Intro
Hi everyone! And welcome to Books Between - a podcast for educators, parents and everyone who loves middle grade books!
I’m your host, Corrina Allen - a mom of two tween girls, a 5th grade teacher in Central New York, and currently enjoying those magical days between Christmas and New Years when you have no idea what day it is and you spend half your time in your pajamas reading…..ahhhh…..
I believe in the power of books - especially fantasy books - to help you mull over the big moral issues in life and help you discover who you really want to be. And few books have accomplished that for so many better than the Harry Potter series.
This is our final #HappyPottermas episode of December and it is full discussion centered around those topics.
First, you’ll hear some clips from Harry Potter fans - editors, authors, teachers, and… my own family.
And then I’ll share with you three conversations that will definitely get your wheels turning - and probably disagreeing. First, #HappyPottermas organizer Erin Varley and I will chat with Dr. Pat Geyer about how she has transformed her school into Hogwarts. Then librarian Angie Manfredi and I get into some Harry Potter controversies. And then I share some firewhisky with author and KidLitDrinkNight podcast host Amy Skelding who shares her surprising 10 Most Devasting Harry Potter Deaths.
It probably goes without saying that this episode will discuss the ending of the books - but just in case that’s not clear - Spoiler Alert!!
#HappyPottermas - Audio Submissions (2:00)
- Cary (@CarytheEditor), Blogger Freelance Editor at The Friendly Editor
- Adrianna Cuevas (@acuevaswrites) - MG author
- Cassie Thomas (@mrs_cmt1489) - 5th grade teacher, blogger at Teachers Who Read
- Victoria J. Coe (@victoriajcoe) - author, Fenway & Hattie series
- Kathy Burnett (@thebrainlair) - Independent Bookstore Owner - The Brain Lair
- Lena Allen - 4th grade student
- Angie Allen - 6th grade student
- Paul Goat Allen (@paulgoatallen) - genre fiction book reviewer
Erin Varley & Dr. Pat Geyer - Interview Outline (17:20)
Our first special guests this week are Erin Varley (teacher and #HappyPottermas organizer) and principal Pat Geyer - who, as you will hear, is doing some amazing Harry Potter themed activities at her school that has inspired me to do some similar things this year as well.
Take a listen…
Topics we chatted about
- Introductions
- Harry Potter Themed Activities at Pat’s School
- Harry Potter Themed Activities at Erin’s School
- Harry Pottter as a Read Aloud
- Kid’s Reactions to Harry Potter now vs. 20 Years Ago
- Rereading Harry Potter
- New Harry Potter Covers / Illustrated Versions
- Our Hogwart’s Houses
- More Hufflepuff and Slytherin love
Links:
Erin Verley on Twitter - @erinvarley
Dr. Pat Geyer on Twitter - @patgeyer
Pat’s school on Facebook
Pottermore website
Angie Manfredi - Interview Outline (32:40)
Next up I am really excited to welcome special guest Angie Manfredi - librarian and editor of the upcoming anthology - The F Word. We chat about how our views of Harry Potter have changed over the years, our frustrations with Dumbledore and the new direction JK Rowling has taken with the spin-offs, and Angie’s incredible and very accurate one question quiz to sort you into the right Hogwarts House. Plus - she finally convinces me to read The Cursed Child. Which I will tell you - it is taking all of my willpower to do anything else around the house other than finish that book that right now.
Take a listen…
Topics we chatted about
- Introductions
- First memories of reading Harry Potter
- Rereading Harry Potter
- Problematic Details
- Dumbledore & Draco
- Fantastic Beasts
- Problematic Systems of Magic involving Native Americans
- The Cursed Child
- Scorpius Malfoy
- Angie’s one question Hogwart’s House sorting quiz
- Should we sort?
- The Harry Potter Movies
- The acting in the Harry Potter movies
- Fascist Ideology in Harry Potter & the Mitford Sisters
- Snape, James Potter, the Black Family
- Controversial Opinions!
- Fan Fiction
- Native American Fantasy
Links:
Angie Manfredi on Twitter - @misskubelik
Author Adam Silvera
Carry On by Rainbow Rowell
Dragon Pearl by Yoon Ha-Lee
Sal & Gabi Break the Universe by Carlos Hernandez
The Lost Girl by Anne Ursu
The Music of What Happens by Bill Konigsberg
Native American Representation in Harry Potter
http://nativesinamerica.com/2016/07/dear-jk-rowling-were-still-here/
And some books by Native authors Angie recommends if you liked Harry Potter
For MG readers:
Trickster: Native American Tales, A Graphic Collection
For YA readers
And if you want to read more about the Mitford sisters, who were the very real inspirations for the Black sisters:
Rowling has said Jessica Mitford is a huge inspiration and her oldest daughter is named after her. And Angie quite recommend’s falling down a Wikipedia hole about them https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitford_family#Mitford_sisters
Amy Skelding - Interview Outline (1:20:00)
For our final #HappyPottermas segment, I am joined by middle grade author and Harry Potter mega fan Amy Skelding! She is also the host of the KidLitDrinkNight podcast. We share a bit of firewhisky and chat about Harry Potter inspiration in the work place, how Harry Potter inspired her family through a challenging time, and… her rather surprising list of the ten most devastating deaths in the Harry Potter series.
Take a listen…
Topics we chatted about
- Introductions
- Firewhisky
- The adult appeal of Harry Potter
- The movie adaptations
- The Half-Blood Prince
- Harry Potter as a Moral Compass
- House Sorting
- Favorite Character
- Amy’s Top Ten List of the Harry Potter Deaths in Order of Devastation to Me Personally
Links:
Amy Skelding on Twitter - @akskelding
Ogden’s Old Firewhisky Recipe: http://www.inliterature.net/by-author/jk-rowling/2017/06/13021.html
Half Magic by Edward Eager
Closing
Alright, that wraps up our show this week!
If you have a question about how to connect kids between 8-12 to books they’ll love or a suggestion about a topic we should cover, I would love to hear from you. You can email me at booksbetween@gmail.com or message me on Twitter/Instagram at the handle @Books_Between.
Books Between is a proud member of the Lady Pod Squad and the Education Podcast Network. This network features podcasts for educators, created by educators. For more great content visit edupodcastnetwork.com
Thank you so much for joining me this week. You can get an outline of interviews and a full transcript of all the other parts of our show at MGBookVillage.org. And, if you are liking the show, please leave us some love on iTunes or Stitcher so others can discover us as well.
Thanks and see you soon! Bye!
Intro
Hi everyone! And welcome to Books Between - a podcast for teachers, parents, librarians, and anyone who wants to connect kids between 8-12 to books they will love for a lifetime.
I’m your host, Corrina Allen - a mom of a 9 and 11 year old, a teacher, and recently - staying up way too late wrapping presents and watching cheesy Netflix holiday specials like The Princess Switch and The Holiday Calendar. And apparently losing my voice a bit - it seems a tad scratchy tonight.
I believe in the power of the right story at the right time to transform you into a different kind of reader. And a different kind of person. And Harry Potter is that one series that seems to have accomplished that for so many.
In today’s special #HappyPottermas episode you’ll hear some clips from a variety of kids, parents, educators, and authors about what Harry Potter has meant to them.
And then I’ll share with you a conversation with one of the founders of #HappyPottermas and the MGBookVillage website, author Jarrett Lerner and - David Marsh - and educator and the creative force behind the LEGO Batman Book Talks on YouTube.
#HappyPottermas - Audio Submissions
- Katelynn Giordano (@Mrs_Giordano), 6th Grade English Teacher
- Stephanie Lucianovic (@grubreport) - author of The End of Something Wonderful: A Practical Guide to a Backyard Funeral and Hello Star
- Rajani LaRocca (@rajanilarocca) - author of Midsummer’s Mayhem and 7 Golden Rings
- Jazz Anders (@snazzsinclair) - student, Kid YouTuber Snazzy Reads
- Amber Stivers Anders - library aid, Jazz’s mom
- Karen Chow (@KChowrites) - author, contributor at MG @ Heart
Jarrett Lerner & David Marsh - Interview Outline
Our special guests this week are author Jarrett Lerner and educator David Marsh. We talk about the influence of Harry Potter, our favorite books, the movie adaptations - among lots and lots of other things!
Take a listen…
Topics we chatted about
- Introductions
- How Harry Potter first came into our lives
- Growing up with Harry Potter
- Skipping the beginning chapters of The Sorcerer’s Stone
- Favorite characters
- Pottermore
- Favorite book
- Movies vs. Books
- Adult appeal of Harry Potter
- Harry Potter merch
- Harry Potter sorting
- Prizoner of Azkaban movie
Links:
Jarrett Lerner on Twitter - @Jarrett_Lerner
David Marsh on Twitter - @Davidmarsh80
Pottermore website
Tight (by Torrey Maldonado)
The Bicycle Spy (Yona Zeldis McDonough)
Skylark and Wallcreeper (Anne O’Brien Carelli)
Oathbringer: Book Three of the Stormlight Archive (Brandon Sanderson)
Stella Diaz Has Something to Say (Angela Dominguez)
We’re Not From Here (Geoff Rodkey)
Closing
Alright, that wraps up our show this week!
If you have a question about how to connect kids between 8-12 to books they’ll love or a suggestion about a topic we should cover, I would love to hear from you. You can email me at booksbetween@gmail.com or message me on Twitter/Instagram at the handle @Books_Between.
Books Between is a proud member of the Lady Pod Squad and the Education Podcast Network. This network features podcasts for educators, created by educators. For more great content visit edupodcastnetwork.com
Thank you so much for joining me this week. You can get an outline of interviews and a full transcript of all the other parts of our show at MGBookVillage.org. And, if you are liking the show, please leave us some love on iTunes or Stitcher so others can discover us as well.
Thanks and see you soon! Bye!
Intro
Hi everyone! And welcome to Books Between - a podcast for teachers, parents, librarians, and anyone who wants to connect kids between 8-12 to books they will love for a lifetime.
I’m your host, Corrina Allen - a mom of two tweens, a 5th grade teacher, a Ravenclaw, and celebrating all things Harry Potter this month!
I believe in the power of stories to give us the language and situations to help us identify and make sense of what is wonderful in our world. And give us the words and the way to fight against the injustices we see.
And few books do that better than Harry Potter. Across generations parents and educators who grew up inspired by Rowling’s stories are sharing the books with the children in their lives.
In today’s episode you’ll hear some short clips from a variety of librarians, and parents, and educators, and authors about how much the series has meant to them. And the special moments in their lives that were made a little more magical by Harry Potter.
And then I’ll share with you a lenghtier conversation from across the pond where I chat with two of the founders of #HappyPottermas - Annaliese Avery from Suffolk in the UK and Lorie Barber from Chicago in the U.S.
Defintely check out #HappyPottermas on Twitter and all the Monday night #MGBookChat topics throughout December will be all about Harry Potter! And I really would love to hear YOUR thoughts about Harry Potter as well So, if you are interested in being featured on this podcast later in December, just check out the link posted in the show notes, which includes very quick and easy instructions on to submit an audio clip to me. And I can’t wait to hear from you!
#HappyPottermas - Audio Submissions
- Jen Jowett (@JenJowett), educator of 7th and 8th Graders
- Daphne Benedis Grab (@JenJowett) - author of The Angel Tree and Clementine for Christmas
- Ann Braden (@DaphneBG) - author of The Benefits of Being an Octopus
- K.A. Reynolds (@KrisRey19) - author of The Land of Yesterday and The Spinner of Dreams
- Lindsay Currie (@lindsayncurrie) - author of The Peculiar Incident on Shady Street
- Allison Stout (@rtslitech) - librarian at K-8 school
- Josh Funk (@joshfunkbooks) - author of Lady Pancake & Sir French Toast and Lost in the Library
- Jill Diamond (@jillinboots) - author of Lou Lou & Pea and the Mural Mystery
Annaliese Avery & Lorie Barber - Interview Outline
Our special guests this week are Annaliese Avery and Lorie Barber - two of the founders of #HappyPottermas! We talk about Harry Potter inspired advocacy, the challenges of friendship trios, and the our thoughts about the new Fantastic Beast movies.
Take a listen…
Topics we chatted about
- Introductions
- How Harry Potter first came into our lives
- The origins of #HappyPottermas
- Harry Potter ushering in a golden age of children’s books
- Harry Potter fueled activism
- Flawed characters & friendship trios
- Teaching Harry Potter
- Complicated characters in Harry Potter
- The Crimes of Grindlewold / The Fantastic Beast movies
- The Harry Potter books vs. the movies
- The Cursed Child
- Sorting in Schools
- Harry Potter in the UK vs. Harry Potter in the U.S
- Looking at Harry Potter through a critical lens
Links:
Annaliese Avery on Twitter - @AnnalieseAvery
Lorie Barber on Twitter - @BarberChicago
Jess Lifshitz on Twitter - @Jess5th
Pottermore website
Closing
Okay, that wraps up our show this week! Remember to check out #HappyPottermas throughout December for some magical fun and remember to send in your own audio submission for a future episode.
If you have a question about how to connect kids between 8-12 to books they’ll love or a suggestion about a topic we should cover, I would love to hear from you. You can email me at booksbetween@gmail.com or message me on Twitter/Instagram at the handle @Books_Between.
Books Between is a proud member of the Lady Pod Squad and the Education Podcast Network. This network features podcasts for educators, created by educators. For more great content visit edupodcastnetwork.com
Thank you so much for joining me this week. You can get an outline of interviews and a full transcript of all the other parts of our show at MGBookVillage.org. And, if you are liking the show, please leave us some love on iTunes or Stitcher so others can discover us as well.
Thanks and see you soon! Bye!
Intro
Hi everyone! And welcome to Books Between - a podcast for teachers, parents, librarians, and anyone who wants to connect kids between 8-12 to incredible stories. I believe in the power of books to bring communities together. And my goal is to help you connect your children and your community with fantastic books and share inspiring conversations with the people who make that magic happen.
I’m your host, Corrina Allen - a mom of a 9 and 11 year old, a 5th grade teacher in Central New York, and glad to be back with you after a short hiatus to focus on school and supporting some local candidates in the mid-term elections! Before this year, I had NEVER done any phone banking or canvassing, but after being inspired by so many of YOU - I knew I had to get off my bum and get to work.
This is episode #62 and Today’s show is all about promoting literacy in your community. First, I’ll share some advice about launching a community book club based on my experience starting a ProjectLIT Book Club at my school. And then I’ll share a conversation with Harper & Maggie, two young girls who’ve launched Books & a Blanket - an organization to promote literacy and well-being among young children in need.
Before we get started, I have a BIG announcement that I am delighted to tell you about! For the whole month of December, Annaliese Avery and Jarrett Lerner and myself from MGBookVillage are teaming up with Lorie Barber and Erin Varley to bring you #HappyPottermas - a month-long celebration of all things Harry Potter! There will be daily Twitter prompts and all the 9pm EST Monday night #MGBookChat topics throughout December will be all about Harry Potter! And…. I’ve got some special guests lined up for the December episodes of the podcast to talk about the Wizarding World. And I would love to feature YOU on the show as well. So if you have THOUGHTS about Hogwarts, Snape, the books vs. the movies. If you have OPINIONS you want to share - I really, really want to hear what you have to say! So, if you are interested in being featured on this podcast, just check out the link posted in the show notes, and I can’t wait to hear from you!
Main Topic - Launching a Community Book Club
This week I’m sharing some things I’ve learned about launching a community book club based on my experiences starting a ProjectLIT Book Club at my school. But whatever type of book club you might already have going or are considering starting - whether that’s a ProjectLIT club or not - I think you’ll get some good ideas from today’s discussion. And - just know that every document I mention (flyers, surveys, discussion guides, etc…) are all available for you to download right in the show notes and on this episode’s post at MGBookVillage.org. And all of them are editable so you can download and adjust them however you need.
Today I’ll be talking about the difference between ProjectLIT and other traditional community book clubs, including the pros and cons of each. Then I’ll share some ideas about how to prepare to launch your club, some ideas about how to decide what books to read and how to get copies of those books, how to get students and the wider community involved and excited, and then I’ll get into some specifics about planning meetings and hosting a community-wide book celebration.
That’s a lot to cover! So let’s dig right in!
What is the difference between a traditional book club with community involvement and a ProjectLIT Community Book Club - and what are the pros and cons of each?
ProjectLIT is a grassroots literacy movement with community book club chapters all over the country. As of this week, there are now 592 chapters. Their goal is to increase access to culturally relevant books and promote a love of reading in our schools and communities. Each spring the ProjectLIT team consults with chapter leaders and announces a list of 20 books from middle grade to YA that include topics that will generate lots of discussion and bring awareness to issues in our society. Since this is the second year, there are now 40 books to choose from. The books feature characters from a wide variety of backgrounds and are usually #ownvoices - written by authors who share the marginalized identity of the main character. For example, some ProjectLIT books are Amina’s Voice by Hena Kahn and Ghost Boys by Jewell Parker Rhodes. Some of the YA choices are Trevor Noah’s Born a Crime and Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo. ProjectLIT is all about bringing together a community to discuss the big ideas put forth in these books and to encourage students to take a leadership role in planning community meetings and doing community service projects to promote literacy. It’s beyond just a book club that might meet to read and discuss books. If you want to know more about ProjectLIT, their founder, Jarred Amato was a guest on this podcast on episode 54. So, if you are considering whether or not to launch a more traditional book club in your school or to be a ProjectLIT chapter, here are some pros and cons to keep in mind.
Cons:
- The book choices are more limited. There are about 20 middle grade titles to choose from and about 20 YA, but I found that the middle grade titles weren’t all the best fit for my club which is geared toward 4th and 5th graders. For example, the March graphic novels are listed as middle grade but I decided to not offer that as one of our choices since it seemed more like a middle school fit. I’m really hoping that the book options next year will include some lower middle grade titles to expand the choices for elementary kids and to include a variety of reading levels for older students, too.
- Many of the titles are newer so they are only available as hardcover which makes it financially challenging. And students are less familiar with them so you might need to do some book talks and sampling to get them really pumped about reading them.
- If you advertise an event as ProjectLIT, it does need to be one of the approved titles. You can mix things up but it does make it more complicated. And if you are trying to make your book club ALSO connect with other things like Battle of the Books or March Book Madness, it is a little bit limiting in that way.
PROS:
- The book choices ARE amazing! Long Way Down, Amal Unbound, The First Rule of Punk, Ghost, The Parker Inheritance - truly - these are fabulous reads!!
- Yes, they are new. But that also means that most kids haven’t already read them. I know when I’ve attempted book clubs with really popular books that have been out for awhile, some kids didn’t come because well - if they were interested in the book, they’d already read it. Newer books pull in those readers who will be literacy leaders. Those kids who want to be on the cutting edge and draw in the rest of their peers and community with their excitement.
- You have an amazing supportive community who are all working toward the same goals and really eager to help make your life easier by sharing ideas and resources. If you need discussion questions for Towers Falling - they are already done! There’s a wonderful Facebook group, a Sunday Twitter chat, and a weekly newsletter emailed to you. So, you are not in it alone. And because of that, there are great opportunities for clubs to collaborate and maybe Skype with other groups reading the same book to discuss beyond their community and to get ideas from each other.
How can I prepare my launch to make the book club successful?
Doing some work ahead of time can really help get your book club started off on the right foot and get some community behind you from the very beginning. One of the first things I did was to decide who I might strong-arm into, I mean…. invite to partner with me. In most schools there are at least a couple book lovers who would be down with helping out. At my school - that would be the amazing Kelly. So I emailed Kelly - who was totally excited about launching a club at our school! Sometimes you just have to ask people. Then I emailed our local public librarian, the PTO, our principal, and let them know about the awesome new club for kids that was coming soon.
Then, I needed to decide how often we would meet, when, and where. And that really depends on two main factors - time available at your school or library. And YOU! Because honestly - you are the one who needs to be the main force in making this work. So just...decide and promote the heck out of it! Since our school day starts early, a before school time was not going to work. So I decided to offer the club to 4th and 5th graders after school from 2:10 to 3:15. The reason I went with 3:15? Because that’s the time that Drama Club and the Book Cooks let out so I decided to be consistent with them so parents wouldn’t be confused about pick-up times. I also decided to go with Thursdays to avoid those other club days as well. Now, I will say - I’ve had to do some push back against getting sucked into meetings on Thursdays. But I am holding firm. I don’t want the job to get in the way of my actual work - expanding literacy and love of reading in my school. So if there is a meeting on a Thursday? I’m not going. I’m with the kids doing THAT important work.
The next thing to decide is how many books you want to read throughout the year and when you want to hold a community-wide celebration of those books. Again - this all depends on YOUR availability and how many books you think you can get. Maybe you start small with just 4 books and 4 events. Maybe every other month works for you. Since I have no chill whatsoever, I decided to go for once a month but to use our first month of school to let everyone get settled and start promoting it, and then officially launch in October. Kudos to ANYONE who can jump start something the first month of school - I just can’t quite manage the logistics of that. So - cut yourself some slack and give yourself a month head start.
After looking at the calendar and our school schedule, I decided that our community-wide celebrations would be the first Saturday of every month from 10am to 11:30am. I went with this for a few reasons -
- Everyone seems to already have things in the evenings and I really wanted parents and adults to be able to come. Our school gets out at 2:10 - very few adults can make it at that time if we had after school events.
- Sundays are often tough for some people in our community because of religious observances in the morning so I wanted to avoid any conflict there.
- I wanted it to be early enough in the day so that it didn’t wreck people’s entire day. They can come, enjoy, and then have all the rest of Saturday do whatever they want.
- The first weekend of the month tends to avoid most major holidays.
That being said - there is absolutely no possible way you can accommodate everyone’s schedule and avoid hockey tournaments and dance recitals and the plethora of other obligations people have. So - no worries! If kids can’t come to the Thursday after school meetings, they are always welcome to just attend the celebration event! And if they can’t attend the community celebration, they are still welcomed wholeheartedly to the after school meetings. And if November doesn’t work out - come join us when your schedule frees up in the spring! I really try to make it as socially and emotionally easy to join us as possible - whenever they can.
Okay - so once you’ve decided the meeting days and when your community book club celebrations will be - figure out a place to meet. We meet in my classroom after school because I know that location will be available and I am not inconveniencing anyone else. And we meet in the school library for those Saturday celebrations. I had considered meeting at the local public library, but opted for the school library for a couple reasons - one, I am familiar with that space and have access to it so I can set up the night before. Perhaps you are noticing a theme here - make it as easy as possible for YOU. Also, I want the school and our library to be a literacy hub for the community. And I wanted access to the technology in that space - Promethean Board and Chromebooks. And the public library didn’t have those options and the students and I were comfortable with our school’s space and technology.
Alright, so your prep phase should include the Who, When, and Where. Who - figuring out who will help you and who you will reach out to to let them know the amazingness that is coming. When you will meet with students and when you and those students will host the community book club celebration. And where -the location of these meetings.
How do you decide which books to read?
Picking awesome and interesting books are what’s really going to get people excited. And I recommend letting kids have some ownership of that process. Kelly and I decided to pick the first book ourselves so we could do some work ahead of time to get copies and then have the kids vote on the other middle grade ProjectLIT choices. You might decide to have the students pick from a list you provide or have them pick every other month so there is some variety but also honors student choice. We launched our book club with Towers Falling by Jewell Parker Rhodes. For us, this seemed like a good start for a few reasons. It was one of the books with an easier reading level and being in New York, our families have many personal stories about 9/11 that this book club would give them an opportunity to share. So I’d recommend picking a really high interest book to start that will get a lot of support in your community.
During our first after school meeting, I had the students do a book tasting of 15 ProjectLIT books that I thought would be a good fit for our 4th and 5th graders - Ghost Boys, The Wild Robot, Amal Unbound, Wonder, The Crossover, Rebound, Booked, Ghost, Patina, Sunny, The Parker Inheritance, The First Rule of Punk, Wishtree, and Refugee. Perhaps you could give some choices that align with your goals and that ensure a variety of perspectives. So - I had scrounged up multiple copies of each book and printed out evaluation forms. (Those are available to download right in the show notes!) Kids sat in groups of about 4 and examined and previewed about 3 books at a time. Just like any other book tasting, I encouraged them to look at the cover, read the teaser material on the back cover or inside flaps, and read the first page. And I framed this for them as - don’t JUST think about what YOU like. Think about what books you like and what titles you think would be important and interesting for our community to discuss. So - then they voted on their top choices. I had intended this to be done on a Google Form (which I will share with you) but our internet went down so we went old school and they wrote down their lists and we tallied them up. The seven books that got the most votes were The Wild Robot, Wonder, Amal Unbound, Ghost, Sunny, Wishtree, and The First Rule of Punk. And… I’m not gonna lie. I was a tad heartbroken that a certain book I really, really wanted to read with them didn’t quite make the cut. BUT - I had committed to honoring their choices. Also - Sunny was chosen but NOT book 2 of that series (Patina), so I just decided to go with it since each book can really stand on their own.
After that, I matched each book to a month - putting the two Jason Reynolds books (Ghost then Sunny after each other later in the year since their reading levels were more challenging) and timing Wishtree so our celebration would fall close to May 1st since that date plays a big part in the novel. So, as you schedule the books, think about what seasonal connections you might make and consider putting those more challenging books later on in the year. Also - some books will be available in softcover later in the year, so you might want to schedule those then to reduce costs. Speaking of costs….
How do you get copies of the books?
This is the big challenge. Ideally, you want to gather enough copies for each student who wants to participate AND some extras for those in the community to borrow as well. (But that’s not always possible.) So, here are a few suggestions:
- Ask students to purchase the books themselves if they are able (I have this listed on our permission slip for each month’s club and having families that are willing and able to purchase books for their child helps free up funds to get books for other kids)
- Ask the PTO/PTA for funding - our PTO actually approached ME to attend a meeting and share the goals of the club. Not only did I get more families interested in joining by talking to their folks, they gave us $250 for books! So definitely seek out your PTO!
- Take advantage of Scholastic points and perhaps ask teachers in your building to donate some copies. Not all of our books were available through Scholastic, but we had several members of the staff donate copies of Towers Falling because it was only $4!
- Try doing a Donors Choose project!
- Apply for grants! Right now, Kelly and I have a grant submitted that would totally cover the cost of the remaining books - so cross your fingers for us!
- Ask local businesses and organizations for support! Our local Lions Club is really receptive to opportunities to support the schools. And those local businesses and organizations might be EVEN MORE into it when you invite them to read the books with you and come to the book celebrations. I also make sure to thank all our donors by name during the meeting and you can also have a few “Sponsored by” flyers around as well.
- Collaborate with your school library and the local public library. They can often gather copies for you that kids and the community can check out. The library right down the street from our school has a special display for our book club with our monthly flyer and the books stacked right underneath it available to check out.
- Start an Amazon Wishlist and share that link EVERYWHERE - in your email signature - in a newsletter - on social media… Ask friends to share it with their friends and family who might be looking for an opportunity to support a great cause.
How do you get students and the community to join your book club?
Alright - now that you’ve built something amazing and have everything organized and have a plan to get those books - you need to build that excitement so kids will come and continue coming! And the community will read the books with you and come to the celebrations. Let’s start with the kids:
- I think the single most effective thing we did was at the beginning of the year, Kelly and I went into all the 4th and 5th grade classrooms with a stack of the book options and gave a quick book talk of each one and passed them around for the kids to look at. And then we passed out the permission forms. After that, I make a quick visit at the beginning of each month to do a quick chat about the upcoming book and pass out those permission slips so you know who is coming and if they need a copy of the book. (And an editable copy of that slip is right in the show notes for you to download.)
- Wherever your school promotes events - on the morning announcements, in a newsletter, on a school calendar… get the club mentioned! About once a week, I make an announcement reminding the kids to come to our weekly meeting AND reminding folks to come to the upcoming Saturday celebration. Our school also has a weekly news show - The Minoa Morning Messages - and some of our members made an appearance to promote the club and announce the next book.
- Be visible! Last year I spent a lot more time in my classroom whenever I could but this year I am making more of an effort to hang out by the buses at dismissal and say hello to kids not in my class during lunch. I have been surprised by how many kids approach me during those casual times and ask about the book club or see me and suddenly remember their permission slip! If out of sight means out of mind, then you‘ve got to literally be in their sights. And each of those encounters builds interest and awareness among the other kids (and staff) who observe those conversations!
