Posts Tagged middle-grade fiction

Reading to Lighten Up on Election Day

By on November 5, 2012   /   Book Lists  

I take Election Day seriously. I study newspaper editorials, check the candidates’ flyers for endorsements, read the League of Women Voters’ guides, talk with friends about ballot initiatives. Even when there isn’t a presidency at stake.

I don’t know about you, but this election has me as nervous as a fourth grader giving an oral book report. I need to lighten up. But I’ve been doing some phone banking, and occasionally I reach an 18-year-old who isn’t planning to vote.

Not vote? Seriously?!

Young adults who have developed that too-cool attitude should be teleported back to middle school, before ennui and cynicism creep in. (Unfortunately, it’s not just young people—only about 61% of the population votes.) Then they can hear again why voting matters.

My instinct is to speak passionately about suffragettes and disenfranchisement. Fortunately, plenty of authors know that humor is a better way to teach children about voting rights.

My favorite is So You Want to be President? Yes, I know it’s a picture book, but long after my daughters had graduated to novels, they would re-read this classic. It’s just funny, with the inevitable Taft in the bathtub, the number of Jameses who have held office, and cool facts about who could dance and who went to college. You find out what’s good about the job (living in the White House) and bad (“the President has to be polite to everyone”).

For the slightly older reader, there’s the ever popular Babymouse, who runs for President in the 16th book in the series. She finds out about making campaign promises (“cupcakes in every locker!”), fighting the opposition’s meangirl coalition, and learning what it takes to win.

And winning the Sid Fleischman Humor award is Donna Gephart’s As If Being 12 3/4 Isn’t Bad Enough, My Mother Is Running For President! Vanessa has to cope with a high-profile mother, the Democratic National Convention, and the pitfalls of crushing on the cute guy. This is just right for the preteen who wants romance mixed in with her introduction to the political process.

I can’t resist suggesting a few nonfiction titles for those kids ready for a serious conversation. There’s a new book about the founding fathers, a biography of Elizabeth Stanton, and a collection by Ellen Levine of children’s voices during the civil rights movement. It includes memories of marching for the right to vote.

By the time you read this column, it could be all over for this election cycle. The outcome of 2012 will mean a big difference for the future of our country. Through story, let’s make sure children value democracy so when it’s their turn, they won’t ever miss the chance to vote.

On the lighter side

  • As If Being 12 3/4 Isn’t Bad Enough, My Mother Is Running For President! by Donna Gephart (Delacorte Books for Young Readers, 2008)
  • Babymouse for President by Jennifer Holm and Matthew Holm (Random House, 2012)
  • The President’s Stuck in the Bathtub: Poems About the Presidents by Susan Katz (Clarion, 2012)
  • So You Want to be President? by Judith St. George and illustrated by David Small (Philomel, 2004)

More serious

  • Those Rebels, John and Tom by Barbara Kerley (Scholastic, 2012)
  • You Want Women to Vote, Lizzie Stanton? by Jean Fritz (Putnam, 1995)
  • Freedom’s Children: Young Civil Rights Activists Tell Their Own Stories  by Ellen S. Levine (Puffin, 2000)

Have your own favorite? Leave a comment!

Jennifer Gennari voted. She is the author of My Mixed-Up Berry Blue Summer (Houghton Mifflin 2012). Learn more at jengennari.com or follow her @JenGenn.

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Happy UN Day!

By on October 24, 2012   /   Book Lists  

You might not know that today is United Nations Day. I didn’t know it either, until my Mixed-Up Files calendar told me so. Now that you know this, you are probably asking, okay, what is United Nations Day?

According to the UN, this day was established to highlight the aims and achievements of the UN and marks the anniversary of the organization’s 1945 charter. But more specifically, the UN Secretary-General said recently that this is a day for everyone to resolve to do more — more to protect those caught in armed conflict, more to fight climate change, avert nuclear catastrophe, expand opportunities for women and girls, and more to combat injustice.

It seems an insurmountable task to fix all that’s broken in our world. And it’s easy to get caught up in how much is bad, especially since much of the news is overly negative and sensational. But the good stories are out there too, like an article I read about five women in their 70s who have been friends since kindergarten, or the man who had his lost wedding band returned by strangers. Those kinds of stories lift my heart, as do these favorite books with young characters who are determined to make this world a better place. We could all learn something from them!


My Life in Pink & Green, by Lisa Greenwald

Twelve-year old Lucy Desberg is a natural problem-solver. She’s started doing makeovers at her family’s struggling pharmacy, but all the makeup tips in the world won’t help save the business. Lucy dreams up a solution that can breathe new life into the business and help the environment too. But will her family stop arguing long enough to listen to a seventh-grader?

I love this sweet book, and Lucy is such an inspiring character. I was happy to hear that we’ll find out how Lucy’s story continues when the sequel comes out this spring — My Summer of Pink & Green.

