Book Lists

A Word or Two with Phil Bildner

By on January 27, 2017   /   Author Interviews, Book Lists, For Kids, For Librarians, For Parents, For Teachers  

Today the Mixed-Up Files blog is talking with author Phil Bildner. You may know Phil from his amazing picture books, including Marvelous Cornelius: Hurricane Katrina and the Spirit of New Orleans and Derek Jeter Presents: Night at the Stadium.

I met Phil Bildner on a three-hour bus ride through rural Missouri last spring when we were both featured authors at Truman State University’s Children’s Literature Festival. (The Mixed-Up Files’ own Tricia Springstubb will be taking that bus ride this April!) On that trip Phil taught me how to capture great photos from slo-mo video (we had a lot of time to fill!). I practiced on him. Want to see?

I also learned that Phil Bildner is a high-energy, deep-thinking, and talented middle-grade author and former middle school teacher. In addition to picture books, Phil writes the Rip and Red series. This series is all about the things that, when it comes to kids, matter most to Phil:  school, sports, friendships, community, and empathy.  Look for Tournament of Champions, the third book in the series this June.

So, I was going to call this post A WORD WITH PHIL BILDNER and limit his responses to a single word, but then I thought how difficult that might be, so I gave him a little wiggle room.  He could answer with TWO words if he needed to.

So, let’s see how he does. Ready?

MH:  I always pick a word of the year. Do you have a word for 2017?
PB:  EvaluateMH: What’s the best thing about being a successful middle-grade author?PB: Kid readers

MH: Which is your favorite part of the writing process:  research, drafting, or editing?
PB: Research
 
MH: How would you describe your writing style?
PB: Scattered
 
MH: What’s the best time of day to write?

PB: Morning

MH: What food have you tried that you hope you’ll never have to eat again?
PB: Beets
MH:  So, I guess I won’t serve these to you, then.

 
MH: What is the latest you’ve ever been on a deadline?
PB:  Late? Never.
MH:  Wow!
 
MH: If you could visit anywhere in the world, where would you go?
PB:  Machu Picchu
 
MH: When you were in middle school, what did you think you would be when you grew up?

PB: Lawyer

MH: What animal would be a great pet?
PB: Dogs!
 Meet Katniss, Phil’s rescued pitbull mix.

She’s smiling, isn’t she?

MH: Where do you most like to write?
PB: Back porch
 
MH: What’s the hardest part of writing for children?
PB: Time management
 
MH: Is there a word that you really like the sound of?
PB: Boo-yah!
MH:
MH: What is the farthest from home you’ve ever travelled?
PB: South Africa and China
 
Which is more challenging to write: picture books or middle-grade?

PB: Middle-grade

MH: Who is your favorite character from middle-grade fiction?
PB: Auggie Pullman

MH: If you could meet any famous person, who would you meet?
PB: President Obama

MH: What do the best middle-grade books offer their readers?
PB: Hope

MH: If you could talk to your 12-year-old self, what would you say?
PB: You got this.

 
MH: What could our world use more of?
PB: Empathy
MH:  I agree.MH:  So, besides the third Rip and Red book, I know that you have a picture book coming soon about two famous tennis players, titled  Martina and Chrissie: The Greatest Rivalry in the History of Sports.  What can you tell us about that book?

PB: 
MH: What’s wrong? Do you need more than one or two words? Oh, well, I guess. Take as many as you need.

 

PB:  The rivalry between Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert was (and is) the greatest rivalry in the history of sports. No other rivalry comes close. They faced one another an incredible eighty times, fourteen times in grand slam finals. But what makes their rivalry and story so compelling and important is that it went far beyond the grass courts of the All England Club and the red clay of Roland Garros. What makes their rivalry transcendent is the humanity of the combatants.

Martina and Chrissie were fierce competitors. They played under the brightest lights and on the biggest stages. But they were also the best of friends, and in the world of sports where we often carelessly serve and volley phrases like “going to war” and “doing battle” and “fighting for your life,” Martina and Chrissie never lost sight of their humanity.

MH: Now I’m really glad I gave you more space. I loved watching Martina and Chrissie play tennis when I was young!

