Posts Tagged contemporary realistic middle-grade fiction

Educational Intimidation Bills

By on September 12, 2023   /   Oh MG News  
Middle Grade Authors

A new report released by PEN America documents a rise in laws that are designed to intimidate educators and librarians. The aim of these laws is to promote self-censoring. Rather than making headlines for banning books, those who wish to promote certain ideologies by limiting students’ access to books are using intimidation tactics. Their objective is to evoke fear that prompts educators and librarians to disregard topics and materials that might cause controversy. 

Educational Intimidation Thumbnail PEN America

What are intimidation laws?

According to pen.org, “Educational intimidation bills are part of the broader, ongoing ‘Ed Scare’—a nationwide effort documented by PEN America to foment anger and anxiety about public education; to restrict or prohibit instruction about race, sexuality, and gender; and to ban books that address these topics.”

In a report titled Educational Intimidation: How “Parental Rights” Legislation Undermines the Freedom to Learn, the organization examines the rise of educational intimidation bills, “a category of legislation that has the effect of prompting self-censorship in schools through indirect mechanisms, rather than direct edicts.” While PEN America has documented some intimidation bills affecting higher education, the majority of these laws target K-12 educators.

In its Index of Educational Intimidation Bills, PEN America identifies nearly 400 such bills that have been introduced in state legislatures between January 2021 and June 2023, and they have categorized bills by their intent. These bills generate fear, intimidation, or insurmountable obstacles in the following ways:

  • Requiring teachers to post all instructional or professional development materials on public websites so that citizens can easily access these materials and issue objections  
  • Restricting students’ access to school libraries or empowering individual parents to gain control over which materials are allowed in school libraries
  • Inviting parents to opt students into or out of certain content, greatly complicating school schedules and creating individually designed curricula that tears away at the unifying fabric of public school environments
  • Expanding the definition of obscenity beyond its existing legal definition, and threatening educators and librarians with criminal penalties for violations
  • Requiring teachers to monitor and report students’ gender expression

Many laws are making it easier for a single parent to disrupt the educational opportunities afforded to all students. From telephone tip lines to the filing of anonymous complaints, individual parents are being given increasing control over the professional decisions of educators and librarians. 

How are these laws affecting teachers and librarians?

In an article titled “New Intimidation Laws Lead to Classroom Censorship,” PEN America’s editorial director, Lisa Tolin, provides specific examples of teachers and librarians who have lost professional autonomy over curriculum and reading material based on intimidation. 

For example, an art teacher in Tennessee removed major figures from her teaching of art history because of laws that prohibit the teaching of concepts related to race or sex. She was merely introducing the artists and their work to her students, but because of the personal lifestyles of these artists, she knew she would face opposition. This teacher also noted the elimination of Black History Month observances and reported that third graders who have traditionally taken a field trip to a civil rights museum are now going to a baseball game instead.

There’s the case of a Virginia librarian who was subjected to a library inspection and received challenges that originated from a Moms for Liberty list. A teacher in Georgia was fired after reading My Shadow is Purple, a book that was available at the school book fair and was requested by her students.

In addition to legal actions, teachers and librarians also face personal harassment for defending students’ right to read. An Oklahoma teacher who informed her students about Brooklyn Public Library’s Books Unbanned program was removed from the classroom, but that was only the beginning. She was harassed online with graphic suggestions of violence, imprisonment, and even execution. 

In Louisiana, a librarian who voiced opposition to the proposal of book banning was threatened and harassed to the point that she lived in fear and was unable to sleep. According to the article, “Strangers called her a ‘pedophile’ and a ‘groomer.’ One person filed a public records request for her employment history. Another sent her a message saying, ‘You can’t hide, we know where you live. You have a target on your back. Click click.’”

The battle is becoming exhausting for many teachers and librarians. Facing termination of employment, legal actions, and unrelenting harassment is unhealthy and unsustainable. In short, intimidation is effective because the consequences are overwhelming.

What can be done to battle intimidation laws and their effects?

The first step in addressing intimidation bills and the undue stress they place on teachers and librarians is to become informed. To more fully understand the issue of educational intimidation bills, read PEN America’s full report.

