Guest post

Author Guest Post: “Ancient Setting, Modern Issues (Carefully Concealed)” by Anthony Peckham, Author of Children of the Black Glass Series

by
Share

“Ancient Setting, Modern Issues (Carefully Concealed)”

I have a 15 year old son with a finely tuned ear for any attempt to instruct, improve or enlighten him. The slightest hint and he will bolt for the hills (or basketball court), leaving an unread book in his wake. I remember being exactly the same. Perhaps we all  were like that.  

As a teenager, I wanted tense, twisty and dark. I wanted characters to love and characters  to fear and despise. I wanted fast pace, action and surprises. I wanted some form of  magic. I still do.  

But as a writer and a parent, I also wanted to explore some of the serious issues and concerns facing our children right now.  

So I hid them in the past. I set my Black Glass trilogy in an unstable time long ago, somewhere between the end of the age of stone and the beginning of the age of metal.  

This propulsive sibling saga covers just a year in the life of a family, a village and a city. Brother and sister are trying to deal with the disappearance of their mother two years  before. The remote village they live in is known for its rigid rules and ruthless attitude to  the outside world. The vast trading city they journey to is being ripped apart by a sorcerer’s coup.  

To survive, sister and brother have to rely on their formidable mountain skills and toughness, on strangers who become allies, and a sorcerer who is friend to nobody.  

Clearly, this is not a modern story in any way.  

However, the books explore contemporary issues like the processing of loss and grief, and the recovery of joy and purpose. They explore the idea of resilience. They explore  self determination for youth. They model and valorize competence. They engage with  environmental degradation and rehabilitation. They speak to our loss of faith in  institutions at a time of economic instability and uncertainty. They even explore  collective action against cultural and physical oppression … 

… without ever using any of the words and phrases I just laid upon you. These things are  all just an organic part of the story and action. If discussed at all, the words used are  appropriate to that time, not our time. And everything is processed through the minds,  hearts and souls of four teenagers of that ancient time.  

It turns out they’re much like our own teenagers.  

It seems to have worked. So far my son hasn’t bolted for the hills.  

The Black Glass trilogy is Children of the Black Glass, Winter’s Fire and The Law of  Solitude.

Children of the Black Glass Series
Author: Anthony Peckham

Book #3 The Law of Solitude Publishing July 28th, 2026 by Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books

About the Book: Tell and Wren face a wraith—a sorcerer gone rogue—in this third and final book in the Children of the Black Glass middle grade fantasy series that’s Howl’s Moving Castle meets Christopher Paolini!

Now a captive in Desert’s house, Wren learns the evil sorcerer has melded herself into a human body to become a wraith. Wielding even more power, more strength, and more magic than ever before, Desert’s still not satisfied…not until she consumes Wren’s too.

Tell will stop at nothing to save his sister, and while he lacks magic himself, he discovers one of their friends has mystical powers and is as determined as Tell is to save Wren—the girl who once saved him.

Separated for the first time, Tell and Wren are both left to rely on their quick wits, mountain training, and allies old and new to vanquish Desert once and for all. As desperate sorcerers prepare to battle the twisted wraith, they know losing would mean losing the city of Halfway…and each other.

About the Author: Anthony Peckham is an award-winning screenwriter and novelist. His movie credits include Invictus, Sherlock Holmes and Don’t Say A Word. He was awarded the Christopher Award and Paul Selvin Award by the Writers Guild of America for Invictus, and was nominated for an NAACP Image Award. Anthony was also awarded the San Luis Obispo International Film Festival Spotlight Award in 2016. His Children of the Black Glass middle grade fantasy trilogy is published by Simon & Schuster.

Tony was born and raised in South Africa and completed his undergraduate degree at the University of Cape Town in English and Classical History. He moved to California to attend film school at San Francisco State University and earned a M.A. in Film. He now lives in Hawaii with his family.

Thank you, Tony, for this post looking at how stories from all time periods can connect with teens of today!

Author Guest Post: “Fun With Math: Math Tie-Ins” by Liana Grey, Author of Mira’s Baking Adventures

by
Share

“Fun with Math: Math Tie-Ins”

When I student-taught first grade years ago, children struggled to understand addition. So I brought in apples and told the class I was going to make them a special treat.

“I need seven apples for my recipe,” I explained. “I have three green apples and four red apples. Do I have enough apples?”

Suddenly, the concept clicked. Some students counted the apples. Others added three and four with their fingers. Children raised their hands excitedly, eager to help me out.

This, and many other real-world, food-related “aha” moments in the classroom, inspired me to write an early reader chapter book that explores fractions, measurement, and money math through an entertaining story about a girl who surprises her grandma with a unicorn-shaped birthday cake.

Below are some ideas for connecting children’s literature with classroom-friendly food activities that can help make abstract math concepts concrete.

Candy Division

You can weave math lessons into class celebrations and your students won’t even know it. Halloween is a great time to review or introduce the concept of division – there is something magical about dividing up a bucket of Halloween candy – but this activity works any time of year.

