New Releases

September New Releases!

By on September 2, 2020   /   New Releases  

September always means back-to-school time for my family, and that’s something very different this year across the country. Many kids are learning remotely–and books can be a great way to supplement their virtual schooldays. Books can even help students do the hands-on science experiments or art projects they’re missing from the in-school experience. So today, I’d like to highlight some educational middle grade books coming out this month. They’re filled with ideas to challenge and engage students  about different subjects they may be learning in school this year.

 

Everything You Need to Ace Chemistry in One Big Fat Notebook

Jennifer Swanson: Workman Publishing, Sept. 1, 2020

This Big Fat Notebook covers everything you need to know during a year of high school chemistry class, breaking down one big bad subject into accessible units. Learn to study better and get better grades using mnemonic devices, definitions, diagrams, educational doodles, and quizzes to recap it all.

Including: Atoms, elements, compounds and mixtures, the periodic table, quantum theory, bonding, the mole, chemical reactions and calculations, gas laws, solubility, pH scale, titrations, Le Chatelier’s principle …and much more!

 

Kiyo Sato: From a WWII Japanese Internment Camp to a Life of Service

Connie Goldsmith: Twenty-First Century Books, Sept. 1, 2020

“Our camp, they tell us, is now to be called a ‘relocation center’ and not a ‘concentration camp.’ We are internees, not prisoners. Here’s the truth: I am now a non-alien, stripped of my constitutional rights. I am a prisoner in a concentration camp in my own country. I sleep on a canvas cot under which is a suitcase with my life’s belongings: a change of clothes, underwear, a notebook and pencil. Why?”―Kiyo Sato

In 1941 Kiyo Sato and her eight younger siblings lived with their parents on a small farm near Sacramento, California, where they grew strawberries, nuts, and other crops. Kiyo had started college the year before when she was eighteen, and her eldest brother, Seiji, would soon join the US Army. The younger children attended school and worked on the farm after class and on Saturday. On Sunday, they went to church. The Satos were an ordinary American family. Until they weren’t.

On December 7, 1941, Japan bombed the US naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. The next day, US president Franklin Roosevelt declared war on Japan and the United States officially entered World War II. Soon after, in February and March 1942, Roosevelt signed two executive orders which paved the way for the military to round up all Japanese Americans living on the West Coast and incarcerate them in isolated internment camps for the duration of the war. Kiyo and her family were among the nearly 120,000 internees.

In this moving account, Sato and Goldsmith tell the story of the internment years, describing why the internment happened and how it impacted Kiyo and her family. They also discuss the ways in which Kiyo has used her experience to educate other Americans about their history, to promote inclusion, and to fight against similar injustices. Hers is a powerful, relevant, and inspiring story to tell on the 75th anniversary of the end of World War II.

 

The Great Bear Rescue: Saving the Gobi Bears

Sandra Markle: Millbrook Press, Sept. 1, 2020

Acclaimed science author Sandra Markle offers a fascinating look at Gobi bears―the rarest bears on the planet. These adorable animals face threats ranging from illegal gold miners to climate change. Find out more about these bears, which are considered a national treasure in Mongolia, and learn what scientists are doing to help this critically endangered species.

 

 

I Survived The California Wildfires, 2018

Lauren Tarshish: Scholastic, Sept. 1, 2020

The people of Northern California were used to living with the threat of wildfires. But nothing could have prepared them for the devastating 2018 fire season, the deadliest in 100 years and the most destructive in history.

In the 20th I Survived book, readers join eleven-year-old Josh as he leaves his New Jersey home for the rural northern California town where his cousins live. Still reeling from the life-changing challenges that propelled him and his mother across the country, Josh struggles to adapt to a more rustic, down-to-earth lifestyle that couldn’t be more different from the one he is used to.

Josh and his cousin bond over tacos and reptiles and jokes, but on a trip into the nearby forest, they suddenly find themselves in the path of a fast-moving firestorm, a super-heated monster that will soon lay waste to millions of acres of wilderness and — possibly — their town. Josh needs to confront the family issues burning him up inside, but first he’ll have to survive the flames blazing all around him.