So - how about getting the staff and community to come to your celebrations? That can be a bit trickier, but I do have some ideas for you:
- Have the students invite them! Each month, students help design an invitation and I print off a bunch of copies. Then we get some envelopes and personally invite every single member of the staff - not just classroom teachers, but secretaries, TAs, custodial staff, lunch monitors, the superintendent - everyone! One student even snagged the mail carrier on his way in and handed him an invitation! I also give students multiple copies of the invitation - and the digital version for them to invite family members. We also branch out and invite folks at the town hall, the mayor, the fire chief. And based on their suggestions, I drive around and post flyers in areas they think would be a good idea - like the post office or the fire department or the local pizza shop.
- Another way to get the staff involved is to email them and ask them to read the book and come to the celebration. And last month, we had some extra copies of Towers Falling, so some of the kids just walked around after school and asked the staff if they wanted to borrow the book and talked up how good it was. And of course, included an invitation tucked into the front cover.
- Harness the power of social media! Our club has both a Twitter account (@ProjectLITMinoa) and an Instagram account (@ProjectLITMinoa) and are both nice places to showcase what the students are doing and share those awesome pictures of your events. And if you are on the social media platforms that parents and kids already use, it makes it easier for them to tag you and start to build awareness among the community. Have a social media presence also makes your club Google-able. You could also make a website, but that’s definitely an in-the-future step for us.
- Make a display and put it in a high traffic area in your school! Last month, I finally realized I needed to make a display of some kind because people kept asking when the next book club was and what books we were reading next. So having one place they can look is really helpful both to be informative and to also serve as an advertisement!
How do you run the student book club meetings?
One thing that I did on a whim was to start our very first meeting with a quick get-to-know-you activity. I definitely didn’t know all the students and I’m certain they didn’t know each others’ names, so we did a quick round of “When the Cold Wind Blows”. Basically each kid takes a turn standing in the center of the circle and says their name and something about themselves. Like, “My name is Corrina and I like Harry Potter!” And if that applies to you, you stand up and move like the wind to another seat. That went over so well, that each month, when we have a new mix of students, we start with a new ice breaker. During that first meeting, I pass out the reading schedule (and yup - that’s right online for you!), and we start reading together! Sometimes we listen to the audio book and sometimes Kelly and I take turns reading it out loud. For the meetings after that first one, we take the first 10-15 minutes to discuss the reading we did last week - talking about any confusing parts, big ideas, connections, questions, favorite parts, or favorite quotes… and then I read aloud or we listen to the audio book for the next 20 or so minutes. And the last 20-30 minutes is planning time. This is when the kids take care of invitations, come up with discussion questions, trivia questions, brainstorm new ideas together - and basically take care of all the things that come up when planning an event.
After that, we pack up and I escort the crew down to the main hall to be picked up and take that opportunity to connect with parents and answer any questions. So basically, our after school book club meetings are discussion, read together, plan together.
How do you host a great community book club celebration?
Honestly, I wasn’t sure this was going to work out at ALL. The Saturday morning of our first event, two things happened that did not bode well. First, despite the fact that I had requested the room through the proper channels and filled out all the school-required paperwork, the library was locked and NO ONE with the key was available. Okay - so we just relocated to my room, and I scrambled to get the space organized. Second - several of the kids and staff had volunteered to come in early at 9:30 to help me set up and it was 9:50 and NO ONE was there but ME. And I thought - well…. I’ll just hang out here and grade papers and eat the cider and muffins I brought myself. But - then…. EVERYONE showed up!! And our final count was over 40 people and it was an amazing event! So - here is the schedule we followed.
- First - ask for some volunteers to bring in drinks and snacks. We had cocoa (a BIG hit!), cider, donuts, and muffins. Kelly and I brought in some and parents had volunteered to supply snacks and drinks, too.
- When people arrived from 10:00 - 10:20, there was a sign-in sheet, and we had an activity set up at each table for them to complete when they came in. For Towers Falling, we supplied big pieces of paper and markers, and had people create their own Social Units diagram. For our next read, The Wild Robot, we’re planning on a build-your-own-robot craft. I think having something fun to do for the first 15 minutes as people arrive is a good idea since families want to get a snack and everyone wants to chat anyway.
- From 10:20-10:30 I welcome everyone, give a brief introduction - go through the agenda, explain what ProjectLIT book clubs are all about, show pictures of the book club in action that I’ve been taking throughout the past month, and give thanks to the organizations and donors and volunteers that have helped us out. It’s a quick power point, and I’ll drop a link to that in the show notes if you want to use it for your events. Also, as each person arrives, we hand them a half-sheet copy of the agenda with an exit survey stapled to the back to we can get some feedback.
- From 10:30-10:50 is Group Discussion time! Students pass out a discussion guide with six questions they’ve developed. And each group takes about twenty minutes to chat about the book! These could be general questions like, what character could you relate to the most or what scene stood out to you? Or they might be specific to the novel, like “Why do you think Dejá’s father didn’t want her to learn about 9/11?” For this particular book, we also asked the adults in each group to share where they were on 9/11 and what were their experiences and feelings on that day.
- From 10:50-11:15 is trivia! I created an online quiz based on the trivia questions that the kids made using the website Kahoot - which was lots of fun! You do need access to a device though, so traditional trivia is fine, too! We had everyone break up into teams of no more than 6 and then the top team each won a prize of a full-sized Hershey’s Bar, the second place team each got a Hershey’s mini, and the 3rd place team each got a Hershey’s kiss. That trivia game and those little prizes were such a HUGE hit - and the competition was quite fierce! I’ll drop a link to that Kahoot if you want to check it out.
- From 11:15 - 11:20 - We drew prizes! We were lucky enough to have some community members and parents donate books and a few small gift cards to Barnes & Noble and a local yogurt shop. So at the beginning of the meeting, we had a student in charge of passing out tickets and then we just drew names at the end of the meeting.
- From 11:20 - 11:30 is cleanup!
A few things I would change - we forgot to explicitly ask people to fill out the surveys and return them to us. Oops! And I forgot to take a big group picture! Next time, I’d also make sure that at least one of the book club kids were seated at each group. We also didn’t get as many community members who weren’t directly connected to the school as I had hoped. So, we are going to keep reaching out! And our next steps are to do more community service events like book drives and to find ways for the students to be literacy advocates in other ways in our community.
So, overall - it was REALLY successful and a TON of fun! Our new principal came - even though he hadn’t technically started until the following week! We had almost all the book club kids come with at least one family member - including bringing older siblings who were former students which was wonderful! About six staff members came, including one with her new baby.
I was truly overcome with the passion and excitement and generosity that our community showed. And really - all I did was provide an outlet and an opportunity for kids and the community to express their passion for reading and literacy.
I know, if you decide to start a community book club in your school, you won’t regret it! And if you have any questions at all, I’d be happy to chat more with you. You can email me at booksbetween@gmail.com or reach out on Twitter or Instagram at the handle @Books_Between. And if you have some suggestions or tips about how to run a successful community book club - I’d love to share your ideas so we can all learn from each other!
Maggie & Harper from Books and a Blanket - Interview Outline
Our special guests this week are sisters Maggie & Harper - founders of Books and a Blanket! We talk about the origins of their project, their favorite books, and how you can help them promote literacy and well-being among young children in need.
Take a listen…
Books & a Blanket
What is Books and a Blanket and how did it get started?
How has Books and a Blanket changed from when you first came up with the idea?
How do you get all the books and blankets? And do you accept both used and new?
What are your plans for the future of Books and a Blanket?
How do you decide who gets them?
If our listeners wanted to get involved and help you out, what could they do?
Your Reading Life
One of the goals of this podcast is to help educators and librarians and parents inspire kids to read more and connect them with amazing books. Did you have a special teacher or librarian who helped foster your reading life?
We have a lot of teachers and librarians listening. What is something you want them to know?
What is something you wish teachers did MORE of?
What is something you wish teachers did LESS of?
What are some of your all-time favorite books?
What have you been reading lately that you’ve liked?
Links:
Books & a Blanket website - https://booksandablanket.com
Books & a Blanket on Twitter
Books & Authors We Chatted About:
Mr. Lemoncello’s Library (Chris Grabenstein)
The Penderwicks (Jeanne Birdsall)
Penderwicks at Last (Jeanne Birdsall)
The Harry Potter series (J.K. Rowling)
The Hunt for Red October (Tom Clancy)
The Mysterious Benedict Society (Trenton Lee Stewart)
The Candymakers (Wendy Mass)
Nevermoor (Jessica Townsend)
The Land of Stories (Chris Colfer)
Ender’s Game (Orson Scott Card)
Artemis Fowl (Eoin Colfer)
Closing
Okay, that wraps up our show this week! I hope you’ll head over to BooksandaBlanket.com to help support a great cause.
And remember to check out #HappyPottermas throughout December for some magical fun.
If you have a question about how to connect kids between 8-12 to books they’ll love or a suggestion about a topic we should cover, I would love to hear from you. You can email me at booksbetween@gmail.com or message me on Twitter/Instagram at the handle @Books_Between.
Books Between is a proud member of the Lady Pod Squad and the Education Podcast Network. This network features podcasts for educators, created by educators. For more great content visit edupodcastnetwork.com
Thank you so much for joining me this week. You can get an outline of interviews and a full transcript of all the other parts of our show at MGBookVillage.org. And, if you are liking the show, please leave us some love on iTunes or Stitcher so others can discover us as well.
Thanks and see you soon! Bye!
Intro
Hello everyone! Welcome to Books Between - a podcast for teachers, librarians, parents, and anyone who loves middle grade books!
I believe in the power of stories to change our mood - make us laugh, cry, or… creep us out in the best possible way! My goal is to help you connect kids with those fabulous books and share inspiring conversations with the authors and educators who make that magic happen.
I am your host, Corrina Allen - a mom of a 9 and 11 year old, a 5th grade teacher in Central New York, and spending a few hours each week phone banking!
This is episode #61 and Today I’m booktalking three recent paranormal reads that will get you and your kids in the perfect fall mood, and sharing a conversation with Pablo Cartaya about his latest novel, Marcus Vega Doesn’t Speak Spanish!
Before we jump into things, a few updates:
The Middle Grade at Heart Book Club pick for October is The Three Rules of Everyday Magic by Amanda Rawson Hill and The Hotel Between by Sean Easley is the November pick. And - I just got sneak peek at the first four MG at Heart picks for 2019 and they’re fantastic. In fact, one of the authors, was recently featured on the show.
Also remember to check out #MGBooktober to check out all the great discussions around middle grade and connect with other educators, librarians, authors, and fans.
And remember that Monday nights at 9pm EST is the #MGBookChat Twitter chat! This month some of the topics are: Building Vocabulary with Middle Grade Books, and Taboo Roll Call: Does anything go in Middle Grade now? We always have a great time a leave with tons of suggestions for the kids in our lives. And...of course, ourselves!
Book Talk - Three New Paranormal Reads
This week I am sharing with you three new paranormal releases that are perfect for the fall - or anytime, really! They are Edison Beaker Creature Seeker by Frank Cammuso, Sheets by Brenna Thummler, and Small Spaces by Katherine Arden.
Edison Beaker Creature Seeker
Let’s start with Edison Beaker Creature Seeker. This full-color graphic novel is the first in a new series by Frank Cammuso - author of The Knights of the Lunch Table series and the Misadventures of Salem Hyde series. This book is about a young boy named Edison who has always been afraid of the dark. When his mom has to go out of town, Edison and his little sister, Tesla, go to stay with their Uncle Earl. Uncle Earl is an exterminator and he reluctantly takes the kids on a late-night “emergency” job where they end up going through a door to a shadowy other-worldly place where Edison has to confront his fears and lots of bizarre creatures! Here are three things to love about Edison Beaker Creature Seeker:
- Tesla’s hamster, Scuttlebutt! He is so stinking cute!! And gets into so much trouble - or rather, gets everyone else into trouble when he rolls away in his ball into the darkest, most dangerous corners.
- How FUNNY this book is! I was at the park with my daughters when I finished it last week, and I just could NOT help laughing out loud - even though I knew I was getting weird looks. The word play, especially, is so much fun. Already the names Edison and Tesla are awesome - but another example, the portal to the other realm is through the Night Door which is found in an old building called the Wherehouse. And so the creatures call their underworld - the UnderWhere. And as you can imagine - the conversations around that are THE BEST.
- This intriguing little creature called Knox who is this fierce, cute little purple scavenger with a blue mohawk. I. LOVE. HER. She’s complicated and tough and vulnerable - and clearly has a much bigger part to play in future books.
Edison Beaker Creature Seeker is a fantastic graphic novel that you will definitely want to add to your collection. It’s sort of like a mix between HiLo and Amulet. So if you have kids who loved those two series, this is one to introduce them to next.
Sheets
Next up this week is another graphic novel - Sheets by Brenna Thummler. This story is about 13 year-old Marjorie who is responsible for running her family’s laundromat. She has a lot going on - dealing with her father’s depression, taking care of her little brother, middle school drama - and the horrid Mr. Saubertuck who is trying to close down the family business. And then, in floats Wendell - a ghost (sheet and all) who accidentally ends up in Marjorie’s laundromat and creates his own complications. Here are three things to love about Sheets:
- The ghosts! Even though they all wear a sheet, they each have their own personalities - some wearing hats, or glasses.
- The parts about the laundromat business. I love stories that get you behind the scenes of how things run.
- Brenna Thummler’s illustrations! Such a gorgeous color palette in shades of blue, pink, and green. I love her backgrounds - the buildings, all the little details of the interiors, and especially her trees! I noticed this in her illustrations for Anne of Green Gables, too - Brenna’s trees and leaves are stunning.
Sheets is a great suggestion for kids who might be looking for a realistic fiction graphic novel with a twist of paranormal that it’s too scary.
Small Spaces
And finally - a new middle grade novel you NEED to get your hands on - Small Spaces by Katherine Arden. It’s about a young girl named Ollie whose mother died under tragic circumstances last year, and understandably - Ollie is withdrawn and raw. She ends up with this creepy book that tells the legend of two local brothers who come under the influence of The Smiling Man - with horrific results. When Ollie takes a field trip to a nearby farm, she and her friends Coco and Brian end up in an other-wordly fight to survive the lure of those mysterious forces. I love what Betsy Bird said about this book: “Are you afraid of scarecrows? No? Well, bad news bucko. You’re about to be.” And oh is she right!! Here are three things to love about Small Spaces:
- It’s so immersive and atmospheric! I loved Arden’s lush descriptions of a gorgeous sunny autumn in Vermont that slowly turns dark and foreboding - scarlet sugar maples, the silvery gleam of the distant creek, and then fog descending over a broken-down bus.
- It is straight up terrifying! And the pacing is perfect - taking the tension up a notch bit by bit. Small things, then bigger and bigger. A thrown rock. A frightened woman at the watering hole. A mysterious book from 1895. The weird, bad story about the schoolhouse fire. And that’s only the first quarter of the book!!
- That twist at the END!!! Ahhh! It is SUCH a pleasure when a book truly surprises you!
If you have kids who like scary - kids who liked Stranger Things. Kids who liked The Peculiar Incident on Shady Street. This is the book to hand them next.
Pablo Cartaya - Interview Outline
Our special guest this week is Pablo Cartaya - author of The Epic Fail of Arturo Zamora and his most recent middle grade novel - Marcus Vega Doesn’t Speak Spanish. We talk about the people of Puerto Rico and their strength, we discuss why he included a character with Down’s Syndrome and the efforts he made to get that portrayal right, and we also chat about the proper storage of peanut butter - among lots of other things. And don’t forget that when you are done reading the book and you want to hear Pablo and I discuss the ending of Marcus Vega Doesn’t Speak Spanish, just wait until the end of the show after the credits and that bonus section will be waiting for you.
Take a listen…
Marcus Vega Doesn’t Speak Spanish
Marcus Vega Doesn’t Speak Spanish is your second middle grade and has been getting all kinds of great buzz online!
For our listeners who have not yet read the novel, can you tell us a bit about it?
Would you mind reading a favorite passage?
One of the reasons I loved this book so much was that I felt like I was traveling through Puerto Rico right along with Marcus!
Can you talk a little bit about your research?
There is a fair amount of the novel that is in Spanish (a language I don’t speak) and yet somehow I never felt lost in the story.
What was your process like for deciding how much Spanish to include and where it would go?
In the novel, Marcus’ younger brother, Charlie, has Down Syndrome. What made you decide to include a character with Down Syndrome and how did you make sure to get that representation as authentic as possible?
In your acknowledgments, you thank your father for teaching you how to cook. What are some of your favorite things to make?
Where do YOU store your peanut butter?
**BONUS SPOILER SECTION: Pablo and I discuss the ending of the novel, and if you’d like to hear that conversation, I moved that part of the recording to after the end credits of today’s episode at the 59:50 mark.
Your Writing Life
I noticed that your first book was a picture book!
What lead you down the path of writing middle grade?
Do you think you’d ever write another picture book?
What are you working on now?
Your Reading Life
One of the goals of this podcast is to help educators and librarians and parents inspire kids to read more and connect them with amazing books. Did you have a special person who helped launch your reading life as a child? And if so, what did they do that made such a difference?
What were some of your most influential reads as a child?
What have you been reading lately that you’ve liked?
Links:
Pablo’s website - http://www.pablocartaya.com
Pablo on Twitter and Instagram
Information about Kokila Imprint
Books & Authors We Chatted About:
Journey to the Center of the Earth (Jules Verne)
20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (Jules Verne)
Things Fall Apart (Chinua Achebe)
The Color Purple (Alice Walker)
Sounder (William H. Armstrong)
The Poet X (Elizabeth Acevedo)
Stella Diaz Has Something to Say (Angela Dominguez)
Amal Unbound (Aisha Saeed)
Me, Frida, and the Secret of the Peacock Ring (Angela Cervantes)
Closing
Alright, that wraps up our show this week!
If you have a question about how to connect kids between 8-12 to books they’ll love or a suggestion about a topic we should cover, I would love to hear from you. You can email me at booksbetween@gmail.com or message me on Twitter/Instagram at the handle @Books_Between.
Books Between is a proud member of the Education Podcast Network. This network features podcasts for educators, created by educators. For more great content visit edupodcastnetwork.com
Thank you so much for joining me this week. You can get an outline of interviews and a full transcript of all the other parts of our show at MGBookVillage.org. And, if you are liking the show, please leave us some love on iTunes or Stitcher so others can discover us as well.
Thanks and see you soon! Bye!
Intro
Hi and welcome to Books Between - a podcast for teachers, librarians, parents, and anyone who loves middle grade books!
I believe in the power of stories to lift us up and help us discover who we really are. My goal is to help you connect kids with those incredible books and share inspiring conversations with the authors and educators who make that magic happen.
I am your host, Corrina Allen - a mom of two preteen girls, a 5th grade teacher in Central New York, and really, really glad that September is over. I always feel like, for educators, September is a little bit like childbirth and having a newborn. Somehow you forget the utter exhaustion and work and lack of sleep every time. And instead you focus on the fresh start! Getting the room set up! Getting to know new personalities and a chance to get right THIS time what you you struggled with last time. And you forget that it took you MONTHS to get them into a decent schedule. And that the first weeks are just…. triage. So… in solidarity with all the exhausted and overworked teachers and parents out there - I see you. I feel you. I AM you.
And after 15+ years of teaching, I did two things this September that helped my stress level a bit.
- I went to bed. And if you know me at ALL - you know how hard this is for me. I am a night owl. I am most inspired between 9pm and 1am. But when I have to get up for work at 5:15 - it was killing me. Probably literally.
- I cut myself some slack. I DID NOT have my classroom “picture ready” on the first day of school. For the last few years, I have decorated my door with all the books I’ve read over the summer with favorite quotes. Nope - not this year. I just couldn’t pull it off. And that was…. honestly disappointing, but I think we need to give ourselves some grace with that stuff. I think we internalize all those Pinterest/Instagram ideas of what an “ideal” teacher and classroom should be and we give ourselves crap when we fall short of that imagined perfection. When in reality - NO one has it all together. Not the “education thought leader” with hundreds of thousands of followers, not the educator with the inspiring YouTube videos, not the teacher with that amazing new book out - NONE of them are living up to what we’re all “supposed to” be doing. Something is falling through the cracks. And I find the ones who admit that are really the ones worth listening to.
So, it is now October. I’m more rested and sooo ready to dive back into things - including bringing you some fantastic interviews this fall!
This is episode #60 and Today I’m sharing a conversation I had this past summer with Kate DiCamillo about her latest novel, coming out tomorrow - Louisiana’s Way Home!
Before we dive into that, I want to give you a few updates.
The Middle Grade at Heart Book Club pick for October is The Three Rules of Everyday Magic by Amanda Rawson Hill and The Hotel Between by Sean Easley is the November pick.
Also - #MGBooktober is BACK!! The MGBookVillage is hosting a month of awesome middle grade related book prompts. We hope that you and your students will join in the fun. Just use #MGBooktober to post your responses and to find everyone else’s pics.
And finally - remember to set yourself a reminder for Monday nights at 9pm EST so you don’t miss the #MGBookChat Twitter chat! This month some of the topics are: Teachers as Readers, Middle Grade Spooktacular (Why Scary Stories Matter), Building Vocabulary with Middle Grade Books, and Taboo Roll Call: Does anything go in Middle Grade now? Those all sound amazing - so see you Monday nights!
Kate DiCamillo - Interview Outline
Our special guest this week is Kate DiCamillo - author of Because of Winn-Dixie, Tiger Rising, Flora & Ulysses, The Tale of Despereaux, among so many other incredible books. I got the opportunity to chat with her this summer about Louisiana’s Way Home - the follow-up to her 2016 novel, Raymie Nightingale. We talk about why she decided to write a sequel, Pinocchio, bologna sandwiches, and of course her latest novel - Louisiana’s Way Home.
Take a listen…
Louisiana’s Way Home
Your latest novel, Louisiana’s Way Home, is coming out this October. I had the opportunity to read an ARC and simply fell in love this story. It has so much depth and so much clarity all at the same time.
For our listeners who have not yet read the novel, can you tell us a bit about it?
This is the first time you’ve revisited the world of a previous novel.
What was your journey to decide that you wanted to go further into Louisiana’s story?
Early on in the book, Louisiana observes that “There are the rescuers in this world and there are the rescued.”
Which one are you?
My daughter would like to know - do you like bologna sandwiches?
You are known for your vibrant character names but in this book - you have three characters with the same name!
Throughout the novel there is this small thread about the book Pinocchio and how most people don’t remember that Pinocchio kills the cricket at the beginning of the story! It made me think that perhaps adults don’t remember how dark the stories they grew up with actually were...
You’ve mentioned before that when you are writing, the trajectory of the story or the characters will often surprise you.
Were there any unexpected parts of Louisiana’s Way Home?
**BONUS SPOILER SECTION: Kate and I discuss the ending of the novel, and if you’d like to hear that conversation, I moved that part of the recording to after the end credits of today’s episode at the 36:18 mark.
Your Writing Life
Was it challenging to write a novel that would be satisfying for readers of Raymie Nightingale but that would also stand on its own?
If you can talk about it….. what are you working on now?
Your Reading Life
One of the goals of this podcast is to help educators and librarians and parents inspire kids to read more and connect them with amazing books. Did you have a special teacher or librarian who helped foster your reading life as a child? And if so, what did they do that made such a difference?
What were some of your most influential reads as a child?
What have you been reading lately that you’ve liked?
Links:
Kate’s website - https://www.katedicamillo.com/
Kate on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/KateDiCamillo
Books & Authors We Chatted About:
Pinnochio (Carlo Collodi)
The Juniper Tree, and Other Tales from Grimm (Illustrated by Maurice Sendak)
Island of the Blue Dolphins (Scott O’Dell)
The 21 Balloons (William Pene du Bois)
A Little Princess (Frances Hodgson Burnett)
The Secret Garden (Frances Hodgson Burnett)
The Mouse and the Motorcycle (Beverly Cleary)
Stuart Little (E.B. White)
Black Beauty (Anna Sewell)
Island of the Blue Dolphins (Scott O’Dell)
Polly & Buster (Sally Rippin)
The Borrowers (Mary Norton)
Charlotte’s Web (E.B. White)
The Search for Delicious (Natalie Babbitt)
Clayton Byrd Goes Underground (Rita Williams Garcia)
Closing
Alright, that wraps up our show this week!
If you have a question about how to connect kids between 8-12 to books they’ll love or a suggestion about a topic we should cover, I would love to hear from you. You can email me at booksbetween@gmail.com or message me on Twitter/Instagram at the handle @Books_Between.
Books Between is a proud member of the Education Podcast Network. This network features podcasts for educators, created by educators. For more great content visit edupodcastnetwork.com
Thank you so much for joining me this week. You can get an outline of interviews and a full transcript of all the other parts of our show at MGBookVillage.org. And, if you are liking the show, please leave us some love on iTunes or Stitcher so others can discover us as well.
Thanks and see you soon! Bye!
Intro
Hi and welcome to Books Between - a podcast for teachers, librarians, parents, and anyone who loves middle grade books! And what I love is to help you connect kids between 8-12 with fantastic reads and share inspiring conversations with the authors and educators who make that magic happen.
I’m your host, Corrina Allen - a mom of two, a teacher of twenty-two (as of the last classlist update), and a little over two days away from the first day of school.
This is episode #59 and today I’m sharing a conversation with Barbara Dee - author of Everything I Know About You along with many other fabulous middle grade reads!
A quick update on our Middle Grade at Heart Book Club schedule. This month’s pick is The House That Lou Built. And in October we are reading The Three Rules of Everyday Magic and The Hotel Between by Sean Easley is our November pick.
And remember to set yourself a reminder for Monday nights at 9pm EST so you don’t miss the #MGBookChat Twitter chat! Our upcoming topics are Ending Gendered Labels, Books That Battle Mental Health Stigmas, and Teachers as Readers. And I would love to have you join the conversation and share your thoughts about those topics.
Barbara - Interview Outline
Our special guest this week is the amazing Barbara Dee - author of so many well-loved middle grade books like Halfway Normal and Star Crossed and Truth or Dare - and lots more. We discuss Hamilton, body issues among young girls, her own experiences with an eating disorder, her secrets to capturing dialogue in her writing, the incredible book that she’s working on next, and of course her latest novel - Everything I Know About You !
Take a listen…
Everything I Know About You
Your latest middle grade novel , Everything I Know About You, was just released this past summer.
For our listeners who have not yet read the novel, can you tell us a bit about it?
Would you mind reading a favorite passage?
One of the things I loved about this novel was that it shed some light on the body issues that so many teens and tweens grapple with. When Ava and her friends have that conversations about “thigh gaps” and being “pre-fat”, I kept think about how many kids feel that pressure over their body….
Why did you want to explore those issues in this novel?
This story centers around an overnight field trip to Washington D.C.
Did you travel there to do research? Did you see Hamilton?!
So how naughty ARE your cats?
**BONUS SPOILER SECTION: Paula and I discuss the ending of the novel, and if you’d like to hear that conversation, I moved that part of the recording to after the end credits of today’s episode at the 43:30 mark.
Your Writing Life
Everything I Know About You is your 9th published novel.
How has your writing process changed from those first books to now?
If you can talk about it….. what are you working on now?
You’ve mentioned before that one of the ways you get ideas is by eavesdropping.
Where are some good places for aspiring writers to eavesdrop? And how do you keep from getting caught?
Your Reading Life
One of the goals of this podcast is to help educators and librarians and parents inspire kids to read more and connect them with amazing books. Did you have a special teacher or librarian who helped foster your reading life as a child? And if so, what did they do that made such a difference?
What have you been reading lately?
Links:
Barbara’s website - http://barbaradeebooks.com
Barbara on Twitter
Books & Authors We Chatted About:
A Wrinkle in Time (Madeleine L’Engle)
The Black Stallion Series (Walter Farley)
Island of the Blue Dolphins (Scott O’Dell)
Rascal (Sterling North)
Clock Dance (Anne Tyler)
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine (Gail Honeyman)
Every Shiny Thing (Cordelia Jensen and Laurie Morrison)
Hope in the Holler (Lisa Lewis Tyre)
You Go First (Erin Entrada Kelly)
So Done (Paula Chase)
Eating Disorder Resources:
National Eating Disorder Association - https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org
Eating Disorder Referral And Information Center - https://www.edreferral.com
Alliance for Eating Disorders Awareness - https://www.allianceforeatingdisorders.com
Closing
Alright, that wraps up our show this week!
