Novels About Loss and Hope & a Conversation with Laura Shovan: Books Between, Episode 69

February 25, 2019February 24, 2019 ~ bookvillageadmin ~ 1 Comment

Episode Outline:

Listen to the episode here!

Intro

Hi everyone and welcome to Books Between – a podcast for teachers, parents, librarians, and anyone who wants to connect kids between 8-12 to books they’ll love. I’m your host, Corrina Allen – a teacher of 21, a mom of two, and enjoying the last few hours of our Winter Break here in Central New York. We’ve had ice storms then sun and lots of time to read.

This is episode #69 and today I’m discussing four excellent middle grade novels that deal with grief and loss. And I’m also sharing with you a conversation I had with Laura Shovan about her latest book Takedown.

Book Talk – Four Novels About Loss and Hope

In this segment, I share with you a selection of books centered around a theme and discuss three things to love about each book. I happened to read these four books back-to-back without realizing how profoundly connected they were. They have completely different plots and one is even sci/fi / speculative fiction – but each novel features a main character who is dealing with loss in one form or another. In two of the novels, that loss is the death of a parent. And in two of the novels, that loss includes a parent dealing with mental illness and trauma themselves. A loss of another – a loss of what was once considered normal life. The books this week are: The Science of Breakable Things, The Care and Feeding of a Pet Black Hole, The Simple Art of Flying, and The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise.

The Science of Breakable Things

The first book I want to share with you and one that I hope makes its way into your collection is Tae Keller’s debut novel The Science of Breakable Things. The lead in this story is 7th grader Natalie who’s life has been turned upside down as she and her father are learning how to navigate her mother’s depression – the “situation” as her dad calls it that has her mom holed up in her bedroom and not able to cook, work, or keep up any of the routines and traditions that had kept their family together. At the beginning of the school year, Natalie’s science teacher has challenged them all to use the power of the scientific method to explore a question that intrigues you and study it with all your heart. Well – the question that tugs at Natalie’s heart? How can I inspire my mother to break out of her depression? And along the way Natalie teams up with Twig (her exuberant best friend) and Dari (their new serious lab partner) to enter an egg-drop contest hoping to use the prize money for a scheme to jumpstart her mother out of her depression. Here are three things to love about Tae Keller’s The Science of Breakable Things:

How the story is laid out with the steps of the Scientific Method! Step One: Observe, Step Two: Question, Step Three: Investigative Research and so on. It’s a clever way to structure the story and have you predicting what those Results will be!
The illustrations and footnotes! Oh am I such a sucker for a good footnote – especially funny ones and this novel has over fifty of these little gems!
Natalie’s visits with her therapist, Dr. Doris – and Natalie’s resistance to falling for her “Therapist Tricks” and Natalie’s eventual shift to being more open with her. I think a lot of kids will be able relate to those begrudging trips to a counselor, and I hope some other children might see a glimpse into the help a therapist can offer.

There is so much more to this book than just those things – like Natalie’s relationship with her Korean grandmother and her growning interest in their shared culture and the break-down of her relationship with her friend Mikayala. Here is one of my favorite quotes – one that captures the blend of science and hope in this book. This is from a section right after Natalie, Twig, and Dari have been experimenting with magnets. “It’s funny how the cold magnets actually worked best. It’s like how perennial plants seem to die in the winter but really, they’re just waiting till everything is all right again. Maybe it’s not such a surprise that there’s strength in the cold. Maybe sometimes the strongest thing of all is knowing that one day you’ll be alright again, and waiting and waiting until you can come out into the sun.”

For kids who are waiting for those in their lives to come out into the sun, The Science of Breakable Things is a fabulous book to offer.

