Pamela Pizzimenti
Praise for The River Whispers
“The River Whispers is a delightful and touching story about love and forgiveness as Evie faces her greatest fears and brings a community together.”
Steven Pressfield - Author of The Legend of Bagger Vance
“I loved The River Whispers. It's a heart breaker, with the letting go of loved ones. But funny, too, a good balance of the light and dark of life. Evie is an angel and her stubborn, fearful, ability to find her heart is an inspiration for young teens.”
Kate Farrell - Author of Girl in the Mirror
The River Whispers is a wonderful combination of small town intrigue, romance, teenage angst, and magic. It features a main character any kid can identify with, a quirky best friend, a sympathetic boy ghost, and a likeable love interest. These young people are caught up in a very teenage drama, but Pizzimenti skillfully superimposes a series of more adult themes, as the story explores the challenges facing the heroes' parents. The story is fast-paced, but not so fast as to leave us behind. On top of all that, Pizzimenti conveys a feeling of small town peace and semi-rural beauty that makes her fictional town, Turnville, a pleasure to visit. Highly recommended.
David Carthage - Author of The Jericho River
“The River Whispers is a delightful and touching story about love and forgiveness as Evie faces her greatest fears and brings a community together.”
Steven Pressfield - Author of The Legend of Bagger Vance
“I loved The River Whispers. It's a heart breaker, with the letting go of loved ones. But funny, too, a good balance of the light and dark of life. Evie is an angel and her stubborn, fearful, ability to find her heart is an inspiration for young teens.”
Kate Farrell - Author of Girl in the Mirror
The River Whispers is a wonderful combination of small town intrigue, romance, teenage angst, and magic. It features a main character any kid can identify with, a quirky best friend, a sympathetic boy ghost, and a likeable love interest. These young people are caught up in a very teenage drama, but Pizzimenti skillfully superimposes a series of more adult themes, as the story explores the challenges facing the heroes' parents. The story is fast-paced, but not so fast as to leave us behind. On top of all that, Pizzimenti conveys a feeling of small town peace and semi-rural beauty that makes her fictional town, Turnville, a pleasure to visit. Highly recommended.
David Carthage - Author of The Jericho River
Pamela Pizzimenti was an educator in California public schools for over 7 years, where she enjoyed learning from her students what kinds of stories and themes young adults enjoy reading. She received her BA in Mass Communications from California State University, East Bay. Prior to becoming a teacher, she was a radio personality for 7 years in California's central valley under the name Kellie McCoy. Pamela Pizzimenti is the author of the award winning young adult novel The River Whispers and
is currently working
on two more YA
books; The Seer and
When Blossoms Fall.
She teaches
workshops on writing
YA fiction and has
presented at LitFest
at Mendocino College.
She also provides
writing workshops for young writers. She is the advisor for Redwood Writer's Youth Writing group in Sonoma County. She lives in Windsor, California with her husband and four children.
is currently working
on two more YA
books; The Seer and
When Blossoms Fall.
She teaches
workshops on writing
YA fiction and has
presented at LitFest
at Mendocino College.
She also provides
writing workshops for young writers. She is the advisor for Redwood Writer's Youth Writing group in Sonoma County. She lives in Windsor, California with her husband and four children.
An Interview with Pamela Pizzimenti
This is only part of the interview. To read the full interview go to
http://words.inpurespirit.com/838/the-river-whispers-an-interview-with-pamela-pizzimenti/
You’ve been a radio star, you’ve trained as a teacher and now you’re a published author. What was the inspiration for the career path? Why start writing?
Perhaps the question should be; why did I ever stop writing? I loved writing when I was young. I took creative writing classes in college, wrote poetry, kept journals, but then stopped. I don’t have a solid answer as to why. Perhaps I found the oral communication used for radio and teaching much quicker…certainly easier. Writing is work. The process of writing doesn’t give the same instant gratification, but I’m learning the reward is much greater.
As to why the career changes – I have always desired a job where I can be creative and communicate with others. Radio was a great fit, but as big corporations bought out independent stations the ability to be creative outside of reading prepared liners was disappearing. I turned to education when I realized I wanted to have a greater impact on others. Creating lessons and seeing children light up when they grasped a concept filled that creative desire. Unfortunately, with No Child Left Behind and the focus on standards, education has become homogenous with less time available to spark creativity in children. There are even textbooks now where teachers are required to read the lines as printed – that’s not teaching. Writing (books, blogging, etc) – is in many ways the last untouched frontier to freely express and share ideas.
