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In Praise of L–O–N–G Books

By on July 15, 2015   /   Book Lists, Writing  

QWERTY_keyboardWriters conferences, writing magazines, and literary blogs are long on advice for the aspiring writer, and one the things I hear fairly frequently is the admonition to remember that kids don’t have the attention span they used to what with the giddy spin of the internet forever at their finger tips. Kids want fast-paced, gobble them up reads! Or so we hear.

And yet, time and time again the market has proved them wrong. Some of the most popular books in recent memory have been long, including the last four tomes in the Harry Potter series, all the books in the Eragon series, the Wildwood series, the Game of Thrones juggernaut, and many of the Percy Jackson titles. Classics like The Lord of the Rings and the works of Jane Austin have held up rather well in spite of their length.

What’s up with that!? Here are five things that I think make long books particularly appealing to middle grade kids.

1. Middle grade readers have time. Too young to have a job and notBook Ends Beach allowed to roam the neighborhood alone while their folks are at work, the MG reader has hours of time, especially in the summer to dive into a book that really rewards a long stretch of attention.

2. Most long books are long because they carry a reader off into a richly detailed and lavishly described world whether it’s Harry Potter’s Hogwarts or the Hispanola of Treasure Island. Kids who can’t drive, didn’t pick their hometown, their house, or even the sibling they share a room with, love to be swept away.

3. Many long books are fantasy, science fiction, or magical realism, perennial favorites among MG readers.

4. There’s plenty of praise from grownups to be gained from reading a book of weight and substance and there’s plenty of pride in the accomplishment of reading a long story all the way through to the end.

WB Golden Compass5. Among traditionally published books there is pressure from editors to tighten up the story and tell it as economically and gracefully as possible. I tend to have confidence that a traditionally published book that goes on at some length has something worthwhile to say, something that could not be said in a more compact tale. There are masters of the short form who have made a career of writing lean and lovely tales like a long string of pearls, each one a tiny perfection. But many authors at the height of their powers, even if they have written other short books, write a marvelous long story and if they are lucky it stands the test of time.

IMG_1610-3-225x300[1]I am very much hoping Pam Muñoz Ryan’s new book Echo is one of these. I reviewed it on my website.

Here are a few other books kids have liked that approach Moby Dick in length.

Harry Potter and the Cauldron of Fire by JK Rowling

Brisigner by Christopher Paolini

The Golden Compass by Phillip Pullman

Wildwood by Colin Meloy

and The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkein

How about you? Do you have a favorite tome? Can you remember the feeling of accomplishment from the first long book you read? Please share in the comments.

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A Retrospective MUFiversary

By on July 10, 2015   /   Book Lists  

As I psyched up for another MUF post, I decided to take a glance back at my previous posts, hoping to find some form of inspiration awaiting me. Surprisingly, it actually worked. And it’s all because of how I name my computer files.

You see, whenever I hammer out a MUF post and save it to my computer, I name the file by starting with the year-month-day date. So when I went to sift through my old posts, the very first file caught my eye: “2012-7-20…”

July 2012. . . .

July 2015. . . .

This month is my triple MUFiversary!

I’m a bit of an expert on anniversaries. In fact, I’ve been forgetting them until the last minute for 20 years. (Though I made up for it just last month when my wife and I celebrated our 20th anniversary via some mutual de-bucket-listing and jumped out of an airplane while 13,000 feet above the ground. She made me go first. But I’ve forgiven her.)

Anyway, the important anniversaries don’t stop there! Digging still deeper into my anniversary theme, I realized this is the 5th year for MUF, which was launched in 2010. So . . . with my wife and me celebrating 20 years of marriage, MUF celebrating its 5th MUFiversary, and my personal celebration of three years of MUFhood, I decided to weave those three anniversaries together and see what I got.

The result? . . . A 20 year journey back through the world of children’s publishing, using a series of 5-year leaps, with each leap including three if-you-haven’t-read-these-you-really-need-to books.

5 YEARS AGO (2010):

  1. BECAUSE OF MR. TERUPT by Rob Buyea. The story shifts between seven different narrators—each providing a unique voice and perspective as the story unfolds.
  2. OUT OF MY MIND by Sharon Draper. The main character can’t walk. She can’t talk. But she has a brilliant mind that refuses to stay hidden.
  3. Moon Over ManifestMOON OVER MANIFEST by Clare Vanderpool. I don’t read much historical fiction—I’m more of a contemporary-fiction guy. But I made an exception for this debut historical novel. And I’m sure glad I did.

10 YEARS AGO (2005):

  1. THE PENULTIMATE PERIL by Lemony Snicket. The 12th (and penultimate) novel in the 13-book Series of Unfortunate Events. Who knew having the narrator constantly defining words for the reader could be so much fun?
  2. HARRY POTTER AND THE HALF-BLOOD PRINCE by J. K. Rowling. Another penultimate story that finally confirmed it—Severus Snape was clearly a bad guy. . . . Wasn’t he?
  3. The Lightning ThiefTHE LIGHTNING THIEF by Rick Riordan. Yeah, another series book (but not the penultimate one). This middle-grade novel kicks off the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, which my 13-year-old daughter has read approximately 23.5 million times.

15 YEARS AGO (2000):

  1. STARGIRL by Jerry Spinelli. Not to brag or anything, but I’ve got a signed copy of Stargirl on my bookshelf. A. Signed. Copy. You may now be jealous. But don’t overdo it.
  2. Because of Winn-DixieBECAUSE OF WINN-DIXIE by Kate DiCamillo. How could you not love a novel containing a large, ugly dog named after a grocery store?
  3. SCHOOLED by Gordon Korman. I had to include this book because it contains an opening paragraph that makes me want to keep reading every time:
    I was thirteen the first time I saw a police officer up close. He was arresting me for driving without a license. At the time, I didn’t even know what a license was. I wasn’t too clear on what being arrested meant either.

20 YEARS AGO (1995):

  1. WAYSIDE SCHOOL GETS A LITTLE STRANGER by Louis Sachar. The third and final chapter book in the rather wacky Wayside School series still makes for a terrifically fun read-aloud even a couple of decades after publication.
  2. THE WATSONS GO TO BIRMINGHAM – 1963 by Christopher Paul Curtis. A powerful historical novel that you simply need to read. Because.
  3. Walk Two MoonsWALK TWO MOONS by Sharon Creech. Okay, I cheated. Walk Two Moons was actually published in 1994. But it won the Newbery Medal in 1995. Since it remains one of my favorite books of all time, I decided that was close enough.

Have a favorite, must-read book published in 1995, 2000, 2005, or 2010? Leave a comment and share the title!

T. P. Jagger The 3-Minute Writing TeacherAlong with his MUF posts, T. P. Jagger can be found at www.tpjagger.com, where he provides brief how-to writing-tip videos as The 3-Minute Writing Teacher plus original readers’ theatre scripts for middle-grade teachers. He also has a 10-lesson, video-based creative writing course available at Curious.com.

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