The Care and Feeding of a Pet Black Hole

Our next book today is The Care and Feeding of a Pet Black Hole by Michelle Cuevas – author of several picture books and the middle grade Confessions of an Imaginary Friend which I now must pick up immediately! The Care and Feeding of a Pet Black Hole is one of those books that I kept bumping into. I’d see it on display at the library, friends kept raving about it, it popped up on my “Related to Items You Viewed” on Amazon. It’s like it was stalking me. Like, in a nice, bookish way. The way where all the the forces of the universe seem to nudge you to read something. And well – the forces of the universe were right about this quirky, moving, wonderfully weird little book. It’s about eleven-year-old Stella Diaz whose father has recently died. Together they shared a love of science – and silly jokes. But remembering him after his death has become painful. In the first pages of the book, she decides to give NASA the only recording of her father’s laugh – to put on the Golden Record headed out on the Voyager spacecraft. Instead, a black hole follows her home and it becomes Stella’s pet – consuming everything it touches. And at first, Stella is happy to toss in those things that cause her annoyance (Brussel Sprouts) or cause her painful memories (like the recording of her father). And then the black hole devours her 5-year-old brother, Cosmo, and Stella has to venture inside that darkness to save him and confront all the other things she’d tossed inside. I loved this book – and here are three (of many!) reasons why:

It’s hilarious! Like – Stella names the black hole “Larry” – short for “Singularity” and the scenes with the smelly classroom hamster Stinky Stu. And the Dog With No Name. And all the things that Larry gets up to when he gets loose in the neighborhood! Yes – this novel is about loss and grief and there are times when you’re probably going to cry. But to me, that edge between laughing and tears is a powerful place. And this book does it so well.
The clever use of black and white pages – and Stella’s Captain Log documenting her journey in the black hole.
Lines like this one: “It’s like the stars in our constellations that we made,” you said. “Even if one star dies far, far away, its light is still visible, and the constellation it helped to make remains. A thing can be gone and still be your guide.”

The Care and Feeding of a Pet Black Hole is charming, gorgeously written – and funnier than you’d ever think. If you have kids who like science, who like funny books, who are up for something unique – then this is a novel they’ll love. And if you have a child learning how to grapple with their black hole – this might be the book they need.

The Simple Art of Flying

Another fantastic book that was just released this past week is The Simple Art of Flying by debut author Cory Leonardo. It’s about a young cherry-loving African Grey parrot, Alastair, who was born in the back room of a pet shop – along with his sister, Aggie. Alastair is…grumpy, suspicious, stubborn, and intensly loyal to his sister – and set on finding a way for them both to escape together to a land of blue skies and palm trees. But that dream gets a lot harder to pull off when each of them are adopted by two different people. Alastair ends up with an elderly but very active widow named Albertina Plopky who organizes “Polka with Pets” events and writes letters to her deceased husband. And Aggie is bought by 12-year-old-Fritz, an attentive, sweet, and serious boy who is dealing with his own loses. So here are three things to love about Cory Leonardo’s The Simple Art of Flying:

How this story is told from three different points of view and in three different formats which helps us triangulate what’s happening. Alastair’s sections are in prose and in poetry. He likes to chew on books with poetry being his favorite so has taken to creating his own versions of famous poems he’s read. Bertie’s sections are letters to her husband, Everett. And Fritz’s parts are a medical log.
Alastair’s poetry!!! And… the chapter with the goldfish was unexpected and…brilliant!
Bertie’s letter to Fritz at the end of the book – all about cherries and life and what to do on those days when it feels like everything is the pits.

The Simple Art of Flying is a gorgeously sweet book that’s a little bit like The One and Only Ivan with a touch of Because of Winn-Dixie.

