Book Lists

My Middle-Grade Summer Must List!

By on May 9, 2017   /   Book Lists  

Hello Mixed-Up Filers!

Hope all of you are doing well and have been enjoying all the recent posts as much as I have!

I know some of you are reading this and saying, “Whoa, Jonathan . . . what are you doing here? Aren’t you scheduled for June?”

Well, the answer to that, is yes, but . . . it seems that there was an intense emailing campaign to get me to go earlier and the powers that be here at the blog, had no choice but to acquiesce. So, thank you, Mom! You were right, it worked!

Anyway, as most of you know, I always have trouble deciding what to post about next, and this month was no exception. Several topics I wanted to do, but since we’re so close to summer, I decided to write about the books I’m most looking forward to, which are coming out this summer! Now, don’t get me wrong, because there are TONS of books that I’m looking forward to, but I’m just picking a few that caught my eye.

Great, right?

Well, even if you didn’t say, “Yes”, it’s too late, because that’s what I’m doing. So, without further ado . . . or maybe, a little ado, here we go!

Okay, right off the bat, I’m cheating. And the thing is, I know I’m cheating. This one doesn’t technically come out in the summer, but I can’t wait to read it nonetheless.

  1. Better Off Undead, by James Preller.

This is about a boy who navigates through middle school as a zombie and has to solve a mystery. First off, I would read just about anything zombie-related. Phone book for zombies and mark me down for a copy. But, this sounds really cool and I can’t wait to read.

  1. One Mixed-Up Night, by Catherine Newman

This story is about two kids, who each concoct a scheme to hide out in an Ikea store overnight. How ridiculously cool is that? I would’ve loved doing something like that as a kid!

  1. Mrs. Smith’s Spy School for Girls, by our own Beth McMullen

In this, A girl discovers her boarding school is actually an elite spy-training program, and she must learn the skills of the trade in order to find her mother. I would’ve loved reading that as a kid. Well, I’m going to love reading that now, too!

  1. The World’s Greatest Detective by Caroline Carlson

Kids in a competition to find the world’s greatest detective! The contest turns into a murder mystery? Well, I’m hooked!

  1. Kat Greene Comes Clean by Melissa Roske

A girl dealing with her obsessive-compulsive mother and enters her in a cleaning competition. She’s also having issues with a boy at school during their production of Harriet the Spy! I’m so partial to this book since I have a daughter the same age and picture how she’d deal with these situations. Very much looking forward to it!

Well, that’s it for now, Mixed-Up Filers! Hope you’re looking forward to these as much as I am. As I said before, there are many more, but let’s go with these five for now . . . okay, well, there is one book about bunnies or something like that coming out this summer, which I might be slightly looking forward to. But, the name seems to be escaping me right now. Oh, well. I’m sure I’ll think of it.

Until next time!

Jonathan

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Cinco de Mayo, Middle-Grade Style

By on May 5, 2017   /   Book Lists, Diversity, For Kids, For Librarians, For Parents, For Teachers, New Releases  

Cinco de Mayo is celebrated by many in the United States, but does everyone who celebrates know what the holiday commemorates?  A popular myth is that Cinco de Mayo is Mexico’s Independence Day, similar to America’s Fourth of July.

But, it isn’t. Mexico’s Independence Day is September 16th.

Here’s the real story:  On the 5th day of May in 1862, though out-numbered and poorly equipped, Mexican soldiers held off French soldiers in the Battle of Puebla during the Franco-Mexican War. This stopped the the French from progressing to Mexico City. It was a victory worth celebrating!

Also worth celebrating are some great middle-grade titles that feature Latina/Latino characters.  But first, two words of caution as we think about diversity in our reading selections:

Not just today. Cinco de Mayo (or any holiday of cultural significance) is a great time to move readers toward more diverse book selection. But, let’s not limit that practice to the “culture of the month.”  Each and every day, we should strive for diversity in our home, classroom, school, and public libraries.

