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Holidays are for Books: Nine Bookish Ideas for the Holiday Season

By on December 7, 2022   /   Articles  

With the holiday season upon us, it’s easy to get busy and not make time for reading. Incorporating literature into the holiday season can create lasting memories for all involved and encourage a year-round joy of reading. Below are nine ideas for creating holiday reading traditions:

  • Read books aloud together. Find holiday-themed books, some mugs of hot chocolate, and read a little bit aloud each day during the month of December. Reading also can be turned into an advent calendar experience with a picture book to read for each day.

 

 

  • Re-read classic books. Whether its A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens or something entirely unrelated to holidays, creating a ritual of reading the same book during December creates a sense of stability and is grounding. It also teaches the value of revisiting literature and learning or noticing new things upon each re-read. To take it a step further, you can create a bookmark that records the year, each child’s name, and their observations or reactions to the story. This can create a keepsake to pass down to the next generation.

 

  • Read to build empathy. As we all know, books encourage us to empathize with characters and thus allow us to see and appreciate different perspectives and diverse life experiences. The holidays can be a hard time for many people. Reading at least one book in which the main character comes from a very different background and life situation than your family can build greater awareness of the needs and perspectives of others.

 

  • Spark a love of reading by giving books. Whether it’s a book you’re ready to part ways with or something brand new, a thoughtfully given book during the gift exchanges of the holiday season feels personal to the receiver. Here’s a list of new books just in time for the holidays. A brief personal note from you, written on the book’s inside front cover with the date and why you think that they will enjoy that particular book, can make the gift even more meaningful.

 

  • Create decorations with old books. Do you have any books that are falling apart at their seams? If so, you can repurpose them into great holiday decorations. For example, a stack of green books can be made into a “tree,” cut-up pages from a book can be put into a clear round container to create a unique holiday ornament, and you can make a paper chain from pages of an old book.

 

  • Bring books to life. Pick an element of a book that you’re reading as a group or family. You may focus on recipes the main character enjoys, a tradition in the main character’s family, or a craft that the main character enjoys. Then spend an evening cooking, trying out a new tradition, or enjoying a new craft. You also often can find a book playlist on the author’s website and here’s a sample one from my website here. You might even decide to act out a holiday play together featuring a scene from the book your family is reading.

 

  • Library scavenger hunt. Make a game out of going to the library and searching for holiday books whose title begins with each letter of the alphabet. No computers to help. Just peruse the shelves and have fun!

 

  • Holiday book club! Pick a book to read as a group throughout the holiday season. On New Year’s Eve, you can discuss the book and pick some books to read in the coming year.

 

These are just a few ideas—you can bring reading more fully into the holiday season in many ways and I’d love to hear from you about the reading traditions that you create. I’m wishing you happy reading in the holiday season and beyond!

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New books just in time for the holidays!

By on December 1, 2022   /   Articles, New Releases  

Check out these new December releases for all of your favorite middle-grade readers! This selection includes the newest from an adventure series and an out-of-this-world book on space by renowned astronomer Dean Regas.

Never After: The Broken Mirror, Roaring Brook Press, written by Melissa de la Cruz 

Real life and fairy tales collide in Never After: The Broken Mirror, book three of the funny and thrilling series from #1 New York Times–bestselling author Melissa de la Cruz.

The Never After crew is back for another twisted adventure. This time, they’re off to Snow Country—that is, after they rescue the beleaguered Lord Sharif of Nottingham from the evil Robin Hood, who has been plaguing the land with his thievery and mischief.

But Robin’s antics aren’t the only dangers afoot in the Kingdom of Never After. At the behest of her daughter, the evil Cinderella, Queen Olga has turned Prince Charming into a Frog after his wedding to the beautiful Hortense. And how could we forget the ominous Prophecy, which still looms large over Filomena and her friends?

Along with Jack, Alistair, Gretel, Beatrice, Byron Bessley, and some new Snow Country pals like Rose Red and a chatty magic mirror, Filomena sets off to find the only ones who can save the kingdom once and for all: The League of the Seven – a group of fearless warriors devoted to fighting the ogres at any cost.

Still, new threats lurk around every corner, both in Never After and back home in North Pasadena . . . Even with the League of the Seven’s help, can Filomena and her friends rescue the land from Olga’s clutches? Or will the ogres finally prevail?

1000 Facts About Space, National Geographic Kids, written by Dean Regas

BLAST OFF into the WONDERS OF OUTER SPACE with ONE THOUSAND INCREDIBLE FACTS!
Did you know … that one of Saturn’s moons is so hollow it would float in water? That the largest known star is 3.69 billion times bigger than our sun? Or that Jupiter likely has diamonds floating in its clouds?

Explore dazzling facts about the vast expanse of space, from glowing stars billions of light-years away to supermassive exploding supernovas to rockets thundering into the unknown. This comprehensive book takes you on a mind-blowing tour of our unbelievable universe and is full of fascinating facts on topics such as space exploration, our solar system and galaxy, and beyond.

Expert astronomer Dean Regas―former host of PBS’s Star Gazers and astronomer of the Cincinnati Observatory―takes you on an incredible tour of facts about each planet in our solar system, dwarf planets, our sun and other stars, exoplanets, comets, asteroids, galaxies, space travel, and so much more. Hundreds of stunning photographs bring the facts to life.

