Yearly archive for 2013

Happy Halloween! (A week early)

By on October 23, 2013   /   Book Lists  

Hello Mixed-Up Filers!

Has it really only been two months since my last post? Wow, time flies! At this pace, my next post scheduled for March 27, 2016, will be here before you know it! And by the way, from the rough draft I’ve been doing on that one, it’ll be great!

But, that’s then. It’s time to return to the now. And as for now, as always, I wondered what to write about and with Halloween right upon us, I thought it would be a good idea to probably go out and buy some candy, to make sure that my house wasn’t egged and toilet-papered…again, by those rotten little trick-or-treaters who terrorize my neighborhood each year, with their threats of extortion in order to get back some thirty-five cent piece of candy, which will probably go stale by the time they eat it, and I hope it does. Yes, I’m talking to you, Billy Henderson. Don’t think I didn’t see you egging my house last November 3rd, three full days AFTER Halloween. Next time, I’m calling your mother. Anyway, I digress. Since Halloween was near, I also had an idea write about some of our favorite favorite scary books.

Scary is subjective. What scares me, might not necessarily scare someone else and vice-versa. Some people are scared of monsters, some from clowns, and for people like our own Elissa Cruz, she says it’s looking at the caller ID when her phone rings and seeing my name. Oh, how she kids with me.

Anyway, there are many scary and creepy books out there, which can be read at any time of the year, not just for Halloween, but reading them around now, puts a little extra scary flavor into it. So, without further ado:

Coraline by Neil Gaiman– How creepy is this book? No, seriously, how creepy? Other-world parents sewing buttons into your eyes. Eating children’s bodies and disposing of their souls? Ghost children and moving, severed-hands? This book flies off the creep-scale charts. When Coraline ventures into another world, she has to confront all of these things and it is not just very scary, but also sooooo good. Gaiman to me, is creepy on his own, but in this book, he outdoes himself. Definitely not one to be missed and especially now at Halloween time.

coraline

The Witches by Roald Dahl– This is a nice, heartwarming tale about a group of witches who are plotting to get rid of every single child on earth, because basically, they believe that kids smell bad. The story is about a boy, whose grandmother tells him all about how to spot witches and what signs to look for. It will involve turning things into mice, killing witches and lots of creepiness. Even the ending isn’t all happy and sweet. Definitely one of Dahl’s creepier books, which is saying something.

witches2

This next book, I’m going to put on here because I do think it’s scary. Don’t know if it is even considered middle-grade, but I read it in school and it is still scary nearly two-hundred years after it was written. I am, of course, talking about The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving. Published in 1820, this book has an enduring place in our hearts and our fears, not to mention a new TV series based on the legend. School teacher, Ichabod Crane is after the hand of Katrina Van Tassel. But, unfortunately for him, so is Brom Bones. The story is a short one, but filled with scary moments as well as one of the great literary figures of all time, The Headless Horseman! What’s not to love about a headless villain, who throws flaming pumpkin heads at his prey?

sleepy hollow

The Books of Elsewhere by Jacqueline West: Olive and her family move into a mansion, and she is able to enter the paintings on the walls. Villains, from the paintings, who are intent on getting rid of Olive and her family. Creepy cats. Hauntings and witchcraft.  It all makes for another scary story and a must for Halloween.

book of elsewhere

The last story for our handful of Halloween stories, is A Tale Dark and Grimm by Adam Gidwitz. This is a reimagining of the Grimm Brothers stories, which by the way, are pretty bloody and gory enough on their own. Gidwitz takes Hansel and Gretel and puts them in new tales and basically, well…basically tortures them. But, it’s torture in the funnest sense of the word. Some parts are gruesome, but what kids don’t love gruesome?

dark and grimm

Anyway, these are my scary book picks and that’s it for now. Join me next time, for my list of best Thanksgiving-related stories involving killer turkeys. There are more than you think.

So, Mixed-Up Filers, until next time, Hope everyone has a Happy and more importantly, safe, Halloween!

 

jack o lantern

And as for you, Billy Henderson…I’ll be watching.

