Novel – Page 69 – Unleashing Readers

Windsnap Wednesday! Blog Tour, Giveaway, and Author Interview: Emily Windsnap by Liz Kessler

August 5, 2015August 5, 2015 by Kellee

Emily Windsnap series
Author: Liz Kessler
Illustrator: Sarah Gibb

Book 1: The Tail of Emily Windsnap
Published April 27th, 2010 by Candlewick Press

Book 6: Emily Windsnap and the Ship of Lost Souls
Published August 4th, 2015 by Candlewick Press

To celebrate the book birthday of the sixth book in the Emily Windsnap series, we want to share with you information about the series, a link to the activity kit for the series, an exclusive interview with the author, and a giveaway of ALL of the books in the series!

The Tail of Emily Windsnap Goodread’s Summary: For as long as she can remember, twelve-year-old Emily Windsnap has lived on a boat. And, oddly enough, for just as long, her mother has seemed anxious to keep her away from the water. But when Mom finally agrees to let her take swimming lessons, Emily makes a startling discovery – about her own identity, the mysterious father she’s never met, and the thrilling possibilities and perils shimmering deep below the water’s surface. With a sure sense of suspense and richly imaginative details, first-time author Liz Kessler lures us into a glorious undersea world where mermaids study shipwrecks at school and Neptune rules with an iron trident – an enchanting fantasy about family secrets, loyal friendship, and the convention-defying power of love.

Emily Windsnap and the Ship of Lost Souls Publisher’s Summary: A field trip to a mysterious island quickly turns into an adventure when Emily Windsnap and Aaron discover a secret lookout point from which they spot a ghostly ship that no one else seems to be able to see. The ship appears and disappears only at certain times of day—growing fainter each time. Searching for answers only leads to more questions until Emily and her friends confront the island’s keeper, uncovering the incredible story of a ship caught between land and sea, day and night . . . life and death. Only Emily, with her ability to transform from mermaid to human, can enter Atlantis to try to bring the ship’s passengers back before the portal is closed forever. Emily knows that if she fails, not only will the passengers never see their loved ones again, but Emily won’t be able to return either. Will she be able to resist the allure of Atlantis and return home before it’s too late?

Activity Kit can be accessed here.

About the Author: Liz Kessler is the author of the New York Times best-selling series about Emily Windsnap as well as three adventures about Philippa Fisher and her fairy godsister. She is also the author of the middle-grade novels A Year Without Autumn, North of Nowhere, and Has Anyone Seen Jessica Jenkins? and the Poppy the Pirate Dog series for young readers. Liz Kessler lives in England.
Twitter: @LizKessler
Website: http://www.lizkessler.co.uk/

Unleashing Readers: What has been the hardest aspect of writing a series? What has been the most rewarding?

Liz Kessler: The hardest thing is making sure I remember everything that has gone before. I once knew an author who had one of her characters doing something in a book and had forgotten that she’d killed him off in an earlier chapter! Luckily, I don’t generally kill off my characters (I’d miss them too much) but when you are writing the sixth book in a series, that’s five books-worth of characters and stories to remember!

Most rewarding – I love having interaction with my readers and hearing about how Emily has inspired them, either with their reading or in their lives in general.

UR: How has Emily changed and grown throughout the series?

LK: Well, in many ways, she is the same person as she started out being: she likes adventure, she will always look after her friends and family, and she will always stand up for what she believes in. But she has matured a bit as the series has gone on. For one thing, she now has a boyfriend as well as a best friend! For another, I think that she thinks about things a little bit more before plunging into the next adventure. Luckily for me – and for my readers – she still plunges in once she’s thought about it! Life would be boring if she didn’t!

UR: How did you plan the series? Did you have the whole series outlined when you wrote the first book?

LK: Not at all. I wrote one book, had the second in mind and didn’t know what would happen after that! Each time, I’ve had a new idea and something that I’ve wanted to explore, and I’ve loved diving back into each book.

UR: What other character in the series do you think has had the biggest effect on Emily?

LK: Gosh. Good question. The other characters affect her in different ways. Shona gives her confidence and makes her feel good about having a best friend. Emily has a LOT of adventures because of her friendship with Shona. Mandy made her think about forgiveness on quite a deep level, as did Mr Beeston. Neptune is the one who challenges her the most. And Aaron has brought out a whole new side to her. Can I say all of them???! 🙂

UR: Next to Emily, who is your favorite mermaid?

