For Kids

New Year Reading Resolutions

By on December 30, 2016   /   For Kids, For Librarians, For Parents, For Teachers, For Writers  
All of us at the Mixed Up Files would like to wish you a New Year full of inspiration and good books to share. We are moving into this new year with a group of new members. We are looking forward to hearing from them in the months to come. And as always we are eager to hear from you, our blog readers, about what moves and motivates you as a reader and writer, as a teacher, a parent, as a librarian, and a book-lover.
Earlier we shared a list of writing resolutions for the new year. We also wanted to share our reading resolutions because there is not good writing without equal time spent in reading the best literature available. Here are our hopes for our reading in the New Year. Please share your resolutions too.
Andrea Pyros

Find books that make me laugh. The news can feel pretty grim, so I want to make sure to have some lightness in my life, too. I just finished Amy Schumer’s memoir (not #kidlit, obviously!) and really enjoyed ending my day reading a chapter or two. More of that!

Jen Swanson

Find more time to read! Particularly middle grade books, both fiction and nonfiction, but also read more widely all kids books.

TP Jagger

 I will not walk into any telephone poles while read-walking.

Julie Artz

I only read a handful of adult books in 2016 because there are so many amazing things going on in the world of middle grade. So in 2017, I’d like to read more adult books.

Valerie Stein

 I have spent much of 2016 getting to know authors on social media from different walks of life and cultural/social backgrounds. My reading goal for 2017 is to continue to support those authors by purchasing their books and spreading the word about great stories I’m reading. In a more general sense, I like to have a specific reading goal. It keeps me looking for new titles to explore. I’ve read 150 books the past two years. I can do that again.

Rosanne Parry

 I’m interested in learning to write dialect effectively, so I’m going to begin my reading year by seeking out books that showcase a character’s dialect particularly well.
Michele Weber Hurwitz
I hope to make reading more of a priority in 2017. I read late at night and I get through only a few pages before I drift off! I’d like to try doing a 15-minute DEAR (Drop Everything And Read) break during each day.

Jacqueline Jaeger Houtman 

I will try not to feel guilty for reading middle-grade literature and enjoying it, because it is my job, and I will allow myself time to read during the day, not just at night, when all the other tasks are done.

Louise Galvaston

To read more classics and keep up with all the fabulous new middle-grade releases.

Natalie Rampella

To have social media guide me to the best new books of 2017…and of course read them!

Mindy Alyse Weiss

To read even more amazing middle grade novels in 2017 than I did in 2016.

Hillary Homzie

To become more of an omnivore and read books outside of my fiction comfort zone. That especially means more nonfiction–everything from development biology to essays on linguistics.

Laurie J Edwards

To read several award-winning books each month.

Michelle Houts

To read the classics I somehow missed but everyone else can seemingly quote effortlessly.

Tricia Springstubb

More poetry!

Amie Borst

 To read widely across genres including adult fiction.

Jonathan Rosen

Finish the book I already bought before falling to the allure of new ones.

Dorian Cirrone

To find the time to put a significant dent in the huge piles of unread books all over my house.

Kimberly Griffiths Little 

To actually READ a little bit every day from the tottering stack of books I bought this last year that’s been staring at me for months.

Kate Manning

4 books that show me a world different from my own
2 classics that I missed
6 books of poetry or novels in verse
25 books overall

 Sue Cowing

I’ll probably choose more nonfiction titles this year, and more outside my comfort zone, trying to really listen so that I can respond rather than simply react to people whose beliefs and values conflict with mine. And for courage and centering in this time of uncertainty, I will read and reread books of beauty and wisdom, including poetry. Of course I will always read middle-grade novels, stories of serious hope and humor that help us imagine better ways.

Thank you to my fellow Mixed Up Files members for another year of sharing and supporting the best in Middle Grade fiction. I’m grateful for your support over the years. And to you readers of our blog. Thank you for coming back week after week and sharing your thoughts with us.

Happy New Year

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Holiday Wishes and a Narnian Christmas!

By on December 23, 2016   /   Book Lists, Fiction, For Kids, For Parents, For Writers  

Warmest Holiday Wishes from all of us here at the Mixed-Up Files! It’s time to celebrate the joys of the season with family and friends, but what do you do when the partying ends? Here are some fun, book-themed things to make while you’re on holiday break.

And since no book says “Christmas!” to me quite like The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, here are activities based on it and other books in The Chronicles of Narnia.

Snowflakes Okay, I know this one isn’t Narnia-themed, but there are lots of sites for themed templates–we always do the new Star Wars flakes found here every year, and this site has an entire menagerie of simple animal flakes if you’d like to stay in keeping with the book.

 

Turkish Delight When I directed The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe a few years ago, one of the actor’s moms made Turkish Delight for the cast party. I can see why Edmund lost his head over the stuff–yum! Here’s an easy, microwavable recipe .

Mrs. Beaver’s Sticky Marmalade Roll It’s a testimony to Mrs. Beaver’s culinary talent that she was able to whip this comfort food up with such speed. Here’s a simple recipe from Astrid Tuttle Winegar that will help you give it a go, deary.

Many Coloured Sugar

Sweeter still is this “Many Coloured Sugar” craft based on the treat in Prince Caspian’s feast.

And if your taste turns more toward adventure, try your luck at making your own Dawn Treader! But before you cross into the wonderful world of Narnia, you’ll need to convert one of your leftover gift boxes into a Magical Wardrobe.

Once there, you’ll meet Aslan, the Great Lion. Here’s a video of how you can build him using origami. Or you could become Aslan yourself with this face paint tutorial. It wouldn’t be Narnia without Cair Paravel; here are some ideas for building your castle!

Remember: Once a king or queen of Narnia, always a king or queen of Narnia!

What’s your favorite holiday read ?

 

Louise’s daughters as a wolf and Mrs. Beaver in The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe. Louise Galveston is the author of By the Grace of Todd and In Todd We Trust (Penguin/Razorbill.)

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Let There Be…

By on December 21, 2016   /   For Kids, For Librarians, For Parents, For Teachers, For Writers  

“We can easily forgive a child who is afraid of the dark; the real tragedy of life is when men are afraid of the light.”   Plato

This shortest day of a too-dark year seems  a good time to share a story I sometimes tell on school visits. I can’t remember where I first heard or read it, and I change it a bit every time.

Once there was a king who was growing old. Soon it would be time to leave his kingdom to one of his three daughters, so he called them all to him. Which of them could fill the throne room, wall to wall and ceiling to floor with something precious? She would inherit the crown.

The first daughter ran to the royal coffers and had the servants drag in bag upon bag of gold coins and spill them out. Yet they did not fill the room.

The second daughter ran to the royal wardrobe and had the maids carry in piles of gowns and jewels and dancing shoes. They did not fill the room either.

The third daughter stood before her father and quietly smiled. She reached into her pocket, making her big sisters laugh and sneer. As if a person could fill this grand room with something small enough to fit into her hand!

But they stopped laughing when their sister drew out …a candle. For when she lit it, its yellow glow grew and grew till it reached every corner of the room, spreading its golden warmth everywhere.

Books, I tell the kids, are a lot like that candle. Stories and poems glow and spark and warm the world with their shining light. They show us the way. They make us less afraid. They fit in our pockets, yet their light fills hearts. A book, some  poet once said, “should be a ball of light in one’s hands.”

So on this longest night of the year, let’s light candles, let’s build fires, let’s write and read and share stories. Let’s remember again some of the wisest words ever written. “Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that,” wrote Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. “Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.”

 

 

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