Marvelous Middle Grade Monday
Fuzzy Mud (Delacorte Books for Young Readers, 2015) by Louis Sacher is creepily good! Or should I say, even though it’s creepy, it’s very good. Of course, what would you expect from the author of Holes, but a good story?
Fifth grader Tamaya Dhilwaddi and seventh grader Marshall Walsh customarily walk to and from school together, but when they detour into the woods to avoid the school bully, not only will their lives change, but so could the whole world! All because of some fuzzy mud…
The beginning is a bit slow, but this thriller of a mystery is well worth the read.
Here’s some background on the story via an interview with the author.
You can read about Louis Sacher’s writing process here.
Tag: Marvelous Middle Grade Monday
Unusual Chickens for the Exceptional Poultry Farmer
Marvelous Middle Grade Monday
Unusual Chickens for the Exceptional Poultry Farmer (Knopf Books for Young Readers, 2015) written by Kelly Jones and illustrated by Katie Kath is a fun peek into Sophie Brown’s experience with super powered chickens. Written in letters, starting with one from twelve-year-old Sophie to Redwood Farm Supply requesting a catalog, which is way more fun than it sounds, to letters to her dead Abuelita and her dead Great Uncle Jim, whose farm the family is now living on, this story is a great read. You’ll also find quizzes, to do lists, a correspondence course, and a bad typist. You’ll meet a small white angry chicken, Agnes from Redwood Farm, a chicken thief, a mailman, a librarian, and even learn a bit about raising chickens yourself.
This story makes me smile every time I think about it. Debut author Kelly Jones makes me laugh on her website, too, with her witty comments about school visit experiences. Check it out: http://curiosityjones.net/. From there you can follow links to interviews with Kelly.
I think you’ll also enjoy the delightful illustrations that add to this book. Illustrator Katie Kath is new to the field and already has a bunch of books lined up. Read about how her career got it’s jump start and see what she’s working on here: http://www.ktkath.com. Make sure you click on Kids and Middle Grade to see a variety of illustrations!
Castle Hangnail
Marvelous Middle Grade Monday
If you like fun fantasy, you’ll like Castle Hangnail (Dial Books for Young Readers, 2015) by Ursula Vernon, who not only wrote the story, but did the illustrations.
The minions at Castle Hangnail are worried. If they don’t get a master soon, the castle will be decommissioned. The ravens say someone is on the way, but no one expects it to be the twelve-year-old girl who shows up. Can she really be a wicked witch? Molly, the “evil” twin, has to convince them she is.
I loved the humor in this book. How can one not enjoy lines like these that open the story? “It was a marvelously dark and dour twilight at the castle. Clouds the color of bruises lay across the hills.”
I also loved the characters from the nonhunchback guardian to the suit of armor and the minotaur cook to the doll made out of burlap, and, of course, Molly, the Wicked Witch, who is bad, er, good at being wicked.
Ursula Vernon is the author of the Dragonbreath books, too. Read more on her website: http://ursulavernon.com/.
Kids Reading Books and Saying What They Think
image courtesy of Phaedra Wilkinson on morguefile.com
I recently ran across some blogs of preteen and teen bloggers because of MMGM (Marvelous Middle Grade Monday). Which made me interested in looking for more teens blogging about books.
It’s fun seeing how articulate these kid bloggers are and what they are interested in reading. These kids are promoting good books now, which is so exciting. It was also fun seeing the books we like in common. We may be many years apart in age, but we share a love for some of the same stories.
What does that mean for me as a writer? It’s a reminder that inside at some level we are still the same no matter what age we are. We still have hopes and dreams, struggle with issues of self-esteem or failure, have worries in our lives, etc. Those universal experiences are what make it possible for our stories to reach others and for others’ stories to reach us.
It also is giving me a chance to see what books are appealing to some of today’s kids. (I have grandsons and we discuss books they are reading, but no granddaughters, so don’t get much firsthand experience on the girl side.) And, yes, this means my to-be-read list is getting longer and longer.
In case you are interested in checking out these young reviewers yourself, here’s some I found.
Personal Websites:
The Paige Turner
Cindy Reads A Lot
Libraries:
This LA County Library has a teen review board! What a great idea!
Oh, look, the New Hampshire Nesmith Library does something similar.
Other:
Teen Ink is a magazine that features book reviews (and much more) by teens. Of course, at this age, many are reading “adult” books, too.
LitPick Student Book Reviews features reviews from kids all over the world.
Reader View Kids is a company that posts kids’ book reviews.
Like many blogs, I found ones started by teens that have lasted a number of years and then the teen (or now adult) quit posting. Even found one library system that quit having teen posts although the old ones are still up.
If you know of any teens blogging about books, I’d love to hear about it.
Rooftoppers
Marvelous Middle Grade Monday
Rooftoppers (Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers, 2013) by Katherine Rundell is a very fun read, although twelve-year-old Sophie has a very big problem. The National Childcare Agency says Charles, the bachelor who rescued her from the sea when she was one and floating in a cello case, can’t be allowed to keep raising her. What will Sophie do without her beloved Charles? The two escape to Paris to search for her Sophie’s long lost mother. On this adventure, when Sophie goes on the roof of her hotel, she makes some unusual friends.
A mix of historical and fantasy, the book is winning awards. Rooftoppers is the winner of the 2014 Blue Peter Book Award and the 2014 Waterstones Children’s Book Prize, and was shortlisted for the 2014 CILIP Carnegie Medal.
You can read about the author here or follow her on twitter here. She has another book out, Cartwheeling in Thunderstorms, that I need to check out.