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Cover Reveal – The Lost Forest

By Jennifer Swanson on December 14, 2023 / Articles, Cover Reveal

The Lost Forest

I have a special treat today … MUF gets the exclusive opportunity to reveal the gorgeous new cover for The Lost Forest (Millbrook Press, April 2, 2024) Check this out!

What’s even better about today’s cover reveal is that this is the latest work from MUF’s very own Jennifer Swanson, and is a JLG gold standard book.

About The Lost Forest:

Dive into the unexpected! Have you ever heard of an underwater forest? They are rare, but they exist. Ancient stumps stand tall in a secret location, hidden from view for more than 60,000 years.

Take a deep dive with scientists exploring a sunken cypress forest that had been undisturbed in the Gulf of Mexico since the last Ice Age. Page Plus links lead to videos of the scientists at work.

In addition to getting our MUF exclusive cover reveal, I got a chance to chat with my friend and colleague Jen abotu writing her newest amazing book.

Interview with Jen Swanson

HMC: Congratulations, Jennifer! And congratulations on your Junior Library Guild Selection! Your book sounds really cool. An underwater forest? What is that exactly?

JS: Yes, most people don’t think that forests can be found underwater, but of course, they can. Most underwater forests are kelp, which sort of looks like big, wavy, palm trees that look like seaweed.

But the forest that these scientists studied is an ancient cypress forest. Cypress trees are normally found above ground, not under the water. That’s why this is so special. There are still partially standing trees—some as tall as 6 feet—in the water. This ancient forest is believed to have been covered by silt and sand for almost 60,000 years.

HMC: So the description says that this was a secret underwater forest. Why is it secret?

This forest was revealed in 2018 after Hurricane Ivan went through the Gulf of Mexico. It was discovered by accident by fishermen who saw that this area had a lot of fish around it. The fish were feeding off of the creatures that were living in and around the forest.

The cypress forest is a treasure trove of information about the environment in the Gulf of Mexico. It needs to be preserved and studied. But the cypress trees are also very valuable, so the exact location was initially kept secret so that companies would not harvest the wood and make furniture out of it.

HMC: How did you become aware of this story?

One of the lead scientists on the only team chosen to do research on the site is a good friend of mine. Dr. Brian Helmuth was the expert on my Astronaut-Aquanaut book. We’ve stayed in touch since that book and I’ve visited his lab in Nahant, MA. Once he learned that his team was chosen to be the ones to do the research, he called me and asked me if I was interested in writing their story. WAS I? Absolutely! It was a truly wonderful experience.

HMC: What was the most exciting thing about writing this book?

JS: The scientists on this project made me a part of their actual team. I was invited to attend several of their planning meetings, and was even invited to go out on one of their research trips to the forest. Unfortunately, I was not able to do so, but I got tons of access to them, their data, and all of their photos and videos. They made me an honorary aquanaut, which to me, is a huge honor!

HMC: What do you have coming up next?

JS: I’m excited to see my first ever narrative nonfiction picture book biography come out next year. It’s called, Up Periscope: How Engineer Raye Montague Revolutionized Shipbuilding (Little Brown BFYR). The book is illustrated by the fabulous Veronica Jameson and follow the life of the U.S. Navy’s Hidden Figure, Raye Montague. The amazing Ms. Montague was the first person to figure to develop a computer program to design a ship. Before that, everyone had to make calculations by hand and it too months and months. This is the very inspiring story of how Raye faced many challenges to accomplish this amazing feat. The book releases November 2, 2024.

HMC: Where can everyone learn more about you and your other books about STEM?

JS: You can find information about me, my books, and tons of STEM resources including free teacher guides, videos for students, and learn about my podcast, Solve It! for Kids at my website: https://jenniferswansonbooks.com/

HMC: Thanks again, Jen and congratulations!

TO PREORDER THE LOST FOREST:

https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-lost-forest-an-unexpected-discovery-beneath-the-waves-jennifer-swanson/20184903?ean=9781728493015

The Power of the Reread

By Mike Hays on December 4, 2023 / Articles

In 2011 when my twins were still in high school, our local school held its annual Academic Awards/National Honor Society Initiation/Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony event. It was a weeknight during one of the busiest weeks of the year.

Since there were no local sports heroes were being inducted into the Hall of Fame, my usual strategy would have been to stay home and skip the event. But, as my kids were part of the academic festivities that evening, I went with the plan of sliding out the back door right after their names were announced.

For some reason, though, I decided to stay for the Hall of Fame induction ceremony to listen to the inductee’s speeches. In the end, what a great decision that was!

