Articles

Getting Antsy for The Natural Genius of Ants

By Mimi Powell on May 13, 2022 / Articles, Giveaways

Welcome to The Natural Genius of Ants Blog Tour!

Five Writing Tips
by Betty Culley

1. Don’t worry about following trends. Instead, write about what interests you, what you are passionate about. I held onto an article about meteorites for years because there was something about it that captured my imagination. It was the spark that turned into my first middle-grade novel DOWN TO EARTH.

2. Find your writer friends. I wrote alone for years and didn’t share my writing with anyone, out of shyness and fear of being judged. It’s hard when your heart is on the page. But when I joined a writing group of kind and sympathetic people, my writing world expanded. Having other eyes read my words made all the difference. For instance, it was one of my critique group writer friends who suggested changing my manuscript THREE THINGS I KNOW ARE TRUE from prose to verse. It ended up being my debut verse novel. There are things in your writing you just won’t see, no matter how many times you look at it. That’s where the magic of other writers comes in! Also, it helps to have people there who understand when you’re struggling with a difficult revision or discouraging publishing news. My writing group met virtually during the pandemic and it helped us all keep going.

3. Read! It doesn’t have to be what you think you should read. Read what interests you and what gets you inspired, whether it’s a beautiful picture book, a poem, or a magazine article. Also, read the latest books coming out in your genre. There are so many wonderful books recently published and more coming out that you can’t read them all, of course, but choose some that speak to you.

4. Don’t get discouraged. Writing can be a beautiful and joyful thing. I write partly to figure out what I think and feel, and to see those thoughts and emotions expressed on paper is what keeps me going. There can also be discouraging times, when a writer is tempted to give up. If I could go back and give myself advice, I would say Don’t give up. Try to focus on what you love about writing and keep going.

5. Only you can tell your stories. You have stories that only you can tell. Somewhere, there is someone waiting to hear those stories, someone who needs to hear them. So, tell them!

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On Shelves May 10, 2022!

“Culley gives readers characters that are natural, fallible individuals, which add credibility and tenderness to the story. Endearingly executed, this gentle tale will see readers applauding as they reach the end.”
—Booklist (Starred Review)

“Quietly and emotionally intelligent, this tale satisfies.”
—Kirkus

A summer ant farm grows into a learning experience for the entire family in this lyrical coming-of-age story from the award-winning author of Down to Earth.

Harvard is used to his father coming home from the hospital and telling him about all the babies he helped. But since the mistake at work, Dad has been quieter than usual. And now he is taking Harvard and his little brother, Roger, to Kettle Hole, Maine, for the summer. Harvard hopes this trip isn’t another mistake.

In the small town where he grew up, Dad seems more himself. Especially once the family decides to start an ant farm—just like Dad had as a kid! But when the mail-order ants are D.O.A., Harvard doesn’t want Dad to experience any more sadness. Luckily, his new friend Nevaeh has the brilliant idea to use the ants crawling around in the kitchen instead. But these insects don’t come with directions. So the kids have a lot to learn—about the ants, each other, and how to forgive ourselves when things go wrong.

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Betty Culley’s debut novel in verse Three Things I Know Are True, was a Kids’ Indie Next List Top Ten Pick, an ALA-YALSA Best Fiction for Young Adults Nominee, and the 2021 Maine Literary Book Award Winner for Young People’s Literature. Her first middle-grade novel Down to Earth was inspired by her fascination with meteorites, voyagers from another place and time. She’s an RN who worked as an obstetrics nurse and as a pediatric home hospice nurse. She lives in central Maine, where the rivers run through the small towns.

GIVEAWAY

One (1) winner will receive a finished copy of The Natural Genius of Ants,as well as a copy of Betty’s first middle grade novel Down to Earth and a bookmark!
US/Can only
Ends 5/22 at 11:59pm ET
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Visit the other stops on the tour for more chances to win!

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“A captivating middle-grade novel.” —Booklist (Starred Review)

“Heartwarming and absorbing, this is a solid choice for middle grade collections. Perfect for readers who want a great small-town story mixed with STEM.” —School Library Journal

Counting by 7s meets See You in the Cosmos in this heartwarming coming-of-age story perfect for the budding geologists and those fascinated by the mysteries of the universe.

Henry has always been fascinated by rocks. As a homeschooler, he pours through the R volume of the encyclopedia to help him identify the rocks he finds. So, when a meteorite falls in his family’s field, who better to investigate than this rock enthusiast—with his best friend, James, and his little sister, Birdie, in tow, of course.

