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Monsters, Lockers, Burgers, and Beyonce: Jorge Aguirre answers the important questions

By on October 17, 2024   /   Author Interviews  
Monster Locker: a book cover featuring a sixth grade boy looking fearful as a monster tries to escape a locker

True story: Jorge Aguirre throws a good party. 

I had the pleasure of experiencing this firsthand one day last summer, when Jorge hosted a salon of local writers. We ate, we chatted, we enjoyed the starry sky–and when I saw he had a new middle grade novel, MONSTER LOCKER, coming out this month, I just had to ask him some questions. 

First, a little about Jorge: He’s both an author and a television writer/producer, where he specializes in children’s shows. (He’s even been nominated for an Emmy…twice!) His latest book, MONSTER LOCKER, is a middle grade graphic novel series illustrated by Andrès Vera Martinez, in which a sixth-grader named Pablo and his friends must stop various monsters that emerge from a portal inside of his locker from destroying their entire grade school. Who can worry about homework at a time like that?

Interview with Jorge Aguirre

Morgan Baden: Jorge, thank you for being here today! If you could describe MONSTER LOCKER in just five words, what would you say?

Jorge Aguirre: Pablo kicks Aztec monsters butts.

MB: There are some mythology elements to this book that I really loved. And kids seem to love mythology, too! What do you think makes myths so enduring to generation after generation of readers?

JA: With monster tales, there is always a hero. I think we like to root for a valiant hero. And what’s a better foe for a valiant hero to face off against than a monster?

An interior panel of MONSTER LOCKER

MB: You co-created MONSTER LOCKER with artist Andrés Vera Martinez. What was your favorite part of that collaboration? 

JA: I love when Andrés surprises me with artwork that is better than I imagined. That’s the talent of an artist: to bring something fresh the table. The writer builds the airplane but the artist knows how to make it fly and do loop-de-loops (but not so many loop-de-loops that the passengers vomit).

MB: How did your partnership work?

JA: Andrés and I had a lot of conversations. I had the original story. Then he had a lot of, “What about this…” questions. And all those What Abouts lead your story to places you might not have gone if you were on the path alone. 

MB: The iconic RL Stine often talks about how it’s important for kids to sometimes be scared by what they’re reading. What are your thoughts on that? Would you agree with that, and if so, why? 

JA: Oh sure. I mean, I think the idea behind his view is it’s good to challenge readers. Emotionally and intellectually. 

MB: You’re not just a writer of children’s books — you’re also an Emmy Award-nominated TV producer and writer. How does writing books like MONSTER LOCKER differ from your television writing?

JA: Structurally, process-wise, and creatively it’s nearly the same. But most of my animation writing work is for a younger audience. I get to tell more complex stories in my books. And I get to feature a reasonable amount of butt-kicking. Also, TV is a very collaborative process. There are teams of directors, networks, producers who all have strong opinions about how to tell a particular story. My job as an animation writer for TV is to execute my vision, but through the lens of all the other stakeholders. In graphic novels it’s only the writer, the artist, and your editor. And if you have a creative, talented book agent like we do, then she’s in the mix too. That’s still a much, much, muuuuuuuuuch smaller team. 

MB: MONSTER LOCKER is out now! Do you have any rituals or traditions to celebrate the release of a book?

JA: I like to take my book off the shelf and look at it. I think about all the work it took to get this thing from an idea in my head to a published book on my shelf. I smile for about 4.5 seconds. And then I get back to work on the next one. 

Photo Credit: Otero + Seclen Photography

Lightning round!