Try This: Hand out candy to each table (choose a candy amount that won’t leave the group with a remainder, unless you explicitly want to teach or review this) and ask students to divide the candy equally among themselves. Let them figure it out all on their own! Adapt this activity to other special celebrations or even snack time. Children can divvy up Valentine’s day treats, grapes, or pretzel sticks.

Pair with a read-aloud of Pat Hutchins’ The Doorbell Rang, the classic picture book about a batch of cookies that keeps getting divided among more and more friends.

Cooking Up Measurement

What better way to introduce (or review) volume, measurement, or fractions than by cooking fresh applesauce? That cinnamon-apple smell is divine. For no-cook options, choose lemonade, playdough, or bubble solution. You can’t go wrong with any simple, one-bowl activity that involves measuring quantities.

Try This: Pick a recipe your class will love, laminate it, and bring in bowls, cooking utensils, and anything else you need (an electric skillet works great for classroom-friendly applesauce cooking.) If focusing on volume and/or units of measurement, you may want to bring in a kitchen scale in addition to measuring cups and spoons.

To connect with literature, read Mira’s Baking Adventures: The Unicorn Cake, in which seven-year-old Mira sets out to bake a cake and has to figure out what ½ tablespoon means. The book is a perfect companion for any measurement or fraction lesson.

Quesadilla Fractions 

At the end of Mira’s Baking Adventures, fractions come to life for the protagonist, Mira, when she divides her birthday cake into equal slices for her family. Sometimes, dividing up a whole food into parts is all it takes for kids to visualize fractions. All you need for this fun activity is cheese, tortillas, kid-safe cutting utensils, and access to a microwave.

Try this: Divide children into groups. Hand out two large wheat tortillas and a bowl of shredded cheese to each group. Children can work together to sprinkle cheese onto one of the tortillas, then place the second tortilla on top. Precise measurement isn’t very important here, although you could add to the lesson by having children measure the cheese. Microwave each tortilla.

Hand each group a fraction card and some kid-friendly cutting utensils, such as plastic butter knives or special kids’ cooking knives – and have them transform their quesadilla into the fraction on their card. To make ⅗, for instance, students would cut the quesadilla into 5 equal slices and keep three slices, setting aside the other two.  If teaching the concept of simplifying, hand out variations on  ½, such as 3/6 and 4/8, and show how each group ends up with half a quesadilla.

Tie in a read-aloud of Fraction Action by Loreen Leedy, a popular picture book that follows a classroom full of animal characters as they learn about fractions.

Mira’s Baking Adventures: The Unicorn Cake
Author: Liana Grey
Published December 9th, 2025 by Kitchen Chemistry

About the Book: Will Mira’s homemade birthday cake be delicious, or a math disaster? In this early reader chapter book that explores STEM through baking, seven-year-old Mira wants to surprise Grandma Rose with a homemade cake shaped like a unicorn (because who doesn’t love unicorns?)

There’s just one problem. Mira has never used a recipe before, and it’s full of baking mysteries: What does 1/2 mean? How do you measure flour? How do you turn a rectangular sheet cake into a unicorn? And how much allowance money will be left after buying special ingredients?

As Mira solves one puzzle after another, she discovers that baking is really just math in disguise.

A warm, funny book for kids who love:

  • Cooking and baking
  • Problem-solving
  • Real-life STEM
  • Ivy + Bean and The Questioneers series

About the Author: Liana Grey is an author, baker, certified teacher, and the founder of Oak Leaf Cooperative Schools, a network of outdoor preschools. Before becoming an educator, Liana trained at pastry school and made desserts at a New York City restaurant. She’s been combining her love of baking and teaching ever since, directing and writing grants for nonprofit educational programs, including STEM enrichment, and believes that the “real world” – whether the kitchen or the forest – is the best classroom. Mira’s Baking Adventures and Isha Evans, Eco Detective are her first children’s book series.

Thank you, Liana, for these fun math activities with book tie-ins!

Author Guest Post: “The Secret Map to Guiding Reluctant Readers” by Jessica Khoury, Author of Monster and Apprentice

by
Share

“The Secret Map to Guiding Reluctant Readers”

As much as we may debate causes and solutions, there is one grim fact all educators, parents, and publishers can agree on: Kids need to be reading more. With screens permeating every hour of our daily lives, constantly offering faster, easier dopamine hits, shortcuts, and distractions, the question comes up over and over:

“How do we make kids want to read?”

Having written for teens and kids for over fifteen years, seeing the market change dramatically in that time, and having become a parent myself, I’ve asked these questions repeatedly of both myself and the educators I meet. How do we help reluctant readers discover that “one right book” which will, rumor has it, ignite in them a lifelong love of reading?

Every reader, reluctant or not, is unique, and requires unique encouragement. There’s no “one size fits all” tactic for encouraging reluctant readers just as there’s no one book that will appeal to each of them. But throughout my years meeting readers at schools, festivals, libraries—and my own experience raising a reluctant reader—I’ve learned there is a secret map that helps us guide reluctant readers to just the right books.

The key to that map is surprisingly simple: Ask the right questions. Then listen without judgment.

