Fountains of Joy! The winner of signed copies of my CODY books is
Carla Molina!
Many thanks for all the lovely comments readers left!
Blog
My first school visit as an author was arranged by my good friend and critique partner, Lu Fiskin Ross. She’s the award-winning librarian at Ewalt Elementary School in Augusta, Kansas. When I arrived, Lu greeted me dressed as the Statue of Liberty, which gave me a good laugh and eased my jangled nerves considerably!
To help celebrate National Library Week, I’ve asked Lu to give us her perspective on the state of school libraries and tell us a bit about herself.
First of all, what book or series have you read recently that you’re excited about? My favorite series that I’m reading now isn’t really for elementary students. I LOVE Maggie Steifvater’s Raven Cycle books. I just finished Blue Lily, Lily Blue and can’t wait to get the new one later this month. Right now, I’m reading Pip Bartlett’s Guide to Magical Creatures that Jackson Pearce and Stiefvater collaborated on. Wow! What an imagination. It is middle grade, so I would like to buy it for my school’s library. Oh, and I love anything by Mo Willems. I would love to write like he does.
I always appreciate the expertise you bring to our critique group. Librarians have an advantage of being in the know when it comes to what’s marketable and what kids want to read. Tell us a little bit about what you’re writing these days. I must admit, I’m a fantasy/science fiction lover. I love to escape to other worlds and places that I can’t go to in reality. I was highly influenced by folk tales and fairy tales while I was growing up. And then came Star Trek. I can still watch reruns after all these years. I want to finish a YA paranormal novel this summer that I started several years ago. I’ve started a YA sci/fi about Mars that I want to jump into next. And I’ve also started doing the research for a nonfiction alphabet book on Celtic mythology.
When I first started writing, I chose middle grade, since that is the age level of my library. However, after being told by critique partners and editors that it should be YA because of the subject matter, I’ve been in the process of converting. Writing time is sparse for a school librarian. It is taking much longer than I thought it would.
You recently won $1,000 for Ewalt Elementary School from KAKE News in Wichita. Congratulations! Please tell us about that experience. The award I won was through one of our local TV stations. One of my volunteers nominated me and submitted photos of me dressed up in character costumes. The day of the award, the principal let us know we had a surprise assembly shortly after lunch. I didn’t think anything about it. At lunch, one of the teachers thought it might be the teacher award that the TV station also has each month. Again, I didn’t think much about it. Earlier in the week, my principal asked for one of my favorite books, so I gave her one by David Shannon. She had everyone go to the cafeteria and we waited and waited. The TV crew were running late. As soon as the TV personality came through the door, I was pretty sure what she was there for. My heart started pounding! Thank you so much to the volunteer! The students told me during library times different titles and subjects they would like to see us buy with the money.
Speaking of money, Kansas (as well as other states) has been especially hard hit with cuts to educational funding. How has that affected your ability to purchase books and resources, bring in authors, etc.? The above really helped with funding. I have worked at my current position for about 19 years. My funding has been reduced many times. At one point, because of a change in the district distribution of funds, I did get a slight increase. This really tears me up since there are so many good books that we can’t afford to get. I’m especially concerned about funding for next year. It’s very scary to hear of districts who will cut their librarians. This is a subject I could go on and on about. Let’s just say I’m very disappointed. Our district is fortunate to have a “Meet the Author” program. The district is still helping to fund that program, with help from our PTOs and a share of the proceeds from book sales. This is another area where funding has not been increased in 19 years, so we can’t bring in as many big name authors.
Have you noticed any changes lately in what kinds of books kids are choosing to read? 
The biggest changes I have seen in student reading is the interest in graphic novels and hybrid books like the Wimpy Kid series and Dork Diaries. A few years ago it was fantasy with the Harry Potter knock-offs. It will be interesting to see what comes next. I have started seeing more MG animal fantasies, recently.
How have changes in technology impacted libraries? I’ve got to get on my platform about school libraries again. Some administrators and politicians seem to believe that because of technology, the librarians aren’t needed. I would say they are needed even more. Students need help in learning how to search effectively. Especially at the elementary level, they have a hard time narrowing or broadening searches to find the information they need. Also, a student may read a review online, but it is usually the human interaction that sells the book to a student. Or, if they’re in a hurry and need a dinosaur book, a human can steer them to the correct area quicker than doing the search.
What are some of the fun and creative ways you’ve used to get students excited about reading? 
Fun ways? Never! A librarian is supposed to be 80 years old with a bun. I think of myself as a cheerleader for finding the information, whatever the form, to help the student thrive and create something original from that knowledge. We have different themes every two years for reading in our building. I dress up on the first day of classes most years, in a costume to go along with the theme. One year, the book fair had an Egyptian theme. I just had to be Cleopatra and call the students peasants. They loved it. Last week, I was super librarian, able to find information faster than a speeding bullet. One of the greatest compliments I’ve received from a student was a first grader. He told me I was weird. I hope he meant that I didn’t act like a normal teacher. I encourage students to use their imaginations whenever possible.
Since you’re retiring this year, do you have any advice for librarians about how to adapt and thrive in these times of change? My first year or two of being a librarian, I read an article in School Library Journal about how CD’s were awesome for storing information, but they were too expensive to use. Now, we’ve gone to even better ways to store and access information. The main trait a librarian needs is to be flexible. The format of story storage may change, but story itself is universal. Focus on the universal. It is timeless.