If you have a question about how to connect kids between 8-12 to books they’ll love or a suggestion about a topic we should cover, I would love to hear from you. You can email me at booksbetween@gmail.com or message me on Twitter/Instagram at the handle @Books_Between.
Books Between is a proud member of the Education Podcast Network. This network features podcasts for educators, created by educators. For more great content visit edupodcastnetwork.com
Thank you so much for joining me this week. You can get an outline of interviews and a full transcript of all the other parts of our show at MGBookVillage.org. And, if you are liking the show, please leave us some love on iTunes or Stitcher so others can discover us as well.
Thanks and see you soon! Bye!
Intro
Hey everyone and welcome to Books Between - a podcast for teachers, librarians, parents, and anyone who loves middle grade books! My goal is to help you connect kids between 8-12 with fantastic reads and share inspiring conversations with the authors and educators who make that magic happen.
I’m your host, Corrina Allen - a mom of two girls, a teacher of 5th graders, and starting to have my annual back-to-school nightmares again. Last night it was that I had no clue what my schedule was, I had no plans prepared and was just winging it the entire first day! And - the worst part? I got to the end of the day and...FORGOT to include a read aloud!!! *shudder*
This is episode #58 and today I am giving you a quick first impression of three new books, and a conversation with Cindy Baldwin - author of Where the Watermelons Grow.
A quick update on our Middle Grade at Heart Book Club schedule. The September pick is The House That Lou Built. And in October we are reading The Three Rules of Everyday Magic and The Hotel Between by Sean Easley is our November pick.
And remember to set yourself a reminder for Monday nights at 9pm EST so you don’t miss the #MGBookChat Twitter chat! We’ve got some really interesting topics coming up like ending gendered labels, the importance of immigrant stories, and how teachers and public librarians can support each other.
Book Bites
First up this week is Book Bites - where I’ll give you a quick taste of a few upcoming books. And share first lines and first impressions from reading the first chapter. This week I am previewing The Right Hook of Devin Velma by Jake Burt, The Lighthouse Between the Worlds by Melanie Crowder, and Zora & Me: The Cursed Ground by T.R. Simon.
The first novel I want to talk about is The Right Hook of Devin Velma by Jake Burt, author of Greetings from Witness Protection. This novel is about Addison Gerhardt and his best friend, Devin Velma, who is trying to become a social media sensation by pulling a risky stunt at a nationally televised pro basketball game. Devin seems to have some secret reasons for doing something so dangerous, and Addison wants to help his friend but his introversion and anxiety often cause him to freeze up when he’s put on the spot.
First lines: Chapter One: Narrowed Down
I finally figured out why my best friend Devin punched me in the face. At first I thought it was because I saved his life, but that wasn’t it. For awhile, I blamed my freezing, only it wasn’t that either. It wasn’t even Twitter, the Velma Curse, that stupid dishwasher, or the Golden State Warriors. Nope. It was the Double-Barreled Monkey Bar Backflip of Doom.
First impressions: I love this book! And could not stop reading at just that one short chapter. The banter between the two boys is clever and I’m intrigued by the possibility of this book exploring the power and pressures of social media on kids. Twitter is a space where I spend some time but I do have concerns about that. And I’m curious about how Addison’s anxiety plays a part in the plot later on. The Right Hook of Devin Velma is out October 2nd and is definitely one I want to order for my classroom.
The second novel I’m featuring today is by Melanie Crowder - author of Three Pennies - a book from a couple years ago that I just loved. This novel - The Lighthouse Between the Worlds is about a young boy named Griffin who lives with his father on the coast of Oregon where they tend to their lighthouse. Every day they follow the same routine - a walk on the beach, placing a new piece of sea glass on his mother’s grave, and learning how to cast prisms in his father’s glassmaking studio. Things are routine. Until...one day a group of mysterious strangers appears and Griffin discovers that the lighthouse contains a portal to other worlds and that his father has far more secrets that he ever realized.
First lines: “Chapter 1: The Apprentice Glassmaker
The day began normally enough, for a Tuesday. Griffin and his father, Philip Fen, ate breakfast (juice and apple-butter toast for one, coffee and oatmeal for the other). They buttoned up their thickest flannel shirts and stepped out into the gray morning. Mornings are almost always gray on the Oregon coast. But that’s what makes the green of the mosses and the ferns and the scraggly trees so very green.”
First impressions: My first thoughts on reading the first chapter were how… atmospheric and lush the language is. And the fact that the mother’s grave has no headstone but only a suncatcher was both beautiful and also sent tingles up my spine - I’m sensing something...off there. This novel is out on October 23rd - the perfect time to read something with a blend of mystery and fantasy.
And book number 3 - Zora & Me: The Cursed Ground by T.R. Simon - sequel to the award-winning Zora & Me - a fictionalized account of the early life of author and anthropologist Zora Neale Hurston. Like the first book, this novel is set in a small Southern town during the very early 20th century of the Jim Crow era, and this book is about Zora and her best friend, Carrie who uncover a tragic mystery centered around an enslaved girl named Lucia.
First lines: From the prologue; “There are two kinds of memory. One is the ordinary kind, rooted in things that happened, people you knew, and places you went…..”
First impressions: I am intrigued - and so fascinated by that concept of the memory of the community and how it impacts all of us in subtle ways we don’t even fully realize. The first chapter launches us into a mystery with the adventurous Zora pulling her friend out into the night into trouble against her friend’s better judgement. It’s so good - and I loved Simon’s beautiful use of metaphor that adds such zing to the language. So be on the lookout for Zora & Me: The Cursed Ground on September 11th. And if you are like me and haven’t yet read the first novel yet, add that one to your list, too!
Cindy Baldwin - Interview Outline
Our special guest this week is Cindy Baldwin - debut author of the acclaimed Where the Watermelons Grow. We discuss honey, the importance of accurate depictions of disability in children’s literature, Pitch Wars, the Anne of Green Gables adaptation on Netflix, and of course her novel! And joining me this week to chat with Cindy is one of the founders of the MG at Heart Book Club, and Cindy’s Pitch Wars partner, Amanda Rawson Hill.
Take a listen…
Where the Watermelons Grow
Your debut middle grade novel, Where the Watermelons Grow, was just released this past month...
CA: For our listeners who have not yet read the novel, can you tell us a bit about it?
CA: Would you mind reading a favorite passage?
AH: I love how you slip into this southern accent when you read. I think every time you do it, people are surprised. But those who know you aren’t. What’s your history with the setting of this book?
CA: I know that your novel is mostly associated with watermelon, but it’s really more about honey! Is watermelon honey a real thing?
CA: Cindy - I hope you don’t take this the wrong way, BUT - reading your book made me feel sooooo hot and sweaty!
**BONUS SPOILER SECTION: Paula and I discuss the ending of the novel, and if you’d like to hear that conversation, I moved that part of the recording to after the end credits of today’s episode at the 42:27 mark.
CA: How is the final version of the novel different from earlier drafts?
AH: While the book is about Schizophrenia, you are not Schizophrenic yourself. And yet, your own personal experience with disability helped shape this narrative. How?
Your Writing Life
AH: For those who don’t know, Cindy has Cystic Fibrosis which has her spending a lot of time every day doing breathing treatments and affects her energy levels. On top of that, you have this wonderful spitfire of a child, who Della’s little sister is based on. And if that’s not enough, I know that in the past year you have also suffered from a lot of pain while writing. Yet, you just finished another novel (and it’s beautiful by the way, I’m reading it now.) Talk to us about some of your strategies for getting the writing done even with all these things in your life that make it a bit difficult.
CA: What are you working on now?
CA: While I have both of you here, I have a writer related question to ask. On Twitter, I keep seeing this thing called PitchWars. What IS that?
Your Reading Life
One of the goals of this podcast is to help educators and librarians and parents inspire kids to read more and connect them with amazing books. CA: Did you have a special teacher or librarian who helped foster your reading life as a child? And if so, what did they do that made such a difference?
AH: I’d love advice on reading aloud when you have a precocious child, like Kate.
CA: So Cindy - I’ve gathered that you are a fan of Anne of Green Gables. What do you think of Anne with an E adaptation on Netflix?
CA: What have you been reading lately?
Links:
Cindy’s website - http://cindybaldwinbooks.com
Cindy on Twitter and Instagram and Facebook
Amanda’s website - https://amandarawsonhill.com
PitchWars website - https://pitchwars.org
Cindy & Amanda’s blog hop PitchWars post - http://blog.cindybaldwinbooks.com/2018/08/2018-pitch-wars.html
Pragmatic Mom website - https://www.pragmaticmom.com/booklists/
What We Do All Day website - https://www.whatdowedoallday.com/category/books/
Books & Authors We Chatted About:
Horton Hears a Who (Dr. Seuss)
Clementine series (Sara Pennypacker)
Anna Hibiscus (Atinuke)
Anne of Green Gables (L.M. Montgomery)
The Anne of Green Gables graphic novel (Mariah Marsden)
Race to the Bottom of the Sea (Lindsay Eager)
Amal Unbound (Aisha Saeed)
Mostly the Honest Truth (Jody J. Little)
Closing
Alright, that wraps up our show this week!
If you have a question about how to connect kids between 8-12 to books they’ll love or a suggestion about a topic we should cover, I would love to hear from you. You can email me at booksbetween@gmail.com or message me on Twitter/Instagram at the handle @Books_Between.
Books Between is a proud member of the Education Podcast Network. This network features podcasts for educators, created by educators. For more great content visit edupodcastnetwork.com
Thank you so much for joining me this week. You can get an outline of interviews and a full transcript of all the other parts of our show at MGBookVillage.org. And, if you are liking the show, please leave us some love on iTunes or Stitcher so others can discover us as well.
Thanks and see you soon! Bye!
Intro
Hi everyone and welcome to Books Between - a podcast for teachers, librarians, parents, and anyone who loves middle grade books! My goal is to help you connect kids between 8-12 with fantastic reads and share inspiring conversations with the authors and educators who make that magic happen.
I’m your host, Corrina Allen - a mom for the past 11 years, a teacher for the past 17 years, and a fan of flavored seltzer for the past two months. Either I have been oblivious to it or suddenly there is a plethora of sparkling waters and seltzer available everywhere! Including some tasty hard seltzers for those inclined. And during a hot, sticky summer - a frigid, fizzy can of black cherry seltzer poured over a full glass of ice is just about the best thing ever. Cheers!
This is episode #57 and today I am giving you a quick first impression of three new books, and sharing a conversation with Paula Chase - author of So Done.
One super quick announcement - set yourself a reminder for Monday nights at 9pm EST so you never miss the #MGBookChat Twitter chat! We have some really great topics coming up like creating a classroom community through books, ending gendered labels, and how teachers and public librarians can support each other.
Book Bites
First up is a brand new segment I am calling Book Bites - where I will give you a quick sampling of a few books. And share first lines and first impressions from reading the first chapter. This week I am previewing The Phantom Tower by Keir Graff, The Vanderbeekers and the Hidden Garden by Karina Yan Glaser, and Scream Site by Justina Ireland.
The first novel I want to talk about is The Phantom Tower by Keir Graff. You may know him from his other middle grade novel The Matchstick Castle. This book is described as magic, mischief, and mystery colliding in a thrilling adventure. It’s about 12 year old identical twin brothers who move into a mysterious apartment building and discover a portal to a parallel dimension.
First lines: The first time I saw Brunhild Towers was the day we moved in. Even though it wasn’t that long ago, I saw a lot of things differently back then, I thought old people were boring. I thought learning history was a good way to fall asleep. I thought dying was simple. You probably noticed I said Towers, not Tower. Pay attention and I’ll explain everything.
First impressions: The first thing I noticed when I opened the pages - a map! The first chapter was fast-paced and fun but didn’t make you feel lost. You definitely get enough background info to help orient you to the characters and the tone with lots of touches of humor. The story is written in 1st person and told by one of the twins - Colm. The first chapter reminded me a bit of Peculiar Incident on Shady Street, so if you have kids who like that novel or The Explorers or The Mysterious Benedict Society, The Phantom Tower would be a good book to introduce them to next.
Next up is the sequel to a beloved middle grade novel - Karina Yan Glaser’s The Vanderbeekers and the Hidden Garden. In this story - the Vanderbeeker kids band together to do something nice for their upstairs neighbors (Miss Josie & Mr. Jeet) who are going through a tough time. And in classic Vanderbeeker fashion, the five kids make an elaborate plan to convert the abandoned (and possibly haunted) lot next to the church into the gorgeous community garden that Miss Josie has always wanted.
First lines: “This is the most boring summer in the whole history of the world,” nine year-old Oliver Vanderbeeker announced. He was wearing basketball shorts and a faded blue T-shirt, and his hair was sticking out in every direction.”
First impressions: Well - Oliver doesn’t stay bored for long! And oh how I loved jumping back into the sweet Vanderbeeker banter! The premise of this novel reminds me a bit of the book Seedfolks, and I’m curious how they solve the water problem here…. Along with all the other obstacles I am sure they will encounter! I love the Vanderbeekers, and I know so many of you do as well - and apparently we are not alone. Because Amy Poehler’s production company has optioned the rights to The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street! Ahhhh! And I know, I know - that doesn’t mean it’s going to hit the screen next year, but I’m still so excited and so happy for Karina. If you want to hear her talk about the first Vanderbeekers novel, check out episode 46.
And finally, I wanted to check out Scream Site by Justina Ireland. She’s the author of the YA novel Dread Nation among other books. This novel features 14 year-old Sabrina Sebastian who wants to be an investigative reporter so she’s digging into this popular website where people post scary videos hoping to go viral. And she starts to think that maybe some of the videos are real - and then someone very close to her goes missing.
First lines: “So, what do you think? Should I go with ‘Taco Tuesday is a Day Made of Lies’ or ‘Football Team Organizes Book Drive for Local Library’? Those are my two best stories, and I’ve narrowed it down to them. I think. I’m actually not sure.” Sabrina Sebastian leaned back in her chair and waited for her best friend, Evenlyn Chao, to respond.”
First impressions: Number one - the cover is awesome. It’s a gorgeous blue with the shadows of trees looming over a young girl’s silhouette as she faces what looks like an abandoned ferris wheel lit from behind by a full moon. Already - I’m drawn in. And the first chapter leads me to think that there is going to be some interesting and timely discussion about social media and journalism. Scream Site is marketed as YA, but I’ve read in several places that it’s really geared toward more of an upper middle grade audience. Probably wouldn’t include it in my 5th grade classroom, but if you have strong readers in 6th grade and up - this would be a great book for kids who like mysteries and kids who are drawn to internet rumors and hoaxes and those paranormal YouTube videos.
This August be on the lookout for The Phantom Tower and Scream Site.
Vanderbeekers and the Hidden Garden will be headed our way September 25th.
Paula Chase - Interview Outline
Our special guest today is author Paula Chase. Her debut middle grade novel, So Done, comes out tomorrow. It’s about best friends Tai and Mila who are somewhat awkwardly back together after a summer spent apart from each other. And each is wondering if they can salvage their friendship from the secrets and pressures of middle school and crushes and tryouts and memories that have started to loom in their lives. I loved getting a chance to chat with Paula about her novel, being a dance mom, and the importance of books with authentic stories and authentic voices.
Take a listen…
So Done
Your middle grade debut, So Done, is coming out tomorrow!
For our listeners who have not yet read the novel, can you tell us a bit about it?
Would you mind reading a favorite passage?
From the very first pages, I had a huge smile on my face because I was so happy to be reading a book that sounds like some of my students when they are talking to each other. You have this special knack for voice - whatever that “it” is - you’ve got it!
What is your secret for for capturing those voices?
I think I heard you mention that there was some back and forth with your editor about the vocabulary you used in the novel.
Can you talk a little about that?
One of things that I loved about So Done were scenes about dance. I’ve heard you mention that your daughter is a dancer.
How much did you draw on her experiences to write this story?
Nicknames (as opposed to “government names”) are an important part of the story.
Did you have a nickname?
Are you more like Tai or more like Mila?
**BONUS SPOILER SECTION: Paula and I discuss the ending of the novel, and if you’d like to hear that conversation, I moved that part of the recording to after the end credits of today’s episode at the 40:14 mark.
Your Writing Life
Your previous series was young adult.
Did you decide from the outset that So Done would be middle grade or did it evolve in that direction?
If you can talk about it….. what are you working on now?
Your Reading Life
One of the goals of this podcast is to help educators and librarians and parents inspire kids to read more and connect them with amazing books. Did you have a special teacher or librarian who helped foster your reading life as a child?
What were some of your most influential reads as a child?
So - what ARE your thoughts about “dessert” books?
What have you been reading lately that you’ve liked?
Links:
Paula’s website - http://paulachasehyman.com
Paula on Twitter
Books & Authors We Chatted About:
Dread Nation (Justina Ireland)
The Belles (Dhonielle Clayton)
Ghost Boys (Jewell Parker Rhodes)
Breakout (Kate Messner)
Parker Inheritance (Varian Johnson)
Closing
Alright, that wraps up our show this week!
If you have a question about how to connect kids between 8-12 to books they’ll love or a suggestion about a topic we should cover, I would love to hear from you. You can email me at booksbetween@gmail.com or message me on Twitter/Instagram at the handle @Books_Between.
Books Between is a proud member of the Education Podcast Network. This network features podcasts for educators, created by educators. For more great content visit edupodcastnetwork.com
Thank you so much for joining me this week. You can get an outline of interviews and a full transcript of all the other parts of our show at MGBookVillage.org. And, if you are liking the show, please leave us some love on iTunes or Stitcher so others can discover us as well.
Thanks and see you soon! Bye!
Intro
Hi everyone and welcome to Books Between - a podcast for educators, librarians, parents, and everyone who loves middle grade books! My goal is to help you connect kids between 8-12 with fantastic books and share inspiring conversations with the authors and educators who make that magic happen.
I’m your host, Corrina Allen - a mom of two girls, a 5th grade teacher, and I just discovered the COOLEST thing last week and I have to share it with you! There is this teacher named David Marsh and he makes stop motion LEGO Batman Book Talks. They are SO awesome! There’s one for Enginerds and one for Serafina and the Black Cloak - and, my favorite - the one for The Frame-up! I’ll drop a link to his YouTube Channel in the show notes. Do you yourself a favor and go watch them.
This is Episode #56 and oday is all about Kelly Yang and her fabulous new novel, Front Desk.
Before we begin, I have two quick announcements! First is the Middle Grade at Heart Book Club update. This month’s pick is Where the Watermelons Grow, and I am so close to finishing that book - it’s so good and I can’t want to have Cindy Baldwin on the show to chat with me about it. In September we are reading The House That Lou Built and in October is Three Rules of Everyday Magic. So grab those books and let me know if you have questions you think I should ask the authors when they come on the show.
And second quick reminder that Monday nights are the #MGBookChat Twitter chats with some really juicy topics coming up like building book access in book deserts, creating a classroom community through books, and ending gendered labels of books. It can be very easy to get into the hustle and bustle of your day and forget - so set a reminder on your phone for Mondays at 9pm EST and check out #MGBookChat on Twitter.
Kelly Yang - Interview Outline
Our special guest today is Kelly Yang. And as you will hear - she is one incredible and humble person. And since she’s not going to talk herself up, I am. Kelly Yang is one of the youngest graduates of Harvard Law School - earning her degree at 17. She’s a columnist for the South China Morning Post and her features have been published in The New York Times and the Washington Post. She’s a commentator, a debater, and founder of The Kelly Yang Project - an award-winning writing and debate program for kids in Hong Kong. And that’s really just scratching the surface of this WOW Woman! I was really honored that Kelly took the time out her family vacation to sit down with me and chat about so many things - how to reach English-language learners, racial profiling, the Simpsons, her writing journey, and her childhood helping her parents run motels which was the inspiration behind her debut middle grade novel, Front Desk.
Take a listen…
Front Desk
Your debut middle grade novel, Front Desk, has been getting all kinds of love!!
For our listeners who have not yet read the novel, can you tell us a bit about it?
Would you mind reading a favorite passage?
Aside from running the front desk of the motel, Mia is often translating for her family. Was this something you also had to do? If so - how did that impact you?
I adored Mia, but I really really came to love her parents! But… her mother could be carelessly cruel. Her pressure to be good at Math. And then when she tell Mia that the other kids are cars but that Mia is a bicycle - oh my GOD! I started to wonder if maybe Mrs. Tang was just really scared for her daughter?
One of the most powerful scenes is when a car was stolen from the motel and in the course of that investigation, Mr. Yao discovers that the Tangs have been renting to black people. And he says, “I thought I told you not to rent to bad people.” That thread of discrimination and racial profiling (even by other marginalized people) was woven throughout the story at various points. Can you speak a little bit about your thought process behind those sections?
I love following you on Twitter and I loved your thread about the Simpsons and Apu controversy. Could you talk a little bit about your response to that and your relationship to that character?
**BONUS SPOILER SECTION: Kelly and I discuss the ending of the novel, and if you’d like to hear that conversation, I moved that part of the recording to after the end credits of today’s episode at the 40:14 mark.
Your Writing Life
What was your journey from Harvard Law graduate to author?
What are you working on now?
Your Reading Life
One of the goals of this podcast is to help educators and librarians and parents inspire kids to read more and connect them with amazing books. Did you have a special teacher or librarian who helped foster your reading life as a child?
What were some of your most influential reads as a child?
What have you been reading lately that you’ve liked?
Links:
Kelly’s website - http://kellyyang.edu.hk
Kelly on Twitter and Instagram
Books & Authors We Chatted About:
The Babysitters Club series (Ann M. Martin)
Matilda (Roald Dahl)
To Kill a Mockingbird (Harper Lee)
Unidentified Suburban Objects (Mike Jung)
Peasprout Chen (Henry Lien)
Magicians of Elephant County (Adam Perry)
Ban This Book (Alan Gratz)
The Wild Robot (Peter Brown)
The Wild Robot Escapes (Peter Brown)
Orphan Island (Laurel Snyder)
Ghost Series (Jason Ryenolds)
Closing
Alright, that wraps up our show this week!
If you have a question about how to connect kids between 8-12 to books they’ll love or a suggestion about a topic we should cover, I would love to hear from you. You can email me at booksbetween@gmail.com or message me on Twitter/Instagram at the handle @Books_Between.
Books Between is a proud member of the Education Podcast Network. This network features podcasts for educators, created by educators. For more great content visit edupodcastnetwork.com
Thank you so much for joining me this week. You can get an outline of interviews and a full transcript of all the other parts of our show at MGBookVillage.org. And, if you are liking the show, please leave us some love on iTunes or Stitcher so others can discover us as well.
Thanks and see you soon! Bye!
Intro
Hi everyone and welcome to the Books Between Podcast! I believe in empowering children by helping them discover who they are as readers. My goal is to help you connect kids between 8-12 with fabulous reading experiences and share inspiring conversations with the authors and educators who make that magic happen.
I’m your host, Corrina Allen - a mom of two, a 5th grade teacher, and thinking about how much I LOVE our public libraries and how much they are needed. My daughters and I just launched our summer Library Crawl where we try to hit as many public libraries in the area as can and explore their unique services and collections and just get to know them. Libraries are the heart of our communities. Please support them.
This is Episode #55 and oday I want to chat with you about being a book witch, and then I’ll share a conversation with Melissa Sarno, author of Just Under the Clouds!
I have three super quick announcements for you! First is a Middle Grade at Heart Book Club update. The August pick is Where the Watermelons Grow, the September pick is The House That Lou Built and in October we will be reading Three Rules of Everyday Magic. And all of those authors are scheduled to come on the show - so stay tuned for that!
And announcement #2 - don’t forget that Monday nights are the #MGBookChat Twitter chats with upcoming topics like #ownvoices, the importance of refugee stories, and books that battle mental health stigmas. So set a reminder for Mondays at 9pm EST and check out #MGBookChat on Twitter for conversations and collaboration between educators, librarians, and authors.
And - finally, announcement #3. This is something that has been semi-secretly in the works for a few months now, but I am so happy to make it official. NerdCamp Central New York is ON for next summer - August 6, 2019! So - if you want to experience some of that NerdCamp magic and you’re able to make it to Syracuse, NY - save the date! And you can follow @NerdCampCNY on Twitter for more updates.
Main Topic - Being a Book Witch
And you can go ahead and replace that W with a B if you’d like. So - I had a topic planned for today. I had an outline, things were coming together, and then I saw a post. And then some tweets. From several people, including Donalyn Miller, who were attending a recent Scholastic Reading Summit. It was it from a presentation by Annie Ward - or at least referencing her work From Striving to Thriving: How to Grow Capable, Confident Readers. And it was one slide showing ways that educators and parents can be what she called “Book Wardens”. And well, it struck me so forcefully. And made me think of all those times as a teacher and as a parent, I have been that Book Witch. I am recovering - but yeah…. that was me.
So I scrapped my other topic and that’s what I want to talk to you about today. First - ways we might not even realize that we’re being book snobs and inadvertently turning kids off to reading - both from Annie’s presentation and from my own mistakes. And then some thoughts on ways we can do better. Although to be up front with you - my understanding of this is evolving. Starting with the first bullet on that slide.
1. Confining kids to “just right” books - gulp. That is a phrase I have used ever since... I don’t know when! A have a big lesson on choosing “just right” or “good fit” books complete with a whole array of shoes I bring in to demonstrate! But now I am wondering… who SETS the criteria for “right”? Is it.. Level? Genre? Format? Perceived complexity? Something I’ve started doing is turning these questions back on myself. Okay Corrina, what’s a “just right” book for you? Well -it depends! What am I in the mood for? What do I want to learn? What are my friends all reading that looks amazing and I want IN on THAT conversation! When I think about it that way, it’s not really about picking a book off the shelf and reading the first page and counting the errors on my fingers. Adults don’t do that! And - we are definitely NOT picking from the bin labeled Level Z or only reading within our lexile level. So why are we asking kids to do that? What DO we do? We weigh all those factors, gather some options, and try them out. If it’s too hard, well…. then…. I’m just going to put The Iliad off to the side for now. I think we need to trust kids more. And be more open about how you actually go about choosing books. And maybe I don’t totally drop the phrase “just right” but shift it to be child-centered and NOT mean “just right” from MY point of view.
2. Express book snobbery. So, you might be a book snob, if you’ve said one these things (and I’ve said a few of them in the past…):
- “Graphic novels are not real reading.”
- “Don’t just listen to that audio book - make sure you are following along in your book.”
- “I only really like literary books - you know award-winners.”
- “Well, I’ve never heard of that book!”
- “NEVER watch the movie before reading the book!”
- “I get all my book recommendations from NPR.”
- “They’re reading THAT? I guess it’s better than reading nothing!”
- “I don’t watch TV. Never. I just read.”
- “I only read books for adults.” (Credit to Sarah Threlkeld for suggesting that one.)
- “Yeah, we’re only reading CLASSICS in this class.”
- “Romance novels are all the same.” (And you can replace romance with mysteries, westerns, fantasy.)
- “Are you reading a picture book? Maybe you should choose something more your age.”
- “You dog-ear your pages? You beast!”
- “Fan Fiction doesn’t count toward your reading minutes.”
So - that last one? About the fan fiction? Was me - a few years ago. But then, I discovered that Angie Thomas (you know - author of New York Times Bestselling, multiple award-winning The Hate U Give) got her start writing fanfiction for her favorite soap opera. And suddenly I thought, maybe I’m being kind of a witch about this. And then, I discovered Star Wars fan fiction and I was hooked. I think I spent about a week just immersed in alternative Star Wars universes. So go ahead - come at me about the fan fiction!
3. Look askance at funny, edgy, or “forbidden” topics. So, confession time. Way back when I was just getting starting as a teacher and starting to build my classroom library, I would ONLY purchase what I, the book witch, deemed as high quality literature. Captain Underpants? Comics? Joke books? Diary of a Wimpy Kid? Uh...no. And oh do I owe those kids an apology. I was flat out wrong. And clearly not remembering all the Garfield and Calvin & Hobbes books that I devoured as a young kid. I’m happy to say our class is filled with Dav Pilkey books and all kids of funny, light-hearted books. Because, wow - don’t we need that now? And as far as edgy or “forbidden” topics - that has always rubbed me the wrong way. Edgy according to who? I’ve seen adults roll their eyes when a 10 year old picked a book about the WWE. I’ve seen adults try to ban books with characters who are dealing with substance abuse. And I’ve seen adults pluck books with gay characters out of their kids hands. Who are we to tell kids that their family, their life, their experiences are “too edgy” and not allowed.
