Novel – Page 61 – Unleashing Readers

Author Guest Post!: “Science Fiction and Science Fact: World-building in The Riven Chronicles” by Amalie Howard

May 15, 2016 by Kellee

“Science Fiction and Science Fact: World-building in The Riven Chronicles”

According to the laws of physics, time travel and inter-dimensional travel are both possible. Having been a science fiction fan for most of my life (Star Wars, Dune, Aliens, and The Fifth Element all grace my top 10 movie list), when I wrote The Riven Chronicles, I knew the world-building and the concept of jumping between universes, had to be complex but relatable, especially for a young adult market. As a fiction writer, any world has to have rules, and those rules have to be consistent or the world falls apart. So step one was definitely research.

I really disliked physics in high school. Disliked is probably an underestimation—I loathed it. During class, I took excessively long bathroom breaks. At home, I agonized over pages of homework I could barely understand. And yet, when I was researching worm holes and parallel universes for The Almost Girl, the first book in my series, I found myself completely fascinated by the laws of physics—a nightmare realm that had instigated far more than its fair share of cold sweats during my teen years. I became sucked into a deliciously dark underworld of sub-quantum mechanics, astrophysics, advanced robotics, nanotechnology, and claytronics.

Building off of Albert Einstein’s space and time theories, physicists throughout history have been hell-bent on reverse engineering the universe and explaining it at its most basic level—discovering the so-called Theory of Everything. Who knew that Hugh Everett’s “Many-Worlds Theory” was an interpretation of quantum mechanics where every possible outcome could happen causing multiple universes (though we wouldn’t be aware of them)? Or that Michio Kaku would come up with String Field Theory demonstrating that gravity could interact between two parallel universes? Or that Stephen Hawking would contend that wormholes exist in a phenomenon called quantum foam? Mind blown. Literally.

Using quantum theory and the microscopic gaps in the universe to allow two distinct points in time and space to connect, I could jump off of Kaku’s string theory, and bolster it with Kip Thorne’s theories of anti-gravitational quantum vacuums to engineer my wormholes, and then tie it into zero-point energy as my “launch” spots to jump between universes (for which I invented the term eversion). Ultimately, I had to take whatever theory I decided to use and make it work for my intended reader. I was looking for complex simplicity—something rooted in the laws of physics, but also accessible to my readers of any strata … meaning making it credible for savvy, erudite sci-fi readers and making it relatable for high-concept teen ones. It was a delicate balance.

Here’s an excerpt from The Almost Girl where I explain this element in my mythology.

A picture forms on the flat-screens in the center of the room. It looks like an hourglass broken up into small squares. “That is a two-dimensional drawing of a traversable wormhole. It’s basically a bridge in space with two different end points. Think of the universe as made up of an infinite number of universes. Some of these universes are coupled by a gravitational field, which means that we can communicate between them.” […] “How it works is a whole other story. We’re talking string theory and sub-quantum mechanics, basically the relationship between space-time, gravity, energy, and matter.”

~ The Almost Girl

As I indicated earlier, I also came up with the concept of “eversion” or “to evert,” which in my mythology means to jump between universes. It’s based on the words trans-inversion (reversal of position) and trans-eversion (turning inside out). I knew I wanted something unique that would work within my framework and wouldn’t be something too generic. I wanted the word to convey an inimitable sense of what it intended—not just something as ordinary as jumping. The word itself had to be a process, one of flipping inside out, and one that conjured thoughts of its own journey.

All in all, writing The Riven Chronicles was an incredible learning experience, especially as it related to science fact and science fiction. I learned that the world of physics is a fascinating one, and that there is so much more to who we are and the universe in which we exist. I learned that something you experience in middle school or high-school could evolve into something extraordinary when approached in a different way—even something as painful as physics (gasp). I learned that science fiction is an awesome space to be in as a writer—it’s a world of infinite possibility with so many opportunities to create. I’m pretty sure that we aren’t the only intelligent life out there, whether that’s in alternate or parallel universes, or in other galaxies. And until that’s proven, for now, I’ll continue to exist in the universes of my own making.

About the Author: Amalie Howard is the award-winning Indie Next author of Alpha Goddess, the Aquarathi series, and the Cruentus Curse series. Her debut novel, Bloodspell, was an Amazon bestseller and a Seventeen Summer Read. Visit her website at www.amaliehoward.com and follow her on Twitter at @AmalieHoward.

FallenPrince_cover

About The Almost Girl: Seventeen-year-old Riven comes from a world parallel to Earth, a world that has been ravaged by a devastating android war. As a Legion General, she is the right hand of Prince Cale, the young Prince of Neospes. In her world, she’s had everything: rank, responsibility, and respect. But when Prince Cale sends her away to rescue his long-lost brother, Caden, who has been spirited to modern day Earth, Riven finds herself in uncharted territory.

Armed with the mindset of a soldier and racing against time to bring Caden home, Riven must learn how to blend in as a girl in a realm that is the opposite of all she’s ever known. Will she be able to find the strength to defy her very nature? Or will she become the monstrous soldier she was designed to be?

About The Fallen Prince: When a new enemy threatens her home, Riven’s only hope may be the man who made her a monster.

Riven has fought for a hard-won peace in her world, and has come to shaky terms with who and what she is—a human with cyborg DNA. Now that the rightful ruler of Neospes has been reinstated, Riven is on the hunt for her father in the Otherworld to bring him to justice for his crimes against her people.

But when she receives an unwelcome visit from two former allies, she knows that trouble is brewing once again in Neospes. The army has been decimated and there are precious few left to fight this mysterious new threat.