But soon after the meteorite’s arrival, the water in Henry’s small Maine town starts drying up. It’s not long before news spreads that the space rock and Henry’s family might be to blame. Henry is determined to defend his newest discovery, but his knowledge of geology could not have prepared him for how much this stone from the sky would change his community, his family, and even himself.

Science and wonder abound in this middle-grade debut about an inquisitive boy and the massive rock that came down to Earth to reshape his life.

Blog Tour Schedule:

May 9th — YA Book Nerd
May 10th — Mrs. Book Dragon
May 11th — Pragmatic Mom
May 12th — Feed Your Fiction Addiction
May 13th — From the Mixed-Up Files of Middle Grade Authors

WNDMG Wednesday- Guest Post – Waka T. Brown

By Jennifer Swanson on May 11, 2022 / Articles, Guest Posts, WNDMG

Illustration by: Aixa Perez-Prado

WNDMG Wednesday Guest – Author Waka T. Brown

We at WNDMG Wednesday are thrilled to host our guest post writer, author Waka T. Brown. Waka’s piece in honor of AAPI Heritage Month is a spot-on look at the importance of representation in middle-grade books, and we’re so grateful she took the time to stop by our blog.

Author Waka T. Brown–My Journey

Happy Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) Heritage Month, everyone! I’m honored to write a blog post this month for “From the Mixed-Up Files… of Middle-Grade Authors.”

With two middle grade novels which prominently feature Asian American main characters under my belt (and two more under contract), I’d like to take this opportunity to reflect and share what my journey as an Asian American author has been like thus far.

Being Sabrina Duncan

I’m curious how many Asian American children of the 70s and 80s are out there who remember “Charlie’s Angels.” Not the 2019 reboot with Kristen Stewart, Naomi Scott, and Ella Balinska. Not even the 2000 one with Drew Barrymore, Lucy Liu, and Cameron Diaz. I’m talking about the one with Farrah Fawcett, Jaclyn Smith, and Kate Jackson. Way back when, my friends and I sometimes played like we were the Angels—fighting crime and beating up the bad guys. I always played the character of Sabrina Duncan because… she had the darkest hair of the trio. Like me.

It Felt Presumptuous

I grew up reading and loving books by Madeleine L’Engle, Lois Duncan, Beverly Cleary, L.M. Montgomery, Frances Hodgson Burnett, Louisa May Alcott, Laura Ingalls Wilder (just to name a few). I might not have looked like any of their main characters, but I identified with the spunky, smart, and resourceful girls featured in almost all their stories.

I never once thought about what it might mean to read a book with girls on the cover who looked like me. I didn’t even know that it was an option. It felt presumptuous to even want that. After all, until I left home for college, I only knew fewer than a dozen Asian Americans outside of my family. I assumed there weren’t many of us at all, and TV, films, books all seemed to support what I assumed was true.

Looking for Meaningful, Positive Representation

So, what does it mean to grow up without meaningful, positive representation? When I was a teenager, beautiful equaled Christy Brinkley. When kids told me I was ugly, part of me wondered if they had a point. After all, I never saw models like me gracing the covers of Seventeen. When I never encountered stories about people like me, I internalized that maybe our stories don’t matter.

However, when I arrived in California for college for the first time when I was 18, it was with a bit (a lot) of culture shock that I realized I was not alone. I had never experienced a diverse environment like that one before. I joined the Asian American Student Association. I met Chinese, Taiwanese, Korean, Japanese, Vietnamese, Filipina, and South Asian friends. During study breaks we watched episodes of “Beverly Hills 90210,” and I wondered to myself where all the Asian people were. It took place in California, after all, and what I saw represented in media didn’t look anything like the diversity that now surrounded me.

“Asian Leads Don’t Sell”

Yet, when I started writing (screenplays mostly), my characters still didn’t look like me. “Imagine a bankable star,” I was advised when I created my characters. I wrote shallow, frothy romcoms that I thought would have mass appeal. When nothing came of them, I decided to throw previous advice out the window and wrote a teenage Roman Holiday-esque story… with two Asian leads. I would like to say this is when my big break came, but alas no. I was only able to get one person in the industry to even read it because, “Asian leads don’t sell.” Maybe at the time people truly believed that. But part of me thought (like my character Annie in Dream, Annie, Dream), How do you get to be a big name/bankable star if you’re never cast? After a disappointing reception to my attempt to create some Asian American representation, I went back to writing my standard fare for a while… but then again, I decided on a project, a far-fetched project. A memoir about 12 year-old me called While I Was Away.

