CTR Book SeriesTestimonials and Reviews OREM — "The new boy at church has a fetish for braids, particularly Brittany's, and that doesn't sit well with her at all. What makes Parker's antics even harder to swallow is when Brittany's LDS Bishop (her dad) calls her into his office and asks her and her friends to welcome Parker into the ward and make him a friend."
Thus begins a new series of children's character-building books known as the CTR Club. The four-book series by Highland author Lisa J. Peck leads Brittany Stevenson and the newly formed CTR Club into adventures and situations that offer them the chance to "Choose the Right." The books — while written about children and members of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints — can be appreciated by any child. Lauren Pugmire, a 10-year-old fifth-grader at SCERA Park Elementary School, was asked to read the books and help with this review. Here are a few of her thoughts about the series. "Books one and two seem too churchy. It's like a Primary lesson not a book," Lauren said. "But books three and four are much better. They were more fun to read and they were more interesting than the other two." Lauren believes the books would interest children ages 6-10. Her favorite characters were Brittany, Meagan and Spencer. Lauren did find Parker's character in the first book interesting. He is autistic and Brittany and her friends learn a lot about autism throughout the book. "At church and school the next week after I read the book, I tried to look for people like Parker," Lauren said. "If you don't like church a lot you may not like it, but the last two anybody would like." The series includes: "A Challenge for Brittany," "Brittany to the Rescue," "Meagan's Secret" and "Skating with Spencer." The books emphasize the core character traits of honesty, responsibility, respect, perseverance, loyalty, generosity, humility, optimism and open-mindedness. Published by LDS Storymakers Inc., these stories are neither endorsed nor sponsored by the LDS Church. However, the CTR Club has a Web site with information and activities for children, parents and teachers. Children are invited to join the CTR Club and even write their own stories. These chapter books are easy to read and are approximately 70-80 pages each. Peck has been writing children's stories since she was a young girl. Her struggle to read was made worse by dyslexia. She is the author of several children's stories and is currently a Certified Growth Climate Relationships Specialist and Educator, where she works particularly with children, women who struggle with abuse, divorce adjustments or developing healthier relationships. To join the CTR Club visit www.ctrclub4kids.com. For more information on Peck visit www.lisajpeck.com. North County Newspaper With 15 books to her credit, Lisa J. Peck has accomplished more in the past eight years than some authors do in a lifetime. Although much of her work is for adult readers, her latest series, The CTR Club, published by LDS Storymakers, targets children ages 9-12. "A lot of publishers in the LDS market won't do middle grades, but I believe children need to read about kids in their own culture making decisions and creating character by facing problems and overcoming them," Peck said. "The four books series are centered on the humorous adventures of 11-year-old Brittany Stevenson as she attempts to do good things while making mistakes and living in the real world. In the first book "A Challenge for Brittany," Brittany's father, the bishop, asks her to befriend a new boy in the ward who is autistic. She and her sister and friend form the Choose the Right Club. The books are based on the concepts taught in the Primary Achievement Days program of the LDS church. The other books have themes such as history, first aid and sports. "A Challenge for Brittany" was first published by Bookcraft. "It did pretty well but they did not renew it so I expanded it into a series and took it to another publisher," Peck said. She has worked with a lot of publishers. Her series called "Mothers of the Prophets" was put out by Cedar Fort Press in Springville. Peck said her biggest challenge is that she has so many ideas and tries to do too many projects at once. While writing is her passion her first priority is her six children ages 6 to 14. "They have always been an integral part of my writing," she said. "When they were little I would have them clustered around my desk with crayons and paper writing their own stories." Although she uses her experience as a mother to enhance her books, she said growing up the fourth of 10 children has given her even more insight. "The main character, Brittany, is actually based on my little brother," Peck said. "I also like to hang out with 11-year-old kids. Boys are usually quite candid with me. I ask them if they like girls, and they tell me they do but don't want to show it. They tease them instead." With no lack of ideas for plots she said she allows the characters in her stories to tell her how they want to develop. Throughout the 30 to 50 edits she gets input from her children and their friends. Before launching the CTR Club series she had her children take rough drawings by the illustrator Cash Chase to school and vote on the ones they thought worked best. "These books are a light-hearted, easy, fast read," she said. "I have a set format of 10 chapters with six pages each. This gives the kids a sense of accomplishment to finish each chapter. I have had many requests to add to the series. Some parents have told me these are the books that got their children interested in reading because they can relate to them." She enjoys speaking to children about her books and her philosophy of never giving up. "I take a stack of rejection slips about a foot high and tell them even if they get rejected to never give up on their dreams," Peck said. "If you try hard enough you can do it. I sent in a manuscript to Bookcraft every six months for a long time until they finally decided I would not stop until they published a book for me." Her books are on sale at local venues including Deseret Book, Media Play, and Clean Flicks in Orem and also at her Web site: www.lisajpeck.com. This story appeared in the North County Newspapers on page A1
New Children's Books Takes Readers on Adventures of Humorous Mishaps and Good Fortune Mohonri.org Award-winning author Lisa J. Peck knows that character building at a young age is key in shaping a child's future and she is determined to make sure every child gets the tools they need. Her new book series, CTR Club Adventures, encourages children to develop a clear set of values, principles, and positive character traits There are four books in the series each one following Brittany, an eleven year old, as she struggles to make the right decisions. |