December 2016 – Page 3 – Unleashing Readers

Author Guest Post: “This is Useful for Teachers” by Mark Geatches, Author of Tamar and PJ: One Giant Adventure

December 11, 2016 by Kellee

“This is Useful for Teachers”

So, Kellee and Ricki made me an offer I can’t refuse; a guest post slot on their website to help promote my book. The only requirement is that my story and presentation be useful to teachers. It’s a wonderful offer that fills me with grating nerves, stress, and apparent writer’s cramp. Yes cramp. My head hurts from the effort.

What about my book could possibly be useful to teachers? Sure, it’s probably the best work of fiction since Orwell’s 1984, but it’s a middle grade fantasy about a boy who repeatedly finds himself in near-death experiences at the hands of a genetically enhanced killer, and who finally falls into a coma while a lonely giant races to save him. Not much use in the classroom I’m afraid. But then I read their requirement a little closer and detected a flaw in their thoughtfully, but not entirely fool-proof, request. They never stated it should be helpful to teachers, in the classroom.

Now you and I know that’s what they meant. But that’s not what they wrote. Without that qualification, the entire world has opened up to me, and since I’m a fiction writer I feel at home with the entire world. In fact, I’m entirely at home in any world, even worlds that don’t exist outside of my dimente― I mean my fertile imagination. So without further ado, I present to you an earthly list of possible uses teachers can get out of my book, outside of the classroom.

First and most obvious, the hardcover version can be used as a paperweight. It can prop a door open, even in inclement weather. It can be used to flatten out older paperback books that just might have a use in the classroom. When tied properly about with a string, it can place-hold a kite for hours at a time. (The neighbors will be awed at your endurance.) Have a Formica countertop? Place hot pots and pans atop Tamar & PJ, and rest assured the worst that can happen is a small kitchen fire, easily put out with, perhaps, a second copy of my book. Finally, since the book is liable to sit idly on a shelf for years at a time, you can bore out a cavity in the inner pages and store valuables like jewelry, false teeth, and even marbles confiscated in the classroom. Do kids still play with marbles? I suppose no one really knows. Well, you’ll think of something to shove in there.

Of course there’s a paperback version of my book as well. However, lacking the weight of the hardcover, I’m quite at a loss to come up with any significant uses. Do they still have corporal punishment in school? If they do we may have stumbled upon the perfect, in the classroom, use for my book. I’ve just been told that CP went out of style quite some time ago and that I should expect a visit from the authorities. No problem. I have time for anothe― I mean my very first courteous chat with whoever they send for these types of misunderstandings. I am a writer after all.

Wait? I just thought of a few helpful contrivances for my paperback. Say you have a draft under your front door. Let’s face it, winter’s upon us folks. Five or six copies of my book should plug that gap nicely and friends will see how cultured you are.

“Are those paperback books you’re using as a draft-dodging-device? My, how cultured you are.”

See how that works? Contact me for a discounted price on multiple copies designated for insulation purposes.

Have cats? How often have they scratched the sofa and you’ve had nothing to throw at them. A three or four foot stack of my paperback books will not only be an attractive addition to any living room, they can be aimed extremely well and cause minimal collateral damage, all the while teaching your cats proper conduct through positive reinforcement. I personally guarantee, each book will stand up to dozens of slings before becoming unsightly, at which point they make great stocking stuffers or fire kindling. Unfortunately I can’t offer a discount for this particular use. The benefits to the purchaser vastly outweigh any reduction in cost I could offer. Visit my website to read the thousands of happy pet owner testimonials. Finally but not last. (What?) The paperback version of Tamar & PJ is a known construction tool standby. Installing drywall? Throw a few copies on the floor to prop up the panel just the right amount. Have an old ladder that leaves gouges on every surface it touches. An opened book, judiciously duct-taped to each top guide bracket provides years of worry-free laddering. (Can you believe that’s a real word? Who am I to argue with spell check.)

I hope you teachers have found this post informative and that you will each commit to purchasing tens, if not hundreds of copies of the best middle grade novel to come out in the last several minutes. I’m available to speak to your class on any topic I’m able to successfully convert into something I’m comfortable speaking about. Beer comes to mind, but we can discuss that at a later date.