Next, find out what’s going on in your local school district. If you become aware of a book ban, you can report it to PEN America via this online form. PEN America and Penguin Random House have joined parents and students from Escambia County, Florida, in filing a federal lawsuit to challenge the removal of some books and the restrictions placed on many others.

Learn more about specific state challenges and PEN America’s #FREETHEBOOKS campaign. At this link, you’ll find many issues addressed in detail, and each has an “ADD YOUR VOICE” link that opens instructions for interested parties who want to take action.  

Most importantly, as the surge in educational intimidation bills continues to grow, be a voice of support for the individual teachers and librarians who take a stand for students’ right to read.

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Editor/Agent Spotlight: Agent Ali Herring of Spencerhill Associates

By on August 30, 2023   /   Editor / Agent Spotlight  

Hi Ali, I’m so excited to welcome you to our Editor/Agent Spotlight here on the Mixed Up Files, thanks so much for joining us!

Ali Herring of Spencerhill Associates Literary Agency

Thank you for having me on the Mixed Up Files blog! I’m excited to have a chat with you and your readers.

What was your path to becoming an agent? Did you always represent children’s books?

My path to becoming an agent started when I won a writing contest in first grade, which gave me that write-and-read bug that sometimes bites us early. I confess to many nights spent reading with a flashlight under my covers where my mom would enter and slowly tiptoe her retreat. After all, if the most terrible thing I was doing was defying bedtime for Little Women, things were going alright. This led me to a journalism degree in college and a job in communications for a small non-profit in Atlanta where I served as a trade magazine editor, among other in-house communications roles. Fast forward to a move to New York, then Connecticut, a set of twins and a third baby later, and I found myself a stay-at-home mom for ten years who read voraciously in her free time and fell in love with a book called The Lightening Thief. This led me to an attempt at writing a book, where I realized I was a better editor than writer. Landing an internship at an agency in CT was the key that opened my door to agenting when I decided to go back to work. And, yes, Rick Riordan’s voicey, funny adventurous worlds made me fall in love with kidlit, so children’s books have always been my passion.

 

What were some of your favourite middle grade books to read when you were growing up? Would you say that has influenced what you look for in terms of representing MG books?

My favorite middle grade books were Hatchet and Box Car Children. I loved the adventure and seeing kids surviving on their own.
Reading these books made me feel a sense of safety, that even in dire circumstances with enough willpower and ingenuity, you could overcome something bad, even young. I also loved Charlotte’s Web and Bridge to Terabithia. Charlotte’s Web, in particular, was the book that taught me that not every story has to end happily or how you want it to for it to mean something. That sometimes the ones that hurt are the ones that stay with you, and mean something more.  Last one, The City of Ember was my descent into dystopian fiction.

  

Would you say there is any common denominator among all the authors and books you represent? Either within children’s books or across all the genres you represent?

I think most of my books are what I’d call “upmarket” though I do have some very commercial or very literary (on the adult side) titles on my list too. Upmarket to me means a very commercial concept, a fairly fast-moving plot, but an emotional heart with something to say. For instance, my client Lora Senf’s The Clackity is a middle grade book in which a pre-teen living in a haunted town with mostly friendly ghosts goes to an otherworld haunted by an evil ghost to save the last adult left in her life, her aunt. But she suffers from anxiety because of the loss of her parents, so the book is a lot about overcoming and finding hope in darkness. I love that horror teaches kids how to be brave! Another client title, is an upcoming YA “toxic friendship” novel called Dead Girls Don’t Say Sorry by Alex Ritany that asks the question, “What does it mean when your best friend dies and your reaction is relief?” It’s told in alternating timelines, unfolding a tale of layered deceptions culminating in her best friend’s death. On first read, it feels a bit like a thriller, but it’s ultimately about finding yourself and loving yourself and others after being subjected to an unhealthy friendship.

 

Do you ever ask authors for a revise and resubmit? If you do, what is the difference for you between offering representation knowing that you’ll want to make editorial changes before going on submission, and asking for a revise and resubmit?

I have offered Revise and Resubmits, though fairly rarely. R&R’s typically require a far more in-depth revision than what would happen editorially before one of my signed authors go on submission. There’s usually something more major wrong, and I need to see if the author can pull off a good solution.