When I meet a reader, I want to find out A) what they like, and B) why they like it. “Do you like video games? You do? Well, what do you like to play? What’s your favorite TV show? Do you play a sport?”

And while, yes, I hear a lot of “Dog Man, Fortnite, and Demon Slayer,” I never get tired of seeing their faces light up as they describe what they love. When a kid tells me what they like, they’re offering me something enormously valuable: a precious, precise manual of how to get their interest.

And that’s completely changed how I write books and how I connect them with young readers.

From the time I start a new story to the time the finished book finally hits store and library shelves, I’m thinking about my reader: What is she watching on TV? What is video game is he obsessed with? What is it about those stories that captures her imagination? How will my story fit into the cultural map of their lives? How can I connect it with what they already know and love?

“Oh, you like the intense battles in Demon Slayer? Me too! Hey, you should try reading Monster and Apprentice. It’s also about kids who fight monsters and use cool battle magic!” or “You play a lot of Fortnite battle royale, huh? Imagine if battle royales were real, and kids had no choice but to fight in one. That’s exactly what happens to this girl named Katniss in The Hunger Games!”

Of course, being able to make these connections requires us adults to cultivate awareness of what kids are into these days. That helps us know whether it’s the intense battles in Demon Slayer they like—or if it’s the brother-sister bond at the heart of the story, or the unique art style of the manga, or the hilarious friendship dynamic between the main characters. That’s where the “Why do you like it?” question becomes important, helping us create deeper connections between the concepts they’re drawn to and the books that will best reach them.

I do find this easier now that I’m a parent, I’ll admit. There’s no ignoring K-Pop Demon Hunters blasting on my TV for the thousandth time this year! But even if I didn’t have that immediate insight at my fingertips, the great thing about kids is they love to tell you all about what interests them. We just have to be curious and, it must be stressed, nonjudgmental.

I think there’s a part of us adults, born from good intentions, that can’t resist correcting a kid’s interests, to redirect them to what they “should” like. After all, don’t we know better? Isn’t it our job to help them grow and make better choices?

Well, maybe. But the fastest, surest way to discourage a potential reader is to dismiss their interests out of misguided didacticism. They hear us say graphic novels aren’t “real books,” that they should try reading something either easier or more challenging, or that books are better for them than video games—and they feel belittled and rejected. A negative judgment of what they enjoy will feel like a negative judgment of them. A book then becomes not an enticing story, but a punishment. Of course that will be met with reluctance, if not downright resistance!

Setting aside our own opinions and judgments long enough to see the reader in front of us is the first step to real connection. Once we know who they are and what they like, we can thoughtfully introduce books that will most naturally fit into the cultural map of their lives. We can know that this reader will like this book, not because we told them they must—but because we’ve taken the time to understand them and respect their interests. Kids know what they want. We just have to listen!

Monster and Apprentice by Jessica Khoury
Published July 14th, 2026 by Margaret K. McElderry Books

About the Book: After a life on the streets Rolan is chosen to apprentice under a feared monster hunter to slay Cryptics—deadly magical creatures born of secrets in this middle grade fantasy perfect for fans of Witcher and Demon Slayer.

Rolan Strider has never belonged—not at school, not in the city of Crisanth, and definitely not in the life of his crime-lord father. So when he’s caught vandalizing one of the city’s lanterns—a serious offense in a world where darkness breeds monsters—he expects prison. Instead, he’s claimed by the Arcanist, a legendary warrior who hunts Cryptics: terrifying creatures born from the secrets people hide.

Dragged beyond the safety of the city, Rolan is forced to train under Luc’s harsh guidance—learning to read, fight, and wield Arcana, the strange power drawn from slain Cryptics. And for the first time, Rolan begins to feel at home.

But the beast Luc has been hunting for years is closer than Rolan ever imagined—and tied to his own past in ways that could destroy them both.

To survive, Rolan must face the truth, wield the power of the very secrets he fears, and decide who he wants to be in this action-packed adventure: an outlaw, a hero…or something else entirely.

(For the first printing only! This hardcover features sprayed stenciled edges while the special edition supply lasts.)

About the Author: Jessica Khoury is an acclaimed author whose books for teens and young readers have been translated into over a dozen languages and recognized by awards like the South Carolina Junior Book Award and the Ignyte Award. Her bestselling middle grade debut, The Mystwick School of Musicraft, was named one of Audible’s Best Audiobooks of 2019 and is among the Top 20 Most Listened To Children’s Books ever. Also, a fantasy cartographer and illustrator, Jess’s artwork has appeared in New York Times bestsellers, games, and her own books. Drawing inspiration from her Scottish and Middle Eastern heritage, childhood, and the world around her, she lives in Greenville, South Carolina, with her husband and daughters, spending free time hiking, gaming, and creating new stories.

Thank you, Jessica, for the reminder to LISTEN because if we listen to kids, they will tell us!

Author Guest Post: “Why Simple Stories Aren’t Really Simple” by Brad Barkley, Author of The Reel Life of Zara Kegg

by
Share

“Why Simple Stories Aren’t Really Simple”

When handed a novel or short story to read, students are quick to make decisions about the characters. She’s the hero. He’s the villain. One character is a jerk. Another gets angry, so they must have anger issues. End of story. It’s a clean way of seeing things, and for a while, it works.