To muster a first line of defense, her people need help from the one person Riven loathes most: her father. But what he wants in return is her complete surrender. And now Riven must choose: save Neospes or save herself.

This exciting sequel to The Almost Girl combines science, action, and romance in a compelling, hard-to-put-down package.

Thank you to Amalie for the guest post!

and

Rescued by Eliot Schrefer

May 13, 2016May 13, 2016 by Kellee

Rescued
Author: Eliot Schrefer
Published April 26th, 2016 by Scholastic

Goodreads Summary: The third entry in the taut, heart-wrenching quartet that made Eliot Schrefer a two-time National Book Award finalist introduces us to an orangutan held captive in suburban America.

John grows up with everything he could possibly want. His father is a businessman who travels far and wide. One day, he comes home with a rare gift for his son, a baby orangutan, and the two become inseparable friends. But as the orangutan gets older, stronger, less cute, the family relegates the animal to a locked trailer in the backyard. Until John’s father finally decides to sell the ape to a roadside zoo. Coming to the defense of his childhood friend, John resolves to smuggle the orangutan back to Indonesia, and the two set out on a journey far more dangerous than John bargained for.

My Review: I think out of the three Ape Quartet books published so far, this is the one that is going to hit closest to home for many. It will make many readers uncomfortable and want to make a change. First, it takes place in the United States unlike Africa like the first two. Second, it really digs into an issue that is still very much prominent here–animal injustice.

I find Schrefer’s writing to be so beautiful yet so easy to read. He can pull you into his stories and makes you feel for not only his human characters but also his animal characters. He does such a tremendous amount of research for all of his books and with this one it brings the injustice of Raja alive.

I am a sucker for ape books. I find apes to be the most fascinating animals, and orangutans may be my favorite because they have these amazing eyes that just show me that they are so intelligent and deep thinkers. They are also introverts; I think I just relate to them in that way. This book brings orangutans to life through Raja.

Teachers’ Tools for Navigation: As evident from Schrefer’s status as a two-time National Book Award finalist, his books can be used as a mentor text for just about any aspect of writing that you are looking for: characterization, imagery, voice, conflict, etc. Read any of his books, and you can pull out so much to discuss and use within the classroom. Additionally, there are some amazing ape books, including Schrefer’s other Ape Quartet books, that would make for an amazing lit circle opportunity or text set.

Discussion Questions: Why does John feel obligated to help Raja?; What would you have done if you were John or John’s mom when the divorce happened? Or when John’s father showed up with Raja?; Why is it better for wild animals to be in the wild?

Flagged Passages: “Every family’s got something weird about it, and mine was no different. We just had to try harder than most to hide it. All it took was someone to walk in the door to see that we had an orangutan. A real-live, orange-brown, TV-obsessed, drinking-grapefruit-juice-from-the-carton orangutan.” (p. 11)

“The truck’s engine rumbled, and the trailer pulled away. I watched it go, stunned.

You did this, I scolded myself. You let this happen.

Sweat had soaked my shirt, ran from the pits down my arms. The heat radiating up from the pavement made me dizzy, even though the perspiration on my brow was chill. I bent over, hands on my knees. I could feel the cords of my neck stand out, straining. Getting ready to start my stomach, at least, back at zero.

I heaved in air, and it sounded like a sob. Then it was a sob. Something huge and dark and terrible came out of me, something that had tamped down for so long that it had become even more huge and dark and terrible.

One last sob came out of me, then all was quiet.

There, slumped in the dirt, was Raja’s old blue elephant. (p. 69-70)

Read This If You Loved: Endangered and Threatened by Eliot Schrefer (Ape Quartet #1 and #2 yet are all stand alone novels), Hurt Go Happy by Ginny Rorby, One and Only Ivan by Kathering Applegate, Ivan: The Remarkable True Story of the Shopping Mall Gorilla by Katherine Applegate, Top Ten Ape Book list from Nerdy Book Club (I’ll be updating here on Unleashing Readers soon)

Recommended For:

Review and Author Interview: Camp Rolling Hills series by Stacy Davidowitz

May 11, 2016 by Kellee

Camp Rolling Hills
Camp Rolling Hills: Crossing Over
Author: Stacy Davidowitz
Published May 10th, 2016 by Amulet Paperbacks

Camp Rolling Hills’s Goodreads Summary: A hilarious and heartfelt series about the particular magic of summer camp—a place where reinvention is possible and friends are like family—from a sparkling debut talent.

Finally, it’s summer! Stephanie—aka Slimey—has been counting the days until she can return to her favorite place in the entire world, Camp Rolling Hills. And this year she’s especially happy to be back—she’ll have eight blissful weeks away from home, where life has been decidedly rocky.

New kid Bobby, on the other hand, is pretty sure he’s in for the worst summer of his life. He does not understand his weirdo cabinmates, the group singing, and the unfortunate nicknames (including his: Smelly). But he does understand Slimey, and the two soon fall in crush. This summer might not be so bad after all!

But then a fight sets off an epic, campwide, girls-versus-boys prank war. Bunks are raided! Boxer shorts are stolen! And it’s up to Slimey and Smelly to keep the peace.

Crossing Over’s Goodreads Summary: There’s only one thing Melman loves more than soccer: her summers at Camp Rolling Hills. So she’s pumped to be back—until she realizes her bunkmates have gone totally boy-crazy over the school year and plastered their cabin in pink. Pink posters, pink t-shirts…it seems that the only not-pink thing in the cabin is Melman herself. That is, until she’s given a dare in front of the entire camp: wear a pink princess dress. For Three. Whole. Days.