If we look at your ability to educate, inform and communicate with children and young adults – how does your role as a teacher compare with your role as an author?
In the classroom I get instant feedback from students whether a lesson is effective or not. There is also a face to the people I impact and I can make a difference for them on a daily basis. When teaching, there is a definite goal where I need to guide students to in the process of learning.
When writing a book there is no instant response to know if a story resonates with a reader, but a book can be interpreted in so many ways and each reader personalizes it differently. What a story is to one person may not be the same to another and this can provide endless possibilities to what a book can teach or spark in others.
Are there any situations in The River Whispers that you put in there for Evie to face hoping that her experience could be helpful lesson for readers?
Evie is asked to risk, to change, to reach out to others, to forgive, and to let go. If you can remember being thirteen, then you realize just how difficult these things are for a young teenager. The last thing you want to be when you’re thirteen is different – and Evie is definitely different since she can see a ghost. Also how a young teenager internalizes death and losing a loved one is different than an adult. It is the first time it’s realized that we are not invincible; learning to let go and grab hold to the ride of life can be difficult, but exciting at the same time.
Has writing The River Whispers taught you any lessons?
Forgiving others and forgiving ourselves are the most difficult things to do in life and sometimes I need the reminder that it’s okay to forgive. In truth, I’m not a very forgiving person and the task I ask of Art Carter might even be beyond my ability, but I’d like to think I could be like him.
This is only part of the interview. To read the full interview go to
http://words.inpurespirit.com/838/the-river-whispers-an-interview-with-pamela-pizzimenti/
You’ve been a radio star, you’ve trained as a teacher and now you’re a published author. What was the inspiration for the career path? Why start writing?
Perhaps the question should be; why did I ever stop writing? I loved writing when I was young. I took creative writing classes in college, wrote poetry, kept journals, but then stopped. I don’t have a solid answer as to why. Perhaps I found the oral communication used for radio and teaching much quicker…certainly easier. Writing is work. The process of writing doesn’t give the same instant gratification, but I’m learning the reward is much greater.
As to why the career changes – I have always desired a job where I can be creative and communicate with others. Radio was a great fit, but as big corporations bought out independent stations the ability to be creative outside of reading prepared liners was disappearing. I turned to education when I realized I wanted to have a greater impact on others. Creating lessons and seeing children light up when they grasped a concept filled that creative desire. Unfortunately, with No Child Left Behind and the focus on standards, education has become homogenous with less time available to spark creativity in children. There are even textbooks now where teachers are required to read the lines as printed – that’s not teaching. Writing (books, blogging, etc) – is in many ways the last untouched frontier to freely express and share ideas.
If we look at your ability to educate, inform and communicate with children and young adults – how does your role as a teacher compare with your role as an author?
In the classroom I get instant feedback from students whether a lesson is effective or not. There is also a face to the people I impact and I can make a difference for them on a daily basis. When teaching, there is a definite goal where I need to guide students to in the process of learning.
When writing a book there is no instant response to know if a story resonates with a reader, but a book can be interpreted in so many ways and each reader personalizes it differently. What a story is to one person may not be the same to another and this can provide endless possibilities to what a book can teach or spark in others.
Are there any situations in The River Whispers that you put in there for Evie to face hoping that her experience could be helpful lesson for readers?
Evie is asked to risk, to change, to reach out to others, to forgive, and to let go. If you can remember being thirteen, then you realize just how difficult these things are for a young teenager. The last thing you want to be when you’re thirteen is different – and Evie is definitely different since she can see a ghost. Also how a young teenager internalizes death and losing a loved one is different than an adult. It is the first time it’s realized that we are not invincible; learning to let go and grab hold to the ride of life can be difficult, but exciting at the same time.
Has writing The River Whispers taught you any lessons?
Forgiving others and forgiving ourselves are the most difficult things to do in life and sometimes I need the reminder that it’s okay to forgive. In truth, I’m not a very forgiving person and the task I ask of Art Carter might even be beyond my ability, but I’d like to think I could be like him.