Author

Interview with Kim Harrington, Author of the Gamer Squad Series

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Thank you, Kim, for telling us about your new series!

 Tell us about the GAMER SQUAD series.

GAMER SQUAD is three-book series about a group of gamer kids who have to save their town from mobile game related disasters. The books have humor and heart, encourage girls in STEM, and focus on a love for community. I had so much fun writing them!

Your main character, Bex, is a gamer girl and wants to be a programmer when she grows up. Do you have any of this in your background?

Yes! I’ve been playing computer games since I got my first TI-99 and Commodore 64 (really dating myself here-ha!). At Bex’s age, I enjoyed playing around with some light programming at home in BASIC. Like Bex, I was self-taught. In high school, I took Pascal. And my first job out of college was programming for the IBM AS/400. But I have no idea how to program apps, which is Bex’s interest. So I had to get some help with that when it became a plot point in the second book.

In addition to the gaming and action, are there any themes you touch upon in the books?

Middle school can be a rough time for a lot of kids (it was for me), and I include a lot of these issues across the three books—from first crushes to bullying, losing and gaining friendships. It’s also a time where kids are trying to figure out who they are and who they want to be. Due to some changes in Charlie’s life, a big theme of the second book is that you don’t have to put yourself in a box and be one thing. And this stems from me growing up with vastly different interests. I was a huge reader and writer but also loved gaming and programming. It seemed unusual at that age to be in both Creative Writing and Programming for Pascal, but you don’t have to commit to one interest or label yourself.

What was your favorite part of researching for the series?

The obvious answer would be playing games! But it’s actually something else. In book two, CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE NERD KIND, the kids go on a field trip to an observatory. When they play their mobile game too close to a radio telescope, they accidentally summon real aliens to town. I knew I wanted the observatory scenes to be as realistic as possible so I actually toured an observatory. It was a blast! Their telescope was amazing, and we got to see a star, a nebula, and incredible details of the moon.

What’s happening next in the series?

After the Gamer Squad saves the town from not-so-virtual monsters in book one and aliens in book two, they find themselves up against the biggest challenge of all. In book three, APP OF THE LIVING DEAD (coming October 3rd), the kids must save their town from zombies and the game development company that has been causing all this trouble.

Author Bio

Kim Harrington is the author of Clarity, Perception, The Dead and Buried, and Forget Me for teens and the Sleuth or Dare and Gamer Squad series for kids. She lives in Massachusetts with her husband and son. When not writing, she’s most likely reading, watching one of her favorite TV shows, or fantasizing about her next vacation. She can be found on Twitter (@Kim_Harrington), Instagram (@KimHarringtonAuthor) and on her website: www.kimharringtonbooks.com.

Book Summaries

GAMER SQUAD #1: ATTACK OF THE NOT-SO-VIRTUAL MONSTERS
Sterling Children’s Books, August 1, 2017

What happens when your cool virtual-reality game . . . becomes REAL?

Pokémon GO meets The Goonies in this action-packed middle-grade series.

Monsters Unleashed—where you catch virtual-reality monsters on your cellphone—is one of the hottest mobile games around, and Bex and Charlie just can’t stop playing. They even check out an old map in Charlie’s grandfather’s attic in hopes of discovering some forgotten places in town where the rarest monsters might hide. But they find a strange machine up there too, and after Charlie switches it on, the WiFi goes down . . . and Bex’s entire catalog of monsters vanishes! And that’s not the worst of it: all the creatures she’s collected on her phone escape into the real world. Can the friends nab the beasts before they become monster lunch?

GAMER SQUAD #2: CLOSE ENCOUNTERS OF THE NERD KIND
Sterling Children’s Books, August 1, 2017

First they took on monsters. Now they have to face ALIENS.

Come join Bex and Charlie on their second thrilling adventure in the GAMER SQUAD series!

After their scary adventure, Bex and Charlie have sworn never to play Monsters Unleashed again. Then Veratrum Games Corp releases a new augmented reality game featuring aliens instead of monsters, and the best friends just can’t resist. After all, everyone loves it, even their science teacher, because it includes real star charts. But when they go to an observatory on a class trip, and open the game near a radio telescope, they get more than they bargained for: REAL aliens. One is sweet and kind; the other . . . not so much. Can Bex and Charlie capture the bad ET before it destroys their town?

Thank you, Kim, for stopping by Unleashing Readers! 