MB: Share your one-word answers to the following:

  • Early bird or night owl? Early.
  • Laptop or desktop? Laptop. 
  • Coffee or tea? Coffee. (Soooooo much coffee!)
  • Winter or summer? Fall. (Okay, okay. Summer. But why isn’t Fall an option? What do you have against Fall?) 
  • Plotter or pantser? Plotter! But a plotter who lets the work surprise me along the way.
  • Halloween or 4th of July? Halloween.
  • Binge-watch or savor a show? Savor. 
  • Revise as you go, or churn out a messy draft? Messy! Always make a mess first and clean it up later. Because if you don’t, then you’ll never have something to clean up.
  • Pizza or burgers? Burgers. But ask me again tomorrow and I may say pizza. 
  • Taylor or Beyonce? Beyoncé. Please don’t come after me, Swifties. I have total respect for TS, but the interviewer is forcing me to pick one! Blame her!

I will accept the blame. Readers, I hope you check out MONSTER LOCKER – it’s perfect not just for this spooky season, but all year long! 

About Jorge:

Jorge Aguirre is an author and TV writer. Two-time Emmy nominated, he created, co-developed, and co-produced Disney Junior’s, Goldie & Bear. He’s the Head Writer and Co-Executive Producer of the PBS Kids/Fred Rogers Production show, Alma’s Way. He’s written preschool shows for Disney, Jr., Nick, Jr., PBS, Amazon, and Netflix. He wrote the graphic novel series The Chronicles of Claudette, which he co-created with artist Rafael Rosado (First Second Books/Macmillan). The first book, Giants Beware was called a “Rollicking fun story” by the New York Times; it received a starred review from Publisher’s Weekly and was a nominee for a Texas Bluebonnet Award. The sequels are Dragons Beware and Monsters Beware. His latest book with artist Rafael Rosado is Call Me Iggy, a middle-grade graphic novel about a Colombian kid in Columbus, Ohio. Kirkus gave the book a starred review and called it, “A pitch-perfect example of teenage explorations of cultural identity. (Graphic fiction. 13-18).” His new graphic novel series, Monster Locker, with artist Andrés Vera Martínez, comes out in October 2024. A Colombian-American born and raised in Columbus, Ohio, Aguirre calls the great state of New Jersey home.

 

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Diversity in MG Lit #49 Aug., Sept,. & Oct. 2024

By on October 16, 2024   /   Articles  
Lots of great new diverse middle grade books in the last few months. These books are representative of what comes my way at the independent bookstore where I work and are by no means the only diverse books that have published in the last few months. As always I love to see further recommendations in the comments.
I’m going to begin not with a diverse book but one of particularly timely interest Your Vote Matters: how we elect the US book cover Your Vote matters President, by Rebecca Katzman, Scholastic, 2024. There are many books on electoral politics. This one is concise yet comprehensive. It offers the broadest introductory information about things like caucuses, primaries, voting rights and political parties. It’s even handed and current up to the 2020 election. However, it does not mention the Jan 6th insurrection. Given the target audience of 3rd to 5th graders I have mixed feelings on the omission. I think it’s worth overlooking that problem in favor of having a useful guide to electoral politics for this age range.
Disability is the least served segment of diverse readers so I was happy to see a new series from the Mayo Clinic Press. It’s called Helping Paws Academy  They are early readers and use the vehicle of hospital or clinic therapy dogs to give information about various medical conditions ranging from cuts and stitches to leukemia. I read Cricket Gives Comfort: exploring epilepsy. The prose was plain and clear and the illustrations fairly basic, but I was impressed by the amount of ground it covered in a straightforward way. It was written by a physician, Pat McCaw MD, and there are six initial titles. This would be a great resource for a school library.
As always there are many new MG novels in the fantasy ca

Book cover The Crossbow of Destinytegory that mix mythology, magic, and world cultures. Here is a round up of the most recent and the world culture they represent.

