Kellee

Student Voices!: Focus on Villains by Diego, Luis, Elsa, Kaley, Max, Mariana, & Daniela

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The best way to learn what kids are thinking & feeling is by listening to them, so I am happy to share my students’ voices!

Controversial Characters (Are they villains? Or are they heroes?) by Elsa, Kaley, and Max, 8th Grade

  • Dumbledore from the Harry Potter series: Even though J.K. Rowling makes Dumbledore seem like a wise, old guide helping Harry, Dumbledore is often manipulative, selfish, and cold. While Harry saw Dumbledore as a mentor, Dumbledore only saw Harry as a pawn. Dumbledore used Harry’s feelings toward him to make Harry do what he wants. (Elsa)
  • Severus Snape from the Harry Potter series: At the end of the series, J.K. Rowling attempted redemption with Severus Snape. I feel as though it wasn’t enough and if anything it made me not like him more. While he was a villain for the majority of the series, the fact that he was bullied and then obsessed with Harry’s mom is supposed to make the fact that he is a trash person for 6.5 books okay… (Kaley)
  • Tedros from the School for Good and Evil series: Tedros, the love interest of both Sophie and Agatha in the first book, is so self absorbed and ignorant. In the first book, he seemed very fake and would do whatever he wanted. (Elsa)
  • Sophie from the School for Good and Evil series: I totally get that Sophie was supposed to come across as artificial and stupid. It was one of her character flaws that was supposed to be overruled by her good traits like being a good friend to Agatha. I don’t think it did and think the bad outweighed the good. (Kaley)
  • Naomi’s Dad in Two Naomis: Naomi’s dad is a controversial character in my opinion because the author tried to make the reader feel sorry for him and that he was really trying; however, I do not like him because he should not force things on the children. Some children take longer to deal with changes. (Max)

15 of the Most Evil Characters in Books by Daniela & Mariana, 8th Grade

  • Slade from Blood on my Hands
  • The Governor from Stung
  • The Evil Queen from The Land of Stories series
  • The Masked Man from The Land of Stories series
  • Lady Iris from The Land of Stories series
  • Snow Queen from The Land of Stories series
  • Sea Witch from The Land of Stories series
  • The Queen of Hearts from The Land of Stories series
  • Captain Hook from The Land of Stories series
  • Morina from The Land of Stories series
  • The Police from Ghost Boys
  • Hellhounds from Good Dog
  • Aiden’s Dad from Good Dog
  • Secret Murderer from One of Us is Lying
  • Steven from A Girl Named Digit

10 Comic Villains I Wish I Could Fight by Diego, 8th Grade

  • Thanos: I would like to fight Thanos because he is the strongest supervillain. He beat The Avengers!
  • Reverse Flash: I would fight Reverse Flash because he is the archenemy of the Flash and is very fast and super smart.
  • The Joker: I would fight the Joker because he’s a very smart scientist and a criminal mastermind. I think I would lose.
  • Lex Luthor: I would fight Lex Luther because he’s the archenemy of Superman and is very powerful though I think I could win.
  • Catwoman: I would fight Cat Woman because she’s very agile and would be difficult to fight because of her agility and coordination.
  • Harley Quinn: I would fight Harley because she is very smart and is Joker’s partner and would be hart to defeat.
  • Magneto: I would fight Magneto because he’s very powerful since he can control magnets and magnetic fields.
  • Loki: I would want to fight Loki because he is the god of mischief and would be fun but hart to beat.
  • Venom: I would like to fight Venom because when the symbiote turns into Venom, he turns really lethal and powerful, similar to fighting Spiderman.
  • Doctor Doom: I would like to fight Doctor Doom because he is Spiderman’s archenemy and is very mean and knows how to create armor. He also is an intellect, knows sorcery, and is a telepath.