Everyone, make sure to check back on August 30th for Kellee’s review of the Gamer Squad’s first book!

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Author Guest Post and Giveaway!: “Creepy Crawley Science” by Kim Kasch, Author of Irma the Inventor and the Vampire Spiders

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“Creepy Crawley Science” 

S.T.E.M. (or Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) might not sound interesting to you. But, did you know when you play with Legos you’re using a form of engineering to create something?

And, who isn’t interested in flying cars, robots, and undersea ships? Well, those things are simply science, technology, engineering and math set in motion.

It’s all about finding easy ways to use these complicated disciplines to create new opportunities with common components…and some not so common ingredients, like spider silk.

Believe me, these teeny-tiny creatures create silk that can be used for breathtaking breakthroughs.

Spiders . . . ?

Yes. Spiders. I know you might think these eight-legged creatures sound more creepy than creative but did you know that spider silk is one of the strongest substances around? Well, it is. Scientists even call spider silk a “wonder material”.

I’m talking about that sticky stuff you sometimes walk through in the garden that sends shivers running up your spine.  Walking through a spider web immediately sends you searching for those little, unwelcome visitors which might be hiding in your hair. And, it’s stronger than steel and super flexible.

For decades scientists have been searching for a convenient way to harvest that silk so they would be able to use huge quantities.

It’s true. They have.

But, as you might expect, very few people want to become spider farmers simply to spend their afternoons walking up and down spider-infested rows to collect sticky webs dangling from trees, stuck to shrubs or clinging to bushes.

So what’s the answer to this scientific conundrum?

Well, you might want to read this article to find out more about sustainable spider silk: https://www.businessgreen.com/bg/news/3013893/scientists-develop-sustainable-spider-silk-in-green-materials-breakthrough in BusinessGreen.com

And if you think that’s interesting, you really might enjoy reading Irma the Inventor and the Vampire Spiders.

How many kids do you know who can build robotic spiders out of scrap metal, develop a substance that’s stronger than steel, or crash a cyber-wizard’s computer from an undetectable monitor? Well, that’s Irma. Still, all she really wants is to make some friends and blend in for once, but no matter how hard she tries, Irma always seems to stand out.

This laugh-out-loud middle grade novel encourages readers to explore the STEM fields while never losing its sense of fun.

Irma the Inventor & the Vampire Spiders
Author: Kim Kasch
Published August 21st, 2017 by 50/50 Press

About the Book: 

How many kids do you know who can build robotic spiders out of scrap metal, develop a substance that’s stronger than steel, or crash a cyber-wizard’s computer from an undetectable monitor? Well, that’s Irma. Still, all she really wants is to make some friends and blend in for once, but no matter how hard she tries, Irma always seems to stand out.

This laugh-out-loud middle grade novel encourages readers to explore the STEM fields while never losing its sense of fun.

About the Author Kim Kasch: 

I grew up in a family with 9 kids and grandma living in the back bedroom. Not surprising that I have a few stories to tell, especially since we only had 1 t.v.

I spent my days reading and, later, trying to create another world where I could escape all those brothers and sisters-and grandma-by writing. Maybe that’s why I love books so much. Well, that and the fact that I was near the end of that long sibling-chain and never had the clout to pick the t.v. shows we watched. But I’d run home after school to catch the last fifteen minutes of Barnabus Collins in Dark Shadows…

I still love to run or maybe I should say, I love to wog (a cross between walking and jogging).

Here in Portlandia, I love Halloween themed runs – where people don costumes and run. It’s a lot of fun…and I know those two words don’t always go together: fun…and…run. But here, in the damp days of fall, I think it is.

And, with all those Halloween themed runs, I guess Dark Shadows had more of an influence than some people might think. Even today my favorite author is Stephen King. My all-time favorite book is Salem’s Lot, which might have something to do with Irma the Inventor and the Vampire Spiders 🙂 

Sorry to be so long-winded but did I say I love to write, and talk, and knit, and sew, and bake… I could go on but I’ll stop by saying, I hope you’ll stop by my blog, send me a tweet, or check out my Facebook page. I’ll be sharing news about new books over there.

Thanks for listening and, hopefully, reading 🙂

Join me on Twitter or stop by and see what I’m pinning on  Pinterest and, if you read Irma the Inventor and have a question or simply want to share a comment, please feel free to send me an email. I love connecting with readers.

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GIVEAWAY!!!

Enter to win a STEM prize package and a copy of Irma the Inventor and the Vampire Spiders!