Steinberg’s summer gets off to a rough start, too, when his robot (usually his area of expertise) blows up during a camp-wide robotics contest. Steinberg might feel like a loser at home, but camp’s supposed to be his place to shine.

Steinberg without robots? Melman in pink? This whole summer feels turned upside down! To set things right, Steinberg and Melman team up and hatch a fail-proof plan. The plan’s secret ingredient? Hamburgers.

About the Author: Stacy Davidowitz is a camp-obsessed writer of books, plays, and screenplays. She also enjoys acting, singing, running long distances, and teaching theater all over New York City. Her alma maters are Tufts University, Columbia University, and Tyler Hill Camp. The Camp Rolling Hills series marks her debut as an author. Visit Stacy at www.stacydavidowitz.com and www.camprollinghills.com.

Author Q&A: Thank you to Stacy Davidowitz for answering some questions I had about the books and her writing!

Kellee: You share in your author’s note that your time at camp inspired these books. Can you tell us more about what inspired you, and how it directly affected the novels?

Stacy: I love camp. Truly, deeply love it. Experiencing it as a camper and then counselor and then head staff, I really got to understand its in and outs, and most importantly, the kind of positive impact it can have on a kid. So of course plots and activities and even the camp‘s layout are derived from my experiences, but also the bigger themes: friendship, being true to who you are, firsts–that’s the heart of the inspiration. I made such fantastic friends and helped nurture friendships among campers when I worked as a counselor; I experienced life-changing firsts I could never experience at home; and I learned to embrace my quirkiness with my bunkmates by my side.

Kellee: The sequel to Camp Rolling Hills is told from different perspectives than the first. Why did you decide to switch point of views? Will the next books go through the other campers’ POVs?

Stacy: When I wrote the initial draft of the first book, it was actually told from five perspectives: Slimey, Smelly, Play Dough, Jenny, and Steinberg. But when Abrams picked it up to be a series, we talked about what would work best. Ultimately we decided that each book should be told from the perspective of a different boy and girl. So Book One is Slimey and Smelly. Book Two is Melman and Steinberg. Book Three is Jenny and Play Dough. And Book Four is Missi and Wiener. If Abrams extends the series to six books, then we’ll get the perspectives of Sophie, Jamie, Totle, and Dover, too! Camp Rolling Hills is such an ensemble piece that having the series narrated by all the kids just feels right.

Kellee: You are a teacher of theater in NYC. How has your time teaching kids influenced you to want to write and want to write specifically these books?

Stacy: I teach a lot of playwriting and creative writing, even in the theater classes I lead. My students inspire me every day. Their ideas are so uninhibited. Exciting. Fresh. Alive. Honest. So of course that makes me want to do the same! It’s really cool to be able to write wacky, sweet, and adventurous characters my students can identify with. Also, writing middle grade is just so fun! Kids are smart and silly and it’s rewarding to be able to shine that light on them.

Kellee: Other than (hopeful) sequels, what’s next?

Stacy: I’m working on a dark young adult novel at the moment called Leper. I’m also co-writing a musical for Big Block Entertainment, the producers of Rock of Ages. Camp Rolling Hills the Musical (yup, it’s a musical, too!) is getting two productions this summer. One in Westport, Connecticut at Center Stage and another in NYC at New York Musical Festival (NYMF). Plus a play of mine called Sacred Water is being workshopped at Symphony Space, NYC in early July through a festival about social change!

My Review: The crazy cast of characters are what really make this book. Oh, and the reminiscing of camp. Camp really is something that is hard to explain unless you go yourself, but Stacy Davidowitz does a great job bringing the reader into Camp Rolling Hills and all of its quirkiness. And to add to the quirkiness, the characters in the books are so much fun! They are quite the mix of personalities. From stereotypical girly-girls to a cat-obsessed, sweet girl to a do gooder to a philosophical jock. Their interactions and characterization are what keep you reading the most! I also love the mix of letters home throughout the books.

Teachers’ Tools for Navigation: The Camp Rolling Hills books would be a fun way to get letter writing into the classroom conversation. First, I’d use the letters as conversation starters into characterization asking the students, “What can you tell about these characters based on their letters?” And discuss what clues the students used to figure it out. I’d then move to a RAFT (Role, Audience, Format, Topic) activity asking each student to write a letter as a made up character they were assigned. The Camp Rolling Hills website even has stationery!

Discussion Questions: Although each cabin is filled with friends, each character is quite unique. How do the characters differ? Compare?; What would your camp nickname be?; What makes camp so special?; How did the campers change between books?

Flagged Passages: “Things to Do No that I’m in Anita Hill Cabin (Upper Camp!)

Be a good role model.
Make a special camp collage of my friends and our inside jokes.
Box-stitch extra lanyard key chains for Mom, since stress makes her lose her keys.
Spend A LOT of time with my camp sister/soul sister/BFF.

Slimey had always wanted a sister, and she treasured the times she and Melman pretended they were fraternal twins separated at birth. Fraternal, because they looked nothing alike. Twins, because their birthdays were only three days apart, and they’d always understood exactly how the other felt.” (Camp Rolling Hills, p. 2)

“‘Well, how do you like camp so far?’
‘It’s fine.’
Fine? No one describes camp as fine. Amazing, incredible, life-changing, maybe. But never fine.”

