that you are excellent
at spinning a yarn and at painting a verbal picture of people and places. You can quote us on that!
P. R., Tacoma
"Custer and His Naked Ladies was great!!!!!!!!"
Dan Eppler, Geronimo, Oklahoma
"I have read the book and really liked it! I don't often have the chance,
nor the time, to read novels, but once I started this one I couldn't put it down."
B. G., Lawton, Oklahoma
"I am LOVING your books. I'm on Custer right now. Just started it. You are
an awesome author!"
Shirley Diaz, Puyallup, WA
Elizabeth Lyon (Manuscript Makeover) said...
"...may I introduce Janelle, a wonderful novelist who has been gifted
with a great sense of humor..."
Jungle
Red Writers Blog, Writing well is the best revenge
The Oklahoman, July 6, 2008
Turtle and Brown were good and close to my heart. Custer ties them all together . Most of all I loved the conversations
and atmosphere you created of all your beloved Oklahoma folks. Believe you captured the spirit of simple Mexican-Indian culture.
Its wonderful, joyful times and the sad times which your little people know how to handle well. They are so brave and think
nothing of it. This is true courage. I Your relatives, the naked ladies, felt familiar , like I know them. It's like
peeking in and being a part of the culture. True Oklahoma spirit in Custer. AND, yeah, you can write a love story! Wow! I
feel you have put your heart and soul into this book.
I liked all your additional information at the end. Shows real tender loving care for your story and
respect for history.
Your romance novel (next?) will really sizzle. I can already feel the smoke. Jane W., Pasadena
Someone has your/my book and I have to go hunt for it. It's movin' around fast. I keep nagging
and suggesting. "Get your own copy, why don't cha, so I can have my book back."
But I don't even know where it is right now or who has it. If I hear one of my friends giggle then I've got 'em dead.
I'll know where it is. Think I have a solution. I'll invest in another story and they'll want to read it and I'll get
my original story back. How's that for a fresh idea. Let's see. I need to get your first book. Send e-mail concerning
price. And it must be signed. Maybe if you make it out to me, I'll get it back.
Gina Simpson, Bellevue, WA
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Kind words...
I'm a fan of Janelle Hooper's writing. Three Turtle Summer and Brown as I Want, not
to mention a number of other works, sit on my bookshelf. She's a prolific writer, so keeping up with her output is challenging.
To that end, I've ordered her latest, Custer and His Naked Ladies. I enjoy reading the Okie-Mex
flavored adventures of Glory and her covey of relatives.
Janelle paints her stories with crisply defined characters, leaving just enough fuzziness around their edges for us to
fill in a color or two from our own life experiences. This allows us to make her characters our own, and adds immensely
to the pleasure of reading her works.
In Three Turtle Summer and Brown as I Want, we watch Glory as a little girl try to stay alive in a stuation
she doesn't understand. This is a tragic story, one that told differently would be a depressing read. But Janelle
wraps the story in situational humor and somehow Glory muddles through, all the while chasing the local bugs and playing
spy with neighbor friends. Her relatives and adult acquaintances are stirred in generously, so the reader - who is most
likely an adult - can readily relate.
And now along comes Custer and His Naked Ladies. Glory is all grown up. This story HAS
to be a romance. What other choice does Janelle have, after all???
James R. Muri
Novelist, Sailor
Reviews of A Three-Turtle Summer
I have read
A Three-Turtle Summer. Seems such a part of your author's heart. There is bravery, despair, but always the hope that tomorrow will be better. I loved your book and have taken,
on many occasions, great glee in describing and recommending it to others. Alice P. in Washington
State
Reading 'A Three Turtle Summer' is a learning
and rewarding experience. The author conveys very clearly - yet with measured tact - the insidiousness of discrimination and
prejudice, namely towards minority women. Janelle Meraz Hooper's dialogues are witty and her characters are convincing. Hers
is a moving portrayal of one woman's resolve to conquer herself, against all odds. This is a warm, unassuming and memorable
story with no frills attached. I loved it!
Review of A Three-Turtle Summer
Set in Oklahoma
in 1949, A Three-Turtle Summer offers a revealing view of the hard life of a Hispanic military wife and her daughter on Fort
Sill's military base. Married to a post World War Two soldier that was raised with the mindset that physical and mental abuse
are natural means by which to establish control over one's wife, Grace, the primary character slowly develops a plan to escape
the constant beatings she endures.
Grace creates a secret life unknown to her husband as she attempts to cope with her
circumstances and protect her daughter.