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Thank you, Kim, for this science-rific guest post and giveaway!

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Author Guest Post!: “How Do You Engage Restless Fourth Graders During the Last Weeks of School? With a Good Book, Of Course!” by Miriam Spitzer Franklin, Author of Call Me Sunflower

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 “How Do You Engage Restless Fourth Graders During the Last Weeks of School? With a Good Book, Of Course!”

This spring I was asked to fill in for a fourth grade teacher on maternity leave. I was excited to get back in the classroom, though a little nervous about taking over during those last hazy crazy days when students have already checked out and are dreaming of spending their homework-free vacation at the swimming pool or doing some other activity that doesn’t involve sitting still and listening to the teacher.

When I stepped in during April, most of the weeks were full of to-do lists with structured plans already in place. But once the end-of-year testing was completed, I was left with three weeks to fill. I was told I should continue the math lessons according to the manual, and should do some project-based learning to cover the science unit on matter.

But what was the best use of time during the language arts block? The director said I didn’t need to continue with vocabulary or spelling units. We had finished Junior Great Books, and there wasn’t a reading workshop set in place. So how was I going to keep my restless students engaged and involved for the last three weeks of school? The answer was simple: by reading an amazing book.

Luckily, I found a worn-out set of Number the Stars by Lois Lowry, one of my all-time favorites and a novel I had taught to sixth graders for many years. Since the students in my class were reading above grade level and this was a Jewish Day School, I felt the difficulty and content would be appropriate for fourth grade.

I introduced the book in the usual way: studying the cover, giving some author background, finding out what students knew about the Holocaust, doing a quick map study. The real fun began when I told the class we were going to hold Reader’s Theater each day to read and act out the chapters together. I set up some ground rules:

1) You may turn down a part if you don’t want it

2) We will rotate the parts each day

3) If you participate, you must try your best to read loudly and with expression

4) You should act out any motions described by the narrator

5) Anyone who does not take his/her part seriously will be replaced by another student for the day

Each day, I made a list of props that would be helpful for the next day’s reading and asked for volunteers to bring them in. Students began bringing in other props that they thought of as well. I used name cards to randomly draw parts until all students had been chosen. Sometimes I swapped out partway through a chapter, depending on the length.

I made up Rule #1 since some students did not want roles for the opposite gender, and I wanted to allow them the choice of just following along if they did not want to be onstage. (This would also be helpful if you have a classroom of varied reading skills so that everyone has the option of participating.) I began by reading the part of Narrator but about halfway through the book I chose others to read the part.

I included Rule #5 because I wanted the students to understand and respect the seriousness of the story. I had to give a few warnings and remind students of their goals, but I only had to replace a student once for talking in a silly voice during a serious scene. This was a learning experience for everyone as it led to journal responses and a discussion about what it would feel like if you were woken in the middle of the night by Nazi soldiers looking for your best friend.

We covered two chapters each day, one with Reader’s Theater and one read silently. Students kept journals where they wrote predictions along with other responses each day. Sometimes they responded to specific prompts; sometimes they wrote from the point of view of a character; sometimes they picked out the best descriptions and drew pictures to match. We started each day with a swapping of journals and a brief discussion in small groups. We finished the book in a little over two weeks, leaving the last week for final activities that included group murals, A to Z picture books, character interviews, and quiz bowls.

During the last few weeks of school, there were unexpected interruptions: extra practices for the end-of-year musical performance, an invitation to watch another class’s PBL presentations, a guest speaker. We may not have gotten to journal entries each day, but through it all, we never skipped the day’s reading. Students came in talking about the book in the morning, wanting to play with the props and act out parts.

No one can deny that it’s hard to hold a student’s attention during those hot last days of school when fourth graders are already looking at themselves as fifth graders and students are ready to escape the four walls of the classroom and run barefoot through the grass, the sun beating down on their shoulders.

But as I discovered when I taught fourth grade this year: if there was one time where I captured the attention of all of my students, it was during reading time. So if you want to beat the I’m-ready-for-summer-vacation blues, find a good book and read it from start to finish during the last weeks of school. Lois Lowry wove a spell over my students and made them forget that school was almost out. For an hour each day, we were transported to a different time and place where the challenges the characters faced became challenges of our own. This is the power of the well-chosen word; this is the magic of books.