LK: I love the ‘Real Mermaids’ series by Hélène Boudreau right now.

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Check out other U.S. Windsnap Wednesday stops

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Barnes and Noble Kids Blog

Thank you so much to Liz Kessler for the interview and Candlewick Press for providing copies of the books for giveaway!

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Review and Author Interview!: Cold War on Maplewood Street by Gayle Rosengren

October 22, 2015August 4, 2015 by Ricki

Cold War on Maplewood Street
Author: Gayle Rosengren
Published August 4, 2015 (Today!) by Putnam

Goodreads Summary: Cold War anxieties play out in a sensitively told story set during the Cuban missile crisis in the 1960s, perfect for fans of Gary Schmidt and Kristin Levine.

Joanna can’t get over how her brother broke his promise to never leave like their dad did. Sam is thousands of miles away on a navy ship, and no matter how often he sends letters, Joanna refuses to write back. When she makes a promise, she keeps it.

But then President Kennedy comes on TV with frightening news about Soviet missiles in Cuba—and that’s where Sam’s heading. Suddenly Joanna’s worries about being home alone, building up the courage to talk to a cute boy, and not being allowed to go to the first boy-girl party in her grade don’t seem so important. Maybe sometimes there are good reasons to break a promise.

The tense timeline of the Cuban missile crisis unfolds alongside a powerful, and ultimately hopeful, story about what it means to grow up in a world full of uncertainty.

Ricki’s Review: Cold War on Maplewood Street highlights a time period that isn’t common in the genre of historical fiction. I was intrigued from the very beginning because I have read few books focused on the Cuban missile crisis. The author excellently balances narrative and history in this engaging, thought-provoking text. Joanna is a strong girl who is ashamed of the way she treated her brother when he left for war. She makes a realistic mistake and tries to work through her emotions regarding her treatment of her brother and also the frightening events of war. There are many concepts for teachers to draw upon in this text—family, friendship, war, and fear, to name a few—and teachers will find this text offers rich opportunities for classroom discussion.

Kellee’s Review: What I think Ms. Rosengren does so well in this book is tell a real story with a piece of history as the backdrop. This is a Cold War/Cuban Missile Crisis story, but that isn’t what the book is all about. This book is about Joanna, her family, and her best friend. Her characters are very real and show the real emotions that must have been running through so many peoples’ veins during this tense time. Because of how well this book is crafted as a narrative within a historical time period, I believe it would be a great introduction to this time period for middle grade readers. Many will have never heard of the Cold War or Cuban Missile Crisis, so learning about it through Joanna’s story is perfect.

Teachers’ Tools for Navigation: Teachers might consider using this text to ask students to examine their regrets. Students could begin by closely examine characters that have regrets. Who are they? Do their regrets impact others? Then, the students could consider world leaders or pop culture to consider regrets that famous people might have and how these regrets impacted their lives. Finally, the students might journal to make connections with the text by examining mistakes they have made or regrets they hold in their personal lives.

Another interesting aspect of this book is the theme of communication. Students could compare the lack of communication of some of the characters in the book (which led to a major issue) and the lack of communication which led to the Cuban Missile Crisis. How could communication have helped either of these situations?

Discussion Questions: How would you react if your sibling went to war? Is Joanna’s reaction realistic? Is it fair?; How does war impact the lives of those who stay home? How do the characters of this text react differently from each other? Do you think the war impacted the choices Pamela’s family members make?; What is Mrs. Strenge’s role in the novel? How does she enhance our reading of the story?

Author Interview!:

Unleashing Readers: What interested you in the Cold War, specifically?

Gayle Rosengren: When I wrote the first draft of Cold War on Maplewood Street–twenty years ago(!)–itwas to share a singular experience from my childhood, the Cuban Missile Crisis. But for several reasons, the manuscript never made it to an editor and I had to set it aside.