Waka T Brown at 12 years old, photo of young Japanese girl in plaid shirt

Waka T. Brown at age 12

Even though a lot of people were dismissive of this endeavor and echoed my own concerns such as “Memoir? And middle grade? Good luck, that’s gonna be a tough sell,” and “you need to have an established platform to sell something like that,” I wrote it anyway. No one bought my more “commercial” writing, so why not? I wanted to get the memories down before they faded for myself. For every negative remark, there were also encouraging ones, like “You should definitely write that story” and “That is the story only you can write.” And those were the ones I hung on to.

((Like reading memoirs and ready to find more? Read this Rosanne Parry’s roundup of Diverse MG Memoirs))

Plus, there were other promising signs urging me not to give up. Crazy Rich Asians was a box office smash. Bookstore shelves looked a lot different from when I was a little girl. I caught up on years of reading, including works by Grace Lin and Kelly Yang. And despite a number of rejections that pointed toward my story’s lack of marketability and/or relatability with a wider audience, While I Was Away eventually sold at auction in a 2-book deal.

How people have embraced my first book since its publication in January 2021 has truly blown me away. It was an Oregon Book Award finalist, one of New York Public Library’s Best Books for Kids of 2021, a Bank Street Children’s Best Book of the Year for 2022…

Dream, Annie, Dream

But, I definitely feel my work as a writer isn’t finished. With my second book, Dream, Annie, Dream, I tackle the issue of representation head-on. Even though it’s a work of fiction, many of the experiences were drawn from my own. Although some of the topics and incidents in it might feel uncomfortable, it is my hope that young readers are drawn to my main character Annie Inoue like I was drawn to Sara Crew, Laura Ingalls, Anne Shirley, and Jo March.

They’ve Needed This Story for Decades

While I truly feel my books are for everyone (even teenaged sons who have yet to read their mother’s second book… cough, cough… you know how you are), I appreciate that what each reader gains from them is their own. Some readers have let me know how they related to certain incidents. Some have mentioned that they just enjoyed the story. But the ones that I hold the most dear have been the ones who tell me that they’ve needed this story for decades.

For me personally, representation has come a long way from “the dark-haired Charlie’s Angel” to these two books.

It’s my sincere hope that more stories, diverse stories, stories about events we’ve never heard of continue to surface. And that as readers, we continue to embrace them all with open hearts and minds.

Waka is a Stanford graduate with a B.A. in International Relations and a Master’s in Secondary Education. While I Was Away (Quill Tree/HarperCollins 2021) is her debut novel.

Dream, Annie, Dream (Quill Tree/HarperCollins 2022) is her first work of historical fiction.

More About Waka T. Brown

In addition to writing middle-grade stories, I enjoy writing screenplays. I wrote and co-directed the short film Double Tap (Official Selection, 2018 DC Shorts and Portland Film Festivals) and my feature-length screenplays (comedies, romcoms, & animated features) have been 2nd-rounders at AFF, placed in the semifinals of PAGE, and quarterfinals of Screencraft writing competitions.

I’m currently an online instructor with the Stanford Program on International and Cross-Cultural Education (SPICE). I teach about U.S.-Japan relations to high school students in Japan, and have also authored curriculum on several international topics. Recently, I was honored to receive the U.S.-Japan Foundation and EngageAsia’s national 2019 Elgin Heinz Outstanding Teacher award.

I live in the Portland, Oregon area with my husband, three sons, and my naughty yet lovable shiba Niko. I have a lot of hobbies such as running, art, baking, and playing guitar.

Connect with Waka:

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Website

Middle Grade & YA Books About Allergies

By Andrea Pyros on May 9, 2022 / Articles, Book Lists

According to Food Allergy Research & Education (FARE), 1 in 13 children under age 18 have food allergies in the U.S.. That’s 32 million Americans, 5.6 million of them children. It’s a serious problem that impacts every classroom and many, many households. There are many wonderful books for younger kids about food allergies that teach them how to be safe by reading labels, asking about ingredients, checking with a trusted adult before eating anything, and carrying their medication and EpiPens when they go out, but when it gets to the middle school years, there’s less out there for food allergic kids or kids with other allergic conditions.

On one hand, that make sense. Middle school kids know the ropes by now, but on the other hand, as kids enter their teen years, risk-taking behavior around food allergies (as well as other serious allergies) skyrockets. Seeing children in books managing their allergies is important, even if the characters don’t always make perfect choices every time. In honor of Food Allergy Awareness Week, here are 5 middle-grade and YA titles about food allergies and other allergic conditions that tween and teen readers will enjoy.

Are we missing any? Tag MUF and share your picks with us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, too.