Oh yeah, regarding Tamar and PJ: One Giant Adventure. There is at least one valuable lesson it teaches. Sometimes you can rely on friends, even new friends. And sometimes those friends will come through for you in the end.

Thanks again, Kellee and Ricki!

-Mark F. Geatches
markgeatches.com

About the Author: Mark has a Master’s Degree in trumpet performance from Florida State University and loves music of all kinds. After performing for several years, including a three year stint in Germany, he entered the business world. He built two small businesses before beginning a new chapter in his life; Mark now builds fiction. As he nudges his creativity and ambition in a new direction, music remains his constant companion. Mark finds music and writing the perfect mental connection, the nexus of focus and inspiration. Visit his website at markgeatches.com for links to his online published short stories.

Tamar and PJ: One Giant Adventure
Author: Mark F. Geatches
Published October 30th, 2016 by World Castle Publishing

Summary: What do you get when you cross Shrek with Star Trek? Tamar & PJ: One Giant Adventure! This fantasy adventure story leaves barely enough time to catch your breath as a giant named Tamar races to save fourteen year old PJ from a malicious Prince of a forest dwelling race of genetically enhanced humans.

Though initially successful, Tamar’s heroic actions have unforeseen consequences that lead the pair, boy and giant, on an epic and tumultuous adventure. When Tamar’s mortal enemy attacks, a fight for survival ensues. Just when you think PJ has survived his second ordeal unscathed, he falls into a life-threatening and baffling state of delirium. Once again Tamar must try to save his young friend, only this time not in the secluded forests of Western North Carolina, but he must kidnap him from a busy Northeastern hospital, subjecting himself to imprisonment or worse.

Discovering that PJ has been poisoned by the Vorteh Prince, Tamar hurries to create an antidote before time runs out. The epic final scene is a confrontation between centuries old enemies as Tamar offers to sacrifice himself to the Vorteh Emperor in one last attempt to save PJ and his family.

This wholesome MG Fantasy novel will be enjoyed by readers young, old, and everywhere in between.

Thank you, Mark, for this most useful post! 🙂

and

Be Light Like a Bird by Monika Schröder

December 9, 2016 by Kellee

Be Light Like a Bird
Author: Monika Schröder
Published September 1st, 2016 by Capstone Young Readers

Summary: After the death of her father, twelve-year-old Wren finds her life thrown into upheaval. And when her mother decides to pack up the car and forces Wren to leave the only home she’s ever known, the family grows even more fractured. As she and her mother struggle to build a new life, Wren must confront issues with the environment, peer pressure, bullying, and most of all, the difficulty of forgiving those who don’t deserve it. A quirky, emotional middle grade novel set in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, Be Light Like a Bird features well-drawn, unconventional characters and explores what it means to be a family and the secrets and lies that can tear one apart.

Review: When I originally started this book over the summer, I had just finished Truth or Dare by Barbara Dee which was about a young girl’s grief after the loss of her mother, so when I picked up Be Light Like a Bird and Wren’s father passed away in the first few pages, it just emotionally wrecked me. I tried continuing, but the grief that Wren and her mother feel just lept off the page and into my heart–I had to put it down for a bit. When I picked it back up, after Augusta Scattergood recommended it, I jumped right in, prepared this time, and loved every second of my journey with Wren and her mother.

Be Light Like a Bird was so tough for me to read the first time because the emotions that Monika Schröder evokes through her writing are just so real. Wren’s mother is in the anger stage of grief and just cannot seem to leave it while Wren wants to accept and learn to live without her father, but when your only remaining parent is in such denial and anger, it really affects the young person’s life that they are raising.

I also really love Jana’s review of Be Light Like a Bird. Visit her post to see more about the book.

Teachers’ Tools for Navigation: Wren’s journey is going to be perfect for students dealing with grief, moving to a new school, bullying, or someone who wants to start a petition or stand up for something they don’t think it write. Wren and Theo work very hard in the book to save a local pond from being built over. On their political journey, they go to a town council meeting and start a petition. They are an inspiration to what young people can do to make a difference, and teachers could definitely use part of their story to discuss advocacy, environmental, or political issues their students could fight.