‘The first time I came here,’ she offered, ‘it took me a couple of days to realize how much I loved it, but once you do, you love it forever. You’ll see.'” (Camp Rolling Hills, p. 41)

Read This If You Loved: Honor Girl by Maggie Thrash, Hidden by Helen Frost, Brain Camp by Susan Kim, Breakfast Served Anytime by Sarah Combs, Lumberjanes by Noelle Stevenson, Like Bug Juice on a Burger by Julie Sternberg

Recommended For:

**Thank you to Caitlin at Abrams for providing copies for review!!**

Blog Tour, Giveaway, and Author Guest Post!: “When Characters Come Alive” by Beth Vrabel, Author of Camp Dork

May 23, 2016May 8, 2016 by Ricki

“When Characters Come Alive”

“Do Lucy and Alice know each other?”

A young reader asked me this recently when I met with their class to talk about writing and reading. The students had read Pack of Dorks as a classroom read-aloud and several of them went on to read A Blind Guide to Stinkville on their own.

The grin on my face had to look ridiculous as I tried to figure out how to answer this question. Did Lucy, my snarky and loyal protagonist in Pack of Dorks, know quiet and brave Alice from A Blind Guide to Stinkville?

Luckily another student piped in. “There is no way they’d like each other, if they have met. Alice is way too mature for Lucy.”

“But Alice and Sam would get along,” replied the first student, mentioning Lucy’s best friend.

“Actually,” I said, and there really is no word to describe the thrill pulsating through me at that moment. “Sam and Alice are cousins.”

“What?” they said together, minds blown.

I nodded. “Look for clues in Camp Dork.”

As an author, that was the best conversation ever, one that’s making me grin like a scary clown as I write about it now. These readers weren’t asking if Alice and Lucy would meet in further books. They wanted to know if they knew each other now, in the land fictional characters live when we close our books. To them, Lucy and Alice aren’t personas I created. They’re real.

I see the same thing in my son when he talks about his current literary obsession—Harry Potter. “I wish he’d be a little more careful with his Invisibility Cloak,” he mused as I put him to bed. “It makes me nervous that he just leaves it lying around.”

Ask my son anything about Harry Potter, and he can immediately give you the answer. What’s in his pocket? “A golden snitch.” What’s on his bedroom floor? “Chocolate Frog wrappers.” What’s his biggest fear? “Dementors.”

This ability to talk about characters with the same conviction and intimate understanding we would use to describe as our friends happens because of one thing: Voice.

When a character has a distinctive and authentic voice, not only do the stories become alive, so do the characters.

Finding that voice is the hardest aspect of writing for me. Even writing the dreaded synopsis is easier than this essential step.

It’s tricky because it feels like I’m not working. It feels—and looks like—a lot of staring into space, eating candy and drinking coffee. But really, I’m thinking of my characters, trying to unravel what makes them meaningful, how they view the world, what makes them unique.

Assigning them quirks is easy. Making those quirks meaningful and capable of moving forward characters’ stories is tough.

A Blind Guide to Normal (releasing in October) tells the story of Ryder Raymond, a fourteen-year-old boy who always has a pun or a joke at the ready. The reason for this is pretty obvious: He wants to make you laugh before you can laugh at him.

But sometimes, as an author, I’m the only one who understands a character’s quirks. Take for example Sheldon in the Pack of Dorks series. He is completely obsessed with dinosaurs. He wears shirts with iron-on dinosaurs and shoelaces with dino prints. Every conversation with Sheldon will eventually go back to dinosaurs. I haven’t yet shared in the series why Sheldon is obsessed—how when he was a toddler, he and his dad used to go for walks looking for tracks and spend hours playing with toy dinosaurs. I haven’t mentioned that Sheldon’s dad isn’t part of his life any more, but the dinosaurs still are. But I know that, and it helps me move Sheldon through the series.

When I’m to the point where I can talk about my characters the way those students did Lucy and Alice—putting them in new situations and seeing how they’d respond—only then am I able to write their stories.

And it’s only when I see that these characters have blossomed to life for readers, too, that I know all that space-staring potato-chip-eating coffee-drinking was time well spent.

Young writers who are just beginning to tap into their own ability to story tell might benefit from continuing the stories of characters they already know and love.

I remember doing this myself when I was in middle school. Winnie Foster went on to have many more adventures in my mind after finishing Tuck Everlasting. I told myself stories about her growing older, times when she would run to the stream and debate drinking from it. Times that she was so glad she never had.

Another classroom I visited offered up another pinch-me moment as an author. The students told me they loved to play Pack of Dorks at recess, taking turns being Lucy, Sam and the rest of the gang. The character most coveted was Lucy’s baby sister Molly.

The teacher told me she encourages them to put these new adventures on paper during classroom free writing time. What an incredible idea!

Young writers given the freedom to continue their favorite characters’ stories will no doubt give them the confidence to tap into their own storytelling, find their own voice.

“I still think Lucy and Alice should meet,” the student told me as our classroom discussion ended. “It’d be a good story.”

“I think so, too,” I told her. “And you should write it.”

Camp Dork

About the Book:

Lucy and her pack are back, in this sequel to Beth Vrabel’s heartwarming and humorous debut, Pack of Dorks. Sheldon convinces Lucy, Sam, April, and Amanda to join him at a weeklong sleep-away summer camp—Camp Paleo: Live Like a Caveman. Like cavemen, they’re going to have to make do without air conditioning or a heated pool. They’ll learn archery and dig for fossils. And Grandma’s coming too; she’s taking a job as lunch lady for the camp next door.

