Book Lists

Indie Spotlight: Edmonds Bookshop, Edmonds, WA

By on November 28, 2014   /   Book Lists, Indie Spotlight  

This month’s Indie Spotlight is Edmonds Bookshop, located in the heart of the city of Edmonds, Washington, on the beautiful Puget Sound just North of Seattle. As their website says, they’ve been “Finding Good Homes for Books since 1972.”

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If there’s a book you’ve been wanting, Edmonds Bookshop can help you. If there’s a book you’d recommend to others, they’ll lend a listening ear as well. Their children’s collection is tucked into a cozy nook that’s welcoming for browsing.

EdmondsBookshop_interior_upstairs     EdmondsBookshop_interior_front

Owner Mary Kay Sneeringer graciously shared with us about her shop.

MUF: Can you tell us what being an independent bookseller means to you? What does it allow you to do for your clients?

Mary Kay: Being an independent bookseller means I can bring any book into the store that I think will delight, intrigue, provoke or enlighten my customers. I learn so much from the readers who buy books from us. Remembering the stories they tell me, the books they have recommended in the past and their responses both to what they are reading and what is happening in the world informs many of the decisions I make about which books to carry.

MUF: What would you like people to experience when they walk through the doors of your shop?

Mary Kay: People who love books feel safe and comfortable in the right kind of bookstore. I hope people walk in and feel at home. I want them to be intrigued and to see books that they want to read on every shelf. The walls are lined with great stories just waiting for a reader to find them. Ideally, a browser will pick up a book and slip into its world losing all sense of time, falling under the spell of the author.

MUF: You stock a great selection of reads for young people, and we think it’s really cool that you offer a wide range of used books as well. Can you share with us some other ways your bookshop focuses on kids, in particular your middle grade readers?

Mary Kay: Middle grade readers often discover a certain author or genre and are extremely loyal. They can be reluctant to try something new. It is great when we can describe a book they haven’t tried yet in a way that makes them willing to take a chance on the unknown. When we get it right they come back, ready to trust us on another recommendation. We have a great resource in one of our staff members who is a children’s librarian and stays abreast of all that is happening for young readers.

MUF: What are some favorite middle grade reads, old or new, fiction or nonfiction, that you would recommend to our readers?

Mary Kay recommends: 

Wonder by R. J. Palacio,                                Three Times Lucky by Sheila Turnage

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Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech              Johnny Tremain by Esther Forbes

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Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle            The Apothecary by Maile Meloy

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All the Harry Potter books

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And, she says, The Worst Case Scenario Ultimate Adventure series is great for learning survival skills in a choose your own adventure format.

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MUF: Any upcoming events you’d like us to pass on?

Mary Kay: Small business Saturday is November 29th, it’s a great day to show support for local, independent businesses. Tree lighting is that evening at 4:30.

We have expanded hours during the holidays. We are open Monday -Friday 10-8, Saturday 9-8 and Sunday 10-5. Saturday afternoons in downtown Edmonds will be very festive with a free decorated trolley, roving elves, a selfie-Santa, singers and lots of light and cheer. We wrap your purchases for free. Take it easy, make Edmonds downtown your holiday tradition.

MUF: Thanks very much, Mary Kay, for sharing about books with us. We had a good time visiting with you today! We hope your shop if full to bursting on Small Business Saturday.

Valerie Stein is author and publisher at Homesostasis Press. She’s currently at work on a middle grade historical mystery.

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Giving Middle Grade Thanks

By on November 26, 2014   /   Book Lists  

IMG_1187When you are a performer, you get to give thanks verbally to the audience. It’s pretty much part of the show. Often singers, for example, even before they start will say, “thank you to the (insert venue) for having me here tonight.” Perhaps, they might even go bigger and say, “(insert name of city), you’re awesome! And then at the end of the show, they might say, “thank you and tell the audience how great they were.” Two nights ago, I saw a string quartet, Aeolus, and the principal violinist ended the concert by saying how much he appreciated us as listeners. However, middle grade authors don’t usually have an opportunity to do that. I mean, sure some of us have that little part in our books where we thank our writing group, our editor, our agent, and probably our family, but, we don’t always have an opportunity to thank the larger community, and, since Thursday is Thanksgiving, I thought I’d give a moment to give some middle grade thanks.

