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Sue Cowing for Mixed-up Files:  Today we’re talking with Michal Drannen of Powell’s Books  the huge (the main store fills a city block) and famous independent book store in Portland, Oregon that is a mecca for book-lovers, including children’s book lovers. 

 MUF: Powell’s City of Books in Portland has been called the world’s largest Independent bookstore, and the Rose Room, in the main store, must also be the largest collection of new and used children’s books. I always save up a list of titles and allow at least a day to browse and shop there when I’m in town.  How do you choose what books to carry and what titles to emphasize in store displays?
Michal: It’s really a mix of art and science. We use our long term experience and intuition as readers, booksellers and new book buyers to help us with each decision. We also use a variety of databases of sales and trends for many different subjects and keep up to date on national and local interests.The titles on display are determined by booksellers throughout the company, selecting books they are passionate about and what they think the customers at each store location would be interested in seeing.

MUF: The children’s department at your Cedar Hills Crossing store is also well stocked and inviting and hosts some children’s events.  Is there a difference in emphasis between the two?
Michal: We work very hard at getting a variety of books in the right place at the right time. There aren’t any differences in inventory strategy between the two stores. We might not have the same books at both locations, but that would result from the buying choices and reading preferences of the customers at each location, not from a purchasing strategy that aims to differentiate the books by location.

MUF: What atmosphere do you aim for in your children’s departments?  How does this fit with the general “culture” and philosophy of Powell’s?
Michal: Occupying an entire city block, Powell’s City of Books is made up of nine color coded rooms, with 4 floors and an annex across the street. The bookcases tower to near ceiling height which creates a feeling of deep book canyons down every aisle. Customers comment on the extraordinary feeling of ‘books’ from being in the store. This holds true in our children’s section as well. We are passionate about books. We love the experience of serendipitous discovery, and it’s apparent in the atmosphere of our stores.

MUF:Portland has so many bookstores!  It must be great to be in the book business in such a great reading town.  Though Powell’s is famous nationwide and a tourist attraction, it also maintains a close connection with the Portland community.  Please tell us something about that.
Michal: Powell’s wouldn’t be what it is today without the support of our community. We are incredibly fortunate to have customers and a community that feels deeply connected to us and to the world of books and ideas.

MUF: If an eleven-year-old reader came into your store looking for something new to read, how would he/she find what he/she wanted? Do your booksellers read all those books?
Michal: Sections within the store are divided into subsections, so customers interested in a particular subject (say… activity books, dinosaurs, history, or fairy tales) can quickly find books on a particular topic or area of interest. We also share recommendations through staff picks, displays, and personalized recommendations based on a customer’s reading. With over 1 million books on our shelves and new books arriving daily, it’s not possible for us to read every book on our shelves, but we are avid readers and like sharing with customers the books we have connected with.

MUF: As middle-grade authors, we have to ask.  Beyond the obvious bestsellers are there some staff favorites—new or old, fiction or nonfiction—that you are recommending to nine-to-twelve-year-old readers right now?
Michal: For fiction, we are enjoying: Twistrose Key by Tone Almhjell, Mister Max The Book of Lost Things by Cynthia Voigt, Rooftoppers by Katherine Rundell, and Oddfellows Orphanage by Portland author Emily Winfield Martin. For nonficiton, we like:The Goods by McSweeneys, Nelson Mandela by Kadir Nelson,anything in the Basher Science Series, and Stout Hearted Seven Orphaned on the Oregon Trail by  Neta Lohnes Frazier.

When did you see him last?

MUF:Thanks, Michal.  I’ve just now ordered two of those titles from your store!  What have been your most memorable Middle Grade author events or activities at Powell’s?
Michal: We host over 500 author readings every year, many of which are children’s authors. In just the past few weeks we’ve hosted such authors as Lemony Snicket (Daniel Handler), Jeff Kinney, Brandon Sanderson, and Simone Elkeles.

MUF: If a family from out of town visits Powell’s on a day or weekend trip, what other unique family activities in Portland should they be sure not to miss while they’re there?
Michal: Portland has a good number of family-friendly attractions and activities including: Oregon Museum of Science and Industry,The Northwest Children’s Theater,Oregon Children’s Theatre,Tears of Joy Puppet Theatre,Oregon Zoo and Portland Children’s Museum.

MUF:  Thank you Michal for giving us a look inside your store!  Children’s book readers, if you’ve never had the experience of browsing in the children’s books department at Powell’s, put Portland on your itinerary. It’s worth the trip! And if you have, please comment here and tell others what’s unique about the place.

