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STEM Tuesday –Planes, Trains, Automobiles, and More! — Interview with Author Jennifer Swanson

By on October 22, 2019   /   STEM Tuesday, Transportation  

Welcome to STEM Tuesday: Author Interview & Book Giveaway, a repeating feature for the fourth Tuesday of every month. Go Science-Tech-Engineering-Math!

Today we’re interviewing Jennifer Swanson, author of Save the Crash Test Dummies.  Booklist gave it a starred review, calling it an “innovative blend of history, technology, and engineering…insightful fun. STEM at its best.”

Mary Kay Carson: Tell us a bit about your new book.

Watch the book trailer on YouTube!

Jennifer Swanson: The idea for this book came when I was writing another book — about electrical engineering. I did a section on the self-driving car and I was hooked. I wanted to ride in one, very badly. I sent email after email to Google asking if I could ride in one. Of course, I got no response. But that didn’t stop my interest. After all, I survived three teenage drivers, surely I could survive a self-driving car. 🙂  Anyway, I began to think, practically everyone rides in a car every day. I bet they don’t even think about how safe it is– OR how it got that way. Enter the crash-test dummies. We couldn’t live without them. Literally. Having them has helped engineers to save many, many lives. I knew then that I had to find a way to introduce the crash-test dummies to kids.

MKC: Any fun finds while researching the book?

Jennifer: I read a lot of car manuals and watched a LOT of videos of crashes. It was pretty cool. I do have to say my favorite moment, though, might have been when I came across the old crash-test dummy commercials that I remember watching as a kid. They are so fun! Here is a YouTube link to one of them if you want to check it out.

MKC: Do you choose to specifically write STEM books?

Jennifer: I have loved science my whole life. After all, I started a science club in my garage when I was 7 years old. My mom gave me a microscope and I used to collect leaves and flowers to look at under it. Gradually, my interests grew and I spent hours in the creek behind my house, making compounds with my multiple chemistry sets, and began dreaming of becoming a doctor one day. While that didn’t happen, I did get my B.S. in chemistry from the U.S. Naval Academy and my M.S. Ed in K-8 science education. Now I’m not just a science author, but also a middle school science teacher for Johns Hopkins Center for Talented Youth.

MKC: What approach or angle did you take to writing this book?

Jennifer Swanson is the award-winning author of over 35 nonfiction books for children. Her passion for science resonates in in all her books but especially, BRAIN GAMES (NGKids) and SUPER GEAR: Nanotechnology and Sports Team Up (Charlesbridge) which was named an NSTA Best STEM book of 2017. She has presented at multiple SCBWI conferences, National NSTA conferences, the Highlights Foundation, the World Science Festival and the Atlanta Science Festival. Visit her at jenniferswansonbooks.com.

Jennifer: When I write about technology and engineering I try to find a unique entry point, one that is FUN and unexpected. For this book, I really wanted to write a book about self-driving cars, but that seemed a bit, well, blah. I mean I find the engineering and technology that makes a self-driving car exciting and interesting, but not everyone does. So I asked myself how I could make this book interesting to people who maybe wouldn’t normally pick it up to read. The idea came to me after watching an old-time crash-test dummy commercial on TV. While on a walk with my husband, I made the comment that if we all went to self-driving cars, we wouldn’t need any more crash-test dummies. He responded by agreeing, saying you’d probably save alot of crash-test dummies. then. WHAM! That was it! Save the Crash-test Dummies, the history of car safety engineering. What a unique way to tell this story. Not only that, when I tell people the title, they usually smile (always a good sign). You see, finding a way to make engineering intriguing and complex topics easy to understand in my goal in my books.

Who did I write this book for? The kid who has TONS of questions about how the world works. That’s who I write all my books to. After all, I still am that 9-year-old kid that was full of curiosity and spent many hours devouring encyclopedias and nonfiction books at the library. Research ROCKS!

MKC: Could you give us a peek into your process?

