Writing about emotionally
difficult topics for the middle-grade audience can be tricky. How do you
introduce tough subjects to young readers in a thought-provoking way without minimizing
the event, compromising authenticity, and distressing your readers?
I encountered these challenges
when writing my debut middle-grade novel, Crushing the Red Flowers. The
book takes place in 1938 Germany over the pogrom known as Kristallnacht (Night
of Broken Glass). Writing about one of the most disturbing periods of history
was no easy feat and I learned a great deal. Whether you are planning to take
on a painful historical event or a weighty contemporary issue, below are five
tips that will help you tackle difficult topics for middle-grade readers.
Tip 1 – Set Objectives
by Establishing a Baseline of Kid Knowledge and Questioning Your Motives
The first step is to understand
what kids already know. You may be surprised to learn that your target readers have
major misconceptions or aren’t even aware of the topic. Find out if the topic
is part of school curriculum. Read message board discussions on the subject. Talk
to educators and other relevant professionals. And of course, ask your target
readers what they know.
When conceiving ideas
for Crushing the Red Flowers, I asked 4th and 5th
graders about the Holocaust after it was introduced to them in school. I ascertained
that little was understood about the factors that led up to the war and that
there were misunderstandings about why Jewish people did not leave Germany
earlier and about the nuanced nature of German resistance.
A children’s writer
must be certain of their intentions when undertaking a highly charged subject,
so it’s necessary to question your motives from the start. What do you want
your readers to internalize? Are you writing to reach those affected? Are you
writing to educate the masses? Asking these questions and establishing a
baseline of kid knowledge helped me focus my main objective—to provide
middle-grade readers a solid introduction to the holocaust—as well as set
secondary objectives.
Tip 2 – Define
Parameters
After setting objectives,
designate parameters specifically for the middle-grade audience. This could mean
narrowing a time period, selecting point-of-view, or choosing a setting. For
example, a book that takes place in the pre-war years is very different from a
book that takes place during the war years. Choosing third person point-of-view
over first person point-of-view may soften the content. A sympathetic omniscient
narrator could work well to tie fragmented points-of-view and more gently guide
the reader through upsetting events. And a story set close to the action is not
the same as one set in a neutral location.
I chose to confine Crushing
the Red Flowers to 1938 and center it around Kristallnacht. Keeping the
story within 1938 allowed me to authentically write about the period and reach middle-grade
readers without compromising authenticity or minimizing the events. Given the
misconceptions my target readers held, I also decided to alternate perspectives
between two twelve-year-old main characters, a German Jewish boy and a boy in
Hitler’s Jungvolk.
Tip 3 – Get the Facts
Right
Because you’ve
committed to writing about a difficult topic for children, you’ve committed to
giving them the best you can give. Diligent research is your foundation. When
writing Crushing the Red Flowers, I used a three-layer approach to
research.
First, the big stuff. Identify
primary sources. I conducted interviews with people who lived through the era
and read everything I could get my hands on about 1938 Germany: Non-fiction, fiction,
academic articles, and credible online sources.
Next, the details. As I wrote, questions emerged. What was the weather in Hannover on certain dates? What foods were hard to obtain in 1938? What did 1930s wallpaper look like in Germany? I researched through library sources and also reached out to historians, like Myrna Goldenberg, professor emerita of Holocaust history at Montgomery College, and Dr. Patricia Heberer-Rice from the Holocaust Memorial Museum.
Last, the minutiae. Even
after specific questions were answered, I continued my research to gain a general
sense of German styles and mood in the 1930s. I watched movies from the time
period, browsed through family portraits housed at the Center for Jewish
History, watched old political video clips, and inspected hundreds of interiors
at the New York Public Library Picture Collection. Sometimes I found a new
detail to weave into my writing, but sometimes I just verified an element already
in my novel.
Tip 4 – Write a Stellar
Discussion Guide
A discussion guide is
a list of questions found at the end of a book that foster conversation.
Discussion guides work very well for middle-grade books. They provide educators
and parents a manual for encouraging rich conversations. Discussion guides
offer a safe stage to talk about difficult elements, help discussion leaders link
the material back to children’s everyday lives, allow conversations to flow in greater
detail, and help discussion leaders make sure that readers understood the material.
Ideas are freshest on
your mind when you are writing, so I recommend adding a few questions to your discussion
guide after writing each chapter. Ask about characters’ feelings and reasons
for their actions. Incorporate other art forms, like sketching pictures or
creating book trailers. And ask plenty of questions that have readers link back
to their own lives.
Tip 5 – Take Emotional
Breaks
Difficult topics
aren’t just difficult for kids. They are difficult for everyone: writers,
parents, and educators. Prioritizing self-care is a must. Crushing the Red
Flowers took me years to write. That’s a long time to live in 1938 Germany
and it was especially taxing because my book is
based on true family experiences.
I suggest taking occasional breaks. If it becomes too much for you, it’s okay to step away for short periods. This will not only improve your well-being, it will allow you to see the bigger picture, ensure that you are working towards your objectives, and ultimately improve your ability to connect with middle-grade readers.
Jennifer Voigt Kaplan is an award-winning author of children’s fiction. Her debut children’s novel, Crushing the Red Flowers, will be published November 19th, 2019 by Ig Publishing. The manuscript was endorsed by James Patterson was recognized in six literary contests before its publication, including earning a Letter of Merit for the SCBWI Work-in-Progress Grant and winning the middle-grade category of Publishers Weekly Booklife Prize for Fiction. Jennifer was born in Germany, raised in Philadelphia, and now resides in the New York City area.
I spent seven years writing my debut novel. Yes, seven years. Writing one novel. Not writing and then finding an agent and then getting a contract; just writing. I think that may be some kind of record.
I know there are people out there who have written entire first drafts in a month (thank you NaNoWriMo), and then revised and had something to send out to their agent a couple of months later. I am not one of those people. I don’t think I ever will be, although I’m on track to have a decent draft of novel number two in only four years, which feels like a kind of victory.
I don’t regret the seven years it took me to write and revise and polish THAT’S WHAT FRIENDS DO because I learned so much — about myself and about writing. Here are seven lessons I learned during my writing journey, one for each of the years I spent writing my debut.
You are the writer you are. Don’t sell yourself short (or out) because you don’t write the way you’re “supposed” to. I have been writing since I was seven years old, but for much of my life I didn’t see myself as a writer because I didn’t write the way I thought “real” writers did: I didn’t write every day, I was (and still am) a lousy journal-keeper, and I hated most “literary” fiction. It took me a long time to come to terms with the way I wrote, which is for a few hours a day, and completely alone. I can’t write in coffee shops, or on vacation, or when my kids are in the house. I can sometimes write when my husband is around, if he confines himself to another room and doesn’t talk to me at all. I know there are writers who write while they’re cooking dinner, or helping their kids with their homework, or, although I cannot imagine it, with music playing. I am not those writers. But I am a writer. And you are too.
Write what you love, not what’s hot, or selling. Write what you love even if everyone is saying there’s no market for it, because the market will change. When I first began showing my manuscript around to agents, MANY of them said a version of the following: “you’ve got an interesting story, but I’m not sure anyone will publish it. It’s not Middle Grade material.” I kept going because I wanted a completed draft of something, even if it was “unpublishable.” Then a presidential candidate bragged on camera about touching women inappropriately, and that got played on the news. And the Harvey Weinstein story broke. And #MeToo became a rallying cry for women around the world. Suddenly, publishers were interested in a Middle Grade novel with a #MeToo moment at the center.
Writing groups are better than chocolate. Writing is actually revising. And revising means re-seeing: seeing the words you’ve brought forth in a new light, or from a new perspective. But re-seeing is hard. That’s where your writer’s group comes in. Find a writing group, or a critique partner, or both. I’ve been lucky enough to have three writing groups over the course of my seven-year writing journey. One met every Thursday, and read parts of my novel in 10-page chunks. One meets once a month, and reads anything from partial manuscripts to complete drafts (they have a draft of novel number two as I type this). The third group meets once or twice a month, and we all write short pieces based on a writing prompt.
