A.J. Cattapan

This is one of those books I’m really happy to blog about because I enjoyed it so much, and I think adults can feel confident handing it to the teens and preteens in their lives.

Title: The Running Dream

Author: Wendelin Van Draanen

Genre: contemporary realistic fiction

Age group: YA

Synopsis: High school junior Jessica has finally beat her rival in the 400-meter race when a tragic bus accident destroys her right leg. Her below-the-knee amputation leaves her running dreams crushed, and her life is turned inside out. The doctors say she’ll walk again once they can fit her with a prosthetic limb, but the pain and frustration of recovery makes Jessica wonder if her teammate who died in the accident didn’t end up better off than she did. Going back to school is equally painful. Her temporary wheelchair earns her a seat next to Rosa, a girl with cerebral palsy that Jessica and her friends have overlooked. But things start to turn around when Jessica learns Rosa is a math genius and can help Jessica get caught up on all the work she’s missed. With the encouragement of old and new friends, Jessica’s dream to run once again begins to take shape.

As a high school cross country runner (and one-time marathon runner), I could really relate to Jessica’s desire to run. A year after I ran the marathon, I went through a period where I was too busy to get out and do the running I used to do, and ended up dreaming of running to the point where I’m pretty sure I was thrashing around my legs in bed!

This is a really sweet story about a girl who’s determined to recover and the myriad of people who are equally determined to help her achieve her goals. However, this story goes the extra mile (get it? the extra mile!) by adding in the character of Rosa, who teaches Jessica a thing or two about hope and friendship.

I highly recommend The Running Dream and will probably be buying this book for a niece or two in the not-too-distant future.

Today I have the pleasure of helping YA author Melanie Dickerson reveal the cover for her upcoming novel The Captive Maiden due out October 22. Isn’t it gorgeous?

The Captive Maiden is a re-telling of the Cinderella story. Melanie is one of my fellow American Christian Fiction Writers, so you can be sure this story has a positive message for young women. Here’s a little taste of what’s to come:

Happily Ever After …Or Happily Nevermore?

Gisela’s childhood was filled with laughter and visits from nobles such as the duke and his young son. But since her father’s death, each day has been filled with nothing but servitude to her stepmother. So when Gisela learns the duke’s son, Valten—the boy she has daydreamed about for years—is throwing a ball in hopes of finding a wife, she vows to find a way to attend, even if it’s only for a taste of a life she’ll never have. To her surprise, she catches Valten’s eye. Though he is rough around the edges, Gisela finds Valten has completely captured her heart. But other forces are bent on keeping the two from falling further in love, putting Gisela in more danger than she ever imagined.

Interested? You can pre-order the book on Amazon or Barnes and Noble.

You can learn more about Melanie Dickerson and her inspirational historical romance books on her website: http://www.melaniedickerson.com.

Yesterday, I received an email from the firm handling publicity for my upcoming Chicken Soup for the Soul book. (You’ll notice how I call it my Chicken Soup for the Soul book even though my writing only takes up four pages. 🙂 )

I have to admit I never really thought about publicity much before. I know self-published authors have to do a ton of it on their own. And with publishing companies scaling back where they can, even traditionally published authors are finding themselves handling a lot of their own publicity.

In fact, I was just asked today to help out one of my fellow YA and ACFW authors (that would be “young adult” and “American Christian Fiction Writers” for those of you not in the know) if I would help her “reveal” the cover of her upcoming novel tomorrow. This is a form of publicity to create buzz before the big book release in October.

So naturally, I’ve been thinking a lot about publicity with regards to books lately.

If you’re an author, what forms of publicity do you think have been most successful for you?

If you’re a reader, what forms of publicity do you think have most influenced your book buying?

And don’t forget to check back tomorrow, when I’ll be revealing the absolutely gorgeous cover for Melanie Dickerson’s The Captive Maiden!

Like many of the books I’m reading this summer, this novel is on the summer reading list at my school and is also on the 2014 Rebecca Caudill nominee list. I’ll admit that I judged the book by its cover: Viking/pirating ships on a stormy sea are not my usual go-to sort of reading material. The author was familiar to me as he’s written the bestselling Ranger’s Apprentice series which has been read and loved by many of my male students.