Thank you, Phil, for your brief, but heartfelt answers! It’s been fun talking with you on the Mixed-Up Files of Middle-Grade Authors!  Folks, find Phil Bildner by clicking here, and find his books in your neigborhorhood bookstores.

 Michelle Houts is the author of many books for middle-grade readers. She’s rarely a person of few words, so she completely appreciates the challenge Phil Bildner faced doing this interview! Find Michelle at www.michellehouts.com and on Twitter and Instagram as mhoutswrites.
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An Unfortunate Event

By on January 23, 2017   /   Book Lists, Fiction, For Kids, For Parents  

If you like stories about people who enjoy popular series of books, this is a story for you. If you like stories about families bonding over books, you might read on. If you are a parent who appreciates the value of reading and a proud parent of readers, you may enjoy this.

But, if you are a meticulous keeper of neatly shelved and ordered books which are kept with the utmost of care and handling, you may want to stop now. If you cringe when someone opens one of your books for fear they may dog ear a page, please go dust off the Aa-Hi titles on your bookshelf. This story is not for you.

It all began at a book fair years ago when the three, young Hays children selected a paperback book entitled, THE BAD BEGINNING. The book is read, thoroughly enjoyed and soon book two in the series is ordered. Well, some of you may guess where this is going. The next thing the dad knows is that we own A Series of Unfortunate Events, Book 1 thru Book 8.

Fast forward to early January 2017. The 20-something, college-graduate, working-professional, Hays kids are at the house for a family dinner. The kids and their significant others are talking about their anticipation for the new Netflix A Series of Unfortunate Events series. (Anticipation here meaning, waiting with great excitement and enthusiasm.) The talk turns from the TV series to the book series.

It is found out, with great surprise, that only one of the five young adults read the entire series—my son-in-law. Out of the old adults (me and my teacher wife), I lead the elderly set with a reading through THE AUSTERE ACADEMY, Book 5. After many joyful minutes of A Series of Unfortunate Events book talk, my eldest daughter, who is a second-grade teacher, says she wants to read all the books again before she watches the series.

Girl Twin says she recently reorganized her room and thinks she remembers them being on her bookshelf. She checks and returns with a stack of books. Books 1, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8. No THE REPTILE ROOM or THE ERSATZ ELEVATOR!

A mild panic ensues. Where are Book 2 and 6???!!!

A search of all the bookshelves in the house reveals nothing. The two volumes, including my favorite, THE REPTILE ROOM, are gone. Most of the immediate blame goes on Boy Twin, but after a search of his books, he is cleared. Eventually, we decide they could be anywhere. The most likely scenario is determined to be those two books probably disappeared when they were part of my wife’s middle school or 3rd-grade classrooms free-range-reading book shelves.

An unfortunate event, indeed.

Soon, we ameliorate (a word meaning to make better) the lost book situation by returning to a discussion of our favorite parts of the Baudelaire orphans’ plight and end a pleasant evening talking books and eating dinner with the family.

Lessons learned from my Unfortunate Event evening…

  1. You never outgrow your favorite books. They stay embedded in your heart and soul forever. Nothing can change that.
  2. There are books for everyone. A nonreader is a reader who just hasn’t found his niche yet. i.e. My son-in-law, who is the admitted nonreader of the whole bunch is the only one of the whole bunch who read the entire 13-book A Series of Unfortunate Events series.
  3. Sometimes books get lost and disappear for a reason. There are kids out there without access to books besides what they find in the library or on a teacher’s open reading shelf or a free book exchange. Sometimes a borrowed book becomes so special and important, it finds a new owner. Oh yeah, then there’s always the overzealous mother who cleans out your room (book and baseball card collection included!) the minute you move off to college.
  4. The Netflix adaptation of A Series of Unfortunate Events is very good. As good as the books but in a different way. Isn’t that the way book adaptations should be?

Author’s Update – I wish I could update you with happy news of Book 2, THE REPTILE ROOM and Book 6, THE ERSATZ ELEVATOR being found, but, alas, they are still missing. In more upbeat news, Book 9, THE CARNIVOROUS CARNIVAL, turned up this week in a search and nobody remembers buying it.

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