Fiction

DC Zooms into Middle Grade with New Imprint

By on June 27, 2018   /   Book Lists, Fiction  

Graphic novels have been zooming into the MG space in a big way in the past few years. In fact, middle grade graphic novels are probably the hottest category in publishing right now.

Traditional kidlit publishers have been moving toward graphic novels since Scholastic launched their Graphix imprint in 2005 and acquired Jeff Smith’s Bone series, but graphic novel publishers have also been moving toward kidlit. Also in 2005, NBM Publishing started their Papercutz imprint, which publishes graphic novel versions of classic middle-grade series, like Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys as well as series featuring popular pop culture characters, such as Lego Ninjago and Disney Fairies, and original titles such as the popular Geronimo Stilton series.

DC Zoom logo. Courtesy of DC Entertainment.Since then, the genre has continued to grow. According to the American Bookseller’s Association, comics and graphic novels saw a strong sales growth in 2014-2017, due in large part to the success of middle-grade authors such as Raina Telgemeier and Dav Pilkey. In February 2018 at the ALA Mid-Winter Conference, DC Entertainment announced two new imprints: DC Zoom for middle-grade readers and DC Ink for young adults. These imprints combine popular middle-grade and YA authors, acclaimed artists, and iconic DC characters to create unique, out-of-continuity stories that are aimed specifically at young readers.

At the ALA Annual Conference this week, I had the opportunity to learn about some of the upcoming titles from DC Zoom and listen to their authors talk about the experience of working on these graphic novels. Read more →

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Some Fun MG Summer Reads, Coming Your Way!

By on June 25, 2018   /   Book Lists, Fiction  

NOTE: This post by Jonathan Rosen originally ran on May 28th, but it was so chock full of great summer reads, we decided to run it again and include one more book, one we just featured a few weeks ago.

Hello Mixed-Up Filers!

Hope you are all doing well! I have to say, summer is my favorite time of the year. I love having my kids off from school and being able to do things with them. I love the promise of adventure. New things can happen every day. I love summer movies, summer camp, and most of all, summer reading! Some really fun books come out in the summer, and this year is no exception.

I looked through those June, July, August releases, and though there were soooooo many I was looking forward to, I picked out five that immediately caught my eye.

What’s that you say? Jonathan, stop talking and get to them? Okay, okay, my impatient friends. Without further ado, here we go!

  1. The Cardboard Kingdom by Chad Sell (June 5th)

Welcome to a neighborhood of kids who transform ordinary boxes into colorful costumes, and their ordinary block into cardboard kingdom. This is the summer when sixteen kids encounter knights and rogues, robots and monsters–and their own inner demons–on one last quest before school starts again.
In the Cardboard Kingdom, you can be anything you want to be–imagine that!

Seriously, brings me back to being a kid, when all you needed was a large cardboard box to imagine anything. Really looking forward to this one.

 

                 2) The Frame-Up by Wendy McLeod MacKnight (June 5th)

MUF Interview | Wendy McLeod MacKnight | The Frame-Up

Filled with shady characters, devious plots, and a grand art heist, this inventive mystery-adventure celebrates art and artists and is perfect for fans of Night at the Museum and Blue Balliett’s Chasing Vermeer.

There’s one important rule at the Beaverbrook Gallery—don’t let anyone know the paintings are alive. Mona Dunn, forever frozen at thirteen when her portrait was painted by William Orpen, has just broken that rule. Luckily twelve-year-old Sargent Singer, an aspiring artist himself, is more interested in learning about the vast and intriguing world behind the frame than he is in sharing her secret.

And when Mona and Sargent suspect shady dealings are happening behind the scenes at the gallery, they set out to find the culprit. They must find a way to save the gallery—and each other—before they are lost forever.

I already read this one, and it was so much fun. I can’t wait until everyone else gets a chance to see it. And hey, who doesn’t love talking paintings?

         3) Marcus Vega Doesn’t Speak Spanish by Pablo Cartaya (Aug 21)

Marcus Vega is six feet tall, 180 pounds, and the owner of a premature mustache. When you look like this and you’re only in the eighth grade, you’re both a threat and a target.
After a fight at school leaves Marcus facing suspension, Marcus’s mom decides it’s time for a change of environment. She takes Marcus and his younger brother to Puerto Rico to spend a week with relatives they don’t remember or have never met. But Marcus can’t focus knowing that his father–who walked out of their lives ten years ago–is somewhere on the island.
So begins Marcus’s incredible journey, a series of misadventures that take him all over Puerto Rico in search of his elusive namesake. Marcus doesn’t know if he’ll ever find his father, but what he ultimately discovers changes his life. And he even learns a bit of Spanish along the way.