The Universe in You: A Microscopic Journey, Holiday House, written and illustrated by Jason Chin

The Universe in You: A Microscopic Journey

Jason Chin, winner of the Caldecott Medal for Watercress, dives into the microscopic building blocks of life in this companion to the award-winning Your Place in the Universe.

In Your Place in the Universe, Jason Chin zoomed outward, from our planet, solar system, and galaxy to the outer reaches of the observable universe. Now, Chin reverses course, zooming in past our skin to our cells, molecules, and atoms, all the way down to particles so small we can’t yet even measure them.

Like its companion, The Universe in You is a mind-boggling adventure that makes complex science accessible and enjoyable to readers of any age.

Impeccably researched, wholly engrossing, and with extensive backmatter for additional learning, The Universe in You is another knockout from the award-winning creator of Redwoods, Grand Canyon, and other distinguished works of nonfiction for young readers.

A Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection

Minecraft: Master Builds, Random House World, by Mojang AB

Minecraft: Master Builds - Mojang Ab

Marvel at Minecraft’s greatest creations and meet the builders who have taken the game to new levels.

Packed with stunning illustrations, Minecraft Master Builds showcases the creations that have taken the game to new levels, and introduces the builders behind them.

Explore all the possibilities of Minecraft, from stunning underwater sculptures to impressive space panoramas, or travel through time to visit grand medieval towns and futuristic cityscapes. Each colossal creation is shown in beautifully rendered illustrations to highlight the painstaking details that make these builds masterful. The exclusive interviews with the builders shed light on the creative forces and processes behind each build.

Whether you’re marveling at the wonders that Minecraft’s greatest builders have to offer, or searching for inspiration to become one yourself, your tour begins here.

Pencilmation: The Graphite Novel, Penguin Young Readers, written by Ross Bollinger

Pencilmation: The Graphite Novel - Bollinger, Ross

Join the characters from Pencilmation in this new graphic novel featuring new stories, comics, activities, and more

 

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Writers’ Gratitude

By on November 25, 2022   /   Articles, For Writers, Writing  

Today we’d like to share what we are grateful for as children’s writers. So, I asked the Mixed-Up Files contributors to write a little about what they are thankful for as authors. Hope you enjoy our thoughts.

 

“I’m thankful for the kidlit community. I’ve been in other writing communities and kidlit creators are the best. They’re like family, supporting each other and encouraging. We have a higher purpose, in creating books that are going to make children readers for life, and I’m thankful that we do that together.”

—Samantha M Clark, author of ARROW and the GEMSTONE DRAGONS books

 

Image: Tarpon Springs Public Library, Tarpon Springs, FL via tarponlibrary.org

I’m grateful for…. public libraries
My most powerful—and most wonderful—memories around books are thanks to public libraries.
For years, each Saturday, my mother and I would walk to the public library near our apartment, climb the

stairs to the children’s section on the second floor, and I’d pick out a stack of books to read for the week. Like the greatest shopping trip ever, where the only limiting factor was how much we could carry. Then there was that one long, hot, un-airconditioned summer in Florida, where I lived with my father, where I worked through the local library’s very small “YA” shelf of books. I stumbled over a novel I’d never heard of before, S.E. Hinton’s The Outsiders, my favorite book of my middle-grade reading years by a mile.

Reading has been a constant companion and source of joy and comfort in my life. So thank you, libraries and librarians, for all that you do for your communities.
“When my last MG manuscript failed to garner the attention (I thought) it deserved, I fell into a dark hole of despair. Then I did what many writers do when faced with existential burnout. I stopped writing.
But then, last summer, while I clearing out my mom’s apartment, I found a black garbage bag inside a kitchen drawer. I peeked inside and discovered a trove of letters. My letters—hundreds of them—written to my parents from sleepaway camp. Naturally, I made myself comfortable and started reading.
Hours later, I knew I had found the inspiration for my next book. I didn’t know what the book would be about at this point, but I knew I had some first-rate material. I grabbed my notebook and started writing.
Four months later, I had a first draft. I sent it to my agent, who responded: “Whenever a burned-out writer gets their second wind and writes a great novel, an angel gets their wings.” 
My agent’s words made me glow from within. I found my second wind—and I’m grateful for it, wherever it may lead me.”
—Melissa Roske
“I’m grateful to be able to write while cuddling a kitty on my lap and looking at beautiful trees.  It may sound simple, but the deep peace of this space helps free my
mind to create.”

—Heather Murphy Capps

 

 

 

 

 

“I’m grateful for amazing teachers like Ms. Klipfel who encourage and inspire their kids to use STEMbooks to explore their imagination!  Go STEM/STEAM!”
—Jennifer Swanson
“I’m so grateful for all the support my debut novel Honey and Me is receiving from friends, family, the wider communities I’m a part of and the ones I didn’t even know about. Thank you!”
—Meira Drazin

Image: Trisha Speed Shaskan,  trishaspeedshaskan.com

 

 

“I’m grateful for book events with local and national authors. They give me a reason to celebrate books, meet and talk with local authors, and discover new authors and their books. It’s inspiring and fills me with motivation to be surrounded by such talented writers.”

—Karen Latchana Kenney
We are also all thankful for YOU—our wonderful readers!
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