The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise

Our final book this week is the latest from Dan Gemeinhart – who you may know from The Honest Truth, Good Dog, or Scar Island. His novels are perennial favorites in our class and guaranteed heart-tuggers – and The Remarkble Journey of Coyote Sunrise is, I think, my favorite of all. And that’s saying something – every one of his books are incredible! This story starts at a hot gas station where our main girl, called Coyote, walks in alone – and leaves with a watermelon slushie and a white and gray striped fluff of a kitten. A kitten she has to hide from her father – the man she only refers to as Rodeo. Five years ago Coyote’s mother and sisters were killed in an accident and since then she and her father have left behind their home, their memories (or any talk of them) and have been living in an old converted school bus traveling the country. And never ever looking back. But during Coyote’s weekly phone call to her grandmother back in Washington State, Coyote learns something that launches her on a secret mission to get the bus headed back home (without Rodeo realizing it!) so she can keep a promise. On her journey there are mishaps and new travelers joining them and more secrets revealed. There are so many reasons to love this book there’s no way to list them all, but here are three:

Coyote. This girl has so much charm and love and generosity wrapped around a core of pain and hurt. She’s gentle with her father – even when he doesn’t deserve it. She names her cat Ivan from The One and Only Ivan. She reminds me a bit of Anne Shirley from the Anne of Green Gables books. You just want to ber her friend.
Coyote’s friendship with Salvador – a boy who ends up on the bus with them with his mother. I love how they gently push each other in a better direction. And Coyote does something for Salvador that is one of the kindest, sweetest, gestures.
Rodeo. Here’s how Coyote describes him. “That man is hopeless. He is wild and broken and beautiful and hanging on by a thread, but it’s a heckuva thread and he’s holding it tight with both hands and his heart.”

The Remarkable Journey of Coyote Sunrise was a book that shredded my heart and then somehow stitched it back together stonger than before. I think it’s Gemeinhart’s best yet.

Laura Shovan – Interview Outline

Our special guest this week is Laura Shovan – author of the novel in verse The Last Fifth Grade of Emerson Elementary and her most recent middle grade book – Takedown. This conversation actually took place last summer but due to some techinical difficulties on my end, it took me until now to bring it to you. But, it was worth the wait. Laura and I chat about the inspiration behind her novel, the world of girls’ wrestling, donuts, bullet journaling, among lots of other things. And don’t forget that when you are done reading the book and you want to hear Laura and I discuss the ending of Takedown, just wait until the end of the show after the credits and that bonus section will be waiting for you.

Take a listen…

Takedown

Your new middle grade novel, Takedown, was just released this past June – can you tell us a bit about it?

I love books that immerse me in a subculture! Like Roller Girl, and the Irish dancing in Kate Messner’s The Seventh Wish – I was so fascinated to learn about wrestling moves and the tournament process. I’ve heard you mention that your son wrestled and that close knowledge of the sport clearly comes through. When did you know you wanted to bring wrestling into a story and did you do any extra research to bring this story to life?

There were so many small moments in the book that highlight what a “boys’ club” the wrestling world is – all the trophies have boys at the top of them, all the refs at all the tournaments (including the girls wrestling tournament) are men – and even Mickey’s supportive coach uses gendered languages and calls the team “guys” and “boys.” At some point it occured to me… yes, this book is about wrestling, but maybe it might help kids see how male-focused other aspects of the world are?

One of the aspects that I really connect to was the Delgado family dynamics of Mickey and her older brothers Cody and Evan. And how their relationship with each other changed when the oldest, Evan, wasn’t around.

I’m coming to realize that dual perspective novels are some of my favorites. And you were masterful at those subtle time shifts to build that suspense! What was your process like to make Mickey’s voice distinct from Lev’s?

You deserve a donut for this amazing book! What’s your favorite?

So, as a fellow bullet journaler, did I see that you offer bullet journaling CLASSES?

Your Writing Life

How was writing Takedown different than writing The Last Fifth Grade of Emerson Elementary?

Your Reading Life

One of the goals of this podcast is to help educators and librarians and parents inspire kids to read more and connect them with amazing books. Did you have a special teacher or librarian who helped foster your reading life as a child?

What were some of your most influential reads as a child?

What have you been reading lately that you’ve liked?

Before you go – you posted a video of you calling your reps last year. I just want to say thank you for inspiring me to make those phone calls and to keep calling….

Thank You!