 

Have you seen a difference in what kind of queries and material you are getting since Covid—whether that’s topic, theme, volume, polish…?

I just see a lot more queries flying into my inbox in huge batches as soon as I reopen. I think I had 644 after three weeks this time. Maybe it’s that agents are closing and opening more frequently, and people are waiting and ready when we reopen so it’s an influx. I typically see people following hot trends, so I’m getting way more middle grade horror in my inbox than I used to and far less YA fantasy. As to level of polish across the board, that’s fairly similar to year’s past.

 

How important is the query for you? Is there anything in a query that makes it an automatic “no” for you? Do you generally look at sample pages regardless of the query?

The query is initially far less important to me than the sample pages. Your writing is the most important! If your writing isn’t up to par, then the concept, even a brilliant concept, won’t get you a request. I used to read part of the sample first, and if that was engaging, I’d go back to the query to read. These days, on my Query Manager form, I ask for a high-concept pitch of a few sentences. I read that first now because it’s time-saving for me and it shows me if you understand what a good concept, hook, quick plot summary and stakes are. I’m also better oriented after reading it, so then I read the sample. I’ll go back to the query if the sample is good. You might get an automatic no if you send me something I don’t represent or if your word count is so far outside genre conventions, it will never work.

 

What are some of your current favourite MG novels, either from clients or non-clients?

Client books, you say? I mean, I’m super, super biased, but I think The Clackity is brilliant; it’s Bram-Stoker nominated. But I also happen to have read book two of that series, The Nighthouse Keeper, which comes out in October, and Lora’s pulled some sort of magic move, because her sophomore novel might even be better. We’ll see what the readers think, but I’m just amazed at how much hope she packs into middle grade horror! Also, I’ve got a MG novel called Henry Higgs and the Tangle-Hedge on sub, and that’s more speculative fantasy with an autistic hero, and it’s both hilarious and darkly beautiful and so real, and I can’t wait for that one to find a home. Kurt Kirchmeier’s MG debut The Absence of Sparrows is beautiful and is my Charlotte’s Web in that it stays with you because of how real the ending is. And I’d be remiss not to mention Ally Malinenko’s middle grade horror work as well; Ally’s repped by Rena Rossner.

 

What are some of your current as well as all-time culture faves—TV shows, movies, music etc—that might give querying authors a sense of your overall aesthetic?

Oh gosh! Dateline NBC, The 100, Twilight, Hunger Games, Divergent, Virgin River, Castle, The Rookie. These sort of speak to some of the things I rep – thrillers and suspense, speculative fantasy, scifi, dystopian, romance, women’s fiction, stuff with humor or adventure. Stuff with high stakes. For books, I read a lot of SFF in my downtime. Recent favorites are Project Hail Mary and my most favorite this year, the Murderbot series. I’d love to rep something like Murderbot, humorous, smart scifi that deals with what it means to be human. I love Mainak Dhar’s SFF work. Tau Zero is awesome. Seveneves challenged me but was expansive and fantastic. Erin Craig’s work in YA horror is next-level and ignited something in me. In music, I’m a big fan of Imagine Dragons, REM, Evanescense and the Cranberries. And I have to add Big Bang Theory to the list of TV shows. That’s so random but it does say A LOT about me…

 

 

What are you loving about representing children’s book authors these days?

I love the idea that I might contribute to the canon of literature that touches and changes kid’s lives like those early books did for me.

And finally, where can people find out about what kind of projects you’re looking for and how to query you?

There’s a couple places to try: my agency’s website www.spencerhillassociates.com. Look at my bio and the submissions page for wish list items. And of the submission page, you’ll find the link to my Query Manager page. This is the only way to query me, no emails please. On my personal website, I post a wish list under the #MSWL tab, and my deal announcements under the Deals tab, so authors can see what I’m placing: https://aliherringwrites.wordpress.com. And I post a lot of #MSWLs on twitter. My handle is @HerringAli, where I remain active and uber chatty, so come say hi.

Ali, it’s been an absolute pleasure doing this spotlight with you and I can’t wait to check out some of the books you mention.

Thanks again for having me!