 

Discovering Great Artists: Hands-On Art Experiences in the Styles of Great Masters

MaryAnn F. Kole and Kim Solga: Chicago Review Press, Aug. 4, 2020

Fun and easy art-appreciation activities abound in this resource that features over 60 great artists across the ages. A concise biography for each artist tells why his or her work is important, and a kid-tested art activity tries out the artist’s approach. Young artists will sketch inventive designs in the style of da Vinci and draw in a nature notebook like Audubon. To understand Rodin, they will create a clay carving. Picasso will inspire a fractured friend, and Kahlo shows the magic in self-portraits. Projects stress the creative process and encourage kids to try unusual techniques such as block printing, pointillism, and mixed media artworks as they learn about architecture, drawing, painting, photography, and sculpture. Discovering Great Artists includes easy-to-follow icons to indicate the experience, preparation, and materials necessary for each project, as well as guides to the style, movement, or era of each artist. Introducing children to the greatest artists has never been more engaging!

 

25 Women Who Dared to Compete

Rebecca Stanborough: Compass Point Books, Aug. 1, 2020

Discover 25 women who challenged the stereotypes of what it means to play like a girl. These women worked to even the playing field and steppped up to score points for women all around the world.

 

 

An Ellis Island Time Capsule: Artifacts of the History of Immigration

Rachael Teresa Hanel: Capstone Press, Aug. 1, 2020

The artifacts of Ellis Island tell the story of millions of immigrants who passed through its halls on their journey to a new life in the United States. A 1900 photograph of the Statue of Liberty, an antique stethoscope, and a jigsaw puzzle are some of the primary sources that can help students better understand the experience of journeying through Ellis Island in the early 1900s. Explore these and more in this Time Capsule History book!

 

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Interview With Janet Fox, Author of The Artifact Hunters

By on August 24, 2020   /   Author Interviews, New Releases  

The Artifact Hunters is one of my favorite books of 2020. So I immediately called dibs on an interview with Janet Fox for MUF. This sequel to THE CHARMED CHILDREN OF ROOKSKILL CASTLE combines historical fiction and magic in a fast-paced adventure full of twists and turns.

Let’s get to it!

1. Tell us about The Artifact Hunters.

My main character, Isaac Wolf, is a 12 year old boy living in Prague in 1942, when his parents suddenly send him away alone with a talisman (a pendant in the shape of an “eternity knot”), a mysterious box containing…, and instructions to find Rookskill Castle in Scotland. When he arrives at Rookskill he discovers the Special Alternative Intelligence Unit where gifted children learn to harness their magical powers to support the Allies’ cause. Isaac has to learn that he, too, has magical powers, but to harness and use them he must hunt for a series of magical artifacts that are scattered throughout the past. And what is inside the mysterious box? How can he find those artifacts? And who – or what – is actually hunting him, as he unlocks the answers to these secrets?

2. How did you come up with the idea?

All of my Rookskill books have something to do with time.

In the first book, my protagonist Kat (who is also in this book) knows how to fix clocks, which gives her the ability to defeat the antagonist (there’s a bit of a steampunk element). In this new book, I wanted to play with time travel and the dangers inherent in time loops, time warps, and so on. I also wanted in this book to touch, albeit subtly, on how societies rise and fall and the nature of conflict.

But the real touchstone for me was when I happened upon an article about something called a Death’s Head Watch, which is a totally creepy real thing. https://janetsfox.com/2020/07/the-deaths-head-watch/

3. Do you base your characters on people you know? If yes, spill the beans!

Actually…no. My characters come to me, begging to be written. I’m not kidding.

Of course, there is an element of me in each of them. Kat is especially close to the kid inside me. But I try to enrich them by playing at opposites, at something I would never do or say or think, even if I share their fears or dreams. Each time I start a new story I start with the character first, and build the story around him or her.

4. How much of your real-life experiences play a role in the stories you tell?

When I write I do a lot of research, and my favorite kind of research is travel (which is a little hard to do right now, sadly.) For The Artifact Hunters, I went to Prague, where Isaac is from, and for Charmed Children I visited Scotland. A sense of place is really important to everything I write, so if you look carefully at any of my books you’ll see that they are set in places I’ve lived or visited.

I also have a master’s degree in science (geology), and so science plays a huge role in my work.

5. What books did you like to read when you were a kid? Do those books influence your writing?

My all-time favorite books as a kid were the Narnia books. And yes, they profoundly influence everything I write. I try to invoke that same sense of wonder and magic, and the kid relationships Lewis developed. My first three books are YA novels, and I have one picture book out, but I feel now that my sweet spot is middle grade, and that’s probably due to my love of Narnia.

6. What are you working on now?

I have a third Rookskill novel in proposal stage with my publisher (Viking), so we’ll see whether that’s a go or not. It may depend on how well The Artifact Hunters does, as all things in this business.