**BONUS SPOILER SECTION: Laura and I discuss the ending of the novel, and if you’d like to hear that conversation, I moved that part of the recording to after the end credits of today’s episode at the 52:38 mark.

LINKS:

Laura’s website – https://laurashovan.com

Laura on Twitter

Wrestle Like A Girl

Dough Donuts

Laura Shovan on Bullet Journaling

BOOKS WE CHATTED ABOUT

A Child’s Garden of Verses (Robert Louis Stevensen)

The Chronicles of Narnia (C.S. Lewis)

The Wind in the Willows (Kenneth Grahame)

Jane Eyre (Charlotte Brontë)

The Warriors Series (Erin Hunter)

Howard Wallace: Sabotage Stage Left (Casey Lyall)

Drawn Together (Minh Lê and Dan Santat)

The Soul of an Octopus: A Surprising Exploration into the Wonder of Consciousness (Sy Montgomery)

Giants Beware!, Dragons Beware! and Monsters Beware! (Jorge Aguirre and Rafael Rosado)

The Colors of the Rain (R.L.Toalson)

Closing

Thank you so much for joining me this week. You can find an outline of interviews and a full transcript of all the other parts of our show at MGBookVillage.org. And, if you have an extra minute this week, reviews on iTunes or Stitcher are much appreciated.

Books Between is a proud member of the Lady Pod Squad and the Education Podcast Network. This network features podcasts for educators, created by educators. For more great content visit edupodcastnetwork.com

Talk with you soon! Bye!

Corrina Allen is a 5th grade teacher in Central New York and mom of two energetic tween girls. She is passionate about helping kids discover who they are as readers.

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Gender Empowerment and Risks: A Conversation Between Diane Magras and Laura Shovan

December 1, 2018November 29, 2018 ~ bookvillageadmin ~ 2 Comments

The ranks of strong girls in middle grade fiction is growing. (Thank goodness for that!) These girls come in all forms: tough, spunky, wild—and occasionally soft and gentle but with a core of steel. They’re fantastic models for girls (and boys) to see diversity in how girls are represented. And often, these days, they have male sidekicks who play the time-honored role of helper. It’s a nice transposition of gender roles in books. And I applaud that.

But I applaud even more books where the boys who are helping out the girls and taking risks to do so. These books are models that the world needs to see: It’s important for boys and men to back up girls and women and hear their voices, especially when the easier choice would be to turn away and pretend they never saw or heard what’s happening.

If readers of this post have read The Mad Wolf’s Daughter, my debut novel, you may have noticed that Emerick and Tig (my two primary male characters) listen to, support, and rely on Drest (my female protagonist). Her brothers and father also believe in her unquestioningly; hers is a world where she knows her voice matters. And Emerick and Tig risk much to follow her, in the end their very lives.

I was delighted when I read Laura Shovan’s newest book Takedown to find some of these themes as well. The risks Lev takes to support Mikayla’s wrestling show how hard it can be in today’s world for a boy to support a girl, and indeed, he doesn’t at first. But the way he does, and his final acts of support, are magnificent. Part of this book is about finding yourself and having the courage to be yourself, but also the courage to stand up for someone else.

And here’s Laura Shovan to tell you more about that! Laura, I’d love to know how you began thinking about writing these kinds of themes.

Laura: Diane, so much of what you’re saying here resonates with me. I grew up in a family that said strong women were valued, while making it clear that men came first. As a kid, writing was a way to make my voice heard, a place where I could be strong without bucking the system or feeling unsafe. Using writing to speak about injustice became a major theme of my first novel, The Last Fifth Grade of Emerson Elementary. Unlike Drest, Mickey’s experience is closer to my own. She is fighting against labels like “little sister” and “girl wrestler.” Her voice is all about getting others to see her as a whole person.

Early notes for Takedown were poetic sketches jotted down during my son’s wrestling practices. It was always going to be a book about a boy, Lev, and his nemesis on the mat. One day, I drafted a scene about Lev meeting a girl wrestler. Almost as soon as Mickey appeared, Takedown became a book told from two points of view, hers and Lev’s.