Years later I decided to revisit it with a different objective in mind. Now, I wanted to tell a story in which the crisis was the backdrop for a story about how poor communication can destroy relationships. The Cold War itself was an example of a break-down in communication on such a major scale that it very nearly led to destruction on a global level. In my novel, poor communication is demonstrated by main character Joanna’s failure to write to her brother and apologize for the terrible things she said to him when he left for the Navy. It’s also shown in her avoidance of a new tenant in their building, an old woman Joanna finds frightening for several reasons; and it’s demonstrated in her best friend Pamela Waterman’s family, when Mrs. Waterman runs away instead of confronting her husband about how desperate she is to see Paris.

UR: What does your research process look like?

GR: My research began with plumbing my own very vivid memories of the week of the crisis. I was twelve, and I was scared, especially since–although they tried to conceal it–I could see that adults were scared too.

But the major source of the historical details in Cold War on Maplewood Street came from the Chicago Tribune’s archives and actual headlines, photos, and articles that appeared in what was then The Chicago Daily Tribune. Remember, I wrote the first draft of the manuscript over twenty years ago. Pre-computer. And given that newspapers and television newscasts were the primary news sources of the day, I felt it was a solid source for my facts. I have a fat file full of copied newspaper pages that provided everything from the news to the weather and the television schedule. (All 4 channels!)

Today we know more about what was going on during that infamous week (in particular the note that Kennedy sent to Khrushchev agreeing to remove our nuclear weapons from Turkey) but I wanted Joanna to know only what anyone else living in the U.S, and specifically Chicago, would have known at the time.

UR: Did you decide on your time period or your protagonist/narrative first?

GR: This was an instance where the time period was clearly the inspiration for the story, and the protagonist and voice followed. I originally wrote this manuscript in the third person, rewrote it in first person, and then went back to third as I struggled to discover the character and voice that would best serve the story.

UR: Did anyone in your life inspire your characters?

GR: I modeled Joanna’s and Sam’s relationship on my close relationship with my brother Dennis. He was in the Air Force at the time of the missile crisis and based relatively safely in Okinawa, Japan, but I imagined that he was in the Navy, on a ship off the east coast of the U.S., and likely to be swept into action as part of the Cuba quarantine and blockade. I imagined how terrified I would have been for him. And then, to up the stakes, I imagined that when he’d left, Joanna in her hurt and anger accused him of deserting them just like their father had years before. The guilt she would feel knowing she might never get to apologize would be overwhelming.

Joanna’s mother was modeled after my single mother who always worked hard and scrimped to take care of us. Pamela was every good friend I ever had with a normal (which at the time meant two-parent) family.

As for Joanna, she was a lot like me at 12–childish and thoughtless one moment, grown-up and sensitive the next, taking awkward steps toward adulthood and all the while longing for the protective cocoon of childhood that was forever left behind in that unforgettable week. Like Joanna, I too loved horses and dogs and hated being alone in the house at night.

We Flagged: “[S]taying positive and hopeful—even pretending to—was much better than giving in to fear.” (p. 142)

Read This If You Loved: Countdown by Deborah Wiles; Paper Cowboy by Kristin Levine; What the Moon Said by Gayle Rosengren; Purple Heart by Patricia McCormick; Spy Catchers of Maple Hill by Megan Frazer Blakemore

Recommended For:

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**Thank you to Penguin for providing copies for review and Ms. Rosengren for the author interview!**

Circus Mirandus by Cassie Beasley

July 31, 2015July 30, 2015 by Ricki

Circus Mirandus
Author: Cassie Beasley
Published January 1, 2015 by Dial

Goodreads Summary:
Do you believe in magic?
Micah Tuttle does.

Even though his awful Great-Aunt Gertrudis doesn’t approve, Micah believes in the stories his dying Grandpa Ephraim tells him of the magical Circus Mirandus: the invisible tiger guarding the gates, the beautiful flying birdwoman, and the magician more powerful than any other—the Man Who Bends Light. Finally, Grandpa Ephraim offers proof. The Circus is real. And the Lightbender owes Ephraim a miracle. With his friend Jenny Mendoza in tow, Micah sets out to find the Circus and the man he believes will save his grandfather.

The only problem is, the Lightbender doesn’t want to keep his promise. And now it’s up to Micah to get the miracle he came for.