Jennifer: My writing process is to find the hook for the book first. Usually that is in my title. For example, I wanted to write a book about nanotechnology and sports, so I titled my book SUPER GEAR: Nanotechnology and Sports Team Up. For my book comparing Astronauts and Aquanauts, I titled it (of course) Astronaut-Aquanaut: How Space Science and Sea Science Interact. When the hook to your book is in your title, people understand what the book is about right away. The second part of making a book is to find the structure. I ask myself, “what is the best way for this information to be presented?”. Then I read widely and look at a lot of mentor texts. Eventually I set on a structure. After I have those two things, I dive in into the research and write.

Win a FREE copy of Save the Crash Test Dummies!

Enter the giveaway by leaving a comment below. The randomly-chosen winner will be contacted via email and asked to provide a mailing address (within the U.S. only) to receive the book.

Good luck!

Your host is Mary Kay Carson, author of The Tornado Scientist, Alexander Graham Bell for Kids, Mission to Pluto, Weird Animals, and other nonfiction books for kids. @marykaycarson

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Books About Museums

By on October 21, 2019   /   Articles, Book Lists  

I’ve spent the last few weeks in Italy – eating gelato and losing myself (and sometimes my husband) in the museums of Rome and Florence. I already miss it, and since I can’t really pull a Claudia and live at the Uffizi, I figured I needed to bring life in a museum to me. Which is why I put together a list of books about museums to share.

 

Support Independent Bookstores - Visit IndieBound.orgPieces and Players By Blue Balliett

THE PIECES

Thirteen extremely valuable pieces of art have been stolen from one of the most secretive museums in the world. A Vermeer has vanished. A Manet is missing. And nobody has any idea where they and the other eleven artworks might be . . . or who might have stolen them.

THE PLAYERS

Calder, Petra, and Tommy are no strangers to heists and puzzles. Now they’ve been matched with two new sleuths — Zoomy, a very small boy with very thick glasses, and Early, a girl who treasures words . . . and has a word or two to say about the missing treasure.

The kids have been drawn in by the very mysterious Mrs. Sharpe, who may be playing her own kind of game with the clues. And it’s not just Mrs. Sharpe who’s acting suspiciously — there’s a ghost who mingles with the guards in the museum, a cat who acts like a spy, and bystanders in black jackets who keep popping up.

With pieces and players, you have all the ingredients for a fantastic mystery from the amazing Blue Balliett.

 

Support Independent Bookstores - Visit IndieBound.orgMrs. Brown on Exhibit And Other Museum Poems By Susan Katz, R.W. Alley (Illustrator)

Mrs. Brown loves museums — and so does her class! In fact, these cultural connoisseurs are just wild about field trips. Whether it’s sneaking up on an ancient Egyptian mummy, walking into a room of fluttering butterflies, or stomping through a giant heart, this class surely makes the grade when it comes to fun. They even take a tour of a skull exhibit and visit a lady who turned to soap! But the excitement doesn’t stop there — author Susan Katz uses a wide variety of poetic forms and unusual exhibits to show just how fascinating museums can be. Her text paired with the hilarious illustrations of acclaimed artist R. W. Alley will have readers grabbing their permission slips and readying themselves for a day of museum madness.

 

 

Support Independent Bookstores - Visit IndieBound.orgThe Frame-Up By Wendy McLeod MacKnight, Ian Schoenherr (Illustrator)

When Sargent Singer discovers that the paintings in his father’s gallery are alive, he’s pulled into a captivating world behind the frame he never knew existed.

Filled with devious plots, shady characters, and a grand art heist, this inventive mystery-adventure celebrates art and artists and is perfect for fans of Night at the Museum and Blue Balliett’s Chasing Vermeer. School Library Journal said, “This middle grade read paints fantasy, humor, and mystery into a satisfying tale about the power of friendship.”

There’s one important rule at the Beaverbrook Art Gallery—don’t let anyone know the paintings are alive. Mona Dunn, forever frozen at thirteen when her portrait was painted by William Orpen, has just broken that rule.

Luckily twelve-year-old Sargent Singer, an aspiring artist himself, is more interested in learning about the vast and intriguing world behind the frame than he is in sharing her secret. And when Mona and Sargent suspect shady dealings are happening behind the scenes at the gallery, they set out to uncover the culprit. They must find a way to save the gallery—and each other—before they are lost forever.