I think of wrestling as a type of setting in this story, a backdrop against which Lev and Mickey are struggling to figure out who they are in a traditionally male sport. Mickey is fiercely determined to keep her sense of “girlness” even though she’s a wrestler. She emulates her two older brothers, who are both in the sport, but she doesn’t want to become them. It’s important to her to keep her sense of self. Lev struggles with almost the opposite problem. He’s realizing that he’s lost an important part of himself in his desire to man-up and be a tough, competitive wrestler. In helping Mickey, he begins to rediscover a gentler part of his personality.

I see that aspect in The Mad Wolf’s Daughter, too. In forming a close friendship with Emerick and Tig, Drest begins to examine who she is. Not her role in her father’s war band, or how her brothers see her, but something deeper. How do Emerick and Tig draw this new, more mature view of herself out of Drest?

Diane: Tig has a clear perception of who Drest is: a hero, an extraordinary being, different from what he’s always heard warriors were like. When he tells her she’s a legend, he’s drawing her apart and above her brothers. Drest isn’t comfortable at first thinking of herself as “better” than the rest of the war-band; in her own mind, she’s nearly as great as they, and will be as great when she gets older. To be “better” than a man was not something any girl of the period was told (even Drest). Tig quite literally puts his life and safety in her hands, and proves that he means his compliments.

Emerick influences Drest’s understanding of herself in a slightly different way. At first, he despises her as an enemy. And to start, it’s both his disparagement of her but also his helplessness that give Drest a choice: to see him as an enemy and act accordingly, or to follow her instinct toward mercy. Once she does the latter, she continues. Emerick is deeply affected by her generous moral character, but also by her fearless nobility. He’s grown up with the expectation of chivalry, and here he finds the daughter of his worst enemy, of all people, exemplifying that tradition. He challenges her, encourages her, and gently teases her—just as her brothers might, except his ways have a gentleness that subtly place her in control. In many ways, that’s the most powerful technique both Emerick and Tig use to draw out Drest’s true character: to willingly put her in charge of their journey, a life-and-death situation for each of them. (While her family has always loved and trusted her, they’ve never trusted her that much.)

Emerick and Tig discover much about their own identities and strengths and weaknesses through their friendships with Drest. By giving her a voice, they find their own, and it’s not quite what they’ve always been told they must be. I notice that you’ve done this with Lev, as you describe above. And Mickey certainly redefines her wrestling ambition as something greater than being in line with her two brothers thanks to Lev’s friendship.

I love to see characters transcend gender stereotypes through this kind of mutual support, especially when the support is hard and characters risk giving up (or literally give up!) something for it. Lev takes some major risks (he feels), but also Mickey does too. What do you feel were the biggest risks they thought they were taking, versus the ones that they really saw?

Laura: The biggest risk that Lev takes in supporting Mickey is stepping out of the circle of men and boys. There’s a scene in Takedown where all of the boys on the team are trying on their new singlets — the one piece wrestling uniform. There’s not much modesty in a wrestling room and, as the only girl, Mickey opts to change in the bathroom. When Lev’s best friends on the team follow her to the bathroom, he realizes that they have crossed the line between ignoring Mickey and bullying her. He knows standing up for her might mean losing his friends or being bullied himself. It’s similar to what you said about Drest and Emerick, except Lev is the one who has to stop seeing Mickey as an enemy. That’s the major shift in Lev’s character, the moment when he puts his morals above the need to be one of the guys. What he doesn’t realize is that this decision, this risk, is the start of some serious self-examination for Lev. He begins to ask himself: What kind of man do I want to be? It’s important that his bar mitzvah ceremony is not too far off. In Lev’s religious tradition, he will be considered a man soon.