1) Thank you to readers. I know this is an obvious one. It’s so obvious that it’s easy to forget. But really, I know it’s easy to decide you’re too tired to read. After all, there’s lots of wonderful movies, games and, by golly, the great outdoors. So, yes, thank you for reading.

2) Thank you to librarians. You read everything, all of those review journals, but most importantly you introduce books to readers and readers to books. It’s like being a matchmaker. “Hmm, you say you’ve read the Harry Potter series eight times, have you tried Dianna Wynne Jones….”

3) Thank you to reviewers. Okay, sure, I admit that reviewers can be scary for authors because ego and sales can be on the line but they are so vital. Now once upon a time, I used to work in publicity and the adage was—”there’s no such thing as bad publicity because any publicity is good.” No matter the outcome, it’s a privilege to be reviewed and I’m sticking that to that!

4) Thank you to educators. You are the ones who teach kids to read and then keep them reading. You truly can’t be thanked enough!

5) Thank you to the internet. Yeah, yeah, sometimes being plugged in can be a real distraction, a true opportunity to procrastinate, but it also allows us to research and become armchair detectives. It also allows us to connect with a greater community of readers, librarians, reviewers, educators, other writers as well as the the publishing community.

6) Thank you to the publishing community. Almost anyone who goes into publishing is in it for the love and not for the money. It’s demanding work, yet rewarding. Thank you for working so hard to be where you are (everyone in the biz knows you had to pay your dues by working for free as an intern first).

7) Thank you to snack food manufacturers and tea makers. I do try to eat healthy snacks, and I appreciate that you make them, as well as so many delicious herbal teas (love licorice tea). I couldn’t write without you. Okay, I could but it would be much less yummy, and I’d be without my insta-reward/bribing schemes to get through daily word counts and editing.

8) Thank you to my fellow bloggers and readers of this blog. I’m in deep appreciation for your presence, passion and attention to the Mixed Up Files of Middle Grade Authors.

You’ve been such lovely readers. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Hillary Homzie is the author of The Hot List (Simon & Schuster MIX 2011) and Things Are Gonna Be Ugly (Simon & Schuster, 2009). She can be found at hillaryhomzie.com and on her Facebook page.

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An Armchair Tour of Utah

By on November 21, 2014   /   Book Lists  

Utah_border_signI am a devout armchair traveler. I love poring over maps and guidebooks and photo-rich coffee table books of places I will probably never be able to visit. I read histories and quick facts of places all over the world, and many of my favorite fiction titles are favorites because I fell in love with the setting.

Back in 2010, Sheela Chari wrote a post on our blog about reading and writing in Boston. I loved the post so much that I kept wishing others would post about their hometowns or favorite destinations as well. And then I realized I could share my own home state with kids who are armchair travelers, too. Join me as I take you on a tour of the great state of Utah through books (and a few websites, too).

UTAH HAS DINOSAURS

Have you ever seen dinosaur fossils still embedded in rock? You can in Utah! Several times I’ve stood before the “Dinosaur Wall” inside the Quarry Exhibit Hall at Dinosaur National Monument. It’s just inside Utah near the Colorado border. And you can find out more about the Dinosaur wall at the National Parks Service website.

But you can also read more about Utah’s dinosaurs in Dinosaurs of Utah: and Dino Destinations by Pat Bagley and Gayen Wharton or Dinosaurs of Utah by Frank Decourten.

Also check out the middle-grade picture book, Dinosaur Mountain: Digging Into the Jurassic Age, by Deborah Kogan Ray.

UTAH HAS RAILROADS

In Utah in 1869, the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific railroads joined together to create the first transcontinental railroad. You can read a fictional account of the journey in The Great Railroad Race: The Diary of Libby West by Kristiana Gregory. And check out more about it at the Golden Spike National Monument’s website.