4. Frowning upon rereading. Yup - this is another one I have done regularly. And I think it comes from a well-intentioned place. When you know how many amazing books are out there, you want kids to experience that. And I think for me, I have the bias that I am not typically a HUGE rereader. Aside from a few books that I might reread for school or book club (like Home of the Brave, or Wonder), I find it so hard to resist the siren call of my TBR pile. But last year, instead of giving side-eye to those kids rereading Dork Diaries or Smile for the 3rd or 4th (or 12th!) time - instead, I tried to act excited and say, “Wow - what do you love so much about that book? What are you noticing now that you never noticed the first time you read it?” And the reframing has helped me recognize more value in rereading. And those conversations help me understand my readers better and offer them similar titles they might enjoy to expand their reading palate.
5. Imposing Accountability Measures for Reading. I’ll admit - I had to think about this one for a minute. But I think what this is getting at is when ‘points programs” like AR (Accelerated Reader) are used to confine student reading in an attempt to make sure there is tangible proof of reading. Accountability measures might include parent sign-offs on a reading log or requiring a summary each night. That imposition on reading. Instead - the best “accountability” is a culture of reading where kids want to talk about what they are reading. And your tangible proof are conferences and conversations and observations.
6. Treating some books like “dessert”. And only allowing kids to read them after they’ve read something more suitable. Usually when I see this - those “dessert” books are graphic novels, or Minecraft books. Now - there are times when I will say, “Let’s take some some time to read our Book Club novels. And if you finish your section for the day, read whatever you want.” But always treating SOME TYPES of books like just fluff - is being a book witch.
So those were the main points from Annie Ward. But I’ll add one more.
7. Not letting kids take the books home. I used to treat MY books like they were GOLD. And I would let kids read them in class but then not let them out of my sight. I lost fewer books - but I also lost readers. Now - they go home with them. Usually they come back, but if not - I just hope that book meant so much to that child that they couldn’t bare to part with it.
So, I am a recovering Book Witch! And I mentioned some things we can do instead, but to quickly sum up, here they are:
- Let kids take the lead in what “just right” reading means for them - including their mood and what they are interested in, the format, the social connections they want to form around that reading - and not just a level.
- Don’t be a book snob! Openly embrace and book talk all genres and formats and expand your horizons.
- Watch your words and your body language to make sure you are not looking down on kids’ reading choices or making them feel ashamed for reading a text some might consider “edgy.”
- If a child is rereading a book - ask them about it! Or ask them to book talk it to the class!
- Instead of cumbersome attempts at reading accountability, instead - watch your kids, have conversations about the books, confer with them and have them read to you.
- Let kids take books home. And be gracious when they get lost or damaged.
- And finally - trust the kids and trust the books.
If you want to know more about Annie Ward’s work with co-author Stephanie Harvey, I highly recommend you pick up a copy of From Striving to Thriving: How to Grow Capable, Confident Readers. And as always, we are learning together and helping each other out, so please share your thoughts about overcoming being a book witch. You can tag me on Twitter, Instagram, and now Facebook - our handle is @books_between or email me at booksbetween@gmail.com and I’d love to share your ideas.
Melissa Sarno - Interview Outline
Joining me this month for our Middle Grade at Heart interview with Melissa Sarno is author Julie Artz. We got a chance to sit down together last month to chat about Just Under the Clouds.
Take a listen…
Just Under the Clouds
CA: For our listeners who haven’t yet read Just Under the Clouds what is this story about?
CA: One of my favorite parts of the book is when Cora goes to her remedial math class and her new teacher gives her some advice about solving algebra problems. She says: “I’ll give you a hint. It’s always easiest to start from the end. Start backward.” I’m wondering - when if your own life have you found it easier to start at the end?
JA: I loved the friendship between Cora and Sabina. They both have experienced intense loneliness due to an unconventional lifestyle, but the moment when they commit to their friendship--even though they may end up apart--was really touching. How did you come up with the idea for this complex and lovely friendship?
JA: Adare is such a vivid character despite being mostly non-verbal. What research went into creating her character?
**BONUS SPOILER SECTION: Melissa and Julie and I discuss the ending of the novel, and if you’d like to hear that conversation, I moved that part of the recording to after the end credits of today’s episode at the 37:50 mark.
Your Writing Life
JA: I loved the tree book and all that it represented for Cora. How much time did you spend researching trees for the story, or has that always been an interest of yours?
CA: What are you working on now?
Your Reading Life
CA: One of the goals of this podcast is to help educators and librarians inspire kids to read more and connect them with amazing books. Did you have a special teacher or librarian in your life who helped you grow into a reader?
JA: What types of books did you love when you were Cora’s age?
CA: What are you reading now?
Links:
Melissa’s website - https://www.melissasarno.com
Melissa on Twitter and Instagram
Julie’s website - http://julieartz.com
Julie on Twitter
New York City Tree Census - https://www.nycgovparks.org/trees/treescount/about
Books & Authors We Chatted About:
Swiss Family Robinson (Johann D. Wyss)
The Tillerman Series (Cynthia Voight)
Lizard Music (Daniel Pinkwater)
Her Body and Other Parties (Carmen Maria Machado)
The Cardboard Kingdom (Chad Sell)
Bob (Wendy Mass & Rebecca Stead)
Hurricane Child (Kheryn Callender)
Closing
Alright, that wraps up our show this week!
If you have a question about how to connect kids between 8-12 to books they’ll love or a suggestion about a topic we should cover, I would love to hear from you. You can email me at booksbetween@gmail.com or message me on Twitter/Instagram at the handle @Books_Between.
Books Between is a proud member of the Education Podcast Network. This network features podcasts for educators, created by educators. For more great content visit edupodcastnetwork.com
Thank you so much for joining me this week. You can get an outline of interviews and a full transcript of all the other parts of our show at MGBookVillage.org. And, if you are liking the show, please leave us some love on iTunes or Stitcher so others can discover us as well.
Thanks and see you soon! Bye!
Intro
Hi everyone and welcome to the Books Between Podcast! I believe in the power of books to help spark deep conversations and help us think through the big ideas in life. My goal is to help you connect kids between 8-12 with those amazing books and share inspiring conversations with the authors and educators who make that magic happen.
I’m your host, Corrina Allen - a mom of two, a 5th grade teacher, and still a bit tired from our trip to the beach yesterday!
This is Episode #54 and today I’m sharing a conversation with Jarred Amato - a high school English teacher and founder of the ProjectLIT Community.
Perhaps like you, I kept hearing about this thing called ProjectLIT and I kept bumping into conversations on Twitter about it. And I since I had questions and definitely wanted to know more - I figured you might as well. Some disclosure - after chatting with Jarred and after learning more from a wonderful session at NerdCamp last week ( a big thank you to Kimiko, Ashleigh, and Lindsey) , I have decided to start a ProjectLIT Book Club at my school this year for 4th and 5th graders. And promptly bought a shirt and a tank and cup and a hat… because, well - like I told Jarred - I have no chill!
Alright - take a listen!
Jarred Amato - Interview Outline
Welcome to the podcast!
Can you take a minute to introduce yourself to our listeners?
ProjectLIT
What is ProjectLIT and how did it get started?
What does a chapter do?
How are the books selected?
What are the books for the 2018-19 school year?
If someone wanted to start a ProjectLit Chapter in their own community, what would they need to know? And what would they need to do?
One of the things that makes ProjectLITstand out as more than just a book club, is the focus on service projects to increase book access in the school and community. What are some examples of projects that chapters have been doing?
Did I see you also have a Twitter Chat?
Tell me about the ProjectLIT Summit!
What are your plans for the future of ProjectLIT?
Your Reading Life
One of the goals of this podcast is to help educators and librarians and parents inspire kids to read more and connect them with amazing books. Did you have a special teacher or librarian who helped foster your reading life as a child?
What were some of your most influential reads growing up?
What have you been reading lately that you’ve liked?
Links:
Jarred’s website -https://jarredamato.wordpress.com
Jarred on Twitter
ProjectLIT on Twitter
ProjectLIT Chapter Leader Application
#ProjectLITChat Twitter Chat
ProjectLIT swag: https://project-lit-community.myshopify.com
David’s ending to Long Way Down
Books & Authors We Chatted About:
The Color of Water (James McBride)
Darius the Great is Not Okay (Adib Khorram)
Hope Nation (Rose Brock)
2018-19 ProjectLIT Middle Grade Book Club Selections
Ghost Boys (Jewell Parker Rhodes)
Sunny (Jason Reynolds)
I am Alfonso Jones (Tony Medina)
Amal Unbound (Aisha Saeed)
Rebound (Kwame Alexander)
Like Vanessa (Tami Charles)
The Stars Beneath Our Feet (David Barclay Moore)
Time Bomb (Joelle Charbonneau)
Wishtree (Katherine Applegate)
Amina’s Voice (Hena Khan)
The First Rule of Punk (Celia C. Perez)
The Parker Inheritance (Varian Johnson)
2018-19 ProjectLIT Young Adult Book Club Selections
The Poet X (Elizabeth Acevedo)
When I Was the Greatest (Jason Reynolds)
Born a Crime (Trevor Noah)
Speak (Laurie Halse Anderson)
Tradition (Brenden Kiely)
The 57 Bus (Dashka Slater)
Allegedly (Tiffany Jackson)
Odd One Out (Nic Stone)
Pride (Ibi Zoboi)
Children of Blood and Bone (Tomi Adeyemi)
I am Not Your Perfect Mexican Daughter (Erika L. Sanchez)
Dread Nation (Justina Ireland)
On the Come Up (Angie Thomas)
Closing
Alright, that wraps up our show this week!
If you have a question about how to connect kids between 8-12 to books they’ll love or a suggestion about a topic we should cover, I would love to hear from you. You can email me at booksbetween@gmail.com or message me on Twitter/Instagram at the handle @Books_Between.
Books Between is a proud member of the Education Podcast Network. This network features podcasts for educators, created by educators. For more great content visit edupodcastnetwork.com
Thank you so much for joining me this week. You can get an outline of interviews and a full transcript of all the other parts of our show at MGBookVillage.org. And, if you are liking the show, please leave us some love on iTunes or Stitcher so others can discover us as well.
Thanks and see you soon! Bye!
Intro
Hi everyone and welcome to the Books Between Podcast! I believe in the power of books to help us see our world more clearly and to see each other more clearly. My goal is to help you connect kids between 8-12 with those amazing books and share inspiring conversations with the authors and educators who make that magic happen.
I’m your host, Corrina Allen - a mom of a 9 and 11 year old, a 5th grade teacher and currently in a battle with Japanese beetles! Argh! My hollyhock has finally bloomed after three years and those buggers and destroying it! A green thumb, I do not have.
This is Episode #53 and today I’m discussing more fabulous nonfiction and sharing a conversation with Diane Magras, author of The Mad Wolf’s Daughter!
A couple quick announcements for you! The July Middle Grade at Heart Book Club pick is Just Under the Clouds . Where the Watermelons Grow is the read for August and the September pick is The House That Lou Built.
And don’t forget that Monday nights are our #MGBookChat Twitter chats with upcoming topics like graphic novels, ending gendered labels of MG books, and the importance of refugee stories. So set a reminder for Mondays at 9pm EST and check out #MGBookChat for conversations and collaboration between educators, librarians, and authors. I’ll warn you though - if you think your TBR stack is bad now… it only gets WORSE after one of those chats! (There are worse vices to have, right?)
Book Talk - More Fabulous Nonfiction
A couple weeks ago, on episode #51, I started a list of fantastic nonfiction reads with the promise that I would continue the list in the next episode. Well, the conversation with special guest Nikki Mancini was so good that I didn’t want to cut any more and so I bumped this nonfiction book talk to today. So here are more fabulous nonfiction books that you and your middle grade students will love this year!
First up is a brand new book called Squidtoons: Exploring Ocean Science with Comics by Garfield Kwan and Dana Song. I love this book for its bright, bold comics that are easy to read and with just the right amount of humor to keep a smile on your face as you learn about cool creatures like the moon jelly, and the narwhal, and seadragons! It reminds me a lot of the Science Comics series (which I mentioned in that last episode) but this one is a tad easier to read with bigger font. So I think the readability on this one could hit a younger audience. I’m really excited to share this one with my class in the fall.
Another nonfiction book that bubbled up into my awareness late last school year is Discovering Black America: from the Age of Exploration to the Twenty-first Century by Linda Tarrant-Reid. This books offers 200+ pages of in-depth history from the black sailor who traveled with Columbus to the indentured servants of the colonial era and tragedies of enslaved Africans to the Harlem Renaissance and up to the presidency of Barack Obama. And those stories are set in a greater context of the entire history of the United States. This is a book that is great to read cover to cover but also a helpful resources to have on hand to offer a perspective about a historical topic that might not be covered completely in a traditional history text. For example, there is an entire section on black patriots who fought for independence and the black women in the Women’s Army Corps in the 1940s. Definitely check this one out.
Another couple of books that were really popular with my 5th graders - and frankly, with me too, since they were my personal books that I brought in - were the Star Wars Visual Dictionaries. The two I have (so far) are the ones for The Last Jedi and The Force Awakens. These books are must-haves for any Star Wars fans because they let you see in detail all the little things go by so quickly in a movie. Like, everything that’s in Rey’s salvage kit. The names of the Resistance pilots and their backstory. And little surprises like Ben Solo’s calligraphy set. Visual Dictionaries are really fun to explore and DK Publishers does a really incredible job with them. So have a few on hand that appeal to the interests of your kids.
Also - if you and your kids have not yet read any of Sarah Albee’s nonfiction books - you all are in for a treat! My daughters and I just read Bugged: How Insects Changed History and were simultaneously enthralled and appalled! From the disturbing fact of where that brilliant red dye comes from to how bugs were a factor in the Louisiana Purchase. It’s a COOL book and can either be read cover to cover or just read the textbox features. Sarah Albee is also the author of the incredible Why’d They Wear That - a gorgeous, glossy book all about fashion through the ages with an introduction by the amazing Tim Gunn. And How They Croaked (about the awful deaths of famous people) and How They Choked (all about the epic fails of the super famous). So if you have readers whose tastes tend a little more toward the dark - those two are great. Albee’s latest book is called Dog Days of History: The Incredible Story of Our Best Friends - featuring, well - stories of dogs through history!
A really interesting book that blend forensics with history is Written in Bone: Buried Lives of Jamestown and Colonial Maryland. By Sally M. Walker. It’s a gorgeous full color book showcasing new insights gained about this era based on information scientists have gathered by examined the newly excavated bones of Europeans and Africans from colonial sites in Virginia and Maryland. And again even if kids don’t read this one cover to cover, I think reading and discussing a chapter would really help children understand how our knowledge of history changes over time as we make new discoveries and have better tools to analyze.
Another nonfiction book that I keep bumping into online - and was FINALLY able to get at my public library - is Two Truths and Lie by Ammi-Joan Paquette and Laurie Ann Thompson. It’s a clever book that is just begging to be read with a friend - or out loud in the car! Essentially, each chapter is about a topic. Like, Chapter 1 is Crazy Plants and Chapter 6 is Large Animals. And within each chapter are three stories: A, B, and C. Each story is about 3-5 pages long with lots of bold colors and cool fonts and photos. And the reader has to decide which of those three stories is false. The answer key is in the back and it gives a paragraph or so of explanation. This book is called Two Truths and a Lie: It’s Alive so I’m kind of hoping there are more in the series.
A book that has recently intrigued my daughters and me is called Survivors: Extraordinary Tales from the Wild and Beyond by David Long with illustrations by Kerry Hyndman. It is a collection of extreme survival stories from all over the world. Some you may have heard of - like Aron Ralston - the climber in Colorado who cut off his own arm to survive. It was made into the movie 127 Hours with James Franco. But others may be unfamiliar - like the story of Poon Lim - the sailor who survived a shipwreck by sucking the blood from a shark. This is definitely not a book for the faint of heart, but for those kids who like shocking stories of people overcoming the most dangerous situations this is the book for them!
Another beautiful new nonfiction book is Grand Canyon by Jason Chin. It’s a large format book about the size of a picture book with such detailed and multi-layered artwork. It’s written in a unique way. It’s written in the 2nd person where the narrator takes you on a tour of the canyon as it gives you information. For example, here is a line: “After climbing out of the Inner Gorge, you’ll find yourself on a broad, sun-baked slope.” And as the narrator gives you information about the Grand Canyon, you see in a center spread, illustrations of a father and daughter exploring the canyon and doing what the narrator just said. And around the edges of the main illustration, kind of in a Jan Brett format, are small drawings of the animals and plants found in the canyon, or a cross section of the layers, sketches of the weathering process… it’s really cool! And some of the pages have holes in them to show the fossils and when you turn the page - you just have to see it for yourself! This book is amazing!
Okay - I hope this has given you some ideas for new nonfiction books to freshen up your informational section of your library. And if you have a suggestion about a great nonfiction book we should all know about, email me at booksbetween@gmail.com or connect on Twitter at @Books_Between.
Diane Magras - Interview Outline
Joining me this month for our Middle Grade at Heart interview with Diane Magras is engineer by day and middle grade author by night, Karen Chow. We got an opportunity to sit down together last month to chat about The Mad Wolf’s Daughter.
Take a listen…
The Mad Wolf’s Daughter
CA: For our listeners who haven’t yet read The Mad Wolf’s Daughter, what is this story about?
CA: Love the mix of swashbuckling medieval adventure mixed with humor - at times it reminded me a bit of The Princess Bride. What were your inspirations?
CA: There seem like there might be elements of fantasy in this book.
What genre do you see this book falling in?
KC: Drest is very brave throughout the book. Did you take some of her bravery from a historical figure?
KC: Drest is mistaken for a boy several times. Is that because of the way she is dressed? Her short hair? Why did you decide to have Drest this way?
KC: Did real warriors have a code of ethics?
**BONUS SPOILER SECTION: Diane and Karen and I discuss the ending of the novel, and if you’d like to hear that conversation, I moved that part of the recording to after the end credits of today’s episode at the 38:13 mark.
Your Writing Life
CA: What are you working on now? And will there be a sequel for Drest?
Your Reading Life
CA: One of the goals of this podcast is to help educators and librarians inspire kids to read more and connect them with amazing books. Did you have a special teacher or librarian in your life who helped you grow into a reader?
KC: Do you have book recommendations for people who liked your book?
CA: What are you reading now?
Links:
Diane’s website - https://www.dianemagras.com
Diane on Twitter and Instagram
Karen’s website - http://www.karenschow.com
Karen on Twitter
Books & Authors We Chatted About:
The Dark is Rising (Susan Cooper)
Here Lies Arthur (Philip Reeve)
The Hunt for the Mad Wolf’s Daughter (Diane Magras)
The Shadow Hunt (Katherine Langrish)
The Serpent’s Secret (Sayantani DasGupta)
The Jumbies (Tracey Baptiste)
Bounders Series (Monica Tesler)
The Parker Inheritance (Varian Johnson)
Where the World Ends (Geraldine McCaughrean)
I loved getting the chance to talk with Diane about her novel. If you are looking for more titles that are similar to The Mad Wolf’s Daughter, she recommends checking out The Book of Boy or The Inquisitor’s Tale.
Closing
Alright, that wraps up our show this week!
If you have a question about how to connect kids between 8-12 to books they’ll love or a suggestion about a topic we should cover, I would love to hear from you. You can email me at booksbetween@gmail.com or message me on Twitter/Instagram at the handle @Books_Between.
Books Between is a proud member of the Education Podcast Network. This network features podcasts for educators, created by educators. For more great content visit edupodcastnetwork.com
Thank you so much for joining me this week. You can get an outline of interviews and a full transcript of all the other parts of our show at MGBookVillage.org. And, if you are liking the show, please leave us some love on iTunes or Stitcher so others can discover us as well.
Thanks and see you soon! Bye!
Intro
Hi everyone and welcome to Books Between - a podcast to help teachers, parents, and librarians connect kids between 8-12 to books they’ll love. I’m your host, Corrina Allen - a teacher, a mom of two girls, and finally done with school and on to summer break! I said goodbye to my 22 fifth graders last Friday at their Moving Up Ceremony since they are off to the middle school! And I gave each one of them an end-of-the-year gift which includes a Krazy Straw and a pack of Kool-Aid that I attach to a book. And each of my students gets a different book - one that I have hand-picked for them based on everything I’ve learned from a year of getting to know them as readers and as people. Each June I spend about 2 hours browsing the Syracuse Scholastic Warehouse to select something I think each child would like.
This is Episode #52 and oday I’m sharing with you a conversation with 5th grader teacher Nikki Mancini. We chat about how to use Flipgrid to inspire readers, and of course, what middle grade books we’ve been reading lately.
Today’s episode is sponsored by MoxieReader - a literacy app that’s like a fitness tracker for your reading life. It gives educators insights into their students’ reading lives, customized recommendations, and a way for kids to set and work toward their own reading goals in a way that is engaging and fun. If you are looking for a way to ditch those reading logs and instead have students track their reading in a more natural way, you will definitely want to check out MoxieReader. As you recharge and reassess your teaching methods this summer, it’s the perfect time to explore a new tool. So head over to MoxieReader.com and the use the code welovereading and try it out!
A couple quick announcements for you! Our next episode features Diane Magras - author of the Middle Grade at Heart book club pick The Mad Wolf’s Daughter. The July pick is Just Under the Clouds and I’ll be chatting with author Melissa Sarno in a couple days so watch out for that episode. Where the Watermelons Grow is the August pick and for those of you that like plan out even further - we are reading The House That Lou Built for September. And… the Middle Grade at Heart Book Club now has a Flipgrid! I’ll drop a link to that in the show notes - along with the password so you can join the conversation and hear directly from the authors.
MG@Heart Flipgrid: https://flipgrid.com/a8acb2
Password: mg@heart
Also, our Monday night #MGBookChat Twitter chats have been awesome! Some of our upcoming topics include graphic novels, building classroom libraries, and the importance of refugee stories. So set a reminder for Mondays at 9pm EST and check out #MGBookChat for great conversations between educators, librarians, and authors about how to get great books into the hands of middle grade readers!
For me, Twitter has been an incredible positive influence on my teaching life - connecting me with amazing and inspiring educators across the globe. And one of those educators is Nikki Mancini - who you may know as @missnikkiin5th. I kept seeing her talk about this thing called Flipgrid and finally I was like - you know what? I’ve got to invite her on the show. I knew that Flipgrid could be a powerful tool, but I had some questions and figured you all might find value in that conversation as well.
After we chatted, I decided to try it out this summer. Because, I had the opportunity this year to meet my incoming 5th graders! So, I could do what I’ve never done before - I opened up my classroom library and let them take home 2 or 3 (or more!) books to enjoy for the summer. And along with their books, I send them home with a sheet explaining how to access our Flipgrid and posted two topics - one to introduce ourselves and one to share our summer reading! Before the day was done I had two kids already submitting videos and whoa - I am just brimming with ideas about how to harness this for next year and expand it even further! And I hope this conversation leaves you excited as well. Plus - right after we recorded this conversation, Flipgrid announced that it is now FREE for educators! Oh yeah!
Alright - take a listen...
Nikki Mancini - Interview Outline
Can you tell us a little bit about yourself?
What is Flipgrid and how did you first find out about it?
Beyond the author element, what are some other projects or uses for Flipgrid that you have done with your students?
What would you suggest for some quick, easy ways to get started with Flipgrid?
Where would you suggest people go to get more information about Flipgrid?
What are some things you’ve been doing this year in your classroom that you’ve been excited about?
What are your plans for next year?
Links:
Nikki’s website - https://missnikkiin5th.wordpress.com/
Nikki on Twitter
NerdCampNJ - http://nerdcampnj.weebly.com
Nikki’s Author Connection Flipgrid: https://flipgrid.com/d935fd
Information about Flipgrid: https://info.flipgrid.com
Educator & Student Info about Flipgrid: https://resources.flipgrid.com
Flipgrid Inspiration: https://inspire.flipgrid.com
Flipgrid on Twitter and #FlipgridFever
Jewell Parker Rhode’s conversation about Ghost Boys on The Children’s Book Podcast
Books & Authors We Chatted About:
Smart Cookie and Finding Perfect (Elly Swartz)
Kat Green Comes Clean (Melissa Roske)
Babysitting Nightmares: The Shadow Hand (Kat Shepherd)
Amal Unbound (Aisha Saeed)
Daring Dreamers Club Series (Erin Soderberg)
The Peculiar Incident on Shady Street (Lindsay Currie)
Ghost Boys (Jewell Parker Rhodes)
Stanley Will Probably Be Fine (Sally J. Pla)
Someday Birds (Sally J. Pla)
Rules (Cynthia Lord)
Closing
Alright, that wraps up our show this week!
If you have a question about how to connect kids between 8-12 to books they’ll love or a suggestion about a topic we should cover, I would love to hear from you. You can email me at booksbetween@gmail.com or message me on Twitter/Instagram at the handle @Books_Between.
Books Between is a proud member of the Education Podcast Network. This network features podcasts for educators, created by educators. For more great content visit edupodcastnetwork.com
Thank you so much for joining me this week. You can get an outline of interviews and a full transcript of all the other parts of our show at MGBookVillage.org. And, if you are liking the show, please leave us some love on iTunes or Stitcher so others can discover us as well.
Thanks and see you soon! Bye!
Intro
Hi everyone and welcome to Books Between - a podcast to help teachers, parents, and librarians connect kids between 8-12 to books they’ll love. I’m your host, Corrina Allen - a teacher, a mom of a 9 and 11 year old, and struggling with some kind of rogue pollen in the air. So if I suddenly sound like the Albino from the Pit of Despair in The Princess Bride - that is why.
This is Episode #51 and today I’m discussing some exceptional nonfiction reads and sharing a conversation with Wendy MacKnight, author of The Frame-up!
But first I am excited to tell you that today’s episode is sponsored by MoxieReader - a literacy app that’s like a fitness tracker for your reading life. It gives educators insights into their students’ reading lives, customized recommendations, and a way for kids to set and work toward their own reading goals in a way that is engaging and fun. My 5th graders and I have been trying it out over the past couple of weeks and they have been really been pumped up about hitting their own goals AND they’ve really liked sharing recommendations with each other.
I feel like the summer is, for me anyway, the perfect time to explore something new so head over to MoxieReader.com and the use the code welovereading and try it out!
A few announcements to pass along! This month’s Middle Grade at Heart book club pick is The Mad Wolf’s Daughter. We’ll have author Diane Magras on the show soon so watch out for that! In July we are reading, Just Under the Clouds and Where the Watermelons Grow is the August pick.
In other news, we at MGBookVillage had SUCH as fabulous response to the #MGBookChat Twitter chats that we’ve decided to continue them!
So set a reminder for Mondays at 9pm EST and check out #MGBookChat on Twitter for great conversations between educators, librarians, and authors about how to get great books into the hands of middle grade readers! We have some great guest hosts lined up so far, but If you have an idea for a topic centered around supporting children’s reading lives and celebrating MG books and would like to co-host an upcoming chat, please contact us. (I’ll drop a link to more information and our upcoming schedule in the show notes.)
Book Talk - Exceptional Nonfiction Reads
This week’s book talk is all about nonfiction!! And I will admit, I do tend to read and book talk more fiction than nonfiction. (And I have heard from some of you about that.) But, my students and I are just coming off of a great Unit of Study all about informational texts and I wanted to share with you some of the books that have really hooked us. And as I started this list, I soon realized it’s too much for one episode. So consider this part one, and on the next show you’ll get more great recommendations!
Let’s get into it with the hot reads with my fifth graders this year. All of these books had long waiting lists and complicated exchange arrangements with my kids - if you work in a classroom or library, you know what I mean.