Great advice, Lu! Thanks for all of your years of connecting kids to great books and the resources they need to excel. To keep up with Lu and her writing, check out her blog.
We’d love to hear about creative methods other librarians and teachers are using to get kids excited about books!
Louise Galveston is the author of BY THE GRACE OF TODD, a 2015-2016 Young Hoosier Award Nominee, and IN TODD WE TRUST (Penguin/Razorbill.)
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Steve Brezenoff is the author of young adult novels Guy in Real Life; The Absolute Value of -1; and Brooklyn, Burning, as well as over a hundred chapter books for younger readers, including The Field Trip Mysteries, Museum Mysteries, and Ravens Pass series. He grew up on Long Island, spent his twenties in Brooklyn, and now lives in Minneapolis with his wife and their two children.
Steve joins us to talk about his middle-grade Museum Mysteries series.
Description from IndieBound: ” Join four friends as they take in culture and solve crimes in the Capitol City museums. Because of their parents’ jobs in the museums, the kids have unprecedented access to the exhibits, and because of their brains, they solve mysteries that leave the pros scratching their heads. Discussion questions, writing prompts, a glossary, and nonfiction resources continue the reader’s learning experience long after the story ends.”
The Museum Mystery series is one of several series you have written for Capstone. Can you tell us a little about the process of developing and writing a series?
I’ve done (or am in the midst of) five series for Capstone. The Museum Mysteries, The Field Trip Mysteries, Back to the Titanic, and Ravens Pass, as well as the Twice-Told Tales under the name Olivia Snowe. (I’ve also contributed titles to a series of sports books under the shared author name Jake Maddox, and a series that morphed into Ravens Pass under the name Jason Strange.)
When it comes to series for this market (school and library), series development is a different animal from trade publishing, primarily because librarians don’t want series that must be read in a particular order. It’s a difficult feat to provide books in order to readers, so being able to read out of order without losing any aspect of the story is ideal. The exception in my case is the Titanic series, which is ordered.
Because of this, development tends to be more thematic. That is, the story is not continuous, so we’re developing characters and scenarios. And because these are all work-for-hire titles, much of this work is done in-house at the publisher before I’m onboard. For example, for the Field Trip Mysteries, the idea of four sixth-graders going on field trips and solving mysteries came from Capstone. I created and developed the characters and placed them on field trips that, initially, came from the publisher as well. As the series went on, more of that became my responsibility. The Museum Mysteries in many ways grew out of the Field Trip Mysteries–they’re thematically very similar. In that case, I was given the four museums to bounce off of, and then developed other details–characters, backgrounds, parents, etc.–on my own.
If there was one single thing that you wanted readers to get from the Museum Mystery series what would it be?
I’m tempted to talk about science or art history or American history–in other words, one of the themes behind the four museums featured in the series. But the truth is I’ve been more focused on writing about these characters in a way that shines a light on race and gender and sexuality in a way that I haven’t seen much in chapter books for younger readers, readers at the bottom of the middle-grade range. It’s no secret that most of my fiction takes place in Minneapolis/St. Paul, or a very vaguely fictionalized version of the metro area. I try to make sure, therefore, that the characters reflect the Twin Cities I’ve come to know and love since moving here ten years ago.
It’s no surprise, then, that what has garnered the most positive reaction has been the diversity of the cast. The cover of one of the first Museum Mysteries titles, The Case of the Missing Museum Archives, features main character Amal Farah wearing her hijab. It was such a small gesture, to be honest, but it got a lot of very positive attention.
There’s so much to like about the Museum Mysteries: An engaging plot with a diverse cast of characters, great illustrations, and (especially appealing to me) lots of science. It seems to me that reluctant or struggling readers would really enjoy them. What has been the response?
I think the response has been good, particularly to the diversity of the cast.
What other books do you recommend to readers who enjoyed your Museum Mysteries?
Well, obviously the Field Trip Mysteries, which are thematically very similar to the Museum Mysteries. There’s a great resource for young mystery fans here and here.
Some may know you more for your young adult titles. How does your approach differ in writing for the different age groups?
It might be a symptom of writing mysteries for younger readers rather than the readers’ age, but I tend to rely more on an outline from the outset for my chapter books than for my longer novels for older readers. I can’t even begin a Museum Mystery without knowing everything about the crime, the suspects, and how it was done. With a longer novel, I tend to just start writing, knowing little more than a couple of characters, maybe a setting, and I see where it takes me before I step back and think about outlining.
Can we look forward to more middle-grade books from you?
There are two more Museum Mysteries in August of this year. And for spring 2017, we’re trying something new with the Field Trip Mysteries. I’ve pulled Sam, Cat, Gum, and Egg out of retirement, and next year they’ll star in four new You Choose mysteries, where readers can make choices for the junior sleuths and try to solve the crime. Stakes are high, and some endings will leave the culprit on the loose.
Steve has kindly offered to give away a set of two signed books from the Museum Mysteries series–The Case of the Stolen Spacesuit and The Case of the Missing Mom. Comment below before midnight on Friday, April 15 for a chance to win. The winner will be announced Saturday, April 16.
Jacqueline Houtman is the author of the middle-grade novel The Reinvention of Edison Thomas (Front Street/Boyds Mills Press 2010) and coauthor, with Walter Naegle and Michael G. Long, of the biography for young (and not-so-young) readers, Bayard Rustin: The Invisible Activist (Quaker Press 2014).