About the Book:

Sunny Beringer hates her first name—her real first name—Sunflower. And she hates that her mom has suddenly left behind her dad, Scott, and uprooted their family miles away from New Jersey to North Carolina just so she can pursue some fancy degree. Sunny has to live with a grandmother she barely knows, and she’s had to leave her beloved cat and all her friends behind. And no one else seems to think anything is wrong.

So she creates “Sunny Beringer’s Super-Stupendous Plan to Get My Parents Back Together”—a list of sure-fire ways to make her mom and Scott fall madly in love again, including:

Send Mom flowers from a “Secret Admirer” to make Scott jealous and make him regret letting them move so far away.
Make a playlist of Scott’s favorite love songs—the mushier the better—and make sure it’s always playing in the car.
Ask them about the good old days when they first fell in love.

But while working on a photo album guaranteed to make Mom change her mind and rush them right back home, Sunny discovers a photo—one that changes everything.

Sunny’s family, the people she thought she could trust most in the world, have been keeping an enormous secret from her. And she’ll have to reconcile her family’s past and present, or she’ll lose everything about their future.

Review from Atlanta Journal Constitution: “Much as she did in her 2015 debut “Extraordinary,” North Carolina author Franklin delivers a moving and realistic story (with subplots, such as one that involves protesting the luxury fur business). “Sunflower” shines with emotion, convincing dialogue and relatable characters.”

About the Author:

Miriam Spitzer Franklin has taught elementary and middle school students for over 20 years in public, private, and homeschool settings. She is passionate about reading, writing, figure skating, and animal rights and environmental causes. She has coached her daughter’s Odyssey of the Mind team for the past five years and loves to see creativity in action! Her debut novel, EXTRAORDINARY, was published by Skypony Press in May 2015 and her second middle grade novel, CALL ME SUNFLOWER, was published by Skypony in May 2017.

Thank you to Miriam for this wonderful post!

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Author Guest Post!: “Mature Poop” by A.J. Cosmo

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“Mature Poop”

In my middle-grade novel Poop (don’t giggle), the main character’s journey is one of finding his maturity. He goes from a ten year old boy who believes that the world is out to get him to realizing that not only is the world indifferent to him, it requires him to take action. Liam’s development is in contrast to his estranged father who is an example that age and maturity are not necessarily correlated. But what exactly is maturity? It’s an abstract concept worth an hour of class discussion. With that in mind, here is how maturity is presented in Poop along with some questions to get the conversation going. (Once the giggling dies down that is.)

Maturity is your view of the world

One of the ways we can assess our maturity is through our view of the world. Do we consider ourselves to be the center of the universe? If so, then we are immature. Likewise, understanding that the world is neither for or against us is a hallmark of a mature personality. Ask your students how important they think they are to their inner circle and to the world at large.

Maturity is putting the needs of others in front of your own

Parents are by default considered mature because they are responsible for the well being of their children. We recognize that taking care of other people, especially when it takes something away from yourself, is an earmark of maturity. It’s remarkable when this trait for charity develops without the presence of children though. Ask your students for examples of times where they put the needs of someone else before their own.

Maturity is doing what you fear

It’s no secret that life often puts the thing you fear most directly in your path. Overcoming your fears and pressing on, in acceptance of being scared, is another sign of maturity. Think of the heroes that we praise for doing the right thing when everyone else was too scared to act. This can be anything from a fear of public speaking to a fear of walking alone at night. A mature person knows that they have the tools to face what is uncomfortable. Ask your students to share a time when they overcame their fears.

Maturity is owning up to your faults

Ask a toddler to admit something they did wrong and what do you get? Without fail, they will give you excuses and distractions. Being able fess up to your own mistakes is a huge part of maturity. No one is perfect, yet we all seem to want to project that we cannot make mistakes. Perhaps it’s a fear of punishment, or maybe it comes from pride, but we have all diverted the truth at some point. Ask your students about a mistake that they made and then lied about. Then ask them what happened and if they eventually had to confess.

Maturity is constant improvement

Growing up means knowing your flaws and being open to correction and improvement. A mature adult knows that growth and change is a constant part of life and works with it rather than against it. Ask any great artist and they will tell you that they still aren’t as good as what they wished they could be. The best athletes never stop practicing and the greatest minds never stop thinking. There is no stopping point and that’s the point of being an adult. Ask your students what they need to work on.

