Articles

How to Stop a Boulder

The bell will be ringing soon, but there’s a different sound coming from the intercom in my classroom. It’s the triple beep of an announcement, followed by the voice of our head principal. Even through the tinny speaker I can tell she’s deathly serious. She even does the thing where she pauses mid-sentence to make sure everyone is listening. 

I stop handing out papers and wait. I’m just as curious as my students. We don’t usually get announcements directly from the principal.

You’ve probably heard of the latest trend on Tik Tok, she says. 

I haven’t, but I nod my head anyway because it doesn’t take much to lose street cred with middle schoolers.

The trend, our principal explains, encourages students to vandalize school property. Break things, steal things, deface things. I gather that you do these bad things and then post a video of said bad things online for other people to see. This is all new to me. I thought Tik Tok was dance videos. Or maybe it was cat videos. Isn’t there one that’s just cat videos?

Don’t get sucked into this trend, our principal warns. It’s a Level 3 Offense to vandalize the school. I look out at my classroom and gather that my students know very little about Level 3 Offenses but plenty about this Tik Tok thing. I can tell by the whispers that it must be popular. Maybe even more popular than cat videos.

I’ve done some research since that announcement (including trying to get my head around Tik Tok in general — the national PTA put out a very helpful guide for parents). Turns out the trend is very popular. Like, millions-of-views popular. Most of the videos are short. Kids ripping soap dispensers off walls or swiping things off teachers’ desks or breaking bathroom mirrors. I haven’t seen the videos myself — Tik Tok rightly blocked them and made searching for them on the platform much more difficult.

Even now, a few days after digesting all of this, I still can’t understand the appeal. All moral arguments aside, the risk/reward analysis doesn’t add up. You’re literally posting the evidence of your crimes online and hoping other people find it. How could you not get caught? I was a pretty savvy middle schooler and did plenty of questionable stuff, so this just isn’t making any sense to me.

But that’s the thing about trends — they don’t have to make sense to be popular. The momentum of a trend is enough to flatten most logical arguments like a boulder careening down the side of a mountain.

So did the announcement work? Did our school escape the clutches of the latest Tik Tok trend? We’ll see, but I’m not sure an announcement alone, no matter how long the mid-sentence pauses, can halt something with so much momentum. For that, change has to come from within. It has to be planted like a seed and grow into a sapling that grows into a tree that’s strong enough to stop a boulder. I only know of a few things that can do that in a person, and since this is a book blog you can probably guess what’s coming next.

Listed below are three incredible books that highlight the allure of trends, social pressure, and the power of transcending what’s popular for the sake of what’s right. Whether you’re a current middle schooler, a former middle schooler, or a very former middle schooler, I think you’ll be encouraged by the strong, sometimes refreshingly subversive characters in these books.

Shannon, the main character in this memoir-style graphic novel, spends most of the book trying to figure out whether she’s in or out. It could easily have been a story about a girl abandoning her moral compass for the sake of being popular, but instead it’s a much messier and more realistic portrayal of the delicate balancing act of fitting in and finding friends. Shannon is honest, self-aware, and painfully loyal. She’s also angry, scared, sometimes vindictive and confused. One thing she’s not is a follower, and that makes for a heartwarming and poignant story with a satisfyingly untidy ending.

 

Writing a story about a student with special needs is tough. Writing it in the first person is an even bolder choice, yet Leslie Connor navigates it beautifully. As a special education teacher myself, I started this book with some healthy skepticism, but I was quickly won over by Mason’s honesty, his charm, his way of seeing the world in such simple yet vivid detail. More than anything, Mason is who he is. He wrestles with his shortcomings, but he also has an elusive sense of peace about the kind of kid he is. He finds beauty in all sorts of things that others miss, and while other characters in this book are jockeying for popularity and approval, Mason is content in a world where there are simple truths like right and wrong. It challenged my own thinking more than I expected it to, which I’m sure Mason would not have intended but would be happy to know.

Jack Cheng set out to write an adult novel. He says as much in an episode of his Podcast about the development of See You in the Cosmos. In writing the story, he discovered the gentle, hilariously honest Alex Petroski. As the story developed, I’m so glad it eventually landed in the world of middle grade. Kids need to read more characters like Alex. He’s driven, but not in the cliche, success-at-all-costs way so many characters tend to be. His arc is refreshingly unique — an ever-widening net of relationships and perspectives, all set against the backdrop of a message to hypothetical aliens somewhere out there in the universe. Alex often plays the role of commentator, and it’s through this commentary that we see his resilience and his refusal to accept the things around him at face value. The story also serves as a reminder that bucking trends and pursuing truth doesn’t always have a perfectly happy ending, and loose ends don’t mean we were on the wrong path.