For Mickey, the biggest risk is continuing to wrestling after her best friend, Kenna, quits. She’s been rejected by her brothers’ youth coach, and finds herself on the Gladiators, a team where she knows no one and is the only girl. Her family’s support is lukewarm at this point in the story. They’re worried about her physical and emotional safety and are unsure of her commitment to the sport. Mickey doesn’t realize how lonely she will be until she steps into the Gladiators’ wrestling room for the first time. This is something I heard about in interviews with parents of female wrestlers and from women who compete in traditionally male sports like jiu jitsu. Until they earn the respect of the guys, it can be a very isolating experience. Mickey really needs Lev’s friendship. He’s the one who widens the circle to include her. And in being Mickey’s partner and friend, Lev grows enormously as a person.

We haven’t talked yet about how both our girl characters, Drest and Mickey, have grown up being socialized by boys and men. Mickey’s mom is in the picture, but she tends to support traditional gender roles and excuses her sons’ behavior as “boys will be boys.” How does the journey with Tig and Emerick help Drest to confront that kind of thinking in her family?

Diane: Drest grows up in total isolation with men! She doesn’t even meet a single woman until her journey. And yet even though her father and brothers are brutal warriors and believe that women need protection, they break the mold of medieval male stereotypes: Not one of them has ever doubted that Drest, the youngest and the only girl, can do what they do. Each of her brothers trains her, challenges her, and believes in her utterly. How often has any girl in our world grown up knowing that every man in her life respects her and thinks she’s capable of doing literally anything? The only time Drest’s family shows concern about her abilities is in the beginning, and it’s all tied to her youth, not her gender.

When Drest starts meeting other women and girls, she can’t quite believe that they’re not weak and feeble and need protection (one of her family’s moral codes is all about that). She notices ways in which they’re just like her—and in the companion book (which will be out on March 5, 2019), she adds her own line to that family moral code with a dose of gender empowerment. To Drest, a woman’s role is to be herself. And that’s something I want my readers to really feel: no matter what box anyone tries to stick them into as girls or boys, who they feel they are is who they are, and it may not link one bit to any predetermined gender role.

I loved your book, and I love books where girls are leading the action and boys are supporting them in powerful ways. One of my recent favorites is The Eye of the North by Irish author Sinéad O’Hart. In this fast-paced fantasy adventure, a timid girl named Emmeline finds her adventuresome scientist parents abruptly and mysteriously gone, and then is kidnapped by a villainous scientist who is planning to raise a creature from the deep to gain world domination. Emmeline may be timid, but she’s self-sufficient (especially with her satchel of inventions), and decides to take her safety into her own hands right before the kidnapping, when she’s traveling by steamship to her new guardian. She meets and befriends a young stowaway named Thing—and when she’s kidnapped, he spends his part of the novel doing all he can to help her escape. There are secret societies, steampunk contraptions, and a lot of heart in this book.

And there are some great subtle gender role twists. I loved how Thing understood Emmeline’s situation and went after her, at great risk to himself, for no other reason than to further her goal. He’s the classic sidekick, and takes actions pretty much only for Emmeline. There are also plenty of very powerful women (including the villainous scientist’s nemesis) supported by a whole cast of men, which brilliantly shows readers that women and girls can certainly take the lead in adventures. What’s one of your favorite books that challenges gender roles like this?

Laura: I just finished reading the ARC of Padma Venkatraman’s The Bridge Home, which comes out in February. The narrator is an Indian girl named Viji. Because of domestic violence at home, Viji is determined that she and her older, developmentally disabled sister Rukku must run away. Life as a homeless child in the city of Chennai is difficult and dangerous, but the sisters find stalwart supporters in two boys, Arul and Muthu. Instead of competing for resources, the boys teach Viji how to survive. The four children form a makeshift family. Through Arul and Muthu, Viji even realizes that she’d had some limiting views about Rukku’s capabilities. When Viji blames herself for a terrible turn of events, it’s the boys who help her see the good in herself.