All chocolate is delicious, but some chocolate is better than other chocolate. And some critique group members will have advice or suggestions that will resonate with you, while others may make suggestions that feel wrong. Keep an open mind and an open heart, but also remember: it’s your vision. Trust your instincts.
The Society of Children’s Book Writers is the jam. I met the folks in my monthly writing group at the SCBWI winter conference cocktail party. I’ve gotten amazing feedback from several agents at other SCBWI conferences I attended, where my socks were also knocked off by some phenomenal workshops. I mean Laurie Halse Anderson talking about how she does research for her historical fiction books?! Priceless. Also, I connected with my agent through an SCBWI First Pages sessions.
Everyone’s journey is different. Once I finally was ready to send start querying agents, I expected to be at it for years. But about six weeks after I sent my first queries, I signed with my agent. Less than six months after that, I had a contract with HarperCollins. My friend C. signed with an agent more than a year before I signed with mine, and has four fabulous manuscripts, but is still waiting for that first contract. There’s no pattern, and there are no guarantees.
Writing is not a sure path to financial freedom. Most of the published writers I know do other things: they teach, they do party planning, they clean houses or write computer code. These days, I tutor, and for many of the seven years I was writing THAT’S WHAT FRIENDS DO I did freelance editing work as well. I also have a patron of sorts in my husband, whose income means I don’t have to have a full-time paying gig. I know a lot of rich people. None of them are writers. There are a handful of rich writers, and some other writers who are making a decent living off of their books (they tend to be the prolific ones), but there are many, many more published writers who aren’t able to pay the rent just with their writing. Write because you love it, because you have to, because it feeds your soul. And figure out what else you can do to pay the rent.
Cathleen Barnhart has been writing her whole life. She wrote her first story she she was seven. It was called “Aunt Ant.” Later, she majored in Creative Writing at Carnegie-Mellon University and then got an M.F.A. in Fiction Writing from the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. She has held more jobs than she can count, including process camera operator, waitress, perfume salesperson, college writing instructor, and middle school teacher. She is married and has three mostly grown children, an excitable rescue dog named Zeke and a Machiavellian cat named Scout. When she’s not reading, writing, or walking Zeke in the woods, Cathleen fosters kittens and does CrossFit because it’s important to be sensitive and strong. That’s What Friends Do is her first published novel.
As a young girl, who lived in a rowhouse in South Philadelphia and played Wiffle ball in the street, I loved no book more than Anne of Green Gables. Anne was an orphan who was adopted by a pair of siblings who initially had wanted a boy to help them manage their farm. Instead, they got a spunky, red-haired, intelligent girl who stole their hearts. Though she was poor, Anne roamed through the woods and ran through the green fields of Prince Edward Island, a place that was far more beautiful than the paved streets and narrow alleyways of South Philadelphia.
As the daughter of immigrants, who often felt isolated among her American friends, I connected with Anne who was also an outsider in the town of Avonlea; people tended to think the worst of her because she was an orphan, and she dealt with their judgement fiercely. And her imagination and her loneliness often combined in ways that brought tears to my eyes, such as this sad moment when she faces being returned to the orphanage: “I’ve just been imagining that it was really me you wanted after all and that I was to stay here forever and ever. It was a great comfort while it lasted. But the worst of imagining things is that the time comes when you have to stop and that hurts.”
I’ll say that later, as an older child, I realized that all the books I was reading starred white children; that bothered me more and more, because I could imagine myself in anyone’s shoes (that’s the power of readings, after all), but couldn’t there be a book that met me halfway? A book that, while I stretched my imagination to connect with it, simultaneously reached out to me?
Therefore, when I finally decided to write a children’s book, I wanted to carefully craft it so that it would reflect my values and my ideals. Therefore, I decided four things:
First, my main character would be a Palestinian American girl. Like me. Like my own daughter. It would be an #ownvoices book. I named my protagonist Farah [which means “joy” in Arabic] and gave her some fun traits — she’s funny, she’s smart, she’s curious, and she can be stubborn. She speaks Arabic at home with her parents and English at school with her teachers and friends, and I included a glossary of Arabic terms in the back of the book.
Second, Farah would be working class. This was very important to me, because many times, the characters we see in #kidlit books tend to be privileged kids. Money is never discussed because the reader is supposed to assume the character is financially comfortable. Farah’s family, however, struggles financially — her parents work hard, but they’re always pinching their pennies, and like any lower-income kid, Farah is acutely aware of this. It’s a testament to my own upbringing; I was raised in a family that was often short on money but had an abundance of love and affection.
Third, this book would be the first in a series. For example, as a kid myself, I read Anne of Green Gables several times before I saw, in a Scholastic flyer, that there was … a second Anne novel? Indeed, Anne was a character who spanned an entire series: Anne of Avonlea, Anne of the Island, Anne of Windy Poplars, and more. The story didn’t end at the closing of the first novel. I realized, with a thrill, that I never had to lose Anne. At its core, this is the appeal of the book series: the joy of finding a good book and realizing there’s a whole bookshelf at the library or bookstore with the Boxcar Children, Ramona Quimby, the Sweet Valley High twins, Nancy Drew, and the Hardy Boys. Later, I became a big Agatha Christie fan and followed Hercule Poirot and Sherlock Holmes.
The fourth thing was that Farah’s story would be a chapter book. I didn’t want to write a picture book, nor did I want to pen a novel for older, more advanced readers. I wanted kids in the younger grades as well as older kids who were still emerging readers to meet Farah Rocks. This was a deliberate decision because very little attention is given to the chapter book, one of the hardest-working genres in children’s literature. A chapter book, loosely defined, is a book targeted towards readers who have graduated from picture books [although, in my opinion, nobody should ever “graduate” from picture books] but who are not yet ready for novels. The chapter book is a happy medium — a long story, broken up into shorter chapters, lightly illustrated throughout.
The chapter book is a victory for the emerging reader. It’s a “real book”, as my own kids used to say, with just enough pictures to break up the text but not so many that the prose is de-emphasized. Finishing a chapter book makes a young reader feel like a big kid, and it creates a positive vibe around the experience of reading independently.
I’m excited to see where Farah goes on her adventures, but no matter what, I’m glad that she, and the series, reflect my values and my commitment to my readers.
Susan Muaddi Darraj won an American Book Award in 2016 for her novel-in-stories, A Curious Land. She teaches creative writing in the graduate programs at both The Johns Hopkins and Fairfield Universities. Her #ownvoices chapter book series, Farah Rocks, debuted in January from Capstone Books.
I had already written several middle grade novels before I began writing the DIARY OF AN ICE PRINCESS chapter book series (Scholastic, July 2019). I will admit that my first thought was, “Oh, this should be easier.” After all, at 6,000-10,000 words, chapter books are a fraction of the size of middle grade novels, right?
Oh, how quickly I was humbled! Chapter books might be
shorter in word count, but they still pack just as much story and character
into their pages. And chapter book authors must build a compelling story not
just once, but multiple times for a series.
Luckily, my daughters are now in prime chapter book-reading
territory, and we have read many fantastic series together: JASMINE TOGUCHI (by
Debbi Michiko Florence), JADA JONES (by Kelly Starling Lyons), IVY AND BEAN (by
ANNIE BARROWS). I turned back to these favorite series and read many more with
my “writer-eyes” activated. What made these beloved books so good? How did the
authors work their magic?
I discovered 4 key essentials that made my work easier:
1. Your character should stand out from the crowd. Mercy Watson loves hot buttered toast. Alvin Ho is afraid of everything. The main character is the heart of a series, and the reason that kids keep returning for more books. Memorable chapter book characters have something that sets them apart. Whatever you choose, make it authentic to your character and relevant to the storyline. And make sure it’s something that you will enjoy writing about again and again and again. And if you use a device to break up the text – such as a diary format, text messages, fun facts, etc. limit it to just one device, otherwise things can get confusing for young readers.