I have another book, Carry Me Home, coming out with Simon & Schuster next summer that is really different for me – a contemporary middle grade story about a homeless girl. I really, really love that book and can’t wait to see it out in the world.

But I’ve also been working hard on a “Covid” book, another middle grade fantasy that’s set in contemporary times but with a parallel universes theme. It’s tentative title is The Book of Weirds and Wonders.

7. What is your writing process? Are you a plotter or a pantser?

I’ve been a pantser forever but I’m trying really hard to plan more, and am finding my way to a technique I really like (that I’m teaching as part of my coaching business https://janetsfox.com/book-coaching/ ). I love pantsing but it makes the work so much more difficult. I’m working on this new in-between strategy called the inside-outline.

https://montana.scbwi.org/events/webinar-a-new-way-to-outline-with-author-janet-fox/

8. What advice do you have for aspiring authors?

Don’t give up.

It’s so amazing to me to think that I’ve written and published as much as I have. I remember too well the early days, the rejections, the disappointments, the thinking I’d never make it, never publish anything, never be read. There’s only one real reason I did make it – I didn’t give up.

Oh, sure, I studied craft. I have my MFA in writing. I work hard. I’ve been lucky. But honestly, there are many ways to reach your dreams and only one thing that will really get you there and that’s to Never Give Up.

Buy Now!

 

 

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August New Releases Reflect Current Events

By on August 3, 2020   /   Articles, Book Lists, Diversity, Fiction, New Releases, Nonfiction  

In this month’s new releases post, I’m highlighting titles which reflect current events, issues, challenges and opportunities. With both fiction and nonfiction works that address women’s suffrage, racism, sexism, sexual abuse, war, immigration, and emotional well-being, young readers may dive into topics that impact all of us. The books offer opportunities to share and discuss as a family, providing learning experiences for all ages. Make sure to order your copies through the bookshop.org links or by stopping by your favorite local book seller.

Finish the Fight!: The Brave and Revolutionary Women Who Fought for the Right to Vote, by Veronica Chambers. Published by HMH books, August 11.

https://bookshop.org/books/finish-the-fight-the-brave-and-revolutionary-women-who-fought-for-the-right-to-vote/9780358408307

Who was at the forefront of women’s right to vote? We know a few famous names, like Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton, but what about so many others from diverse backgrounds—black, Asian, Latinx, Native American, and more—who helped lead the fight for suffrage? On the hundredth anniversary of the historic win for women’s rights, it’s time to celebrate the names and stories of the women whose stories have yet to be told.

Gorgeous portraits accompany biographies of such fierce but forgotten women as Yankton Dakota Sioux writer and advocate Zitkála-Šá, Mary Eliza Church Terrell, who cofounded the National Association of Colored Women (NACW), and Mabel Ping-Hua Lee, who, at just sixteen years old, helped lead the biggest parade in history to promote the cause of suffrage.

The Talk: Conversations about Race, Love and Truth, by Wade Hudson and Cheryl Willis Hudson. Published by Random House Children’s Books, August 11.

The Talk: Conversations about Race, Love & Truth

https://bookshop.org/books/the-talk-conversations-about-race-love-truth/9780593121610

This powerful collection of short stories, essays, poems, and art is a call-to-action that invites all families to be anti-racist and advocates for change.

Thirty diverse, award-winning authors and illustrators—including Renee Watson (Piecing Me Together), Grace Lin (Where the Mountain Meets the Moon), Meg Medina (Merci Suarez Changes Gears), and Adam Gidwitz (The Inquisitor’s Tale)—engage young people in frank discussions about racism, identity and self-esteem. Featuring stories and images filled with love, acceptance, truth, peace, and an assurance that there can be hope for a better tomorrow, The Talk is an inspiring anthology and must-have resource published in partnership with Just Us Books, a black-owned children’s publishing company that’s been in operation for over 30 years. Just Us Books continues its mission grounded in the same belief that helped launch the company: Good books make a difference.

So, let’s talk.

Fighting Words, by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley. Published by Penguin Young Readers Group, August 11.

