New Releases

Interview with Suma Subramaniam, Author of V. MALAR – GREATEST HOST OF ALL TIME

By on November 27, 2024   /   Author Interviews, New Releases  

I had the pleasure of picking the brain of Suma Subramaniam, a seasoned author (and long time member of the Mixed-Up Files team), to discuss the release of her latest chapter book: V. MALAR – GREATEST HOST OF ALL TIME! Suma took time from her busy schedule to indulge my curiosity and wow me with her wisdom.

I’m honored to be part of her new book release tour with this inspiring and heartfelt interview. So, let’s jump on in!

A Determined Journey

Patchree: What has your publishing journey been like? Did you always plan to become a children’s author?

nov 2024 new releases

Suma: I always wanted to be an author for a long time. But children’s writing happened when I attended my first SCBWI conference in Western Washington in 2010. I met the wonderful author, Sundee Frazier at the conference. Sundee encouraged me to keep working on a manuscript that she read the first five pages of. I followed her advice and kept the dream alive. Five years later, I got accepted to the MFA program in Writing for Children and Young Adults at the Vermont College of Fine Arts. Fast-forward to 2019, my short story was published in THE HERO NEXT DOOR (Crown Books, 2019). And now, I’m here with V. MALAR – GREATEST HOST OF ALL TIME (Candlewick Press, 2024), illustrated by Archana Sreenivasan, with several published picture books and a few more books releasing in the next few years.

Patchree: You have quite a book resume to your name, and your work truly highlights your Indian heritage. How do you think your cultural roots impact your writing?

Suma: Thank you, Patchree! Having spent more than two decades in India, I have fond memories of my growing up years. There’s still so much I do not know.  I have deep interest in history. Every book takes me along a fascinating journey during the research process. That’s why I write uplifting, lively stories about fun and feisty children of Indian descent that my little self would’ve wanted to read.

Patchree: What motivates you to write?

Arms hugging globe with a red heart on top.

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Suma: I always ask myself what my effort in writing books will amount to. Like any writer, I expect my work to influence or make an impact on many readers, and sometimes I am discouraged by the world’s indifference to children’s and young adult writing. But I hold on to the dreams I’ve had since I was a child by staying committed to the craft and the community. They sustain me through the difficult times, the struggles and disappointments that come with this profession.

Patchree: As an author, what is your wish or key takeaway for readers of your books?

Suma: I hope readers love themselves. If we can’t love ourselves, we can’t love the world. That is the key takeaway for readers from all my books.

 

Writing Your Roots

Patchree: Moving onto your latest book, V. MALAR: GREATEST HOST OF ALL TIME, who was your inspiration for your main character Malar?

Suma: The inspiration for V. MALAR: GREATEST HOST OF ALL TIME came from celebrating the harvest festival year-after-year since my childhood. Growing up in India, holidays and festivals brought me closer to my family. These celebrations not only passed on from generation to generation, but they also helped us navigate life’s joys and challenges with ease. In troubled times, we learned to recover together. Pongal is a four-day celebration in South India when crops are harvested in mid-January. It is celebrated every year in many Indian households during the Tamil month called Thai, in honor of the work farmers do. V. MALAR- GREATEST HOST OF ALL TIME is filled with moments of togetherness, joy, and empathy that begin in the family. I hope that through Malar’s eyes, all readers will access the experience of those relationships, take them to heart, and pass it on with love.

Patchree: How much of your own experiences did you include, if any, in this story?Indian Pongal Festival

Suma: Holidays and festivals are the times to gather with our families and friends, and strengthen our relationships. There is so much love underneath the traditions, celebrations, and growing up in an Indian household.

I included everything I loved about the harvest festival and the traditions of celebrating from my own family. Pongal brings families together to celebrate the blessings of good health and happiness. The first day of Pongal is called Bhogi Pongal. On this day, we clean our homes and discard old and broken items. The second day is called Thai Pongal. It is also called “Uzhavar Thirunal” which means “Farmers’ Day”. We worship the sun god and have an elaborate meal. The word “Pongal” means “to boil” in Tamil. It is also the name of the rice dish that is prepared on the second day of the festival. We make two types of pongal, sweet and savory. It is served with stew made with the season’s vegetables.