Ricki’s Review: I was only a few pages in when I knew this book would be special. I was captivated by the beautifully described setting and the words that seemed to dance off the pages. This book is about magic, but the writing is quite magical in itself. I usually give my ARCs away, but I am hanging on to this copy because I plan to read it to my son when he is a bit older. I’ll likely buy another copy because I am eager to see the illustrations! I suspect that this text will create lifelong readers. It belongs in every classroom in America. Circus Mirandus is the kind of book that takes you to another world—one that will stay in your heart forever.

Kellee’s Review: I liked Circus Mirandus from the very beginning, but as soon as the circus officially enters he story, the magic just engulfs you. I think it is the Lightbender that makes the story. He is a mystery, but also the person that I feel like I connected with the most. I truly feel that he is what makes this book as magical as it is. I also really liked Jenny. Jenny represents the main stream (which is odd to say because Jenny is a little bit odd), but Jenny has already moved past magic and is so straight forward. Convincing her to believe in anything past what she sees and knows was such a challenge for Micah. (But she is such a great friend!)

One of the things I really liked about the text is the theme of helping kids stay kids for as long as possible. Circus Mirandus is around to help keep the magic of childhood alive. That is something I can believe in!

Circus Mirandus was my informal Twitter book club’s choice for July, and I loved chatting with them about the book (and Ricki joined us this time!). To see the archive of our chat, you can view it here. (Warning: There are spoilers for the book in the chat.)
Some of my favorite quotes from the chat were:

“I loved that Jenny was willing to go along on the journey even if she had trouble believing.” -Alyson Beecher

–“Yes! That is what made me love her. She was willing to support her friend.” -Kellee Moye

–“And Jenny needed a friend, found something in herself that “might” want to believe, too?” -Linda Baie

–“I love how great Jenny and Micah are for each other…helping each other find courage and comfort.” -Beth Sanderson

“It was interesting that the light bender just dismissed G., rather as we all should dismiss evil people.” -Linda Baie

“I loved the relationship between Micah and Gpa. He had so many words of wisdom to prepare Micah.” -Leigh Anne Eck

–“The wonderful relationship between Micah and his Grandpa is what I will remember the most about this book.” -Cynthia Alaniz

“I don’t think we should hide kids from life truths like death. Kids need to be taught healthy ways to grieve.” -Ricki Ginsberg

“The artwork is special! It is interesting to read the Ch then look at the art & find the reasoning behind the art.” -Kellee Moye

–“Yes! There is something special when physical aesthetic of book matches aesthetic of the language.” -Christy Rush-Levine

Favorite quotes shared from the book:

“Because when you try too hard to hold on to something, you break it.”

“Who you are is more than good enough.”

Teachers’ Tools for Navigation: This book naturally lends itself to a creative project. I would love to have students work together to design their own circus. Perhaps each student could be in charge of designing a different section of the circus and writing about it. For example, one student might be in charge of writing the opening speech for a circus act; another student could be in charge of writing a newspaper article about the events; another student might be in charge of writing to the mayor to ask permission to use a field for the circus. I’d allow students to generate their own ideas, so they can take ownership of their work.

However, the best place that this book could end up is in as many kids’ hands as possible! It deserves to be read and read widely.

Discussion Questions: What is Jenny’s role in the novel? How does she add to the story?; Do you think you would believe in the circus? Why or why not?; Which characters showed bravery? Why or why not?; What role does fantasy play in this text? How would it be different if it was a work of realistic fiction?

We Flagged: “You never need an invitation to go home.”

Read This If You Loved: Books by Roald Dahl, A Snicker of Magic by Natalie Lloyd, Wonder Show by Hannah Barnaby, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs, Big Fish by Daniel Wallace, Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern, Peter Pan by J.M. Barrie

Recommended For:

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**Thank you to Penguin for providing copies for review!**

Special Announcement!: Glory O’Brien’s History of the Future by A.S. King Wins the 2015 Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award

July 28, 2015 by Kellee

I [Kellee] am excited to announce this year’s winner! The deliberations to narrow down all of the titles we received to these top five then to the top one were so intense because many of the titles we received were worthy of being honored; however, I really believe we came up with the best. This announcement is bittersweet as it is my final one on the committee, but I will definitely continue working with and promoting the Walden Award because of its focus on things I believe in: literary merit, positive approach to life, and widespread appeal.

Congratulations to A.S. King and Little, Brown!