Fighting Words

https://bookshop.org/books/fighting-words/9781984815682

A candid and fierce middle grade novel about sisterhood and sexual abuse, by Newbery Honor winner and #1 New York Times best seller Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

“Fighting Words is raw, it is real, it is necessary, a must-read for children and their adults—a total triumph in all ways.” —Holly Goldberg Sloan, New York Times bestselling author of Counting by 7s

Ten-tear-old Della has always had her older sister, Suki: When their mom went to prison, Della had Suki. When their mom’s boyfriend took them in, Della had Suki. When that same boyfriend did something so awful they had to run fast, Della had Suki. Suki is Della’s own wolf—her protector. But who has been protecting Suki? Della might get told off for swearing at school, but she has always known how to keep quiet where it counts. Then Suki tries to kill herself, and Della’s world turns so far upside down, it feels like it’s shaking her by the ankles. Maybe she’s been quiet about the wrong things. Maybe it’s time to be loud.

In this powerful novel that explodes the stigma around child sexual abuse and leavens an intense tale with compassion and humor, Kimberly Brubaker Bradley tells a story about two sisters, linked by love and trauma, who must find their own voices before they can find their way back to each other.

How to Be a Girl in the World, by Caela Carter. Published by HarperCollins Publishers, August 11.

How to Be a Girl in the World

https://bookshop.org/books/how-to-be-a-girl-in-the-world/9780062672704

From the critically acclaimed author of the ALA Notable and Charlotte Huck Honor Book Forever, or a Long, Long Time comes a poignant coming-of-age novel about the complicated parts of growing up, finding your voice, and claiming your space. Perfect for fans of Rebecca Stead, Laurel Snyder, or Ali Benjamin!Lydia hasn’t felt comfortable in her own skin since the boys at her school started commenting on the way she looks in her uniform. Her cousin and friends think she should be flattered, but the boys—and sometimes her mom’s boyfriend, Jeremy—make Lydia uncomfortable and confused. Even more confusing is when Jeremy hovers too close and hugs a little too long.Then her mom surprises her by buying a dilapidated house in their neighborhood. Lydia hopes to find a little bit of magic in their new home. But just like the adults in her life, and God, and her friends, the magic Lydia deeply believes in eventually loses its power to keep her safe.And as seventh grade begins, Lydia wonders: Is there a secret to figuring out how to be a girl in the world?

Psychology: Why We Smile, Strive and Sing, by Julie K. Rubini. Published by Nomad Press, August 15.

Psychology: Why We Smile, Strive, and Sing

https://bookshop.org/books/psychology-why-we-smile-strive-and-sing/9781619309111

A fascinating exploration of why we do the things we do, according to science! Dive into the psychology of the human brain with STEM activities and research projects that get readers excited about learning their own minds.

Psychology: Why We Smile, Strive, and Sing introduces students to the science behind behavior. From the developing teenage brain to genetics, psychology, and social environments, readers ages 12 to 15 gain a greater understanding of the complexities behind how we behave. Why does one person react to test anxiety by studying harder while another person gives up? As with all other behavior, the answer depends on many things: genetics, cultural and family expectations, previous behaviors, and a person’s own special blend of attitudes and values. Plenty of text-to-self and text-to-world connections provide a foundation for deeper learning.

• Hands-on STEM activities and research projects such as testing teenage risk-taking thought processes, conformity experiments, and exploring mindfulness and empathy engage readers beyond the text.
• Psychology includes graphic novel style illustrations, fascinating sidebars, and interesting trivia.
• Psychology integrates a digital learning component by providing links to primary sources, videos, and other relevant websites. Text-to-self and text-to-world connections make learning applicable and fundamental.

Game Changers: A Benchwarmers Novel, by John Feinstein. Published by Farrar, Strauss and Giroux, August 25.

Game Changers: A Benchwarmers Novel

https://bookshop.org/books/game-changers-a-benchwarmers-novel/9780374312053

Trouble is about to tip off for Jeff and Andi’s sixth-grade basketball teams in Game Changers, a standalone second book in the middle-grade Benchwarmers series by #1 New York Times bestselling sportswriter John Feinstein.

From a new coach’s flagrant racism to a teammate’s endless sabotage, best friends Andi Carillo and Jeff Michaels start basketball season mired in controversy.

To make matters worse, the local media smells more than one juicy story. Will Andi and Jeff be able to help each other power through and find a way to put both their teams back on track?

Letters from Cuba, by Ruth Behar. Published by Penguin Young Readers Group, August 25.