First up…
The Science Comics series!! Oh my word - have these books taken off in my class! They are graphic novel-style books that feature a character (like an animal) introducing you to their world and telling you everything you need to know about it. For example, a favorite one in our class is Science Comics Dogs: From Predator to Protector by Andy Hirsch and it starts with an introduction by two canine scientists and then we meet Rudy, who talks directly to the reader about things like domestication, Punnett Squares, and evolution, and breeds, and the meanings of various howls and wags. We have another one called Coral Reefs: Cities of the Oceans which is told by a little yellow fish and is all about coral formation and water runoff and the effects of climate change. I will say - they are complicated and do contain sophisticated vocabulary like alleles and numerical dating vs relative dating and, well - lots of other words I can’t pronounce! But the support of the illustrations really helps, and I have found that readers will pick up what they can and skim the rest - and that’s okay. They next time they come across the term allele, they’ll be more likely to pick up that meaning. There are a TON more in the series, Bats, Plague, Flying Machines, Volcanoes, Robots & Drones with new titles coming like Polar Bears and Wild Weather!! I definitely need to get more of these next year - they are bright and colorful - and just COOL!
Another hot nonfiction read for us this year is Don’t Read This Book Before Bed: Thrills, Chills, and Hauntingly True Stories by Anna Claybourne. This is a National Geographic Kids book published by Scholastic and how it’s set up is each topic has a two page spread with a big title, an introduction and then 4 or 5 text features like a timeline or picture, or fact box. It really lends itself to bite-sized reading and with each flip of the page you get a new topic like “Island of the Dolls” or “Buried Alive” or “Eerie Everest”. And there are six quizzes throughout the book like “Are You Afraid of the Dark?” or “Spot the Fake Photos!” so I liked that it also included some debunking and skepticism. This is book that some of your kids are going to look at and say, “No thank you!” but you know there are a lot you are going to go “Oh yeah! Let me at it!”
In a similar vein is a book called Beasties in My Backyard which also includes a two-page spread for common backyard (or household) bugs like centipedes and cicadas and cockroaches and lightning bugs! Each page has an intro and a HUGE super close-up photo (like see every hair on their legs photo) with the features labeled and explained. And then a fact file with its size and diet and location. And a few text features. Actually, even though the title is Beasties in my Backyard - our classroom has had its share of ants, and moths, and stink bugs, and centipedes recently. Just yesterday my teammate, Cindy, had to snag a spider out of my hair during lunch! A couple other nonfiction books that my biology-loving students are getting into are 101 Hidden Animals (all about creatures who camouflage), Life As We Know It (about everything from the beginnings of life on earth to species and ecosystems and survival) and Ocean Animals: Who’s Who in the Deep Blue (another gorgeous National Geographic Kids book).
Another super popular book this year is one called... Drones. It’s one of those short, wide books with 96 pages chock full of information. There’s a four page intro and then each spread is about a different drone - military drones and then civilian drones. I liked that the pictures are large and the text is large and well spaced so it’s really readable. Also - for each drone they include a “How Big Is It” box with the silhouette of that drone with either a person or a bus or something to help you picture it.
Two other books that have become very popular this year in the wake of student activist movements are Marching for Freedom by Elizabeth Partridge which tells the story of the Selma to Montgomery March in 1965 with a particular focus on the voices of the children who participated. Another book called Kids on Strike! tells the stories of children who organized in the early 1900s for better working conditions. Each chapter is about a different strike - from mill workers and coal miners and garment workers, It was a fascinating and timely read. I think it would be really interesting to have students compare a chapter from each these books to current news stories about student walkouts and the marches demanding gun control.
My students are also really loving those Scholastic “A True Book” series - especially the one called Cybercriminals which is all about hacking and identity theft - topics they hear about in the news and want to know more about. I really, really love this series and they have a plethora of titles that can connect to just about any content area so you can make your reading time also hit some science and social studies.
And - I probably don’t need to tell you this, but any of the Almanac / World Record-type books are hugely popular with my kiddos. They were with me too when I was their age! But boy have they changed! My tattered copy of the 19somethingsomething Guinness Book of World Records is black and white, teensy-tiny print, and maybe a picture or two? These books are chock full of color and images with bold words and color coded sections. I don’t get a new one EVERY year but honestly I probably should they are so popular. Guinness has a great one every year and so does Scholastic. And the National Geographic Kids Almanacs are also great. And there are also books like The Year in Sports and even ones specific to baseball or football.
And I’m starting to realize that this list is pretty heavily loaded with Scholastic titles. Honestly, it’s because they are affordable and I can save up my points to get some of the more pricey ones. But I do realize that limits the selection, so next year I’m going to look for ways to fund some other titles, too.
Alright - I hope this has encouraged you to pick up some new nonfiction titles for your children and students. And if you have a suggestion about a great nonfiction book we should all know about, email me at booksbetween@gmail.com or connect on Twitter at @Books_Between.
Wendy MacKnight - Interview Outline
Our special guest this week is Wendy McLeod MacKnight. We chat about art, her biggest influences as a child, and her inspirations behind her newest middle grade novel, The Frame-Up.
Take a listen...
The Frame Up
Your newest novel is due to be released into the world on June 5th! What is Frame-up all about?
What kind of research did you do for this book and did you collaborate at all with the Beaverbrook Art Gallery?
What were some of the challenges you encountered when setting up the “rules” of the paintings?
If you could go visit any painting you wished, which one would you pick?
If you knew a painting could really come alive, would you want one painted of yourself?
**BONUS SPOILER SECTION: Wendy and I discuss the ending of the novel, and if you’d like to hear that conversation, I moved that part of the recording to after the end credits of today’s episode at the 47:30 mark.
Your Writing Life
What are you working on next?
Your Reading Life
One of the goals of this podcast is to help educators and librarians inspire kids to read more and connect them with amazing books.
Did you have a teacher or librarian in your life who helped you
What are some books you’ve been reading lately?
Links:
Wendy’s website - http://wendymcleodmacknight.com
Books & Authors We Chatted About:
It’s a Mystery Pigface (Wendy MacKnight)
A Wrinkle in Time (Madeleine L’Engle)
Penderwicks at Last (Jeanna Birdsall)
You Go First (Erin Entrada Kelly)
The Mad Wolf’s Daughter (Diane Magras)
The Science of Unbreakable Things (Tae Keller)
The Not So Boring Letters of Private Nobody (Matthew Landis)
Closing
Alright, that wraps up our show this week!
If you have a question about how to connect kids between 8-12 to books they’ll love or a suggestion about a topic we should cover, I would love to hear from you. You can email me at booksbetween@gmail.com or message me on Twitter/Instagram at the handle @Books_Between.
Books Between is a proud member of the Education Podcast Network. This network features podcasts for educators, created by educators. For more great content visit edupodcastnetwork.com
Thank you so much for joining me this week. You can get an outline of interviews and a full transcript of all the other parts of our show at MGBookVillage.org. And, if you are liking the show, please leave us some love on iTunes or Stitcher so others can discover us as well.
Thanks and see you soon! Bye!
Intro
Hi everyone and welcome to Books Between - a podcast to help teachers, parents, and librarians connect kids between 8-12 to books they’ll love. I’m your host, Corrina Allen - a 5th grade teacher, a mom of two girls, and a new aunt!! A few weeks ago, my brother and his wife had a beautiful baby girl they named Nora and has been so wonderful to have a baby in the family again!
This is Episode #50 and today I am sharing with you a conversation with Laurie Morrison and Cordelia Jensen - authors of Every Shiny Thing
But first I am excited to tell you that today’s episode is sponsored by MoxieReader - a literacy app that’s like a fitness tracker for your reading life. It gives teachers insights into their students’ reading, customized recommendations, and a way for kids to set and work toward their own reading goals in a way that is engaging and fun. My 5th graders and I have been trying it out over the past couple of weeks and they really, really loved it! They had armfuls of books they were excited to scan in and share with each other. I really feel like the end of the year is the perfect time to try something new that will energize your class and launch them into a summer full of reading. So head over to MoxieReader.com and try out their $7 for 3 months special by using the code welovereading!
A few announcements to pass along! The Twitter chat for Every Shiny Thing will be on Monday, June 5th at 8pm EST using #MGBookClub.
There is also a fantastic educator’s guide available for the novel and a Flipgrid for the book where you can watch videos of Laurie and Cordelia and submit your own to ask questions about the book!
Our next Middle Grade at Heart book club picks are The Mad Wolf’s Daughter in June, Just Under the Clouds in July, and Where the Watermelons Grow in August.
Also - Ann Braden and Jarrett Lerner have teamed up with some other educators to launch the #KidsNeedMentors project to connect authors with classrooms through book deliveries, postcard exchanges, Skype visits and lots more exciting things.
A quick reminder that the outline of today’s interview and links to every book we chat about along with other awesome middle grade content can be found right at MGBookVillage.org.
Cordelia Jensen & Laurie Morrison - Interview Outline
Our special guests this week are Cordelia Jensen and Laurie Morrison - authors of the newly released middle grade novel Every Shiny Thing .
Take a listen...
Every Shiny Thing
Let’s start with introductions -
Can you take a moment to tell us about yourself?
How did you two meet and decide to collaborate on this book?
Tell us about Every Shiny Thing!
Let’s talk about Lauren first since we meet her character first - as she is thinking about saying goodbye to her brother Ryan as her family is leaving him off at a therapeutic school for kids with autism. And we learn right away how upset Lauren feels about this.
Laurie - can you talk a bit about any experiences you had or research you did to write your part of the novel?
One of the things that’s been on my mind lately as a teacher and as someone who is always searching for books that are mirrors for children’s own lives is the impact of Adverse Childhood Experiences. And oh does Sierra have so many of those - her mother is an alcoholic, her father is in jail, and she is living with a foster family.
Cordelia - how did Sierra’s character first come to you and how did you find that balance between her vulnerability and her resilience?
There are two images in Sierra’s section of the novel that are so powerful to me - the kaleidoscope and the garden. That symbolism of Sierra’s and Lauren’s and all of our lives fragmenting and reflecting and then cycling back together….
Can you talk a bit about those parts of your novel and how you came to include them in Sierra’s story?
One part of Every Shiny Thing that fascinated me was the Quaker school that the girls attend! And the Quaker values they study - can you talk a little but about that aspect of the book?
I really noticed how much of school life your novel got right.
Did that come from your own experiences as educators or did you do some research for that aspect of the book?
Let’s talk about the ending!! (I’ll cut this section of the interview and put it after the credits to avoid spoilers.)
Was the ending of the book different than how you first envisioned it?
Your Writing Life
What was your collaboration process like for writing Every Shiny Thing? Did you meet in person or do most of your work online?
What’s next for each of you?
Your Reading Life
Was there an adult in your life who made you the reader you are today?
What have you been reading lately?
Thank You!
Links:
Cordelia Jensen’s website - http://www.cordeliajensen.com
Laurie Morrison’s website - https://lauriemorrisonwrites.com
Cordelia on Twitter and Instagram
Laurie on Twitter and Instagram
Good Morning Sunshine Breakfast Cookies
Books & Authors We Chatted About:
NeuroTribes (Steve Silberman)
You Go First (Erin Entrada Kelly)
Star Crossed (Barbara Dee)
The Female Persuasion (Meg Wolitzer)
Well That Was Awkward (Rachel Vail)
The Science of Breakable Things (Tae Keller)
The Girl With Two Hearts
Dumplin (Julie Murphy)
One for the Murphys (Lynda Mullaly Hunt)
Forget Me Not (Ellie Terry)
Closing
Alright, that wraps up our show this week! And thanks again to MoxieReader for supporting the podcast this month - definitely check out their website for an engaging way for your students to build their reading resume.
If you have a question about how to connect kids between 8-12 to books they’ll love or a suggestion about a topic we should cover, I would love to hear from you. You can email me at booksbetween@gmail.com or message me on Twitter/Instagram at the handle @Books_Between.
Books Between is a proud member of the Education Podcast Network. This network features podcasts for educators, created by educators. For more great content visit edupodcastnetwork.com
If you are liking the show, please leave us some love on iTunes or Stitcher so others can discover us as well.
Thanks and see you soon! Bye!
Intro
Hi everyone and welcome to Books Between - a podcast to help teachers, parents, and librarians connect kids between 8-12 to books they’ll love. I’m your host, Corrina Allen - a 5th grade teacher, a mom of two girls who are 8 and 11, and feeling extraordinarily lucky on this Mother’s Day to have my mom in my life. And having a mother who is and has always been such a staunch supporter of my reading life.
This is Episode #49 and Today I’m discussing three new middle grade releases, and then I’ll share with you a conversation with authors Ann Braden and Saadia Faruqi from the Lifelines Podcast.
Alright - announcements! I hope you have been loving the May Middle Grade at Heart Book Club pick Every Shiny Thing as much as I have. Laurie Morrison and Cordelia Jensen will on the podcast soon so if you have a question you want me to ask them, please let me know! In June we’ll be reading The Mad Wolf’s Daughter by Diane Magras and July’s pick is Just Under the Clouds by Melissa Sarno.
And - I hope you’ve been as inspired as I have by the Educator Spotlight interviews at the MGBookVillage site. We have lots more coming, so keep an eye out!
A quick reminder that the outline of today’s interview and a full transcript of all the other parts of this show can be found at MGBookVillage.org - including links to every topic and book we mention. I know you are busy and I want to make it effortless for you to find things.
Book Talk - Three Fantastic Spring Releases
This week we are back to some book talks! And instead of having them fit a particular theme, I thought I’d simply share with you three really great recent releases from this past spring. They are Playing Atari with Saddam Hussein by Jennifer Roy & Ali Fadhil, Me, Frida and the Secret of the Peacock Ring by Angela Cervantes, and Rebound by Kwame Alexander.
Playing Atari with Saddam Hussein
Our first featured middle grade novel this week is Playing Atari with Saddam Hussein by Jennifer Roy with Ali Fadhil. This historical fiction novel is set in 1991 in Basra, Iraq - just as the United States is launching Operation Desert Storm. And it’s based on the true story of Ali Fadhil’s life as an ordinary 11 year old boy who loves playing video games and watching American TV like the The Muppet Show. But then, the bombings come and life for Fadhil and his family is becoming more and more bleak. Here are three things to know about Playing Atari with Saddam Hussein:
- The main character does NOT actually play Atari with Saddam Hussein. Although as an adult, he does become a translator who ended up working at his trial. In the novel, one way that Ali copes is to imagine that he is playing Pitfall as he travels through his war-torn streets and also because some of the Americans dubbed it “the video game war” because the night-vision green streaks of bombs across the dark sky looked to them like a video game.
- That this book gives a much-needed window into a time-period that is often overlooked in children’s literature. We are now getting a lot of great books about 9/11 but the era of the Gulf War is still lacking. And many of my students’ parents are veterans of those wars so knowing more about the perspectives of an Iraqi child going through those experiences is important. And humanizes a group of people that some wish to label as enemies.
- How many similarities students will discover between themselves and Ali. Despite being set halfway around the world in a country the United States was at war with, Ali’s family plays Monopoly while they hide out waiting for the bombs to pass. Ali plays soccer and video games and collects American Superman comics. His sister has a Barbie Dreamhouse! Probably the same one I did with the elevator you pulled up with a little string. And I think back to when I was a teenager watching this war live on CNN with Wolf Blitzer and Bernie Shaw and I never would have realized the kids on the other side of those bombs were so much like me.
Playing Atari with Saddam Hussein is a great book for 5th graders through middle schoolers who are interested in the real impacts of war, Iraqi history, or just want a good historical fiction book. And it would make a great complement to the many World War II novel studies out there to add a more modern perspective.
Me, Frida and the Secret of the Peacock Ring
A second great spring middle grade release is Me, Frida, and the Secret of the Peacock Ring by Angela Cervantes. You might know her work from her two earlier novels - Gaby, Lost and Found and Allie, First at Last. This novel is a mystery and centers around a missing ring belonging to the artist Frida Kahlo. The main character is 12 year old Paloma Marquez, who begrudgingly travels with her mom from their home in Kansas City to Mexico City for 4 weeks of the summer. (Her mom is a professor and has a fellowship there.) Although Paloma’s father was Mexican, she doesn’t speak Spanish, she worries about missing out on fun with her friends, and she just doesn’t want to go. But…. on her first night in Mexico, she attends a reception at Frida Kahlo’s home - Casa Azul - and receives the following note from a mysterious boy. Here are three things to love about Angela Cervantes’ Me, Frida, and the Secret of the Peacock Ring:
- I love how Paloma is inspired in this book by her favorite mysterious series starring Lulu Pennywhistle. And as she gets further and further into the thick of things with brother and sister Gael and Lizzie - midnight break-ins, and secret rooms, and strange fortune-tellers - Paloma is always referencing Lulu Pennywhistle to figure out how she should proceed.
- All the Frida Kahlo!! When I found out this book had to do with my favorite artist - I knew I had to read it. And I was so happy to discover that this book does her such justice. Frida Kahlo’s paintings illicit such a visceral reaction from students and once you tell them a little bit about her life - how she painted her pain and made it beautiful - they are enthralled by her. And yes, some notice the exaggerated eyebrows first and some find it funny. But I like how Paloma discussed that at on page 119.
- How this book is really all about identity and belonging. Paloma’s father was Mexican but died before she could have her own memories of him. And she feels as if she is searching for that connection while she is in Mexico City. And as Paloma learns more about Frida, she discovers how complex her life was - sometimes feeling torn between being an international artist and wanting the roots of her native Mexican heritage.
Me, Frida, and the Secret of the Peacock Ring is a great book for kids who love art or travel, for kids who are intrigued by Mexican culture and the Spanish language - and for anyone who loves a great mystery!
Rebound
Last up this week is Kwame Alexander’s Rebound - the much-awaited prequel to the much-loved and much-awarded, novel-in-verse The Crossover. This book is all about Josh & Jordan’s father - Chuck “Da Man” Bell. But - this is an origin story. So when we first meet him, he is just Charlie - an 80’s kid reeling from a family tragedy and trying to find his way forward and trying to find his smile again. When home becomes tense, he is involuntarily shipped off to his grandparent’s house for the summer where he starts to find that path forward. Let me read you the first page….
Here are three things I loved about Kwame Alexander’s Rebound:
- The illustrations by Dawud Anyabwile. While The Crossover had black-out poems throughout the book, Rebound includes these awesome two-page spreads of these mini graphic-novel type sketches of Charlie’s basketball daydreams and wishes and memories. So so cool. And a great hook for kids who love the graphic novel format.
- The 80s vibe of this book! Now, you all know I am sucker for 70s and 80s nostalgia! And this book took me back to skating parties and trying for that high score on the Pac Man machine at the rec center where ALL your friends gathered after school. But also - some things haven’t changed - like Black Panther and the Fantastic Four, the importance the right brand of shoes (and not those knockoffs your mom gets you), Strawberry Pop-Tarts, and your folks not letting you watch THAT video on MTV.
- Discovering all the little references and plot threads that will appear later in The Crossover. How Charlie becomes Chuck, the origins of his Basketball Rules, where his love of jazz came from - and boy it was NOT there at first! And… the little hidden surprises revealed toward the end about who some of the characters end up being in the later book. And I know there’s a ton more that I haven’t figured out yet - so for that reason alone, definitely a rich book to read with a friend or with a book club to mine and discuss all those little details.
Rebound is a must-get for your classroom or library. And fans of The Crossover are going to absolutely relish this prequel. It’s a book you finish and want to immediately talk to your friends about. It’s not necessary to have read The Crossover first, but I think it’s a better and more enjoyable reading experience to read them in the order they were published. So The Crossover, the Rebound, and then go read Crossover again!
Ann Braden & Saadia Faruqi - Interview Outline
Our special guests this week are Ann Braden and Saadia Faruqi. Ann is the author of the upcoming middle grade novel The Benefits of Being an Octopus and founder of GunSenseVT. Saadia is an interfaith activist and author of a new early chapter book series called Meet Yasmin. Ann and Saadia recently teamed up to launch a podcast - Lifelines: Books That Bridge the Divide. I have been loving their show and am so happy to be bring you this conversation. We chat about why they started a new kidlit podcast, their novels, how they make time for reading with their kids, and some secrets for the perfect French Toast.
Take a listen..
Lifelines Podcast
Can you take a moment to tell us about yourself?
I was so excited to see your new podcast, Lifelines, pop up in my Twitter feed a few weeks ago! How did you two connect with each other and then how did the podcast start?
What is your collaboration process like to produce the show?
I know when I first started podcasting, it took a while to get into a groove… what mistakes have you made along the way?
And what are some plans you have for the future of the podcast?
So Ann - your pictures of your baby posed with the stuffed animals is adorable!
So Saadia, I started following you on Instagram and realized that you and I share a love of French Toast. What is your secret for the perfect French Toast?
Your Writing Life
You both have children’s books coming out this year! Can you tell us about them and when they’ll be available?
Your Reading Life
What were some of your favorite or most influential reads as a child?
I’ve realized that something we all have in common is that we have young children. I’m wondering - how do you foster that love of reading in your family? And how do you make reading a priority when family life can be so busy?
What have you read lately that you’ve loved?
Thank You!
Links:
Ann Braden’s website - http://annbradenbooks.com
Saadia Faruqi’s website - http://www.saadiafaruqi.com
Ann on Twitter and Facebook and Instagram
Saadia on Twitter and Facebook and Instagram
Books & Authors We Chatted About:
Witch of Blackbird Pond (Elizabeth George Speare)
Fifteen (Beverly Cleary)
Frog and Toad (Arnold Lobel)
The High King Series (Lloyd Alexander)
The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (Douglas Adams)
Homecoming (Cynthia Voigt)
The Famous Five (Enid Blyton)
Nancy Drew (Carolyn Keene)
Hardy Boys (Franklin W. Dixon)
I Survived Series (Lauren Tarshis)
Crenshaw (Katherine Applegate)
Wishtree (Katherine Applegate)
Orbiting Jupiter (Gary D. Schmidt)
Okay For Now (Gary D. Schmidt)
Closing
Alright, that wraps up our show this week!
If you have a question about how to connect kids between 8-12 to books they’ll love or a suggestion about a topic we should cover, I would love to hear from you. You can email me at booksbetween@gmail.com or message me on Twitter/Instagram at the handle @Books_Between.
Books Between is a proud member of the Education Podcast Network. This network features podcasts for educators, created by educators. For more great content visit edupodcastnetwork.com
Thank you so much for joining me this week. You can get an outline of interviews and a full transcript of all the other parts of our show at MGBookVillage.org. And, if you are liking the show, please leave us some love on iTunes or Stitcher so others can discover us as well.
Thanks and see you soon! Bye!
Intro
Hi and welcome to Books Between - a podcast for teachers, parents, librarians, and anyone who loves middle grade books. I’m your host, Corrina Allen - a mom of two girls and a 5th grade teacher in Central New York. I believe in the power of books to help us see each other more clearly. And my goal is to help you find fabulous books for the tweens in your life and help create a community where we all can support each other as we build those readers.
This is Episode #48 and today I’m discussing how to support readers with Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), and then I’ll share with you a conversation with Varian Johnson - author of The Parker Inheritance.
A few quick announcements before we dive in today - the Middle Grade at Heart Book Club Twitter chat about The Parker Inheritance is Tuesday, May 1st (tomorrow!) at 5pm PT / 8PM ET. Just search for the hashtag #mgbookclub and jump into the conversation. Varian will be participating so if you have a question you want to ask him, here’s your chance! Also, the May MG at Heart Book Club pick is Every Shiny Thing by Laurie Morrison and Cordelia Jensen and in June we’ll be reading The Mad Wolf’s Daughter by Diane Magras.
And - we at MGBookVillage have some exciting news to tell you! We will be spending the month of May honoring educators! Over the next few weeks we’ll share posts and interviews with inspiring teachers, literacy specialists, principals, and all those who work to create passionate middle grade readers.
We’re also excited to host four educator-focused Twitter chats every Monday evening this May at 9pm EST with topics like Fictional Teachers and Connecting with Authors - so head to MGBookVillage.org for all the details and to stay up-to-date on all things middle grade.
You can also find an outline of interviews and a full transcript of all the other parts of this show at MGBookVillage.org - including links to every topic and book we mention. So definitely check that out!
Main Topic - Supporting Students w/ Adverse Childhood Experiences
A couple months ago I had the opportunity at my school to attend a professional development session lead by my principal, Amy Horack, about ACEs - an acronym which I came to learn means “Adverse Childhood Experiences”. And it really opened my eyes to seeing the struggles many of my students have had in a new light - a new frame that helped me make sense of some of their behaviours and look for ways to support them. So today I am going to share with you a bit of what I discovered that day (and since then) with the hope that you will be inspired to learn more so we can support those students. First, I’ll share some definitions and discuss what Adverse Childhood Experiences are and how to calculate your own ACEs score. Then I’ll chat a bit about what that means for children and what impact a high ACEs score has on their health and behaviors. And then I’ll discuss some things we can do as educators and parents to be trauma-informed in our teaching and help support those kids as readers - and in all aspects of their life.
Definitions and Discussion
Let’s start with a definition. Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) are stressful or traumatic events that happen in childhood. These might include economic hardship, abuse, neglect, witnessing domestic violence or growing up with family members who struggle with mental illness or substance abuse. ACEs are highly correlated with a variety of health problems throughout a person’s life and substance abuse as a teen and adult. And also impact their opportunities and ability to learn.
In my research, I found several different studies that used a variety of indicators to calculate a person’s ACEs score. There isn’t one set list, but typically there are about 10 questions with a higher score indicating more risk for negative health effects and other impacts that we can see in the children we work with - and the adults in their lives.
I am going to read off a list of situations, and I’d encourage you to first think about your own score. (Mine is three.) And think about the children you interact with. By the time they are an adult, about 67% of people will have a score of at least one. 22% will have two or more ACES, with almost 10% having scores of 3 or higher.
Adverse Childhood Experiences:
- Have you ever lived with a parent or guardian who got divorced or separated?
- Has a member of your household ever died?
- Have you or a member of your household dealt with a life-threatening health situation or chronic disease?
- Have you experienced a life-threatening accident or natural disaster?
- Has a member of your household ever served time in jail or prison?
- Have you ever lived with anyone who was mentally ill or suicidal, or severely depressed for more than a couple weeks?
- Have you ever lived with anyone who had a problem with alcohol or drugs?
- Have you ever been the victim of emotional neglect in your home? (For example, you often felt that no one in your family loved you or thought you were important, or supported each other.)
- Have you ever been the victim of physical neglect in your home? (For example, the adults in your household didn’t provide clean clothes, meals, or take you a doctor or dentist?)
- Have you ever been the victim of physical abuse in your home? (For example, someone in your household who might hit, kick, bite, or throw things at you?)
- Have you ever been the victim of emotional abuse in your home? (For example, someone in your household who might swear at you, insult you, or humiliate you?)
- Have you ever been the victim of sexual abuse or unwanted touching?
- Have you ever witnessed physical, emotional, or sexual abuse in your home or neighborhood?
- Have you ever experienced extreme economic hardship where the family found it difficult to cover the costs of food and housing?
- Have you ever been treated or judged unfairly due to your race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, or gender identity?
Impacts on Adults
So what does this mean? The first ACEs study conducted in 1998 and reinforced by dozens of studies afterward has found a strong link between childhood trauma and profound negative impacts on adult health like alcoholism, chronic depression, suicide attempts, trouble holding a job - and so, so much more. (I don’t want to go too far down the road of adult impacts because I really do want to focus on children, but I encourage you to take a closer look at that research. I recommended ACESConnection.com and ACESTooHigh.com.)
Impacts on Children
Let’s talk a bit about what the effects of ACEs looks like with kids and how to support them. As others have said, it’s about a change in mindset from “What’s wrong with this kid?” to “What happened to this kid?” As I read this list of some of the effects on children, think about how that impacts them as readers:
- Antisocial behaviors and difficulty trusting others including both adults and peers (I think about how hard it can be for some readers to trust you and your recommendations, and to open up to you and the class about their thinking as they read. These are also the children I see struggling to participate well in in book clubs - who may resist sharing their feelings and being too vulnerable.)
- Social isolation (What comes to mind for me are those quiet, fly under the radar, submissive kids - those who curl up with a book as an escape, but not necessarily interacting with anyone else. Or those students who will submit to reading whatever you recommend but who aren’t making their own choices.)
- Difficulty seeking help (I absolutely see that kids who are dealing with a lot outside of school, sometimes don’t want to tell me they are having a hard time with a book. They’ll just push through thinking it’s going to make me happy. Or they just don’t have the mental energy to explain what they are struggling with as a reader.)