Maturity is trying again after failure

Fear of failure cripples far too many people, which is ironic, because young children never seem to care if they fall down. Being a mature person also means not avoiding failure. Sure, you may have to take care of a scraped knee, but maturity means accepting that failure is a part of growth and experience. Avoiding failure, by being a perfectionist, is actually a refusal to engage with life. After all, many of the great achievements of mankind came only after significant failure (just look up the story of inventing the jet engine.) Ask your students about a time they learned from their own failures.

More questions for your students:

What other traits do you imagine a mature person possesses?
Why is maturity important?
What could you do today to act more mature?

Though it’s an abstract concept, maturity carries with it enough identifiers to allow us to measure ourselves against our own potential. I hope that this has given your students a lot to think about and discuss and, hopefully, reminded a few adults about their own life choices as well. The great irony in creating a middle-grade novel called Poop is that everyone automatically assumes that I am both immature and witless, however, that couldn’t be further from the truth. Just like how Liam learns important life lessons from a talking pile of you know what, it’s oftentimes the most juvenile aspects of life that provide the greatest opportunities for maturity to blossom.

You’re now free to giggle.

Poop
Author: A.J. Cosmo
Published September 12th, 2016 by Thought Bubble Publishing

Summary: Poor Liam. On the very first day of fifth grade, in a strange new town, and a large new school, he interrupts everyone to bolt out and into the girl’s bathroom. There, down in the far stall, in pain from a horrible stomach condition, he meets a new friend: Poop. The cheery little guy says he’s there to help Liam through a tough time in his life. But what does Liam need help with? And who, in their right mind, would want Poop for a friend?

About the Author: A.J. Cosmo is the writer and illustrator of over thirty children’s books including the best selling The Monster That Ate My Socks and I Don’t Want to Go to School. Poop is available online or by asking your local bookstore. Say hi on twitter @ajcosmokids or at www.ajcosmo.com

Thank you A.J. for this post! Maturity is something that is always a necessary conversation in middle school! Also, thank you to Chris from Thought Bubble Publishing for getting us in touch with A.J.

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Author Guest Post: “Using Your Personal Real Estate to Create Characters, Setting, and Conflict” by Fracaswell Hyman, Author of Mango Delight

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“Using Your Personal Real Estate to Create Characters, Setting, and Conflict”

One of the trickiest things for me, as a writer, is figuring out where to begin. I imagine it could be a challenge for students, too. So many decisions to make as you begin… Who is the main character? What does s/he want? What are their obstacles? Secret desires? What is important to her/him? What are they willing to sacrifice to protect what is important?

I have learned to tackle these questions by first taking stock of my personal real estate. By personal real estate, I mean the things that I own, things I know as much if not more about than anyone else. I’m not talking about property or anything that is tangible, but your own personal experiences, personality traits, interests, values, and lessons learned.

A couple of years ago, I was about to take a “Write A Novel In Six Weeks” class at UNCW. I was not sure of what to write about, but I kept rolling ideas around in my head. One morning I awoke with a name in the forefront of my mind, Mango Delight. I thought, what a ridiculous name! I’d feel sorry for a person with a name like that. Of course, with a name like Fracaswell Hyman I automatically empathize with those saddled with a strange name. As we all know, kids can be cruel, especially if there is something different about you that they can latch on to. My name made me stick out like a sore thumb. At the beginning of each school year, I would cringe when the teacher would make several attempts at pronouncing my name while taking attendance. When I would finally raise my hand and offer the correct pronunciation, the giggling would begin. Then the teasing would commence with several amusing distortions of my name, my least favorite (because I was a chunky boy) was “Fat-caswell.” That one stuck for years.

So, it only seemed natural for me to identify with a character with a weird name like Mango Delight. This was territory I knew intimately, hence real estate that I owned. I also decided to make this character a female, since I didn’t want to make the story autobiographical, changing the sex gave me a healthy amount of distance that allowed me the freedom to let my imagination fly and create an original story.

Next up, what does the character want? This is a hugely important step. What a character wants drives your story. I thought back to what it is that I wanted when I was in middle and high school. I remembered that I had friends yes, but no one who would claim me as their best friend. I wanted to have and to be a best friend and was always trying to figure out how to acquire and become one. The chemistry of friendships is complicated and something everyone struggles with at some point in their lives–even as adults.