Top 10 Manga Villains by Luis, 8th Grade

  • Blackbeard from One Piece: Marshall D. Teach, also known as Blackbeard, is the captain of the Blackbeard Pirates and is known as one of the baddest pirates in the manga.
  • Piccolo Daimaku from Dragon Ball Z: He’s the main antagonist of Dragon Ball. He’s one half of the No-Name Namekian alongside Kami-sama. He’s known for assassinating innocents during the Martial Arts Tournament and assassinating Master Roshi.
  • Zamasu from Dragon Ball Z: Zamasu is a god of time. He started hating humans after Trunks started messing with time travel. He wants to kill all humans for Trunks’s actions against time.
  • Majin Buu from Dragon Ball Z: Majin Buu is a monster created by magician Vividi and reused by his son. Buu’s only objective is to destroy all living creatures on the planet, even killing Vividi.
  • Frieza from Dragon Ball Z: Frieza is the emperor of the universe, and his only desire in life is to attain immortality.
  • Kars from Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Kars is the one responsible for the Villain vs. Human War and killing all of his species except for 3 men. He is right now floating in space not thinking.
  • Dio Brando from Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Dio is a vampire. Dio wants to reset the world to his wishes. He’s able to stop time and kills half of the stardust crusaders.
  • Enrico Pucci from Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure: Pucci is a priest but once he meets Dio his believes change. Dio is his god now and Pucci is helping with resetting the whole universe.
  • The Major from Hellsing: The Major is the master evil human in the world since all he wants is war, destruction, and chaos.
  • Madara Uchiha from Naruto: Shippuden: Madara is th descendant of the 2nd son of the sage of sixpathes, part of the Uchika clan, and the first Uchiha to unlock the eternal Mangekyou Sharingan which gave him great powers.

Thank you everyone for your great lists!

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It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? #IMWAYR 7/8/19

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It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? From Picture Books to YA!

It’s Monday! What are you Reading? is a meme started by Sheila at Book Journeys and now hosted by Kathryn at The Book Date. It is a great way to recap what you read and/or reviewed the previous week and to plan out your reading and reviews for the upcoming week. It’s also a great chance to see what others are reading right now…you just might discover the next “must-read” book!

Kellee and Jen, of Teach Mentor Texts, decided to give It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? a kidlit focus. If you read and review books in children’s literature – picture books, chapter books, middle grade novels, young adult novels, anything in the world of kidlit – join us! We love this meme and think you will, too.

We encourage everyone who participates to support the blogging community by visiting at least three of the other book bloggers that link up and leave comments for them.

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Tuesday: Student Voices!: Favorite Characters by Isaias, Miguel, Max, Kaley, Ellian, Sujan, Mariana, Daniela, Vanessa, Angelina, & Nitya

Friday: Sonny’s Bridge: Jazz Legend Sonny Rollins Finds His Groove by Barry Wittenstein

Sunday: Author Guest Post: “Making Lemonade out of Lemons: Creating Humor out of Sadness” by Naomi Milliner, Author of Super Jake & the King of Chaos

**Click on any picture/link to view the post**

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Kellee

We are moving homes here in Orlando, so I am going to take off about 6 weeks to get my family moved and settled. I’ll be back early August.

Ricki

My husband and I were able to go on our first date night in a year, and it was really a pleasure! We went out to dinner and then explored the Old Firehouse Bookstore. It really rounds out any date night, in my opinion. 🙂 We saw this sign, which was great. We also read a bunch of new picture books together.

This is one of the books we read. I love Michael Hall, and I enjoyed this story about teaching time (Monkey Time). There need to be more books about teaching time!

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Ricki

I am not sure how much new reading I will do this week because I am drafting my book about YAL in the classroom. That is going to be consuming much of my reading time lately, and I am excited that several bloggers are contributing short teacher excerpts! <3

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Tuesday: Student Voices!: Focus on Villains by Diego, Luis, Elsa, Kaley, Max, Mariana, & Daniela

Friday: National Geographic Kids: Little Kids First Big Book of Science by Kathleen Weidner Zoehfeld

Sunday:  Blog Tour with Author Guest Post: “Creating Words and Pictures: How Authors and Illustrators Work Together” by Alison Donald and Ariel Landy, Creators of The Spacesuit: How a Seamstress Helped Put Man on the Moon

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Link up below and go check out what everyone else is reading. Please support other bloggers by viewing and commenting on at least 3 other blogs. If you tweet about your Monday post, tag the tweet with #IMWAYR!

