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Reader: Impossible

By on May 6, 2013   /   Book Lists  

We’re starting a new feature on the blog called Reader: Impossible. This column was inspired by conversations with moms, looking for books for their kids. YOU are an important part of this feature; if you accept this mission of helping kids connect with books, chime in with your suggestions for Reader: Impossible or write in about your own reader! This post will self-destruct in five…four…okay, not really.

Dear Reader: Impossible,
My first grader is leaving easy readers behind, but she’s not quite reader for full-blown middle-grade books. I know there’s the Magic Treehouse series, but what other books are out there?
Signed,
Moving On Up

 

Dear MOU,

First, let’s congratulate your first grader for moving on to chapter books. It’s such an exciting time, and we definitely want to keep up the enthusiasm with great, just-the-right-length stories. Luckily, there are some really fantastic choices out there!

We are HUGE Ivy and Bean fans in this house. Author Annie Barrows manages to hit the 6-8 year-old sensibility right on the head, with big ideas (do we look like ants to somebody else?) and great humor. Fans of humor will also flock to Dan Gutman’s MY WEIRD SCHOOL series (look for an interview with Dan next month!).

ivy and bean

Fans of quieter books will enjoy the Lighthouse Family series by Cynthia Rylant. Pandora is a lonely lighthouse keeper cat until Seabold the dog washes up on her shores, and she nurses him back to health. They have many adventures together, and the beautiful illustrations will keep readers engaged.


There are also some great graphic novels out there for the younger set. My kids love Sardine in Outer Space and Ariol, both by Emmanuel Guibert. Frankie Pickle by Eric Wright features, a pint-sized protagonist with an outsized imagination. There are also some great hybrid novels, which combine traditional text and graphic storytelling. The Zapato Series by Jacqueline Jules fills the bill with readers following the adventures of Freddie Ramos and his amazing shoes.  This book won the CYBILS award in the short chapter books category.

There are also some wonderful non-fiction books for young readers. Pivotal moments in history come to life in graphic novel form in The Prison-Ship Adventure of James Forten, Revolutionary War Captive and The Prairie Adventure of Sarah and Annie, Blizzard Survivors, both by Marty Rhodes Figley. Cooking can also be a fun way to encourage reading comprehension and motivation! There are some wonderfully illustrated cookbooks that will engage a young reader, such as Kids’ Fun and Healthy Cookbook by Nicola Graimes.

Good luck! And please, readers, add your suggestions below.

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The Q & A

By on May 3, 2013   /   Book Lists  

hands up

 

How old are you?

How do you make the words small enough to fit inside the book?

Did you ever meet Jeff Kinney? No? What about J.K. Rowling?

How long does it take to make a book?

Doesn’t your hand get tired?

Well, did you ever meet Rick Riordan?

When are they going to make a movie out of your book?

Do you like cats or dogs better?

What about Mo Willems? Did you ever meet him?

Are you rich?

Can you please write a book about me?

 

The Q & A—it’s my second favorite part of an author visit. After I’ve blabbed away, I finally get to have a conversation. Meeting a writer would have been a revelation for me when I was a child. Much as I loved reading, I scarcely understood that books were created by people who ate corn flakes and watched TV, just like me. If  asked I’d have said authors all lived in England, in cottages covered with roses, and kept hedgehogs for pets. No wonder I was in my late 20s before it began to dawn on me that maybe I could write not only for myself, but for an audience. I could be a writer.

So it delights me to tell children that I’m afraid of heights, that I’m a terrible cook, that my father often disappointed me, that my cat is named Habibi, that I can’t pick a favorite book any more than I can a favorite daughter. Sometimes they ask where I get my ideas, but in general that’s more of a grown-up question. Most children I meet have more ideas than they know what to do with. The tough question is how to wrangle those ideas into stories. Often they ask about what to do when they get stuck, or what to do with all the stories they’ve started but never finished. Now and then someone will ask me a technical question so sophisticated and thoughtful, I know I’m talking to a fellow writer.

Some teachers have children write down questions in advance, which is wonderful, but it’s also cool to wing it and see what happens. One writer I know sneaks into the auditorium beforehand and tapes questions to the bottoms of random chairs—it’s a great ice breaker, and once that ice cracks, stand back. With the youngest students, it can be a challenge to know the difference between questions and comments.

 

I have a cat, too!

My auntie wrote a book.

I don’t like writing. I like wrestling. (When I suggested to this boy that he could write about wrestling, he looked at me as if I’d sprouted a second head).

Yours shoes are pretty.

 

Almost always, after all my blabbing and explaining and attempting to answer clearly and cleverly, someone will raise a hand, squint, and ask, “So, how do you make a book?” It’s the heart of the matter, of course, and maybe, in the end, words will always fail to illuminate it.

 

Writing is a solitary business, and spending time in schools and libraries is exhilarating and inspiring. My first favorite part of visits? Reading aloud. How much stories mean to children! How seriously, how personally, they take the fates of the characters. The stillness that comes over the room as I begin to read humbles me every time.

Tricia’s newest, PHOEBE AND DIGGER, is a picture book, but she’s found that middle grade readers are excellent at helping her do the sound effects. Rmmm!

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The Cubcake Club – Sheryl and Carrie, Mother-Daughter Co-Authors!

By on May 2, 2013   /   Author Interviews, For Kids, Publishing & Promotion  

As an author who writes books with her daughter, I was thrilled to be able to interview Sheryl and Carrie Berk, mother-daughter co-authors of the yummy The Cupcake Club series!