Viji is a strong, and sometimes headstrong, character. When she and Rukku leave home, it is Viji who steps into the role of leader. When she meets Arul and Muthu, she has to learn how to negotiate and share the leadership of their small group. I loved how the two boys accepted and encouraged Viji and Rukku. When Viji doubts herself most, they are the ones who remind her what a strong, caring person she is.

Diane: That’s a wonderful example of what middle grade fiction is doing these days: expanding the notion of who’s allowed to lead the action.

Most of the books I grew up with had girls who needed to be rescued or were the noble love interest or were simply lesser and more feeble than their male companions. While I loved many of those books, it was hard to repeatedly read about submissive, helpless girls, especially since such gender biases were present in my real life too. Having a voice and being believed in obviously changes the way a person will think of themselves, and it’s something that most boys have always had in both the imagined and real worlds. It’s a relief to find so many girls in today’s middle grade fictional landscape with that voice, with boys taking great risks to listen to them. And the real world is starting to follow.

Diane Magras is author of the NYT Editors’ Choice The Mad Wolf’s Daughter, which came just before The Hunt for the Mad Wolf’s Daughter. All things medieval fascinate Diane: castles, abbeys, swords, manuscripts, and the daily life of medieval people, especially those who weren’t royalty. Diane lives in Maine with her husband and son and thinks often of Scotland, where her books are set.

Laura Shovan’s debut middle grade novel, The Last Fifth Grade of Emerson Elementary, was an NCTE 2017 Notable Verse Novel, a Bank Street College of Education Best Children’s Book of the year, and won a Cybils Award for poetry. It was named the Arnold Adoff Poetry Award for New Voices honor book in 2018. Laura’s second children’s novel, Takedown, is about the first girl to join an all-boys wrestling team. Laura lives with her family in Maryland, where she is a longtime poet-in-the-schools for the Maryland State Arts Council.

Book Review: TAKEDOWN, by Laura Shovan

September 11, 2018September 6, 2018 ~ bookvillageadmin ~ Leave a comment

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Takedown by Laura Shovan is an amazing and inspiring book. I had a burning desire to meet the characters Mickey and Lev and be like them in my heart. An influential part of the story is where the main character Mickey went on to be the only girl on her wrestling team. She followed her heart pushing aside other people’s negative thoughts. Sports often do help kids find friendship. Takedown shows how two kids struggled to get along on a team while working together on a long journey ahead. The theme of the story is friendship found in sports. The bond between the two kids grows throughout the story. Friendship is priceless is the feeling I got after reading Takedown.

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My name is Siyona and I live in NJ. I love to play basketball and tennis. Reading is my favorite thing to do during my free time.

Takedowns and RPGs: Middle School Girl Athletes Rock And We’ve Got The Texts To Prove it!

June 19, 2018June 19, 2018 ~ bookvillageadmin ~ Leave a comment

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Have you ever wondered what it would be like if characters from different books met each other? MG Book Village Author Friends Laura Shovan (The Last Fifth Grade of Emerson Elementary) and Denis Markell (Click Here To Start) were telling each other about their upcoming books (Laura’s Takedown and Denis’ The Game Masters Of Garden Place) when they realized that both novels featured athletic girls who seemed like they might be friends in real life. What could be more fun than to create a conversation between these two fierce and lovable sporty girls?

So imagine if you will that you’re Mikayla Delgado, getting ready for wrestling practice, when your phone buzzes, and you see this…

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Screen Shot 2018-06-18 at 9.54.56 PM.png Denis Markell, although not a games master himself, has been telling stories for most of his professional career. His stories have been featured in Off-Broadway Musicals and Revues, in sitcoms, and even in an episode of the legendary animated series ThunderCats. His own story took fantastic turn when he met and married the illustrator Melissa Iwai, with whom he has created two picture books, The Great Stroller Adventure and Hush, Little Monster. His debut novel, Click Here To Start (Delacorte Press), was a Junior Library Guild Selection and an Amazon Best Book of the Month. His next book, The Game Masters Of Garden Place (Delacorte Press) will be published in July of 2018. (Photo by Nelson Hancock)