With an imaginative setting, lots of intrigue, and a thoroughly engaging cast of characters, The Frame-Up will captivate readers of Jacqueline West’s The Books of Elsewhere series. Booklist said, “This chapter book’s most memorable element is also its most unusual: the imaginative conviction that art is alive.” Includes images of the real paintings featured in the book.

 

 

Support Independent Bookstores - Visit IndieBound.orgBehind the Museum Door:  Poems to Celebrate the Wonders of Museums By Lee Bennett Hopkins, Stacey Dressen-McQueen (Illustrator)

“This collection of poems touches on the sights and sensations a group of children experience on a field trip. Inside the museum, they encounter a suit of armor, a mummy, a dinosaur skeleton, an ancient wheel, paintings (Picasso, Cassat, Renoir), a modern mobile, a fossil, and an old tapestry. Selections are by such poets as Lilian Moore, Jane Yolen, Alice Schertle, and Myra Cohn Livingston—one per spread—shown amid the subjects they portray. Each of Dressen-McQueen’s folk-art-style “exhibits,” carefully crafted in acrylic paint, oil pastel, and colored pencil, successfully captures and reinforces the mood of its accompanying poem. For a poetic museum field trip from a child’s point of view, try Susan Katz’s Mrs. Brown on Exhibit (S & S, 2002). Both books can add excitement and fun to an impending museum visit or help inspire a class to summarize a recent trip.”—Susan Scheps, Shaker Heights Public Library, OH

 

And – who can forget?

Support Independent Bookstores - Visit IndieBound.orgFrom the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler By E.L. Konigsburg

In this winner of the Newbery Medal from E.L. Konigsburg, when suburban Claudia Kincaid decides to run away, she knows she doesn’t just want to run from somewhere, she wants to run to somewhere—to a place that is comfortable, beautiful, and, preferably, elegant.

Claudia knew that she could never pull off the old-fashioned kind of running away…so she decided not to run FROM somewhere, but TO somewhere. And so, after some careful planning, she and her younger brother, Jamie, escaped — right into a mystery that made headlines!

 

 

 

What are you favorite books that take place in museums and galleries? Help me out and share your favorite books about museums in the comments below. 🙂

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Donna Gephart and THE PARIS PROJECT: Interview + Giveaway

By on October 18, 2019   /   Articles  

Today I’m thrilled to be talking to Donna Gephart about her newest middle-grade novel, The Paris Project. Donna is an award-winning author, whose middle-grade novels also include: In Your Shoes, Lily and Dunkin, Death by Toilet Paper, How to Survive Middle School and others.

To learn more about Donna and The Paris Project read on. And to throw your hat in the ring for a chance to win a signed copy, write us a note in the comments section before Monday, Oct. 21, 2019, at 11:59 PM. I’ll pick a winner at random and announce it next Thursday.

 

What was the spark that inspired you to write The Paris Project?

There wasn’t a spark with this one. I thought I was writing a funny book about three Jewish guy friends when Cleveland Rosebud Potts marched across the pages of my notebook. Those first five pages I wrote in my notebook are close to the first five pages of the finished book. I sensed this character had an important story to tell and I’d be a fool not to pay attention to her.

 

Why was it important for you to write about a child having a family member in jail?

We have a big problem with mass incarceration in our country. That’s not news to anyone. What doesn’t get talked about as much is the effect that has on family members still at home. What happens when there is a loss of one income in a household? What happens when it’s expensive to travel to visit a loved one in jail? What happens when a child can’t even touch her parent because a facility chooses to have video visitations instead of in-person ones? Cleveland and her family deal with all these things and more.

I write books for young people to feel seen and to feel less alone in the world, but I also write so others can see a problem that may not affect them directly and develop empathy and understanding for those who are dealing with it. How else will we grow to understand each other and help make life better for each other?

 

What is it about middle-grade readers that makes you enjoy writing for them?

