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Clues, ciphers and puzzles, oh my!

By on July 4, 2018   /   Articles, Book Lists, Fiction, For Kids, For Librarians, For Parents, For Teachers  

Some people get excited for summer on the beach or at the lake. They look forward to that festive backyard barbecue or wild all day pool party. Or maybe it’s just having some unstructured time where fun is the only destination. For me, summer is made for reading mysteries. I’ll take it all –amateur sleuths, cops, detectives, police procedurals, legal thrillers, suspense, a fun cozy, private eyes, historical, whatever. Serve it up. I’m ready.

And do you know where you can find some of the best twisty mystery being written today? If you guessed middle grade, you win! Because I write in this genre, I’ve had the best excuse to dive deep and read a lot. Three of my favorites are series focused on solving clues, ciphers and puzzles. I’m betting these will keep your middle grade readers happy straight through summer.

James Ponti’s T.O.A.S.T series follows Florian, the only kid on the FBI Director’s speed dial, and his best friend Margaret. Together, they use TOAST – Theory of All Small Things – to solve mysteries both small (where to sit on the first day of school) and big (solving crimes that stump the FBI).

Clever sleuthing, authentic friendship, humor and lots of thrills, these books are sure to please. Look for the third in the series coming in September.

 

 

 

Publishers Weekly describes Jennifer Chambliss Bertman’s Book Scavenger series as ‘full of heart and replete with challenging ciphers for readers to decode, [this] debut is a literary cousin to classic puzzlers like The Westing Game.’ Emily and her best friend James are fans of the game Book Scavenger, an online sensation created by Emily’s literary idol Garrison Griswold, where books are hidden in cities all over the country and clues to find them are reveled through puzzles.

I love how the author uses San Francisco as a setting and the sweet friendship between Emily and James. As they race against the clock to solve a series of clues, your middle grade reader will be on the edge of her seat. This three part series (so far) makes for great summer reading.

 

Chris Grabenstein’s Escape from Mr. Lemoncello’s Library series is pure kooky Willy Wonka-like fun. When Kyle learns that the world’s most famous game maker, Luigi Lemoncello, has designed the town’s new library and is having an invitation-only lock-in on opening night, he’s determined to be there. But the tricky part isn’t getting into the library—it’s getting out. Because when morning comes, the doors stay locked. Kyle and the other kids must solve every clue and figure out every secret puzzle to find the hidden escape route.

Clever puzzles, a race against time and lots of humor, this three part series will keep your middle grade reader busy all summer.

 

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9 Wacky Facts from the National Geographic Kids Almanac 2019

By on June 29, 2018   /   Articles, For Kids, New Releases, News  

Big welcome to Angela Modany, the editor of the National Geographic Kids Almanac 2019! To celebrate the brand-new guide, Modany answers a few Mixed-Up Files questions for us, and shares some wacky factoids from this year’s Almanac.


Mixed-Up Files: What goes into creating the National Geographic Kids Almanac? How many people and how much time does it take to get this project done?

Angela Modany: We start working on the Almanac about a year and a half before you can buy it in stores. (We’ve already been working on the 2020 edition for several months now!) It takes a big team to make sure the book is ready on time. We have a main writer, contributors, fact checkers, editors, photo editors, and designers, all of whom do a lot of work to make sure the Almanac has the greatest stories, information, and photos that will appeal to kids. And we stay busy updating news, trends, and facts up until press time.

 

 

MUF: What’s the most fun part about working on the Almanac? 

AM: The best part about working on the Almanac is reading all the stories and facts. I learn something new every year and it reminds me that there’s so much in our world to explore. I also love seeing what photos are chosen for the Cutest Animals section!

 

 

 

9 of Angela’s favorite, wackiest fun facts from this year’s Almanac:

There is a hotel run by robots in Japan. An automated velociraptor greets you at the front desk!

A lion can eat 40 pounds of meat—the same as 160 hamburgers—in one sitting.

There is a laser that can produce gas that is hotter than the sun.

Barbershops in India will close on Tuesday because a Hindu superstition considers Tuesday haircuts bad luck.

The Hubble Telescope has traveled more than three billion miles.

The Dorcas gazelle lives in the Sahara and doesn’t drink any water. It also doesn’t ever pee.

“Berserkers” were Viking warriors who wore bear and wolf skins and bowled in battle like wild animals.

South Koreans say “kimchi”—a pickled cabbage dish—instead of “cheese” to smile for photos.

The Statue of Liberty has a 35-foot waistline and wears a size 879 shoe.

Find out more about the all-new Almanac over at National Geographic. 

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Notes From a Writing Workshop

By on June 18, 2018   /   Articles, For Writers  

As Co-Regional Director of Florida’s Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators, I help organize and attend two fairly large conferences per year. This past weekend, we held our Mid-Year Workshop at Disney World, and I was again astounded at the generosity of our presenters who shared so much of their knowledge.

I couldn’t possibly summarize the whole of what was presented and shared in handouts, but the following is a tiny taste of the advice that resonated with me and might with you as a writer and/or a discerning reader of middle-grade fiction.

From Janice Hardy, author and creator of Fiction University

On avoiding info dumps:

  • Keep the information you need to get across in the point-of-view of a specific character and let that character have an opinion on what he or she is talking about.
  • Let the info be triggered naturally by what’s going on in the scene.
  • Slip the info in during an argument, as people say all kinds of things during a fight, and it’s believable.

Your ultimate plotting test:

If you took a specific scene out, what wouldn’t happen? If nothing would change, then the scene is probably doing nothing to affect the story.

On setting:

  • A well-developed setting grounds readers in that world.
  • Setting provides inherent conflicts and obstacles to struggle with. (If you moved the story or scene to a different location what would change?)

From Agent Michael Stearns, Upstart Crow Literary

 On writing middle grade:

Middle grade stories are often outwardly focused, i.e., things happening to the character can be more important than what happens within the character. Although “that matters very much to the climax of the book, when the outward events trigger an inner change.”

On writing a book:

Write a thousand words a day of your work-in-progress. No more. No less. Stearns says the number can vary a bit, but writing every day makes it easier to enter the “fictive dream.”

From Best-Selling Writer, Lisa Yee

On writing your villain:

Try to show a reason your villain acts the way he/she does. Your villain needs a back story, too.

 

From the Middle Grade Workshop with Lisa Yee, Alexandra Penfold, and Tricia Lin

  • MG fiction has Main Character looking out into the world
  • MG has hopeful perspective
  • MG characters don’t necessarily dissect their feelings; they just feel them

MG years are an age where you want to be an individual, but you also want to belong.

Many thanks to these professionals for sharing their knowledge.

 

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