Notebook entries and lists are sprinkled throughout the books, which are written in a diary format.
2. Give your character room to keep growing. We novelists know that our characters need to grow and change from the beginning of our books to the end. But a chapter book MC will have to grow and change in every book in the series. In other words, a chapter book MC needs to be like the kids who will read about them. Think about the kids you know: they are constantly learning and growing a little more every day.
The MC in DIARY OF AN ICE PRINCESS just wants to be a normal kid. Her problem is that she isn’t normal at all – she’s a magical ice princess whose family controls the wind and weather. This sets up countless possible storylines and numerous opportunities for chaos and silliness!
Lina’s magical royal family plays a big role in each book.
3. Keep things fairly simple. Chapter book readers are in the early stages of getting hooked on reading. You want your books to seal the deal. Some kids may be reading your books independently; others may be listening to an adult read them out loud. You aren’t limited to vocabulary lists the way “easy readers” are. But you do need to make sure that your text is encouraging, enticing, and supportive of emerging readers. Chapters and paragraphs should be on the shorter side. Sentences don’t necessarily need to be short, but they should be simple to read for kids who are just starting to learn the rules of grammar.
Your overall storyline should also be streamlined. In a novel, you may have B, C, and D subplots, and an entire cast of supporting characters who all have their own emotional journeys. In a chapter book, there just isn’t room to weave all that together. For my series, I decided that each book would have two storylines: a “school” problem and a “family” problem that get resolved by the end of each book.
4. Problems should be age-appropriate – and the MC needs to be the one to solve them! This was actually a tricky one for me to figure out! Because chapter books are aimed at the young elementary school set, the topics and tone tend to be light, funny, and accessible. The problems that your MC faces will be similar to problems that any 6-9 year old might face: losing a friend, having anxiety, finding their voice, etc.
My main character, Lina, is descended from a long line of royal beings with magical weather powers. When I first started drafting the series, I found it tricky to find a balance between presenting her with a problem that wasn’t too dark and scary (ice monsters turned out to be too frightening!) but that would challenge her enough so she could grow. I finally decided that in the first book, SNOW PLACE LIKE HOME, Lina’s struggle would be that her powers are different from other members of her family. Her parents are loving and supportive of her, but it’s not until Lina realizes for herself that her uniqueness is her strength that she is able to control her magic. She solves the problem through inward reflection, which is something young readers can relate to and achieve (even if they don’t have winter magic!).
The happy thing I learned about writing this series is that once I settled on my character and the recurring story elements, each book flowed more easily than the last – though I will never say that writing chapter books is easy! The trick is to make it look easy, and it turns out that is actually a lot of hard work.
Photo by Sam Bond.
Christina Soontornvat grew up behind the counter of her parents’ Thai restaurant in a small Texas town with her nose stuck in a book. She is very proud of both her Thai and her Texan roots, and makes regular trips to both Weatherford and Bangkok to see her beloved family members (and eat lots and lots of Thai food!). In addition to being an author, Christina holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and a master’s degree in Science Education. She spent a decade working in the science museum field, where she designed programs and exhibits to get kids excited about science. She is passionate about STEM (science, technology engineering, and math), and loves learning new things. She lives in Austin, Texas with her husband, two young children, and one old cat.
We’ve
been through the first leg of our journey. It’s taken us to a world of Kung-fu
on ice, a zombie-infested Old West, a heart-pounding medieval Scotland, an idyllic
17th century England, a dangerous steampunk metropolis, where legendary
beasts exist, and inside a fairy-tale storybook. Our characters emerged
stronger for their struggles—some injured, some with new realizations of who they
are and what they could be, and all of them ready for another adventure.
What
comes next?
For the
seven authors chatting today, what came next was another book: our debut
novel’s sequel. In some cases, it’s the second in a multi-book series, and
others it’s the book that ends the series, and in some we just don’t know yet.
But no matter what, it’s Book 2, an important installment in each author’s
journey, and a book linked with the first that introduces its own conflicts.
I’m in my own sequel journey just now, and I wanted to hear what some of my fellow 2018 debut authors were thinking as they brought their characters and worlds out for a second act. And so, this is our story.
To start, we’ll talk about how our sequels began.
~ Diane Magras
Henry Lien (Peasprout Chen: Battle of Champions): The sequel begins approximately 2
seconds after the end of book one. In book one, Peasprout Chen came to a new
country to study at an academy that teaches an art form combining kung fu and
figure skating. Peasprout learned about friendship, the dual nature of
immigrant identity, and other important things, only to have those truths
turned upside down at the beginning of book 2 with the arrival of a very
unusual new student from her homeland.
Brad McLelland and Louis Sylvester (Fang of Bonfire Crossing): Our sequel picks up a few days
after the finale of Legends of the Lost
Causes (Book 1). Led by orphan Keech Blackwood, our young riders find
themselves on the 1850s trail to Wisdom, a settlement in Kansas Territory,
where they must collect new information in their quest to bring the evil
Reverend Rose and his henchmen to justice. Along the way, the kids encounter
the nefarious villain, Big Ben Loving, as well as a deadly shapeshifter that’s
been tracking them.
Diane Magras(The Hunt for the Mad Wolf’s
Daughter): My sequel starts about two hours after the first book ends
in a village hut where my protagonist, Drest, wakes to the sound of a crow’s
coded warning of danger: A single knight is drawing near. Drest has just
escaped Faintree Castle and its fleet of murderous knights with some beloved
people in tow whom they want dead. She must decide in the very first chapter
whether she can protect those she loves by hiding, or by confronting her enemy.
Her decision leads to a price on her head that she could have never imagined.
Melinda Beatty(Riverbound): Only Fallow can see lies–an ability that’s brought her to serve the king of Orstral. But she’s determined to get home any way she can, and, with her friend Lark, stop the persecution of the river-dwelling Ordish. But palace life is tricky and Only needs to figure out who to trust–and quickly!
Jeff Seymour (Nadya Skylung and the Masked Kidnapper): As Nadya Skylung’s cloudship Orion docks among the glorious, dangerous steampunk skyscrapers of Far Agondy, three pirates the crew are turning over to the city’s police state a daring escape. Pursuing them despite her captain ordering her not to for her own safety, Nadya discovers the city’s children are being snatched by a sinister crime lord known as Silvermask. And when he takes a personal interest in her, it’ll take all her wits and courage to keep herself, and her friends, out of his grasp.
Lija Fisher (The Cryptid Keeper): My sequel begins with Clivo and the Myth Blasters diving deeper into the world of legendary creature seeking, while desperately avoiding the bad guys (and the prying eyes of Aunt Pearl!).
Tara Gilboy (Rewritten): My sequel picks up six months after the end of book one. Gracie and the other storybook characters are living with their author, Gertrude Winters, who has given up writing stories, afraid they will come to life like Gracie’s tale did.
What did you like most about
writing your sequel?
Henry Lien: My favorite thing about writing
the sequel was dealing with the specter of Harry
Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, which I consider the best sequel of all
time. I daily, maybe hourly, reminded myself that that was the high bar of
sequels and I wanted intensely to write a sequel that made a triple leap
forward like Rowling did with Azkaban. I also wanted to write the most
spectacular, Miyazaki-sequel action sequences I could imagine for this book. I
wanted to create my own diverse Harry Potter with an anime soul.
Brad McLelland and Louis
Sylvester: Though writing this book presented plenty challenges, we loved getting
to move our young characters into a brand new space with trickier trials and
scarier encounters. We particularly enjoyed the chance to explore our
characters’ motivations and back stories more deeply, then letting those new
pieces of information illuminate our plot decisions. Writing a series can be a
delicate endeavor, but even with the complications that came with pushing our
story onward, we think writing the second book allowed us to stretch our legs a
bit more. We also loved being able to introduce two new exciting characters who
become trailmates on Keech’s quest. We think readers will fall in love with
these two new characters, as well as enjoy the stepped-up elements of suspense
and danger. (Beware the Chamelia! Just sayin’.)