They do the same thing in real life (most of us do), so that’s what they’re bringing to the story. It’s just easier that way. But fiction gives us a place to slow that down a little, to see how quickly our judgments start to break apart, and how much more complicated—and more interesting—things usually are once you get close enough to someone on an emotional plane to start looking inside them.

In my YA novel The Reel Life of Zara Kegg, Zara lives in that same space for most of the book. The big line in the sand for her—there are people who tell the truth, and people who don’t. For the ones who don’t (including her mother’s doctors and nurses and, for a time, her father and boyfriend), you keep your distance. They are liars, so you don’t let them in. And that’s not just a rule, but a way of holding things together when everything around you is falling apart.

During all of this, she’s doing her job in the projection booth at the Palace Theater, showing old black-and-white movies—B movies, ’50s and ’60s sci-fi and horror. The kind with low budgets, bad rubber masks, and worse dialogue. In almost every cheap film of that era, a UFO falls out of the sky or a hidden monster crawls up from the swamp, and everyone—the military, the local science teacher, a few kids from the high school—spends the rest of the movie trying to figure out what it is and how to stop it. On the surface, these stories seem simple. A threat shows up, but in the end, it’s handled and order is restored.

But those movies were never so simple, never really just about the monster. Not exactly. They expressed Cold War fears of invasion, of annihilation, of something coming from above that you couldn’t defend against. In the movies, it’s a creature or a spaceship. In real life, at that time, it was nuclear weapons or foreign invaders. The movies gave those fears a shape, and, for a while at least, a way to contain them and make them manageable.

Watching them over and over, Zara starts to see that the lines we draw in real life aren’t as clear as she thought. There’s a movie she shows one night, The Hideous Sun Demon, where a scientist exposed to radiation turns into a monster, kills a few people, and terrorizes a lot more. On the surface, he’s exactly what you’d expect—a threat, something that has to be stopped. But as the movie goes on, that begins to shift. None of it was really his fault, and he spends most of the film trying to manage what’s happening to him by staying out of the sun, staying away from other people, doing what he can not to hurt anyone. By the end, Zara finds herself crying in an empty theater, because all he really wanted was to live his life in the dark, to be left alone.

It’s not hard to see why that resonates with her. She’s up in that booth most nights, by herself, working in the dark and trying to hold her life together in the wake of her mother’s death. The monster isn’t just a monster anymore, and the lines she’s been drawing—about who people are, what they’ve done, what that means—don’t hold in quite the same way.

I see other versions of that in the classroom. Students read a story or novel and want to put the entire work inside boxes with labels—who’s right, who’s wrong, what the story is “about.” And I get it. Our brains crave that kind of black-or-white thinking. But that’s also where much of the life of the story gets flattened. As teachers we start looking for theme, or symbols, our own labels, so we can name them and move on, instead of staying with the character long enough to understand what’s actually going on with them, what motivates that person, what their interior life is like.

What tends to matter more is slowing that down. Not asking what the story means, exactly, but what this person is doing, what they’re feeling, why it doesn’t always line up. That kind of attention—trying to understand before you label—goes a long way, not just with literature, but with people. It’s more interesting to stay with the character a little longer. To get students to ask what they’re doing, what they’re not saying, what doesn’t quite add up. Not to excuse it, necessarily, but to understand it. That shift—from labeling to paying attention—changes the conversation along with our own understanding. It changes how we read and how deeply the right book can resonate. It also changes how we read and understand people, even those we are quick to label. And that’s a life skill that will stay with us always, making our lives that much deeper and richer.

The Reel Life of Zara Kegg
Author: Brad Barkley
Published June 16th, 2026 by Regal House

About the Book: 16-year-old Zara still feels like an outsider in Carolina Beach. Working during the beach’s off-season as the lone projectionist at the Palace—a rundown retro cinema that shows only vintage ’50s sci-fi and horror flicks, including a major Godzilla marathon—she spends her nights in a dusty booth, fueled by coffee, pushups, and the occasional existential crisis. Then she meets Zachary, who might be the most interesting person she’s ever met. As their friendship deepens into something more, Zara learns about the struggles Zachary hides beneath his charm and wonders if trust is possible.

About the Author: Brad Barkley is the author of the novels “Money, Love” and “Alison’s Automotive Repair Manual,” named as Best Books of the Year by The Washington Post and Library Journal. He has published two story collections, and his short work has appeared in 40+ magazines including The Southern Review, The Georgia Review, Oxford American, and Virginia Quarterly Review, which twice awarded him the Emily Clark Balch Prize for Fiction. He’s also the co-author of three YA novels — Scrambled Eggs at Midnight, Dream Factory, and Jars of Glass — recognized by the American Library Association and the New York State Reading Association. Before becoming Professor of Creative Writing, he worked a string of odd jobs—from short-order cook and roofer to telemarketer, dairy bottling line worker, and even hang-gliding instructor—work that keeps his fiction grounded in real places and people. He has received multiple Maryland State Arts Council awards and a Creative Writing Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts. Find out more about him at www.bradbarkley.com.

