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Dear Author, When’s Your Birthday?

By on May 30, 2016   /   Book Lists, For Kids  

About a month ago, I received an email with the subject line “Important Business.” Here it is, in its entirety:

Hello, I am a sixth grader and I am doing a book report on you book Just another day in my insanely real life I need to learn things about you like your birthday so can you please help me.

No other questions or comments. No signature.

I always answer reader emails, but this one made me hesitate. Usually when a kid writes an author, he or she says something about your book and his/her experience reading it. Or the kid explains the assignment. Or maybe asks when your next book is coming out–or when “they” will make a movie.

But all this kid said was that he/she wanted to know my birthday. That struck me as odd. Was the writer even a kid? There was no way to tell; any adult could also write without punctuation. And would a kid use a subject line like “Important Business”? To me that had the ring of phishing.

Plus there was this: Why did the kid want to know my birthday? I understand that when kids write biographies, they’re taught to provide the subject’s relevant data–but presumably, this was a book report, not a biography, anyway. So why was my birthday even relevant? What did it reveal about my book?

Not knowing how, or even if, to respond to this email, I sought advice from several author friends. Most of them told me that they’d received similar emails at one time or other, and simply provided a fake birthday. Or they gave the right year, but not the right month, or vice versa. A couple said they answered truthfully, but didn’t know why–and come to think of it, might not in the future. Others told me this email smelled phishy to them, and I should just hit the Delete key and forget it.

I’m still thinking about this email. What I keep coming back to is this: When grownups encourage kids to email or otherwise communicate with authors, that’s terrific. But let’s make this outreach a teachable moment. Let’s explain to kids the difference between a courteous, relevant question about an author’s work, his/her writing method, etc–and a question about personal data. Let’s remind kids that most personal information an author wishes to disclose can be found on his/her website. Chances are good that if it’s not on the website, the author prefers to keep it private, or doesn’t think it’s relevant or helpful to a reader.

And while we’re at it, let’s remind kids that if someone they can’t identify asks them a personal question– online or otherwise– they shouldn’t feel compelled to answer, either.

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School’s Out For Summer! 19 summery novels

By on May 27, 2016   /   Book Lists, For Kids  

School’s out–or almost out–for summer, so as your middle grade reader heads into the long, warm days of summer, let them check out these 19 books that all have something to say about this transitional season!

PenderwicksThe Penderwicks: A Summer Tale of Four Sisters, Two Rabbits, and a Very Interesting Boy by Jeanne Birdsall
This award-winning novel is the charming story of four sisters and their summer adventures at a beautiful estate called Arundel.

 

 

 

Diary of a Wimpy Kid: Dog Days and Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul by Jeff Kinney
Kinney is a master at cracking kids up and getting them to read… and read… and read. In these two books, he covers Greg’s summertime blues in all sorts of side-splitting ways.

LumberjanesThe Lumberjanes Vol. 1: Beware The Kitten Holy by Noelle Stevenson, Brooke A Allen and Shannon Watters
The publisher calls this best-selling comic book series (soon to be a movie!), “Buffy the Vampire Slayer meets Gravity Falls [that] features five butt-kicking, rad teenage girls wailing on monsters and solving a mystery with the whole world at stake.” What else needs to be said? #Obsessed!

 

 

The Watsons Go to WatsonsBirmingham-

by Christopher Paul Curtis
An award-winning novel that weaves the fictional story about ten-year-old Kenny and his family, the Weird Watsons of Flint, Michigan along with the violent summer of 1963, this books is  both funny and deeply moving.

Percy Jackson: The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
This incredibly popular adventures series about a boy who discovers his magical powers all have scenes set at Camp Half-Blood (making s’mores is not an activity there, as you can probably imagine). Great for all sorts of readers with a range of interests.

Sunny Side Up by Jennifer L. Holm and Matthew Holm
Brother/sister duo Jennifer and Matthew also created the popular Babymouse series. In Sunny Side Up, Sunny is sent to live with her grandfather one summer–for reasons her family won’t tell her–and her days, which she’d imagined would be full of fun and amusement (parks), turn out to be way less fun than she’d dreamt, at least until she meets a cool boy from her grandfather’s neighborhood.

CampDorkCamp Dork (Pack of Dorks) by Beth Vrabel
In this brand-new title (and the sequel to Pack of Dorks) Vrabel sends her appealing characters off to Camp Paleo for a week-long adventure, where plenty of fun, drama and intrigue abound.

 

 

 

The Applewhites at Wit’s End by Stephanie S. Tolan
The hilarious sequel to Stephanie S. Tolan’s Newbery Honor Book, Surviving the Applewhites, the Applewhite family returns, with grand plans to make money by turning their family land into a camp.