I’m sure there will be other trends. Something tells me Tik Tok isn’t going away any time soon. And not all trends are bad. Some of my educator friends were wondering if maybe bringing teachers coffee could go viral someday. 

It all comes down to decisions — I think that’s what our building principal was getting at. We balance the input of the world with the things we already know and hold true. Sometimes the decision lands us in the world of the Level 3 Offense, but on our good days we look more like the powerfully human characters in the books that shape our lives.

VIRGINIA HAMILTON: FIVE NOVELS + Giveaway

Today it’s my great pleasure to introduce MUF readers to a brand new collection titled Virginia Hamilton: Five Novels, which will be published by Library of America on September 28. The volume, edited by Mixed-Up Files contributor, Julie K. Rubini, includes five of Hamilton’s best known and most beloved works as well as twenty beautifully restored illustrations, (ten in full color for the first time); a newly researched chronology of Hamilton’s life and career; and a selection of other related writings, such as her Newbery Award Acceptance Speech and an essay titled, “Nonwhite Literature as American Literature: A Proposal for Cultural Democracy.”

The Library of America has generously offered to send one lucky winner a copy of Virginia Hamilton: Five Novels. Click on the Rafflecopter at the bottom of the interview for chance to win. (U.S. only.)

 

About Virginia Hamilton

Virginia Esther Hamilton (March 12, 1936-February 19, 2002) was the author of forty-one books. Her many achievements include winning The Boston Globe-Horn Book Award in 1974 and a National Book Award and the Newbery Medal in 1975, for her novel, M.C. Higgins, the Great. It was the first book to win all three awards. Not only was she the first African American to win the Newbery Medal, she was also the recipient of the international Hans Christian Andersen Award and the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award (now called the Children’s Literature Legacy Award).

For more on Virginia Hamilton, see our archived post here.

About the Novels Included in the Collection

In Zeely (1967), Geeder Perry and her brother, Toeboy, go to their uncle’s farm for the summer and encounter a six-and-a-half-foot-tall Watusi queen and a mysterious night traveler. (Full color spread of the Zeely interior art, presented in full color in this edition for the first time.)

In the Edgar Award–winning The House of Dies Drear (1968), Thomas Small and his family move to a forbidding former waystation on the Underground Railroad—a house whose secrets Thomas must discover before it’s too late.

Junior Brown, a three-hundred-pound musical prodigy, plays a silent piano in The Planet of Junior Brown (1971), while his homeless friend Buddy Clark draws on all his New York City wit to protect Junior’s disintegrating mind. This novel was adapted for a 1997 film of the same name.

In the National Book Award–winning M.C. Higgins, The Great (1974), Mayo Cornelius Higgins sits atop a forty-foot pole on the side of Sarah’s Mountain and dreams of escape. Poised above his family’s home is a massive spoil heap from strip-mining that could come crashing down at any moment. Can he rescue his family and save his own future? Must he choose?

And in Sweet Whispers, Brother Rush (1982), fifteen-year-old Tree’s life revolves around her ailing brother, Dab, until she sees cool, handsome Brother Rush, an enigmatic figure who may hold the key to unlocking her family’s troubled past.

 

An Interview With the Publisher and Editor

Interviewed here are: Brian McCarthy, Associate Publisher for Library of America, and Julie K. Rubini, who is the author of Virginia Hamilton: America’s Storyteller as well as the editor of this new collection.


Dorian: Can you tell us a bit about the decision to create this beautiful book at this time and how you all determined which novels to include?

Brian: Virginia Hamilton was a major figure in American children’s literature and a natural for inclusion in the Library of America, which honors the full range of great American writing in authoritative new editions. In framing this volume we looked to her breakthrough novels of the 1960s, 70s, and 80s, which have stood the test of time with readers and critics and continue to inspire and delight some fifty years after they were written. In many ways, the social justice movement of the last year and a half has made these five books more resonant than ever, simply by the way they center African American young people and their families, powerfully underscoring that Black lives matter. (As for the beauty of the Library of America edition, much of the credit goes to star book designer Kimberly Glyder, who created a gorgeous original portrait of Hamilton for the cover.)

 

Dorian: What was your experience like in re-reading these five works by Virginia Hamilton for the collection?

Julie: In reading Virginia’s works for research purposes for my biography, Virginia Hamilton: America’s Storyteller (Ohio University Press, 2017), I focused more so on Virginia, the writer. I wondered about her process, her life during the time she wrote each novel. I studied where she was living while creating these amazing works, wanting to learn more about her life in both New York City and Yellow Springs. I tried to learn how changes in her life, from meeting and marrying Arnold, to becoming a mother, and ultimately a successful author with many demands for her time, impacted her writing and stories. When I read these five novels in the collection again, I read them as someone who simply wanted to enjoy and get lost in her work. What a joy it was to rediscover her incredible imagination and characters through this process. I can’t wait to receive my author copies to enjoy yet again in this wonderful collection!