One of the inductees that year, Dr. Rachel Schmidt-Brown, Clay Center Community High School Class of 1981, gave an acceptance speech that was pure gold. Dr. Schmidt is a professor of Spanish at the University of Calgary and a world-renowned DON QUIXOTE scholar.

She has spent an entire academic career studying and researching one great work of classic literature. Dr. Schmidt spoke about finding and following your passion in life. Good stuff. But, what stuck to my ribs was when she mentioned how she sits down every five years and rereads DON QUIXOTE.

I just about jumped out of my seat. Do you mean a person who spends every day of her illustrious career studying one book, written 400 years ago in Spanish, and reads it for FUN every five years?

Huh.

Then came her take-home message; Dr. Schmidt explained she reads DON QUIXOTE every five years to get a fresh perspective of the manuscript from where she currently is in her life. She knows she has changed over the five years; changes in her family, kids, and career. She explained how the story takes a new life; a new meaning with every successive read. What a beautiful concept!

So that got me thinking. What books or stories do I read over and over again? How does an older and, hopefully, wiser perspective affect me? Below is my list of stories I read over and again with an expanded understanding developing with each read. It’s truly a gift to be able to cultivate a deeper understanding of not only these wonderful stories but of who I am as a person. Reading is indeed a superpower.

Novels

The Hogfather by Terry Pratchett
Coraline by Neil Gaiman.
How I Became a Ghost by Tim Tingle
Winnie-the-Pooh by A. A. Milne
Okay for Now by Gary D. Schmidt
Jurassic Park by Michael Crichton
Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos

Short Stories

Platte River by Rick Bass
To Build a Fire by Jack London
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow by Washington Irving
Big Two-Hearted River by Ernest Hemmingway

Inspirational

Lenten Gospel Rotation (Every Lent, I read Matthew, Mark, Luke, or John in a four-year cycle. Always surprised by how my life perspective affects the way I read the Gospels.)

Do you have books or stories you read over and over again? How do time and life influence your reads? Do you pick up a certain detail in a different way? Please leave a comment, I would like to know.

Interview with Nicole M. Hewitt

By Natalie Rompella on November 24, 2023 / Articles, Author Interviews

I met Nicole M. Hewitt years ago at a local children’s writers’ critique group. Being a writer, a middle-grade and young-adult book blogger, and a book buyer, I knew she would have some great insight for writers, teachers, parents, and librarians.

About Nicole: Her Role as a Writer

Hi Nicole! Tell us about yourself.

I live in the Chicago suburbs with my husband, three kids (one of whom is away at college) and three dogs. I was actually a theater major when I went to school, but it’s been quite awhile since I’ve been on a stage. When my kids were younger, I was a homeschooling mom. I taught theater, language arts and writing at a large homeschool co-op, which I loved!

How fun for them! How did you start writing? What do you like to write?

I always wanted to write when I was younger, but I could never figure out how to write a whole book. I wrote lots of snippets and some chapters, but I didn’t really understand how to structure a story. But once I started blogging, my passion for writing was reignited, and I thought I’d give it another try. I joined NaNoWriMo (which is a challenge to write a 50,000 word book in the month of November) and wrote the required words, but once again, I couldn’t quite get to the words “The End.” But I kept at it. I wrote my first full novel between classes while I worked at the homeschool co-op and kept going from there!

You have a new book coming out. What is it about?

My debut is called THE SONG OF ORPHAN’S GARDEN, and it will be releasing in early 2025 (it takes a long time to publish a book!).

The book is a fantasy re-imagining of Oscar Wilde’s short story “The Selfish Giant” and it’s written in verse. We pitched it as FROZEN meets THE BFG, which I think fits the book really well. It’s about an orphaned Human girl and a banished Giant boy who both need the same magical garden in order to survive in their arctic world that’s getting colder every day!

It sounds really fun! Do you feel your other jobs helped you to revise this book?

I definitely think my experience with blogging helped me understand storytelling in a way that I hadn’t before. Reviewing books and thinking about them critically gives you a good sense of what works and what doesn’t. I was also working as a freelance editor for a while, and that absolutely helped me with my writing. I didn’t start working as a bookseller until after I’d written my current book, and I’m not sure it’s helped my writing (if anything, it takes up a lot of my writing time), but I love connecting people with books they’ll love, so it’s worth it.

About Her Blog: How It Helps Her as a Writer

You also write a blog feedyourfictionaddiction.com Tell us about it.

Feed Your Fiction Addiction is a mostly middle grade and YA blog where I talk about the many books I love! I also sometimes host giveaways and post general bookish discussions. I’ll admit that I’ve had less time to keep up with my blog lately, but I still generally post several times a month.

