Amazon and Barnes & Noble are both selling the paperback version at a 32% discount right now. I don’t know how long this sale price will last, but I recommend you grab it while you can!
Also don’t forget about the party we’re having on Facebook tonight! So many great giveaways!
It is now less than a month until the release of my middle grade mystery Seven Riddles to Nowhere!
Where has all the time gone?
Like I did with Angelhood, there will be a launch party on Facebook with lots of fun giveaways! You might win a copy of Seven Riddles to Nowhere, Angelhood, book marks, pens, or one of many other children’s books (from picture books up to young adult books) that my writing friends have generously donated.
So if you’re on Facebook, come join us here on Wednesday, August 31, from 7-9 p.m. Central Time.
I picked up this book thinking it would be cute for my nephew for his birthday, and I ended up reading it myself. What can I say? I’m a Star Wars geek through and through.
Title: The Phantom Bully (Star Wars: Jedi Academy #3)
Author: Jeffrey Brown
Genre: sci-fi graphic novel
Age group: middle grade
I had no idea this was the third book in the series when I first picked it up, but the book is written in such a way that it’s okay if you didn’t read the first two. This book has main character Roan in his third year of middle school. His middle school just happens to be a Jedi training academy. He’s had a history of getting into trouble (in an oops-did-I-do-that kind of way), and now someone seems intent on making middle school miserable for him.
As a middle school teacher, I enjoyed how Brown incorporated typical middle school issues into his story (first “loves,” teachers who seem difficult but really just want the best for their students, friendship issues, and bullying). As a Star Wars geek, I love how he stayed true to the Star Wars world and added in jokes that Star Wars fans will appreciate. The characters are original yet still familiar. There are droids like C-3PO and R2-D2 who acts as chaperones when Roan and his friends want to “double date.”
One happy surprise was discovering that Brown finds engaging ways to bring some positive moral messages into the story. Not only does he tackle how to handle bullies well, but he also brings up ethical issues like the “right” way to use the Jedi mind trick.
Here is what Roan has learned about the ethical ways to use the Jedi mind trick.
So if you have any Star Wars fans in your house, check out the Star Wars: Jedi Academy series. Very fun reading with some nice messages!
Every year I try to read the Edgar Award nominees for juvenile and young adult fiction before the winners are announced. Due to time constraints with the doctorate program, I completely failed this year. However, I did manage to read the winner in the juvenile category recently, so here it is!
Title: Footer Davis Probably Is Crazy
Author: Susan Vaught
Genre: mystery
Age group: middle grade
Synopsis: Footer Davis’s mother has bipolar disorder. Sometimes she’s just fine–but not if she doesn’t take her pills. Prior to the opening of our story, there was a terrible fire on a neighbor’s farm. The two Abrams kids who live there haven’t been seen since. Were they so badly burned in the fire no one could find their remains? Or have they fled? Footer and her best friend Peavine decide to investigate, and what Footer finds scares her into thinking maybe she had something to do with the fire herself.
Author Susan Vaught works in the mental health field, so she’s definitely writing about something she has experience with here. The story is told in first-person from the perspective of young Footer Davis. Footer has a very unique voice. It’s one of the strengths of this story, but I’ll also admit it’s part of what made this story a little hard for me to get into at first. After all, Footer Davis “probably is crazy,” and her thoughts can be hard to follow. When are we being told the truth? When are we experiencing visions or a dream through Footer’s perspective? Or is she just remembering the past?
Thankfully, once you get used to Footer’s unique voice, the story moves along very rapidly. The author also does a great job with the ending. Often in middle grade mysteries, I can guess where the author is headed. It took almost until the surprising ending for me to figure out where this was all headed. And then once I figured it out, I wanted to shout at Footer, “Hey! Don’t you see what’s going on here?!?”
Some might wonder with all of this talk of mental illness if this is appropriate for middle grade readers. Yes, it’s definitely told with a middle grade voice, not a YA voice. I would put it a little akin to the great story So B. It by Sarah Weeks which deals with a character whose mother is mentally challenged.
So if you’re into middle grade mysteries with unique main characters, check out Footer Davis Probably Is Crazy.
I’m so excited to share with you the cover for Seven Riddles to Nowhere!
What do you think? Tell me in the comments below. I’d love to hear your thoughts.
All seventh grader Kameron Boyd wants to do is keep his little Catholic school from closing. It’s the only school where they’ve made life as a selective mute somewhat bearable. As the school faces financial distress, Kam learns he is one of many potential heirs to a fortune large enough to keep his school open.
