From The Mixed Up Files

School’s back in session! WNDMG chats with Althea Martinez, the children’s librarian at the Los Angeles Public Library, Baldwin Hills branch. She shares her thoughts about what middle graders are reading and exciting books for the fall. Tell me about your background as a librarian. How long have you been a children’s librarian? Did you always want to be a librarian, if so, why? If not, how did you get into it? I’ve been a children’s librarian officially for almost two years, but before that, I worked in libraries intermittently since 2019. I’ve always wanted...

As recently covered in the fascinating Vox article “The promising race to get kids reading again” by Constance Grady, kids read and read and read up until about age 9, when they drop off a reading cliff. There are plenty of theories for this, as outlined by Grady, including: Middle-grade books getting too long, due in part to the success of the billion-page-long Harry Potter series. Kids having less free time to sit and read because they are more scheduled than earlier generations. Covid-19 threw off reading habits, along with access to libraries and books in school. Potential readers putting...

What better way to greet students as we head back to school than with an amazing classroom library! Whether you are building a classroom library or reorganizing one, here are a few ideas for you to consider. Building a Classroom Library A well-stocked, high-quality classroom library can generate interest and...

Light and color are everywhere! We see them in rainbows after a storm, bright flowers outside, and the colorful images glowing on our screens. But have you ever wondered how light creates all those colors? Exploring light and color is a great way to get middle-grade students excited about science....

Today, please join me in welcoming Stephanie Willing to the Mixed-Up Files Author Spotlight! Author of the gripping MG horror novel, She Came Back Different, which has been chosen as a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection, the book follows six young dancers who enter the Stadler Ballet Conservatory and...

What better way to greet students as we head back to school than with an amazing classroom library! Whether you are building a classroom library or reorganizing one, here are a few ideas for you to consider. Building a Classroom Library A well-stocked, high-quality classroom library can generate interest and...

Back to school means back to great stories! Here’s a variety of books coming out in September—from mysteries to magical worlds to sci-fi—to pique your imagination and curiosity this  school year.  BAD THINGS HAPPENED HERE  by Moniza Hossain. 208 pp. (Sept 1) Lonely twelve-year-old Sam Wells has never known his...

A question I hear often from kid readers is “How can you write for us when you’re an adult?” There’s a lot of reasons why this question pops up, but one of the biggest is the fact that adults simply aren’t kids. In their minds, we don’t look like them,...