The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly
A historical novel set in 1899 about an 11-year-old who “comes up against just what it means to be a girl at the turn of the century.”

MillicentMinMillicent Min, Girl Genius by Lisa Yee
11-year-old genius and current high school student Millicent is having a lousy summer as a social outcast (what with being a genius who’s already in high school and all) until she meets a new friend. Will Millicent be able to pull off looking cool? Find out in this funny novel by popular author Lisa Yee.

 

The Hidden Summer by Gin Phillips
After a falling out between their mothers, 12-year-old best friends Nell and Lydia are forbidden from seeing each other for the whole summer. Determined to find a place of their own, Nell and Lydia spend the summer hiding out in an abandoned golf course where they find mysterious symbols scattered throughout the grounds. As they reveal the secret of the symbols, Nell discovers she isn’t the only one seeking an escape. She begins to uncover what’s really been hidden all along… both inside the golf course and within herself.

MiddleSchoolMiddle School: How I Survived Bullies, Broccoli, and Snake Hill by James Patterson & Chris Tebbetts
Rafe thinks he’s about to have an awesome time at summer camp, until he finds out it’s a summer SCHOOL camp! Ugh! For fans of the popular Middle School series by publishing giant James Patterson, expect more of the series trademark laughs, gross-outs (including a kid named Booger-Eater) and excitement.

 

Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo
The incredible changes that happen to one 10-year-old girl over the course of a summer, all because of the addition of a stray dog she finds at her local supermarket. From the deft and incredible Kate DiCamillo, who can do no wrong.

The Summer I Saved the World…in 65 Days by Michele Weber Hurwitz
From a member of the Mixed-Up Files team, this novel is about a Nina, who finds out what happens when she decides that for every one of the 65 days of summer break, she’ll anonymously do one good thing for someone in her family or neighborhood.

Camp Rolling Hills: Book One by Stacy Davidowitz
Finally, it’s summer! Stephanie—aka Slimey—has been counting the days until she can return to her favorite place in the entire world, Camp Rolling Hills. New kid Bobby, on the other hand, is pretty sure he’s in for the worst summer of his life. He does not understand his weirdo cabinmates, the group singing, and the unfortunate nicknames (including his: Smelly). But he does understand Slimey, and the two soon fall in crush. This summer might not be so bad after all! But then a fight sets off an epic, campwide, girls-versus-boys prank war. And it’s up to Slimey and Smelly to keep the peace.

Maximilian & the Mystery of the Guardian AngelMaximilian & the Mystery of the Guardian Angel: A Bilingual Lucha Libre Thriller by Xavier Garza
Margarito acts like any other eleven-year-old aficionado of lucha libre. He worships all the players. But in the summer just before sixth grade, he tumbles over therailing at a match in San Antonio and makes a connection to the world of Mexican wrestling that will ultimately connect him—maybe by blood!—to the greatest hero of all time: the Guardian Angel. Written and illustrated by the talented Xavier Garza, this will pull in readers that love action, images and plenty of excitement.

LastFirstDayThe First Last Day by Dorian Cirrone
Another MUF-er novel! Cirrone’s 11-year-old protagonist Haleigh must find out, “What if you could get a do-over—a chance to relive a day in your life over and over again until you got it right? Would you?”

 

 

 

 

HiRes Cover TIDEThe Turn of the Tide by MUF member Rosanne Parry
This summer adventure puts two cousins one from Oregon and one from Japan on a quest to win a  sailboat race, the same race their fathers won years ago. The only thing standing in their way is a former best friend with the fastest boat in town and a deathly fear of the water.

Andrea Pyros is the author of My Year of Epic Rock, a middle grade novel about friends, crushes, food allergies, and a rock band named The EpiPens.

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Interview with Annie Donwerth-Chikamatsu + Giveaway

By on May 25, 2016   /   Author Interviews, Diversity, For Librarians, For Parents, For Teachers  

Today we have on the blog an interview with Annie Donwerth-Chikamatsu, author of SOMEWHERE AMONG, a beautiful and haunting debut novel in verse about an American-Japanese girl struggling with the loneliness of being caught between two worlds when the tragedy of 9/11 strikes an ocean away. Read on for the interview and a chance to win this lovely book!

somewhere among

What inspired SOMEWHERE AMONG?

Our life in Japan! I have lived and raised my children in a binational, bicultural, bilingual, multi-generational home in Tokyo for the past 24 years. Clashes, comedic scenarios and common ground have provided much introspection. Although I don’t see myself as a writer of Asian topics, there were a few things I wanted to share in children’s non-fiction magazine articles and picture books. I found it difficult to fill in the spaces of what American children know.