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Author Guest Post: “Making Lemonade out of Lemons: Creating Humor out of Sadness” by Naomi Milliner, Author of Super Jake & the King of Chaos

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“Making Lemonade out of Lemons: Creating Humor out of Sadness”

One of the things I’m asked most often about my debut middle grade novel, SUPER JAKE & THE KING OF CHAOS, is the role of humor – specifically how there’s so much in what could be a very sad book. Both the humor and the heaviness stem from truth, because SUPER JAKE is inspired by life with my three sons, the youngest of whom (Jake) had special needs.

Jake’s many limitations were heartbreaking, as was his death at only 28 months. And yet, my family – especially Jake’s big brothers – managed to find, and create, a lot of laughter and joy despite the difficulties. For that reason I tried to balance the inherent sadness surrounding his fragile health with a sense of playfulness and humor throughout the book. Here are five ways to use humor in a sad story, with examples from SUPER JAKE.

  • Establish a fun, or funny, tone from the get-go.

In early drafts, the story opened with the 11-year-old hero, Ethan, being awakened in the middle of the night because of a Jake-related medical emergency. This scene is still in the book; it just comes 155 pages later. Although it was a sure-fire dramatic start, as the main story shifted from Jake to Ethan, it was clear that the book needed to start with Ethan doing his favorite thing: magic. And what could be funnier, and more endearing, than entertaining a dozen 3-year-old girls dressed like Disney princesses? Throw in goofy younger brother, 7-year-old Freddy, and an unexpected appearance by SpongeBob, and you’ve got a fun tone to kick things off. Later in the chapter Jake shows up, too, and a bit of sadness creeps in but – hopefully – the reader already knows this story will have plenty of lighthearted moments.

  • Include a character who provides comic relief.

This, without question, is Freddy, the lovable middle brother. I could always count on him to come to the rescue when things got too sad. Sometimes it was a simple visual gag, like bubble gum exploding all over his face. Other times it was unexpected dialogue, or his interrupting a somber moment any number of ways. And sometimes, it was just his sweet, innocent take on things: he was a great vehicle to lighten tension.

  • Incorporate a sense of play, and playfulness, to mitigate sad circumstances.

There is nothing remotely fun, or funny, about having to “stretch” Jake’s arms and legs because he was unable to do it on his own. And yet in the book, as in real life, his big brothers got in on the act and even managed to turn physical therapy into a good time: Ethan takes a benign teddy bear and creates… Ninja Bear! Another example is how Jake’s unusual hearing creates a funny scene when Ethan plays his trumpet without waking Jake to stir, but Mom’s quiet (and angry) whisper immediately wakes him up.

  • Do something surprising.

This technique is very helpful and can be used frequently and in many ways. Have someone you wouldn’t expect do something unexpected: Ms. Carlin, Ethan’s beloved English teacher, has a crush on Ethan’s hero, Magnus the Magnificent. (Spoiler alert: teachers are human! You heard it here first.) Have an unexpected dialogue exchange, like on p. 23:

Freddy:            I’m doing a huge battle of dinosaurs versus Star Wars. I thought the Star Wars people would win because they’ve got lightsabers. But the dinosaurs were  hungry, so they ate them.

Ethan:              The lightsabers?

Freddy:            The people.

Or create an unexpected, and much-needed, break in tension. This occurs organically in lots of Ethan’s magic tricks. It seems like something has gone wrong, then he pulls it off. Another example of breaking tension with humor is when Ethan tries to convince his frenemy, Ned, that cake will make him feel better. Just as Ethan is about to give up, Ned asks, “What flavor is it?”

  • Switch from tears to laughter.

One of my favorite writers, Paula Danziger, said that her favorite thing to do was switch from tears to laughter, or laughter to tears, “on a dime.” I have tried to do the same. Even if it’s something small, the contrast makes the new, unexpected emotion pack a bigger punch.

Laughter to tears is pretty easy when you’ve got a character like Jake. Here’s bit with Ethan and his buddies at lunch, as they try to figure out how he can pay for a magic competition:

Brian:              Hey! Maybe you could sell one of your brothers.

Ethan:              Nah. I’d have to pay somebody to take Freddy.

Daniel:            How about Jake? Lots of people want babies.

Brian:              Only perfect ones.

Tears to laughter usually happens courtesy of Freddy. In the dialogue below, the truth is the possibility of Jake ever tackling homework is a sad reminder that his limitations are far-reaching and probably permanent. And yet…

Freddy:            Hey, Ethan, you think someday I’ll help Jake with his math homework?