From reading so many books, are there any trends you’re finding right now?

Oooh! This is a good question. Middle grade horror has become all the rage lately. R.L. Stine has always known that kids like to be scared, but now more and more authors are jumping in with spooky reads.

I agree—kids love scary books! When you’re reading through a middle-grade novel, is there anything that writers do that you feel may be a turn-off to middle schoolers?

If a story is too didactic, this can be an issue. Kids know when they’re being talked down to. That doesn’t mean books can’t have important themes or that the author can’t have a distinct point-of-view in their writing, but you don’t want to hit kids over the head with the message in a way that feels preachy.

What are some of your favorite middle grade books from 2023?

I’ve read so many I loved! Here are a few middle grades:

BETWEEN MONSTERS AND MARVELS by Alysa Wishingrad

THE GOLDEN FROG GAMES (Witchlings #2) by Claribel A. Ortega

GOOD DIFFERENT by Meg Eden Kuyatt

And a few YA:

ONE GIRL IN ALL THE WORLD (In Every Generation #2) by Kendare Blake

ALWAYS ISN’T FOREVER by J.C. Cervantes

GIVE ME A SIGN by Anna Sortino

Any books you’re looking forward to their upcoming release?

My mentee through a program called Author Mentor Match is debuting with the book we worked on in 2024. Her name is Anne Rellihan and the book is called NOT THE WORST FRIEND IN THE WORLD. The book is truly fantastic, and kids are going to love it!

Another book I’ve already read and loved is THE MYSTERY OF LOCKED ROOMS by Lindsay Currie. As a big fan of escape rooms, this book was perfect for me!

About Being a Book Buyer: Trends/Holes in the Market

You also work at Barnes & Noble. What do you do there?

I’m a senior bookseller. I work throughout the store, but tend to specialize in the kids’ department (which covers everything from board books on up to middle grade).

So you choose which books to purchase? Do you ever help people find books?

I can request books to be ordered for the store by doing what we call “shortlisting” them. All of the books that are shortlisted get reviewed by someone who does the actual ordering (usually I get the books I’ve shortlisted, but occasionally there are reasons that a book can’t be ordered into the store). I definitely help people find books. That’s one of my main responsibilities and my favorite part of the job. I love helping people find something that will be perfect for them (or for the child they’re buying for).

What types of books would you say are hot right now?

In picture books, funny always seems to sell. A personal favorite is THE KNIGHT SNACKER by Valerie Wicker.

Like I already mentioned, MG horror is big right now. I also get a lot of people looking for funny books for younger MG readers. For them, I often recommend THE AREA 51 FILES by Julie Buxbaum.

In YA, mysteries are where it’s at, especially if there’s a bit of romance thrown in. THE INHERITANCE GAMES series is huge, along with other series like A GOOD GIRL’S GUIDE TO MURDER. Sad also sells well in YA, the sadder the better!!

As far as non-fiction for kids goes, National Geographic Kids books and the WHO WAS series really can’t be beat.

What titles do you often suggest to kids?

I already mentioned some, but here are a few more that I consistently recommend:

ALONE by Megan E. Freeman (for kids who like verse novels, survival story, or just an intriguing read)

SCRITCH SCRATCH by Lindsay Currie (for MG horror fans)

THE INCREDIBLY DEAD PETS OF REX DEXTER by Aaron Reynolds (for kids looking for a funny read)

JENNIFER CHAN IS NOT ALONE by Tae Keller (for kids who like contemporary with heart or kids who are looking for an excellent story about bullying)

The ARU SHAH series by Roshani Chokshi (for fantasy lovers)

I could honestly go on and on…

What types/subjects of books are kids requesting that you’re finding there’s not enough of?

We talk a lot about that gap between MG and YA, and I often see that at the store. For instance, there are some good MG romance books out there (I sent a girl home just today with THIS IS HOW I ROLL by Debbi Michiko Florence – I hope she loves it!), but I’d love to see more. A lot of younger readers end up in YA, where they might not quite be ready for all the themes and content.

About School Visits & Social Media

Are you doing school visits related to your book?

Yes, even though my book isn’t releasing until 2025, I’ve got school visits lined up for next year, mostly doing poetry workshops with kids.

How can we learn more about you?

You can find me on my blog at feedyourfictionaddiction.com and on my website at nicolemhewitt.com. I’m also on Instagram @NicoleFictionAddiction and on Twitter and Bluesky @NicoleMHewitt!

Great information and book lists. I’m excited to check out some of these titles!

Thanks so much for having me on the blog!

Articles

Cover Reveal – The Lost Forest