I had recently lost a very good friend. It was a wound I was still tending, and so I decided to let Mango start off with a bestie, lose that relationship, and then try to find her way to, not necessarily replacing that friend, but gaining some understanding as to what kind of friend she wanted and what kind of friend she wanted to be. Once you know what a character wants, the obstacles will fall into place if you as the writer let yourself become ruthless. Yes, you love and care about your character, but you have to commit to putting him/her through the wringer to get what s/he wants. There is nothing more boring than an easy path to success, at least not when it comes to reading, so keep coming up with as many obstacles as possible and make each one more challenging than the one before.

Giving a character a secret desire and then making it public reveals something that is important to him/her that they can’t easily back away from. As a kid, I always wanted to be an actor. I’d see kid actors on sitcoms or in movies and something inside me knew that I could do that, but I never shared this desire with anyone.

In middle school, I watched from the sidelines as other students auditioned for the school plays, rehearsed and then had their moments in the spotlight during production. Even though my desire was strong, I was too shy to stand up in front of anyone and sing or try to act. I decided to have Mango share the same trait. Her secret desire was to be a singer, something she did well, but never in front of anyone.

In the book, Mango is set up by her ex-bestie to audition for the school play. It is a mortifying moment for Mango, to get up in front of an auditorium full of students and do the thing she’d only do alone in her bathroom. Yes, singing in front of people was just as scary as taking a shower in front of the entire school. So, how to get Mango to not run away and let her ex-bestie’s dirty trick succeed…? I looked into my personality trait real estate and decided to share my stubbornness with Mango. Yes, sometimes being stubborn can get you in a lot of trouble, but at other times it can lead to success. Stubborn folk won’t give up when faced with a dare or a challenge. So, Mango draws on the stubborn side of her personality and sings in public for the first time and it pays off. The payoff leads her to a place outside of her comfort zone, a lead role in a school production.

By the time I got to high school, I found the courage to try out for a school play and was cast in the chorus. It was daunting, but I had found my tribe. Now that my secret passion was public, I happily became a member of a group of kids that shared my interests. They were a great group whose desire led them to staying long hours after school rehearsing, time at home learning lines and songs and dances. These kids were as dedicated to theatrical productions as athletes were to their sports. With no grades or other rewards at the end they committed themselves just for the opportunity to do the thing they loved along with others that shared their passion. Yes, this was a piece of real estate that I knew tons about and I wanted to share how great these kids were, the ups and downs and challenges of learning to perform, and how important it is to follow your dream no matter how scary it can be at first.

Once I was confident in the real estate I shared with my main character, I was free to let my imagination fly and present her with obstacles, predicaments and other characters that would challenge her and make her a character worth rooting for.

At the end of The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy says, and I’m paraphrasing, “If I ever go looking for my heart’s desire again, I won’t have to go farther than my own backyard.” Good advice for when you’re looking to create a fresh new character. Explore your own emotional and experiential real estate; there are treasures to be found if you dig deep enough.

About the Book:
What happens when your BFF becomes your EFF . . . EX-Friend-Forever?
When seventh-grader Mango Delight Fuller accidentally breaks her BFF Brooklyn’s new cell phone, her life falls apart. She loses her friends and her spot on the track team, and even costs her father his job as a chef. But Brooklyn’s planned revenge—sneakily signing up Mango to audition for the school musical—backfires when Mango not only wins the lead role, but becomes a YouTube sensation and attracts the attention of the school’s queen bee, Hailey Jo. Hailey Jo is from a VERY wealthy family, and expects everyone to do her bidding. Soon Mango finds herself forced to make tough choices about the kind of friend she wants to have . . . and, just as important, the kind of friend she wants to be.

*“Hyman marries traditional tween elements with a fresh and original plot, and his multicultural cast sparkles with individuality and authenticity. . . . Hyman’s supporting characters, both kids and adults, are vivid and dynamic. Mango is as delightful as her middle name indicates, and middle-grade readers will easily recognize their own experiences in her friendship struggles. This is Hyman’s first novel; here’s hoping it’s not his last.” —Booklist (Starred review)

“[T]he characters . . .  are deftly crafted, and their relationships play out in ways that carefully avoid cliché. . . . Mango’s supportive family is also well drawn, particularly her comforting Jamaican immigrant father and her no-nonsense, former athlete African-American mom, who’s a loving but demanding figure. Kids who’d settle for making it through middle school unscathed but still dream of shining in it will find a kindred spirit in Mango.” — Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books

Thank you to Ardi for connecting us with Fracaswell!

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Author Guest Post!: “Thank You, Teachers” by Pepper Springfield, Author of Bobs and Tweets

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“Thank You, Teachers!”