A Three-Turtle Summer is not only a fascinating story of survival and hope, it
also paints a magnificent snapshot of life in the Southwest a half century ago. I found it captivating and hard to put down.
I would not hesitate to recommend this superb book by author Janelle Meraz Hooper.
Kelly Creso
Bold Media Corporation
Reader Reviews
Review of A Three-Turtle Summer, January 29, 2003 Reviewer: Aline Lesage from Tacoma, WA Reading 'A
Three Turtle Summer' is a learning and rewarding experience. The author conveys very clearly - yet with measured tact
- the insidiousness of discrimination and prejudice, namely towards minority women. Janelle Meraz Hooper's dialogues are witty
and her characters are convincing. Hers is a moving portrayal of one woman's resolve to conquer herself, against all odds.
This is a warm, unassuming and memorable story with no frills attached. I loved it!
“…I loved it.
The Dwayne character was fun to dislike and watching his life deteriorate, seeing him reap what he sowed, was wonderful. Grace
emerging from the brutality of Dwayne unfolded beautifully. Spinning the sisters and characters in it made the whole book
a lot of fun to read…” M. H., Yakima, Washington
Three Turtles in Bethesda..".I read it in one evening and couldn't put it down. Your characters are so vivid
and rememberable. Thank you for your work and your lessons, even for us old white gringo guys. I will look forward
to the sequal about the rest of Glory's story." B.H.
A Three-Turtle Summer
and As Brown As I Want, The Indianhead Diaries:
…Just finished reading
them. Both, were very enjoyable. A bit sad, but kept me glued to every page. I do believe Oprah would really enjoy them and
put them in her book club. If I knew how to contact her, I would.” D. S.,
Sumner, Washington
“…I just wanted
you to know I read the books you left in Quad B at St. Joseph’s.
I really enjoyed your story…can’t wait for a new one to come…" HB, Tacoma,
Washington
Reviews of As Brown As I Want,
The Indianhead Diaries
Janelle Meraz
Hooper has hit a homerun with her second
book, AS BROWN AS I WANT, The Indianhead Diaries." Even better than her much acclaimed first book,
A THREE-TURTLE SUMMER, Janelle's new book propels the reader through a series of unique situations as experienced
by eight-year-old Glory, who always seems just a few steps ahead of her scheming father.
Sometimes hilarious, sometimes
gut wrenching, AS BROWN AS I WANT takes the reader into the heart and mind of young Glory, a perspective of innocence and
unwitting cleverness that confounds the best laid plans of her father, who has taken out a $50,000 life insurance policy on
her with every intention of collecting.
Glory is a master spider and scorpion collector, fast with a jar, faster with
the
lid. Teamed up with her cousin Carlos, age ten, the question becomes, "Is anyone in the neighborhood really safe?"
Toss
in a few snakes, a snapping turtle, a little bit of poison and a stepmother
from Hell and before you know it, you've got
a book almost impossible to put
down. AS BROWN AS I WANT is a roller coaster, each twist and turn better than
the one before.
How does young Glory survive? Just when you're ready to shed a few tears, you'll find yourself chuckling
at another unanticipated turn of events, silently
cheering Glory along.
Glory's tale doesn't play by any recognizable
formula, it sets its own rules as
it goes. It creates a storyline that captivates and entertains with a flare that
is
uniquely 'Hooper-ian.'
My hat is off to Janelle Meraz Hooper. AS BROWN AS I WANT is a marvelous read. It’s
no surprise that it was a finalist in the 2004 Oklahoma Book Awards!"
Review by Kelly Creso
Managing Editor
Bold
Media Corporation
I have just finished Brown and it's extraordinary.
Caldicott worthy, at least. Laughed myself silly. Alice Peeples, Lakewood, WA.
"I love your second book. You have masterfully written in
a style befitting a child, so fresh and natural, handling a very serious subject in a way to make reading easy, even
if it makes one's heart thump."
Elfi Hornby, author of Dancing to War and Shadow
of Defeat
(Note: Elfi has a new book: So, This Is America!)
"Hilarious!" an Oklahoma reader
I read your book, As Brown As I Want. I thought
the book was so good. I couldn't stop reading it. I got in trouble for reading it in class because i just couldn't put it
down.
Free Pecan Pie and Other
Chick Stories
First of all let me congratulate you on your wonderful stories. I find them to be very funny and entertaining.
B. M., Texas
Bridge To Divorce (from Free
Pecan Pie and Other Chick Stories):
The
Bridge To Divorce:
“Very
good indeed.”
K. A.,
Allahabad, India
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