Discussion Questions: What are different ways to deal with grief?; What are the six stages of grief? What are some examples from the book that show that Wren and her mom went through some of the stages?; What did Theo teach Wren about herself?; Why do you think Wren chose to try to talk her mom into staying in Pyramid? Who in the town of Pyramid helped Wren feel at home?

Flagged Passages: “…I realized she wasn’t crying because she was sad–it was because she was so mad.

Then she told me to put everything I wanted to keep into a suitcase.

How do you decide what to keep when your Dad has died and your mother has turned into a raging woman you hardly recognize? If it were up to me, I would have kept everything the way it was before. But that is obviously not an option…I sad in my room and looked around, trying to decide what to pack, but the cloud was making me numb. None of the stuff really mattered anymore.” p. 13-14

Read This If You Loved: Snicker of Magic by Natalie Lloyd, Some Kind of Happiness by Claire Legrand, Far from Fair by Elana K. Arnold

Recommended For:

**Thank you to M0nika for providing a copy for review!**

Hundred Percent by Karen Romano Young

December 8, 2016 by Kellee

Hundred Percent
Author: Karen Romano Young
Published August 9th, 2016 by Chronicle Books

Summary: The last year of elementary school is big for every kid. Christine Gouda faces change at every turn, starting with her own nickname—Tink—which just doesn’t fit anymore. Christine navigates a year’s cringingly painful trials in normalcy—uncomfortable Halloween costumes, premature sleepover parties, crushed crushes, and changing friendships. Throughout all this, Tink learns, what you call yourself, and how you do it, has a lot to do with who you are.

This book marks beloved author Karen Romano Young’s masterful return to children’s literature: a heartbreakingly honest account of what it means to be between girl and woman, elementary and middle school, inside and out—and just what you name that in-between self.

“A lovely, lovely tale full of warmth, humor, and intelligence.”—Kirkus Reviews, starred review

“Perfectly captures the emotions of middle schoolers and their evolving friendships and familial relationships.”—School Library Journal, starred review

“Romano’s characters jump off the page in a thoughtful and realistic look at what it means to be on the precipice of adolescence.”—Publishers Weekly

“A brilliant and irresistible book about the sharp pains and joys of real life. Karen Romano Young is a writer like no other.—Rebecca Stead, Newbery Award–winning author of When You Reach Me

“Karen Romano Young must be twelve. There’s no other way she can possibly know what she knows about sixth grade in all its weirdness and glory.”—Annie Barrows, New York Times bestselling author of the Ivy & Bean series

“Karen Romano Young has an unerring feel for the shifting alliances and uncomfortable intrigues of sixth graders.” —Ellen Wittlinger, Printz Honor–winning author of Hard Love

Review: The blurbs for Hundred Percent state that the book delves into the true emotions and experiences of a sixth grader, and that it does. It actually is so realistic that it will make adults, myself included, a bit uncomfortable. Thinking back to sixth grade, it was the time where everyone was figuring out their identities: social, emotional, physical, sexual. Hundred Percent captures this. Tink is trying to figure out who her friends are, if it is worth liking boys, how to deal with changes all over the place, and so much more. I do know that there are parts of the book that some adults will be uncomfortable with their students/child reading if they are the same age as Tink. For example, there are derogatory terms used such as slut/slutty and horny skank, a lip syncing scene to “Honky Tonk Women,” and a discussion of what “sleeping together” is. Although this may be a bit uncomfortable, the more I think about the more I have come to realize that these conversations are definitely happening between 6th graders, and we can’t, as the adults in their life, pretend like they are not (though I still don’t know why the teachers let them choose “Honky Tonk Women”). With all this being said, I still think this text is for our most mature sixth graders, but those students need Tink’s story.

Teachers’ Tools for Navigation: In addition to a classroom library book, the text could be used within the classroom during a creative writing unit. The prose of Hundred Percent is lyrical and beautifully written. Karen Romano Young is able to take the most mundane of thoughts or activities and make them sing on the page. Because of this, some parts of the story could definitely be used as a mentor text for writing.