Thank you, Brad, for this reminder that there is more to stories than what is first seen!

Author Guest Post: “Reading and Writing About Family Dynamics” by Jeanine DeHoney, Author of This Sunday My Daddy Came to Church

by
Share

“Reading and Writing About Family Dynamics”

When I taught kindergarteners in an early learning center many years ago, I loved the fact that in all of our classrooms there were curated picture book selections in our reading area that highlighted family dynamics.

I enjoyed reading classic children’s stories such as The Tale of Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter, Strega Nona by Tomie dePaolo, Stone Soup by Marcia Brown, A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle, and Why Mosquitoes Buzz in People’s Ears: A West African Tale by Verna Aardema, among others as my young students sat on what we called our magic reading carpet. But I always felt the need to read stories in which they could hear narratives and see realistic images of families whose stories and family make-up were similar to their own.

Some of my student’s familial makeup included being in a single parent household, blended family, foster or adoptive family, or being raised by grandparents or other family members due to a parent not being able to. There were also families who were unhoused and living in a shelter. Often that affected how each student dealt with their emotions, concerns, fears, hurt, anger, or stress.

It was important for me to find and read books to students that touched on not only the conflicts in a family, where all of the young character’s heartfelt feelings were seen and heard in all of its bluest hues, but at the close of the book gifted the young reader with hope and a resolution however complicated or nontraditional their family dynamics are.

When I began seriously pursuing writing children’s picture books, I wanted to write books that touched on family dynamics and helped children navigate the myriads of feelings they often experienced when they perceived that their family wasn’t like their friend’s families or there were fractures in their families or trauma or anxieties. I wanted to write picture books that convey to children that they are seen and heard and their truths matter and their uncomfortable questions deserve an answer. No child should ever feel as if they have to shove their feelings in a box and put it on some high unreachable shelf.

My children’s picture book, This Sunday My Daddy Came to Church, part of Sleeping Bear Press’s Own Voices Own Stories collection, deals with the family dynamic of how others experience faith in the same household. The themes for this picture book are spiritual diversity, acceptance and family bonds.

This Sunday My Daddy Came to Church, is narrated by its young character Omar, who poses a question to his mother about why his father doesn’t attend church on Sunday with them. Omar’s mother lovingly explains that although they enjoy going to church that his father worships in his own way, in how he serves others and how he quietly spends time with God at home on Sunday morning.

This story was written because of my own family dynamics as a little girl with my father. He too didn’t attend church with my mother, sister, but was still a faith filled man and husband and father. Always under foot my father as a little girl, I never wanted others to be judgmental about him not attending church with us and to accept his choice as I eventually did. In my picture book though, I do end it with Omar’s father surprising him and attending church, but Omar also acknowledges that even if his father doesn’t attend church the next Sunday, he knows his father worships in his own way.

Our families shape us, be they our biological or chosen families. There are beliefs and traditions and expectations of the other each family member has. It is beautiful and empowering when those expectations are meant in a young child’s life, but when they aren’t meant it can cause several problems that play out not only at home but in an educational setting I have seen.

I hope that all libraries whether at home or school always have a liberal sprinkling of books for children that deal with family dynamics, both the inspiring ones, the amusing, heartwarming ones, but also the complicated and unhappy ones. Especially books that display how family members show empathy, have open, nonjudgemental discussions, resolve conflicts, seek support, and quell fears, in a healthy and reassuring way.

It is my hope that no matter the structure of a family, children can pick up a picture book that resonates with them and what their family looks like, its strengths and weaknesses, sorrows and joys.  A book that makes them feel seen and heard, not alone, and optimistic about the days ahead individually and as a family.

This Sunday My Daddy Came to Church
Author: Jeanine DeHoney
Illustrator: Robert Paul, Jr.
Published August 1st, 2025 by Sleeping Bear Press

About the Book: A sweet story about accepting the different ways we all worship.

Omar loves going to church every Sunday with his mother. He loves putting on his best clothes, and meeting up with neighbors and his best friend, Imani, as they walk together to services. But his daddy doesn’t join them. “Some Sundays are meant for doing much of nothing or a little bit of something,” says his father. Or maybe the lawn needs mowing or a ballgame needs watching. Omar’s mother doesn’t get upset. Each Sunday she reminds Daddy that his suit is in the closet if he would like to attend church. But he never does and Omar wonders why. It bothers him that his father doesn’t join them at this special place.

When Omar asks his mother about it, she talks to him about faith and belief. There are different ways to worship, and they don’t have to take place in a building. But even with Mommy’s reassurances, Omar still wishes his father would join them.

This new entry in Sleeping Bear Press’s Own Voices, Own Stories collection celebrates the bonds of family. An honor winner in the Own Voices, Own Stories collection.

