For Teachers

KidLit Summer School

By on July 13, 2015   /   For Kids, For Teachers, For Writers, MUF Contributor Books, Writing  
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Artwork by Joyce Wan

Summer school? Ugh. Who wants to be stuck indoors while everyone else is playing outside in the sunshine. Missing picnics, pools, parties, and fun.

But what if you could hang out with the cool kids and have some real fun? What if you could do something you’ve always dreamed of doing – write a book?

Here’s your chance to learn from a strong line-up of multi-published children’s authors, editors, and agents. Best of all, these summer workshops are FREE. Beginning July 20, 2015, visit KidLit Summer School for posts filled with information on how to write children’s books.

This summer the focus is on plotting. You’ll have an opportunity to try a variety of plotting tricks and techniques for different genres. Learn how published authors stay motivated, come up with ideas, and turn those ideas into finished stories. Each post will have plotting secrets as well as exercises you can try. And best of all, KidLit Summer School will be giving away plenty of prizes — autographed books, professional critiques, and swag. Check out each post for the special giveaways.

Here are some of the faculty members with a quick peek at only one of their books, but there are plenty more—books and authors. If you sign up, you’ll see the list of all the wonderful teachers before opening day.

Learn from authors Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen, Kami Kinard, Marcie Colleen, Dawn Young, Leeza Hernandez, Joyce Wan, John Claude Bemis, Janice Hardy, Laurie J. Edwards, Megan Miranda, Tammi Sauer, Tracey Baptiste, Amy Dominy, Jen Malone, Courtney Pippin Mathur, Heidi Schulz, and Lisa Lewis Tyre.

Agents and editors who are participating include Rotem Moscovich, Jenne Abramowitz, Sean McCarthy, and Marie Lamba.

KidLit copy

Sound like fun? Here’s the link to sign up.

And if you don’t want to wait until the 20th to work on your writing, check out last year’s blog posts on characterization here. Scroll down to last summer’s lessons. It’s a great way for writers of any age to improve their writing craft over the summer.

About the Author

Laurie J. Edwards loves summer school so much she’s spending 6 weeks at Hollins University’s MFA program in Children’s Writing and Illustrating as well a participating in the KidLit Summer School as a faculty member. She’s looking forward to her five book releases in August and September: Her Cold Revenge (Switch Press), The Forget-Me-Not Keeper (illustrations, written by Susanna Leonard Hill), Imperial China, West African Kingdoms,  & Ancient Egypt (Cengage). Read more about Laurie and her books on her blog, her website, Facebook, and Twitter (@LaurieJEdwards).

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Make Reading Fun

By on July 6, 2015   /   For Librarians, For Parents, For Teachers  

Summer is full of fun in the sun, dips in a pool, and hopefully reading some great middle-grade novels, too. Here are some ways to help inspire reading this summer.

Middle Grade Books and Ruby

Read books together. No matter how old a child or teen gets, it’s nice to share great books with relatives. Why not find a comfy spot and take turns reading to each other?

Read to a pet or a young child. My older daughter used to love reading books to her sister, and I lost track of how many times I found her snuggling with our dog while reading a book to her. Books with fun dialogue or younger siblings are great choices for this. As a child, I absolutely adored Judy Blume’s books (I even wrote my first fan letter to her). My girls are three years apart, and when my older daughter was six, I read Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing to her. I was pleasantly surprised when my younger daughter sat with us, laughing and intently listening to all of Peter and Fudge’s adventures.

Find a fun location to read. You can encourage reading at a beach, pool, or park. You can grab a seat and read almost anywhere! I think it would be fun to sit where you can watch gorillas in a zoo and read The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate.

Create a contest to inspire the kids or teens in your life to read. You can have them put their name, the book title, and their favorite part of the book on a circle and see who creates the longest bookworm by the end of the summer. To celebrate, you can go someplace fun or have a treat like pizza or ice cream, and maybe give the winner a gift card to buy a new book or two. You could even create a themed party where you make fun treats like the ones in their favorite book/s.

Join a book club, or start one of your own. Hanging out with friends and talking about great books is an awesome way to encourage kids to read. Here are some Mixed-Up Files posts about book clubs that might help you:

*Starting a Parent/Child Book Club

*One Mom Plus Two Sets of Twins Leads to Three Great Book Clubs

*Middle-grade Book Club Guide

To make a book club even more fun, you can check to see if any of the authors on this list are still available for a free 15 – 20 minute Skype visit after all the kids in the book club read at least one of his or her books!

If you’re looking for great new middle-grade novels to read this summer, check out our monthly new release posts. You can also browse through all the unique book lists on our site and search for categories like humorous, mystery, action & adventure, animal, fantasy & paranormal, etc.

I’d love to know how you make reading fun, and what middle-grade books are on your must-read list.

Mindy Alyse Weiss writes humorous middle grade novels with heart and quirky picture books. She’s constantly inspired by her two daughters, an adventurous Bullmasador adopted from The Humane Society, and an adorable Beagle/Pointer mix who was rescued from the Everglades. Visit Mindy’s Twitter, Facebook, or blog to read more about her writing life, conference experiences, and writing tips.

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Lemons = Loot

By on July 3, 2015   /   Book Lists, For Kids, For Librarians, For Parents, For Teachers  

Take a summer walk around my neighborhood, and chances are good you’ll hear small, hopeful voices calling, “Lemonade! Ice cold lemonade!” Lots of things about childhood have changed, but not having a lemonade stand. I did it, my kids did it (they also peddled rocks, which kindly neighbors straight out of story books actually bought). At the end of the day, young entrepeneurs are sticky, tired, and a bit wiser about the ups and downs of earning money.

Maybe they’d enjoy kicking back with one of these delightful novels, some new, some classic, about other kids and their summer businesses.

A Handful of Stars, by Cynthia Lord

handful of stars

Lord’s new book is set in Maine, where Salma and her migrant worker parents are employed raking blueberries. Work is a way of life for her. Meanwhile, Lily is trying to earn money for an operation for her beloved dog by painting and selling bee boxes. As their friendship grows, Lily has a lot to learn about the wider world, her community, and especially herself.

penderwicks

The Penderwicks in Spring, by Jeanne Birdsall

The newest book in this beloved series centers on Batty, who’s trying to raise money to pay for voice lessons. She sets up a business offering to dust, dog walk, and (at her brother’s insistence) dig up rocks. The dusting never happens, but much else does, as Batty comes to grips with her place in her rollicking, loving family.

seaglass summer

Seaglass Summer, by Anjali Banerjee

The hero of this book, Poppy, is more of an intern. She spends the summer helping her Uncle Sanjay, a veterinarian, and learns the job is not all warm, fuzzy moments. The sadness (and occasional grossness) of the work becomes real for her, and she’s a different girl by the end of her summer.

okay for now

Doug Swieteck has just moved to stupid Marysville. It’s the middle of a blazing hot summer, he knows no one, and his family has big time problems. Who’d guess that his job delivering groceries would be part of what saves him? Featuring one of the most unique and compelling voices in all of  MG fiction, this book makes a wonderful case for creativity, resilience, love, and yes, work.

lemonade war

The Lemonade War, by Jacqueline Davies

Yes! A lemonade stand, only as most kids never dreamed. The war is between siblings, one with great people skills, the other with a head for math. Bonus: Ten Tips for Turning Lemons Into Loot. This book became a popular series.

I know I’ve left out a lot of terrific books (including non-fiction). Please share your own favorites below, then go out and buy a glass of lemonade!

Tricia’s most recent books for middle graders are Moonpenny Island and Cody and the Fountain of Happiness.  She favors raspberry lemonade. 

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