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Catherine Murdock Interview & Giveaway

By on October 21, 2013   /   Author Interviews, Giveaways  

“Pick me, pick me!” was my response to the Mixed-Up Files request to interview Catherine Murdock. That was before I found out that her new book,  Heaven is Paved with Oreos, is connected to the Diary Queen Trilogy – then I almost fainted. Dairy Queen was one of the first middle grade books I read as an adult and, well, I think it’s fair to say that the main character of the series, D.J. Swank, is the one who made me fall in love with the genre all over again.

FINAL_Heaven_JKTNeedless to say, I gobbled up Heaven is Paved with Oreos, which is told from the perspective of Sarah Zorn, D.J.’s younger brother’s best friend and fake girlfriend (yes, you read that right – it’s part of their “Brilliant Outflanking Strategy”). When I was done reading, I had tons and tons of questions for Catherine, which she graciously answered (as drool seeped out the corner of my mouth).

Thanks for joining us at the Mixed-Up Files, Catherine.  As you can probably tell (ahem!) I’m a big fan of yours (and D.J.’s!)

It’s been four years since Front and Center, the last book in The Diary Queen Trilogy was published. You’ve written at two fantasy books in between, Princess Ben and Wisdom’s Kiss. What made you revisit D.J.’s family?

I love D.J. so much, and I really wanted to see her from another point of view — to let us understand her through someone else’s eyes. I also wanted to make sure that Curtis was okay. I worry about the boy, and I needed to see him through.

Reading the books, it’s obvious you love D.J. (almost as much as me) but I can understand why she could no longer be your main character – her story really did come full circle in the three books and it’s hard to imagine how you could have continued on such a dramatic arc. How did you choose which character in The Diary Queen Trilogy to put in the starring role of the follow up?

This relates to the next question — I’ve been to Rome several times and simply adore the city, and for about ten years I’ve been entertaining the thought of writing a book set there. I just didn’t know how to approach it. And I wanted to return to Red Bend, Wisconsin in some way …  With hindsight the choice of Sarah was obvious, but it took me a long time to come to that realization — it took me a while to take her seriously as a character. I’d thought of her as rather mousy. But it turns out that Sarah isn’t mousy at all, she’s only mousy around D.J.!

You do a great job of dividing Sarah’s story between Red Bend and Italy – where she travels with her zany grandmother and unexpectedly learns a lot about her family (and her relationship with Curtis). Did you do a separate visit Rome to research the book?  

shapeimage_4As I said, I’ve been to Rome many times, beginning in, oh, 1987 … I am a huge architecture buff (as anyone reading Heaven is Paved with Oreos can tell), and I also love to eat, and to walk — really it’s the best of everything. I made one trip there as I was developing the book (curiously, I took loads of pictures of marble skulls even before thinking up that subplot with Curtis!), and another trip to fact-check it later. This last time I stayed in an old monastery, and it was magical. Simply magical.

Will you be writing more books set in Red Bend, Wisconsin?  

I don’t think so — but I’ve said that after every Red Bend book. So who knows? At the moment I’m more focused on adult non-fiction, but the project is in the very early stages … Still, Red Bend is my home away from home.

Can you tell us a little bit about the difference between writing contemporary middle grade fiction versus fantasy?  Similarities?

The wonderful thing about fantasy is that you can solve pretty much any plot or character problem with magic. I’ve spoken with other children’s authors about this, and we agree that it’s the best part of the genre — well, that and dragons. Contemporary middle grade, I feel, comes with an expectation of more character development, and possibly more of a moral — a learning experience, if you will. But in both cases, you need believable, sympathetic characters and a really good story. Simple, right?

Right! And no one creates them better than you (IMHO). Thanks for your time, Catherine. Is there anything else you’d like to add?

I hope readers enjoy reading my book as much as I enjoyed writing it!

I have no doubt that they will – and thanks to Catherine’s publisher, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, one of you is going to win a free copy!  Just follow the link to our Rafflecopter giveaway to enter to win a copy of Heaven is Paved with Oreos.  Good luck!

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