Ethan:              I don’t know. How much is eight plus two?

Freddy:            Twelve?

Creating laughter from tears, or happiness from sadness, isn’t only doable: it’s critical, especially in children’s books. I hope these approaches will show readers that they can find – and make – joy out of even the saddest situations.

More information on the book can be found at: https://www.hachettebookgroup.com/titles/naomi-milliner/super-jake-and-the-king-of-chaos/9780762466160/.

Super Jake & the King of Chaos
Author: Naomi Milliner
Published May 7th, 2019 by Running Press Kids

About the Book: A debut contemporary novel about 11-year-old aspiring magician Ethan, who discovers that heroes come in all sizes, and real magic can be found in the most unexpected places.

When life revolves around stressed-out parents and ER visits for his special needs little brother Jake, eleven-year-old Ethan escapes to a world of top hats, trick decks, and magic wands. When he hears of a junior magic competition where the top prize is to meet and perform with his hero, Magnus the Magnificent, Ethan is determined to do whatever he needs to get there–and to win.

His dedication and hard work pay off, and he makes it to the top five finalists: his dream really could come true! Then Jake falls dangerously ill and Ethan’s hopes and plans are in jeopardy. As he searches for any sort of magic that might save Jake, Ethan learns what is truly important . . . and what real magic is.

About the Author: Naomi Milliner has a Bachelor’s Degree in English and a Master’s in Screenwriting from USC Film School. As a long-time member of SCBWI, she created the Authors Book Club (ABC) for published authors and illustrators to share their journey with other members. She has also served on the Women’s National Book Association’s Great Group Reads Committee since 2009. She lives in Maryland, with her husband and sons.

Thank you so much for this guest post about how authors mix sadness and humor!

Sonny’s Bridge: Jazz Legend Sonny Rollins Finds His Groove by Barry Wittenstein

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Sonny’s Bridge: Jazz Legend Sonny Rollins Finds His Groove
Author: Barry Wittenstein
Illustrator: Keith Mallett
Published May 21st, 2019 by Charlesbridge Publishing

Summary: This groovy, bebopping picture book biography chronicles the legendary jazz saxophonist Sonny Rollins’s search for inspiration on the Williamsburg Bridge after quitting the jazz scene in 1959.

Rollins is one of the most prolific sax players in the history of jazz, but, in 1959, at the height of his career, he vanished from the jazz scene. His return to music was an interesting journey–with a long detour on the Williamsburg Bridge. Too loud to practice in his apartment, Rollins played on the New York City landmark for two years among the cacophony of traffic and the stares of bystanders, leading to the release of his album, The Bridge.

Written in rhythmic prose with a bebop edge, this picture-book biography of Sonny Rollins’s journey to get his groove back will delight young and old fans alike.

About the Author: Barry Wittenstein has worked at CBS Records, CBS News, and was a web editor and writer for Major League Baseball. He is now a New York City elementary-school substitute teacher and children’s author. He is the author of The Boo-Boos That Changed the World: The True Story About an Accidental Invention (Really!) and Waiting for Pumpsie. Barry lives in the Bronx.

About the Illustrator: Keith Mallett studied art at Hunter College in New York City. Keith’s work was commissioned to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Jackie Robinson’s historic breakthrough into major league baseball, has graced the cover of Chicken Soup for the African American Soul, and has been featured in many movies and TV shows. He is the illustrator of Take a Picture of Me, James VanDerZee and How Jelly Roll Morton Invented Jazz. Keith lives in San Diego, California.

Praise: “An appropriately jazzy picture-book biography of African-American musician Sonny Rollins. It impresses from the endpapers, which mirror a vinyl LP in its paper sleeve and then playing on a turntable, to the liner notes about Rollins’ seminal album “The Bridge” in the back.” -Kirkus Reviews, starred review

“The life of jazz legend Sonny Rollins pulses with the rousing spontaneity of his music in Wittenstein’s free verse biography. Readers witness Rollins’s career as an acclaimed musician followed by his explosive success and the subsequent reincarnations of his art.” -School Library Journal, starred review

Review: The rhythm of the writing in Sonny’s Bridge automatically gets you toe tapping while reading. It captures the feeling and flow of jazz which truly sets the stage for Sonny’s story because in the end this is the story of Sonny Rollins and his path to finding his musical voice.