At the last minute, Sam backs out to go to a gymnastics training camp instead. Lucy wonders why she misses him so much—it’s not like he’s her boyfriend or anything. Why does the word “boyfriend” make her blush, even when she’s only thinking it? She needs a distraction. Enter Mr. Bosserman, the grouchy camp leader who won’t budge on the caveman aspect of the camp. The old man needs some softening up, and Lucy knows just the person for the job: Grandma.

One successful match made, Lucy starts to see potential lovebirds everywhere. And setting up couples keeps her from facing the question tickling the back of her mind: Is she in love with Sam? But when the wrong campers fall for each other, the pack falls apart, all under the watchful eye of a super secret blogger who’s been writing about the camp’s activities Gossip Girl–style. Even worse? A thief is targeting everyone but Lucy, setting her up to look guilty. Soon Lucy again finds herself alone, left to fix the messes she’s made and face her own feelings. If she fails, the pack may be splintered for good.

For readers aged 8 to 12, this is a funny but poignant book about bullying, crushes, the harmful nature of rumors, and the importance of friendship and telling the truth. A great book to read aloud in the classroom for discussions or to simply read on a summer trip.

Goodreads Link: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/25898670-pack-of-dorks

Giveaway!:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

About the Author: Beth Vrabel grew up in a small town in Pennsylvania. She won a short-story contest in fourth grade and promptly decided writing was what she was going to do with her life. Although her other plans–becoming a Yellowstone National Park ranger, and a professional roller skater–didn’t come to fruition, she stuck with the writing. Beth’s backround is journalism and was editor of two regional magazines and a lifestyle columnist. Beth now writes full time.

Her books include Pack of Dorks series and A Blind Guide to Stinkville (Sky Pony Press). Her latest release, Camp Dork, hit bookstores in May.

A Blind Guide to Normal releases in October.

Author Links:

Website: www.bethvrabel.com

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/AuthorBethVrabel/

Twitter: https://twitter.com/beth_vrabel

GoodReads: https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/7710163.Beth_Vrabel

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/authorbethvrabel/

Thank you to Beth for this post. We hope our readers enjoyed her conversation with these students as much as we did! We’ve been fortunate to feature Beth on the blog before. Please check out her other guest post, “My Son’s Teacher’s Approach to Reading.“

Thank you to Lisa at Tasty Book PR for connecting us with Beth!

and

Blog Tour, Author Guest Post, and Review!: Cici Reno #MiddleSchoolMatchmaker by Kristina Springer

August 7, 2016May 6, 2016 by Kellee

Cici Reno #MiddleSchoolMatchmaker
Author: Kristina Springer
Published April 16th, 2016 by Sterling Children’s Books

Goodreads Summary: Middle school is a test, but Cici Reno has all the answers. She’s the go-to girl for advice. She’s cool, she’s funny, and she’s enlightened (thanks to yoga classes at her mom’s studio). So when her pretty BFF, Aggie, is too shy to speak to the boy she’s crushing on, Cici goes online and does the talking for her. The only problem is, Cici starts to fall for the guy herself! For the first time in her life. she doesn’t have a clue.

My Review: Cici Reno is a refreshing addition to middle grade romance. As a middle school teacher, I am always happy when there is a romance novel that actually features middle school kids instead of high schoolers. The thinking and feelings differ so much between 6th and 9th grade that sometimes the YA romance novels are a bit mature for the middle schoolers that want to read about crushes and dating. And Cici Reno is a book that middle schoolers will flock to not only because of the romance but because of the humor, Cici’s true voice, and the story of friendship.

Teachers’ Tools for Navigation (Teachers’ Tools for Navigation):
“Using Classic Retellings in the Middle Grade Classroom” by Kristina Springer

As readers, we love a good classic retelling. Renée Ahdieh reimagined The Arabian Nights in her #1 NYT Bestseller, The Wrath and the Dawn. The Coming of the Dragon by Rebecca Barnhouse was inspired by Beowulf. The Real Boy by Anne Ursu offered a new look at Pinnocchio. My first young adult novel, The Espressologist, was a twist on Jane Austen’s Emma. (In my book, the main character is a coffee shop barista who discovers a talent for matchmaking her customers based on their favorite coffee drinks.) And of course, Romeo and Juliet has been remade again and again and again (my favorite being Gnomeo and Juliet!).

With my newest middle grade book, Cici Reno #MiddleSchoolMatchmaker, I decided to do a modern twist of the Cyrano de Bergerac story, set in middle school and with Twitter instead of balconies and bushes.

Cici Reno, is the 12 ¾-year old enlightened daughter of a Yogi. When she’s not helping out at her mom’s beloved Peony Lane Yoga Studio or taking a class herself, she’s solving all of the 7^th grade’s problems, be it boy trouble or BFF drama. When her shy best friend Aggie asks for Cici’s help in getting the attention of the boy she likes, Cici goes online and does the talking for her. Only the more they talk, the more she falls for him herself. What’s a girl to do?

Studying a classic story and some of its retellings could be a fun and creative activity for middle grade classrooms. Here’s a suggestion of how you can approach this:

Start with talking about the original classic tale. Let’s say you choose Cyrano de Bergerac as I did. Talk about the original play written by Edmond Rostand in 1897. Show pictures of the real Cyrano de Bergerac for which the play is based on. More info here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyrano_de_Bergerac_(play) And show this really cute 1 minute, 35 second YouTube Last Minute Book Report clip of Cyrano de Bergerac to get an overall sense of the story. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-u52OLtAws8
Have your class read through a bit of the play together out loud to get a sense of the relationship between Roxane, Christian, and Cyrano. Perhaps the balcony scene in Act 3, Scenes 6 and 7 where we see Christian bumbling for his words and Cyrano stepping in to rescue him. You can find the play this here: http://www.poetryintranslation.com/PITBR/French/Cyranoact3.htm
Talk about some of the movie adaptions of Cyrano de Bergerac over the years like Roxanne and The Truth about Cats and Dogs. If time and interest allows, show the 2012 Disney Original Movie, Let it Shine. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Let_It_Shine_(film)
Read my book, Cici Reno #MiddleSchoolMatchmaker, and discuss the similarities and differences between the original and this modern retelling. Consider having the students use a Venn Diagram to do this. Have them discuss why they think I, as the author, made certain changes and if those changes improved the story or not.
Have the students try writing their own modern short story re-telling of Cyrano de Bergerac. And have fun sharing them with each other!