Flagged Passages: “Tink could have cried, but instead she smiled. She was thinking about the moment when she’d held the dishpan down to the surface of the water and turned it sideways to let the lobster slosh out of it. Its clause had sprung wide open, as if it was looking for something to grab on to. The Sound was so cool and blue and clear. She hung over the water to watch the lobster sinking down into the gloom. Back where it belonged again, back home like Tink. She felt like–like crying, but also laughing, like smiling through a storm, like an ambassador of lobsters. She wondered: Does an ambassador ever forget that the foreign land he’s learned so much about isn’t the place he’s from?” p. 55

Read This If You Loved: Truth or Dare by Barbara Dee, Still a Work in Progress by Jo Knowles, The Secret Hum of Daisy by Tracy Holczer

Recommended For:

**Thank you Chronicle Books for providing a copy for review!**

Supercars (Mean Machines Series) by Kane Miller Books

December 7, 2016 by Ricki

Nonfiction Wednesday

Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday is hosted by Kid Lit Frenzy and was started to help promote the reading of nonfiction texts. Most Wednesdays, we will be participating and will review a nonfiction text (though it may not always be a picture book).
Be sure to visit Kid Lit Frenzy and see what other nonfiction books are shared this week!

Supercars
Published: March 2016 by Kane Miller Books

Kane Miller Summary of the Mean Machine Series: Sure to get your young car enthusiast revved up, the Mean Machines series is pedal-to-themetal, fast and furious fun … from the comfort and safety of your living room! Which customized car has a top speed of 252 mph? Which engine has a nitrous oxide injector? Which car’s nickname is the Black Bat? Which car has a plasma TV inside the truck?! Find out!

Ricki’s Review: My favorite aspect of this book (and the series) is that readers of all levels will enjoy it. My toddler absolutely loves the pictures and can’t get enough of them. This book has not left our house since we received it a few weeks ago. He says, “What’s this, Mama?” to every picture on every page. My husband has also enjoyed this book, and I love to watch the two of them engrossed in the pictures and text. This is a book that reminds me that there is so much that I don’t know about cars. I may not be able to pronounce some of the terms in the book, but I most certainly have fun trying! I suspect this book will remain on our couch for several more weeks (if not months), and I am quite all right with that.

Teachers’ Tools for Navigation: This would be a great book to spark research projects. Teachers might give students a copy of one of the books in this series and ask them to research cars that would fit into the other texts of the series. They might also investigate why certain cars are included while others aren’t.

Discussion Questions: Which car is the fastest? Which is the largest? Which has the most power?; What differences do you see between the cars? What similarities do you see?; What makes these cars “super”?; Which car would you most want to own and why?

We Flagged a spread from the Performance Cars book, which looks similar to Supercars (but with different cars):

Read This If You Love: Cars!

Recommended For:

**Thank you to Lynn for providing a review copy!**

Top Ten Tuesday: Ten New-To-Me Authors I Read for the First Time in 2016

December 6, 2016 by Kellee

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish. The feature was created because The Broke and Bookish are particularly fond of lists (as are we!). Each week a new Top Ten list topic is given and bloggers can participate.

Today’s Topic: Ten + Two New-To-Me Authors I Read for the First Time in 2016

Kellee

These authors’ novels became instant favorites, and I highly recommend them all!

1. Elana K. Arnold

Elana K. Arnold’s book Far From Fair is a novel that a kid is going to need, and it’ll be there for them. Odette’s story deals with so many truths within the pages. Odette’s family is going on a road trip. Not for fun, but because her dad was laid off, and they had to sell their house. They decided to buy an RV and go visit Odette’s sick grandmother then go on an adventure. None of this was discussed with Odette, who really doesn’t want to live in an RV with her brother who could have a fit at any moment and her parents that are having marital difficulties. Much less leave her best friend and school! But sometimes you are not in control of what is happening, so you have to make the best of it.

2. Kristin Elizabeth Clark

Jess has recently began hormones and her transition, and she hasn’t talked to her father since he told her what she was doing was a choice and overall didn’t understand. Now that he is getting married, Jess and her best friend, Chunk, are going on a road trip to his wedding to show him who Jess really is. But this story isn’t as it seems. It is definitely a journey for the characters and the reader.