 

Dorian: Can you tell us a little bit about what you discovered about Virginia Hamilton the person through your research?

Julie: Everyone I spoke with described Virginia as kind, loving, always willing to give of her time, and yet always keeping Arnold and their two children as her priority. Virginia was naturally shy, but rose to the occasion for the hundreds of speeches and presentations she shared through her career. She loved sharing coffee with Arnold throughout the day, comparing notes on their work, Arnold’s homemade marinara sauce bubbling away in the kitchen. Virginia embraced technology, graduating from her portable Olivetti typewriter to marveling over the ease of rewriting on personal computers. Virginia’s favorite animal was the jaguar, and she had a collection of frog figurines from her extensive travels!

 

Personal Favorites

Dorian: I’m sure you both love all of Virginia Hamilton’s novels, but which is your personal favorite and why? 

Julie: I have a special place in my heart for The House of Dies Drear. I hadn’t read the novel before beginning my research for my biography. After my first meeting with Virginia’s husband, the late (and great!) Arnold Adoff, I learned it was his favorite of all of her works. Arnold became a friend through the process of sharing her life journey with younger readers, so although difficult to choose a favorite, Virginia’s mystery set in a home that was part of the Underground Railroad has my vote, in honor of their epic love story.

Brian: I do love all these novels, but my favorite is Sweet Whispers, Brother Rush, from 1982, a deeply unsettling story of a family haunted (literally, as it happens) by abuse. Through the painful journey of fifteen-year-old Teresa, or Tree as she is known, Hamilton crafts an inspiring portrait of the power of forgiveness. I defy any reader not to be completely won over by Tree.

 

Dorian: Why do you think Virginia Hamilton’s work has so much staying power? 

Julie: Virginia often stated that her work always began with the central character, and eventually the story revealed itself to her. Virginia had the most incredible imagination, bringing us characters such as M.C. Higgins, who sits on top of a 40-foot pole watching over his beloved Sarah’s Mountain, the regal and mysterious Zeely, curious Thomas Small, and the streetwise and witty Buddy. Virginia’s characters remain some of the most unique characters in children’s literature.

Brian: I agree that character is key with Hamilton. She had a matchless gift for dialogue, for capturing the way that young people think and speak, that makes her novels feel profoundly true. And she had tremendous faith in her readers. While these books are great fun, full of wonder and imagination, as Julie says, they are also very serious in the themes they explore—from the legacy of slavery and environmental depredation to homelessness and mental illness—never shying from addressing the harder aspects of coming of age. They take us to the places where compassion begins.

 

Dorian: Virginia Hamilton is known as the most honored author of children’s literature of all time, yet her work is not as widely read as it should be. How do you hope Virginia Hamilton: Five Novels will change this?

Julie: The book is absolutely beautiful, inside, and out. It is my hope that through this recognition and exposure of her work in the Library of America collection, that educators will once again embrace her work and include it within their curriculums. Ultimately, hopefully more children will discover Virginia’s incredible writing voice and get caught up in her amazing work.

Brian: Hard as it is to imagine, a new generation has come of age in the nearly twenty years since Hamilton’s untimely death. All of us at Library of America hope that this volume will serve as an occasion for readers and reviewers to rediscover her work, to admire anew its range and fearless truth-telling.

 

Library of America Online Speaker Series

Dorian: The Library of Congress, home of Virginia Hamilton’s papers, is collaborating in the promotion of Virginia Hamilton: Five Novels. Could you elaborate on this?

Brian: Yes, we’re thrilled to announce that on October 6 Carla Hayden, the Librarian of Congress, will sit down with acclaimed author Jacqueline Woodson to discuss Hamilton and her legacy as part of Library of America’s free online speaker series, LOA Live. Please visit www.loa.org/events for more information.

Thanks so much Brian and Julie for carrying on Virginia Hamilton’s legacy and for taking the time to talk to us about this wonderful new book.

For a chance to win a copy of the book, click on the Rafflecopter link before Monday, Sept. 27 at 11:59 PM (U.S. Only). 

 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Mixed-Up Files interview with Adam Borba, author of The Midnight Brigade!

Hello Mixed-Up Filers!

Hope that you’re enjoying the first few weeks of the school year as now dive into Fall!

In case you’re sad that summer is now officially over, we have a treat for you that we hope will cheer you up. We’re thrilled to have Adam Borba with us, the author of the recently-released, The Midnight Brigade from Little, Brown Books for Young Readers!

Hi Adam, and welcome to Mixed-Up Files!

JR: To start with, can you tell us a little about The Midnight Brigade and the impetus for writing it?