About the Author: Kristina Springer is the author of Cici Reno #MiddleSchoolMatchmaker (Sterling Children’s/April 19, 2016), My Fake Boyfriend Is Better Than Yours (Macmillan/FSG), a Scholastic Bestseller and 2012 YALSA Quick Pick book; The Espressologist (Macmillan,/FSG), a 2010 Society of School Librarians International Honor Book and 2014 Illinois Reads Book that has been purchased for film by Michael Eisner’s Vuguru; and Just Your Average Princess (Macmillan/FSG). She has a Masters in Writing from DePaul University and resides in a suburb of Chicago with her husband and children. Learn more about Kristina on her website: http://KristinaSpringer.com.

Flagged Passages: “‘Wow, you think of everything,’ Aggie says. ‘It sounds completely perfect. Only one thing.’

‘What’s that?’

‘I can’t talk to him, Cici! You heard me at the bonfire. I go from zero to dork in 2.3 seconds.’

‘But you’ll be online,’ I tell her. ‘You can take your time typing, really form your thoughts.’

‘Yeah. I guess.’ She pauses. ‘Or you could talk to him for me. Please? You’re so much better around guys than I am. Always so relaxed and cool. And funny,’ she adds.” (p. 35)

Read This If You Loved: Cyrano de Bergerac, Camp Rolling Hills by Stacy Davidowitz, Audition & Subtraction by Amy Fellner Dominy, Drama by Raina Telgemeier

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Review, Signed Hard Copy Giveaway, and Author Interview: Invisible Fault Lines by Kristen-Paige Madonia

May 5, 2016 by Ricki

Invisible Fault Lines
Authors: Kristin-Paige Madonia
Anticipated Publication: May 3, 2016 by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

Summary: Tired of living in limbo, Callie finally decides to investigate her father’s disappearance for herself. Maybe there was an accident at the construction site that he oversaw? Maybe he doesn’t remember who he is and is lost wandering somewhere? But after seeing a familiar face in a photo from the Great San Francisco Earthquake of 1906, she wonders if the answer is something else entirely.

Hailed by Judy Blume as a “remarkable young novelist,” Kristen-Paige Madonia, author of Fingerprints of You, explores how to rebuild a life after everything seems lost.

My Review: This book kept me guessing! From the very first page, I wondered what happened to the narrator’s father. About halfway through, I realized that it didn’t matter what happened to him because this is a story about character. It is an emotional ride through the trauma of a young girl’s life after her father goes missing. I felt all of her emotions right along with her—guilt, fear, anger. I particularly enjoyed the evolvement of her friendship with her best friend Beckett. I appreciate authors who feature characters who happen to be gay—rather than making this the sole focus of a story. I recommend this book to readers who enjoy strong character development.

Teachers’ Tools for Navigation: Teachers might consider tying this story into a study of missing persons. This investigation could go beyond children as missing persons and extend into adults who are missing. Students might research local missing persons in their area, and this could lead to advocacy efforts.

Discussion Questions: What do you think happened to Callie’s father? What different potential realities does Callie explore in the story?; How does the author switch the point-of-view effectively to deepen our understanding of the story?; What emotions does Callie experience in the story? How might we tie these into the stages of grief? Should she feel guilty that she doesn’t start looking for her father immediately? Why or why not?

Flagged Passage: “My father disappeared on a Tuesday that should’ve been like any Tuesday, but eventually became the Tuesday my father disappeared.”

Read This Series If You Loved: Fingerprints of You by Kristen-Paige Madonia; If I Stay by Gayle Forman; Vanishing Girls by Lauren Oliver; Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley, The Body of Christopher Creed by Carol Plum-Ucci

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Interview with Kristen-Paige Madonia

Can you tell us a little bit about your writing process/ How has writing this book been different from writing Fingerprints of You?

The most important thing I learned from writing Invisible Fault Lines is that my process will inevitably change depending on the project. My first book, Fingerprints of You, was a fairly straightforward novel with a traditional structure and timeline, so I wrote it start to finish and was able to create the first draft in less than two months — of course it took much longer to revise and polish, but in general is was quick and relatively easy to write. My new novel is much more complicated, as it blends a contemporary mystery set in 2006 with bits and pieces set one-hundred years earlier, as the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake plays a large role in the novel. It’s a hybrid novel, and the narrative arc is a bit more intricate, so though I initially tried to use the same process I used when writing Fingerprints of You, it just didn’t work. Eventually I wrote the book out of order and then went back, during revision, and braided the two storylines together. So in terms of process, I suppose it’s ever changing! And of course that’s one of the reasons that I write – there are no rules and there’s no one way to do it. It’s about experimenting, about doing something different each time you sit down to work.

Where/How did you come up with the premise of this book?