The third day is called Maatu Pongal. We honor our cattle and seek blessings for a good harvesting season. The fourth day is called Kaanum Pongal. It is also known as “Thiruvalluvar Dhinam” because we celebrate the eminent Tamil poet, Thiruvalluvar on this day.

Patchree: Your book does a wonderful job of touching on the idea of “culture shock” children of the diaspora experience when visiting their native lands. How important was this theme for you?

Suma: Thank you! As I wrote about Malar, it was important to have her believe in the strength of her extended family even though she and her cousins lived in different countries. The relationship snapshots in the story show that the expectations of both parenting and being raised as a child can feel like you’re being pulled in different directions sometimes. These are the universal experiences faced by families all over the world.  Malar’s book is more than just a story about holiday festivities. It’s a story about diaspora when cousins from opposite hemispheres meet, relishing family time, practicing gratitude, recognizing the value of what one has, being present, and even living a sustainable lifestyle while combatting climate change. There are some valuable SEL and STEM lessons to be learned here about seeing things from another person’s perspective and how ordinary people in different parts of the world choose to live responsibly.

Patchree: It’s clear that V. Malar is a planned chapter book series, what can readers look forward to with this series?

Suma: Readers can look forward to more hilarious adventures with Malar. In book-2, Malar is all set to become the greatest ranger of all time in South India’s Western Ghats where she will explore what it takes to become a nature conservationist and a wildlife advocate.

In book-3, Malar’s first visit to the US to see her cousins coincides with Diwali and Halloween. She prepares to become the greatest hallowali of all time.

Woman holding a notebook and writing while standing alone in front of a window

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From An Author’s POV

Patchree: What do you do if, or when, you get into a writing slump? How do you pull yourself out from a stint of writer’s block?

Suma: I travel every few months to take my mind away from writing. If I’m not traveling, I do things that fill my well in other ways. I read, knit, volunteer, go for long walks, and tire my legs out. Other than that, I visit my local indie bookstore, the library, cook, and host dinner with friends and family.

Patchree: Last but not least, what is your number one piece of advice for aspiring writers or perhaps something you’ve learned that you wish you knew before becoming a published author?

Suma: Writing is a lonely creative pursuit and also a business.  With the connections you build in the industry, you can go a long way, not only to improve your creative work, but also find your way through it. Agents and editors like working with writers who are invested in making books for children in the long term. Having a portfolio of projects gives the industry an added layer of reinforcement that your work is good, and that you are putting the effort to make the writing better with every project.

 

More about Suma:

Author PhotoSuma Subramaniam is the author of several children’s books based on STEM and STEAM topics as well as India and Indian heritage. She earned her MFA in writing from Vermont College of Fine Arts. Her poems have been published in the Young People’s Poetry edition of Poetry Magazine from Poetry Foundation. When she’s not writing, she’s volunteering and blogging about children’s books. Suma lives in Washington State with her husband and a dog who will do anything for Indian sweets and snacks. Find her online at sumasubramaniam.com.

 

 

 

 

 

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Interview With Author Josh Roberts

By on October 23, 2024   /   Author Interviews, Fiction, kidlit, New Releases  

I’m thrilled to welcome Josh Roberts to the Mixed-Up Files . . . Just in time for Halloween. Today we chatted about his new middle grade, THE CURSE OF WILLOW COVE. This is the second book in THE WITCHES OF WILLOW COVE series.

Grab a cup of hot chocolate and pull up the covers; it’s time to talk all things spooky.

Lisa: Tell us about THE CURSE OF WILLOW COVE.

Josh: Thanks for inviting me to talk about my new book. I always love chatting with the Mixed-Up Files! The Curse of Willow Cove is the second book in my upper middle grade series aimed at tweens and teens ages 10 and up. I call it a standalone sequel to book one, The Witches of Willow Cove, because it’s intended as an accessible entry point for anyone discovering the series for the first time.