3. Adam Silvera

More Happy Than Not is a book that is important for our society. It truly looks at what we find acceptable and how that affects those we feel are “afflicted” with anything that is not normal.

4. Judd Winick

Hilo is one of my favorite graphic novels now, and I am impatiently waiting for the next book! These books are a fun mix of adventure and humor that any reader will love.

5. Barbara Dee

Full Review

I now see why so many of my middle school girls like her stories. The drama in Truth or Dare (sadly) feels so real to the girl drama I witness as a middle school teacher. Although parts may be a bit exaggerated a bit from the truth, it works to get the point across which I think is often needed when dealing with social situations in middle school to help the reader see the consequences. I also really liked the truth of Lia’s family, their grief, and the struggle between Lia’s aunt’s eccentricity and Lia’s family’s rigidity.

6. Michele Weber Hurwitz

After reading Michele’s Author Guest Post, I knew I wanted to read one of her novels then The Summer I Saved The World…in 65 Days ended up on our middle school state list, and I pushed it up to the top of my TBR. We chose this text as one of our summer faculty book club choices, and we thoroughly enjoyed it and even discussed having all of our 8th grade students have it read to them as a read aloud.

7. Polly Holyoke

The Neptune Project is such a creative, descriptive, unique, and intense dystopian novel, and it is just the beginning of the adventure. I cannot wait to read the sequel!

8. Eddie Pittman

Teaching Guide

Red’s Planet is a new graphic novel series that fans of sci-fi and adventure are going to definitely love!

9. Alison Cherry

Full Review and Author Guest Post

I love AJ. She is a perfect protagonist because she is just a real middle schooler. She is multi-faceted, funny, has quite a personality, has fears, makes mistakes, and is overall likeable. And she is not the only well-crafted character. Each of the characters, main, secondary, or supporting, are so fully developed that you feel like you know everyone in AJ’s life. I often am skeptical about first person POV because it is always tough to get a character/narrator’s voice perfect while also developing the characters, but Cherry does a great job of both. AJ is a normal middle school girl that is dealing with a quite terrible grandmother who happens to have an unexpected hobby.

Another thing that blew me away about this novel is that something happened that was completely unexpected! Usually when I am reading middle grade novels, I love them but am not often surprised because I can sense foreshadowing and predict; however, Cherry really caught me off guard in this one! You’ll have to let me know if you see it coming!

And finally, I loved the unique premise of the book! Who ever thought there’d be a book about a bunch of old ladies who “liberate” *cough* steal *cough* exotic birds and anything else that suits their fancy?!

10. Jonathan Auxier

Sophie Quire Teaching Guide

Sophie Quire is not only one of my favorite books I read this year; it is one of my favorite books ever. I love Sophie. She is OUR (book lovers’) heroine. She is such a special young lady, and the adventure she goes on is EPIC!

11. Dan Geminhart

Full Review

he Honest Truth was my first choice for my school’s faculty book club because I had only hear amazing things about it. I jumped into reading it without knowing anything about it, but by the end of the first page, I knew that all my friends who recommended it to me were right. Mark has a voice that is so full of hurt and sorrow that it jumps off the page and into your heart. The obstacles he faces and overcomes while also making his way to die alone show the strength of his character. I also was a big fan of the two points of view because it allows the reader to see what was going on at home and maybe get some more truth than what Mark was telling us (though he swears it all is the honest truth).

12. Gregory Funaro

Review and Author Q&A

Take a bit of Oliver Twist add in some Harry Potter and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory mix it with the snark of Lemony Snicket and Frankenstein’s monster then top it off with some Emerald Atlas and (more) Harry Potter adventure with mythology and fairy tale sprinkles and voila! You have yourself Alistair Grim’s Odditorium. But do not let me fool you into thinking that Gregory Funaro’s story is like anything you’ve read before because even though it alludes to many fantastical adventures, it is its own story through and through.

What makes Odditorium soar is not just the amazing adventure that Grubb and Mr. Grim go on (because it is amazing!), but the cast of characters that accompany them. Without Mrs. Pinch, Nigel, Mack, Lord Dreary, the samurai, and others, the book just wouldn’t be the same. Gregory Funaro did an amazing job creating a fully-developed supporting cast of characters that help push this adventure to the next level.