Title: The Outcasts (The Brotherband Chronicles Book 1)

Author: John Flanagan

Genre: historical fiction

Age group: upper middle grade

Synopsis: The book begins with a crew of Skandian sailing warriors who attack a small town to “relieve them” of their gold and valuables. In this group of raiders are Mikkel and his best friend Thorn. When Mikkel is fatally wounded in the attack, he makes Thorn promise to watch over his wife and young son. Flash forward about six years. Thorn has lost a hand in a sailing accident and has become a drunk. He’s done little to watch over Mikkel’s son Hal who is now old enough to begin his own Skandian warrior training, known as “brotherband training.” With encouragement from Hal’s mom, Thorn sobers up and gets Hal ready for training. Hal is an outcast in his hometown because he’s only part Skandian. His mom is Araluen. For his training, Hal and his peers are divided into three brotherband teams that compete for points in a variety of tests of endurance, strength, and skill.

Despite my general lack of interest in these type of adventure/sailing stories, I enjoyed John Flanagan’s writing. I can see why he’s sold so many books. He creates the proper sort of suspense and anticipation in his scenes, even for someone like me who knows next to nothing about sailing.

I can imagine boys who liked the Ranger’s Apprentice series would also enjoy this series. I had two rather smallish concerns with it. First, Hal’s father is described as being a hero, but I have a hard time seeing his actions as heroic. He and his fellow raiders are thieves. Flanagan tries to make a distinction between those who “relieve” towns of their goods by attacking them on land versus pirates who attack a ship and steal the already-stolen goods from another boat. Either way I don’t see Hal’s dad as heroic so it’s hard to buy into that character in the beginning.

I think Flanagan could have started the book right with Hal. He’s a more sympathetic character. He’s smart and imaginative, always making up new inventions to help his mom or his dad’s old friend Thorn. He’s not vicious or retaliative even though he’s bullied and mocked for being only half Skandian.

My other small problem with the story comes at the end, so here’s a spoiler alert! However, I don’t know how much I’m actually spoiling it because my problem is that the ending was predictable. As I stated earlier, the brotherband teams compete in different tests. (Think: Vikings competing on the reality show Survivor.) The final test is a grueling, day-long sailing test with lots of rowing and hoisting up and down of sails through choppy seas. When the exhausted teams finally finish, there’s a big feast to celebrate the winners. The winners then get the “honor” of guarding the town’s most valuable treasure from midnight until dawn while a crew of suspicious sailors (raiders!) from another town are hanging around port. Gee, guess what happens when you set a bunch of exhausted teenage boys who’ve just stuffed themselves to guard a treasure from midnight till dawn! See, I don’t need to tell you what happens at the end. You’ve guessed it already. Basically, the ending just made me mad that we’re supposed to believe adults in a town would be this careless with their most valuable treasure.

Nonetheless, I think young boys would enjoy the adventures Hal has in this book, and Flanagan’s writing is certainly vivid enough to keep us in the moment.

I had the pleasure of hearing Ms. Woodson speak at the International Reading Association conference in May 2012. She spoke during the young adult literature luncheon, a time for those of us who love YA books to hear one of our favorite authors speak while eating a delicious lunch.

Title: Feathers

Author: Jacqueline Woodson

Genre: historical fiction (1971)

Age group: young adult

Synopsis: Frannie is a sixth grade girl growing up in an all African American neighborhood in the 1970s. When the book opens, a new boy has just joined the class. He’s the only white person in the school. His appearance and his quiet calm demeanor earn him the nickname “Jesus Boy.” Even Trevor, the class bully, can’t seem to ruffle the feathers of Jesus Boy. Frannie, who has a deaf brother, begins a tentative friendship with Jesus Boy when she discovers he knows sign language. Frannie’s best friend Samantha, who is a regular churchgoer, believes that Jesus Boy might be the real Jesus Christ, come to save us during this time of chaos (end of segregation in America) and war (Vietnam). While trying to understand why Jesus Boy has come “over the bridge” to the African American side of town, Frannie keeps recalling the Emily Dickinson poem she read recently that begins, “Hope is the thing with feathers.” As Frannie tries to navigate a potential friendship with Jesus Boy, she ponders hope, faith, prejudice, and acceptance.