Diane Magras: I loved having the chance to
deepen my characters’ stories and their relationships. My sequel gave room for
Drest to really grow. While running for her life and strategizing how she’ll
escape the sentence on her head, Drest questions who she is and what she could
be in a way that goes a step beyond the first book. Other characters struggle
with their identities too, such as Emerick, the injured young knight from the
first book. The sequel gave me room to deepen their friendship and show each of
them take enormous risks for the other. And it also gave me the chance to have
scenes with Drest’s brothers. In the first book, readers heard only their
voices as Drest embarked on her journey. In the sequel, I could show them
interacting with each other—bickering, but also supporting—with new insults!
Melinda Beatty: I loved visiting with Only again
and throwing everything I had at her and her friends, just to watch them
survive, thrive and overcome! I also enjoyed writing some new characters to
bring more humor to the story, like the Thorvald royals and my “fishmongers”
Warin and Dodd. Funny is where I live as a writer, and getting to write these
bits were like literary “dessert” for me!
Jeff Seymour: I absolutely loved writing the
action sequences. Staging the thrilling chases, nail-biting escapes, and
dangerous fights that are the hallmark of a Nadya book with Nadya on crutches
(recovering from losing her leg in the last book) made them much more creative
than they would’ve been otherwise. Nadya fights Silvermask and his goons on
zip-lines, with hang gliders, and using a hand-cranked recumbent bicycle. She
finds ways to work around and with her physical differences to come out on top.
I love those scenes, and I still like to go back and re-read them.
Lija Fisher: I loved writing this sequel
because I got to do so while on a writing residency through Aspen Words and the
Catto Shaw Foundation. I spent a month in a cabin in Woody Creek, CO (home of
Hunter S. Thompson!) where my only responsibility was to write. It was heaven.
Since I already knew the characters and the world, I could focus on the plot
and fully immerse myself in creating a fun adventure with lots of mystery and
even more humor!
Tara Gilboy: I loved being able to spend more
time with my characters. I also loved studying different kinds of stories and
thinking about what each genre’s tropes and clichés are. For this book, I
wanted to play around with the horror genre, and so I read a lot of classic
gothic horror novels like Dracula and
Frankenstein and thought about what
elements are commonly used in horror and how to both poke fun at those tropes
and use them in new ways. I then also had to consider why Gertrude would write
a story like that, since she is the author in my book responsible for creating
the world of the horror story.
What was the hardest part of
writing your sequel?
Henry Lien: Both Peasprout Chen books are
very quickly-paced clockwork puzzles, like Prisoner
of Azkaban, with a number of huge secrets hiding in plain view. That kind
of book requires precise choreography to pull off in a way that doesn’t seem
effortful or contrived. Thus, I created a coded spreadsheet approach so that I
could see the progression of each clue for each plot thread, where it occurred
in terms of pages, where it occurred in terms of calendar days of the school year
in the book, how evenly spaced the action sequences and major emotional
confrontations were, etc. It was enlightening because I could step back and see
my book like a musical score or a multi-floor dungeon map like in video games
such as Legend of Zelda.
Brad McLelland and Louis
Sylvester: The hardest drafting for us didn’t really arrive until the midpoint of
the book, where our Lost Causes ride into a dangerous town and encounter all
sorts of deadly challenges. Because this situation involved lots of complicated
movements around a new geographical space, we had to put our thinking caps on
when mapping out our characters’ steps and decisions. How can we keep our
narrative rolling smoothly without bogging the reader down with details? This
was the main question we kept in mind while writing – and to tell the truth, it
wasn’t easy! The Lost Causes’ final battle was also quite difficult to draft,
again because of numerous players on the field. Writing the action one sentence
at a time, and using lots of carefully outlined notes, helped us tackle the
harrowing finale (which also helped us set up the pieces for an EPIC final Book
3 in the series).
Diane Magras: For me, it was getting the
right angle of this story to tell. Before this draft, I’d written a very
different Book 2 that reached a different conclusion with scenes I loved (including
a castle rescue and a village confrontation scene that don’t now appear in the
book). I knew what the point of the story had to be, but it wasn’t about Drest
serving others. This had to be around her. And with the obvious necessary
goal—regaining the castle—I needed to make it essential to her and not just the
other characters. Remembering a tidbit of medieval law—the concept of the
wolf’s head—helped me realize the moral focus of the story. Having Drest run for
her own life and not for the sake of others added a new urgency—and gave me an
excuse to show off her incredible physical training in more than one scene.
Melinda Beatty: The book was almost totally
re-written between drafts 2 and 3– and I only had about 3 weeks to do it! It
was the most challenging things I’ve ever done, but at the same time, one of
the most rewarding and confidence building. I’ve always thought of myself as a
slow writer–painfully slow sometimes–but having such a short time to totally
re-imagine my story showed me that I definitely have it in me to work in a way
I’d never thought possible.
Jeff Seymour: Getting Nadya’s recovery from amputation right. I’m
not an amputee, so I worked with the author Kati Gardner, who is, on the book.
Folding her recommendations into the story in ways that felt natural to it was
sometimes challenging. For instance, she recommended I avoid using the term
“stump,” which some amputees don’t like. But “residual
limb,” the less controversial term, felt too medical for Nadya’s voice. So
I settled on having Nadya name her residual limb “the Mighty Lady,”
(nicknames being something real-life amputees sometimes do too, and definitely
a Nadya thing to do) and she refers to it as “the Lady” through most
of the book.
Lija Fisher: The hardest part of writing
this sequel was doing it so quickly! I wrote the entire book during my
month-long residency because I was determined to make the most use of my time.
I wrote from 4:30am to about 3pm every day, and keeping my brain in ‘creative
mode’ for that many hours was really hard. But also fun! The nice thing about
being in the mountains is that whenever I had no idea what came next, I’d go
out for a hike or bike ride and let my brain rest until the next idea showed
up!
Tara Gilboy: The hardest part of writing this book was
incorporating all of what had happened in Unwritten,
the first book, without confusing my readers. I knew that some readers would
have read the first book, but others may not, and so I wanted to tell a story
that could stand on its own for new readers, but also one that built on what
had already happened in book one. I really struggled to find ways to weave in
bits of information about things that had happened in book one without boring
the reader with lots of summary and backstory. My editor helped me a lot with
that in revision, and I hope I was successful!
Our sequels in ten words:
Henry Lien: Kung-fu figure-skating boarding
school adventure about immigration and teamwork.
Brad McLelland and Louis
Sylvester: Expect new friendships forged, spookier situations, and a few seriously
shocking twists.
Diane Magras: Castles, swords, betrayals,
secrets, loyal friends, family, and a daring battle.
Melinda Beatty: Adventure, friendship, learning about privilege,
conspiracy, and lovable rogues.
Jeff Seymour: A heroine on crutches, a
steampunk metropolis, thrilling fights, and a big twist at the end.
Lija Fisher: Adventure! Humor! Mystery!
Search for the unknown! Cryptozoology! Friendship! Crazy gadgets!
Tara Gilboy: Spooky mansions, a magic book, a scary beast, and accepting the bad parts of ourselves.
More about our books :
Henry Lien/Peasprout Chen: Battle of Champions/January 22, 2019
Now in her Second Year at Pearl Famous Academy of Skate and Sword, Peasprout Chen strives to reclaim her place as a champion of wu liu, the sport of martial arts figure skating. But, with the new year comes new competition, and Peasprout’s dreams are thwarted by an impressive transfer student. Yinmei is the heir to the Shinian throne and has fled her country for Pearl. When she excels both academically and socially, Peasprout begins to suspect that Yinmei is not a refugee at all but a spy. When the Empress of Shin threatens to invade the city of Pearl, Peasprout makes a bold decision. To keep her enemy close, Peasprout joins Yinmei’s “battleband,” a team that executes elaborate skating configurations that are part musical spectacle, part defensive attack. In Henry Lien’s Peasprout Chen: Battle of Champions, Peasprout guides her battleband on a mission to save Pearl, and learns what it truly means to be a leader.