In some ways, this book reminds me a lot about my youth and living in Mexico. Feeling out of place and having to speak Spanish. Plus, it shares a release date with me. That has to mean something!

 4) Smack Down in the Middle of Maybe by Jo Watson Hackl (July 10)

How far would you go to find something that might not even exist?
All her life, Cricket’s mama has told her stories about a secret room painted by a mysterious artist. Now Mama’s run off, and Cricket thinks the room might be the answer to getting her to come back. If it exists. And if she can find it.
Cricket’s only clue is a coin from a grown-over ghost town in the woods. So with her daddy’s old guidebook and a coat full of snacks stolen from the Cash ‘n’ Carry, Cricket runs away to find the room. Surviving in the woods isn’t easy. While Cricket camps out in an old tree house and looks for clues, she meets the last resident of the ghost town, encounters a poetry-loving dog (who just might hold a key to part of the puzzle), and discovers that sometimes you have to get a little lost . . . to really find your way.

First off, I love the title. It caught my eye, but after reading what this was about, I can’t wait to read it!

 

     5) Nightbooks by J.A. White (July 24)

A boy is imprisoned by a witch and must tell her a new scary story each night to stay alive. This thrilling contemporary fantasy from J. A. White, the acclaimed author of the Thickety series, brings to life the magic and craft of storytelling.

Alex’s original hair-raising tales are the only thing keeping the witch Natacha happy, but soon he’ll run out of pages to read from and be trapped forever. He’s loved scary stories his whole life, and he knows most don’t have a happily ever after. Now that Alex is trapped in a true terrifying tale, he’s desperate for a different ending—and a way out of this twisted place.

This modern spin on the Scheherazade story is perfect for fans of Coraline and A Tale Dark and Grimm. With interwoven tips on writing with suspense, adding in plot twists, hooks, interior logic, and dealing with writer’s block, this is the ideal book for budding writers and all readers of delightfully just-dark-enough tales.

I love just about ANY witch story, and this one looks like it’ll be fun.

 

These are just some of the great MG stories coming out this summer, but there are many more that I didn’t have room for, like a certain vampire sequel to a bunny story, `so please be on the lookout for all of them!

 

6) Where the Watermelons Grow, by Cindy Baldwin (July 8) 

Cindy Baldwin

When twelve-year-old Della Kelly finds her mother furiously digging black seeds from a watermelon in the middle of the night and talking to people who aren’t there, Della worries that it’s happening again–that the sickness that put her mama in the hospital four years ago is back. That her mama is going to be taken away like last time.

With her daddy struggling to save the farm and her mama in denial, it’s up to Della to heal her mama for good. And she knows just how she’ll do it: with a jar of the Bee Lady’s magic honey, which has mended the wounds and woes of Maryville, North Carolina, for generations. But when the Bee Lady says that the solution might have less to do with fixing Mama’s brain and more to do with healing her own heart, Della must find a way to truly love her own mother, sickness and all.

Gorgeous prose, heart-stopping scenes between Della and her father and mentors as she navigates this sad, tough time in her life. (Last note from Heather Murphy Capps)

Jonathan Rosen is a transplanted New Yorker, who now lives with his family in sunny, South Florida. He spends his “free” time chauffeuring around his three kids. Some of Jonathan’s fondest childhood memories are of discovering a really good book to dive into, in particular the Choose Your Own Adventure Series, and Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. Jonathan is proud to be of Mexican-American descent, although neither country has been really willing to accept responsibility. He is the author of Night of the Living Cuddle Bunnies, and its sequel, From Sunset Till Sunrise. You can find him on Twitter, Facebook, FromtheMixedUpFiles.Com, and his own website, WWW.HouseofRosen.com

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Meet Jess Butterworth, Author of Running on the Roof of the World

By on June 6, 2018   /   Author Interviews, Fiction  

Our next middle grade spotlight is directed on a book brimming with adventure, intrigue, and culture. And it’s written by an incredibly sweet author! Let’s meet her now.

Jess Butterworth – As a child Jess wanted to be many things, including a vet and even David Attenborough, but throughout all of those ideas, she always wanted to write. She studied creative writing as a BA(hons) at Bath Spa University, where she won the Writing for Young People Prize in 2011. She then completed a Master’s in Writing for Young People, also at Bath Spa University, and graduated in 2015. Her first two novels, RUNNING ON THE ROOF OF THE WORLD and WHEN THE MOUNTAINS ROARED are set in the Himalayas. Find her on Twitter & her Website.

