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The Epistolary Middle-Grade Novel – A Big Word for “Lots of Fun!”

By on March 25, 2015   /   Book Lists, For Kids, For Librarians, For Parents, For Teachers, For Writers, Writing  

This post is about the epistolary middle grade novel.

WAIT! Don’t stop reading just because that word sounds so, well, boring. And academic. Because I promise, epistolary middle grade novels are some of the most entertaining books out there!

But first, the academics:  Dictionary.com defines the word epistolary [ih-pis-tl-er-ee] as an adjective meaning:  of, relating to, or consisting of letters.

See? Novels made of letters! Who doesn’t love reading letters?

Actually, the epistolary middle grade  novel can consist of much more. Diary entries, newspaper clippings, even advertisements can be sprinkled about, giving these novels a lighter feel and making them a visual feast.  These days, we can add emails, text messages and social media posts to the list of devices used in contemporary epistolary novels.

Here’s one of my all-time faves!

regarding the fountain web small

That’s the cover. But, it’s the interior of the epistolary novel that is always so delicious!

regarding the fountain inside web small

Sisters Kate and Sarah Klise blend written and visual storytelling in such a fun and inviting way! Mixed fonts, lots of drawings, short snippets of this and that all contribute to this book (and to its numerous sequels that ask us to please regard other plumbing essentials, such as the sink and, yes, the privy, too).

Another great EMGN (my new acronym! Like it?) is  Jennifer L. Holm and  Elicia Castaldi‘s Middle School Is Worse Than Meatloaf: A Year Told Through Stuff.  Believe me, the “stuff” this book is made of is way better than meatloaf!

middle school meat loaf web small

Epistolary novels are not only entertaining to read, I’ve decided they must be a blast to write as well.  Mixed-Up Files member Greg R. Fishbone recently confirmed my hunch. He told me how much fun it was writing his epistolary middle grade novel The Penguins of Doom, From the Desk of Septina Nash.

the penguins of doom web small

I could go on and on from Caddie Woodlawn to Diary of a Wimpy Kid.  Let’s keep the list going. Add in the comments below your favorite – EMGN –  Epistolary Middle-Grade  Novel.

Michelle Houts is the author of four middle grade books, fiction and nonfiction. She loves getting and sending letters so much that she started the 52 Letters in a Year Challenge. So far, she has heard from letter-writers as far away as Germany and as old as 72. She hopes one day to try her hand at writing an EMGN.

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Never Judge A Reader By The Cover

By on March 23, 2015   /   Op-Ed  

We’re not supposed to like reading.
We’re not supposed to like writing.
We appear to be big, dumb jocks.
We look somewhat scary.
We act somewhat scary.
We get tagged as Neanderthals.
From our look, we are
supposed to like certain things,
do certain things,
and act a particular way.
Because of the way we look,
we are judged at first glance,
judged to a stereotype.

As a kid, I was a husky, could-not-sit-still introvert, slow-developing reader of a boy. Without a tremendous amount of help and patience from the adults in my young academic life, I may never have grown up a reader. I liked the library, though. I liked to graze the shelves looking at the book spines, book covers and flipping through the pictures. I am a more accomplished reader now, but
roaming and searching the book stacks is still a favorite activity of mine.

One of the earliest memories of being completely, totally PO’d in life was when I was about six or seven and my onerous older brother told the librarian I  lied and didn’t read all of the four or five books (a major accomplishment for me at the time) I’d listed on my summer reading program sheet. I remember the sheet vividly, it had a drawing of a genie riding a magic carpet on the top and blank lines for what seems like 50 books. I was so proud of the first several lines of that sheet being filled in. I was a reader.

I will never forget the look the librarian gave me when she thought I had cheated and handed me back my sheet. She jumped to the conclusion this big, little kid standing on the other side of her desk was a cheater, not a reader. I was so embarrassed and so mad as my first real reading success melted right before my eyes, I crumpled into a ball on the library floor and had to be dragged out wailing and screaming.

I would like to offer an invitation to everyone who has ever swum upstream against the current of stereotype. An invitation to celebrate a love of books and literature despite how we look or act, especially those of us “Neanderthals” who like to read middle-grade literature.

I fall into the category of dumb jock stereotype. I guess a big, football lineman-type, sport-crazy athlete, and coach, with a somewhat scary visage that often makes little kids cry, cannot also be an intellectually driven, reader and writer of literature. People look at people like me and naturally think, “He’s a Neanderthal.”

  • Maybe it’s the truck driver looks? (Which, by the way, was the Hollywood descriptor of my extras casting photo when I was given a part as an extra in a movie back in my college days.)
  • Maybe it’s the occasional ranting and raving?
  • Maybe it’s the Kansas twang of my dialect or the silent “g” in “-ing”?
  • Maybe it’s the smile or the scowl which split time on my face?