Sue Cowing is the author of the puppet-and-boy novel, You Will Call Me Drog (Carolrhoda, 2011, Usborne UK 2012)

Today we’re welcoming middle-grade author Stephanie Greene to the Mixed-Up Files!

Stephanie grew up surrounded by children’s books–her mother was a celebrated author–but these days she’s written a host of middle-grade novels and chapter books and becoming a prolific, award-winning author herself.

Welcome, Stephanie! We can’t wait to hear about your new novel… and everything else in the world of Stephanie Greene! Tell us about your new middle-grade novel Sophie Hartley and the Facts of Life.

Sophie is a reluctant pre-teen. When she hears that the fifth grade girls are going to watch “the movie” about human development, she doesn’t want anything to do with it. But her best friend Alice wants to know, so Sophie sets out to find out a tiny bit she can share, while keeping the respect of her peers who might think she’s a baby in not wanting to know all the gory details. To Sophie, the entire subject of P-U-berty stinks.

The conventional wisdom seems to be that teens (and YA novels) have the most angst and conflict, but Facts of Life is packed with troubles aplenty as Sophie confronts growing from a little girl to a young woman. What is it about this big childhood transition point that attracts you as a writer? How is your approach the same or different than someone writing YA?

Nine-and ten-year-olds face changes in their lives that feel every bit as catastrophic to them as anything a 15-year-old is facing, yet they’re armed with less information and sophistication. It’s a vulnerable and appealing age to me. I think children suffer angst at every stage of life, it’s that teens are more vocal about it. Writing any book, no matter what genre, starts off with the need for a strong narrative arc. After that, the depth and drama of the conflict has to change to reflect the age of the protagonist; the hurdles the protagonist must overcome increase in difficulty as the genre ages up; and the resolution might become more dramatic, depending on the story. A toddler discovers the shadow in the closet isn’t a monster, it’s his backpack vs. the girl warrior who tried to save the world lies at death’s door in preparation for the next book in the trilogy. Lol.

Facts of Life tackles a tricky subject– the facts of life, themselves. How did you approach this topic for the middle-grade readers. How important was humor when addressing this sensitive topic? What reaction have your received, negative or positive?

I can’t think of an adult woman I know, or a nine-or-ten-year old who I’ve talked to, who doesn’t cringe at the memory of, or anticipation about, having to see “the movie.” Puberty is embarrassing. I didn’t plan on the story moving in the direction it did when I started writing. It moved by itself. But using some humor felt important to me if I wasn’t going to embarrass the heck out of Sophie and readers, alike. It’s hard to be sincere about P-U-berty. Anyway, it makes me laugh.

Reaction so far has been great. PW said, “the author lightheartedly yet earnestly portrays the shifting dynamics of being on the cusp of middle school.” Booklist called it “wryly amusing, perceptive story,” while CCB said, “Greene paints a convincing picture of the last breath of childhood with sensitivity and humor.”

The first Sophie Hartley book was published in 2005. To what do you attribute Sophie’s longevity?

First, I have to give credit to my editor, Dinah Stevenson, at Clarion. She makes every book better. After that, I guess I’d have to say that Sophie’s a funny, appealing character who gets herself into situations readers seem to identify with. I think there’s a continuing need for realistic, character-driven, middle grade books.

Did you base Sophie on a real girl? When you’re writing do you ever imagine a particular reader?

Sophie’s many girls who I’ve known. She’s also a bit of me, I suppose. But she’s an original. No, I never imagine a reader. I know writers are sometimes told to keep their readers in mind, but that’s never made that much sense to me.

In many middle grade novels the main character undergoes a fairly large transformation from the beginning of the story to the end. In the earlier books in this series Sophie was nine- now she’s ten, struggling with the idea of becoming a teenager. How have you balanced letting this character grow and change with keeping her relevant to your target age middle grade readers?

I haven’t purposefully balanced it. Unlike some middle grade books in which there’s high drama, the Sophie books are quieter. They chart the course of one, nine- and then ten-year-old girl, just trying to get along, not get into trouble, or get herself out of trouble … in short, grow up. Her siblings and family and friends are also going through their own, similarly painful growing pains, so there’s more in the books for readers than the story about one girl.

You write two other middle grade series- Princess Posey (including the brand new Princess Posey and the Christmas Magic) and Owen Foote. What different writing challenges do these books pose. How are they different from your Sophie books?