AB: It started as a concept for a movie. My day job is to help develop and produce movies for a production company called Whitaker Entertainment which is based at Walt Disney Studios. I wanted to find a story about a troll to adapt but couldn’t find what I was looking for. Then on a trip to Pittsburgh, I fell in love with the city, and was wowed by the number of bridges – there are over four hundred. Statistically speaking, if you have four hundred bridges, there has to be a troll under at least one of them, right? So, I started making notes for a movie. Ideas about how great it would be to be a kid who found a troll. And how fun it would be to keep that troll secret with your friends. Usually, the outlines we do for films are about three pages, and then my colleagues and I will pass those outlines off to screenwriters who will work with us while making those stories their own. But my notes for this story became more and more detailed, and eventually I realized I had started writing a novel and I just kept going until I finished it.

JR: The book has a lot of humor in it, but there are also some more serious themes. How difficult did you find it to keep that balance when writing?

AB: It’s the only way I know how to do things. When we’re making movies – no matter what it is – I’m usually the one who says things like, “Hey, doesn’t it feel like a joke should go here?” Life is funny, right? Even during the tough times. And when I’m telling stories or having an important conversation, I just can’t be serious for too long. Conversely, I don’t think I’m funny enough to write or produce a traditional comedy. Plus, my story instincts tend to steer me away from big comedic set pieces and more towards emotional or dramatic moments.  

JR: Carl is an endearing main character and there’s a great dynamic between him, Teddy, and Bee, and actually, Frank, too, for that matter. How much of yourself or your experiences did you put into him?

Thank you! I think I’m a little like all of my characters. Like Carl, I was a quiet kid who spent a lot of time wanting to say more but worrying that I’d say the wrong thing. I think I was and am a dreamer like Teddy. And I was often a loner like Bee who took – occasionally too much – pride in my opinions. Lately, I’m feeling more like the troll, Frank – grumpy and tired, but I hope with my heart in the right place.

JR: Pittsburgh plays front and center in the book. What is it about that city that lends itself to stories with monsters and magic?

AB: Pittsburgh has so much character. It’s a beautiful city with over two hundred and fifty years of history, culture, and food. And its background with steel gives it a feeling of strength. But the big thing with this story is the bridges. Pittsburgh has so many bridges because three rivers flow through the city. The bridges are gorgeous, and it’s unusual for a city to have so many. And unusual leads to the possibility of the unexpected: monsters and magic, of course.

JR: So, what supernatural creatures do you believe in?

AB: I’m open to the possibility of any supernatural creature being real. Certainly trolls. And I’ve personally seen two ghosts, a griffin, and a leprechaun. Also, my cousin’s neighbor knows a guy who was trampled by a herd of unicorns.

JR: We’ll have to have you back to discuss the ghosts! You were one of the Producers on the Pete’s Dragon remake a few years ago. What were some of your other favorite movies or books with monsters in them when you were growing up?

Well, the original Pete’s Dragon was my favorite film as a four-year-old. E.T. was (and is) a big one for me. The Neverending Story, Gremlins, Labyrinth, The Dark Crystal, Willow, and The Flight of the Navigator were all on heavy rotation in my family’s VCR. In children’s literature, certainly The BFG. Alice in Wonderland, The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe. And I was a massive fan of rodent-lit: Mrs. Frisby & the Rats of NIMH, Stuart Little, Ralph S. Mouse, and the Redwall series.

JR: Loved all of those! Who were some of your influences?

AB: The list is constantly growing. But as a kid the big ones were Louis Sachar, Roald Dahl, Beverly Cleary, Jerry Spinelli, and Judy Blume for books, and Steven Spielberg, Joe Dante, Robert Zemeckis, and Tim Burton for films. Storytellers driven by a mix of wit, warmth, and wonder.

JR: So, The Midnight Brigade gets made into a movie. Who’s in your dream cast?

AB: The Muppets is always the correct answer to this question.

JR: I think it’s actually the answer to just about any question for that matter. Will there be a sequel to The Midnight Brigade?

AB: I like that the story stands on its own, with things wrapped up but still presenting threads for readers to guess what might happen next. But maybe someday if I come up with an idea that I just can’t keep to myself I’ll write another!

JR: What are you working on next?

AB: I’m working with my editor at Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, Alexandra Hightower, on a new middle grade novel. It’s another nearly grounded story with a bit of magic. On the movie side, I’m currently in post-production on an epic live-action adaptation of Peter Pan & Wendy for Disney, which David Lowery directed. Both should be coming out towards the end of 2022.

JR: Can’t wait for both of those! How can people follow you on social media?

I’m on Twitter @adam_borba and Instagram @adamborba

To purchase The Midnight Brigade:

The Midnight Brigade

 

JR: Adam, thank you so much for joining us today, and good luck with The Midnight Brigade!

AB: Thanks so much for having me!