Middle grade readers are making the transition from childhood to adulthood. I can’t think of anything more dramatic. It’s a difficult transition, fraught with high-intensity emotions. I write to help young people navigate those changes and figure out their place in the world. I write the books I would have loved to have at that age, to help me understand what was going on and how I fit into the scheme of it all. I also write about kids with grit and determination to give young readers hope and agency in their own lives.

 

Did you have to do any particular research while writing The Paris Project?

I do research for each of my novels, even though they are fiction. For this one, I wanted to see what the inside of a video visitation center looked like. I wrote to and called the appropriate authorities to ask for permission and while they said they see no problem with it, no one would actually grant me the permission. So one day, my husband and I went to a video visitation center and sat with the families awaiting time with their loved ones. When the doors opened and the visitors were called in, my husband and I headed in, but I saw a guard at the door and decided to duck out at the last moment. None-the-less, while we were there, I did a lot of observing and listening to get those scenes right in the book.

My last book, In Your Shoes, found me inside a local funeral home, getting a tour and asking lots of questions. For Olivia Bean, Trivia Queen, I took the online test to get on Kids’ Week on Jeopardy! And I interviewed a spelling bee champ who made it to the national bee in DC while writing As If Being 12-3/4 Isn’t Bad Enough, My Mother Is Running for President!

Research is always interesting for me. I love learning new things.

 

What would you like readers to come away with after reading The Paris Project?

I’m always hoping to widen young reader’s worlds/minds/hearts with my work.

For The Paris Project, I hope kids who deal with financial insecurity will feel seen, and those who don’t will have a deeper understanding of what it’s like to go without money and how it might make a person feel. I also hope to shine light on the effect of parental incarceration on children and families. I include statistics and a “Child’s Bill of Rights” in the back of the book.

There’s a LOT to discuss after reading this book. It would make an excellent book club choice. And as a bonus, there’s a recipe for limeade spritzers in the back that could be served for book club members.

 

You’ve mentioned that the first draft of your novel, Olivia Bean, Trivia Queen, was written during National Novel Writing Month (NANOWRIMO). Since November is almost upon us, do you have any advice for writers who might be tackling writing a novel next month?

Do as much pre-planning as you can before you begin. Character bios, setting ideas, concepts for the big scenes and a possible ending.

It was a great experience in teaching me to sit down every day and keep the fingers moving across the keyboard, keep the story moving forward.

I also blogged about the experience to give myself public accountability. That helped me keep at it on the days I really didn’t feel like it. There are always days you don’t feel like writing.

It’s amazing how a handful of pages a day, consistently, turns into a whole novel at the end of the month.

Allow yourself lots of time to revise that novel. It took me months to revise Olivia Bean, Trivia Queen, even though I wrote it in 29 days.

 

And speaking of writing, what’s up next for you?

I can’t believe it, but I’m finishing up my eighth novel. Abby, Tried and True will come out from Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers next year. And I have a picture book, Go Be Wonderful, from Holiday House the year after that.

 

Thanks so much, Donna, for taking the time to join us at The Mixed-Up Files and for providing a signed copy to a lucky winner!

 

More about Donna:

Donna is a popular speaker at schools, conferences and book festivals. She has taught creative writing at a school in West Palm Beach, FL. Donna lives in the Philadelphia area with her family and her canine office assistant, Benji, a sweet retriever mix. You can visit her online at www.donnagephart.com for resources, reading guides and more.

 

More about The Paris Project:

Cleveland Rosebud Potts has a plan. If she can check off the six items on her très important Paris Project List she will make it out of the small-minded and scorching town of Sassafras, Florida, to a rich and cultured life at The American School of Paris.

Unfortunately, everything seems to conspire against Cleveland reaching her goal.

Cleveland is ashamed of her father and angry that her mother and sister are never around because they have to work extra shifts to help out the family. Her Eiffel Tower tin has zero funds. And to top it all off, Cleveland’s best friend Jenna Finch has decided she’s too fancy for her and her neighbor Declan seems to be hiding something.

As Cleveland puts her talents to the test, she must learn how to forgive family for their faults, appreciate friends for exactly who they are, and bloom where she’s planted—even if that’s in a tiny town in central Florida that doesn’t even have a French restaurant. C’èst la vie!

 

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