About the Author: Jeanine DeHoney has always been a dreamer. At the age of seven she dreamed of becoming a writer, and after her stories landed in the pages of tons of notebooks, she’s grateful they’ve now landed in the pages of magazines, both mainstream and literary, online, and anthologies such as Chicken Soup for The Soul. Her children’s stories have also been published in Skipping Stones, Devozine, and Australia’s The School Magazine. Jeanine has won or has been shortlisted in several literary contests and was the 2022 Honor Award Winner for Sleeping Bear Press’s Own Voices, Own Stories Award. A former art enrichment teacher and Family Services Coordinator at a preschool learning center in the Brooklyn neighborhood where she grew up, she now lives in Pennsylvania with her husband and looks forward to being the dream keepers of both young and old, with her stories.

Thank you, Jeanine, for this focus on families and everyone’s looks different and all deserve to see their family reflected in books!

Author Guest Post: “Mahmoud, Aunt Melodie, and the Fight Against Censorship: Including LGBTQ+ Characters in Books for Kids” by Kristine Rudolph, Author of The Twin Stars and the Soccer Superstar

by
Share

“Mahmoud, Aunt Melodie, and the Fight Against Censorship: Including LGBTQ+ Characters in Books for Kids”

Writing for children has always been fraught. All authors are expected to conform to their chosen genre, of course, but writing for kids adds an additional layer of convention depending on the age of the readers we’re targeting. Once the book is written, if it passes through the ever-narrowing pipeline to publication then it needs to be sold. If we want to sell it, we must market and publicize it. But the selling, marketing and publicizing are also more complicated when writing for kids because until you get into the YA space, there are middlemen between you and your reader. You need a product that will delight your core consumer, the child reader, but it must be a product of which the middlemen approve. After all, they are the ones who hold the purse strings.

It’s a maxim of writing for children, then, that if your book can’t be shelved in a school, it’s not likely to sell. And by sell, I mean get published at all. Editors know not to spend time and money on a manuscript that its targeted demographic won’t be allowed to access.

Understanding all this, I’ve worked hard over many years to develop a platform to engage parents, teachers and librarians. I’ve specifically targeted upper middle grade readers, paying close attention to the lives, developmental phases and reading interests of 10–12-year-olds, especially girls. I’ve written four manuscripts for middle grade readers featuring diverse ensemble casts encountering realistic, contemporary challenges.

So, when the Supreme Court released its decision in Mahmoud v. Taylor, I was gutted.

Technically speaking, Mahmoud, decided in June 2025, held that the petitioning parents were entitled to a preliminary injunction based on their First Amendment right to the free exercise of religion. The practical consequence of this decision is that parents of public school children in Maryland may request their child be removed during classroom readings that feature LGBTQ+ characters or issues.

On its face, Mahmoud is not far-reaching. The trouble comes from the chilling effect it will have on all publications for children. My fear is that despite the good intentions of authors, agents, editors, bookshop owners and librarians, Mahmoud will be a death knell for books with LGBTQ+ characters, themes or plotlines.

Remember, if a book for kids can’t be shelved in a school, it won’t sell.

The decision in Mahmoud is one of the reasons I opted to publish my debut middle grade novel, The Twin Stars and the Soccer Superstar, with a hybrid publisher. My manuscript benefited from the professionalism of publisher Brooke Warner and the team at SparkPress. The product is high quality. But because I was the only financial investor in the project, I didn’t have to worry that someone would ask me to change or tone down the storyline involving Aunt Melodie, my protagonist’s beloved aunt who is married to a woman.

The Twin Stars and the Soccer Superstar is set in the Texas Hill Country. One blogger with whom I recently spoke said the Hill Country basically serves as a character because the story is so deeply ensconced in the geography, food, architecture and culture of the area. But the Texas Hill Country is also at the heart of a statewide movement to oppose books with LGBTQ+ characters and themes. In fact, my fictional Barons Creek sits only tens of miles from two book restricting hotbeds – Llano County and New Braunfels, Texas.

Despite my fierce belief in the importance of representation and my strong desire to get my book into the hands of readers, I will admit that I cringed somewhat when a reviewer noted, “Aunt Melodie is gay and married.” It’s true! It’s important to the story! Aunt Melodie is awesome! Kids need to know people like Aunt Melodie exist! And yet, I was still struck by a moment of panic.

Chilling effect, indeed.

I am not going to stop writing books with LGBTQ+ characters, plot lines and themes. I just know too many kids who have found their truth through the pages of fiction, and I know too many families who deserve to see themselves on the pages to self-censor. I’m also not going to stop setting my tales in places I know and love, like Texas and my current home state of Georgia. But I also know the winds of change are blowing against LGBTQ+ representation in children’s fiction and that reality is taking a personal and professional toll on many.

“You know, it’s not your job to go around fixing everything that’s broken,” Aunt Melodie tells Cassaty in The Twin Stars and the Soccer Superstar. I hear you, Melodie. But that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try.

To learn more about the fight against book restrictions in Texas, visit Texas Freedom to Read Project.

Published June 9th, 2026 by SparkPress

About the Book: Perfect for fans of Laurie Morrison and Jenn Bishop, this lively middle-grade mystery follows a vibrant group of teens and tweens navigating grief, authenticity, and—above all—soccer, while taking an enjoyable romp through the Texas Hill Country.