As a member of the American Christian Fiction Writers, I followed  a recent discussion on one of our email loops about why Christian fiction doesn’t seem to win the same kinds of awards as secular books. There was a sense of “Why don’t our books get attention like their books? Where are our Newbery awards and Caldecott medals and New York Times bestsellers?” I happened to be reading Feathers as well as another book Crispin: The Cross of Lead by Avi at the time this discussion was going on.

Feathers is a Newbery Honor Book. Crispin: The Cross of Lead is a Newbery Medal winner. Neither book is considered “Christian fiction,” yet both of them deal with matters of faith and discuss Church, prayer, and Jesus. The Christian faith plays an integral role in both stories. So why do these books get awards and “Christian books” don’t? (I’m defining “Christian books” here as ones published by Christian publishers.)

I don’t know that I have a definitive answer to that question. Some might say it’s simply a case of better writing. But I can’t help thinking the overall tone as well as the endings of both books make a difference. In your “typical” Christian book, a major character comes to a greater understanding of their faith or perhaps is even converted. But in these books, characters questioned their faith (or had their faith questioned by others) without any dramatic change by any one character. Faith becomes a matter of discussion, something for you to ponder while reading, or maybe even a bit after finishing, but there’s no “come to Jesus” moment where a character finally “gets it.”

And even though faith played an important role in the books, it felt more like a part of the character than any kind of plot device. Other circumstances were driving the plot. A Jewish or Muslim child could read one of these books (and indeed many will as my incredibly diverse school is requiring these books for summer reading) without feeling like they were being preached to.

I could probably say much more on this topic, but I’ll get back to the book at hand. I enjoyed Feathers very much. Plot-wise it’s not a very complex book, but there are many layers to the story: Frannie’s interaction with her deaf brother, her relationship with her super religious best friend, what it means to have hope during difficult times, what it means to be prejudiced, what it’s like to be the new kid, and how to react to bullying. It’s a great book that opens the door to many interesting and important topics of discussion with young people.

I’ll leave you with a picture of Ms. Woodson autographing my copy of Feathers at last year’s International Reading Association convention. 🙂

Jacqueline Woodson autographs my copy of Feathers at the IRA Convention in May 2012.

Yesterday a large box was waiting for me at my door. (Isn’t that an exciting thing to find, ripe with possibilities? What’s inside? Did I order something and forget? Did someone send me something?)

Yes, someone did send me something. It’s my advanced author copies of Chicken Soup for the Soul: From Lemons to Lemonade. My story “A Turkey of a Thanksgiving” is on pages 284-288. It struck me that the cover was exceptionally pretty. Was it simply because I knew my own story was in it, or because it really is that pretty? Perhaps we’ll never know. 🙂

But it did get me thinking about book covers. My students will often ask me questions about the novels we read in class. If I say something like, “The dog in this story is white.” One of them will invariably point to the cover and say, “No, the dog is gray. See?” And then I have to explain that we pay attention to what’s in the story, not what’s on the cover.

This invariably leads to the question: “Then why did the author put a gray dog on the cover?”

Answer: The author didn’t. Someone in the publishing house chose that picture.

It’s true. Most of the time authors have little to no say in the cover design for their books. I remember being at my first writing conference and an author explaining how she and other women had put together a collection of stories that took place in Door County, Wisconsin. Some of the stories involved lighthouses, so the publisher had chosen a picture of a lighthouse from Maine for the cover. The women all protested because not all their stories involved lighthouses and (apparently) the lighthouses in Maine are quite different from those in Wisconsin. I believe they eventually convinced the publisher to change the picture to a different lighthouse, but it still wasn’t quite to their satisfaction.

I understand now when my writing friends get very excited over their covers when they turn out really nice. The first time I heard one gush about how beautiful the cover of her book was I thought, “It’s a cover. Who cares?” But then I began to see really bad covers, and now that my own work is in book form, I’m really glad the book looks pretty so I can proudly post pictures of it on my blog and Facebook page.

And let’s face it: whether we should or not, we often judge books by their covers. Just don’t blame the author if you don’t like the cover.

This book is on the summer reading list for the incoming seventh graders at my school. The teacher picked it out because the students will be studying medieval England during seventh grade.