Brad McLelland and Louis
Sylvester/Battle of Bonfire Crossing/February
19, 2019
Keech Blackwood and his band of fellow orphans demand justice for their fallen families. But the road to retribution is a long and hard-fought journey. After defeating Bad Whiskey Nelson, the man who burned Keech’s home to the ground, the Lost Causes have a new mission: find Bonfire Crossing, the mysterious land that holds clues to the whereabouts of the all-powerful Char Stone. Along the way they’ll have to fend off a shapeshifting beast, a swarm of river monsters, and a fearsome desperado named Big Ben Loving who conjures tornadoes out of thin air. It’s an epic standoff between the Lost Causes and the outlaw Reverend Rose, a powerful sorcerer who would be unstoppable with the Stone in his possession. With the world—and vengeance—hanging in the balance, the Lost Causes are ready for battle.
Diane Magras/ The Hunt for the Mad Wolf’s Daughter:
March 5, 2019
Brave warrior, bloodthirsty villain, vicious lass, wolf’s head—Drest can see herself in most of the names she’s been called, except the last. Wolf’s head. It’s a sentence of death-without-trial that’s been decreed by the ruler of Faintree Castle: the traitor Sir Oswyn. And one of his knights is determined to earn the sentence’s rich reward. It’s also a sentence that Drest tries to keep secret when her father and brothers (the Mad Wolf and his war-band) flee the castle men who are hunting them, leaving her in a village to protect the deposed and wounded young Lord Faintree. But word of the wolf’s head travels, and Drest is soon in grave danger. Unless she’s willing to run for the rest of her life or hide as an ordinary maiden, her only hope is for Lord Faintree to regain his power and reverse the sentence. Drest must decide who she really is and how much longer she is willing to risk her life before Sir Oswyn’s knight catches his wolf.
Melinda Beatty/Riverbound/June 4, 2019
Only Fallow can see lies–a cunning so powerful that the King insists on keeping her in the palace, tasked with helping him flush out traitors. When the King’s counselor, Lamia, tells Only of her plan to oust the King and put his daughter on the throne, Only is eager to help. Though Only’s cunning would be useful to any ruler, the Princess had promised to send Only home when she becomes Queen. But Only soon learns the truth is a complicated matter–especially when the fate of a country hangs in the balance. Now wound tight in a twisted plot, Only must set the record straight to stop the destruction of everything–and everyone–she holds dear.
Jeff Seymour/Nadya
Skylung and the Masked Kidnapper/June 25, 2019
Nadya Skylung paid a high price when she defeated the pirates on the cloudship Remora. She lost her leg. But has she lost her nerve too? When Nadya and the rest of the crew of the cloudship Orion reach the port of Far Agondy, they have a lot to do, including a visit to Machinist Gossner’s workshop to have a prosthetic made for Nadya. But though the pirates are far away across the Cloud Sea, Nadya and her friends are still not safe. A gang leader called Silvermask is kidnapping skylung and cloudling children in Far Agondy. When Nadya’s friend Aaron is abducted, Nayda will stop at nothing to save him and the other missing kids, and put a stop to Silvermask once and for all.
Lija Fisher/ The Cryptid Keeper/ August 20, 2019
Clivo and the Myth Blasters are back on the trail of the immortal cryptid in this conclusion to a monstrously funny middle-grade duology by Lija Fisher. Life has gotten complicated for thirteen-year-old Clivo Wren. After taking up his deceased father’s mission to find the extraordinary creature whose blood grants everlasting life, Clivo is spending his summer not at camp or hanging out with his friends, but jetting all over the world tracking cryptids—while keeping his aunt Pearl in the dark about his dangerous adventures. At the same time, a shocking development unveils the truth about Clivo’s enemies, and the cryptids themselves are posing trouble at every turn. With the help of his crew of Myth Blasters, Clivo is going to need all of the tools, gadgets, and training he has to prevent the immortal cryptid from falling into the wrong hands—and to keep Aunt Pearl off the case.
Tara Gilboy/Rewritten/April 7, 2020
After learning the truth about her own fairy tale, twelve-year-old
Gracie wants nothing more than to move past the terrible things author Gertrude
Winters wrote about her and begin a new chapter in the real world. If only
things were going as planned. On the run from the evil Queen Cassandra, the
characters from Gracie’s story have all been forced to start over, but some of
them cannot forget Gracie’s checkered past. Even worse, Gracie discovers that
her story is still being written in Cassandra’s magic book, the Vademecum. As
long as Cassandra has the Vademecum, none of the characters are safe, including
Gracie’s mom and dad. In a desperate attempt to set things right, Gracie finds
herself transported into another one of Gertrude’s tales—but this one is a
horror story. Can Gracie face her destiny and the wild beast roaming the night,
to rewrite her own story?
Kids need books that carry them from middle grade to young adult. They need stories that challenge them, dive deep, explore ambiguity in the world, and center on complex characters. And, as I’ve heard from several educators, they also need stories that don’t contain explicit sex, drugs, and swearing, elements that can be more prevalent in young adult.
The good news? These books exist, and the publishing industry has categorized them as “Upper Middle Grade.” But it can be difficult to find them, especially since there is confusion over where they should be shelved. I have seen my debut novel, The Prophet Calls, placed in both the young adult and middle grade sections of bookstores and libraries.
In order to help pinpoint these books, I worked with fellow Upper MG authors. Together, we have compiled a “Starter List of Upper MG Books” that includes recent and coming-soon titles from 2018, 2019, and 2020. This is not an exclusive list. Rather, it is a place to get started. If you are aware of another title, please feel free to name it in the comments as we all benefit from sharing these “just right” stories for tweens and teens.
As you can
see from the list, many of us are passionate about writing stories that bridge
the gap between middle grade and YA. I love writing Upper MG because it
provides a safe space for starting difficult conversations about topics such as
racism, female empowerment, mental health, grief, religion, poverty, toxic
masculinity, and more. Kids are already exposed to and talking about these
things, but books can give us a launching point to have thoughtful discussions.
These stories offer readers exposure to the world around them and, by doing so,
provide them with one of the greatest gifts of reading: empathy.
I talked
with a few author friends about why their work focuses on Upper MG, and here’s
what they said:
“When
I was writing YA, I was told my stories were too ‘sweet’ for high school
readers. So, I began telling MG stories. I didn’t realize that, by MG
standards, my books were more edgy than usual. I can’t win. All I know is my MG
is literally the same as my YA: young people dealing with what life throws at
them. Maybe some people forget that young people actually live in the same
world adults do. I don’t, and I tell stories to help them see their way
through.”
—Paula Chase, author of So Done and Dough Boys
“Middle school and upper elementary kids are facing issues we
didn’t when we were kids. It’s a hard truth, but something we adults need to
acknowledge. Not engaging kids on these issues doesn’t make these issues go
away—it just makes kids feel we don’t get them. And I fear it makes kids turn
away from books. So we need to give kids books that are just right: not too
young, not too old. Not too edgy, but not too innocent, either.”
—Barbara Dee, author of Halfway Normal and Maybe He
Just Likes You
“Two upper middle grade students were on my book-signing line.
When they reached me, one said, ‘I know parts of your book by heart.’ I said,
‘Let me hear it.’ He looked into the air and said a line so perfect that you’d
think he wore an earbud and was repeating my audiobook. I said, ‘Wow. You
recite books! You must love books,’ and he said, ‘No. I hate books. I’m
allergic to them.’ The librarian with his class told me, ‘Thank you for writing
for their ages.’ Getting students so hooked to books that they memorize lines
that help them navigate the tough years of middle and high school fuels me to
write.”
