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JoAnn Flammer is a freelance writer and a retired elementary teacher. She is living 'happily ever after' in Adirondack, NY, with her husband of 50 years, Lee. They raised three beautiful daughters, Kathie, Sandi, & Debbie, and have been blessed with four delightful grandchildren: Brianna, Kristina, Andrew and Amber; two step-grandchildren, Kristyn and Alex; and now Bobby who married their granddaughter, Brianna. The girls, grandchildren, and spouses (Dan & Rich) continue to reside on Long Island.
For the past twenty years, JoAnn has been writing teaching ideas and strategies for The Education Center’s Mailbox Magazines.She also published a parent page for summer reading in Frank Schaffer’s Schooldays. She recently published See Me Learn: Reading Begins at Home filled with tips and strategies for parents who want to boost their children’s learning ability, especially in reading and writing, so they will experience academic success.
JoAnn's teaching certifications include grades N-6, English 7-12, and Reading K-12. Her passion teaching struggling readers led her to write three 'short' chapter books with age appropriate vocabulary for ages 8-12. The first one is about a boy who wishes his younger sister into a dragon’s cave. The second is about a princess who wants her castle saved from a greedy uncle. And the third has the same characters saving children from being bopping zombies. The Last Wish, Pukeweed Soup, and Beneath Windom Castle will captivate frustrated readers who are often overwhelmed by too much print, and independent readers will easily find the time to share in the characters' adventurous, magical journeys to Windom.
Reviewed by Michelle Stanley for Readers' Favorite
Beneath Windom Castle: A Tale of Bopping Zombies is a preteen story by JoAnn Flammer. Princess Tai, Noah, Reggie, Willie and Ariel spend the day at an amusement park in Windom, but armed soldiers arrive in trucks and abduct most of the children at the park. Willie and Ariel manage to escape from a truck and meet Fitz, a boy who hid in the Dreadful Dragon Cave. Fitz tells them that the soldiers turn the children into bopping zombies and make them work in the diamond mine located beneath Windom Castle. He leads them into the mine where soldiers give Tai and other captives special Z headbands to wear before disappearing in a Z booth. They wonder if Princess Tai’s scheming uncle is the ringleader of this horrible crime. Willie devises a rescue plan using magic, but he is only an apprentice wizard with limited powers and hopes it is strong enough to work.
Beneath Windom Castle: A Tale of Bopping Zombies is an exciting little mystery for preteens. This short, fast-paced book is entertaining and I think JoAnn Flammer is a terrific storyteller. The main characters are interesting ones, but I also like how the author introduces others into the story, which has good dialogue and adequate humour. It is obvious from the writing that JoAnn Flammer spent quality time creating the exciting action-filled plot, which caught my attention with its appealing beginning. The suspense gradually builds up and the ending is a nice one. Preteens will enjoy reading this book.