Title: Crispin: The Cross of Lead

Author: Avi

Genre: historical fiction

Age group: middle grade

Synopsis: The year is 1377. A thirteen-year-old boy, known only as Asta’s son to everyone in his village, loses his mother. After the priest helps him bury her, Asta runs over to the woods. In the middle of the night, he overhears the village steward John Aycliffe talking with another man. Aycliffe spots Asta’s son and chases after him. Asta’s son manages to escape, but he is soon wrongly charged with stealing and declared “a wolf’s head,” giving anyone the right to kill him. Asta’s son seeks help from the priest, but the priest is killed before Asta’s son can reach him. Asta’s son flees the village and meets a man called Bear, who tells him that the cross of lead his mother left him has writing on the back that says his name is really Crispin. As Bear and Crispin try to outrun Aycliffe and his men, Crispin wonders why his mom never told him his real name.

I thought the beginning of the book was a little slow for middle school students. Based on the reaction of the two students in my summer reading class, they weren’t overly excited by the opening pages. The one boy has finished the book. When I asked him how it was, he shrugged his shoulders. The other student is a girl, and she’s still working on it.

As an adult, I enjoyed learning about life in medieval England through this story. It gives you a good sense of what it was like for the common person. It demonstrated how difficult basic survival could be for them and what a major role their faith played in their lives.

I picked up this book because it’s on one of the summer reading lists at my school. The teacher who chose it did so because it’s on the 2014 Rebecca Caudill nominee list. When I saw it at the bookstore, I looked at its cover and thought, “Oh, this looks like it will be a cute middle grade read.” Sadly, that old adage about judging a book by its cover came true. While I liked some things about this book, I didn’t enjoy it as much as I thought I would.

Title: I, Emma Freke

Author: Elizabeth Atkinson

Genre: Contemporary fiction

Age group: upper middle grade

Synopsis: Sixth grader Emma Freke is unusually tall for her age. Despite her enormous height and red hair, she’s practically invisible to her classmates. The only friend she has is a shorter, younger girl who lives across the street with her two moms. Not only does Emma not fit in at school, she doesn’t really fit in at home either. Her mom, a dark-haired and free-spirited Italian woman, runs a bead shop and insists Emma call her Donatella instead of Mom. Even her grandfather who lives with them (she calls him “Nonno,” the Italian for grandpa) doesn’t seem to pay much attention to Emma. Then one day, Emma receives an invitation to a family reunion for her dad’s side of the family. Emma has never met her father, and Donatella refuses to speak about him, so this family reunion is her first chance to see if she can find a place where she fits in.

Say the title of this book aloud and you’ll understand how Emma feels about herself. (I am a freak!) I did like that this book talked about how girls need to accept themselves for who they are. Emma needs to learn that it’s okay to be smarter than the others in her class, that her red hair (which she despises) is actually prized and admired by others, and that being different can actually be a good thing.

However, I wasn’t thrilled with some of the other characterizations in this story, especially the adults. I’ve had a number of parents tell me in the past year or so that they don’t like it when the adults in a story are made to look stupid or incompetent. I know that in many middle grade stories authors find a way to “get rid of” the parents so that the main characters can have adventures, learn, and grow on their own. Sometimes this is accomplished by the children being orphans, sometimes the parents are too involved with work, sometimes they are downright neglectful. I, Emma Freke is one of those stories where the parent (and grandparent) are depicted as being neglectful. Donatella claims her mother was too strict, so she lets Emma do whatever she wants. She even goes so far as to let Emma be homeschooled by her grandfather so that she won’t have to go to “that miserable school.” However, she buys her an outdated homeschooling kit and then says her grandfather will teach her at the library, but of course, her grandfather (who doesn’t seem to speak English terribly well) doesn’t teach her at all.

Many of the adults (from the school psychologist to the crazy aunts and uncles Emma meets at the family reunion) are simply unlikable characters. The only adult I liked in the story was the young librarian who befriends Emma when she goes there to homeschool herself. I’m okay with having some bad adult figures depicted in a book (after all, you do need conflict and not every child has an ideal set of parents); however, this book had too many adults who set poor examples.

Also, my skin gets a little itchy by the way Italian Americans are often portrayed in books and movies. Either we’re mob members or we’re straight out of the cast of Jersey Shore. Let’s just say Emma’s mom has far too many boyfriends and acts more like a rebellious teenager than an adult.