The Posey books are early chapter books, while the Owen books are chapter books. Stepping-stone genres to fill the needs of readers as they mature, is how I think of it. They’re different because the protagonist in each series is a different person, so they face different situations and solve them differently. The Posey books are short. Short is hard to write. Plot and emotion and character development have to be conveyed in short, yet effective, sentences. The Owen Foote books are longer (about 10,000 words) and about boys, so I had to understand and know boys to write those. The Sophie books are about her, yes, but also her large family. My experience growing up as the middle of five children helped me there.

Stephanie has all the bases covered when it comes to writing for middle-grade readers– and understanding middle-grade kids.

Thanks so much, Stephanie! I’ve read Sophie Hartley and the Facts of Life and I give it two thumbs up! I just wish it had been around when I was at that… questioning time! No blushing necessary.

Tami Lewis Brown still wonders about the birds and the bees… and how she’s going to complete her next middle-grade novel!

First, the disclaimer.

Any reading is good reading. I believe this! Working in the library children’s room, I put it into action all the time. I’ll do whatever it takes to set the book a child wants into her eager hands.

I do this even when I’m itching to give her what I consider a better book. Hey, I’m no snob. I like a good, plotty page-turner, too. I like me a book with adorable photos of puppies, or horrifying close-ups of sharks.

Sometimes. The truth is, most of the books piled beside my bed and under my desk are character-driven fiction. Give me a compelling voice and I’ll follow it anywhere, not caring a whole lot what happens next. Give me characters who see the world in ways that startle me. Give me characters whose every thought and feeling is one I recognize. Real, breathing, complex characters, that’s what I want, yeah, that’s what I want!

So it was quietly gratifying to come across a recent study, reported in the journal “Science”, that claims “literary fiction” is where it’s at. Writers like Anton Chekhov and Alice Munro, Katherine Patterson and Lynne Rae Perkins, can increase a reader’s empathy, social perception, and emotional intelligence. Could the world use more of these skills, I ask you?

Reporting on the study, the New York Times said, “The researchers say the reason is that literary fiction often leaves more to the imagination, encouraging readers to make inferences about characters and be sensitive to emotional nuance and complexity.” In the best literary fiction, they go on, there’s no single view of the world. “Each character presents a different version of reality, and they aren’t necessarily reliable. You have to participate as a reader in this dialectic, which is really something you have to do in real life.” By contrast, these social psychologists said, “popular fiction seems to be more focused on the plot.”

Before I get too smug about my own tastes, let me cite another research study, done back in 2012, published in the journal NeuroImage and reported, again, in the New York Times. (Full disclosure: I am not a science geek. I’m a New York Times geek.) This research found the brain doesn’t make much distinction between encountering an experience for real, and reading a well-written account of it. This goes not just for the subtle and introspective, but for car chases, explosions, and kissing, too. The same synapses fire; the same neurological stuff occurs.

“Keith Oatley, an emeritus professor of cognitive psychology at the University of Toronto (and a published novelist), has proposed that reading produces a vivid simulation of reality, one that ‘runs on minds of readers just as computer simulations run on computers.’ Fiction — with its redolent details, imaginative metaphors and attentive descriptions of people and their actions — offers an especially rich replica. Indeed, in one respect novels go beyond simulating reality to give readers an experience unavailable off the page: the opportunity to enter fully into other people’s thoughts and feelings.”

It’s so nice to have one’s intuitions confirmed. Most lifelong readers sense how reading, that imagined walk in other shoes, increases compassion. Now we can point to studies and say, “Science proves it!” It’s also something to ponder, what with the Common Core favoring non-fiction over fiction, and colleges reporting a continuous drop in humanities majors. When I was in college, we talked about making our lives “relevant”. What could be more relevant than fostering empathy?

Louise Erdrich, who writes for both kids and adults, whose brilliant literary novels are strong on character and plot, and who, as a book store owner, cares a lot about people’s reading choices, deserves the last word here. “It’s nice to be told what we write is of social value,” she said. “However, I would still write even if novels were useless.”

As if!

The two studies cited here are:

http://well.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/10/03/i-know-how-youre-feeling-i-read-chekhov/

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/18/opinion/sunday/the-neuroscience-of-your-brain-on-fiction.html?emc=eta1

Tricia writes what she likes to read: books with juicy characters. Her most recent middle grade novels are “Mo Wren, Lost and Found” and “What Happened on Fox Street”. The first book in her new middle grade series, “Not Even Cody”, will publish in 2015.