2015 Amelia Elizabeth Walden Book Award Winner & Finalists Announced

The Assembly on Literature for Adolescents (ALAN) of the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) is pleased and proud to announce the finalists for the 2015 Amelia Elizabeth Walden Book Award for Young Adult Fiction. Established in 2008 to honor the wishes of young adult author Amelia Elizabeth Walden, the award allows for the sum of $5,000 to be presented annually to the author of a young adult title selected by the ALAN Amelia Elizabeth Walden Book Award Committee as demonstrating a positive approach to life, widespread teen appeal, and literary merit.

The 2015 Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award winner is:

Glory O’Brien’s History of the Future by A.S. King

Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

The 2015 Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award finalists are:

Diamond Boy by Michael Williams

Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Gabi, A Girl in Pieces by Isabel Quintero

Cinco Puntos Press

The Impossible Knife of Memory by Laurie Halse Anderson

Penguin Young Readers Group

Revolution (The Sixties Trilogy) by Deborah Wiles

Scholastic Press

All Walden Award titles will be identified by an award sticker—gold for the winner and silver for the four finalists. The winning title and finalists will be honored on at the 2015 ALAN Workshop on Monday, November 23rd at 4:25pm in Minneapolis, MN, and authors will be invited to participate in a panel discussion.

The 2015 Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award Committee would like to thank: the Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award Foundation, the ALAN Executive Council, the ALAN Board of Directors, NCTE, and the thirty-six publishers who submitted titles for consideration.

The 2015 Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award Committee considered nearly 300 young adult titles throughout the process. The committee was comprised of eleven members representing the university, K-12 school, and library communities. They are:

2015 Amelia Elizabeth Walden Award Committee

Lois Stover, Committee Chair
Dean – School of Education and Human Services
Marymount University, Arlington, VA

Kellee Moye, Past Committee Chair
Teacher/Reading Coach
Hunter’s Creek Middle School, Orlando, FL

Cathy Blackler
English/Journalism Teacher
Santana Alternative High School, La Puente, CA

Nancy J. Johnson
Professor, Children’s/YA Literature and English/Language Arts Education
Western Washington University, Bellingham, WA

Sara Kajder
Assistant Professor English Education
University of Georgia, Athens, GA

Mark Letcher
Assistant Professor English Education
Lewis University, Romeoville, IL

Joellen Maples
Associate Professor, Graduate Literacy Program
St. John Fisher College, Rochester, NY

Suzanne Metcalfe
Librarian
Dimond High School, Anchorage, Alaska

Beth Scanlon
Teacher
Cypress Creek High School, Orlando, FL

Lisa Scherff
English Teacher
Cypress Lake High School, Fort Myers, FL

Jessica Lorentz Smith
Librarian
Bend Senior High School, Bend, OR

For more information on the award, please visit ALAN Online: The Official Site of the Assembly on Literature for Adolescents http://www.alan-ya.org/

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Civil Rights Text Set/Reading Ladder

November 15, 2015July 23, 2015 by Kellee

Over the last few months, I have found myself reading some phenomenal texts concerning the Civil Rights movement. I began thinking about how beneficial these texts would be in a classroom setting to help students develop a deeper understanding of the time. The Civil Rights Movement is not just a part of history, it is relevant to current events and pertinent to our students’ lives. Today, I wanted to share with you these connections I’ve made, and I hope that together, we can foster conversations about this important time period.

I picture these texts being used in a couple of different ways.

They can be used for a text set for a Civil Rights unit in a social studies or English language arts classroom. This is more of an informal route.
They could be used as literature circle texts or in a jig saw (see Ricki’s post on engaging discussions last week for more info on jig saw). Each group might have a different text to read, discuss, and analyze. This would make for a great sharing environment.
Teachers might intentionally introduce the texts by the age level they are marketed toward. Read-alouds would provide opportunities for rich discussions about the ways that audience plays a role in complex themes and background knowledge of these texts.

I have organized this list kind of as a reading ladder. (If you don’t know what a reading ladder is, I recommend that you start by reading this book by Teri Lesesne and then visit her collaborative resource database to join in the love of ladders. She also shares slides about reading ladders here). Reading ladders are fantastic because they respond to student reading level needs. As they challenge themselves with increasingly complex texts, they remain on a ladder that uses a common theme, format, or genre to connect the books. This idea is much more complex and is detailed in her book. The ladder I’m sharing is connected with the Civil Rights theme, and based on my evaluation of the texts, I tried to generate a ladder for teachers to use. The ultimate goal of reading ladders is to help students move up texts independently and based on their interests, so some of my whole-classroom ideas above do not fit the goal of ladders.