There are two types of people I like to spend time listening to and talking with.  First are teachers, particularly elementary school teachers, who have consistently been the most important influencers in my life.   This started with my mother who was a public school teacher in Dedham, Massachusetts.

My mother, showing a snake to third graders while she was pregnant with me. Not shown here was a future-famous student of my mom’s, mega-bestselling author, Anita Shreve!

Teachers were the real heroes and celebrities when I was growing up. Every spring when I was a kid my mother would invite our teachers over for lunch and it was a real thrill to be able to socialize outside of the classroom with my teachers and hear their stories.  It sounds old-fashioned and corny now but back then, it was one of the most significant days of the year and just one of the many ways I grew up with total respect and appreciation for teachers.

Decades later, as President of Scholastic Book Clubs, my job is to listen to teachers and partner with them in any way possible to help them get wonderful books into the hands of all students. I trace my career path directly back to those elementary school lunches.

The second category of people I like to spend time talking with are kids who aren’t great readers.  I enjoy most young people, but I particularly like to hear from kids who don’t like to read; those who say “I am just not a reader,” who can’t find a book they like, and thus become practically allergic to books and reading.  These kids don’t have the skills or the vocabulary or the confidence to keep up with complicated chapter books and they don’t want to be caught reading “baby books”. So they often get left behind or opt out.  I spend lots of time talking with many such kids when I visit classrooms around the country.   My interpretation of what I hear is that they need to connect with books that are funny, interesting, sometimes edgy, relatable, and easy enough for them to read and feel successful.

For years I thought about writing such a book myself but I had neither the self-confidence nor a specific idea.  One day, one phrase popped into my head: “Bob the Slob.”  It took me months to get over being self-conscious about actually sitting down to write (I would literally fall asleep from stress when I first sat down at my desk) but bit by bit, weekend by weekend, I pushed my self-doubt aside and kept at it.

Eventually, I developed that one phrase “Bob the Slob” into a rhyming chapter book about a family of slobs named Bob and a family of neat-niks named Tweet. These two families unwittingly move to the same place—Bonefish Street– and their not-so-friendly-neighborly adventures begin.

But the youngest in each family, Dean Bob and Lou Tweet, are not like the rest of their clans.  Dean Bob is fastidious and orderly; and Lou Tweet loves rock ‘n’ roll and never cleans her room.  They each struggle with their families’ extreme lifestyles and so it is lucky and wonderful when they meet each other and become best friends.

I found Kristy Caldwell, an illustrator on the SCBWI website and together we have been working on developing these characters and the world they live in and creating a series of funny, rhyming, fully illustrated chapter books geared for those kids who aren’t such great readers and have trouble finding something they want to read. Needless to say, we were thrilled when Meet the Bobs and Tweets was chosen by kids for the ILA Children’s Choices 2017 Reading List.

There are several themes that are important to me that run through these books: that kids can find creative and successful ways to navigate the nutty worlds of their families; that you can be best friends—like Dean and Lou—with someone who is very different from you; and that wonderful, creative teachers like Lou and Dean’s teacher, Ms. Pat, can make all the difference in a child’s life.

In Perfecto Pet Show, the second book in the series (pub date: June 27) readers meet Ms. Pat, Lou and Dean’s pet—and children’s literature—loving teacher.  Ms. Pat brings her pets to school, (her cat, Donald Crews; Mandy, her hamster; her Piglet named Pippi along with a few others) to announce her idea for a Kid-Pet Talent Show.  Like many great teachers I know, Ms. Pat is excited to find new ways to help her students express their creativity. Lou and Dean are dubious, and they dread the embarrassment of having their families come to school.  But Ms. Pat prevails and the Kid-Pet Talent Show is, as the Bobs would say very loudly and in unison:  PERFECTO!

Ms. Pat, the kids and their pets after a very successful Kid-Pet Talent Show!
(Illustration by Kristy Caldwell)

Ms. Pat is the latest in a long line of wonderful teachers in my life.  I am scheduled to go back to my elementary school alma mater, the John Ward School in Newton, MA and meet with students and share the Bobs and Tweets books with them. I will explain to them that my much of my inspiration for Ms. Pat came eons ago from teachers I had when I was sitting in the very classrooms they are in now.

I will also ask the students to fill out a very short survey letting me know whether they are a Bob or a Tweet—and why. We have been sending out surveys about these books to kids from the beginning and the answers we get are wonderful and inspiring, and are helping to shape future books in the series.