Every year, spring in Texas means two very different things to sixth grader Cassaty Greene: her beloved Barons Creek High School soccer team, the Battling Billies, will contend for the state title, and the anniversary of her twin brother’s death will plunge her family into a deep, unspoken grief. But this year, the script changes when the Battling Billies’ star midfielder goes missing right before the playoffs begin. Presented with this mysterious disappearance, Cassaty seizes the chance to heroically bring the missing girl home—and hopefully, in doing so, help fill the hole her brother’s death left in her family so many years ago.

A person in a blue shirt AI-generated content may be incorrect.

About the Author: Kristine Rudolph lives in Atlanta, Georgia and Austin, Texas. She earned a B.A. in History and Religious Studies at Southern Methodist University, a J.D. from The University of Texas at Austin School of Law and a Graduate Certificate in Children’s Literature from Pennsylvania State University. She is a member of the Atlanta Writers Club, the Broadleaf Writers Association, SCBWI and the Children’s Literature Assembly of NCTE. She’s a Girl Scout troop leader and CASA/GAL volunteer. Her middle grade debut, The Twin Stars and the Soccer Superstar, is slated for publication in June 2026 with SparkPress. Learn more about Kristine at kristinerudolph.com.

Thank you, Kristine, for fighting for childrens’ freedom to read!

Author Guest Post: “How Fiction Provides a Safe Place for Young Readers to Explore Celebrity, Fame and Fandom” by Mima Tipper, Author of Channeling Marilyn

by
Share

“How Fiction Provides a Safe Place for Young Readers to Explore Celebrity, Fame and Fandom”

When I began writing my YA paranormal fantasy novel Channeling Marilyn, I wasn’t thinking of celebrity or how young people relate to fame and fandom. Through drafting a book that included Marilyn Monroe’s spirit as a main character, however, I grew more and more convinced that fiction could provide a safe place for young readers to explore these concepts. With fiction, young people are able to experience the lives of characters from their safe reader position. And how great for those readers to have the possibility of exploring fame and fandom from the shoes of a fictional or fictionalized celebrity in a completely made-up story? The magic of fiction, too, is that it allows those readers draw their own conclusions about whether the experience felt positive or negative.

In Channeling Marilyn, part of the inspiration behind the book was me acknowledging the fact that even though Hollywood superstar Marilyn Monroe has been dead for over 70 years, a huge number of fans are still obsessed with her and her films. That fandom spoke to me. I wanted to look more deeply at it—at the why of it. Because these Marilyn fans are not necessarily young people, I became even more interested in the possibility that focusing on a celebrity like Marilyn Monroe could be an inspired bet for a YA audience: to take a celebrity from long ago, and imagine how her persona and her fame could affect a young person, and tell that story.

My main character, seventeen-year-old Lexa, is one of those non-obsessed with Marilyn Monroe people, yet via the story—no spoilers—she becomes aware of Marilyn, and then encounters Marilyn’s well-known allure. Ultimately, Lexa is not immune to the power of Marilyn (after all, her influence on pop culture is everywhere), and that’s where Marilyn’s fame comes into play in the story. That is also the place where Lexa’s teen sensibilities reflect what I’ve come to learn are documented observations about how young people relate to the concepts of fame, celebrity and fandom.

Between social media and reality tv, everyone is obsessed with celebrity these days—their own and that of others. For most people, the fascination is merely a diversion, but let’s look more closely at some reasons young people fixate on celebrities. Common Sense Media points out, “Celebrity obsessions are a natural part of growing up. As kids enter adolescence and begin forming their identities, they begin to seek out media figures for cues on how to look and act… Tweens in today’s media environment can feast on an endless supply of information.”

This observation didn’t surprise me, or that celebrity crushes for young people are deemed by some authorities to be a natural and even potentially positive aspect of growing up. Dr. Alan Ravitz of New York’s Child Mind Institute states: “As kids individualize themselves from their parents, which is a natural part of development and growing up, they try to establish psychological and emotional independence … No matter the culture, they need somebody to look to, aside from their parents, for guidance and a model for becoming an adult. In our culture, this is often a sports figure, an actor, or a pop star.” In recent articles in both Psychology Today and at www.modernrecoveryservices.com, writers agree with Dr. Ravitz’s statement, going a step further to suggest that in our modern world, fandoms often provide a positive and inclusive community for teens.