- Frequent absences, medical issues, or requests to go to the nurse / bathroom (Every one of those is just more time away from that immersive, productive reading. I’m also thinking that it’s hard to keep continuity with a book when a child is distracted by a medical issue or missing a lot of class time. I’m thinking of all the conferring they miss, to missing big chucks of the class read aloud where you are modeling strategies. And when they get back and you attempt to catch them up, now they are missing something else… I STILL have nightmares about coming back to school after a long absence and not remembering my locker combination or my schedule - it’s stressful!)
- Difficulty with focus and transitions (Of course, a child who is distracted by home situations and dealing with chronic stress will have difficulty selected that good book and a quiet spot to read in the time frame you are hoping for.)
- Trouble with organization (I’ve noticed that kids who travel back and forth between two or more households tend to lose things more often - including books. But I’ve also noticed that if a child fears consequences at home of a library fine or a note from me about a missing book, they may not want to even check out books or take them home.)
- Anxiety (In thinking about students with Adverse Childhood Experiences and anxiety, I notice that some really shy away from books with heavier themes that might bring up difficult emotions. They’re the kids who want the assurance that the dog on the cover is going to make it at the end. Or may feel reticent about reading a book that will hit too close home. One the one hand, I think it’s really important to have books available where students can see that characters have dealt with similar issues to their own so they don’t feel alone. And it’s important for other students to read those books to develop some empathy and understanding. But - it’s also okay if a child doesn’t want to read something that might trigger them but instead looks to reading as an escape. So I’m thinking that having fun, light books than can provide that safe haven for students is also key and to honor those choices.)
- Difficulty with academic achievement (Absolutely! And since becoming a strong and competent reader is the linchpin to gathering all other knowledge - it reinforces to me that importance of focusing on reading.)
- Difficulty planning for the future (When a child can’t rely on stability at home, it’s no wonder that kids can’t tell me what book they’re going to read next or how they are going to schedule in their reading homework at night - sometimes they don’t know what they are coming home to! Or - more likely - they know exactly what they are going home to and it’s not a situation conducive to reading.)
- Trouble regulating their emotions and their affect - facial expressions - either exaggerating them or having no affect (This brings to mind a former student who would seemingly overreact to their reading - bursting out in this wild laughter or tossing the book aside in anger. And at the time, I did think “What is the matter with this kid?” But now…I can only wonder - “What was really going on with that child?”
How to Support Students with ACEs
In thinking about how to support the children in our lives who have those ACEs, I think for me, starting with that mindset change was a key first step. I think it’s natural to respond to some of those situations by wanting to get worked up yourself, but I’m trying to pause and realize that it’s not personal. And find some better strategies. So, I do not, by any means, want to portray myself here as any kind of expert. And I encourage you to look at the research yourself and see what might work for you. But after doing some reading, here are some things I’m going to try:
First, I want to recognize and support the resilience they already have. When I think about what some of my students have been through, I am so proud of what they are accomplishing despite the stress they may be under. So, highlighting their strengths whenever possible and help them build themselves up is something I want to focus more on.
Second, since kids who have experienced trauma can often suffer from worry and have trouble regulating their emotions and actions, I want to make sure my classroom environment is as stable and calm as possible. So being more aware of my language and tone of voice and nonverbal cues - even when I’m frustrated is something I want to be more aware of. And providing a stable routine with more opportunities for movement and snack breaks. I’m really intrigued by some teachers who’ve set up what they call a Calming Station in their room with things like a comfortable chair, soft music, lavender scented play-doh, some gum, resources on meditation, and an opportunity to write about what they’re feeling. So I think I’m going to start to get together a kit to keep in my classroom.
Also, learning more about the impacts of ACEs has reinforced even more, the importance of building relationships with my students. And having more casual one-on-one conversations where I’m not asking them to comply with a direction, but I’m just asking about their interests. Which has the double benefit of helping me know them better as readers and people. The more I think back, the more I am appalled at the advice I got as a young teacher to never smile before Christmas! Who wants to spend 8 hours a day with someone who never smiles? These kids - and all kids - need warm, nurturing, safe, and stable relationships. And a teacher who smiles and welcomes them by name every day. I used to give a general welcome as students arrived but this year, I made the decision to make sure I welcome every kid by name within the first ten minutes of them arriving at school. And it has made a difference. And try to ask them a little something (What did you of the ending of Amulet? How was your game last night?) or notice something (The unicorn on your shirt reminds me of this new series you might like - The Unicorn Rescue Society!)
And finally it reminds me to be more observant and not let things go. If something doesn’t feel right in your interactions with a child, I don’t want to let them fall through the cracks. If you notice something that warrants it, please call Child Protective Services. I’ll drop a link to some indicators and a place you can go for more information. But, if you’ve ever had to call CPS, you know it is complicated. I’m reminded of The Last Jedi where Luke says to Rey, “This is not going to go the way you think.” There is no quick rescue from those dark situations, but being a positive presence, helping all students develop resilience and coping strategies - or even just offering a few hours of escape - can do more than you realize.
And I’ve said that learning more about how Adverse Childhood Experiences opened my eyes - but it also opened my heart to be more loving not only toward my students but also toward my colleagues - and even toward myself a bit, too.
If you want to know more (and I hope you do!) - I’ve including links to several sites that will give more details and more strategies you can use to help the children (and adults!) in your life.
For more information about ACEs:
https://vetoviolence.cdc.gov/apps/phl/resource_center_infographic.html
https://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/acestudy/resources.html
https://www.childtrends.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/07/Brief-adverse-childhood-experiences_FINAL.pdf
https://www.weareteachers.com/10-things-about-childhood-trauma-every-teacher-needs-to-know/
https://wmich.edu/sites/default/files/attachments/u57/2013/child-trauma-toolkit.pdf
https://www.thechaosandtheclutter.com/archives/create-your-own-anti-anxiety-kit-for-children
Varian Johnson - Interview Outline
Our special guest this week is Varian Johnson, author of The Parker Inheritance! We discuss his love of puzzles, his research process, favorite childhood books, and so much more! And joining me this month to chat with Varian Johnson is one of the founders of the MG at Heart Book Club, Julie Artz.
And I got so much great feedback from you all about the last episode’s Bonus Spoiler Section at the very end of the show that we doing it again! So, if you want to hear Varian talk about the end of his novel, I put that part of our conversation after the credits so this part will be spoiler-free.
Take a listen...
The Parker Inheritance
CA: For our listeners who haven’t yet read the novel, can you tell us a bit about The Parker Inheritance?
JA: One of the things I love about The Parker Inheritance is how vivid the historical storyline is and how well it’s integrated into Candice & Brandon’s present-day story. Can you tell us a little bit about the research that went into writing this story?
CA: Your novel had such depth and nuance and included these small but powerful scenes - like Brandon feeling uncomfortable checking out “girl books”, and his older sister explaining why she slows down to avoid any chance of getting pulled over, the assistant principal discovering Brandon and Candice doing research and asking for their ID, and then...that scene between Siobhan and Chip and Reggie with the Coca Cola. I just loved how there were these small dips into complicated themes. I guess this isn’t a question per se but more of a thank you for helping me see and think through some of those preconceptions and biases and for writing a novel that will also do that for my students….
JA: Who is your favorite character from The Parker Inheritance?
CA: One of the things I loved about Candice was her love of puzzles - and how she figured out Milo’s schedule so that Brandon could avoid him! Are you into puzzles and codes like Candice?
**BONUS SPOILER SECTION found after the final credits
Your Writing Life
JA: The way you melded the two timelines really built a lot of page-turning tension into the story. How did you plan that out as you were writing?
CA: As a writer, what were your early inspirations and what do you think teachers and parents can do to get young people writing more and writing more confidently?
JA: What are you writing next?
Your Reading Life
CA: Did you have a teacher or librarian in your life who helped you grow into a reader?
JA: I loved all the hat-tips to treasured books like The Westing Game that were sprinkled all through The Parker Inheritance. Any other childhood favorites you still love today?
CA: What are some books that you’ve been reading lately?
Thank You!
Links:
Varian Johnson’s website - http://varianjohnson.com
Varian on Twitter and Facebook
Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar & Inception
Books & Authors We Chatted About:
The Westing Game (Ellen Raskin)
Holes (Louis Sachar)
Peter & Fudge Books (Judy Blume)
Blubber (Judy Blume)
Are You There God? It’s Me Margaret (Judy Blume)
Bridge to Terabithia (Katherine Paterson)
One Crazy Summer (Rita Williams Garcia)
Once You Reach Me (Rebecca Stead)
Goodbye Stranger (Rebecca Stead)
Shelby Holmes Series (Elizabeth Eulberg)
The Lonely Hearts Club (Elizabeth Eulberg)
The Mortification of Fovea Munson (Mary Winn Heider)
Closing
Alright, that wraps up our show this week!
If you have a question about how to connect kids between 8-12 to books they’ll love or a suggestion about a topic we should cover, I would love to hear from you. You can email me at booksbetween@gmail.com or message me on Twitter/Instagram at the handle @Books_Between.
Books Between is a proud member of the Education Podcast Network. This network features podcasts for educators, created by educators. For more great content visit edupodcastnetwork.com
Thank you so much for joining me this week. You can get an outline of interviews and a full transcript of all the other parts of our show at MGBookVillage.org. And, if you are liking the show, please leave us some love on iTunes or Stitcher so others can discover us as well.
Thanks and see you soon! Bye!
Intro
Hi and welcome to Books Between - a podcast for teachers, parents, librarians, and anyone who loves middle grade books. I believe in the power of stories to help us realize that we are not alone in the world. And my goal is to help you connect kids with those incredible stories and share inspiring conversations with the authors and educators who make that magic happen.
I am Corrina Allen - a mom of two, a teacher of 22, and gearing up for my Spring Break next week!
This is Episode #47 and today I’m sharing three books about the challenges and realities of family life, and then I’ll share with you a conversation with Jen Petro-Roy - author of P.S. I Miss You.
A few quick announcements before we get started - the April Middle Grade at Heart Book Club pick is The Parker Inheritance by Varian Johnson and the May pick is Every Shiny Thing by Laurie Morrison and Cordelia Jensen if you want to adjust those TBR piles so you can join us.
Also, if you are on Twitter, Matthew Winner and I will be guests on the upcoming #mglitchat Twitter Chat this Thursday, April 19th from 9-10pm. And we’ll be chatting about podcasting and whatever else you want to chat about! So I hope you can join us live this Thursday or check out #mglitchat afterward to see the transcript.
Book Talk - Three Novels Featuring the Challenges and Realities of Family Life
This week I am kicking off the show with some book talks! And the theme this week is novels featuring the challenges and realities of family life.Our three featured books this episode are Kat Greene Comes Clean by Melissa Roske, The Thing About Leftovers by C.C. Payne, and One for the Murphys by Lynda Mullaly Hunt.
Kat Greene Comes Clean
Our first featured MG novel this week is Kat Greene Comes Clean by Melissa Roske. This is a book about a 5th grade girl, Kat, who lives in New York City with her cleaning-obsessed mother who is now a contestant on the TV game show Clean Sweep. But that’s not the only stressor in her life right now. She is still dealing with the ramifications of her parent’s divorce and her dad’s new family. Her best friend, Halle, is less-than-supportive now that she’s newly enamored with a particular boy at their school. And, Kat did not get one of the lead roles in her school’s production of her favorite book - Harriet the Spy. She gets the blah role of the boy in the purple socks. Here are three things to love about Kat Greene Comes Clean:
- The complicated crush situation in this book. I won’t reveal the details because it’s a bit of a spoiler, but Kat’s best friend has an intense crush on this boy, Michael McGraw, and talks about every facet of his life constantly. And that situation takes an unexpected and awkward detour. Well, unexpected for Halle and Kat. As a teacher, I’ve seen this play out like this a bunch of times….. yikes!
- How this book portrays what it’s like dealing with a family member who has OCD. Kat’s mom was laid off from her job at a magazine, went through a divorce, and her OCD has manifested itself more and more through her obsessive cleaning. I appreciated that this book acknowledged that these anxieties and disorders are often more than just one thing. And the multiple layers of impact on everyone around them. Kat’s mom scrubs the floor with an electric toothbrush, so Kat has to constantly worry about her wrath if there are crumbs anywhere. Her mom washes her hands in a very precise way over and over again, so Kat has to wait while she finishes and her mom’s attention is always diverted to the next thing she has that compulsion to clean. Even in public, her mother wipes down the cans at the grocery store before putting them in her cart, which embarasses Kat terribly! But then she starts throwing away Kat’s things from her bedroom and the impact on Kat is beyond just that embarrassment. At one point later in the novel when things have come to a head, her mother says, “I felt out of control and incredibly anxious. So I shut down.”
- Kat’s school psychologist - Olympia Rabinowitz. I just loved her gentle way of slowly helping Kat release herself that her mother had a problem. Early on, Olympia comes to her classroom for something like a sharing circle and later Kat writes her an email about her mom. And then deletes it. I thought that was such a truthful moment - because especially for children, sometimes even acknowledging a problem is overwhelming because the consequence of telling is often also bad. There’s a real chance that Kat could have to leave her mom and go live with her dad and his new wife and son - which she does NOT want to do! And like a lot of kids, she has an aversion to airing her family's “dirty laundry.” Plus - I loved Olympia because has jelly beans in her office and that’s always a plus.
If you have a kid who likes Harriet the Spy or Kharma Khullar’s Mustache or Finding Perfect, then Melissa Roske’s Kat Green Comes Clean is a great book to introduce them to next.
The Thing About Leftovers
A book that I finally got a chance to read last week is The Thing About Leftovers by C.C. Payne. This novel is about 6th grader Elizabeth “Fizzy” Russo who is struggling to navigate changing family dynamics in the aftermath of her parents’ divorce. And figuring out how to make friends at her swanky new school. The only two things that consistently provide stability and help her cope are cooking and her Aunt Liz, who helps Fizzy register for the prestigious Southern Living Cook-off and works with her to test out tons of recipes after school. I loved every bit of this book from the first to the very last page. But, just as a small sample, here are three things to love about C.C. Payne’s The Thing About Leftovers:
- Have I mentioned that I am a sucker for books featuring food? Oh my gosh - this book had me DROOLING over all the recipes that Fizzy tries out. Like lasagna and apple tart and this intriguing German dessert called Eis and Heiss (meaning ice and hot) which is a mix of cold ice cream and hot fruit sauce. And then later, when she finds out that her mom’s boyfriend, Keene, likes her baking, she makes cake after cake - pineapple upside down and red velvet and this gorgeous purple cake with purple flowers all over it...ahhh. Oh - and this wonderful thing called Benedictine that Fizzy’s Aunt Liz makes for her when she comes over. It’s this wonderful-sounding cucumber and cream cheese spread. I NEED to try this!
- All the analogies and descriptions related to food. As Jarrett Lerner mentioned on a recent episode, a fabulous analogy can make your writing just sparkle. And boy does Payne fill her writing with sparkling moments. Like, “In a voice so sugary I could practically feel a cavity coming on.” or “And if Mom was starting fresh, then that made me a kind of leftover, didn't it?", "Here's the thing about leftovers: Nobody is ever excited about them; they're just something you have to deal with." and here’s one of my favorites from page 190.
- Her friendships with Zach and Miyoko. Zack is a boy who Fizzy’s mom describes as “slick” but who you realize is coping with his own “stuff” by telling adults what they want to hear - and then doing what he wants to do. And then Miyoko - who does exactly what the perhaps over-protective adults in her life want her to - from getting straight A’s to going to bed at 10 - even when she’s having a sleepover! But who stands up for things when it really matters. I really enjoyed Fizzy and Miyoko and Zach‘s supportive friendship with each other.
C.C. Payne’s The Things About Leftovers is so well-written - a bittersweet mix of heartbreaking and heartfelt and humourous, and with an ending that is both honest and hopeful. As a kid who went through some very similar family dynamics, I think this book is a must-have for your collection. And I’m really looking forward to seeing more from C.C. Payne!
One for the Murphys
Our third book featured this week is One for the Murphys by Lynda Mullaly Hunt. This is one of those books that got past me and when some friends found out I hadn’t read it yet they basically staged an intervention and forced me to! And oh am I glad they did!! They were so right - this book is incredible! So for the few of you who haven’t read it yet (it seems like I was the last one!), One for the Murphys is about 12 year-old Carley who grew up in Las Vegas with her fun-loving but neglectful mother. She’s a tough kid. But when a violent incident with her step-father leads to Carley’s placement in foster care with the Murphys, it gets harder for Carley to convince herself that she is not worthy of their love. Here are three things to love about One for the Murphys:
- The slow, skillful reveal about Carley’s previous life and what happened to land her in foster care. Hunt does not come right out and tell you, but drops a trail of memories. Like learning that Carley used to “go shopping” for her family by diving into Goodwill dumpsters while her mom played lookout. Or when she asks Mrs. Murphy if the lasagna she has planned for dinner is Stouffers or the store brand. Or when she’s shocked that Mrs. Murphy can calm herself down, because her own mother could never do that. Or the times Carley reveals she had to sleep in the bathtub… It just reminds us that a lot of kids - the angry ones, the quiet ones - have those types of stories that if we knew them, would explain so much.
- Mrs. Murphy! This woman, who has her own stories, is incredible at understanding Carley and being patient with her as the family adjusts. There’s this powerful scene at a restaurant after Mrs. Murphy has just taken Carley clothes shopping and Carley, probably feeling overwhelmed, starts lashing out at the server, at the food, at her, at herself. Let me read you this one section from page 25.
- All the little things. I can’t pin it down to just one, but… the giraffe stuffed animal, and Tori’s love of the musical Wicked, and her razzing Mr. Murphy about the Red Sox, and all the Murphy boys - Daniel, and Adam, and especially little Michael Eric. And the sign in Carley’s bedroom… The last three chapters of this book - whoa. Prepare to finish this novel in a location where you can cry. And yes, it’s a tear-jerker at the end, but the tears are about the hope as much as they are about the other things that happen. So please don’t let the fact that you might cry dissuade you from reading this book! It’s… earned them. I almost feel like, Carley (and the kids like Carley) deserved that emotion at the end.
One for the Murphys is for all the Carley’s in the world, and for all the kids and adults who need a way to see past the hardened front of children like Carley.
If you want to instantly boost the quality of connections your kids can find in your classroom library or your collection, get these three books! They each offer much-needed perspectives for families experiencing divorce, mental illness, the foster care system, and a lot more and told with warmth and lightness and humor!
Jen Petro-Roy - Interview Outline
Our special guest this week is Jen Petro-Roy, author of P.S. I Miss You. We discuss the role of sensitivity readers, the challenges of writing a novel told all in letters, her favorite board game, and of course - her debut novel!
Take a listen...
P.S. I Miss You
For our listeners who haven’t yet read P.S. I Miss You, what is this story about?
One of the things I really appreciated about this story was that it deals with issues that many, many kids are experiencing - like an older sibling’s pregnancy, religious questioning, and Evie slowly starting to realize she may have romantic feelings for her friend, June. I love that kids have your age-appropriate story so they can either see themselves reflected in the characters (and feel like they are not alone) or start to develop some awareness of what their peers are going through.
What was your thought process like as you were including those elements of your story?
I saw you mention that you used a sensitivity reader. I am so curious about that process - can you tell us what that was like, how you connected with them, and how their advice may have enhanced your story?
On a personal note - I just want to thank you soo much for including a positive portrayal of an unapologetically atheist family. I was formerly very Catholic but we are now a non-religious family and it was so refreshing to FINALLY see a character like June who is happy, well-adjusted, and also non-religious. … So, thank you!!
Even though there are some weightier themes, your novel includes such laughter and light - and the references to Fish in a Tree, and Harry Potter, and Beauty & the Beast and the movie Grease…
How did you balance those aspects of Evie’s life?
So…. I want to talk about the ending. But… I don’t want to reveal the ending!
NOTE: Jen and I discussed the ending of the novel, and if you’d like to hear that conversation, I moved that part of the recording to after the end credits of today’s episode at the 45:35 mark.
What’s your favorite board game?
Your Writing Life
As a novel told all in letters - what kind of challenges did that format create for you?
What are you working on now?
Your Reading Life
One of the goals of this podcast is to help educators and librarians inspire kids to read more and connect them with amazing books.
Did you have a special teacher or librarian in your life who helped you grow into a reader?
You’ve said that reading The Babysitters Club as a child made you into the reader and writer you are today….
Are you more Kristy, MaryAnne, Claudia, or Stacey?
What are you reading now?
Thank You!
Links:
Jen Petro Roy’s gorgeous website - https://www.jenpetroroy.com
Danika Corrall’s website - https://www.danikacorrall.com/work
Books & Authors We Chatted About:
The Baby-Sitters Club (Ann M. Martin)
The Secret Sheriff of Sixth Grade (Jordan Sonnenblick)
Drums, Girls, and Dangerous Pie (Jordan Sonnenblick)
Not If I Save You First (Ally Carter)
Gallagher Girls (Ally Carter)
Closing
Alright, that wraps up our show this week!
If you have a question about how to connect kids between 8-12 to books they’ll love or a suggestion about a topic we should cover, I would love to hear from you. You can email me at booksbetween@gmail.com or message me on Twitter/Instagram at the handle @Books_Between.
Books Between is a proud member of the Education Podcast Network. This network features podcasts for educators, created by educators. For more great content visit edupodcastnetwork.com
Thank you so much for joining me this week. You can get an outline of interviews and a full transcript of all the other parts of our show at MGBookVillage.org. And, if you are liking the show, please leave us some love on iTunes or Stitcher so others can discover us as well.
Thanks and see you soon! Bye!
Intro
Hi everyone and welcome to the Books Between Podcast! I believe in the power of stories to brighten our world and spark change within ourselves. My goal is to help you connect kids with those amazing stories and share inspiring conversations with the authors and educators who make that magic happen.
I am Corrina Allen - a mom of two tween girls, a 5th grade teacher, and surrounded by slime. Oh. My. God. There is no escaping this stuff - it’s like a preteen version of The Blob with sparkles and glitter and sequins and now - foams beads!
This is Episode #46 and today I’m sharing three books featuring the magical power of dogs, and then I’ll share with you a conversation with Karina Yan Glaser - author of The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street!
Two quick announcements before we get started - the MG at Heart Twitter chat about The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street is tomorrow night - Tuesday, April 3rd at 8pm EST using the hashtag #MGBookClub. And if you want to get ahead with your reading, the April Middle Grade at Heart Book Club pick is The Parker Inheritance by Varian Johnson and the May pick is Every Shiny Thing by Laurie Morrison and Cordelia Jensen. I was excited to have Laurie join me today to interview Karina and can’t wait to have her back to discuss her own debut.
Book Talk - Three Novels Featuring the Special Magic of Dogs
In this section of the show, I share with you a few books centered around a theme and discuss three things to love about each book. This week I’ll be talking about three awesome middle grade novels about separation, unlikely friendships, and the special magic of dogs. Now I will admit up front that am not a huge dog person. I mean - a well-trained dog is an amazing pet, and I love visiting with my friend’s dogs but I am more than okay with not having one of my own. But these three books hit me hard - and if YOU love dogs, they will wend their way into your heart even more. The books this week are Good Dog by Dan Gemeinhart, Hello, Universe by Erin Entrada Kelly, and Granted by John David Anderson.
Good Dog
First up - Good Dog! Just….wow - Dan Gemeinhart hits another one out of the park! He is already a favorite author of so many of my students, and I’m glad to have another title to recommend after they have finished Scar Island or Some Kind of Courage or especially - The Honest Truth. This novel has a slightly different feel than his previous books. It is told from the point of view of Brodie - a dog who we meet just after he’s entered the great beyond after his death. And as our Brodie figures out the rules of this new place, and makes some friends, he remembers more of his past life on Earth. And remembers the danger that his boy, Aidan, is still in. And Brodie has to decide whether to move on to that ultimate Forever or if saving his boy from that threat is worth the awful price he’ll have to pay to even attempt helping him. Here are three things to love about Good Dog:
- The afterlife concept in this book. So - I don’t believe in life after death, but if it existed - I would hope it’s like this one. Going to an in-between place, a passing-through place where peace will rise up to you through your remembering as the goodness in you shakes off the last bits of darkness and sadness until you can move on to that final Forever.
- Tuck. I loved this dog - this sweet can’t-stand-still, can’t-be-quiet, always-running heart of gold black pit bull who was a good dog - even when it was hard. This dog who maybe - sort of - sold a bit of his soul for a French Fry. (Hey, I can relate!)
- It’s hard to explain how much I came to love this book without giving away a major spoiler. And I had prided myself on the fact that even though others had warned me to have tissues handy, I was fine... no tears, just FINE. Until page 285 when I learned that tiny but significant detail about the narrator that had me a sobbing wreck and needing to reread the entire thing!
Hello, Universe
The second book I want to tell you about this week is the 2018 Newbery Award winner - Hello, Universe by Erin Entrada Kelly. This one has a special place in my heart because it’s a novel that my daughters and I experienced together. We listened to the audio book throughout December and January and grew so attached to - well, I was going to say, to all the characters in the book, but I’ll say all but one. Hello, Universe is a quietly powerful story told from the point of view of four children. Virgil Salinas, a shy and quiet boy who longs to be recognized as more than just the “turtle” of his family. And who wants to be friends with Valencia - the girl in his special needs class at school. His close friend is Kaori Tanaka who has this physic business for kids and who places a lot of stock in signs and horoscopes and telling fortunes and the concept of Fate. And the final of the main trio is Valencia Somerset, who loves nature and adventure and who is also deaf. She and Virgil attend the same school but haven’t really met. However, they’ve both met Chet Bullens - the school bully. The entire story takes place over the course of one day when at various times, all four children end up in the woods near their school. And one of them falls in an abandoned well.
Here are three things to love about Hello, Universe.
- The blend of the mystical and the modern intertwined with Filipino folktales that really show the power of those stories across generations. And how those archetypes of heroes can inspire us to our bravery. Or as Virgil’s grandmother says, to discovering your inner “bayani” - your inner “hero”.
- Valencia! She was my favorite character - wise and clever and stubborn - and so attuned to others’ reactions to her deafness. Someone pointed out that hers is the only point of view told in the first person so maybe that’s why I identified so much with her. It’s a tiny moment but when she describes sneaking tupperware bowls of food into the woods to feed this poor stray dog, and how she never remembers to return them….. I felt like the author captured something so real there. I remember taking my mother’s measuring cups and spoons out to play in the dirt until suddenly we had none left. And there was this one summer where I fed this stray cat in our neighborhood for weeks...one can of tuna fish every day. I felt like there was something very true to preteens about that mix of compassion and cluelessness.
- The role of the dog in this book. Like I mentioned, Valencia has befriended this stray dog who lives in the woods. And he doesn’t play a huge part in the story - at first - but his role is crucial in surprising ways later on. He didn’t turn up when I thought he might. But I felt as though he could have known Brodie and Tuck from Good Dog.
If you have kids who are looking for a fast-paced, action-filled novel, Hello, Universe isn’t that book. But it has wit and warmth and philosophical depth explored through really relatable and unique characters. I just loved it!
Granted
And the final book I want to talk about this week is Granted by John David Anderson. You probably know him from the incredible Ms. Bixby’s Last Day and Posted. Both of those novels were realistic fiction, male protagonists, with stories centered around school. Granted is totally different - it’s about a fairy named Ophelia Delphinium Fidgets. One of the dwindlingly few fairies in the Haven entrusted with the job of Granter - a fairy who ventures out of their safe community and into the dangerous human world to grant a wish. So - everyday, people wish on stars, or candles or wishbones - and each of those wishes (if they follow the rules) are entered into a lottery of sorts. But in the fairies’ world - their magic has been decreasing and the number of wishes they can grant has plummeted to the point where on Ophelia’s first day on the job only a handful are scheduled to be granted. So she has two problems on her mind - is the wish-granting system they’ve always followed breaking down and if so, what can they do to fix it? And… how to complete her mission to grant one lucky 13 year-old girl’s wish for a purple bike. All Ophelia has to do is fly to Ohio and find the nickel the girl used for her wish. But what should be a routine mission turn into this epic quest that has Ophelia questioning so much of, well - what she took for granted. Here are three things to love about Granted:
- The fairies’ names! They receive their middle name first - which comes from the plant where they were born. (Like Rose or Oak or Daffodil). Their last name is given by their Founder - the fairy who discovers the newborn sprite and oversees their early care and adds a name that expresses something about their personality. (Like Fidgets or Crier). And their first name is completely random. So you get names like our protagonist Ophelia Delphinium Fidgets, her best friend Charlie Rhododendron Whistler, May Rose Crier, or...Gus Fothergilla Gaspasser!
