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Mother’s Day was yesterday, and across the land, mothers were celebrated with cards and flowers, brunches and lovingly-made breakfasts in bed. It is the day that more international phone calls are made than any other day of the year.

In the land of middle-grade, though, the tribute to motherhood can be a bit more backhanded. In preparation for this post, I went back through my Goodreads list to kickstart my rusty ol’ neural net and realized that mothers in middle-grade are frequently in short supply for a variety of reasons: out of the country, death, a choice not to be involved or just a convenient stage left, exit mom. In short, in middle-grade books, a good mom can be hard to find!

The fact that good mothers are a scarce commodity in middle-grade comes as no surprise; it speaks to the power of motherhood. Mothers usually help children avoid bad decisions, stay away from dangerous situations and provide a safe place to land when trouble happens. All of these situations are frequently the stuff of middle-grade books. The presence of a mom could eliminate a serious chunk of plot!

In spite of these literary obstacles, though, there are some stand-out moms in middle-grade who deserve recognition. Feel free to add your favorite middle-grade mom in the comments! Here are mine.

Molly Weasley, of the Harry Potter series, by J.K. Rowling: All moms are busy, but Mrs. Weasley might take the prize of multi-tasker of the year. Planning a wedding, riding herd over a passel of kids including George and Fred, and battling those pesky Death Eaters takes an admirable level of grit and organization. And she does all of this while making Harry feel welcome in her home as one of her own. (Though a magic wand for housecleaning…what could us real-life moms do with that!)

Caroline Ingalls, from the Little House series, by Laura Ingalls Wilder: If I had to put one mom on Survivor, I think it would have to be Caroline Ingalls. Think of it: this woman made a fine apple pie with no apples, survived the long winter with a coffee grinder and a button, and smacked a bear on the nose with her bare hand! (Okay, she thought it was a cow, but still…) When a log rolled on to her ankle (she was helping to build the family cabin, you know), she wrapped it up and kept going. Mrs. Ingalls would dust those other Survivor contestants, with a smile on her face and never once whine or compromise her integrity.

Mrs. Murray, from A Wrinkle in Time, by Madeleine L’Engle: My friend, Madelyn Rosenberg, said it best, “Mrs. Murray from Wrinkle in Time was the epitome of awesome — she was like a walking Enjoli ad — She was a scientist, she cooked delicious stew on her bunsen burner, she raised her kids on her own while her husband was away, she tried to understand her children and celebrate their differences, and she was always okay having new people over for dinner.”

Mrs. Hatcher, from Tales of a Fourth-Grade Nothing by Judy Blume: While many of the most memorable things in the book happen when Mrs. Hatcher leaves the scene (what didn’t happen when she left the guys alone to visit her sister?), I’m putting Mrs. Hatcher in for one simple reason: she acknowledges she made a mistake after blaming Peter for his little brother’s accident on the playground.

“Peter, I said some things yesterday that I didn’t really mean.”

I looked at her. “Honest?” I asked.

“Yes…you see…I was very upset over Fudge’s accident and I had to blame somebody. So I picked on you.”

“Yes,” I said. “You sure did.”

“It wasn’t your fault though. I know that. It was an accident. It could have happened even if I had been in the playground myself.”

“He wanted to fly,” I said. “He thought he was a bird.”

“I don’t think he’ll try to fly again,” my mother said.

“Me neither,” I told her.

Then we both laughed and I knew she was my real mother after all.

The whole scene from beginning to end was written so honestly, I still remember the first time I read those words, and suddenly liking Mrs. Hatcher at a whole new level.

Every mom on this list reminds me of at least one great mom I know in real life: she is gritty and smart, takes on too much but leaves time to love her kids (and maybe a few extra kids who need it). She frequently can make something out of nothing.  She makes mistakes but sets things right.

And great moms, in life and in fiction, know when to step back, and let their children create their own stories.

We will miss the authors that recently left who all contributed immensely to our blog. In our recent call for new members, we had so many wonderful applications from those hoping to join us on the Mixed-Up Files that it was a really tough decision. We felt as stumped as this guy:

We may not be able to fit them all, but we’d like to announce the following eleven new contributing members of From the Mixed-Up Files…of Middle-Grade Authors:

Greg Fishbone
Linda Johns
Michelle Schusterman
Jaye Robin Brown
T.P. Jagger
Erin Shakespear
Jen Gennari
Michele Weber Hurwitz
Yolanda Ridge
Jonathan Rosen
Bruce Eschler

We are excited to have these amazing writers joining in the Mixed-Up fun!  Be watching for their debut entries later this summer.  In the meantime, if you’d like to learn a little more about our new members, please feel free to peruse their bios on our Mixed-Up Author Bios page.

Welcome to our new Mixed-Up Authors!

Welcome Lynne Kelly to the Mixed-Up Files! Her debut novel, CHAINED, released into the wild today! Lynne grew up in Houston, lived in a couple of much colder places, then returned to the Houston area, where she works as a sign language interpreter and writes novels for children and young adults.