—Torrey Maldonado, author of Tight and What Lane?
“I taught 6th, 7th, and 8th grade for ten years, and my students
mostly gravitated to young adult novels because middle grade books felt too
young to them. There was nothing wrong with that . . . except that they
were often reading about much older characters who were dealing with very
different experiences and concerns, and they didn’t always see themselves
reflected in what they read. I wrote Up for Airwith that 6th-to-8th-grade
audience in mind. I wanted to write about a rising eighth grader who ‘really feels like an eighth grader,’ as my
former students put it, and I wanted to delve into issues that I saw lots of
kids grappling with, but couldn’t often find in middle grade fiction, such as
the social pressures of having older friends and the complicated types of
attention that come along with developing a new kind of body.”
-Laurie Morrison, coauthor of Every Shiny Thing and author of Up for Air
“I write upper middle grade because it’s a literature defined by
brightness and hope. In upper middle grade, you can explore material that is as
weighty, ambitious, or serious as in any other literature. However, the deal in
upper MG is that you have to show the readers a way out of the darkness into
light. It’s much easier to avoid serious subject matter or write a cheaply
cynical novel than write a novel with serious themes that nonetheless offers
realistic and earned hope. It’s much easier to hide from or complain about the world
than it is to envision a better world. One of those things is more useful, in
my opinion, especially to upper MG readers as they grapple with a dawning
awareness of the world we live in and how to meet that world with a productive
approach. Also, I’m into fun, humor, and action, and the upper MG readership
isn’t too cool yet to admit they like fun, humor, and action.”
—Henry Lien, author of the Peasprout Chen series
As you can see, this
endeavor to write Upper MG is near to our hearts. But we must work together—authors,
educators, and parents—to help our kids find the books they need by bridging
the gap between middle grade and YA in order to sustain a new generation of
readers.
Melanie Sumrow received her
undergraduate degree in religious studies and has maintained a long-term
interest in studying social issues. Before becoming a writer, Melanie worked as
a lawyer for more than sixteen years, with many of her cases involving children
and teens. Her debut novel, The
Prophet Calls, was selected as a 2018
Writers’ League of Texas Book Award Finalist and her next novel, The Inside
Battle, publishes March 3, 2020.
Today we continue the STEM Tuesday Spin Off guest blogger addition to the MG Book Village blog. It’s time once again for a member of the STEM Tuesday group at From the Mixed-Up Files…of Middle Grade Authors to share a Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) post tying middle grade STEM books, resources, and the STEM Tuesday weekly posts to the familiar, everyday things in the life of middle graders.
We look at the things in life we often take for granted. We peek behind the
curtain and search underneath the hood for the STEM principles involved and
suggest books and/or links to help build an understanding of the world around
us. The common, everyday thing is the hub of the post and the “spin-offs” are
the spokes making up our wheel of discovery.
In this month of August, STEM author and educational consultant Carolyn DeCristofano brings us the “Oh, Those Summer Nights” edition of the STEM Tuesday Spin Off. She takes us from a summer evening to books highlighting several themes: creatures of the night; looking up with wonder; not so dark nights; summer and the world at large; classic summer games; and summer cookouts.
When I was a child, nothing seemed to thrum with magic more than a summer evening. While I’m sure most nights probably were simple, ordinary events of which I took no special note, those that stick in my memory were sublime. These are the ones that define my image of a summer night. If we are lucky, a summer evening might grace us with subtle sensory detail, a connection to nature, and a link to the human community around us and the ones that precede us. And so much of this relates to the stuff of STEM!
Creatures of the Night
Mark Wilson’s Owling : Enter the World of the Mysterious Birds of the Night takes us on a journey to get to know owls, offering detailed facts about these beloved birds and explaining the parts of their anatomy and physiology that make them so successful. Did you know that owls’ ears are positioned asymmetrically, and that this gives them a unique ability to hone in on their prey? This also helps explain the head-turning habit of these birds of prey. (See Page 15.) A series of two-page spreads continue to examine the features of the owl that contribute to its owliness, and its ability to hunt so well. Other sections address owl lifestyles (not all are nocturnal), various species (!), and, most connected to our outdoor experience, ways of spotting evidence of owls nearby. A favorite section of mine is the set of tips—and rules of owl etiquette—for responsibly carrying on a conversation with your owl neighbors. And in case the reader is inspired to dive more deeply into exploring these amazing creatures, Wilson includes a section that highlights specific individuals and their owl-oriented careers. Helpful diagrams and stunning photos round out the adventure.
Of course, with the weather warm a lot of us head outdoors, some of us trekking
away from the city; some others just stepping outside into our own backyards.
And being outside in the evening gives us an opportunity to tune in to creatures
of the night—the nocturnal beasts that hunt, hide, sing, and soar all around
us, whether we notice or not. Look up at dusk and you may see swooping bats.
Listen carefully and you might hear owls hooting.
Tom Uhlman’s photographs serve up a visual treat in Mary Kay Carson’s The Bat Scientists, featuring these nocturnal mammals and those who study them. For example, Page 42 features a close-up photo of a hibernating tri-colored, iridescent, tiny droplets of water coating its fur. The text and pictures give the reader a sense of tramping through caves to investigate these creatures alongside the scientists whose work is to know these animals up close and personal. Much more than a naturalist travelogue, this book digs into the serious science of bats. For example, she explores the “great white plague”, or white-nose syndrome, which threatens the survival of bat populations. It would be fun to read Owling and The Bat Scientists together, comparing and contrasting these nocturnal flyers through the scientific lens.
Of course, you might not want to get up close and personal with all of the critters hanging around on a summer night. Mosquitoes, for example, are best studied from afar. Unless you happen to be zooming in on them in Alexandra Siy and Dennis Kunkel’s Mosquito Bite. Featuring Kunkel’s stunning (and now classic) scanning electron microscopy, the book provides a great example of how technology can extend our ability to study the world around us.
Looking Up with Wonder
Of course, on a summer evening, the world around us includes the night sky. If you are lucky enough to be in a dark-sky area on a clear night, you can’t help but look up and revel in the night lights. Stars take center stage and, if you are like many people contemplating the night sky, you will start to try to pick out the patterns of stars that have been recognized and named for millennia. Dot to Dot in the Sky: Stories in the Star (Joan Marie Galat) provides a primer to the (mostly Western culture) northern star patterns and their lore.
If you find yourself wanting to know more about what you see in the night sky, you might want to check out my own National Geographic Kids Ultimate Space Atlas, which features facts and figures on what you might spy in the sky—stars and constellations, the Milky Way’s glow, some planets, comets, meteors, and satellites, a galaxy or two–as well as features we cannot observe, even with a backyard telescope, such as the Oort Cloud, most dwarf planets, exoplanets, and countless distant galaxies. This book gives some attention as well to the mathematics of the scale of the universe as well as the technologies that help us explore it.
If sky gazing puts you in the mood to contemplate our universe’s beginnings, you might enjoy Big Bang! The Tongue-Tickling Tale of a Speck that Became Spectacular, which combines Michael Carroll’s fabulous illustrations with (my) verse and prose to introduce readers to the Big Bang.
Not So Dark Nights
Of course, the ability to revel in cosmic beauty or enjoy nocturnal creatures depends on the night being dark. And dark nights are, alas, falling prey to bright lights that we humans use to illuminate parking lots, buildings, streets, back yards, and more. Night pollution has become a problem in many communities, albeit one that many fail to notice. That’s why Joan Marie Galat’s Dark Matters: Nature’s Reaction to Light Pollution is such an interesting read. Parts are like a memoir of Galat’s relationship to the night sky and her journey from a child playing in the dark to a graduate with an ecology degree, making it easy for the reader to relate to the core topic of the book. Galat shares with us the biological and physical ramifications of having so much human-created light infiltrating the night. She shares how sea turtles, fireflies, bats, frogs, birds, and humans struggle with the effects of artificial lighting, and explores how some of this may be addressed. It’s a unique take on experiencing a summer (or winter) night.