With the school’s bully as one of the other potential heirs, Kam and his friends race to solve the riddles first. Their journey takes them through the churches of Chicago to decipher the hidden meanings in artwork all while avoiding the mysterious men following them. But creepy men in trench coats won’t stop them! They’re on a quest–not only to keep the school open, but to help Kam recover his voice.
Last weekend, I went out and did some photo shoots of some of the Chicagoland locations used in my upcoming middle grade mystery Seven Riddles to Nowhere.
In this video, I take you behind the scenes of the Chicago suburban location that started it all!
For more behind-the-scenes peaks, be sure to sign up for my monthly newsletter!
A couple years ago, I posted one of my Monday Book Reviews on Fablehaven by Brandon Mull. The book first came to my attention because it was reviewed in a newsletter by a bookseller who had (in that same issue) included an article I wrote about how I use contemporary fantasy novels and classical mythology to teach the concept of a hero story.
If you’re not familiar with Mull’s Fablehaven series and you’re a fan of middle grade fantasy, I recommend you check them out. I’ve found that many of my students who are fans of Harry Potter or books like A Tale Dark & Grimm have really enjoyed this series.
Thus, when the publisher emailed me and invited me to take part in the blog tour for The Caretaker’s Guide to Fablehaven, I was very excited. For my participation, I received a free NetGalley copy of the book.
The Caretaker’s Guide to Fablehaven is akin to Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them from the Harry Potter series. In other words, instead of a story, what we have here is a book detailing all the fantastical creatures one might run into at Fablehaven. In alphabetical order and with beautiful illustrations, each creature is described, along with how you should best interact with them, especially if you end up being their caretaker!
Unfortunately, because I was looking at a NetGalley copy on my iPad, the gorgeous illustrations didn’t always line up quite right with the descriptions; however, if you head over to Amazon and look at the sample pages, you’ll see that this is clearly going to be a beautiful book when it comes out in hardcover, which officially happens . . . oh, that’s right, TOMORROW!!!!
So happy early release day, Brandon Mull! And happy reading to all you fans of Fablehaven!
One of my favorite things to read is a middle grade mystery with puzzles that the reader can play along with, and Chris Grabenstein delivers just such a treat in his Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library. (And seeing how I’ve just returned from a trip to Italy where I partook of a bit of limoncello, this book seemed like the perfect choice for my next Monday book review. 😉 )
Title: Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library
Author: Chris Grabenstein
Genre: mystery
Age group: middle grade
Synopsis: Kyle Keeley loves playing all sorts of games, especially board games designed by his hero Luigi Lemoncello. After Mr. Lemoncello designs the new town library, Kyle wins one of the 12 coveted spots to participate in a special “library lock-in” to celebrate its opening. However, Mr. Lemoncello has created a special game for this lock-in. The kids have to solve a series of riddles and puzzles in order to get out of the library. Whoever gets out first will star in a commercial for Mr. Lemoncello’s next board game!
I really enjoyed how much the reader can play along with the puzzles in this book. To me, a mystery isn’t fun if you can’t play detective along with the main character. Author Chris Grabenstein does a nice job of making many of these games “playable” with Kyle. I also enjoyed how he integrated many popular children’s book titles into the games and into Mr. Lemoncello’s speech. Grabenstein made use of classic titles like Anne of Green Gables (you know I’d like that!) and newer books I love like When You Reach Me.
The one little thing I wish were different about the book is that I wish there were more at stake than starring in a commercial. As an author myself, I’ve read many times that you have to decide what “terrible thing” will happen to your character if he does not succeed in his goal. Otherwise, why do we care? For that reason, the beginning of the book felt a little slow to me. I didn’t know why I should care if Kyle won this game or not. When I found out that the only thing at stake was starring in a commercial, it seemed a little shallow. Perhaps, if there’d been a financial prize, and Kyle’s family needed the money to keep their house or something, then I might’ve felt a bit more invested.
Fortunately, the riddles the kids have to solve were fun enough to keep a book lover like me entertained. Also, the library that Lemoncello (or really Grabenstein) dreams up is very cool, and I’d love to visit a library like that someday.
If you (or a kid you know) loves to read and solve puzzles, I’d definitely recommend this book. There’s even a fun puzzle-within-the-puzzle for the reader to solve at the end of the story.
With all the book launch craziness going on lately, I haven’t had much time for blog posts, but I promised my launch team friend Ginny Marie that I’d get back on this blogging business! This week’s Spin Cycle topic of teaching seemed like a good time to do so.