Finally, when books take place in areas I’m familiar with, I usually get excited. However, the family reunion takes place in Wisconsin (a state I lived in for five years), and the facts aren’t quite right. Emma takes a plane from Boston to Milwaukee and then is driven north for two hours where she is presumably in the far northern woods of Wisconsin. Sorry, Ms. Atkinson, I lived in Milwaukee. If you drive two hours north, you’ll be lucky to make it to Green Bay. From the way Ms. Atkinson described the location of the family reunion, she should have had Emma fly into Green Bay and then drive two hours north into the woods. I would be curious to know how Wisconsin-ites feel about this book. I would guess they’d be a little less than pleased with how they are depicted. The whole Wisconsin clan comes across as rather less-than-bright, an interesting choice of characterization for family members given Emma’s superior intelligence.

So despite liking the overall message of this book (acceptance of one’s self), I won’t be buying it for any of my nieces or recommending it strongly for my students.

Many books have inspired me to be a better writer, but it’s rare that a book inspires me to be a better person. Wonder by R.J. Palacio is just such a rarity.

A free sample copy of the book arrived in my mailbox at school toward the beginning of last school year. This is the second time in my teaching career that such a gift has arrived. (The first time was when I received a copy of Maximum Ride, James Patterson’s first foray into young adult literature.) I’m not sure why some publishers give away free copies to teachers, but quite frankly, it’s a brilliant marketing strategy.

Wonder sat in  my classroom all school year. Over time, I started hearing more and more good things about it on Twitter and on other blogs. Then I saw that it made the 2014 Rebecca Caudill list. I recommended to my co-teacher that she put it on the summer reading list because I’d heard so many good things about it. Boy, am I glad I did. I finally read it last week (in one day!), and it’s one of the best children’s books I’ve read in a long time.

Title: Wonder

Author: R.J. Palacio

Genre: Contemporary realistic fiction

Age group:  middle grade

Summary: This is the story of Auggie, a boy born with a very rare syndrome that causes his face to look different than everyone else’s. In fact, he’s so abnormal looking that adults stare and other children have been known to run screaming and crying from him. Numerous surgeries have done little to improve Auggie’s appearance so his parents homeschool him until the fifth grade when they decide it’s time for him to face the world. It doesn’t take much imagination to predict how his classmates will react to his unusual appearance. The book starts in Auggie’s perspective but switches to his sister, his classmates, and even his sister’s boyfriend.

I think this book has appealed to so many people because it’s so truthful. The characters feel like people I’ve met. I’ve certainly met children like the ones Auggie encounters in his new school: the friendly ones, the sometimes friendly ones, the pretend-to-be-friendly-around-adults-but-be-a-jerk-when-alone ones, and the straight-out bullies. And I’ve definitely met similar parents: the really kind ones and the ones that spawn bullies. (One incident in the middle of the book really got to me because it’s a perfect example of parents being bullies toward school administrators and teachers.)

Another reason this book has become so popular is that it speaks about something that we all want more of–kindness. In a lot of kids’ books, we see many children being bratty and obnoxious. In this book, we see some of that, but we also see instances of real kindness, and not the fake sugary kind of kindness that makes you roll your eyes and say, “Oh that would never happen.” Palacio draws such realistic characters, and she shows true insight into how kids think and react to situations.

So how has this book made me want to be a better person and teacher? It’s made me rethink what my curriculum should really be. Yes, I must cover the Common Core Standards. No big deal. We’ve been covering that material in reading and language arts classes for ages. But somewhere in there, maybe overriding all that, we should be teaching kids to be kind. Here’s a great quote from the end of the book when the principal is giving a speech:

“If every person in this room made it a rule that wherever you are, whenever you can, you will try to act a little kinder than is necessary – the world really would be a better place. And if you do this, if you act just a little kinder than is necessary, someone else, somewhere, someday, may recognize in you, in every single one of you, the face of God.”

Isn’t that a beautiful lesson for kids to learn in a book? Be “a little kinder than is necessary.” And the story is told with such humor and such authentic voices each time the perspective changes, that I think most kids will find it really engaging. I can’t wait to share it with my summer reading class tomorrow!