Jaden Powers and the Inheritance Magic, by Jamar J Perry. African-American. Bloomsbury
The Crossbow of Destiny by Brandon Hoàng. Vietnamese. Scholastic Press
Beware the Heartman by Shakirah Bourne. Bajan. Scholastic Press.
Jasmine is Haunted by Mark Oshiro. Queer and Latinx. Tor, Starscape

book cover Kwame Crashes the Underworld

Kwame Crashes the Underworld by Craig Kofi Farmer. Ghanian. Farmer is a debut author. Roaring Brook Press
I’m always happy to see a good sports book for MG readers and elated to see three sports-based graphic novels.
Like Irish step dancing, Lion dancing is both a cultural expression and an athletic competition. Cai Tse is a lion dancer herself and a member of the Chinese Youth League of Australia. She brings her experiences exuberently to life in
Book cover Lion DancersLion Dancers. Simon & Schuster
We are Big Time  written by Hena Khan and Illustrated by Safiya Zerrougui, Random House, tells the story of an all hijabi basketball team in the midwest finding success on the court and a deeper Muslim identity. Zerrougui is a debut illustrator.
book cover Between the PipesBetween the Pipes is a graphic novel about a 13 year old gay First Nations hockey player in Canada navigating both his own culture and the toxic masculinity of high contact sports. The author Albert McLeod is Cree and Metis and a human rights activist specializing in 2Spirit history and identity. The artist, Alice RL, is a non-binary Ojibwe. Highwater Press, Winnipeg, Manitoba.
Sticking with graphic novels but shifting to historical fiction and nonfiction, Black Lives: great minds of science by Tonya Bolden, illustrated by David Wilkerson is a new graphic novel series from Abrams. It delves into the lives of nine African-American scientists. Each one includes a life timeline and endnotes. The book is geared for the younger MG reader and will serve as a great introduction to science professions from aviator to marine biologist.
book cover PearlPearl by Sherri L. Smith, illustrated by Chistine Norrie, Scholastic, covers ground I have not yet seen in a book for a MG reader. Set in WWII Hawaii and Japan, it’s the story of a young American woman who was sent to Japan before the attack on Pearl Harbor and survived the bombing of Hiroshima. It’s based on a memoir and because of the topic I’d recommend it for older MG grade readers.
When We Flew Away:  a novel of Anne Frank before the diary by Alice Hoffman, Scholastic Press, is a prose novel about the years before the Frank family went into hiding in Amsterdam. It chronicles the relentless deterioration of their human rights. The book is written with the cooperation of the Anne Frank House.
book cover The Salt ThiefThe Salt Thief: Gandhi’s heroic march to freedom by Neal Bascomb is not just the story of Gandhi’s march to the sea but also a look at his influence on peaceful protest in the years following his activism. It comes with extensive bibliography and source notes. Scholastic Focus
Stealing Little Moon: the legacy of the American Indian boarding schools, by Dan Sasuweh Jones is an extensive chronicle of Indigenous people in America. It’s a heartbreaking read and follows, in part, four generations of the author’s family and their incarceration at Chilocco Indian Agricultural School. It includes historic photographs and an extensive bibliography of resources. It mentions many boarding schools across a more than a hundred years of cruel and shocking history. It does end with recent efforts of Deb Haaland, the Secretary of the Interior, to investigate and fully report on the Indian schools and information about the National Native American Boarding School Healing Coalition. Dan Sasuweh Jones is a former chairman of he Ponca Tribe of Indians of Oklahoma. Scholastic.
Thanks for supporting diverse books!
Rosanne
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STEM Tuesday — Bioluminesence– Writing Tips & Resources

By on October 15, 2024   /   Bioluminescence, STEM Tuesday  

 

What do bobtail squids, comb jellies, and lanternsharks have in common? Along with many other living things, these marine creatures glow in the dark. But why? In terms of economies, what does bioluminescence do for an animal? For some, it helps them attract mates—or meals. For vampire squids, it’s actually a defense mechanism; instead of squirting ink like other cephalopods, they squirt glowing mucus to distract predators. In terms of how creatures glow in the dark, there are multiple answers. But we’ll get to that in a minute. For now, why is an important question, one that leads to our first exercise.