These observations suggest a teen’s fascination with a celebrity is most likely harmless: Harmless until people—young or older—take their fandom too seriously. In a recent article in The Teen Mag on how fans feel about their celebrity crushes, journalist Arrohi Shah says, “When a celebrity looks like us, loves like us, or struggles like us, it validates our own experiences. It’s not just about them– it’s about what they represent to us. But we often forget that what we see is carefully constructed: behind every photo is lighting, editing, media training, or even cosmetic enhancement. If even they need help to appear that way, why do we hold ourselves to those impossible standards?” Even more harmful, the Common Sense Media article goes on to point out that a young person’s fixation on a celebrity can, “… go to extremes that have a negative impact. They may spend all their money to try to look like their favorite stars. They may engage in risky body alterations to imitate them. Or they may actually inflict physical harm on themselves … to demonstrate the depth of their feeling.” In the Modern Recovery Services article, it’s noted that, “For teens already struggling with heavy psychological burdens, being a member of a toxic fandom can intensify their trials. It can be particularly tough for fan girls, who often face more scrutiny and pressure than boys because toxic fandom communities tend to be sexist.” And, “The development of parasocial relationships—one-sided relationships in which fans feel deeply connected to a celebrity based on illusions of intimacy—is another way fandom can become unhealthy. Teens might start to believe they have a special connection with a pop-culture icon, which can lead to unrealistic expectations and crushing heartbreak when their fantasies inevitably don’t come true.”

Fandoms have always existed, but it’s perhaps due to the wealth of information now available on social media that heightens and intensifies the celebrity adoration teens experience today.

The darker sides of teens’ relationship to celebrity, fame and fandom reveal where fiction could come in, providing that safe space for young people to explore these concepts outside of social media, without the baggage of an actual celebrity crush or of belonging to a fandom community.

In Channeling Marilyn, Lexa has the opportunity to see Marilyn Monroe as a real person, not as a celebrity. To see her as a human being who makes mistakes, who has needs, who wants friendship and love. Through the fictional lens of Marilyn’s spirit coming back as a kind of fairy godmother to Lexa, the book avoids the cliché of more common storylines like: Marilyn’s rugged early years, her abuse by handlers, her physical and mental health, her lack of privacy, her dealing with fans, etc. Instead, this story is about Lexa bonding with Marilyn as a spirit, and Marilyn guiding her through a tough time. And, wonder of wonders, through the power of fiction, Lexa is able to help Marilyn’s spirit move forward on her journey, too.

Bibliography

Leno, Michele, PhD, “The Healing Power of Pop Culture Communities” www.psychologytoday.com July 17, 2024, The Healing Power of Pop Culture Communities | Psychology Today

Shah, Aarohi, “Why are we so obsessed with Celebrity Drama? The Psychology Behind our Obsession” https://www.theteenmagazine.com  May 8, 2025. Why Are We so Obsessed with Celebrity Drama? the Psychology Behind Our

“Should I be Concerned about My Kid’s Celebrity Obsession?” www.commonsensemedia.org June 4, 2020 Should I be concerned about my kid’s celebrity obsession? | Common Sense Media

“The Psychology of Fandom—Pop Culture’s Influence on Teens” www.modernrecoveryservices.com The Psychology of Fandom – Pop Culture’s Influence on Teens

“Why Teenagers Obsess Over Pop Stars?” www.childmind.org May 5, 2011, Why Teenagers Obsess Over Pop Stars – Child Mind Institute

Publishes June 1st, 2026 by She Writes Press

About the Book: Seventeen-year-old Lexa Donovan’s timid, plus-size life goes sideways when the spirit of Marilyn Monroe takes up residence in her body.

High school senior Lexa Donovan longs to be more than a bit player in her own drab life—and when she’s chosen to be part of her school’s spring production of Bus Stop, she thinks her wish has come true. But her thrill turns to panic when she’s tapped to play the leading role, sexy showgirl Cherie. One thing tall, plus-size Lexa knows for sure is that she is the exact opposite of the most famous Cherie ever: sex-goddess Marilyn Monroe.

Lexa wants out before she makes a fool of herself in front of everyone. But then something entirely unexpected happens: the spirit of Marilyn Monroe appears, ready and willing to be Lexa’s personal acting coach. Before the curtain rises on opening night, Lexa and Marilyn learn to trust their own hearts and act on what each truly needs to move forward—in life and in death.

About the Author: Half Greek, half American, Mima Tipper and her writing reflect her heritage—a little bit old-country, a little bit rock and roll: one foot wandering through the dreamy realms of myths and faerie tales, the other running on the solid ground of fast-paced, contemporary story. She earned her MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts, and is the award-winning author of the YA novel Kat’s Greek Summer (SparkPress, ISBN-9781684633067). Mima has also published YA fiction in Hunger Mountain and Sucker Literary Magazine. Her novel Kat’s Greek Summer was the 2025 silver medalist for YA fiction in the 2025 Moonbeam Children’s Book Awards, her YA short story “A Cut-out Face” received an honorable mention from Hunger Mountain’s Katherine Paterson Prize, and her work-in-progress version of Channeling Marilyn came in second place for Paranormal Romance in the Chesapeake Romance Writer’s annual Rudy contest. Beyond devoting most of her time to writing, Mima helps at Inklings Children’s Books in Waitsfield, Vermont, volunteers at her local library, and is committed to promoting literacy and supporting the writing community. Currently, Mima lives in Vermont with her family; find her at www.mimatipper.com.

Follow Mima Tipper on social media:
Facebook: @mimatipper | X/Twitter: @meemtip
Instagram: @mimatip  | Substack: @mimatipper

Thank you, Mima, for this thought-provoking look at a topic that affects many teens!