Letters from Cuba

https://bookshop.org/books/letters-from-cuba/9780525516477

Pura Belpré Award Winner Ruth Behar’s inspiring story of a young Jewish girl who escapes Poland to make a new life in Cuba, while she works to rescue the rest of her family

The situation is getting dire for Jews in Poland on the eve of World War II. Esther’s father has fled to Cuba, and she is the first one to join him. It’s heartbreaking to be separated from her beloved sister, so Esther promises to write down everything that happens until they’re reunited. And she does, recording both the good—the kindness of the Cuban people and her discovery of a valuable hidden talent—and the bad: the fact that Nazism has found a foothold even in Cuba. Esther’s evocative letters are full of her appreciation for life and reveal a resourceful, determined girl with a rare ability to bring people together, all the while striving to get the rest of their family out of Poland before it’s too late.

Based on Ruth Behar’s family history, this compelling story celebrates the resilience of the human spirit in the most challenging times.

The Places We Sleep, by Caroline DuBois. Published by Holiday House, August 25.

The Places We Sleep

https://bookshop.org/books/the-places-we-sleep/9780823444212

It’s early September 2001, and twelve-year-old Abbey is the new kid at school. Again.

I worry about people speaking to me / and worry just the same / when they don’t.

Tennessee is her family’s latest stop in a series of moves due to her dad’s work in the Army, but this one might be different. Her school is far from Base, and for the first time, Abbey has found a real friend: loyal, courageous, athletic Camille.

And then it’s September 11. The country is under attack, and Abbey’s “home” looks like it might fall apart. America has changed overnight.

How are we supposed / to keep this up / with the world / crumbling / around us?

Abbey’s body changes, too, while her classmates argue and her family falters. Like everyone around her, she tries to make sense of her own experience as a part of the country’s collective pain. With her mother grieving and her father prepping for active duty, Abbey must learn to cope on her own.

Written in gorgeous narrative verse, Abbey’s coming-of-age story accessibly portrays the military family experience during a tumultuous period in our history. At once personal and universal, it’s a perfect read for fans of sensitive, tender-hearted books like The Thing About Jellyfish.

The Girl From Over There, by Sharon Rechter, illustrated by Karla Gerard. Published by Sky Pony, August 25.

The Girl From Over There: The Hopeful Story of a Young Jewish Immigrant

https://bookshop.org/books/the-girl-from-over-there-the-hopeful-story-of-a-young-jewish-immigrant/9781510753679

In the aftermath of the Holocaust and World War II, a young Jewish immigrant struggles to fit into her new home as she combats bullying and jealousy from the other children

Israel—A group of young school girls are sitting together, when a stranger appears. They take in the girl’s ragged dress, long hair, and tattered purple teddy bear. And they immediately hate her. Who is she? Why is she here? Is she from over there?

Follow this captivating historical fiction story, where we are introduced to the children living in a small kibbutz, a type of community in Israel, soon after the events of World War II and the Holocaust. When Miriam, an immigrant from Poland, arrives, the other children are immediately suspicious and wary—none more than Michal, the class queen, who is immediately jealous of the new girl when her boyfriend befriends her and the adults rally around her.

The Girl from Over There follows the relationship between Michal and Miriam, as the latter struggles to fit in with the other kids. Meanwhile, Michal struggles to come to terms with both her jealousy and the horrors that Miriam, as well as friends and other newcomers, faced during the events of World War II.

Written by the Israel-born author when she was just 11 years old, this story pieces together both fiction and actual testimonies and memories of her Holocaust-survivor family members. Despite detailing the horrific treatment on Jews in war-torn Europe, this compelling narrative will leave you hopeful for a better future.

The Artifact Hunters, by Janet Fox. Published by Penguin Young Readers Group, August 25.

The Artifact Hunters

https://bookshop.org/books/the-artifact-hunters/9780451478696

Isaac Wolf can travel through time. But he’s also in a race against it.

With tensions in Prague rising at the height of World War II, Isaac Wolf is forced to leave home with nothing more than a small backpack and a pendant in the shape of an eternity knot. His parents believe the pendant will keep him safe—if he can discover what it really means.

This clue leads him to Rookskill Castle, home of the Special Alternative Intelligence Unit where gifted children can learn to harness their powers to support the Allies’ cause. With the help of his new friends and an antique watch that allows him to travel through time, Isaac must unlock his own powers and uncover the true meaning of the eternity knot. The only way he can do that, though, is by hunting for a series of magical artifacts that are scattered throughout the past . . . and Isaac isn’t the only artifact hunter. Soon he finds himself in a race against a threat just as deadly as the war itself—one that his parents had been trying to shield him from all along.

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