Of course, we wouldn’t have light pollution without artificial lighting, which brings a lot of convenience and good to people, despite its negative impacts. Why not explore one of the key players in the technological revolution of lighting and electricity? Thomas Edison for Kids: His Life and Ideas, by Laurie Carlson, provides a substantial historical and experiential exploration of the inventor’s life and the technologies he developed.
Summer and the World at Large
Of course, as we sit outside on a summer evening, losing ourselves in our own world and the cosmos beyond, somewhere else it’s wintertime. Lest we stay lost in that personal bubble, it’s time to stretch out and think abut the world at large. Cynthia Light Brown and Patrick M. McGinty’s Mapping and Navigation: Explore the History and Science of Finding Your Way can help us open our eyes to the world around us, recalling how big it is—and also providing another example of how deeply technology has changed human experience and the world at large. Chapter 7, “Space: Navigating the Final Frontier,” makes a perfect bridge from summer stargazing to navigation and map making, and Chapter 4, “Mapping and Satellites: GPS and Landsat,” reminds us that the little blips of light that slowly slip across the night sky are up there doing something—sometimes helping us map the world on which we stand.
Classic Summer Games
And in the summer, the world on which we stand is sometimes hot. Very, very hot. It’s nice to cool off with a sweet treat—ice cream, anyone?—or maybe a frolic with water. Super-Soakers are always great fun. So is the story of the man behind their invention, as told in Chris Barton’s Whoosh! Lonnie Johnson’s Super-Soaking Stream of Inventions. The super-soaker is a summery example of the lighter side of technology, but Lonnie’s tale reveals some serious thinking and hard work. The child who created his own rockets became the teen who constructed his own sound systems for summer parties and the engineer who figured out how to keep a steady power supply going on the Galileo space mission. In his quest for a better air conditioner, he came across another cool idea—a super-soaker water gun. Now in the heat of summer, we can stop and thank Lonnie for the entertainment and the relief from the heat.
Summer Cookouts
Summer games and star gazing are part of summer fun, yet many a summer evening wouldn’t be complete without a cookout. Enter Jodi Wheeler-Toppen and Carol Tennant’s Edible Science: Experiments You Can Eat and Anna Leigh’s 30-Minute Edible Science Projects. You won’t just be whipping up Wheeler-Toppen and Tennant’s Orange Mayonnaise recipe for a unique twist on a coleslaw; you’ll be emulsifying liquids (as well as finding out what that means, and how it works). You can tap into osmosis to create a perfect fruit syrup to serve over homemade ice cream–with recipes, projects, and explanations of what’s going on when you make that cream chill out, courtesy of both books. Leigh also offers recipes for homemade marshmallows to compare from a materials science perspective. If you have extras, you might want to use them in Wheeler-Toppen and Tennant’s “Inflatable Marshmallow” activity. Wash it all down with one of the beverages from Leigh’s “Make Your Own Soda” project.
If it rains on the big night of the cookout? Cook in. Both books provide plenty of food and food for STEM thought to while away a summer evening. Then curl up or get active with any of the great books featured in this installment of STEM Tuesday Spinoffs. No matter where you are, no matter what books you read, no matter where your own thoughts take you, see if you and your inner child can awaken to the magic of a summer evening.
Carolyn Cinami DeCristofano is the author of nationally acclaimed STEM-themed books for kids from 3 to 13 and up. In addition to National Geographic Kids Ultimate Space Atlas and Big Bang! The Tongue-Tickling Tale of a Speck That Became Spectacular (mentioned above), her middle grade book A Black Hole is NOT a Hole is a popular favorite. Her books for younger kids include Running on Sunshine: How Does Solar Energy Work? published in 2018 by HarperCollins Children. Carolyn is also a STEM education consultant whose work has contributed to several National Science Foundation – funded curriculum and exhibit projects. She is a warmly received, accessible professional development provider (has bags, will travel), and recently co-launched a new educational research company, STEM Education Insights. She has been a blogger for STEM Tuesday since its inception. When she’s not immersed in thinking about STEM, she might be found trying her best to keep up at an Old Time jam session, running her own edible (not necessarily science) experiments in the kitchen, or, if the season is right, enjoying the magic of a summer evening.
Image of girl being splashed by water in Spin Off wheel diagram is “Sploosh!” by Monkey Mash Button and is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 (image cropped). All other images in the Spin Off wheel diagram are courtesy of Pixabay.
“Nitty…took out her Gleam Jar and held it up to the dim light slanting through the barn’s siding. She did this every day with the jar, taking stock of its contents and comfort in its presence. The light bounced off the objects in the jar, sending flecks of blue, yellow, and red spinning about the room. Blue, yellow, red; ribbon, button, marble. These three objects—so small—to a stranger might’ve seemed unremarkable. To Nitty they were her only link to family, and a world brimming with color that she’d never seen.”—from A Tale Magnolious
Before I began writing A Tale Magnolious, I was feeling glum about the state of our world. As my main character Nitty Luce would say, I feared that our world had become lovelorn. This may have been why I wrote about the lovelorn town of Fortune’s Bluff, the setting for Nitty’s story. But I could not write about a lovelorn town without also writing about an orphan and elephant who rescue the town from its dire predicament. I could not write about the world without, also, writing about hope.
Hope is what orphan Nitty Luce carries with her in her Gleam Jar—a humble mason jar filled with her most precious (and only) belongings. The jar holds three items: a blue ribbon, a yellow button, and a red marble. To Nitty, these objects embody her wish for a family—her wish to be loved and to find a home. Nitty never gives up on this wish. Her hope keeps the wish alive. The wish, however, changes as Nitty changes. Nitty grows to love Magnolious, the elephant she rescues from death. She grows to trust the curmudgeonly Windle Homes, the farmer who offers her and Magnolious refuge. With time, Nitty discovers that she doesn’t need to cling so tightly to her Gleam Jar anymore. She can entrust her Gleam Jar, her heart, and her wishes to her newfound family and friends in Fortune’s Bluff. More importantly, she can share her hope, which she’s clung so tightly to, with others, spreading it to Magnolious, Windle, and the entire town of Fortune’s Bluff.
In our trying times, hope is important to impart to young readers, and also important to protect and preserve. More than ever, we have a responsibility as educators, writers, and artists, to guard the hopes of children, to protect the “Gleam Jars” in their hearts. How can we do this? We can teach young readers empathy by sharing with them a wide variety of stories with diverse casts of characters. We can encourage them to search for pieces of themselves in each and every story. We can discuss the challenges facing our world, but also strive to instill in them a hope for the future. And we can keep a watchful eye out for the “Gleam Jars” in their hearts. What are the treasures they keep close to their hearts? When they entrust us with their wishes and dreams, let us place a book in their hands that speaks to and nurtures those dreams. Let us assure these children that, though wishes may grow and change as we do, though the oftentimes lovelorn world may not always be gentle with our Gleam Jars, there are safe places, people, and books to turn to for hope and refuge.
“Make Your Own Gleam Jar” activity for classrooms
At the beginning
of the school year, ask each student to bring in:
A small or medium sized mason or jelly
jar.
3 small items or mementos that have deep
meaning to them. These can be items that hold fun or special memories, or items
that represent three wishes students have for the upcoming year.
Have the students write a
short description of each item and why it is important to them. If the items
represent wishes, have the students describe each wish. Students might be placed
in pairs or small groups to discuss the items and their meanings. Find a cozy
spot in the classroom to keep the Gleam Jars for the year. At the end of the
school year, ask students to revisit their Gleam Jar wishes or memories. Have
them reread what they wrote about their Gleam Jars at the beginning of the
year. Consider asking them some of these questions, or using these questions as
writing prompts:
Are the objects in your Gleam Jar still as
meaningful to you now as they were at the beginning of the school year? Why or
why not?