Writing Prompt 1 | Facts as Fantasy Seeds

I’ve personally found that some of my best fiction writing germinates from simple facts. For example:

“Soldiers in the trenches sometimes used glowworms to read maps without drawing dangerous attention to themselves” (35)

GLOW: The WILD WONDERS OF BIOLUMINESCENCE BY JENNIFER N. R. SMITH

What ingenuity! This cool fact is a perfect seed for a fictional premise.

Come up with a glowing fantasy creature. Why does it glow? Choose one of the reasons listed above, or invent your own. How has this creature influenced the world in which it lives? What inventions has this living-glow technology inspired? How might your glowing creature factor into the plot of your book? What problems might bioluminescent life forces be able to solve – in what low-light situations might they ethically (or unethically, if you’re writing a dystopian novel) be put to use? Brainstorm for at least 15 minutes, taking down every writerly thought you have. For extra credit, sketch your creature.

Adapt the Exercise for Classroom Use
What are your students’ favorite animals and why? Use the bioluminescence prompt above with students as-is, or let them choose their own found fact to work with.

Writing Prompt 2 | What’s the Difference?

Again from Smith’s book GLOW, when reading about bioluminescence, I noticed two related words: biofluorescence and biophosphorescence. They all have to do with glowing in the dark, but the differences are scientifically significant. Let’s take a look:

  1. Fireflies and glow sticks are both examples of luminescence; they work due to chemical reactions. The other two don’t create light through chemical reactions, but capture light from other sources.)
  2. Fluorescent materials absorb non-visible light and convert it into visible light, emitting no afterglow. Sapphires, amber, pearls, and other gemstones are prime examples of fluorescent materials because they glow under UV light, but stop glowing immediately when the light is turned off. Biofluorescent organisms include polka-dot tree frogs, hawksbill sea turtles, and scorpions.
  3. Phosphorescent materials store the light they absorb, emitting it more slowly. Because their glow lasts for a while after their initial exposure to a light source, glow-in-the-dark stars are an example of phosphorescence. The study of biophosphorescence—phosphorescence in living organisms—is relatively new, with reports of such in rice, starch, and millipedes.

All this to say, paying attention to words’ definitions can make a huge difference. Before beginning, select three to five sentences from a work-in-progress. They could be from an article, a novel, an essay. Whatever you (or your students, if you’re using this as a classroom activity) are working on.

This second writing exercise is inspired by Several Short Sentences about Writing by Verlyn Klinkenborg. He wrote that to be a writer,

“You need an ever-growing vocabulary—

and with it the awareness

that most words carry several meanings.

You need to look up even familiar words

every time you have a doubt

and especially

when you don’t have a doubt.

That is, very often.

That is, every time you write” (58).

With this in mind, look up the definitions of every noun, verb, and adjective in your sentences and revise each sentence in at least two different ways. Here are some tips:

  • Wherever there’s an -ly adverb, consider upgrading your verb.
  • Consider what each sentence denotes (literally means) vs. what it connotes (implies). Is it doing the work you intend? Browse a thesaurus to find other words that may capture your intended meaning(s) more accurately.
  • Moving from known information to new information is one way to ensure that you don’t lose readers. Could rearranging your sentences’ phrases clarify your meaning(s)?
  • Consider how the revised sentences compare with the originals. Did you learn anything new during this process?

If you try these exercises, comment below about how they worked for you, or hop over to my website and contact me.

Best,

Stephanie Jackson

A nature-loving creative, Stephanie Jackson writes poems, articles, picture books, middle-grade novels, and more. Her nonfiction has been published in Cricket magazine and her poems have been published in The Dirigible Balloon and various literary journals including Touchstones, where she’s been a contributing poetry editor. Professional affiliations include the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) and The Authors Guild. In 2025, she’s graduating from Utah Valley University with her English degree, emphasis in creative writing. She interacts with the kidlit community on Twitter as @canoesandcosmos, and you can read more at StephanieWritesforKids.com.

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