In addition to the rhythm in the writing, the illustrators images bring the words to life using movement, color, and line to show the power of the music.

Together, the words and music bring Sonny’s story to the readers in a way that will illuminate his struggles and his triumphs.

Teachers’ Tools for Navigation: Because of the rhythmic writing, this will be an amazing read aloud! And then the students can listen to The Bridge.

We are lucky to be living in a time with so many wonderful biographies out there about amazing people and a lot of them happen to be musicians, so what a great opportunity for book clubs or jig saws to look at different musicians and how they became who they are/were and how they changed not only musical history but sometimes even history.

Discussion Questions: 

  • Why does Sonny find the bridge to be the best place for him to practice?
  • Why did Sonny take off two years and how did it change his life?
  • How did Sonny’s life correspond with Black Americans’ fight for equal rights?
  • How did the illustrator show Sonny’s music through is artwork?
  • Why would some want the bridge to be renamed Sonny’s Bridge?
  • After listening to The Bridge, how did the author capture the feeling of jazz in his writing?

Creator Corner with Barry Wittenstein from KidLitTV: 

Flagged Passages: 

Read This If You Love: Music (specifically jazz), Jazz Day by Roxane Orgill, Trombone Shorty by Troy Andrews, Little Melba and her Big Trombone by Katheryn Russell-Brown, Ella Fitzgerald by Andrea Davis Pinkney, Duke Ellington by Andrea Davis Pinkney, Hip Hop Lollipop by Susan Montanari, The 5 O’Clock Band by Troy Andrews, Born to Swing by Mara Rockliff, Muddy by Michael James Mahin, Stand Up and Sing by Suanna Reich

Recommended For: 

classroomlibrarybuttonsmall 

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**Thank you to Charlesbridge Publishing for providing a copy for review**

Student Voices!: Favorite Characters by Isaias, Miguel, Max, Kaley, Ellian, Sujan, Mariana, Daniela, Vanessa, Angelina, & Nitya

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The best way to learn what kids are thinking & feeling is by listening to them, so I am happy to share my students’ voices!

Top Ten Favorite Characters by Isaias & Miguel, 6th Grade

  • Rowan from Scythe: We like Rowan because he is thoughtful and caring to his best friends but brave versus his enemies. Rowan is smart and strong and shows these abilities throughout Scythe and Thunderhead.
  • Greg from Diary of a Wimpy Kid: We like Greg because he has very unique characteristics like being funny, dumb, lazy, and irrelevant. These traits make Greg likable.
  • Peter from Peter Nimble: We like Peter because he is smart and so determined to do the thing that is special to him. In the book, he has a friend and he does anything that he can do to protect him. In top of all of this, he is blind. He is very likable and special.
  • Sirius Black from Harry Potter: Sirius Black is brave and strong with his want. He is very unique and helps Harry a lot throughout the series. He does very smart things, and he is often misjudged. He is our favorite character in Harry Potter. He is very interesting and likable.
  • Emily from Amulet: We like Emily because she is very kind to her friends and family. She is very brave against her enemies. She is very determined and if she has a goal, she will achieve it. This is why we put her on our list.
  • Navin from Amulet: Navin is probably the smartest guy in the world. He can manage any electricity without practicing with it. Navin will do anything to protect his family. He is a very caring person to his friends. Never leaves a mission without his friends.
  • Roderick from Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Rodrick is kind of the mean and cool brother in the book, but he is funny (mostly when he is doing something stupid). He always makes you laugh mostly when combined with his brother.
  • Citra from Scythe: In the book, Citra is stubborn, so it makes her personality very interesting while he fights her enemies. She is also kind and thoughtful to her friends. Overall, she is a very caring and strong character.
  • James from Explorer: Mystery Boxes “The Escape Option”: James is proud and brave. He decides to leave and help his people. Because of these traits, James makes the list.
  • Dog Man from Dog Man: Dog Man is very brave and kind. He helps so many people that we can’t even count. Dog man is also strong, smart, strategic, and in all the books he is the hero, and that’s why he’s on our list.