To celebrate the fight against this stereotype, I invite you to join me in a little Twitter fun and Tweet what you are currently reading. Inspired by one of my favorite comic book heroes, The Incredible Hulk, I celebrate reading and literature every Wednesday by tweeting the book(s) I am currently reading under the hashtag, #MeReadBook. If there is also an audio-book in the mix, that title is tweeted under the hashtag, #MeHearBook.

Celebrate reading and celebrate readers—whatever they look or sound like.

Above all else, pass the word.

Never judge a book (or a reader) by the cover.

Major Writers of America pic

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In Todd We Trust by our own Louise Galveston

By on March 21, 2015   /   Book Lists  

InToddWeTrustThe Toddlians have always believed in the omnipotence of their god, twelve-year-old Todd Butroche. After all, Todd is their creator and they would not exist if it were not for him and his benevolent grossness. But when the Toddlians are confronted with a vile “red thing” (a moldy apple) and its mysterious and horrifying inhabitant (a worm!), they begin to believe Todd has forgotten all about them. There’s only one solution to the Toddlians’ problems: to find a new god! And so they decide to build a raft à la Noah’s ark in order to search for a more thoughtful deity. But who can the Toddlians turn to in their time of despair? And does Todd really not remember the miniature race generated by the dirt on his smelly sock? It will take more than divine intervention to save the Toddlians and mend their relationship with their neglectful creator.

Rosanne: Congratulations on your second book! That’s a real accomplishment. How much of getting published is determined by luck and how much of it do you think is due to hard work and talent?
 
Louise: I don’t really believe that things just “happen,” but I do believe that circumstances can definitely line up in your favor: you meet an agent or editor at a conference who happens to mention liking your favorite Jane Austen book and you strike up a conversation that ends in an invitation to query your manuscript… But even then, the manuscript has to be written, you had to make the effort to go to the conference in the first place, both of which usually equal quite a bit of effort on your part. LGBioPicture copy
 
Rosanne: So true.I’ve found unexpected opportunity and had a few fortunate meetings but if the hard work on the pages wasn’t in place ahead of those “lucky” circumstances, they would have come to nothing. In Todd We Trust is a sequel. Did you find it difficult to return to familiar characters, or was it easy to find their voices again?
 
Louise: It didn’t take long to get back into their heads, but it was challenging to keep the voices separated since there are four point of view characters (Todd, three Toddlians, and Todd’s baby sister, Daisy.) In the first book, the Toddlians only had a few chapters, so I had to really delve deeper into their characters for the sequel and make sure their voices were unique. Also, Todd has matured a lot since the beginning of book one, so his way of looking at things had to be more responsible, yet still leave him room to grow. Discovering his first crush helped do that.
 
Rosanne:  I’ve only ever attempted two points of view in a story so I’m really very impressed. Making each character distinct and strong enough to carry the story is a terrific challenge.

 

Speaking of first crushes and boy-girl friendships, did you draw on your experiences to develop this aspect of the story? 
 
Louise: Growing up, I was often the only girl on my block, and I have a younger brother, so I hung out with boys a lot. Several of my best friends at school were boys as well; I seemed to relate better to them than girls my own age. In the book, Todd has a massive crush on the new girl, Charity, but (spoiler alert!) eventually realizes that he’d rather just be friends. To him it’s much more fun and far less complicated. I really hope readers will see that boy-girl friendships can be awesome without turning gooey.
 
Rosanne:  In my first teaching job I had a class with twice as many boys as girls and it was interesting to see how that gender imbalance changed the usual classroom dynamic. I found your depiction of a boy’s point of view particularly strong. So the luck part would be growing up in a neighborhood full of boys, and the skill part would be paying attention to all those boys so that you can now write them well.

 

You mentioned In Todd We Trust has more chapters from the tiny Toddlians’ point of view than the first book. Did you find it hard to write from the perspective of wee folk?
 
Louise: It definitely requires a lot of imagination to describe objects like apples, flies, and carpet (fiber forests) from an ant-sized character’s vantage point, but I’ve always loved the notion of tiny people or creatures existing among us, Borrower-style. When I was a kid, I was forever on the lookout for fairies and leprechauns, and was a huge fan of Sea-Monkeys, naming each and every one! So I was thrilled when my editor asked me to add more Toddlian chapters to the sequel.
 
Rosanne: I loved The Borrowers! The Wee Free Men is a family favorite. I’d love to pull together a wee folk display at the bookstore. 

 

We’d love to hear from you, especially if you were (are) a fan of fairies or leprechauns! What are your favorite books about wee folk? One “lucky” commenter will win a signed copy of In Todd We Trust.
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