- Sam! The mangy, smelly golden-haired mutt who after first wanting to eat then chew then chase Ophelia, offers to help her track down the wish she must grant. And.. maybe get to eat some donuts along the way. Ophelia is definitely NOT into this arrangement. Their conversations are HILARIOUS!
- Ophelia’s song. So - every fairy has a magical song that they can sing for a particular effect- perhaps enchanting the listener or having a more negative effect. And while most fairies opt for a traditional tune like “Greensleeves” or “Rolling in the Dew” or maybe even a Sinatra song, Ophelia’s song is…. oh I so want to tell you what it is! But you just have to read it! Let’s just say, it’s something more….modern!
Granted and Good Dog, and Hello, Universe are three books that will cast a magical spell on your heart.
Karina Yan Glaser - Interview Outline
Joining me this month for our Middle Grade at Heart interview with Karina Yan Glaser is author Laurie Morrison. We got an opportunity to sit down together last month to chat about brownstones, balancing your reading life, and of course - The Vanderbeekers!
Take a listen...
The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street
CA: Can you tell us what this story is about?
LM: I love that the book is so balanced between the Vanderbeekers and has five equally developed main characters. Was one of the kids especially challenging or especially fun for you to write? Do you have any advice for other writers who are working on stories with ensemble casts?
CA: One of the things that made me fall so hard for this book was that vibrant Harlem, New York setting with Castleman’s Bakery and the brownstones and City College in the background… Was the Vanderbeeker’s neighborhood modeled after your own?
LM: I’ve seen many readers comment that the book feels classic or timeless or old-fashioned. What do you think it is about the book that makes it feel classic to readers?
LM: I noticed that you created the wonderful illustrations inside the book. How did you decide to include those, and were they always a part of the manuscript?
CA: I noticed that you have an adorable bunny! Can she do tricks like Paganini?
Your Writing Life
LM: I’m so excited that there are two more Vanderbeekers stories on the way! Did you always know there would be more than one book, and what has it been like to write more Vanderbeeker adventures?
LM: I know you’re a contributing editor at Book Riot and write a weekly newsletter. That must mean you do a lot of reading and a lot of writing outside of your fiction! How do you balance those different kinds of book-related work?
Your Reading Life
Sometimes it only takes that one adult in a kid’s life to influence them as a reader - either in a positive way to spur them on and spark that passion in them, or sometimes to squelch it.
CA: Was there an adult in your life who impacted you as a reader?
LM: I think The Vanderebeekers of 141st Street would be a fabulous book to read aloud to kids. Do you have any favorite books to read aloud to your own kids or kids you’ve worked with in the past?
CA: What have you been reading lately that you’ve liked?
Links:
Karina’s website - http://www.karinaglaser.com
Karina on Twitter and Instagram
Books & Authors We Chatted About:
Charles Darwin’s Around the World Adventure (Jennifer Thermes)
Grandma Gatewood Hikes the Appalachian Trail (Jennifer Thermes)
The Penderwicks at Last (Jeanne Birdsall)
Tuck Everlasting (Natalie Babbitt)
See You in the Cosmos (Jack Cheng)
Ginger Pye (Eleanor Estes)
The Moffats (Eleanor Estes)
The Hundred Dresses (Eleanor Estes)
The Land (Mildred T. Taylor)
Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry (Mildred T. Taylor)
Every Shiny Thing (Laurie Morrison & Cordelia Jensen)
They Say Blue (Jillian Tamaki)
Front Desk (Kelly Yang)
The Right Hook of Devin Velma (Jake Burt)
Greetings From Witness Protection (Jake Burt)
Closing
Alright, that wraps up our show this week!
If you have a question about how to connect kids between 8-12 to books they’ll love or a suggestion about a topic we should cover, I would love to hear from you. You can email me at booksbetween@gmail.com or message me on Twitter/Instagram at the handle @Books_Between.
And - if you are wanting more discussion focused on middle grade, check out the new podcast called Lifelines: Books That Bridge the Divide hosted by authors Ann Braden and Saadia Faruqi. I’ll drop a link to their first two episodes in our show notes, and I am really excited to see more middle grade podcasts out there.
Books Between is a proud member of the Education Podcast Network. This network features podcasts for educators, created by educators. For more great content visit edupodcastnetwork.com
Thank you so much for joining me this week. You can get an outline of interviews and a full transcript of all the other parts of our show at MGBookVillage.org. And, if you are liking the show, please leave us some love on iTunes or Stitcher so others can discover us as well.
Thanks and see you soon! Bye!
Intro
Hi everyone and welcome to the Books Between Podcast! I believe in the power of stories to connect us to others in our world. My goal is to help you connect kids with incredible books and share inspiring conversations with the authors and educators who make that magic happen. Every other Monday, I bring you book talks, interviews, and ideas for getting great books into the hands of kids between 8-12.
I am Corrina Allen - a mom of an 8 and 10 year old, a 5th grade teacher, and now making multiple visits to the orthodontist for both of my daughters. Farewell popcorn and hello palate expanders!
This is Episode #45 and Today I’m discussing some ideas to make your read alouds even better and then sharing with you a conversation with educator Colby Sharp about The Creativity Project!
Two quick announcements. First, the March MG at Heart Book Club pick is The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street and the April book is The Parker Inheritance by Varian Johnson. So adjust your TBR pile if you want to join us for those conversations later this spring. And remember that #MGBookMarch is going strong this month, and I have been so inspired by all of your responses. If you haven’t yet, I hope you’ll jump into the conversation!
How to Rock Your Read Aloud
Last week, I had to be out of my classroom for three days for special ed meetings and various professional development training. And so I left some short picture books for the sub to read while I was away and the students foisted some of their favorites on them as well. And let me tell you - my students had OPINIONS about those experiences when I got back! And it got me thinking - it is SO hard to grab a book you’ve never read and be open and vulnerable enough in front of an audience to read it aloud well. It takes some bravery to take those chances to give yourself over to the book. In case you were wondering, it was The Book With No Pictures - the incredible book that “tricks” the reader into saying silly things.
So today I am going to share with you some ways that you can rock your read aloud with your students, your own kids, or any group of children. I’ll chat about what to do before, during, and at the end of your read aloud. And I’ll read aloud some non-spoilery samples from one of my all-time favorite books - and the one whose sequel is released tomorrow - The Wild Robot.
Before the read aloud.
There are some things you can do to prepare ahead of time to make that read aloud really come to life.
- Pick the right book!
Some books just aren’t that great to read aloud. My daughters asked me to read aloud El Deafo a few years ago and it worked...okay… since they could sit on either side of me and see the illustrations, but I think a whole class read aloud of a whole graphic novel would be tough. Books with short chapters are really great. Books that have tons of internal thinking or long sections of description can be tough though. Also, some of the classics have tricky sentence structure or difficult vocabulary. Or contain messages or stereotypes that we don’t want to perpetuate anymore. So - look to resources and people you trust for some good recommendations.
- Listen to great examples
If you want to improve, listen to other people read aloud to pick up their tricks. And listen to audio books. There are often samples you can listen to on Audible that will give you some ideas of voices to do. Or how to modulate your voice and tone and speed to match the story and the characters. We’ll chat more about that in a bit, but I have learned SO much from Jim Dale’s performance of Harry Potter. And Neil Gaiman’s readings of his novels, or most recently, the masterful performance of The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street by Robin Miles. Listening to those examples, helped me realize that a good read aloud IS a performance.
- Preview the book ahead of time.
It really helps if you’ve at least read the chapter before so you don’t get lost in the sentences. And read it out loud - even if you’re just mouthing it to yourself. Three things to pay attention to: new characters you’ll have to voice, punctuation, and dialogue tags (the part of the sentence that says “she yelled”, or “he said angrily”). I am reading The Wild Robot with my class right now. I’ve read it before so I thought I was all good, but I didn’t skim Chapter 45 first so when we got reintroduced to the otters, I forgot that the first otter speaking was Shelly and so I read it in a low male voice - and so I backed up and reread it in a more female-coded voice. (I could have decided to just have our Shelly have a low voice - sometimes I think it’s good to adjust expectations a bit. But, I’d recommend just being intentional about it.) Or sometimes the dialogue tag at the end will say, “he whispered.” and oops! I didn’t whisper that. Skimming the chapter ahead of time will help.
- Review
When continuing a read aloud of a chapter book, I have found that it’s helpful to do a quick recap of the last section. In my class, we call this “Previously in The Wild Robot” and I’ll call on a few kids to refresh our memory of what happened and where we left off. And sometimes I’ll even reread the last paragraph or two just to pick back up the threads of the story to get that momentum back. I notice that my Audible app does this automatically - when I stop the book and restart, it goes back about 15 seconds - which is so helpful.
During the read aloud
As you are performing the story, there are three elements that when they are working well, you will have a memorable and awesome read aloud! Those three elements are your voice, your body language, and your audience.
Let’s talk about your voice first because there’s a lot going on here. First of all, project your voice. And probably more than you think you have to. I don’t know about your space, but I am battling a TON of white noise in my classroom - the heater is blowing, the projector is whirring, the class across the hall is making some noise. So you have to cut through all that and angle your mouth further up than maybe you naturally would.
When you are reading aloud a text, you want to try to find the music and rhythm in the language. It’s about how the cadence and inflection of your voice matches the tone of the scene and how the characters are feeling. If it’s something mysterious is happening, add that little question to your voice. If it’s a sad moment, then you’ll want to slow down and maybe read more carefully with that emotion coming through.
For example, on page 58 of The Wild Robot, there is the part where Roz falls down the cliff:
Expressing the right tone is about finding that rhythm, but it’s also about volume. If a character yells - you yell. And whisper those poignant lines so your class leans in to hear them. Use the dramatic slow down. Speed up when there’s energy or a chase or big climatic scene.
And repeat important parts - look up at the kids. Give them a moment to digest and think. Those lines in the book that give you a deep message, that foreshadow something later, that are the heart of the story - repeat them! And maybe emphasize a different word the second time.
Here’s an example from Chapter 37 of The Wild Robot where we first meet a new character - Chitchat the squirrel.
SO in that section, based on the cues of the text - I made my voice bouncy when Chitchat bounces across the lawn and then fast and sort of nervous when she’s talking.
Another hugely important aspect of using your voice to convey meaning is by what most kids call “doing the voices”. That’s often their biggest compliment to an adult who reads out loud to them - that they do the voices well. And it takes some practice and some planning to figure out how to perform and almost embody those various characters. Something that has really helped me is to think about what actor or actress might be cast in that role and then try to “do” their voice. In The Wild Robot, I modeled Roz on Alexa. The older goose, Loudwing, was Julia Sweeney for some reason. Here’s an example from Chapter 44, The Runaway:
Now, YOU and the students might not hear those actors in my voice, but it helps me to keep the character’s voice straight and consistent throughout the book. And it gives me ideas of different ways that I could do different voices.
Now let’s talk about your body language! First of all, move around the room instead of just sitting in one spot. And try gesturing with the hand not holding the book. If a character is described as doing an action, like pointing, I’ll point. If the author has the character cough or sneeze - do that! And let your facial expressions reflect the tone of the story and mood of the characters. If there’s anxiousness in the description, furrow your brow and curl into yourself. If they are described as smiling, I’ll smile as I say that part. And you can hear that smile in your voice. The children look for visual cues to understand the text so add a little performance to it.
A last way to really boost the engagement of your students or children during the read aloud is to get them involved in some way.
Shorter picture books are easier to do this with because they can often see the words to say them. My class loves reading the colored words in books like She Persisted or You Don’t Want a Unicorn.
But it’s a bit trickier when you are reading aloud a novel. But - there are some ways to do it. One idea is to include your audience in some kind of small action.
I remember when I was taking a graduate education class, my professor read us Seedfolks. And I vividly recall her gently placing imaginary seeds into the palms of each of our hands as she read. Just that small little thing brought us into the story, and I’ve never forgotten it. (It also goes to show that you are never too old to enjoy a read aloud! And that you can get cool ideas by listening to experienced people read out loud.)
In our class, one of the mentor texts we use a lot is Eleven by Sandra Cisneros. And there’s this part where the teacher dumps this nasty old red cottage-cheese-smelling sweater on the desk of one of her students. So, of course when I read it aloud, I mimic dropping that sweater on a student’s desk and then aim the teacher’s dialogue at that kid.
Or one time I was reading a poem where one of the characters got their shoulder bumped by another person, so as I read that part and walked past a student I dipped down and (gently!) bumped their shoulder with mine. Now, you have to know your kids well enough to know who would respond well to that. Adding those little actions can really get the audience more invested and involved in the story.
At the end of the read aloud
At the end of the read aloud time, when you’ve got to stop. Always try to end on a cliffhanger - even if it’s the middle of a chapter. A lot of authors are really skilled at those chapter endings but you want to leave them wanting more! Begging to read just one more chapter! And sometimes - indulge them!
Most importantly - enjoy yourself! If you are having fun reading the story and you are getting into it - your kids will love it, too.
There a hundred reasons why read alouds are so important. Of course it models fluency and introduces sophisticated vocabulary. I’ll just end by mentioning that many accomplished readers talk so fondly about those early experiences being read to that sparked that passion for story in their lives. For me, that’s my 4th grade teacher, Mrs. Simile, reading The Search for Delicious to us. I just fell head over heels for that story in a way that it became part of me. Read alouds create this shared experience that you and those children will have forever.
And now - I would love to hear from you! I am always looking for ways to improve my read alouds, and I’m sure our listeners would love more ideas as well. And I am sure you have some awesome suggestions! You can email me at booksbetween@gmail.com or connect with me on Twitter/Instagram at the handle @Books_Between.
Colby Sharp - Interview Outline
Our guest this week is Colby Sharp! He is a teacher, one of the founders of the Nerdy Book Club site, a co-host of The Yarn podcast, organizer of NerdCamp Michigan, and now…. author of The Creativity Project! A few weeks ago we sat down to chat about the book, what’s been inspiring him in his classroom, books he’s been reading, and so much more!
Take a listen...
The Creativity Project
The Creativity Project will finally make its way into the world this March. How did this project get started?
Logistically - how did the exchange of prompts work and how did you decide who received which prompt? Did you get to see them before they went out?
Are there some responses that are really memorable to you?
I love that The Creativity Project works not only as an anthology that you could just enjoy as a reader, but also as a spur to your own writing. It’s going to be a great resource for teachers!
Have you used the prompts in your own classroom?
What writing projects are you working on now?
Your Teaching Life
You recently switched grade levels - going from teaching 3rd grade to 5th grade. How has that been going for you?
What have been some of your favorite, most memorable teaching moments with your students this year?
What does reading look like in your class?
Your Reading Life
Something that I think about a lot is how sometimes it only takes ONE person to really influence a child’s reading life - either in a positive way or sometimes in a negative way.
Was there someone in your life who impacted you as a reader?
What have you been reading lately that you’ve liked?
Links:
Colby’s website - https://www.mrcolbysharp.com
Colby on Twitter and Instagram
Student Podcasts: Colby’s Students & Corrina’s Students
Books & Authors We Chatted About:
Hatchet (Gary Paulsen)
Holes (Louis Sachar)
Enticing Hard to Reach Writers (Ruth Ayres)
The Truth as Told By Mason Buttle (Leslie Connor)
Freak the Mighty (Rodman Philbrick)
See You in the Cosmos (Jack Cheng)
Closing
Alright, that wraps up our show this week!
If you have a question about how to connect kids between 8-12 to books they’ll love or a suggestion about a topic we should cover, I would love to hear from you. You can email me at booksbetween@gmail.com or message me on Twitter/Instagram at the handle @Books_Between.
Books Between is a proud member of the Education Podcast Network. This network features podcasts for educators, created by educators. For more great content visit edupodcastnetwork.com
Thank you so much for joining me this week. You can get an outline of interviews and a full transcript of all the other parts of our show at MGBookVillage.org. And, if you are liking the show, please leave us some love on iTunes or Stitcher so others can discover us as well.
Thanks and see you soon! Bye!
Intro
Hi and welcome to the Books Between Podcast! I believe in the power of stories to inspire us and to change our lives for the better. And I know that being a reader encourages us to be more empathetic and to be better citizens in our world. And I want to help you connect kids with those amazing, life-changing stories and bring you inspiring (and fun!) conversations with the authors and educators who make that magic happen. Every other Monday, I bring you book talks, interviews, and ideas for getting great books into the hands of kids between 8-12.
I am Corrina Allen - a mom of two tween girls, a teacher to 23 fifth graders, and I’ve been planning a baby shower this week! My brother (who is also a teacher) and his wife (who is a librarian) are expecting their first this April. So - of course, I had to throw them a picture book themed baby shower.
This is Episode #44 and today I’m sharing with you a conversation with author Jack Cheng about his debut middle grade novel (and the MG at Heart February Book Club pick) See You in the Cosmos! And then I’ll end with a Q&A.
A few quick announcements. For those participating in the MG at Heart Books Club - the Twitter Chat to discuss See You in the Cosmos will be on Monday, March 6th at 8pm EST. Just follow the Hashtag #mgbookclub and I’ll see you there! Also, the March book is The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street by Karina Yan Glaser. And the April book is The Parker Inheritance by Varian Johnson. If you want to know the rest of the schedule along with other great middle great content, please head over to MGBookVillage.org - we have a book-release calendar and a great blog. One of my favorites from this past week is the post from Sayantani Dasgupta (author of The Serpent’s Secret) called “Nothing About Us Without Us: Writing #OwnVoices Fantasy in the Age of Black Panther” - if you haven’t read it yet - it’s great. (And go see Black Panther - it was phenomenal!!)
So - there’s lots going on at MGBookVillage. It’s where all the transcripts of this podcast can be found. And - Kathie and Jarrett and Annaliese and I have been cooking up something pretty awesome for March. So stayed tuned!
Jack Cheng - Interview Outline
Joining me this month to ask Jack Cheng questions is one of the founders of the MG at Heart Book Club - and an author herself , Cindy Baldwin. Her novel, Where the Watermelons Grow, is out this July. We got the chance to connect with Jack on Skype last week and here is our conversation...
See You in the Cosmos
CA: For our listeners who haven’t yet read the novel, can you tell us a bit about Alex’s journey in See You in the Cosmos?
CA: The premise of this book is that the entire thing is recorded on Alex’s Golden iPod. What were some aspects of writing the novel that were challenging because of that decision?
CB: Did you ever consider writing it another way?
CB: Alex is such a pitch-perfect balance of being really naive but also really precocious and shouldering a lot of adult responsibility. How did you strike that sweet spot in his voice between a kid who's shouldering adult responsibilities but also being really clueless?
CB: How did you figure out how to assign time logs to the recorded entries? Did you read any of them aloud or was it all random guesswork?
CA: Where you a fan of Carl Sagan’s Cosmos?
JL: Yours is the second recently released kidlit book I’ve read in the past few months that features the Voyager Golden Record and spacecraft centrally. (The Care and Feeding of a Pet Black Hole is the other one.) Carl Sagan said that “the launching of this ‘bottle’ into the cosmic ‘ocean’ said something very hopeful about life on this planet. I’d love to know what YOU think it is about the Golden Record project, and the launching of it out into space, that so captures and ignites the imagination, and why it might be a powerful thing for young people in particular to learn about.
CB: Have you ever built a rocket? And what kind of research did you do?
Your Writing Life / See You on the Bookshelf Podcast
CA: I just loved your podcast - See You on the Bookshelf - where you interview all the different people who helped make See You in the Cosmos as reality - from your agent and editor and copyeditor to the audio people. Why did you decide to create podcast to document the journey of your novel?
CA: Did I hear that See You in the Cosmos was originally written as an adult book? If so - what changes did you make to angle your writing more toward middle grade?
CB: You tackle some serious topics in this book. You touch on child neglect, mental illness, running away, infidelity… What made you decide to explore these issues in this book? Why do you think it's important to address difficult, mature topics like this in middle grade?
CB: Do you feel like you'll continue to experiment with unusual formats in your work in the future?
CA: What are you working on now?
Your Reading Life
CA: One of the goals of this podcast is to help educators and librarians inspire kids to read more and connect them with amazing books. Did you have a teacher or librarian in your life who helped you grow into a reader?
CB: What role did reading have on your decision to be a writer?
CA: What are you reading now?
Thank You!
Links:
Jack’s website - https://jackcheng.com
Jack’s See You on the BookShelf Podcast
Information about the Voyager Golden Record
Audio version of See You in the Cosmos
Books & Authors We Chatted About:
Pale Blue Dot (Carl Sagan)
The Care and Feeding of a Pet Black Hole (Michelle Cuevas)
The Kid Who Only Hit Homers (Matt Christopher)
Orphan Island (Laurel Snyder)
Origin of Species (Charles Darwin)
Q & A
This week I’m going to end by addressing some questions and comments that I have been getting a lot over the last two weeks. In the wake of the most recent school shooting, at the Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida on February 14th - many many people have emailed and messaged me to express their anguish and to simply ask, “How is everyone doing?” I know a lot you listening have been reaching out to me and to each other and hoping that maybe something’s different this time.
Every time I record a show I start by saying that I am a mom and I am a teacher. And living in this society that glorifies gun violence and seems to tolerate it against its most vulnerable, I want to tell you what that means.
So as a mom, it means that my husband and I send our girls to school and we hope and feel lucky when they come home safely. As a mom, it means that your heart shreds a little more every time your child comes home and tells you where they hid during that day’s drill. And as a mom, it means all too often I need to pull over to the side of the road on the way home from work to dry my tears at the latest news of yet another shooting of a child - in a school or in a neighborhood where all they’ve done wrong is wear a hooded sweatshirt. But as mom, you pull yourself together so you can listen to your children tell you about their day without dimming their smiles.
And I am also a teacher living in a culture where we and our students have become prey. And I want to tell you what that means.
It means that twice a year my students and I practice a lock down in case a shooter is in the school. They hide. Try to be quiet. And I shut the lights and hover near that locked door and plan how I might react if it wasn’t a drill. How could I use my body to shield theirs. Is there something nearby I can grab and use as a weapon?
A stapler? Should I have grabbed that screwdriver out of the science kit?
And I know it would never stop them. But it might just slow them down, a little. So that some could escape and there might be one less family to suffer that unimaginable grief of losing a child.
But being that shield would mean that my own children would be left without a mother. And yet - all teachers I know do it willingly and gladly. Because we protect our kids - no matter what. That is the deal.
And I know my own teachers would have done the same. I know my daughters’ teachers would do the same. They’d protect those lives with their own. But our society has broken that promise of protection.
And it is a heavy heavy burden placed on the shoulders of our children and our teachers. And it is too much. And I’ve even been asked - well, hey - what if you had a gun? Couldn’t you save more kids? First of all, a handgun is no match for assault weapon. And even a highly trained professional only averages an 18-25% accuracy rate in that kind of situation. When I think of where those other bullets might go in a school? For that reason and for a thousand more - NO! If you want to arm us, arm us with more counselors who serve students and not just sit in meetings about testing!
It’s already too much. But in return for that heavy burden on our children and their teachers - the drills, the anxiety that comes with every news story and every false alarm (and there are so many more of them than you know) - we expect action to end this brutal, soul-crushing gun violence. Action from our representatives, but also action from YOU. Please.
Because our government WILL act. Once we are LOUD enough. And make them feel uncomfortable enough. And it’s really no surprise to me that the generation who grew up reading about Malala are at the forefront of this. They cut their teeth on the stories of brave young activists. They have finally gotten some momentum, so let’s help them. I’ve called my representatives three times a week, and I’m going to the March for Our Lives on March 24th.
So I am begging you - please if you live in the US. - please help. Call the people who claim to represent you and I’ll see you at the march.
Intro
Hi and welcome to the Books Between Podcast! I believe that books can change your life for the better. I know because books did that for me.
And I want to help you connect kids with those amazing, life-shaping books and bring you inspiring (and fun!) conversations with the authors and educators who make that magic happen. Every other Monday, I bring you book talks, interviews, and ideas for getting great books into the hands of kids between 8-12.
I am Corrina Allen - a mom of an eight and ten year old, a 5th grade teacher, and excited about two things this week! First, the Winter Olympics. And second - today’s announcement of the American Library Association Youth Media Awards including the Caldecott, the Newbery, The Coretta Scott King, and lots more! I am so excited for those authors and illustrators who will be getting those early morning phone calls. I’ll be streaming it with my class and can’t wait to chat more with you about it!
This is Episode #43 and today I’m talking about some fails, some wins, and bringing you a conversation with author Anna Meriano about her debut novel (and the MG at Heart January Book Club pick) Love, Sugar, Magic!
But first I have some exciting news to share with you — I’m joining the fabulous team at MGBookvillage.org! MGBookVillage has become THE place for all things middle grade, and I’m so thrilled to be working with Annaliese Avery, Jarrett Lerner, and Kathie MacIsaac who’ve done such an incredible job developing a home for lovers of middle grade that I can’t imagine we ever made do without it!
MGBookVillage has it all; a book-release calendar, a Kids’ Corner, a monthly book club (MG at Heart), an all-day twitter chat on Mondays (#MGBookathon)—and so, so much more.
And from now on it will be the new home of the Books Between podcast and where you can find all our transcripts.
Three Fails & One Win
And now a new segment I am calling three fails and a win. So - I am going to share with you three failures. And then one thing that went well recently. I think we all have the tendency to share our achievements and hide our failures, only revealing things that put us in a positive light. Inadvertently, it can lead to people feeling like they aren’t living up to all the amazingness they see on Instagram and Facebook and Pinterest, and next door. It’s an unrealistic view of teaching and parenting and it makes it seem like there are just these amazing rockstar kidlit advocates who have success after success. Nah! In the interest of acknowledging that the most learning happens through our mistakes, I’ll share three of mine with you today. And then I share something good that happened.
Fail #1
Last summer I had an great conversation with Jillian Heise about #ClassroomBookADay and was so inspired to give it a try this year. (If you want to hear that conversation about the power of reading one picture book a day with your students, check out episode 30). So, at the beginning of the year I made this GIANT public display of 280 blank polaroid-style frames - all waiting for me to post colorful pictures of the books we are reading. And I have! Up until about like 40. Now - we have STILL been reading those picture books. Mostly. We’ve missed a few days here and there, but - ugh that display has embarrassingly just... stalled. And I want to catch up but now I can’t quite remember the order of the titles we’ve read or even the names of them all. And in fact, one of my eagle-eyed gals noticed that we have Not Quite Narwhal on there twice. Not my best moment of this year.
Fail #2 -
So last summer, I secretly pre-ordered a certain book for my daughter. I will withhold the name because it doesn’t really matter but I’ll just say that it was the next title in a fun graphic novel series that my 8 year-old daughter LOVES. She’s picky with her reading, so when she finds something she likes, I RUN to the ball. Well, I thought I was getting the Best Mom Ever award when a few weeks ago the book arrived on our stoop Tuesday afternoon and I gleefully called her into the kitchen as I whipped the book from around my back and held it out to her with a GIANT grin on my face! TA-DA!! And she….backed out of the room cringing. And then told me she’s just not into those books as much anymore. Okay then - mom win turned into major mom fail.
Fail #3
This is the one I refer to as The Armadillo Book Debacle.
So, a couple weeks ago my daughter comes home upset because she’s going to have to pay $15 to replace a missing library book. Well - High Alert in the Allen household! We tear apart the house looking for it. All the bedrooms, under the couch cushions. I look at school. I call the grandparents! Nowhere is this darn Armadillo book. And my husband and daughter start to think they saw it go in the backpack and back to school. And mistakes happen, so we email the librarian and explain that we think it was returned and could she look? And I just want to say - she was extraordinarily nice about it! And so - she’s looking all over the school for it.
Yeah, you know where this is going don’t you? A couple months ago we had a party at our house. And, like happens, there comes a point when you have cleaned and scrubbed and dusted and vacuumed and people are just about to arrive! So you switch from cleaning mode to hiding mode. You know, there’s that one dirty casserole dish in the sink so you shove it in the oven. And there’s a stack of random papers and mail and books that you haul down into the basement. Including an Armadillo book that ended up tucked away in a corner of our basement for two months. My fault. Awkward email back to the librarian.
And…. a WIN!