Picture Books (for grades 3-12)

Middle Grade

Young Adult

Click on the book title of any book to view one of our reviews or the Goodreads summary.

You can’t go wrong with these incredible texts, and I recommend all of them for both you and your students!

I know there are many other great books about this topic that I haven’t read. What other titles would you include in a Civil Rights Text Set/Reading Ladder?

Author Guest Post!: “Reaching Reluctant Readers with Action and Suspense” by Jake Bible, Author of Scarescapes

September 25, 2015July 19, 2015 by Ricki

Reaching Reluctant Readers with Action and Suspense

by Jake Bible

I really had no concept of what a reluctant reader was until my daughter started reading. My son is exactly like me and will devour books without blinking. My daughter? Not so much. Getting her to read past the first few pages in a book is like pulling teeth. As a writer, this has been more than frustrating.

Being a concerned father, I asked her questions about why she’d start a book, but never finish it. I asked lots of questions. Yet no matter the question I always received the same answer (or a version of the same answer).

“It’s boring.”

Huh. Boring? The characters? The plot? The story? The cover? What was boring?

“I don’t know. It just was.”

Double huh.

This troubled me. That bit of fear in the back of my head was that maybe she had a learning disability. Of course, the Voice of Reason spoke up and said, “She’s just a reluctant reader.”

That voice was my wife’s. I say she was the voice of reason not because of some ingrained, antiquated notion of gender roles within the household, but because my wife is an elementary school teacher with nearly two decades of experience, a master’s degree, several certifications in various subjects, and is a reluctant reader herself.

That’s a voice of reason, folks.

To grab a reluctant reader’s attention you need relatable characters, you need fast pacing with short chapters, you need the prose to be clear and interesting, you need to give them a reason to keep reading. This is basically what all good writers strive for anyway. But the big difference is you can’t slack. One misstep and that book is down and forgotten.

In my research on reluctant readers I found out that the make or break age is 8-12. Those are the ages where so many kids decide whether or not reading for fun and pleasure is their thing. It just so happened I was writing a series of scifi/horror books aimed at middle grade ages. That 8-12 year old danger spot. No pressure, right?

So, I decided to do what I do best: write six books that packed as much non-stop action and suspense into them as I could get away with while considering my target age group.

I went with the classic serial structure of one book ending on a cliff hanger and the next picking it up right from that exact same spot. I also wrote each book as told from a different character’s point of view. This made sure that no matter what gender or race my young readers turned out to be, there would be a character, and a specific book in the series, that they could personally relate to. I put the characters into an impossible situation of being alone on a space ship in deep, deep space without parents around, all of them having to band together and fend for their themselves.

Then I set things in motion.

Writing action isn’t hard. You just keep things moving. The trick is to keep things interesting. Constant running does not always make for great story. That’s where the suspense comes in. And you only have so much time for suspense before boredom kicks in. It’s a delicate dance.

I began each book with some explanation of the situation the children were in. For this series, a giant asteroid outfitted for deep space travel and human habitation so people could find a new home in the universe after Earth has been polluted beyond repair. Explanation done, I immediately moved to danger. Got to have danger to motivate the characters into action. Once danger was established, and the characters were active, I threw in roadblocks.

Roadblocks are key to good action. The reader, and especially a reluctant reader, will get bored if the action just goes from point A to point Z. You need to send them off into tangents. You have to destroy points B, C, and D so the characters are forced to figure out how to skip to point E directly. Give those characters roadblocks and the action becomes believable, no matter how fantastical. And believable is another key to keeping a reluctant reader’s attention.

Okay, so I had explanation, I had motivation, I had action, I had roadblocks. But where was the story?

That’s where I got to sneak in the suspense. My story revolved around a mystery. And not just a mystery of why all the danger and chaos was happening to these characters. I introduced a new character. One that should have been a danger sign immediately in any “normal” situation. Is that suspense?