Which new authors did you find in 2016 that were new-favorites?

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading? #IMWAYR 12/5/16

December 8, 2016December 5, 2016 by Kellee

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

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

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

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

Last Week’s Posts

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

Tuesday: Kellee’s 2016 NCTE and ALAN Experience

Thursday: Ricki’s 2016 NCTE and ALAN Experience

Last Week’s Journeys

Kellee

I did finish Hundred Percent by Karen Romano Young which is a book I have mixed feelings about. I’ll share on Thursday.

Loving vs. Virginia by Patricia Hruby Powell is a one sitting book. I loved going on the journey with the Lovings, and the book truly gave me hope in this tumultuous times for civil rights. I book talked this for my classes, and they are all really interested in it as well. My students this year are very politically and socially minded.

Be Light Like a Bird by Monika Schröder has a death very early on in the book, and the way that the mother dealt with the grief made this book very hard for me to read when I first started it in July. It was really affecting me, so I put it down for a while. Then this weekend, after reading Augusta Scattergood’s review of it on her IMWAYR post, I picked it back up, and this time I must have been in a better mind space for it, and I found it a thought-provoking and heartfelt book.

Ricki

I’ve been writing, writing, writing this week! I’m trying to finish a few different manuscripts about young adult literature, and we had some deadlines for The ALAN Review. I didn’t finish any books, but everything I’m doing is connected to reading! I’m excited to hear what you all read this week!

This Week’s Expeditions

Kellee

I don’t know! My plan had been to read HiLo 3 this weekend since I got it at NCTE, but I sadly left it at work.

I think I am going to read some of the nonfiction and picture books I have sitting around to read/review 🙂

Ricki

I’ve listened to half of The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon, and I love it! It is a remarkable book that offers many opportunities for classroom discussion!

I am still really enjoying Gem and Dixie by Sara Zarr. It is a great story about the dynamic between sisters, and I suspect there is much more to come.

Upcoming Week’s Posts

top ten tuesday

Tuesday: Ten New-to-Me Authors I Read for the First Time in 2016

Wednesday: Mean Machines: Supercars by Kane Miller Books

Thursday: Hundred Percent by Karen Romano Young

Friday: Be Light Like a Bird by Monika Schröder

So, what are you reading?

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

and

Author Guest Post: “Lights, Camera, Action! (How Movies Can Engage Students in English Class)” by Sarah S. Reida, Author of Monsterville: A Lissa Black Production

December 4, 2016 by Kellee

Lights, Camera, Action! (How Movies Can Engage the Students in English Class)

I’ve been lucky enough to spend the last week in my hometown of Millstadt, Illinois, where I’ve presented to four local schools about my journey to MONSTERVILLE’S creation. Most recently, I spoke at an assembly at Millstadt Consolidated School, my alma matter (for K-9), and I was touched and humbled that both teachers I credited in my Acknowledgements came for the presentation.

While home, my parents and I watched a DVD (converted from VHS) of my brother and I opening Christmas presents. He was five, and I was nine. During that video, I screamed (with joy) while opening a huge box of books. Meanwhile, my brother Bryan never looked up from his assembly of a toy gun. He couldn’t have cared less that there were no books in his pile of presents.

Watching that video highlighted for me something we as educators, writers, book enthusiasts, etc., cannot ignore – not everyone is a reader. My brother is a very smart person – he is now a computer programmer and can do all sorts of “tekkie” things I have no grasp of – but Bryan would never scream with joy over meeting Stephen King. (That is beyond my comprehension).

I watched that video prior to my assembly at MCS. When it was done, I was scratching my head – what would I do to make the Bryans of the audience care about a presentation celebrating books?