I have to end on a positive note. So I have this student who I love but he was tough nut to crack when trying to find a book that would hold his interest. In September, I discovered he had liked The One and Only Ivan, so I handed him my ARC of Wishtree weeks before it came out. Nope. I piled book after book after book on his desk - asking him questions about what he liked - to no avail. It seemed like he was going to be one of those kids that you just hope the next person can help them find books they’ll love because it just didn’t click with you. But, then - I found out that he LOVES wrestling - like WWE wrestling. And a friend on #mglitchat recommended these Choose Your Own Adventure style WWE wrestling books. I order them on Amazon Prime and two days later, I slid one across his desk and his eyes just lit up! I even caught him reading it as he walked to the bus! He read those books back and forth cover to cover for weeks. And now - he’s on to the second Tapper Twins book and on a roll and YES!!! (I’ll link to those wrestling books in the show notes if you want to check them out. As far as I can tell there are only two of them - Race to the Rumble and then Night of Champions. Both are by Tracey West)
So, maybe my hallway display has stalled out, and I got overzealous with my child, and I embarrassed myself with the school librarian, but I helped that one kid get himself on his way.
Anna Meriano - Interview Outline
This week I had the opportunity to have a fantastic conversation with two authors debuting middle grade novels in 2018. Joining me today is Amanda Rawson Hill. She is the author of the upcoming book Three Rules of Everyday Magic and one of the organizers of the MG at Heart Book Club. Her and I hopped on Skype to chat with Anna Meriano about her debut novel (and the January MG at Heart Book Club pic), Love Sugar Magic.
Take a listen…..
Interview Outline
Love, Sugar, Magic
CA: Your first middle grade novel, Love Sugar Magic, debuted last month. For those listeners who haven’t yet read the book - can you tell what the story is about?
CA: One of things I loved about this book was that passing down of family recipes from mother to daughter generation to generation. So - did I hear that you aren’t actually much of a baker?
CA: Where did the recipes come from?
CA: In your novel, each sister has a special power, depending on her birth order. First born daughters have the gift of influence, second born daughters have the talent of manifestation, and the third borns have the gift of communicating with the dead. Which gift would YOU want to have?
ARH: I wanted to get some insight into how you wrote a big family so well...
Your Writing Life
CA: How long ago did you start writing Love, Sugar, Magic?
ARH: You’ve talked a lot about how you worked with Cake Literary, a book packager. I was wondering what the experience of doing that from the beginning with someone else was like compared to when you’re writing a book all on your own. And how did it affect your creative process?
CA: What is Cake Literary and what is a book packager?
CA: How did you end up connecting to Leo?
JL: I’d be interested to hear about Anna’s experience with her debut group. The Electric Eighteens seem like such a positive and supportive bunch, and they’re so active in promoting one another. I’d love to hear what Anna got out of being a part of such a group — both in practical terms of promotion and things, and emotionally and psychologically, too, since the debut experience can be so confusing and exciting and overwhelming and joyful and terrifying and a million other things, too!
CA: The more I chat with authors about their process, the more I want to share with my students the idea that what they see as a finished story is the very tip of a gigantic iceburg of planning and writing and revising that never sees the light of day. What below-the-surface part of your writing process do you really enjoy? And what parts are challenging?
Your Reading Life
CA: Something that I think about a lot is how sometimes it only takes ONE person to really influence a child’s reading life - either in a positive way or sometimes in a negative way. Was there someone in your life who impacted you as a reader?
C: What have you been reading lately that you’ve liked?
Links:
Anna on Twitter
Cake Literary website - http://www.cakeliterary.com
Electric Eighteen Debut Group website - https://electriceighteens.com
Anna’s Nerdy Book Club Post is here
Books & Authors We Chatted About:
The First Rule of Punk (Celia C. Perez)
Goosebumps (R.L. Stine)
Calvin & Hobbes (Bill Watterson)
The Inquisitor's Tale (Adam Gidwitz)
The Gauntlet (Karuna Riazi)
Betty Before X (by Ilyasah Shavbazz & Renee Watson)
Closing
Alright, that wraps up our show this week!
If you have a question about how to connect kids between 8-12 to books they’ll love or a suggestion about a topic we should cover, I would love to hear from you. You can email me at booksbetween@gmail.com or message me on Twitter/Instagram at the handle @Books_Between.
Thank you so much for joining me this week. You can get an outline of interviews and a full transcript of all the other parts of our show at MGBookVillage.org. And, if you are liking the show, please leave us some love on iTunes or Stitcher. Or even better - tell a friend about us!
Thanks and see you soon! Bye!
Intro
Hi there everyone! Welcome to Books Between - a podcast for teachers, parents, librarians, and anyone who wants to connect kids between 8-12 to books they’ll love. I’m your host, Corrina Allen - a mom of two, a teacher of 23, and always amazed at how much I learn from my students. Sometimes it’s something profound, or like last week it’s a snack suggestion! So a shout out to Jadyn and Malia for helping my daughters and I get completely addicted to these things called Flip yogurts. Have you tried them? They are these little flavored yogurts with a side sprinkle of sweetness. I have purchased an embarrassingly large amount of these in the past week - enough so that the Wegman’s cashier is giving me the side eye. You have to try them - delicious!
This is Episode #42 and Today I’m sharing with you a great opportunity to participate in the MG @ Heart Book Club, a fantastic interview with author Elly Swartz about her upcoming novel Smart Cookie, and then I’ll share with you some news about the All the Wonders website.
MG @ Heart Book Club
The first thing that I am really excited to tell you about is that I am teaming up with the Middle Grade at Heart Book Club to bring you great discussions and interviews with the authors of each month’s selection.
So you can read along with us all and at the end of the month or sometimes early the following month, MG at Heart will host a Twitter chat to discuss the book together and I’ll host an episode of Books Between featuring that novel.
First, let me tell you about all of the awesome 2018 picks so you can plan out your reading and pre-order the ones you want to get. There are lots of debut authors on this list so I’m excited for us all to meet some new voices in world of middle grade literature. (And remember that links to all of the books mentioned are in the show notes and the transcript posted on allthewonders.com so you don’t have to scramble to write anything down.)
After I list the reading schedule, then I’ll let you know where you can go to get more information about the MG at Heart Book Club.
In January, we are reading Love, Sugar, Magic by debut author Anna Meriano. It is about an 11 year-old girl, named Leonora, in a tight-knit family where all the women are brujas - witches. Leonora soon discovers that she - like her sisters and mother - have magical abilities that manifest through their baking. I’m about halfway through this book right now and I love the family, and magic, and food, and culture. It’s like a mix of the movie Coco and one of my favorite novels, Chocolat. I just know you and your kids will love it! So, I hope you can join us all for the Twitter chat about Love, Sugar, Magic on Tuesday, February 6th at 8pm EST using the hashtag #mgbookclub.
And February’s read is See You in the Cosmos by Jack Cheng! Oh my gosh - I just finished the audio version of this novel and I was blown away. Really - you HAVE to read this one! Or better yet since the premise of the entire book is that it’s recorded on an ipod - get the audio performance! You’ll just fall in love with Alex and his dog, Carl Sagan. So - stay tuned for the Twitter chat date for that book!
In March, we’ll be reading The Vanderbeekers of 141st Street by Karina Yan Glaser. This one has been on my TBR pile for ages so I’m glad to have a reason to push it to the top of my pile and get ready for the sequel which, I think, is due out this fall.
April’s book is Varian Johnson’s The Parker Inheritance - which sounds like a fabulous historical mystery. Can’t wait to read that one - it looks amazing!
In May, we’ll be reading Every Shiny Thing by Cordelia Jensen and Laurie Morrison - a contemporary novel in half prose, half verse.
June’s selection is The Mad Wolf’s Daughter by Diane Magras - a Scottish medieval adventure that sounds a bit like The Ranger’s Apprentice with a twist of Tamora Pierce. Doesn’t that sounds amazing?
In July, we’ll be reading Just Under the Clouds by Melissa Sarno about a family struggling to find a lasting home.
August’s pick is Cindy Baldwin’s Where the Watermelons Grow - a book about twelve-year-old Della Kelly of Maryville, North Carolina, who tries to come to terms with her mother's mental illness while her father struggles to save the farm from a record-breaking drought.
And in September, we are reading The House That Lou Built by Mae Respicio. This one is about a girl who longs to create a space of her own away from the small room she shares with her mother in their grandmother’s house that is home to her lovable but sometimes wild Filipino family. So - she decides to built her own ‘tiny house.”
October’s pick is The Three Rules of Everyday Magic by Amanda Rawson Hill. Listen to this description: “Magic doesn't work the way you think it will, but it's what Kate needs as she confronts friendship trouble, her parents' divorce, and Grammy's dementia in this lyrical middle-grade coming-of-age novel.”
And November’s pick is The Hotel Between by Sean Easley -a story where twins Cam and Cass uncover the secrets of their missing father in a magical hotel whose doors lead its guests to places all over the world.
And stay tuned for the December plans!
So - I hope you are just excited as I am to read some outstanding new middle grade books this year. So - go get your pre-orders in, adjust those TBR piles, and I’ll see on Twitter and in your podcast feed.
If you want to know more about the Middle Grade at Heart Book Club, check them out on Twitter at the handle @mgatheart. And you can find them online at mgbookvillage.org. And a big shout out to the creators of MG at Heart - Julie Artz, Cindy Baldwin, Laurie Morrison, Amanda Rawson Hill, and Kit Rosewater.
Main Topic - A Conversation with Elly Swartz
This week I am so excited to welcome Elly Swartz to the show - author of Finding Perfect and her upcoming middle grade novel, Smart Cookie. We chat about her new novel and the unconventional research she did to get the details right along with schools visits, her writing process, and what she’s been reading lately.
Take a listen…..
Interview Outline:
Smart Cookie
Your new middle grade novel, Smart Cookie, is released in just a few days - can you tell us a bit about it?
We all loved the Greene Family Bed & Breakfast - Angie wants to know - did you model it after a real place or a real situation?
We all loved the game inspired rooms - Yahtzee and Monopoly and Checkers and Chess! My daughters and I had so much fun deciding which ones we’d want to stay in. So, we all want to know - which game-themed room would you prefer to stay in?
And Lena wants to know - why did you decide to call the book Smart Cookie?
I really loved the relationship between Frankie and her grandmother. I also grew up with an energetic, card-playing grandmother who lived with me, so I really connected with the bond between Frankie and her Gram….
Were you close to your grandparents?
One of the parts of this book that had us laughing out loud (and cringing!) - were all the women that Frankie secretly sets her dad up with from the dating site!
Did you do research on dating sites?
I’ve been seeing a lot of pictures of your school visits lately! What are some of the things you like about visiting with students?
Your Writing Life
What is your writing process like?
I saw that you studied psychology and law - do you think anything from your time studying those subjects has helped you become a better writer or made its way into your novels?
What are you working on now?
Your Reading Life
Something that I think about a lot is the impact that adults can have on a child’s development as a reader - either in a really positive, encouraging way or sometimes in a negative way...
Was there someone like that in your life who impacted you as a reader?
What have you been reading lately that you’ve liked?
Links:
Elly’s Website - http://ellyswartz.com
Smart Cookie Curriculum Guide
Books & Authors We Chatted About:
Ramona the Brave (Beverly Cleary)
Eloise (Kay Thompson and Hilary Knight)
Pippi Longstocking (Astrid Lindgren)
Radio Free Vermont (Bill McKibben)
Love (Matt De La Pena and Loren Long)
Everything I Know About You (Barbara Dee)
The 57 Bus (Dashka Slater)
Turtles All the Way Down (John Green)
Some news
Before we wrap up, I wanted to share with you some news. As you may have heard, Matthew Winner and Blake Hamilton (co-founders of the All the Wonders website) have decided to end the project due to some other demands on their time and energy.
However, all the podcasts happily - including Books Between - will still continue. Nick Patton’s Picturebooking podcast will be found on picturebooking.com. And the All the Wonders podcast will now be called The Children’s Book Podcast with Matthew Winner and will have a home at matthewcwinner.com.
And for me, this episode will be the last one at www.AlltheWonders.com. All the previous episodes of Books Between and the transcripts will still be there. And, as always, you’ll still be able to find links to every single episode at booksbetween.com. On the next episode, I’ll have an announcement with some further details about our new home.
For now, I just want to say how happy I am to have been part of the All the Wonders team. And how grateful I’ve felt for their warm welcome into that incredible family. I want to give a special thanks to Matthew Winner who within the first week of this podcast, has always been such an enthusiastic champion of the show and incredibly generous with his time, resources, and advice.
And Matthew, and Blake, and everyone else at the All the Wonders team have made this show so much better than it would have been on its own.
And as much as there is a twinge of disappointment at seeing the end of something so wonderful, instead of feeling like it’s a sad goodbye, I look at it like an evolution of how we all connect and collaborate.
And I am really excited to see what Blake and Matthew have in store next! Because you all know that the forces behind the awesomeness that was All the Wonders are going to be up to something brilliant!
Closing
Alright, that wraps up our show this week!
If you have a question about how to connect kids between 8-12 to books they’ll love or a suggestion about a topic we should cover, I would love to hear from you. You can email me at booksbetween@gmail.com or message me on Twitter/Instagram at the handle @Books_Between.
Thank you so much for joining me this week. You can get a full transcript of this show and all of our previous episodes at AlltheWonders.com. And, if you are liking the show, please leave us some love on iTunes or Stitcher. Or even better - tell a friend about us!
Thanks and see you soon! Bye!
Intro
Hi everyone and welcome to Books Between - a podcast for teachers, parents, librarians, and anyone who wants to connect kids between 8-12 to books they’ll love. I’m your host, Corrina Allen - a teacher, a mom, and spending a lovely weekend with my family inside away from the bitter cold playing epic games of Sorry and watching all the Star Wars movies. Again.
This is Episode #41 and today I’m sharing with you some fabulous 2018 titles to look forward to this year and an awesome interview with EngiNerds author Jarrett Lerner!
Book Talk - Most Anticipated Middle Grade Books of 2018
Typically in this segment, I share with you a few books centered around a theme. And during the last few episodes I was all about looking back at some of the best middle grade fiction and graphic novels of 2017. (If you missed those, go check out episodes #39 and #40.)
But this week I want to talk about some of the most anticipated books of the upcoming year. Some are long-awaited sequels or new installments in well-loved series. Some are new ventures for favorite authors. And some are by debut authors. So, buckle up and and get ready to add to your wish list. And just a reminder - before you scramble for a pen and paper. You can find every book mentioned here AND a picture of the available covers AND a link to pre-order them right through the Books Between Podcast link at AlltheWonders.com. I’ve got your back, I know you’re busy, so it’s all right there for you. And I’ve come to really love pre-ordering - it helps out favorite authors and it’s like a little gift to your future self.
Two quick things to mention before I start. One - this is just a sampling of all the incredible books coming out this year. I’ll add some links to some great resources in the shownotes where you can find more complete listings of titles to browse through and discover some gems:
http://www.readbrightly.com/middle-grade-books-2018/
https://www.goodreads.com/list/show/98185.Middle_Grade_Novels_of_2018
https://mgbookvillage.org/2018releasedates/
https://electriceighteens.com/
And second - publication dates do change, so while I’ve mentioned the book release month - things sometimes change.
All right - let’s get to it!
Coming in January…
Let’s start with the some sequels because there are some AWESOME sequels coming our way to give us something to look forward to during this dreary month….
- Linda William’s Jackson’s follow-up to Midnight Without a Moon - A Sky Full of Stars is out this January as Rose struggles with the way to face the rising racial tensions in her community.
- Ooooo - and the new Fenway & Hattie is out this January!!! I just can’t get enough of that little dog! This third one is called Up to New Tricks so definitely snag that one for your Fenway fans - and for you, too!
- And Gordon Korman’s Supergifted is also set for a January release - this is the sequel to Ungifted - a great book about a boy named Donovan who is mistakenly transfering into a gifted program and has to figure out how to pass as brilliant. This follow up is about his new friend, Noah.
- We are also getting another Terrible Two book in January - Terrible Two Go Wild!
- And a new Spy on History book - Victor Dowd and the World War II Ghost Army!
- Ah! And we a get a new HiLo book this January! It’s called Waking the Monsters! (As my husband said - yeah, that sounds like what I do every weekday.) Our 8 year old is SUPER psyched about this new book! - so keep ‘em coming Judd Winick!
- Okay - and it’s not really a sequel BUT - there is just released a GRAPHIC NOVEL version of the first The Wings of Fire book - ahhhh!!! It’s illustrated by Mike Holmes and my students are going to FREAK when I tell them tomorrow.
Some other January releases that are looking fabulous are….
- Betty Before X - an historical fiction novel set in the 40s about 11-year-old Betty Shabazz - future civil rights leader. This one is written by her daughter, Ilyasah Shabazz with Renee Watson
- Winterhouse by debut author Ben Guterson - this is an urban fantasy mystery set in a magical hotel containing a huge library with secrets to discover.
- We are also getting the first middle grade book by picture book author Angela Dominguez called Stella Diaz Has Something to Say!
- Another novel that looks REALLY interesting is called TBH, This is SO Awkward by Lisa Greenwald and it’s told entirely in texts. So I definitely need to check that one out.
- And my friend Emily Montjoy has been raving about Just Like Jackie by Lindsey Stoddard so I’m looking forward to my turn with that one.
- Also - Leslie Connor, the author of the critically-acclaimed All Rise for the Honorable Perry T. Cook, has a new novel out in January called The Truth as Told By Mason Butte - so definitely check that one out.
- Natalie Lloyd also has a new novel coming out this January! So if you liked A Snicker of Magic or The Key to Extraordinary, look for The Problim Children - which is described as a mix between Lemony Snicket and the Addams Family...
- Annnd - the new Elly Swartz novel - Smart Cookie!! I had a chance to read an ARC of this one with my daughters and oh I can’t wait for it to be out in the world!
On to February …
- One that I’ve had a chance to read ahead of time is Playing Atari with Saddam Hussein by Jennifer Roy and Ali Fadhil. I’ll talk more about this book later when I have time to really go into depth, but for now I’ll just say - preorder it. A great historical fiction about an Iraqi boy during the first Gulf War.
- Then we have The Serpent’s Secret by Sayantani DasGupta - a fantasy about a New Jersey girl discovering that she may, in fact, be an Indian princess.
- The 11:11 Wish by Kim Tomsic looks really fun. It’s about a dorky math nerd who vows to reinvent herself at her new school. And when she makes a wish as the clock strikes 11:11, she gets granted a magical object that might help her.
- Shannon Hitchcock, author of Ruby Lee & Me has a new novel coming out in February - this one is call One True Way.
- Another one to look out for in February is Becoming Madeleine: A Biography of the Author of A Wrinkle in Time by Her Granddaughters. With all the buzz about Wrinkle in Time with the new movie coming out, this book looks really great.
- Aaand - we get a new John David Anderson novel in February!! This one (Granted) is so different from Ms. Bixby or Posted, but I just loved it! It’s a fantasy novel about a fierce fairy named Ophelia Delphinium Fidgets who runs into some trouble as she attempts to grant her first wish.
In March, there are so books I am really looking forward to! My principal won’t mind if a take a month-long reading sabbatical, right?
- Like Vanessa is the debut novel by author Tami Charles - it’s set in 1983 and is about a young girl inspired by seeing Vanessa Williams get crowned Miss America and is encouraged by her teacher to enter a beauty pageant.
- Lauren Magaziner has a new book out in March called Wizardmatch that looks like a fun fantasy.
- And The Science of Breakable Things by debut author Tae Keller looks really good - a book about a scientifically minded girl competing in an egg-drop contest AND using those skills to try to help her mom deal with her struggles.
- In March we also get Colby Sharp’s Creativity Project! An “awesometastic” collection of short stories developed from the author’s prompts to each other. It is a fantastic read and such a clever idea! Definitely one that teachers will want on hand to spark your writers’ imaginations.
- The Train of Lost Things by Ammi Joan-Paquette is another favorite of my #BookVoyage friend Emily Montjoy - who has amazing taste by the way. (Definitely go follow her on Twitter @mrsmontjoyreads ! ) So I’m looking forward to a chance to read this one as well.
- Oh! And the next Dan Gemeinhart novel comes out in March!! It is called Good Dog and I can’t read the synopsis to you or I’ll start crying but it sounds simply wonderful. Of course it is - it’s Dan Gemeinhart!
March lets us reconnect with some favorite characters with a great bunch of sequels coming out.
- We get a new Emily Windsnap book, Emily Windsnap and the Falls of Forgotten Island.
- And a new Star Scouts graphic novel - League of Lasers
- The third Narwhal and Jelly book (Peanut Butter and Jelly) come out.
- The 78-Story Treehouse as well as a new Dory Fantasmagory book called Head in the Clouds along with a new Stick Dog Stick Dog Crashes a Party.
- We also get Elana Arnold’s follow up to A Boy Called Bat - Bat and the Waiting Game
- And - probably the book that I have been waiting and waiting for. DYING to read with my daughters - is The Wild Robot Escapes - the sequel to Peter Brown’s incredible The Wild Robot! So - mark your calendars for March 13th, pre-order this one, AND - if you haven’t yet read the first one…. well, what’s the matter with you? Get on that!
In April we have lots to look forward to including sequels, like:
- The next Moon Base Alpha book called Waste of Space, Janet Tashjian’s My Life As a YouTuber , and Jasmine Toguchi, Drummer Girl will be out. And Adrienne’s Kress’ second Explorers book - The Reckless Rescue!
- And the third book in Jason Reynold’s incredible Track series will be out! It’s called Sunny and follows “the chillest dude on the Defenders team”, but one with a troubled life at home that hides behind that sunny smile.
- And, the debut by Laurie Morrison and Cordelia Jenson, called Every Shiny Thing looks really really good….
- I’m also looking forward to the new Jewell Parker Rhodes novel called Ghost Boys. It’s about a young boy who is killed by the police when they mistake his toy gun for the real thing. And as a ghost, he witnesses how that event unfolds in his neighborhood and meets other ghosts like Emmett Till. Oh that gives me chills just thinking about it!
- And - we get a new Kwame Alexander novel this year! It is called Rebound - the much-awaiting prequel to his Newbery-winning The Crossover. This one about Josh and Jordan’s father, Chuck Bell.
On to the awesome May releases to watch for:
- Terri Libenson’s new graphic novel - Positively Izzy looks great- it’s the companion to Invisible Emmie.
- And the The Cobalt Prince, the second 5 Worlds graphic novel will be out.
- Another May release that I am so so excited about is Most Valuable Players - the next Phil Bildner Rip & Red book.
- There are three books coming in May that have been getting a lot buzz lately - one is called Bob - written by Wendy Mass and Rebecca Stead. I can’t wait to see the awesomeness THAT collaboration brings!
- The second one is Aisha Saeed’s middle-grade debut, Amal Unbound, which is about a Pakistani girl forced into working as an indentured servant to pay off her family’s debts. Friends who have read this one are saying it is incredible.
- And then I keep hearing about Front Desk by Kelly Yang. Let me just read you a bit from the description and tell me this doesn’t sound AMAZING! Okay, “Mia Tang has a lot of secrets. Number 1-She lives in a motel, not a big house. Number 2- Her parents hide immigrants. Number 3-She wants to be a writer.”
In June we have some really cool books coming our way:
- Kate Messner’s new novel Breakout - based on some details from the real-life (and close to home for me) breakout of two prisoners in New York and how the community reacts to that situation. I can’t WAIT for this one!!
- Also - Kate Beasley (of Gertie’s Leap to Greatness) and Dan Santat (of a million books you love, most recently the picture book After the Fall) are teaming up for a book called Lions & Liars - about a boy named Frederick who is sent to a disciplinary camp for troublesome boys. That one looks phenomenal!
- And Laura Shovan’s new book Takedown is coming this June! Can’t wait to read this novel about a girl who wants to join the wrestling team. I keep hearing people raving about it on Twitter.
- And Barbara Dee has a new novel coming out in June called Everything I Know About You.
- We also get to read Wendy McLeod MacKnight’s new middle grade novel The Frame-up! I had a chance to read this one this past fall and it is phenomenal. It’s about a young artist who goes to live with his father for the summer and attends an art-camp at the museum where his father is the director. And he soon discovers that the paintings are alive! Truly - after reading this book, I’ll never look at another painting the same way again. It’s so so good!
And thankfully I have July and August off from school, so I can catch up AND snag some summer release books such as….
- Cindy Baldwin’s debut - Where the Watermelons Grow
- And my daughter will be thrilled to know there will be a new Dog Man this summer called Lord of the Fleas!
- Oh! And Denis Markell, author of Click Here to Start has a new novel coming this summer called The Game Masters of Garden Place.
- Also this summer is a cool book called Marcus Vega Doesn’t Speak Spanish by Pablo Cartaya. Let me read you a blurb: “Marcus Vega is six feet tall, 180 pounds, and the owner of a premature mustache. When you look like this and you're only in the eighth grade, you're both a threat and a target.” And the rest of the description is so good - definitely check this one out.
- This August we also get a new Jess Keating book! This one is called Cute as an Axolotl: Discovering the World's Most Adorable Animals
So after August, specific publication dates get a little harder to come by. BUT - a few things have popped up. Like..
- A new Last Kids on Earth book called The Last Kids on Earth and the Cosmic Beyond
- The new Nameless City graphic novel called The Divided Earth
- The Vanderbeekers and the Hidden Garden!!
- A new Beatrice Zinker book!
- And I can’t wait for Jarrett Krosoczka's graphic novel memoir coming out called Hey, Kiddo.
- Also - I saw, I think... a Sarah Weeks has a sequel to So B. It coming out called Soof? That is definitely on my radar!
- And the big news in my class this week - the 8th Amulet book!!!!!! Woohoo!!! Oh my gosh - my students cheered when I told them that Kazu Kibuishi announced this on Twitter last week! It is called Supernova and has a beautiful cover so go check that out and make all your middle grade readers happy by pre-ordering it now.
So so much to look forward to this year! And of course - I’ll keep you posted about all the amazing books headed our way so we can stay up to date. And definitely make sure you check out the show notes and check out those links so you can dive deeper and discover awesome new books that you are looking forward to reading this year.
Main Topic - A Conversation with Jarrett Lerner
This week I am so excited to welcome to the show Jarrett Lerner - author of the fantastic middle grade novel EngiNerds. We chat about his plans for the sequel, the power of the perfect metaphor, and Project Runway!
Take a listen…..
Interview Outline:
Enginerds
Enginerds has been getting all kinds of love lately - congratulations!! I saw Colby Sharp used Enginerds as his example in his 5 ways to support authors you love video.
For those who aren’t (yet!) familiar with Enginerds, can you tell what this story is about?
What was your thought process like when deciding what your robots would look like and act like?
Enginerds is in a long and glorious line of children’s books and movies and TV shows featuring robots.
What are some of your favorites?
We are getting a book two, right?!
Other Middle Grade Projects
So I saw on Twitter last month that you have teamed up with Analiese Avery (@_AJAvery) to launch @MG_BookBot.
How did that get started and what are your plans?
And I am so excited about your new middle grade focused website - MG Book Village! Aside from the twitter hashtags, what are you hoping to include on the site?
Tell me about your KidLit Mentorship Project….
Project Runway
Your Writing Life
What is your writing process like?
What are you working on now?
Your Reading Life
One of the things I talk about a lot with other educators is the power of that one person to really influence a child’s reading life - either in a really positive way or sometimes in a negative way.
Was there someone in your life who impacted you as a reader?
What have you been reading lately that you’ve liked?
Thank You!
Links:
Jarrett’s Website - https://jarrettlerner.com
Jarrett on Twitter and Instagram
Books & Authors We Chatted About:
Insignificant Events in the Life of a Cactus
Beatrice Zinker Upside Down Thinker
The Game Masters of Garden Place
Other Topics We Chatted About:
Melissa Roske’s Interview with Jarrett Lerner
Closing
Alright, that’s it for today!
If you have a question about how to connect kids between 8-12 to books they’ll love or a suggestion about a topic we should cover, I would love to hear from you. You can email me at booksbetween@gmail.com or message me on Twitter/Instagram at the handle @Books_Between.
Thank you so much for joining me this week. You can get a full transcript of this show and all of our previous episodes at AlltheWonders.com. And, if you are liking the show, please leave us some love on iTunes or Stitcher. Or even better - tell a friend about us!
Thanks and see you soon! Bye!