 

 

UTAH HAS A SALTY LAKE

Did you know that the Great Salt Lake is the largest saltwater lake in the Western Hemisphere? Did you also know that the only things that can live in the lake are some varieties of algae, and only brine shrimp and brine flies can tolerate the salty water enough to feed on the algae? I live close enough to the lake that sometimes I can smell the briny waters…which isn’t always the nicest smell in the world. But the stark beauty of the lake takes my breath away, especially at sunset when the colors light up the sky behind Antelope Island, the largest of the lake’s islands. Though geared for younger readers ages 6 and up, you can read more about this lake in The Great Salt Lake by Mary Schulte, or check out more on the web. (Oh, and yes, there really are wild bison on Antelope Island! I’ve seen them myself and they truly are amazing to watch.)

UTAH HAS NATURAL BEAUTY

Utah is home to five national parks, seven national monuments, two national recreation areas, and six national forests. It has some of the driest snow on earth, making some of the best powder for skiing at one of its fourteen ski resorts. From the western deserts to eastern mountains, from the northern forests to the Southern red hills, there is enough natural beauty in Utah to keep you busy for a lifetime. Read more about Utah in some of these fiction and nonfiction titles:

Utah (2nd title in the From Sea to Shining Sea series) by P.J. Neri

Utah: The Beehive State (Guide to American States series) by Janice Parker

Utah: The Beehive State (Blastoff Readers series) by Blake Hoena

Ghost Horses: A National Parks Mystery by Gloria Skurzynski and Alane Ferguson

The Maze by Will Hobbs

UTAH HAS PIONEERS AND NATIVE AMERICANS

Salt Lake City was founded by Mormon pioneers in 1847, and they settled much of the rest of the state, too. Some great historical fiction can take you back in time to the pioneer era of Utah. The most well-known and well-loved is The Great Brain series of books by John D. Fitzgerald. Also try Charlotte’s Rose by Utah native A.E. Cannon or All is Well by Kristin Embry Litchman.

Before the pioneers, however, Utah’s native population flourished. It was home to five Native American tribes. One, the Shoshone, is highlighted in the fictional novel, The Legend of Jimmy Spoon by Kristiana Gregory.

 

UTAH HAS INVENTORS AND OUTLAWS

Ever heard of a television? Well, it was invented by Philo Farnsworth, who was born right here in Utah. Read more about him and his invention in TV’s Forgotten Hero: The Story of Philo Farnsworth by Stephanie Sammartino McPherson.

Utah is also famous for its infamous outlaw, Butch Cassidy. Yep, he was born here, too. See the book Butch Cassidy by Carl R. Green and William R. Sandford for more about him.

UTAH HAS A WORLD WAR II INTERNMENT CAMP

During World War II the U.S. government relocated thousands of Japanese-Americans to internment camps. One of these camps, named Topaz, was located in Utah near the small town of Delta. Over 11,000 people were processed through this camp between 1942 and 1945, when the camp was dismantled. Not much is left of the site now except the barbed wire fence and the restored recreation hall, but visitors are welcome to tour the site and some of the buildings that were sold and relocated to nearby areas. Though not a proud moment in American history, I am grateful to the authors of the following books who have shared information about this internment camp and the effect it had on those who lived there: Journey to Topaz by Yoshika Uchida and Children of Topaz by Michael O. Tunnell.

Also see the historical fiction novel about two boys on both sides of the Topaz fence, Missing in Action by Dean Hughes.

UTAH HAS AUTHORS

If you keep a close eye on children’s literature, you may notice that there are a lot of Utah authors. And I mean A LOT. We also have more than our fair share of children’s and YA authors showing up on the NYT Bestsellers List. I’m not sure why that is—it must be something in the water here—but I’m proud of the many talented Utah writers I call my friends and neighbors.

Though there are many books by Utah natives I could highlight, I thought only one would be appropriate here: Palace Beautiful by Sarah DeFord Williams. The book is set in Salt Lake City and the author lives in Utah as well. It follows two timelines in history, so you can see Utah’s capitol city during the 1980’s and during the Flu Epidemic of 1918. This is a beautifully written book and a great place to end our armchair tour of Utah.

I hope you enjoy your visit to my homestate. And please leave a comment if you know of a middle-grade book about Utah or set in Utah that I may have missed. Happy armchair travel, everyone!

 

Elissa Cruz enjoys living between the mountains and a big, salty lake in Utah.  When she is not busy with her husband and five children, she is busy writing middle-grade fiction or helping other children’s authors in her capacity as ARA for the Utah/Southern Idaho region of SCBWI.

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