Allergic: A Graphic Novel by Megan Wagner Lloyd (author) and Michelle Mee Nutter (illustrator)

From the publisher: “A coming-of-age middle-grade graphic novel featuring a girl with severe allergies who just wants to find the perfect pet! At home, Maggie is the odd one out. Her parents are preoccupied with getting ready for a new baby, and her younger brothers are twins and always in their own world. Maggie loves animals and thinks a new puppy is the answer, but when she goes to select one on her birthday, she breaks out in hives and rashes. She’s severely allergic to anything with fur! Can Maggie outsmart her allergies and find the perfect pet? With illustrations by Michelle Mee Nutter, Megan Wagner Lloyd draws on her own experiences with allergies to tell a heartfelt story of family, friendship, and finding a place to belong.”

Allergy angle: Allergic is about a 5th grader with an allergy to dogs, not food, but it is sweet and fun, and younger MG readers will appreciate the gentle approach to managing a health condition.

A Field Guide to Getting Lost by Joy McCullough

From the publisher: “Sutton is having robot problems. Her mini-bot is supposed to be able to get through a maze in under a minute, but she must have gotten something wrong in the coding. Which is frustrating for a science-minded girl like Sutton–almost as frustrating as the fact that her mother probably won’t be home in time for Sutton’s tenth birthday. Luis spends his days writing thrilling stories about brave kids, but there’s only so much inspiration you can find when you’re stuck inside all day. He’s allergic to bees, afraid of dogs, and has an overprotective mom to boot. So Luis can only dream of daring adventures in the wild. Sutton and Luis couldn’t be more different from each other. Except now that their parents are dating, these two have to find some common ground. Will they be able to navigate their way down a path they never planned on exploring?”

Allergy angle: As noted in the blurb, Luis has a bee allergy and carries an EpiPen, and the book makes it clear that managing a serious condition can be hard for a kid.

Almost Midnight: 2 Festive Short Stories by Rainbow Rowell and Simini Blocker (illustrator)

From the publisher: “Almost Midnight: Two Festive Short Stories by New York Times bestselling author Rainbow Rowell contains two wintery short stories, decorated throughout with gorgeous black and white illustrations by Simini Blocker. ‘Midnights’ is the story of Noel and Mags, who meet at the same New Year’s Eve party every year and fall a little more in love each time . . . ‘Kindred Spirits’ is about Elena, who decides to queue to see the new Star Wars movie and meets Gabe, a fellow fan.”

Allergy angle: Noel has an allergy to tree nuts, which he mentions right off the bat when he meets Mags. Though this is a YA title, it can also be read by upper middle-grade readers.

My Year of Epic Rock by Andrea Pyros

From the publisher: “If Life Was Like a Song Nina Simmons’ song would be You Can’t Always Eat What You Want. (Peanut allergies, ugh). But that’s okay, because as her best friend Brianna always said, We’re All in This Together. Until the first day of the seventh grade, when Brianna dumps her to be BFFs with the popular new girl. Left all alone, Nina is forced to socialize with her own kind–banished to the peanut-free table with the other allergy outcasts. As a joke, she tells her new pals they should form a rock band called EpiPens. (Get it?) Apparently, allergy sufferers don’t understand sarcasm, because the next thing Nina knows she’s the lead drummer. Now Nina has to decide: adopt a picture-perfect pop personality to fit in with Bri and her new BFF or embrace her inner rocker and the spotlight. Well… Call Me a Rock Star, Maybe.”

Allergy angle: I wrote My Year of Epic Rock because my then-elementary aged child had food allergies and I wanted there to be books out there that dealt with the challenge of being different during the years you most want to fit in. Nina has an allergy to peanuts and eggs.

Fearless Food: Allergy-Free Recipes for Kids by Katrina Jorgensen

From the publisher: “Let’s get cooking with more than 100 allergy-free recipes for kids! Fun, delicious and easy-to-make breakfasts, snacks, sides, main dishes and desserts avoid the Big-8 food allergens whenever possible. A graduate of Le Cordon Bleu College of Culinary Arts, Chef Katrina Jorgenson has created amazing recipes that avoid milk, eggs, fish, shellfish, tree nuts, peanuts, wheat and soybeans. Plus, the recipes are easy enough for kids to make on their own. The whole family will love Baked French Toast with Homemade Blueberry Sauce, Pumpkin Seed Pesto Pasta, Creamy Mac and Cheese, Banana Ice Cream and so much more!”

Allergy angle: There is no shortage of wonderful cookbooks for people with food allergies, intolerances, or celiac disease (who must avoid all gluten products). Here is one of them!

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Getting Antsy for The Natural Genius of Ants

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WNDMG Wednesday- Guest Post – Waka T. Brown