School Library Journal says that the Willow Cove books “may be written for middle grade, but the exciting narrative could appeal to young adults,” and that’s exactly what I was going for—stories that can be enjoyed by a lot of different age groups.

The Witches of Willow Cove and The Curse of Willow Cove are both set in a small New England town with a secret history dating back to the Salem Witch Trials. In the first book, a 13-year-old girl named Abby Shepherd learns that she and several of her seventh grade classmates are witches—with all the spell casting powers and flying broomsticks that come with it. Working together with a group of non-magical friends from their middle school, the young witches must solve a mystery from their town’s distant past before it can threaten the lives of everyone living in the present.

In The Curse of Willow Cove, Abby and her coven are all now 14 years old and they have a year of witchcraft under their belt. Things seem to be going well, until some of their classmates begin to vanish in the night… only to come back as something dangerous and different. Just as the first book in the series pulls from the real history of the Salem Witch Trials, The Curse of Willow Cove leans into another mysterious episode from the past called the Great New England Vampire Panic.

Lisa: Did you always plan to write a sequel to THE WITCHES OF WILLOW COVE? If yes, did you always know where you wanted to go with the story?

Josh: Yes and yes. From the beginning, I envisioned The Witches of Willow Cove as a series, and my publisher encouraged me to think of it that way, too. Although the first book is a standalone novel with a beginning, middle, and end, I was able to plant certain seeds for the sequel in it so that the second book feels very much like a natural continuation, even though it can be read on its own without having read the first book. Of course, things change when you sit down to write. Once I really dug into the story, not everything I’d planned for the second book made sense to me anymore, or new ideas came along, or certain characters began to demand more page time than I’d initially planned… but that’s one of the things that keeps it fun as an author.

I would say that The Curse of Willow Cove ends exactly where I always planned for it to end, but the route we took to get there changed quite a bit from my initial notes.

Lisa: What kind of research did you do while writing books about witches?

Josh: As a lifelong New Englander, I was already very familiar with the history of the Salem Witch Trials in particular. But “familiar with” and “an expert on” are two very different things, so for book one I did a lot of research into the real history of the period and then tried to weave a plausible secret history around those events while remaining respectful to the real historical victims. For The Curse of Willow Cove, almost all of my research went into understanding the Great New England Vampire Panic of the late 19 th century when farmers and townspeople all across the region were literally digging up their dead relatives because they believed they’d come back as vampires. The Curse of Willow Cove began with the question, “What if they were actually right about the vampires?”

Lisa: Do you think there are real witches with magical abilities?

Josh: Living so close to Salem and its modern witch culture, I would never be foolish enough to deny the existence of real witches!

Lisa: Do you base characters on people you know? If yes, spill the beans! (Translation: Do you know a witch?)

Josh: That’s a really good question. I don’t think I’ve ever set out to intentionally base a character on someone I know, at least not entirely, but without a doubt there are certain personality traits and habits I’ve borrowed from people in my life. It’s always fun to see if they recognize themselves in those characters. There’s one character in particular that reminds me of my wife when she was around the same age (we met when we were young teenagers) and so she’s obviously a favorite character of mine.

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

Josh: Growing up in Massachusetts, I became fascinated by the fact that not only were there accused witches all across the state—including one in my hometown—but also that the witch trials did not actually occur in modern day Salem. I think there’s even a line in one of my books that basically amounts to “Salem gets all the tourists, but the real witch history happened elsewhere.” For the purposes of my story, that “elsewhere” is my invented town of Willow Cove, and it’s based off of the places I’ve lived all my life. So while Willow Cove isn’t literally a real place, it’s real to me because it feels like I’ve walked every inch of it at one time or another.

In terms of the characters I write, The Witches of Willow Cove series has a big and diverse cast, but I think it’s safe to say that there’s a little bit of my personality in each and every one of them—the witches and non-witches alike.