I started a children’s photo blog in 2006 when my youngest child was in fifth grade. That satisfied the desire to show modern Japan. I later started a novel set in Texas (my home state). After the earthquake and tsunami of 2011, I had to ground myself in Japan. Emotions and images and memories of our life and our nations’ shared history rushed into poems that turned into this story.

At the story’s center is a paper doll that a woman had handed me on the train in my early days here. The doll came with the message “May Peace Prevail on the Earth.” I had tried to write a picture book about that, but the story was too big for 32 pages.

The 2011 disaster spurred me to write about Japan and the paper doll was the inspiration and motivation to try to tell its story again.

What kind of research did you do to tell this story?

I had started out with what I remembered. Then after the first draft, I used news reports, newspaper articles, weather data, and websites like NASA’s. The storyline didn’t change much from the first drafts. Through revisions it was a matter of making sure the timeline was correct and layering details.

The school and family life details were inspired by but altered from our experience. My children went through the Japanese public system and we lived in a multi-generational home. I couldn’t have written this story without that experience. It would have been very shallow.

Hearing the story of 9/11 from the perspective of an American living overseas is fascinating. Is that something you planned from the beginning, or did it come out in the writing process?

I didn’t set out to write about 9-11. This story came about through grounding myself by reminiscing. Sitting down to write about our life and memories here, I couldn’t get very far before 9-11 came up.

However, the sinking of the Japanese fishing boat, the Ehime Maru actually came up first. That incident exemplified the struggle (I especially felt) to reconcile the history and tragedies that my children’s two nations share. I distinctly remember that sadness and the months of TV coverage. The fishing ship tragedy happened in February 2001.

So, through writing this story, I was dragged into dealing with 9-11 again. I was dealing with aftershocks at our Tokyo home and the grief of the tsunami damage from a distance. It was not easy to deal with this. I could have easily avoided writing this story.

What are some books of poetry or novels in verse you would recommend for kids?

Oh! I have to say that I have limited access to English books because of price and place. I cannot afford all the books I would love to buy and our local library only has two or three short shelves of Newbery winners. No verse novels.

The only verse novel I had read before I started Somewhere Among was Out of the Dust by Karen Hesse. Holly Thompson’s young adult novel, Orchards, had arrived just before the earthquakes of 2011. I knew it was about suicide so I didn’t get to read it until after the aftershocks and I had written my first draft. I discovered and read Susan Taylor Brown’s Hugging the Rock. I also learned of and read Thanhha Lai’s middle grade Inside Out and Back Again after it had won the Newbery. I read Jacqueline Woodson’s Brown Girl Dreaming last summer. All of those are wonderful.

Since attending Highlights Foundations Verse Novel workshop in 2012, I have read and enjoyed the work of instructors Virginia Euwer Wolf, Sonya Sones, and Linda Oatman High and attendees K.A. Holt, Sarah Tregay, and Madeleine Kuderick. There are future verse novelists from that group to watch out for.

Helen Frost, Margarita Engle, Mariko Nagai, Leza Lowitz and Holly Thompson’s books are on my wish list. There are many other verse novels I would love to read. Most of them are for young adults. I read and write mostly for middle grade readers 9-12 so middle grade novels are my first choice of purchase now.

Children’s poetry anthologies aren’t particularly age-specific. All anthologies and books by Lee Bennett Hopkins are great. My children loved You be Good I’ll be Night by Eve Merriam. Talking Like the Rain by X.J. Kennedy and Dorothy Kennedy. My favorite children’s poets are Joyce Sidman, Janet Wong, Helen Frost, Charles Ghigna, Gwendolyn Brooks, Elizabeth Coatsworth.

I enjoy the video interviews that Lee Bennett Hopkins and Renee La Tulippe produce about children’s poets. There are so many wonderful things done for poetry for children. Sylvia Vardell’s blog www.poetryforchildren.com . Poetry Minute for younger readers www.poetryminute.org and Poetry 180 for older readers www.loc.gov/poetry/180

 

Annie Donwerth-Chikamatsu lives in Tokyo, Japan. Her work has been published in Hunger Mountain, Highlights, Highlights High Five, Y.A.R.N., and other magazines. She received a grant from the Highlights Foundation to attend Chautauqua in 2009. Somewhere Among won the 2013 Writers’ League of Texas award in the middle grade category and is her debut novel.

For a chance to win a copy of SOMEWHERE AMONG, please leave a comment below by noon Eastern time on Monday, May 30th. If you tweet about the contest, we can give you an extra entry. Continental U.S. only, please (sorry! It’s the postage!).

Katharine Manning sighed her way through the lovely SOMEWHERE AMONG. She is a middle grade writer of dreamy fantasies and fast-paced soccer books. To see more of her raving about middle grade books, visit Kid Book List. You can also find her at www.katharinemanning.com and on Twitter.

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