Welcome to our Mixed-Up site, Jess! So glad you stopped by.

Thanks for having me here.

Let’s begin with when you were a child. Did you have a special someone read to you? And was reading a big part of your life as a middle grader?
As a young child, my grandmothers and parents would read to me often, which I adored. Apparently I refused to go to bed without having several stories read to me beforehand. My absolute favorite books were The Very Hungry Caterpillar, Dear Zoo and Where the Wild Things Are.
When I was a middle grader, it was Matilda by Roald Dahl that accelerated my love of reading. Just like in Matilda, books transported me to different worlds and countries from the comfort of my own home and you’d often find me in the library in search of adventure stories.

You chose great reads as a child!

What motivated you to write this story? Where did you find your inspiration?
As a child, I grew up between India where my dad’s family lived, and the UK, where my mum’s family lived. In India, our home was in Dharamsala in the Himalayas, where the Dalai Lama and a Tibetan community in exile live. Growing up I had lots of friends who were Tibetan and whose family had made the journey over the mountains from Tibet into the safety of India. Writing has always been my way of making sense of the world around me and when I was visiting my dad in the Himalayas in 2013, I learnt about the current abuse of human rights within Tibet. Tashi’s voice soon appeared in my head and I started writing.

Wow, what an intriguing childhood environment to grow up in. It’s very touching how Tashi’s voice came to be.

Speaking of Tashi, there’s a violent act that plunges her into a new story and completely changes her world. How did you decide to use this act and the oppression of her people, and did the violence of it give you concerns for your readers?
I try not to avoid the difficult situations within the world in my writing, but rather make sure that there’s a sense of hope in the story. I aim to show that it’s possible to go on, even after a terrible thing has occurred, by focusing on universal aspects such as friendship, kindness and love. Running on the Roof of the World is grounded in real events and settings which made me feel it’s important to keep that moment in. I also included moments of lightness and laughter and even though there are political undercurrents throughout, it’s very much a middle grade adventure story too.

I really love this answer. 

This story gives vivid insight into the Tibetan daily life and culture. How much research did you do and how much of that research made it into the book?
When I realized I wanted to write this book, I returned to Dharamsala and did six months of research. During that time, I studied Tibetan Buddhism, attended Dalai Lama teachings, trekked into the Himalayas and went in search of yaks. I also interviewed many Tibetan people. There was definitely a lot of research that got cut along the way, but I think it still helped to have that knowledge in the back of my mind, especially with writing in a first person viewpoint. My favorite research moment was spending time with the yaks!

Very cool! And your efforts in research definitely show throughout this book. What do you hope readers take away from this story?
A small insight into a part of the world they not have been aware of before, and a sense of hope and wonder.

Are you working on anything new? What can your readers expect from you next?
My second book is another middle grade adventure called When the Mountains Roared and is inspired by my Grandma, who in the 1960s rescued a baby kangaroo joey as she was leaving Australia, and took it with her by boat to India. The story is set in the present and follows Ruby, who’s devastated when her dad uproots her from Australia to set up a hotel in the mountains of India. Not only are they living in a run-down building in the middle of the wilderness surrounded by scorpions, bears and leopards, but Ruby is sure that India will never truly feel like home—not without her mum there. Ever since her mum died, Ruby has been afraid. Of cars. Of the dark. Of going to sleep and never waking up. But then the last remaining leopards of the mountain are threatened and everything changes.

Your family has lived such interesting lives! I love that you’re touching upon that to share them with the world through your books. It’s been such a pleasure having you visit. Thank you!

RUNNING ON THE ROOF OF THE WORLD

There are two words that are banned in Tibet. Two words that can get you locked in prison without a second thought. I watch the soldiers tramping away and call the words after them. ‘Dalai Lama.’

Tash has to follow many rules to survive in Tibet, a country occupied by Chinese soldiers. But when a man sets himself on fire in protest and soldiers seize Tash’s parents, she and her best friend Sam must break the rules. They are determined to escape Tibet – and seek the help of the Dalai Lama himself in India.

And so, with a backpack of Tash’s father’s mysterious papers and two trusty yaks by their side, their extraordinary journey across the mountains begins.

Join 12-year-old Tash and her best friend Sam in a story of adventure, survival and hope, set in the vivid Himalayan landscape of Tibet and India. Filled with friendship, love and courage, this young girl’s thrilling journey to save her parents is an ideal read for children aged 9-12.

Readers, do you know any fun facts about Tibetan life? Have you read any other stories about it?

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