I certainly know something about teaching. I’ve been doing it for . . . well, never mind how long I’ve been teaching. I was just excited today when my sixth graders found out I’ve been at our school for eight years, and one of them said, “Really? I didn’t think you were that old!” I’d give the kid an A for that comment, but he’s already getting one! 😉
I’ve debated quite a bit about what exactly to say. On a recent guest blog post, I’ve already talked about how my careers as a writer and as a teacher have overlapped, so I thought I’d take this topic one step further and talk about what exactly has been happening lately.
The regulars around here know that last month my young adult novel Angelhood was released by Vinspire Publishing. It’s been an exciting time, but I haven’t been sharing it with my students. Some have wondered why not. Aren’t they my target audience? Couldn’t it create some teachable moments?
I have, in the past, shared some of my writing successes with my students. For example, several years ago, I had a Highlights magazine article published about a former student and the experiment he had on one of the final space shuttle missions. It was a perfect story to share with the students because it was about one of their peers!
When I was published in a Chicken Soup for the Soul book two years ago, one of my coworkers insisted on printing out the local newspaper article and having it hung outside the school office. To be honest, I cringed a bit. The story itself had nothing to do with school and was really aimed at a more general adult audience. Nonetheless, there was nothing inappropriate in the story, so I let it go.
Now, however, I have a young adult novel published. It’s the story of a troubled girl who finds herself in the position of being a guardian angel after her own tragic death. Since it deals with guardian angels, it’s filed under the category of “Christian fiction” on Amazon. Since it deals with difficult topics such as suicide and drug use, it’s definitely more “young adult” than “middle grade.” For those two reasons, I am not discussing the book at my public middle school with an extremely diverse student body.
I treasure my role as a teacher. When I’m there, it’s my job to help my students reach their potential. It’s not my job to sell books when I’m at school. I’m there for my students, not to toot my own horn.
Nonetheless, you can never underestimate the Googling abilities of middle school students. I’m not sure who started it, but somebody found me . . . perhaps on Instagram or Twitter or Facebook. Or maybe they just found this website. Either way, there are murmurings at school about my book.
A few students have been bold enough to come right out and ask about it. Sometimes I have a little fun with them when they ask something like, “When is your book coming out?” and I respond, “Oh, you mean my Chicken Soup book? That came out two years ago.”
And other times, when I feel like they’re asking just to change the topic in class, I say, “We’re not talking about that right now. We’re talking about your writing. Now let’s get back to it.”
Lovely gifts from some lovely students for teacher appreciation week!
Teaching is a really special career. It can be frustrating, demanding, and heartbreaking, but it can also mean lots of wonderful moments watching kids blossom in ways you’d never expected or finally seeing that light bulb go on over their head. I wouldn’t want to do anything to take away from that. Therefore, when it’s appropriate, I’ll discuss my own writing in class, and when I feel it’s not, then I’ll hold back. In the end, I’m going to do what’s best for my students, and that means focusing on their writing, not on mine.
Today I’m bringing you one of last year’s nominees for the Rebecca Caudill Award. I had it on my to-be-read list for a while and finally got around to it. I enjoyed it very much and can see why it was recommended for an award.
Title: Navigating Early
Author: Clare Vanderpool
Genre: historical fiction
Age group: middle grade
Insider cover flap: “After his mother’s death at the end of World War II, Jack Baker is suddenly uprooted from his home in Kansas and placed in a boys’ boarding school in Maine. There he meets Early Auden, the strangest of boys, who reads the number pi as an unending story and collects clippings about sightings of a black bear in the nearby mountains. Feeling lost and adrift, Jack can’t help being drawn to Early, who refuses to believe what everyone accepts to be the truth about the great Appalachian bear, timber rattlesnakes, and the legendary school hero known as the Fish, who was lost in the war. When Jack and Early find themselves alone at school, they set out for the Appalachian Trail on a quest for the great black bear. Along the way, they meet some truly strange characters, several of them dangerous, all lost in some way, and each a part of the pi story Early continues to reveal. Jack’s ability to be a steadfast friend to Early will be tested as the boys discover things they never know about themselves and others.”
I really admire authors who can do an authentic historical voice. I’d love to write a 1940s era story, but I’m not sure I could pull off the proper voice for it. Clare Vanderpool does a fantastic job with creating that 1950s voice. This book is sort of a cross between Dead Poets Society (with its all boys boarding school) and Stand by Me (with its cast of quirky boys setting on a quest).
The story is very enjoyable with the two boys meeting some fascinating (if slightly unbelievable) characters along their journey. I also enjoyed how Vanderpool wove the pi story that Early creates into the journey that Jack and Early take together. This is a highly enjoyable coming-of-age story that I’d recommend to both boys and girls who like stories of kids on a quest.