Did any of your wishes for this year come
true?
If you had to make a Gleam Jar right now,
would you fill it with the same objects you did before, or with different ones?
Why?
Did any of your wishes change over the
course of the year? If your wishes changed, do you think it was because you
changed over the course of this year, too? Why or why not?
Suzanne Nelson is the author of numerous young adult and middle grade novels, including A Tale Magnolious, and Serendipity’s Footsteps, a Sydney Taylor Honor Book for Teen Readers and a 2016 CCBC Choice for Young Adult Fiction. Her other books include Cake Pop Crush, Macarons at Midnight, Hot Cocoa Hearts, and over a dozen more. You can find her online at www.suzannenelson.com, and on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
HEIDI: Happy National Sisters Day! In honor of this made-up but still absolutely valid holiday, Kati and I thought we’d chat a little about what it’s like to write with your sister. And if you stick around, we’ll be giving away a few books at the end. 😉
KATI: Most people are surprised when I tell them I cowrite with my sister. Usually they want to know how that works, and how we don’t kill each other by the end of the book.
HEIDI: I can’t say we never have any heated . . . um, discussions.
KATI: That’s one of our writing rules. They’re never fights, they’re always “discussions.”
HEIDI: Exactly. 😉 And since we both liked most of the same books and shows growing up, and are interested in a lot of the same themes, writing together has worked out really well. Our brains overlap quite a bit.
KATI: That is a terrifying image.
HEIDI: A little bit! As kids, Kati and I used to play pretend together all the time, so writing a story together felt almost like that. It was really fun. And then somewhere along the way, we realized that we actually thought our story had the potential to make it. So once we finished our first extremely rough draft, we decided to take it more seriously.
KATI: And we’ve been serious ever since!
HEIDI: So serious. ;D
KATI: Our third and final book in the Mystic Cooking Chronicles, A Pinch of Phoenix, just came out last month, but we’re already working on a new series together. This one will have aliens and ghosts and other supernatural creepiness. So it’s very fun to write.
HEIDI: Speaking of fun, here’s a fun fact in honor of National Sister’s Day: one of the villains in our Mystic Cooking Chronicles trilogy is loosely inspired by our older sister.
KATI: We love you, Rosi! But maybe you should have been nicer to us when we were little. ;D
HEIDI: We haven’t actually written any sisters books . . . yet. But we both love stories where those relationships are portrayed. One of my recent middle grade favorites is Prisoners of Ice and Snow by Ruth Lauren. Valor purposely gets herself sent to an impossible-to-escape prison in order to try to break her sister Sasha out. It’s a wonderful fantasy adventure, very action-packed, and I loved the relationship between sisters Valor and Sasha. I tore through this book in a day.
KATI: One of my recent favorites is actually young adult . . . Stephanie Garber’s Caraval. In it, sisters Scarlett and Tella would do anything to help each other, which is the driving force behind the whole story. At the same time, their relationship is a little complicated, just like most sisters. Plus there’s the fantastic world building, romance, and excitement.
HEIDI: So today, Kati and I want to give away a “sisters bundle” of a signed copy of our complete Mystic Cooking Chronicles trilogy, plus a hardcover copy of Ruth Lauren’s Prisoner of Ice and Snow, and a signed hardcover copy of Caraval.
KATI: And since we’re always looking for more good sister stories, please comment and tell us any you’d recommend so we can check them out!
When I began writing the first book in the DIARY OF AN ICE PRINCESS series, including a science element came organically. After all, my main character is a princess whose entire family has magical weather powers. You can’t have weather without science! As the book started coming together, I realized I had been given a fantastic opportunity to counter stereotypes about girls and STEM.
As an engineer and a longtime science-lover, I remember
having a hard time reconciling the many facets of my identity as I was growing
up. Society and mass media often sends girls messages that STEM is only open to
people who look a certain way, dress a certain way, and enjoy “typical” STEM
stuff. I remember suppressing my femininity when I was younger because I didn’t
want to be perceived as weak or “too girly” to excel in the STEM activities I
enjoyed. The reality is that STEM is for everyone – including children who love
dress-up and tea parties.
We know that girls begin dropping out of the STEM pipeline
around middle school. It’s not because they aren’t good at it. If girls believe
that pursuing STEM conflicts with their identity and vision of their future
selves, they are more likely to leave STEM behind.
With DIARY OF AN ICE PRINCESS, I wanted to write characters who are unabashedly awesome at STEM and also enjoy all the trappings of “traditionally feminine” pursuits. The characters came naturally because they are modeled off many girls I know in real life (including my own daughters!). These girls enjoy and excel at so many different things – including STEM.
Lina and her best friend love dancing, sleepovers, and science.
Happily, more books for young readers are now being published that celebrate STEM heroines who are multi-faceted and complex – just like the actual girls who will read them. Here are some of my favorite chapter books and middle grade novels that feature STEM-loving girl characters:
Little Robot by Ben Hatke – This graphic novel is nearly wordless, but tells a full and stirring story of friendship and perseverance. A little girl who seems very much on-her-own stumbles upon an adorable robot whom she must protect from other sinister robots. Even though the girl is quite small, she is also resourceful and knows her way around a wrench set. To save her new friend, the heroine employs all the ingenuity and problem-solving of a top-notch engineer.
Jada Jones, Rockstar by Kelly Starling Lyons– This is the first book in a wonderful series about a fourth-grade girl navigating relatable challenges with friends, school, and family. Jada loves rocks – but she loves her best friend even more. When the book starts out, Jada’s BFF has moved away and she has to find a whole new group. Jada’s interest in STEM feels reflective of real kids I know. Yes, she loves geology, but that’s just one facet of her total personality. By the end of the book, she finds a creative way to include everyone in the class in her rock appreciation.
Nikki Tesla and the Ferret-Proof Death Ray by Jess Keating – Nikki Tesla is a genius. I love that this is stated matter-of-factly and unapologetically right off the bat! But even though Nikki never downplays her supreme smarts, she has a hilarious self-deprecating sense of humor about all the conundrums she gets into. Author Jess Keating has an infectious love of science and curiosity about the world, which shines through in her videos and web resources for kids. It’s great to see another series from her that’s sure to inspire more girls to follow in her STEM footsteps.
Lights, Music, Code! by Jo Whittemore – This third book in the Girls Who Code series reminds me of the Babysitters Club with a STEM twist. The main characters are friends who are working together to code the music and lights for their school’s winter dance. I love that the book shows both the challenges and triumphs of a group of girls working together on a project. Many stereotypes of people who work in STEM is that they’re loners, toiling away in a lab. In reality, one of STEM’s greatest perks is getting to collaborate with awesome people!
My Life as an Ice Cream Sandwich by Ibi Zoboi – This middle grade novel counters the stereotype that people who love STEM are purely analytical. Ebony has an imagination so vivid that the lines often blur between reality and her make-believe worlds (as someone who spent most of third grade imagining she had been kidnapped to an alternate dimension, I can relate). Ebony loves science fiction, a passion shared by her grandfather, who was one of NASA’s first Black engineers. When Ebony moves to Harlem for the summer, others try to push her to fit in this or that box, but she stays true to her unique and awesome self.
Photo by Sam Bond.
Christina Soontornvat grew up behind the counter of her parents’ Thai restaurant in a small Texas town with her nose stuck in a book. She is very proud of both her Thai and her Texan roots, and makes regular trips to both Weatherford and Bangkok to see her beloved family members (and eat lots and lots of Thai food!). In addition to being an author, Christina holds a B.S. in Mechanical Engineering and a master’s degree in Science Education. She spent a decade working in the science museum field, where she designed programs and exhibits to get kids excited about science. She is passionate about STEM (science, technology engineering, and math), and loves learning new things. She lives in Austin, Texas with her husband, two young children, and one old cat.
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