Like most writers, I write from a place of curiosity. With Fingerprints of You, I was curious about the ways we define family, but this novel stemmed from my curiosity about grief and the various modes we use to manage and process loss. I began writing it after hearing David Levithan read from his novel Two Boys Kissing, specifically honing in on the sentence that eventually became the epigraph of Invisible Fault Lines: “How beautiful the ordinary becomes once it disappears.” We were both at Wordstock Book Festival in Portland, and I was in between projects, hoping to find inspiration while traveling to publicize Fingerprints of You. And there it was. That line. I couldn’t get it out of my head. I tend to begin stories with an event after which nothing will be the same for the character, and that idea of ordinary, of how our version of ordinary can shift in an instant, intrigued me. So I wanted to write about that kind of shift and about the possibility of the impossible being possible, which is where the link to the historical event, the earthquake of 1906, originated. I knew I wanted to do something completely different than Fingerprints of You and that I wanted to experiment with form and genre while staying true to my character-driven style of writing.

From the outset, we wonder what happened to Callie’s father, and at one point, Callie and her friends explore potential reasons for his disappearance. We obviously won’t spoil the book for readers, but did you know how the book would end from the very beginning?

I did. I knew that I wanted to invite the reader to participate in the novel in a more active role than my last novel allowed. I believe all books are collaborative projects between the author and the reader, but this novel leans heavily on what the reader brings to the story, on what they want to believe and how they want to interpret the events in the book. When I first imagined the story, I decided that I wanted to write a book that honors the fact that not all questions have clear answers – I think it’s part of our job, as YA authors, to be realistic and honest with our readers while also allowing for and portraying hope, so that was one of my original goals, and it inevitably shaped the ending.

Beck is a wonderfully crafted character. Did you base him on anyone in your life?

Oh, he’s such a scene-stealer, isn’t he?! Every time he showed up in the novel, I fell a little bit more in love with him. No, he’s not based on anyone I know, but I imagine him to be a compilation of my best friends from high school and also my current best friends: honest, hilarious, and one-hundred percent golden-hearted.

You are a professor of YA Lit and creative writing. How has this impacted your position as an author or thoughts as a writer? Do you get feedback from students, or do you keep your work private?

This is such a complicated question, so in attempt to not write a fifteen-page essay here, I’ll simply say that I love what I do. I find great inspiration from working with students who hope to pursue a creative life, who find value in literature and the arts. But the reality is that every moment I spend teaching and planning and grading is one less moment that I spend writing my own work, and that’s the hard part. Teaching reminds me why I write and what my tools are in terms of craft, and actively publishing new work reminds me how important it is to be a positive literary citizen, to serve as a mentor and encourage and inspire young authors. It’s a hard balance, of course, but it’s also a privilege to be both a professor and a published author, so I could never complain about the challenges.

Are you working on anything new?

I am! And I’m in that bizarre and dreamlike phase of being equally terrified and excited by my new project. It’s also a protective phase in terms of not wanting to talk much about it yet, but I will say that it’s a project based on my curiosity about our reliance on technology and the environmental and creative effects of that reliance.

Thanks so much for having me on your blog – it’s been lovely to visit with you!

**Thank you to Kristen-Paige Madonia for providing an copy for review and a signed hard copy for the giveaway!**

Author Guest Post!: “Reading the Middle Grade Mind” by Sally Barlow-Perez, Author of The Unintended Runaways

May 1, 2016 by Kellee

“Reading the Middle Grade Mind”

Have you ever tried to steer one of your favorite kids toward one of your favorite books? You’re in eager enthusiasm mode. “Hey, you are going to LOVE this book!”

Then the kid rears back, looks like you asked him to drink a glass of hot chalk, gives you that look, and says, “Uh, thanks, but I don’t think so.”

Just like adults, kids pick books for their own reasons. And timing is everything. One week a reader might feel like something light that reflects familiar problems like, The Mother Daughter Book Club series; the next week he or she might relish the challenges of Wonder or maybe a visit to a whole to universe in The Lightning Thief or something as wacky as one of the Wimpy Kid books. It all depends on mood, just like it does with you and me. Or stress level. Or time availability. I’ve seen a 9-year old read and enjoy a Babysitter Club book – standard 3^rd grade level reading—during a school week, and Wonderstruck— 5^thgrade level reading–on her vacation. Makes sense. You and I don’t read Dostoevsky when we barely have time for lunch. Middle grade readers thrive on a huge variety of choice. Which is lucky, since as authors, we are just as eclectic as our young readers!

That said, I am sure there are those of us who try to shake loose a few practical thoughts before we set pen to paper to write our deathless prose. No doubt, in addition to prayer, you’ve tried to psyche out just where that sweet spot in middle grade literature is. Sure, there are trends and the Goodreads lists and I’m sure there are some left-brain writers out there who can successfully write to the formula. But since I’ve always favored on-the-spot research, I thought I’d go directly to the source: my sixth grade consultants: Sarah, Haley, Carolyn, Mia and Emily. “What have you been reading lately?” I asked them. These are just a few samples of the many titles they sent me:

Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library by Chris Grabenstein
I Will Always Write Back: How One Letter Changed Two Lives by Martin Ganda
The Agony and the Ecstasy by Irving Stone.
The Port Chicago 50 by Steve Sheinkin
School of Charm by Lisa Ann Scott
Black Beauty by Anna Sewall
Little Women by Louisa Mae Alcott
Number the Stars by Lois Lowry
Hope is a Ferris Wheel by Robin Herrera
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Wonder by R.J. Palacio
The Egypt Game by Zilpha Keatley Snyder

Sure, it’s a girls list; not much blood and guts there but look at the variety. From dystopia to Victoriana to the serious issues of an adolescent with a disability to pure escapism. Irving Stone, no less! Remarkable that reading tastes could vary so widely among such friends from the same school in the same grade with such similar backgrounds. My point being, that predicting subject matter that will appeal to every middle grader is a losing proposition.