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Worldbuilding for MG Writers

By on August 18, 2023   /   For Teachers  

It’s back-to-school time for ELA classrooms soon! While we as teachers, parents, homeschooling families, and librarians might hear occasional moans and groans from students reaching the end of summer break, the advent of the new school term also brings so much eagerness and anticipation for new and different activities. This can be an especially exciting time with middle graders, who have learned some autonomy with their studies, are capable of more decision-making and logical thinking, and who love a creative challenge. Kicking off the school year by providing middle grade writers with some imaginative and unusual writing assignments will inspire them to pursue other reading and writing ventures throughout the year.

As writers, we recognize the importance of establishing a setting and developing it through details. This kind of worldbuilding not only immerses the reader in the time and place of the narrative but also allows the writer to carefully control what the reader sees and hears regarding the story’s location. For the young writer, worldbuilding employs the imagination, promotes pride of authorship, and provides an opportunity for critical thinking and the highest levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy. From a curriculum perspective, worldbuilding as an assignment provides the instructor with a chance to fulfill standards by reviewing or introducing connected literary devices and techniques such as:

  • Description
  • Sensory imagery
  • Metaphor and Simile
  • Personification
  • Atmosphere and Mood
  • Tone and Voice
  • Point of View

Having students review these literary devices and focus on each or on a combination of elements in a piece of their own authored writing makes for a richer, more personalized learning experience. Here are some ideas, prompts, and examples for exploring the worldbuilding concept as an assignment with your MG writers.

 

Worldbuilding Components for Middle Grade Writers

In reviewing story elements during a short story or novel unit, you might go beyond the typical definitions and examples for setting and instead allow writers to create their own setting. Try a graphic organizer for these and other components (and lots of space for details, brainstorming, and descriptions). Or use poster-sized paper for visual images or maps, and offer this list to inspire connected labels or captions:

Living on the Land: Geography, landscape, weather, climate, ecosystems

Living with Others: People, animals, and creatures; homes, habitats, and shelters; societies, neighborhoods, and cities

Getting Along: Communication; government; laws; technology; social institutions like education; relationships like family and marriage; economy and money systems; transportation and infrastructure (roads, bridges)

Surviving: Food and agriculture, tasks and working, earning wages or trading, keeping healthy, protection

Dangers and Threats (i.e., Conflicts): Enemies, nature, wildlife, discord, war or battle, illness

Don’t Forget the Place Name: Borrowed or original; symbolic meaning, allusion

Once students have had a chance to think through these and other elements of worldbuilding, writing projects on the topic might expand to include prompts and activities.

 

Prompts for Worldbuilding with MG Writers

Three Characters in Search of a Setting:  Provide students with three character identities, including for each traits, goals, motivations, conflicts, and relationships. The writer’s job is to determine a world that would serve the characters well in terms of suspense, tension, and continued potential for conflict. Student writers can add maps with labels, bulleted descriptions, brief histories, and artwork to convey the setting more fully.

Time Travel: Students choose a real place for the setting for a simple, conflict-rich storyline and detail its basic concerns; then they choose whether to move the time period up (into the future) or push it back (into the past). Pushing a setting back at least 60 years, for example, offers a chance to investigate the history of a place and incorporate its time-period specific details (what were computers like in 1960, anyway?). Moving the time period into the future allows for more speculation based on the location’s current characteristics and needs.

Genre Swapping:  Take a familiar setting from a favorite book or class novel study and re-imagine the time and place by changing the book’s genre. For example, what if a modern comedy like Gordon Korman’s Unplugged was actually a high fantasy? Or if Lauren Wolk’s historical Wolf Hollow was contemporary? Build this “reset” world, keeping premise details in mind.

No Swapping Allowed: Choose a story for which the setting and worldbuilding is inherent to the narrative, and detail the ways in which the plot relies on the setting to hold together.

Narrative Nonfiction Worldbuilding: Apply worldbuilding analysis to a work of narrative nonfiction as a way to glean factual detail and comprehend the setting’s full impact on the tale, especially one in which the setting seems distant or almost otherworldly, like Race to the Bottom of the Earth: Surviving Antarctica by Rebecca E.F. Barone.

I hope an idea or two here suits your classroom goals, and that you find the notion of worldbuilding to be an interesting and useful writing workshop activity! Good luck to everyone this school year.

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