Characters We Love to Love by Max and Kaley, 8th Grade

  • Eliza from Eliza and Her Monsters (Kaley): As a person who needs time to recharge my social better a lot, I could sympathize with Eliza who is the poster child for anti-social. Throughout the book, as she made strides with branching out, I rooted for her the whole time.
  • Victoria “Vicky” from The Memory of Light (Kaley): As a young person with sticky relationships with a couple of my family members, I really felt Vicky’s hurt when her dad was a jerk throughout the entire book. I loved watching her step into herself, and she remains one of my favorite book characters.
  • Mark from The Honest Truth (Max): Mark is a character I love because it shows how much he loves his dog. Even in the darkest moments, he only wants his dog to be safe.
  • Brodie from Good Dog (Max): I love Brodie because he shows how much a dog loves you. It also shows that even after death, they will find their way back to you no matter what. That after death, they think about you.

Top 10 Favorite Characters by Ellian and Sujan, 6th Grade

  • Sujan
    • Prince Jaron from The Ascendance Trilogy
    • Nicolas Calva from The Mark of the Thief trilogy
    • Greg Heffley from the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series
    • Rowley Jefferson from the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series
    • Chaya Lidner from Resistance
    • Dog Man from the Dog Man series
  • Ellian
    • Emily from the Amulet series
    • Navin from the Amulet series
    • Dog Man from the Dog Man series
    • Greg from the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series

10 Book Characters We’d Date by Mariana & Daneila, 8th Grade

  • Peter from To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before 
  • Josh from To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before
  • Olly from Everything, Everything
  • Bowen from Strung
  • Augustus Waters from The Fault in our Stars
  • Adam from Wish You Were Dead
  • John from A Girl Named Digit
  • Conner from The Land of Stories series
  • Percy from Percy Jackson and the Olympians
  • Aiden from Good Dog

3 Fictional Male Book Characters We Would Date If We Were In Their Book by Vanessa & Angelina, 8th and 7th Grade

  • Prince Maxon from The Selection series: His is kind-hearted, understanding, protective, and puts other peoples’ safety before his own. He does whatever he can to make things right. Even though he doesn’t always have the nerve to express his emotions, he still tries to get his point across.
  • Simon from The Traitor’s Game series: Sion is a protective, strong, shy, caring guy who just wants everyone to be safe. He feels like any injuries or issues are his fault and always questions if he should take the blame.
  • Prince Tedros of Camelot from The School for Good & Evils series: Where do we begin…well, Tedros is strong, a prince, and an all around great person. People don’t know what is truly going on in his head; he has never truly been understood until he met Agatha.

Favorite Heroes by Nitya, 6th Grade

  • Alex Bailey from The Land of Stories series: I like her because she has a lot of confidence, and she is outgoing. Also, she is very smart. Lasly, she is stubborn like me.
  • Agatha from School for Good and Evil series: I like Agatha because she is adventurous and simple. She is also very smart and tactful. I want to be clever like she is in the books.
  • Sadie Kane from Kane Chronicles trilogy: I like Sadie Kane because she is mentally strong. Also, she has a lot of talents. Lastly, she has found very good friends that support her.
  • Thalia Grace from Percy Jackson and the Olympians series: I like her because she is very loyal to her friends and family. Also, she is so loving. Lastly, her strength both physically and mentally is unbelievable.

Thank you everyone for your great lists!

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It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? #IMWAYR 7/1/19

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IMWAYR 2015 logo

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? From Picture Books to YA!

It’s Monday! What are you Reading? is a meme started by Sheila at Book Journeys and now hosted by Kathryn at The Book Date. It is a great way to recap what you read and/or reviewed the previous week and to plan out your reading and reviews for the upcoming week. It’s also a great chance to see what others are reading right now…you just might discover the next “must-read” book!

Kellee and Jen, of Teach Mentor Texts, decided to give It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? a kidlit focus. If you read and review books in children’s literature – picture books, chapter books, middle grade novels, young adult novels, anything in the world of kidlit – join us! We love this meme and think you will, too.

We encourage everyone who participates to support the blogging community by visiting at least three of the other book bloggers that link up and leave comments for them.