 

NEW Berk Author Photo credit Heidi Green Photography

New York Times bestselling co-author of Soul Surfer, SHERYL BERK is the founding editor in chief of Life & Style Weekly as well as a contributor to InStyle, Martha Stewart, and other publications. Her daughter, CARRIE, a cupcake connoisseur, cooked up the idea for The Cupcake Club series in second grade. Carrie maintains her own cupcake blog, featuring reviews, photos and recipes of her culinary adventures, called Carrie’s Cupcake Critiques: http://carriescupcakecritique.shutterfly.com/

 

 

Me:  Hi ladies!  Thanks for joining us here at the Mixed-Up Files!  We’re excited to have you.  As a mother-daughter author-duo myself,  I know it can be great fun working together.  I’m dying to know what your experience is like writing as a team.

Carrie: FUN! We love dreaming up the crazy cupcake adventures for the Peace, Love and Cupcakes girls!

Sheryl: It’s a great way for us to bond. It’s wonderful to have my daughter truly understand what my job is. Before when I was on deadlines, she would get frustrated. Now she gets it. She now says when she grows up she wants to be a writer like her mom which makes me very proud.

Carrie: I want to be a New York Times Bestselling author, too.

 

Me:  My daughter is learning what it’s like to be on deadline, too!  Well, we’re learning it together, so that’s been fun and challenging.  When working on new material, we love outlining, coming up with interesting ideas and creating loveable, relatable characters.  What do you consider the best part of writing together?

Sheryl: Probably cooking up the story arcs for each book. We love to dream where we can take the characters next.

Carrie: So I love Las Vegas, and we had to put that into Book 4: Icing on the Cake. Jenna’s mom is getting married in Vegas!

Sheryl: We also love coming up with the cupcakes the girls will bake in the book.

Carrie: I watch Cupcake Wars for ideas. They put crazy things in their cupcakes: like pickles, Brussel sprouts and sardines.

Sheryl: Writing together also helps me understand what’s important to her and kids her age. She’s suggested topics ranging from bullying to dyslexia to rescue dog organizations. I love to hear what’s on her mind.

Carrie: I love when I get to edit what my mom writes. I change a lot of the things the girls say in the book because I want it to sound real. I’m 10, so I know how 10 year olds talk.

 

Me: Ha! My daughter does the same thing!  She’s “keeping it real” because I talk like a mom.  What would you say was the inspiration for the Cupcake Club series?

Carrie: Well, I couldn’t find any books about girls my age and cupcakes and I wanted to read one. I was in second grade, and I was having a sleepover party with my BFF, and I just sat down and started writing one. I showed it to my mom and she showed it to her literary agent and everyone loved it. But the idea really just came from me loving cupcakes and wanting other kids to share in that.

Sheryl: Many of the things that happen in the book are inspired by Carrie’s real-life experiences and what her friends have experienced. For example, she’s a peer mediator in her school and she gets to mediate kids who are feeling bullied. She wanted to write this into the first book because she felt it was something kids wanted to understand better.

Carrie: I also named the characters after people I know, like Principal Fontina. My principal’s name is actually Ms. Fontana. I also had the girls baking to raise money for an Eco Center which is just like the one in my school, and performing a Shakespeare play–which we just did this year in Fifth Grade. I played Lady Macbeth.

Sheryl: Carrie started her cupcake blog (www.carriescupcakecritique.shutterfly.com) when she was about 7. I think reviewing cupcakes really inspired her. And she always loved to bake with her friends–an unofficial cupcake club!

 

Me:  It really is amazing how kids are inspired to write because of what they want to read.   On a side note….we’re fans of sweets in our house.  What’s your favorite cupcake flavor?

Sheryl: For me, it’s always anything with banana.

Carrie: Red Velvet. I always taste red velvet at every cupcake store I critique because I can tell how good the baker is by how good the Red Velvet is. The frosting has to be cream cheesy and not too whippy. The cake has to be moist and I want to be able to taste the chocolate.

Me:  You’re a smart girl.  I have to be able to taste the chocolate, too.  Preferrably by licking the batter right off the spoon!  Thanks for joining us here on the Mixed-Up Files today!  Good luck with your fun series!

CupcakeClub_cover.indd

 

Meet Kylie Carson.

She’s a fourth grader with a big problem. How will she make friends at her new school? Should she tell her classmates she loves monster movies? Forget it. Play the part of a turnip in the school play? Disaster! Then Kylie comes up with a delicious idea: What if she starts a cupcake club? Soon Kylie’s club is spinning out tasty treats with the help of her fellow bakers and new friends.

But when Meredith tries to sabotage the girls’ big cupcake party, will it be the end of the Cupcake Club?

 

cupcake club

Meet Sadie.

When she’s not mixing it up on the basketball court, she’s mixing the perfect batter with her friends in the cupcake club. Sadie’s definitely no stranger to competition, but the oven mitts are off when the club is chosen to appear on Battle of the Bakers, the ultimate cupcake competition on TV.

But the real battle happens off camera when the club’s baking business starts losing money.

With the clock ticking and the cameras rolling, will the club and their cupcakes rise to the occasion?

 

cupcake club blonde

 

Meet Lexi Poole.

To Lexi, a new school year means back to baking with her BFFs in the cupcake club. But the club president, Kylie, is mixing things up by inviting new members. And Lexi is in for a no-so-sweet surprise when she is cast in the school’s production of Romeo and Juliet. If only she could be as confident onstage as she is in the kitchen. The icing on the cake: her secret crush is playing Romeo.

Sounds like a recipe for trouble.

Can the girls’ friendship stand the heat, or will the cupcake club go up in smoke?

 

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Amie Borst and her middle-grade daughter, Bethanie, write fairy tales with a twist.  Their first book in the Scarily Ever Laughter series, Cinderskella,  debuts October 2013!

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