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

Josh: I loved everything by Lloyd Alexander, but especially The Prydain Chronicles. Those were the first books I ever fell in love with, and also the first to make me sad when I reached the end because it meant I’d never get spend more time in that world with those characters again. I think you can see the influence of those books in my writing most clearly when you look at the kinds of characters I’m drawn to write. The main female character in The Prydain Chronicles is a girl called Eilonwy, who is smart, strong-willed, sharp-tongued, brave, and (at times) sensitive. I think that describes most of the girls in The Witches of Willow Cove series, too.

Lisa: What advice would you give twelve-year-old Josh?

Josh: When I was younger, I wasted a lot of years believing I wasn’t talented enough to write a book because the words never came out the way I hoped they would on the first try. I wish I’d understood that writing is a journey and no one starts out perfect at it. You have to work hard, and you have to keep working hard even when it gets frustrating—or maybe especially when it gets frustrating.

I came from a family of readers, but no one else I knew ever wanted to write like I did. That made it hard for me to understand that writing is not something you’re expected to be instantly good at. So in short, I’d tell twelve-year-old Josh to keep writing and trust the process. If we’re being honest, sometimes I still need to be reminded of this!

Lisa: If you could cast one spell, what would it be?

Josh: I would conjure up the one thing every writer dreams of and that we all know doesn’t exist… a perfect first draft!

Lisa: Last, but most important . . . What are you working on now?

I’ve got a lot going on! My big focus right now is a young adult historical fantasy called Victoria Dare and the Blood of Kings, which I pitched as Indiana Jones meets The Diviners. It comes out in 2026 and follows the adventures of 16-year-old Victoria Dare, who accompanies her father on an excavation to uncover a lost Egyptian tomb and gets drawn into a plot involving Nazi occultists, Bolshevik assassins, and a mysterious figure her psychic friend calls “The Shrouded Man.” It’s everything I’ve ever loved all rolled into one story. If you’re interested, you can add it on Goodreads to get notified when it comes out. I’m also doing some early work on the next book in The Witches of Willow Cove series, which is already under contract and tentatively called The Haunting of Willow Cove. I have so many ideas for where the story will go and I can’t wait to get back to these characters again.

Josh Roberts is the author of The Witches of Willow Cove series for tweens and teens, and the forthcoming Victoria Dare series for young adults. His debut novel received starred reviews from Kirkus and School Library Journal, and was a Massachusetts Book Awards Must-Read, a Kirkus Book of the Month, and A Mighty Girl Book of the Year.

 

 

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October New Releases!

By on October 2, 2024   /   Articles, New Releases  

For some of us, the air is starting to feel crisp. The days are getting shorter. And it feels like a good time to cozy up and read. Luckily, we have lots of new middle-grade options to choose from. Here are a few to pick.

 

The Winterton Deception 2: Fault Lines - Johnson, Janet SumnerThe Winterton Deception 2: Fault Lines

by Janet Sumner Johnson

After the incredible events of the last official Winterton Bee, Hope and Gordon Smith have discovered that having an extended family isn’t so bad . . . and maybe their famous relatives’ lives aren’t so charmed. But Hope is still hiding a secret, and it’s a big one.

When Elizabeth Springer goes missing just before the Winterton’s big Thanksgiving celebration–their first reunion since the spelling bee–Hope knows it’s time to come clean. Her secret may be the only thing that can save Ms. Springer. But none of the Winterton clan want to hear it. Worse, they accuse Hope of making up the whole thing as an attention-grab.

Poised to give up on her new-found family, Hope gets a cryptic coded letter with instructions on how to find James Winterton–her long-estranged grandfather. Whatsmore, the letter hints that the Wintertons had more secrets than just a hidden treasure. Now Hope and Gordon face the impossible task of convincing their family to follow a shifty clue to find the man they want to see least, in order to save the woman who’s been lying to them for years.