My solution was to make the assembly not just about books, but creative expression. I’ve always been visual – I’m very much interested in film-making, so when I write, I think of how the scene would unfold in live action. And I would say I love movies almost as much as I love books. So I focused my presentation on the creative process generally – how books and movies are structured similarly (as evidenced by Blake Snyder’s wonderful SAVE THE CAT – this is a book that discusses the “beats” a screenplay must follow for solid structure, and almost all of his advice translates to writing), and where ideas come from (like how Ransom Riggs’ Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children came to be because his editor suggested that he take the strange photos he’d collected and use them to “cast” for the story that was waiting there). All the kids – not just the readers – seemed completely engaged by this approach. By discussing movies and books as creative outlets, I had them hooked.

To that end, here are some exercises meant to interest the “non-readers.” These are gleaned from MONSTERVILLE, as my main character, Lissa Black, is fascinated by the world of film and sees her world through the lens of a camera. To her, each component of every day is a movie scene and a chance to be creative, even though she’s not really a reader. She’s more visual.

First, as an exercise, have kids read a book that has been made into a movie. It can be anything. Don’t make them answer any specific questions about the book. Instead, have them do a report about why they preferred one over the other, with examples (maybe the book was better in the sense that the movie didn’t do justice to one particular character, and maybe the movie was better because it cut a plot line that bogged down the main story). This exercise will give kids a sense of how a work is structured to be engaging and have emotional impact, and they’ll learn about what works to that end and what doesn’t.

Second, have kids take an ordinary conversation they’ve participated in or witnessed and turn it into a dialogue or a scene. (I do this in MONSTERVILLE- Lissa’s friend’s brother Scott is obsessed with Call of Duty, and that’s how Lissa gets the idea for the play she writes. It’s an exaggerated, funny version of how she perceives Scott). This will show kids how they can make ordinary scenes funny or interesting, which helps in writing stories (and makes the process more fun).

Third, have kids watch a movie and write down how it follows the beats to Blake Snyder’s SAVE THE CAT. (I can’t stress enough what a wonderful – and fun – writing tool that is for young writers). Here is a table I’ve compiled, which lists the sixteen beats and has a space where the student can fill in where it happens in a movie. This is fun because kids will realize that no matter the type of movie (action, comedy, drama), it follows the same structure. Books have a similar structure, too – I now use SAVE THE CAT for all my projects!

Fourth, for a writing project, require the outline to have more pictures than words. This will force kids to really visualize how their story will play out, as well as prevent them from getting bogged down in too much detail. Want an example? Here’s what I used to write MONSTERVILLE! (This is the board game the kids use to navigate the world of Down Below once Lissa’s sister is taken).

Not every kid wants to spend their weekend reading books. Sometimes, there needs to be a hook, or maybe something visual to engage them. Movies – and the process of film-making – can be that tool. If you think outside the box, students will, too!

Monsterville: A Lissa Black Production
Author: Sarah S. Reida
Published September 20th, 2016 by Sky Pony Press

Summary: Beware what lurks beneath your bed. . . . It could lead to a monstrous adventure.

Thirteen-year-old Lissa Black is miserable when her parents force her to move from New York City (the perfect home for an aspiring writer/director/actress) to Freeburg, Pennsylvania, nowhere capital of the world. There’s nothing to do there, except play her little sister Haylie’s favorite new game, Monsterville, and hang out with her new neighbor Adam.

But when a walk in the woods lands her face-to-face with a swamp monster hungry for brains and then a Sasquatch that moos, even Lissa can’t call her new home totally boring. With Adam’s help, she catches the culprit behind the drama: a shape-shifting goblin who’s fled from the monster world of Down Below.

And what do you do with a creature that can be literally anything? Make monster movies, of course! Lissa is convinced that Blue will be the secret to her big break.

But when Haylie goes missing on Halloween, Lissa, Adam, and the monster must venture Down Below to stage a rescue—and face the real Monsterville, which is anything but a game.

Monsterville is a fusion of The Boxtrolls, Jumanji, and Candyland, weaving together friendship, family, and monsters into a funny fantasy-horror brimming with heart from a great new middle grade voice.

Visit Sarah S. Reida’s website (which includes movie trivia, tips and resources for teachers, and film-making information) at: http://www.lissablackproductions.com. Her debut middle grade book, MONSTERVILLE: A LISSA BLACK PRODUCTION, can be found on both Amazon.com and BarnesAndNoble.com.

Thank you Sarah for this activity to bring film into the classroom!

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