Not just the classics. There will always be that treasured and timeless book we adore. We love it for its heart and for its story. And, because its characters helped us learn more about a given culture (in this case, think Esperanza Rising), we tend to gravitate toward it again and again.  I say, Great! But, don’t stop there. Look for and champion new middle grade titles, like the ones below.

Click the book to go to the publisher’s page to read more about it.




Comment below with a book featuring Latina/Latino main characters that you’d like to read on Cinco de Mayo (or ANY day!)

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Using Humor to Lighten Heavy Topics

By on May 3, 2017   /   Book Lists, For Writers, MUF Contributor Books, Writing  

via GIPHY

E.B. White once famously said, “Analyzing humor is like dissecting a frog. Few people are interested and the frog dies of it.” And yet, analyzing how other authors have used humor is one of the best ways to learn how to do it in your own work. When asked to think of middle-grade authors who write humor well, folks like Dav Pilkey, Tom Angleberger, Brandon Sanderson, and Jeff Kinney come to mind. Their books make readers of all ages laugh out loud.

But what I want to talk about today is using humor to lighten up heavy topics in middle-grade. Humor arises when authors set readers up with certain expectations and then subvert them in an unexpected way. There are many ways to do this, but here are some of the most common:

Humorous Language:
Puns, plays on words, and even just words that sound funny (just try saying collywobbles, blubber, or discombobulated without laughing) are a great way to interject humor into a story that is otherwise serious. Including a character who often says the wrong word (saying prism instead of prison), who regularly gets idioms wrong (another one bites the rust), or who often makes punny jokes is a great way to inject a little humor. Metaphors and similes are great humor-generators, especially when they’re unexpected. So is freshening up an old cliché. A great example of this is when Trudy Trueit uses “scare the fingernail polish off of me” to describe a teacher in My Top Secret Dares & Don’ts. “Scare the pants off” would have been a cliché, but she makes it into the perfect MG-appropriate phrase with humorous results.

Misunderstandings:
When two characters misunderstand each other, comedy can ensue. In Rosanne Parry’s The Turn of the Tide, the cultural misunderstandings between two cousins, one raised in the US and one raised in Japan, add a dose of levity to a story that deals with the aftermath of a devastating tsunami.

Book jacket for Kate Messner's The Seventh WishHumor as a Motif:
Although Kate Messner’s The Seventh Wish nearly broke my heart, the family plays a somewhat absurd word game throughout the story that adds some much-needed levity and sweetness.

Using Physicality for Laughs:
This is the Larry Curly and Moe style of humor that involves trips, spills, fights, and other humorous incidents involving movement and the human body. John David Anderson uses this effectively in Ms. Bixby’s Last Day to add a little humor to a real tear-jerker of a story.

Book Jacket for I Am FartacusToilet Humor:
Never underestimate the power of a good fart joke. Just ask Mark Maciejewski, whose debut, I Am Fartacus, has as many fart jokes as the name implies.

The Magical or Unexpected
Whether it’s the magical wish-granting talking fish in The Seventh Wish or a talking monument in Tricia Springstubb’s Every Single Second, the magical or unexpected is a great way to add humor.

The Absurd
Using absurd characters or situations is a great way to inject some unexpected humor into your story. Dobby from Harry Potter is probably one of my favorite examples of this (and one of my favorite heroes in the series) because he’s always doing something ridiculous and ridiculously funny. But so is the bakery owner, who is extremely devoted to the quality of his very highly priced cheesecake, in Ms. Bixby’s Last Day.

Voice
An unexpected or unusual voice can add humor to a story too. Part of the reason the combination of Raymie, Louisiana, and Beverly in Kate DiCamillo’s Raymie Nightingale works so well is because they are such unusual characters who are different from each other. The cementing of their friendship and their somewhat absurd adventure to rescue a library book, a caged bird, and a dog, is a story full of laugh-out-loud moments even though all three girls are dealing with heavy family situations. Gary Schmidt’s Okay For Now is another example of two contrasting characters, sarcastic/angry Doug and his friend Lil Spicer, have voices that add humor to a story colored by abuse and bullying.

Additional Resources:

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