 

 

A Split Second - Marks, JanaeA Split Second

by Janae Marks

When Elise wakes up the morning after her birthday celebration, she’s surprised to find herself in her bedroom. Last she can remember, she had fallen asleep next to her best friends at her slumber party in her basement, and it was October. But now she’s alone, and her phone says it’s April 8. Elise doesn’t understand. How could she have woken up six months later?

No one else is acting like anything strange has happened, yet Elise can’t remember the last half year. To make matters worse, her friends refuse to talk to her and Elise doesn’t know why. She also has no idea how she got signed up for photography club or why her former best friend, Cora, is talking to her again. Is it a memory problem? Could it be magic? Every day that passes takes Elise further from the world she knew. Thankfully, Elise has Cora to lean on in this new reality, and the two come together to investigate why Elise woke up in the future–and, more important, how to get her back to her past and away from this nightmare.

 

 

 

Hungry Bones - Hung, LouiseHungry Bones

by Louise Hung

Molly Teng sees things no one else can.

By touching the belongings of people who have died, she gets brief glimpses into the lives they lived. Sometimes the “zaps” are funny or random, but often they leave her feeling sad, drained, and lonely.

The last thing Jade remembers from life is dying. That was over one hundred years ago. Ever since then she’s been trapped in the same house watching people move in and out. She’s a ‘hungry ghost’ reliant on the livings’ food scraps to survive. To most people she is only a shadow, a ghost story, a superstition.

Molly is not most people. When she moves into Jade’s house, nothing will ever be the same–for either of them. After over a century alone, Jade might finally have someone who can help her uncover the secrets of her past, and maybe even find a way out of the house–before her hunger destroys them both.

 

Eyes on the Sky - Kramer, J. KasperEyes on the Sky

by J. Kasper Kramer

Nothing ever happens in Roswell, New Mexico. Dorothy should know. She’s lived her whole life on a rural ranch nearby, surrounded by the difficult memories from her family’s struggles to make ends meet during the Great Depression years ago. At least her older brother Dwight is home safe from the war. Unfortunately he’s no better to talk to than her ancient pet sheep, Geraldine.

Thankfully Dorothy has her experiments, like launching rockets off the top of her windmill. But one stormy night, she sends a gigantic weather balloon into the stratosphere–and an incredible blast lights up the sky. Suddenly, all the newspapers feature a flying saucer crash in their headlines and the sleepy town of Roswell is alight with gossip and speculation. But what if the so-called extraterrestrial vessel is actually Dorothy’s weather balloon?

When FBI agents start asking questions, she begins to suspect that there’s something out there, something dangerous. Either the government is after her for causing a national scandal…or aliens are real!

 

 

 

Borderlands and the Mexican American Story - Romo, David DoradoBorderlands and the Mexican American Story

by David Dorado Romo

Until now, you’ve only heard one side of the story, about migrants crossing borders, drawn to the promise of a better life. In reality, Mexicans were on this land long before any borders existed. Here’s the true story of America, from the Mexican American perspective.

The Mexican American story is usually carefully presented as a story of immigrants: migrants crossing borders, drawn to the promise of a better life. In reality, Mexicans were on this land long before any borders existed. Their culture and practices shaped the Southwestern part of this country, in spite of relentless attempts by white colonizers and settlers to erase them.

From missions and the Alamo to muralists, revolutionaries, and teen activists, this is the true story of the Mexican American experience.

 

 

 

 

 

Bite by Bite: American History Through Feasts, Foods, and Side Dishes - Aronson, MarcBite by Bite: American History Through Feasts, Foods, and Side Dishes

by Marc Aronson and Paul Freedman 

Explore the fascinating history of America as told through the lens of food in this illustrated nonfiction middle grade book that lays out the diverse cultures that have combined to create the rich and delicious tapestry of the American country and cuisine.

As American as apple pie. It’s a familiar saying, yet gumbo and chop suey are also American! What we eat tells us who we are: where we’re from, how we move from place to place, and how we express our cultures and living traditions.