About CHAINED: After ten-year-old Hastin’s family borrows money to pay for his sister’s hospital bill, he leaves his village in northern India to take a job as an elephant keeper and work off the debt. He thinks it will be an adventure, but he isn’t prepared for the cruel circus owner. The crowds that come to the circus see a lively animal who plays soccer and balances on milk bottles, but Hastin sees Nandita, a sweet elephant and his best friend, who is chained when she’s not performing and hurt with a hook until she learns tricks perfectly. Hastin protects Nandita as best as he can, knowing that the only way they will both survive is if he can find a way for them to escape. (from IndieBound)

What inspired you to write CHAINED?

The idea started when I was at a presentation and heard the tale “Don’t Be Like The Elephant,” about how a small rope or chain can hold a full-grown elephant because once they give up trying to break free, they never try again. It’s meant to be an example of learned helplessness or self-limiting behavior, but I got the idea then to write a picture book manuscript about a captive elephant that breaks free and returns home. After taking it to a couple of critique groups, some people noticed that the story needed to be told as a novel, not as a picture book. At the time I couldn’t imagine writing it as a novel, but now I can’t imagine it any other way. So little by little I worked on expanding the story into a novel, with lots of revisions along the way, changing from third person to first person point of view, past tense to present tense, the elephant from a boy to a girl, and more revisions.

There have been so many versions of the story; it’s unrecognizable from the first picture book draft, although you’ll still see that big elephant held by the same small chain that held her when she was first captured.

I was surprised by the elephant behavior described in the story. I had no idea an elephant could be mischievous, like filling the bell tied around their neck with mud so it doesn’t ring and they can’t be found. Or that they’d attach to a human so much that they’d follow them around. How did you discover so much about their behavior?

Elephants are so smart and have such personality, so they were a lot of fun to research! Thank goodness for DVRs and the Internet. I did a lot of reading about elephants, online and in books, and recorded any elephant documentary I could find. Plus I talked to some people who’ve worked with them; the Houston Zoo has had some “Elephant Open House” events, and I went to a few of those to see the elephants close-up and talk to the keepers about how they take care of them.

The child labor that 10-year-old Hastin is forced into at the circus, with little hope of ever leaving, is tragic. Is there anything being done to protect children like Hastin?

India has laws forbidding the hiring of children, but in some areas the laws are loosely enforced. There are parts of the country where families live with the kind of poverty most of us can’t even imagine, and many families are desperate enough to send their children to work. New laws have been enacted more recently to expand the restrictions on hiring children, and advocacy groups in India are fighting to protect the country’s children. Until 2010, circuses were exempt from child labor laws, and just last year the Supreme Court in India ordered the government to better enforce the new ban by raiding circuses and rescuing underage employees.

Nandita the elephant is taught circus tricks and is often subject to harsh punishment with a sharp hook when she fails to perform as expected. Was this based on real life? Are there safeguards for animals like Nandita?

Like the child labor laws, there have been laws in India to protect elephants, but the laws haven’t always been enforced. There’s a long tradition in India of having trained elephants in circuses. It isn’t easy to train such a large animal, and although there are kinder ways of working with them, some trainers are more violent in their approach. It’s only been since 2009 that elephants have been banned in Indian circuses. Of course things don’t change overnight, so there are people in India working to enforce the laws and move the elephants to new homes in the wild or in sanctuaries. Elephant Aid International is one group that works to improve the lives of captive elephants and “retired” elephants from circuses and zoos in India.

How did you write so convincingly of India?

That was probably the biggest challenge in the book–writing about India, without having been there, in a way that would be clear to readers who didn’t know anything about it, yet authentic to those who were familiar with it. Again I did a lot of research by reading and looking at pictures online, but the best research was talking to people who’ve lived there. A reporter in India helped me come up with what Hastin’s house would look like, and I asked questions of several people who’d lived in India. Before my agent search, I had a full manuscript critique from author Uma Krishnaswami, who read it again more recently to vet it for publication.

I read on your blog that you made your own book trailer. Was that difficult? Any advice to other writers contemplating doing the same?

It took some time, but it wasn’t difficult; mostly it involved dragging pictures into iMovie. For writers who want to make their own trailer, I think it’s a good idea to take a little time now and then to browse through stock photo sites and save pictures you might want to use later. Then when it’s time to make the trailer, you won’t be so pressed for time and it’ll be easier to put the trailer together. Most sites let you download a free comp photo so you can see if it’s what you really want, or you can take a screen shot of the sample photo. Make the trailer with the comp photos to see how it’s working, and get feedback from friends and your editor and agent before purchasing the final pictures, video clips, and music.

What’s next for you?

Something completely different–I’ve been revising my novel Reasons For Leaving, a humorous YA with some mystery to it. Then I’m back to middle-grade for the next novel, about an amateur forensic scientist with cryptozoologist parents.

And what’s your favorite middle-grade book?

Oh dear, just one? Umm…let’s see…I’m reading books all the time that become new favorites. But the first middle-grade novel I remember falling in love with was Norton Juster’s THE PHANTOM TOLLBOOTH.

To learn more about Lynne, check out her website: http://lynnekellybooks.com. Leave a comment to win a copy of CHAINED!

Karen B. Schwartz writes humorous middle-grade novels and raises humorous middle-grade kids.