I recently surveyed a classroom of kids and received heartwarming responses like this one:

And even ideas for my next book!

And some that make me smile and keep me humble.

Thank you to all the wonderful teachers who are part of my family, my education, my career, and my own children’s books!  And to all the kids I have met and hope to meet in the future. You all inspire me.  I hope you will enjoy the Bobs and Tweets as much as I do!

Xx
Pepper

To learn more about the books, see Kellee’s review of the first two books of the series!

“Short chapters and funny, rhyming text will help engage young readers…The flat, colorful illustrations are full of humorous details that add to the story.” —Children’s Literature
“Caldwell’s energetic, full-color, Sunday-comics illustrations are satisfyingly chaotic.” —Kirkus
“Colorful and appealing!” —School Library Journal

About Pepper Springfield 

Pepper Springfield was born and raised in Massachusetts. She loves rock ‘n’ roll, chocolate, reading, and crossword puzzles. Illustrator Kristy Caldwell received an MFA in Illustration from the School of Visual Arts and lives in New York City.

Thank you Pepper for the guest post and Larissa at Claire McKinney PR for setting us up together!

Author Skype Visits with Kellee’s 7th Grade Lunch Book Club

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A lunch book club meeting in the library one day

After we finished our Mock Newbery experience, my lunch book club needed a new direction. My students said they definitely wanted to continue the book club.

  • I liked having lunch book club because we all read the same book. We could support each other through the sad parts, and share the happy memories when something good happened. -Maria
  • I liked book club very much because I got to talk to other kids in the school who were reading the same book as I am. -Ashley
  • My favorite part of lunch book club is being able to talk with other people who have already read a book or are currently reading it. You get to talk with people and discuss it, which makes me understand the book even more. -Emily

We discussed three options to continue:

  1. Everyone just reads whatever and we talk about books in general.
  2. HARRY POTTER! There are so many students in the group that are reading his books for the first time.
  3. Author Skype Visits

After much discussion, we decided on #3 (though some students did choose to only continue reading Harry Potter).
We then looked through Kate Messner’s so helpful list of authors that are kind enough to do free school Skype visits. From this list, we chose four authors we were really interested in reading more of and chatting with:

  • Dan Gemeinhart because The Honest Truth was on our state list for 2016-2017 and Some Kind of Courage had been on our Mock Newbery list, so most of the kids in the club have already read his books, but there was also his newest, Scar Island, we could read.
  • August Scattergood because one student adored Glory Be that she read in elementary school and shared with the group how much she liked it. I also pushed for them to pick a historical fiction author to get all of the genres covered in the four visits.
  • John David Anderson because Ms. Bixby’s Last Day had been on our Mock Newbery list and had been a favorite, and I am a huge fan of his other books which I book talked, and they were interested in them.
  • Kristen Kittscher because The Wig in the Window had been a HUGE hit in my classroom last year and many of them had read it in my class last year, and they shared it with the students who hadn’t read it, and they definitely had to know how the mystery ended.

And we were so lucky that ALL OF THEM were available at some point before the end of the year, and it even worked out to one per month February through May. I then went about purchasing all of the books using a grant I received for middle school book clubs, and we began reading one author a month.

If you have ever been part of an author Skype visit, it is so amazing to see what wonderful questions the students come up with and equally fascinating to hear how the authors answer them. Some examples: With Dan Gemeinhart, we discussed “the parent problem” in middle grade and young adult literature as well as how he crafted his chapters in The Honest Truth; with Augusta Scattergood, we discussed the inclusion of diverse characters as well as her choice to add quirky exclamations in Making Friends with Billy Wong; with John David Anderson, we discussed the hero’s journey including Star Wars and Harry Potter and how he’s written so many different genres; and with Kristen Kittscher, we discussed her planning (or lack thereof) and her characterization.

Each Skype visit was different and after each one the students raved about the opportunity, and I want to second their excitement: We are so lucky to be able to spend any amount of time, much less almost an hour, with each of these authors!

  • My favorite part of Skype visits is that we got our burning questions answered. Many readers have questions and they can only speculate, but we love reading so much that we get to talk with them. I feel as if we have become friends with the authors. -Emily
  • I enjoyed Skyping with the different authors and learning how each of them wrote and planned a story. I loved reading the books and seeing the difference between the types of styles and genres each author wrote in. -Sarah