In twelve dishes that take readers from thousands of years ago through today, this book explores the diverse peoples and foodways that make up the United States. From First Salmon Feasts of the Umatilla and Cayuse tribes in the Pacific Northwest to fish fries celebrated by formerly enslaved African Americans, from “red sauce” Italian restaurants popular with young bohemians in the East to Cantonese restaurants enjoyed by rebellious young eaters in the West, this is the true story of the many Americas–laid out bite by bite.

 

 

 

 

The Night Mother Vol. 1 - Lambert, JeremyThe Night Mother Vol. 1

by Jeremy Lambert (Author) Alexa Sharpe (Illustrator)

The moon is stuck like a broken clock in the midnight sky, the sun a distant memory. No one in this quiet seaside town can remember how long this unnatural darkness has lasted. No one, that is, except for the curious girl who lives in the graveyard, caring for the dead: twelve-year-old Madeline Tock. In gratitude, the departed whisper their worries to her, sounding just like her overprotective but loving father: beware this endless night and she who causes it.

Because there’s someone else who can hear the whispers, too . . . someone whose gown is a map of the cosmos, hair a tangled constellation, eyes like the lights of faraway stars. The Night Mother. Her elemental duty is to gather the souls of the dead in her lantern, then send them to their eternal rest as beautiful moonlight. But when her hunger for power drives her to take souls from the living, Madeline bravely stands up to defend her town and those she loves. Can Madeline help bring back the sun, or will she be lured by the starry promises of this mysterious woman?

 

 

 

This Is My Brain!: A Book on Neurodiversity - Gravel, EliseThis Is My Brain!: A Book on Neurodiversity

by Elise Gravel

Acclaimed creator Elise Gravel (Killer Underwear Invasion!, Olga and the Smelly Thing from Nowhere, and many more) uses her trademark humor and punchy art to explore the fascinating human brain.

Though all our brains look the same, every brain works differently. This Is My Brain! shows readers that understanding how different brains feel and learn can help us connect with others . . . and keep our own brains happy! Through humorous, engaging text and brightly colored art, readers are introduced to the fundamentals of how our brains work, how our unique neurology influences how we think and act, and how the world is a better place when we understand each other’s brains and use them collectively.

 

 

 

Lost at Windy River: A True Story of Survival - Rathgeber, TrinaLost at Windy River: A True Story of Survival

by Trina Rathgeber (Author) Jillian Dolan (Colorist) Alina Pete (Illustrator)

It takes courage and bravery to survive in the barrens

In 1944, thirteen-year-old Ilse Schweder got lost in a snowstorm while checking her family’s trapline in northern Canada. This is the harrowing story of how a young Indigenous girl defies the odds and endures nine days alone in the unforgiving barrens. Ilse faces many challenges, including freezing temperatures, wild animals, snow blindness and frostbite. With no food or supplies, she relies on Traditional Indigenous Knowledge passed down from her family. Ilse uses her connection to the land and animals, wilderness skills and resilience to find her way home.

This powerful tale of survival is written by Ilse Schweder’s granddaughter.

 

 

 

 

The Rise of Issa Igwe - Miles, ShannaThe Rise of Issa Igwe

by Shanna Miles

Despite a lifetime of breaking the rules, twelve-year-old Issa Igwe never expected to land in witch prison. At least that’s what she calls The Siren School outside of its hallowed halls. It’s actually the country’s most prestigious boarding school for magically gifted girls, and Issa’s parents insist that she attend . . . even though the school’s creepy history is the stuff of legend.

When a devastating loss overturns Issa’s world, Issa decides to break one of her new school’s biggest rules of all: she’s going to use bitter magic to turn back time. To succeed, she must snatch sleep-inducing feathers from the backs of magical creatures, sneak out while avoiding the Night Children–whoever they are–and even raise the dead. Her nighttime explorations bring the school’s darkest secrets to light, and reveal a new power within Issa herself. It turns out that a rule-breaker might be just what The Siren School needs to undo an ancient evil . . .

 

 

 

 

 

Happy October reading!

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