Picture this—and if you’ve taken your children or your students to the library, you’ve seen it many times. A middle grader sitting on the floor between the stacks taking out book after book off the shelf, looking at it very briefly, and then returning it to that empty slot among the other books. Those poor, forlorn, rejected books. Someone put his or her heart and soul into writing that book! What was wrong with it! Well, it just didn’t suit, that’s all. For reasons we, as onlookers (or the unfortunate author of said rejected volume) will never know. My conclusion: short of writing a tome on the love life of ants, I might as well forget trying to guess what will suit the middle grade reader and suit myself instead.

At the same time—trying with some difficulty to recall my past life as a lit. major—I tryed to find the commonalities in the lists of books my sixth graders sent me. It wasn’t in the eras, the settings or the subject matter. They varied from Hogwarts, to Ghana, to the rural South, to a dystopian future, to small town USA, to ancient Rome. Lots of variety there and choice in those areas can be a matter of cover art, flap blurb or momentary whim. But in the protagonist (Lit. 101 !) I do think young people make a conscious choice to read a book featuring one of two different kinds of protagonists:

A character with whom they can completely identify; someone who shares their sensibilities, their strengths, their weaknesses, and their secret feelings; someone who permits them to sigh in relief, saying, “I am not alone; Someone else feels or behaves that way too.”
Or
A character with whom they can partially identify, but who is perceived as an individual to emulate; someone with qualities to admire, or aspire to, even if those qualities are as basic as patience, or self-assurance, or courage rather than the ability to fly or fight dragons.

It might be simplistic to say that the former is featured in reading that requires a little less concentration than the latter. I’m sure there are examples either way. But the best authors show us well rounded characters who evolve and change in both cases. What a privilege it is to read the work of the many wonderful authors of middle grade fiction who make their characters come alive for us. I see my young friends absorbing Palacio’s Auggie, Hodgson Burnett’s Sara Crewe, Pullman’s Lyra, Selznick’s Ben and Rose; Riordan’s Percy, and Lowry’s Jonas and I think, “These characters are becoming part of who my young friends are.” How could they not?

I too feel as though I too have been influenced by the thousands of fictional characters that have filled me up over the years. A good number have come from middle grade books. Many from young adult books. One memorable one was the picture book that inspired my own middle grade novel, The Unintended Runaways, with its lively painting of a gypsy wagon and the carefree little girl who lived in it.

The tale that formed around that picture was the story I wanted to tell. I fought it. I’d been in marketing and public relations and I knew historical fiction was emphatically NOT in vogue. Would anyone read it? Newsletters and conferences told me I would never sell it. “Write it anyway,” I told myself. I already had visions of the beautiful blue wagon and the big shire horse trotting down the lovely rural roads of mid-19^th century England. market.

“Don’t be an idiot,” I argued back. “You’re a journalist. You wrote a history book. Get out there and write something that’ll sell. How about an academy for shapeshifters? A middle school mafia? An underground society ruled by 12-year olds? You can do it! Get with the program!”

“Yeah,” said my better self. “And it will suck, big time and you will hate every minute of it. This is 40,000 words we’re talking about.”

So I did it my way. I wrote my historical novel about 19^th century young people. Unfashionable as my setting might be, I knew today’s middle graders would identify with the larger themes of justice, freedom, and family. And I hoped they would fall in love with my characters just as I did.

Thus The Unintended Runaways came into being. My sixth grade consultants – who were very generous early readers!—say they like it. (They kind of have to say that.) But the proof will be in the sales figures. Because as a general rule……

There’s just no reading the middle grade mind.

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Links:

Website: www.theunintendedrunaways.com

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Summary: For a girl who loved adventure, twelve-year old Lia Leonides had the perfect life. Every summer, she and her grandfather traveled the rural roads of England in their gypsy wagon, stopping at fairs and selling horse brasses along the way. It was exactly the life Lia wanted, until the day a mysterious letter arrived. Lia’s grandfather warned her not to get her hopes up, but lifelong dreams are hard to ignore. Lia’s father was alive and looking for her. But when her grandfather suddenly passes away, Lia is sent to work as a servant in an orphanage and is left with a choice that she never wanted to make: let the world decide her future for her, or run away and decide it for herself? Lia, with the help of her beloved pets and some unexpected friends, must take her gypsy wagon south on a harrowing journey before her father disappears forever. A persistent sheriff and the constant threat of misfortune won’t make the trip easy, but Lia and her friends don’t plan to let anything stop them from forging their own destinies.

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About the Author: Sally Barlow-Perez openly admits that books have taken over a good chunk of her life. She gobbles down two or three library books a week, ranging in genre from young adult, to middle grade, to fantasy, to mystery. She tries to balance her book obsession with writing, hiking, and hanging out with the young people who inspire her. But no matter how hard she tries, she always comes back to books. As a fiction writer, Sally’s focus is curiosity. “Curiosity is a great excuse for writing, as well as for reading,” she says. “Even when I finish a book, I still wonder what the characters are doing!” Sally makes her life in Palo Alto, California. She has two grown sons, whom she believes to be her greatest contribution to mankind. The Unintended Runaways is her first middle-grade novel. More information is available at www.theunintendedrunaways.com.

Thank you Sally for this insightful guest post!

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