You bet it is. Who is this new entity? Where did it come from? What is its motivation? If the characters trust it will they regret it later?

Suspense is the anticipation of the unknown; the fear of something beyond a character’s understanding, beyond the reader’s understanding. Suspense requires trusting that moving forward is the only option even though moving forward is the most dangerous option.

To complete my formula (and for middle grade I needed a formula) I twisted the action and the suspense together, intertwining them in a narrative that would continually keep the readers off balance, afraid, excited, interested, and engaged. I wove the suspense within the action so that the story was layered in a way to keep reluctant readers from drifting off. I did my job as a writer and made it impossible for them to stop reading without stopping in the middle of an action scene or a bug reveal in the plot.

Or that was my goal, at least.

Did I succeed?

Well, my reluctant reader of a daughter didn’t put the manuscripts down.

Whether the books are received well out in the world or not, I count that as a success. No question there.

About the Book: On the Earth Colony Asteroid Scorpio, something has gone terribly wrong. Millions of light years off course and 900 years late, the ship’s AIs wake up only seven kids, leaving the adults stuck in cryosleep! Damaged from the long journey, the AIs must repair the awakened seven with the only thing available–cybernetic robot parts.

Along with learning to function with new cyber parts, the all-kid crew must unravel the mystery of what went wrong with the Scorpio. As if the nightmare of deep space isn’t enough, the kids soon find themselves battling the ship’s maintenance robots while their cyber parts begin taking on a life of their own!

Scarescapes: Phantom Limbs! is the first book in the middle-grade YA series Scarescapes series by Bram Stoker Award nominated author Jake Bible. The ebooks are $2.99 and are available at Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Smashwords, Google Play, and Kobo. Paperback copies will follow later this year.

About the Author: Jake Bible lives in Asheville, NC with his wife and two kids. Novelist, short story writer, independent screenwriter, podcaster, and inventor of the Drabble Novel, Jake is able to switch between or mash-up genres with ease to create new and exciting storyscapes that have captivated and built an audience of thousands. He is the author of the Young Adult horror novels Little Dead Man and Intentional Haunting, as well as the best selling adult horror series Z-Burbia and adult thriller/adventure series, Mega. Find him at jakebible.com. Join him on Twitter and Facebook.

Thank you to Hannah at Permuted Press for connecting us with Jake!

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Author Guest Post!: “Be Careful or You Might Learn Something…” by Linda Fausnet, Author of The Joyville Sweat Sox

September 25, 2015July 12, 2015 by Kellee

“Be Careful or You Might Learn Something…”

I always hated summer reading lists as a kid. Teachers gave us a list of super-educational, historically accurate, classic books of literary significance to read over the summer so we could either write a book report or pass a test when we got back to school in September.

For me, this was the literary equivalent of brussels sprouts.

I actually liked to read in the summer. The trouble was, every time I picked up a book I actually wanted to read, I’d think to myself, “Ugh. I need to read those awful school books first.” I put off reading those books until later, so I ended up reading very little. Toward the end of the summer, I forced myself to read the brussels sprouts books, but really didn’t get much out of the experience.

It’s understandable that teachers want kids to learn from the books they read, but forcing kids to read Johnny Tremain isn’t likely to get them all fired up about reading. I remember reading Johnny Tremain at some point, but I remember precious little about the book.

Know what I do remember? My fourth grade teacher, Mrs. Garrett, reading to us for a few minutes at the end of the school day. I remember her reading Lenny Kendall, Smart Aleck, Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing, and Superfudge. The books were uproariously funny, and I can clearly remember the sound of Mrs. Garrett’s voice; the inflection, the enthusiasm, the fun. I eagerly went to the library and got some of those books and reread them on my own.

A few years ago, I went to a wonderful used bookstore called Books With a Past. I asked if they had Lenny Kendall, Smart Aleck so I could read it to my kids. The lady in the store said she hadn’t heard of the book, but she put me on the list in case it ever turned up. Then I went to the barbecue restaurant next door with my kids. A few minutes later, the bookstore lady showed up there. She must have heard us mention where we were headed. Anyway, she showed up with Lenny Kendall in tow. She found it after all!

We took the book home and I happily read it aloud to my kids. It was such a wonderful experience. It brought back such great memories and I loved hearing my kids laugh.