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Tuesday: Student Voices!: Favorite Authors by Emma, Maria, Lisa, Isaias, Miguel, Sujan, & Ellian

Friday: Teacher Guide for Polly Diamond and the Super Stunning Spectacular School Fair by Alice Kuipers

Sunday: Author Guest Post: “Suspension of Disbelief: Walking the Fine Line” by Tom Alan Brosz, Author of Roger Mantis

**Click on any picture/link to view the post**

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Kellee

We are moving homes here in Orlando, so I am going to take off about 6 weeks to get my family moved and settled. I’ll be back early August.

Ricki

My five-year-old and I have been filling in daily pages in a journal called Me: A Compendium by wee society. As you can see above, it is a journal that highlights the importance of the child and the child’s interests. He loves it and looks forward to doing a couple more pages each night, and it gives me time to spend with him doing something different and exciting. I am a big fan of this journal, and you can see a few of the pages above.

I am still seeking two more middle or high school teachers to share their ideas for teaching YAL in Teacher Call-Out Boxes in a book I am writing for NCTE. I have eight solid contributors and was hoping to round out to ten contributors total. If you know teachers who creatively use YAL in their classrooms, would you please send them my way? I am particularly seeking teachers who teach a YAL elective, but I am open to any uses of the literature. Middle and high school teachers only, please. 🙂

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Ricki

I am not sure where my next reading travel will go. My youngest is nine weeks old, and it seems to be hard to keep up on sleep and reading. I know it is just a short period of time, and I will be back in action soon. I am sorry I haven’t been sharing a lot of books!

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Tuesday: Student Voices!: Favorite Characters by Isaias, Miguel, Max, Kaley, Ellian, Sujan, Mariana, Daniela, Vanessa, Angelina, & Nitya

Friday: Sonny’s Bridge: Jazz Legend Sonny Rollins Finds His Groove by Barry Wittenstein

Sunday: Author Guest Post: “Making Lemonade out of Lemons: Creating Humor out of Sadness” by Naomi Milliner, Author of Super Jake & the King of Chaos

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Link up below and go check out what everyone else is reading. Please support other bloggers by viewing and commenting on at least 3 other blogs. If you tweet about your Monday post, tag the tweet with #IMWAYR!

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Author Guest Post: “Suspension of Disbelief: Walking the Fine Line” by Tom Alan Brosz, Author of Roger Mantis

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“Suspension of Disbelief: Walking the Fine Line” 

In many works of science fiction or fantasy, books or movies, the reader or viewer is often required to do what’s called “suspending disbelief.”

This means that the reader must gently suppress some of the logical response to features of the story in order to enjoy the story itself. This is not a bad thing, and it happens all the time, particularly in fantasy. That’s why it’s called fantasy. When you read Watership Down, you know quite well that rabbits aren’t intelligent, and can’t talk, but you easily overlook it to immerse yourself in the book. Talking animals in stories predates writing itself, which tells you how long people have been suspending disbelief to enjoy a good yarn, or a fable with a lesson.

It’s not all that easy, though. As a writer of fantasy or SF, you need to encourage the suspension, but not push it too far, and it’s way too easy to push it too far. The last thing you want from your reader is the response, “Oh, come on, now. I’m not buying this!” The response isn’t usually that specific in the reader’s mind, it’s more often just a nagging discomfort that the writing has some big bumps in it that are distracting from the story itself.

My own book, Roger Mantis, is a humorous take-off of Kafka’s The Metamorphosis. In this case, the victim of a surprise transformation into a giant insect is an 11-year old boy, Roger McGillicutty. Roger Mantis is about how Roger manages to deal with it, how his friends and family deal with it, and how Roger manages the loss of his baseball dreams and tries to find new ones.

To make the story work, it was essential that the people around Roger accept his transformation into a giant praying mantis much more easily than would probably happen in real life. Otherwise, the idea of Roger talking to friends, going to school, and trying to play baseball just wouldn’t work at all.

If I were totally realistic about the situation (other than the giant mantis itself), my book would have ended at Chapter Two with poor Roger up a tall tree with terrified townspeople waving pitchforks, shotguns, and torches down below. So, a little suspension of disbelief, please.

My first attempt at this was to directly follow the lead of The Metamorphosis, where the characters are almost weirdly blasé about Gregor becoming a huge bug. It’s more of a household inconvenience than anything else. Even Gregor seems more concerned about his work issues than his six legs.

So, I tried this with Roger Mantis. This moved the story along nicely, but … well, here’s an early draft from the start of my story, as Roger the Giant Mantis surprises his mother coming out of his bedroom:

His mother dropped the laundry basket, and clothes fell on the floor as she stared at Roger.

“Mom?  Mom!  It’s me!  Roger!”  Roger tried to hold his evil-looking claws behind his narrow back.  It didn’t really work.

“Roger?  Roger!  What on earth have you done to yourself?” She looked at the floor. “Oh, no! My clean clothes!”

Okay, it’s funny, in a British humor kind of sense, but my editors thought it was a bit over the top as far as “acceptance” went. And if that’s what occurs to the reader first, instead of wanting to see what happens next, then you’ve gone over the suspension line. I had to agree with them, and the beginning of the book now has Roger hiding in the woods first, and his transformation is broken more slowly to his parents.

Okay, the level of acceptance is still a bit unrealistic, but hopefully not enough so that the reader gets pulled out of the book, and we can go on to the fun parts, and the real story of a boy dealing with something that can’t help but change his life drastically.

There were other issues of suspension of disbelief in Roger Mantis. The story depends on an entire town being able to mostly keep the secret of Roger’s existence. I placed the story back in the 70s to avoid the ubiquitous smartphones that make secrecy on almost anything impossible. But even so, it’s probably unlikely the existence of a giant talking insect wouldn’t leak out to a much larger extent than it did in the book. But by keeping it gentle, and having a few small leaks, I think I kept it within the suspension-of-disbelief limits.

And then of course, there’s the science. As one character in the book, Marlene, points out, a real giant insect couldn’t even stand up, and certainly couldn’t fly, but Roger does all these things easily. Weirdly, a character “hanging a lampshade” on something like this often actually helps the writer get across a disbelief hump. It kind of sends a message from the author to the reader, “Yeah, I know about this, but let’s all agree to overlook it together so we can have some fun.” Note to science fiction writers: you have a tougher row to hoe in this area than fantasy writers.

It’s not just about fantasy and science fiction, either. The suspension of disbelief problem can be an issue for any kind of story. Way too many coincidences in the plot? A first-class deus ex machina? A glaring plot hole? Even a mystery or romance book can fall afoul of these problems, and haul the reader uncomfortably out of the story.

Are there hard and fast rules to help with suspension of disbelief? Not really. The borderline between belief and disbelief depends on genre, writing style, humorous or serious, age of the target reader, and way too many other things.

So how do you deal with it? Experience helps, including a lot of reading in your chosen genre and age group, and some good beta readers. And of course, a good editor helps a lot more.

Roger Mantis: The Remarkable Transformation of Roger McGillicutty
Author: Tom Alan Borsz
Published April 2nd, 2019 by Tantrum Books

About the Book: Roger McGillicutty, 11, wakes up one Saturday morning and finds out he has unexpectedly transformed into a five-foot praying mantis.

His parents seem to be coping with it fairly well, and his dog Lou is okay with it, but how will the rest of the town of Highland Falls handle it? Roger has school on Monday, the carnival’s coming to town next week, and his Little League team is playing their biggest rival Centerville next Saturday. Being a giant bug will seriously cramp his style!

Or maybe not. Things begin to change when Roger performs a spectacular rescue of his classmates from a broken Ferris wheel.

Roger McGillicutty: a six-legged freak, or just possibly a superhero?

Roger’s story takes off from the famous beginning lines of Kafka’s The Metamorphosis, and then flies in an entirely different direction. Behind the adventure and the humor is a story about accepting who you are—your talents and limitations—and learning how to make the most of it.

About the Author: Tom Alan Brosz actually is a rocket scientist (sort of), having done design and engineering work in the private space industry back before the private space industry was cool. His qualifications for writing this book are that he has experience in raising children who like bugs and raising pet mantises for those children. Normal-sized mantises, of course.

Blog: https://tomalanbrosz.wordpress.com/
Roger Mantis website: https://rogermantis.com/

Thank you so much for this guest post looking at the thought process into fantasy writing!