I am a passionate writer who happens to be married a to a man who is dyslexic. He hates to read because it’s hard for him, and, try as I might, I’ve been unsuccessful at getting my kids to love reading. I’ve written several grown-up books which they are not allowed to read, but I’ve written two middle-grade ones that are appropriate for them. It’s been tough even to get them to crack those books!

I recently published a middle-grade book about baseball entitled The Joyville Sweat Sox. (as in, there is no mud in Joyville. Baseball fans will get that…) I dedicated the book to my son, Noah, who plays Little League. I didn’t have to force him to read that one because 1. Mommy wrote it and, 2. It’s about baseball. Noah is a good-hearted kid who would tell me he loved it no matter what, so it was hard to tell if he really liked it. Then one day I came home from work and heard him laughing in the other room. He didn’t know I was home yet, so I knew his reaction was real. Sure enough, he was reading my book and though it was really funny. Is there any higher praise than that?

The Joyville Sweat Sox is about a young woman who is forced to coach a baseball team full of clueless kids as punishment for breaking her town’s No Anger law. It’s won’t be easy to teach them the rules of the game without losing her temper… The book does have some teachable information in it, I suppose. Okay, it would mainly be for physical education teachers… Kids who know how to play baseball will giggle at the players in the book who are a bit slow on the uptake to learn, and kids who are unfamiliar with the sport will easily learn it as the poor coach teaches her hapless players what to do. However, the overarching lesson can be summed up when Konnie, the coach with anger management issues says, “Sometimes mean people aren’t mean. Sometimes they’re just sad.”

Konnie would know. Her anger and bitterness started when her father died, the same year that a mean guy stole baseball from the town of Joyville. Some of her happiest memories were of her times at the ballpark with her dad, and the idea that his last summer on earth was spent without baseball just hurts too much. At first, Konnie is annoyed beyond belief by these crazy kids she’s suddenly saddled with. Then she comes to care deeply for her little guys as she is able to teach them to love the game that meant so much to her and her father. At the end, the judge who sentenced her for getting mad in the first place actually comes to her defense for getting angry. This time, she got mad and risked severe punishment by standing up for her little players. The judge tells her that he’s proud of her, and that he saw a lot of her father in her that day.

My favorite type of book to write – and to read – is one that has both humor and heart. Joyville is funny (ask my son!) and definitely has heart. It made both my critique partner and my daughter cry – in a good way!

Kids want to be entertained as much as we want them to be educated. My philosophy is to encourage them to read something fun and hope they might learn a thing or two along the way.

About the Book: It’s against the law to get mad in Joyville. Will Konnie Mack be able to coach a ragtag team of kids who are clueless about baseball without completely losing her cool?

Twenty-one-year-old Konnie has broken the No Anger law for the third time. She has two choices for punishment: coach Joyville’s Little League baseball team for the summer, or spend five years in jail.

Konnie used to be the best baseball player in town, but she hasn’t played the game she loves since she was sixteen. That was the year Bobby Hearsay stole Joyville’s team in the middle of the night. It was also the year her father died.

The current team includes the likes of Clueless Joe Jackson, Joltin’ Joanna Demargio, and Carl Repkin, Jr. Keeping her temper in check with these kids won’t be easy, and it’s going to be nearly impossible for this bunch to win any games. But Konnie has no choice. Getting mad will land her in the slammer, and her punishment for losing will be far worse than any jail sentence. She will be banished from playing baseball forever….

The Joyville Sweat Sox is available here – http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00YXUD7FI

About the Author: Linda Fausnet is the author of several books, mostly adult fiction. She has also written numerous screenplays of various genres. Two of her scripts have been optioned by production companies in Los Angeles; Mega Films, Inc. and Runaway Productions. Her screenplay, Queen Henry, was a Finalist in the national Progress Writers Competition. Linda runs an educational and promotional website for indie writers at www.wannabepride.com
Twitter – @lindafausnet
Facebook for Readers – https://www.facebook.com/lindafausnet
Facebook Group for Writers – https://www.facebook.com/groups/369053709961293/
Email List – Choose either WRITER’S or READER’S list – http://wannabepride.com/blog/?page_id=3466

We very much agree–finding the right book and doing summer reading right are both so important!
Thank you to Linda for this post!

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