 The Second Life of Abigail Walker, by Frances O’Roark Dowell

Seventeen pounds. That’s the difference between Abigail and Kristen. Between chubby and slim, teased and taunting. Abby is fine with her body and sick of seventeen pounds making her miserable, so she speaks out against Kristen and her groupies — and becomes officially unpopular. Then Abby meets Anders, who is homeschooled and different, plus worried about his dad, an Iraq War vet. Abby unexpectedly discovers that by helping someone else find hope in the world, she’s able to find some too.

 


Bully, by Patricia Polacco

Lyla makes the cheerleading squad and is suddenly part of the popular group. But when she sees the popular girls viciously teasing classmates on Facebook, including an old friend, she realizes it’s time to get out. But the popular girls aren’t so happy with Lyla’s decision and they’re out for revenge. This is a powerful story of cliques, online bullying, and the choice to stand up for a friend.

 

Hoot, by Carl Hiaasen

In this Newbery Honor book, Roy Eberhardt is on a quest to save endangered miniature owls when a pancake house is scheduled to be built over their burrows. Full of funny, interesting, quirky characters, as well as inspiration.

 

 

 Wonder, by RJ Palacio

This best-seller follows the story of Auggie Pullman, a boy with a severe facial deformity who is going to school for the first time. The book has prompted an anti-bullying campaign, choosekind.tumblr.com and its own Twitter feed, #thewonderofwonder. Full of heart and hope, the majority of characters realize that Auggie is someone they can be friends with instead of stare at.

 

Judy Moody Saves the World, by Megan McDonald
Judy sets out to win a contest for her Band-Aid design but after garnering only an honorable mention, she turns her attention to her family’s crummy recycling habits and an endangered species.

 

 

 

One and Only Ivan, by Katherine Applegate

The story of Ivan, a caged gorilla living inside a circus-themed mall, is based on a true story, and the cool part is that it was heartfelt letters from kids that helped free the real Ivan. Applegate has written a poignant story in Ivan’s voice that has resonated with readers of many ages. The real Ivan was happily moved to the Atlanta Zoo (after 27 years at the mall!) and became a beloved celebrity there, living contentedly with other gorillas until he died at age 50.

 

Although these characters are fictional, their quests to set things right are very real — saving a small business, helping a war veteran, confronting bullies, rescuing an endangered species, and fighting for freedom. I hope that young readers (and old ones too) are inspired to get out there and change the world!

Talk about this and other issues on the weekly Twitter chat about middle grade fiction and nonfiction — #MGlitchat. This takes place every Thursday night at 9 p.m. EST.

Michele Weber Hurwitz, the author of Calli Be Gold (Wendy Lamb Books/Random House 2011), has way too many inspirational quotes taped up over her desk. Visit her at www.micheleweberhurwitz.com.

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Sciency Fiction — and a Giveaway

By on October 22, 2012   /   Book Lists, Giveaways  

What’s that, Mr. Spell-Checker? You say I’ve misspelled science?

I’m afraid you’re mistaken, Mr. Spell-Checker. My letter choice was entirely intentional.

I’m on a crusade. A sciency fiction crusade.

Sciency fiction is not science fiction. Sciency fiction is not at all speculative. It is not set in the future. Sciency fiction depicts actual current (or current for the time if historical) science. Although the characters and situations can be fictional, the science is not.

I made up the term, I admit, and Google is on my spell-checker’s team, misdirecting my searches every time. I have an ally across the pond in Tom Webb, who independently proposed the term for grown-up books.

Who reads sciency fiction? Kurtis Scaletta does. Back in August of 2011, he wrote a post on this blog about science fiction.

“To me, science fiction is fiction infused with science. … I quite like fiction that conveys some understanding about the workings of the universe.”

Kurtis is a fiction lover to whom science is an added bonus. He gains an appreciation of science through novels.

Then there are those who start out loving science. You know the kids—obsessed with dinosaurs, or rocks, or rockets. They love nonfiction. They eat up books like Guinness World Records or Ripley’s Believe It or Not! Novels are not their thing, and they only read them when assigned in school–and then grudgingly.

One day, one of these kids—my son, actually–got a look at The Green Glass Sea by Ellen Klages. It’s a novel set at Los Alamos during the development of the atomic bomb. The book is populated by scientists. Dewey, the young protagonist is smart and inquisitive, with a definite sciency sensibility. My son gobbled up this book and its sequel, White Sands, Red Menace, in five days. But he told me it got boring near the end. Why? Because the science aspect was downplayed and the focus was on Dewey’s emotional journey.



That observation was a revelation for me. While the emotional journey of the protagonist was compelling, it wasn’t enough for him. He needed more than emotion to hold his interest.  I stocked our bookshelves with more sciency novels, and then steampunk and science fiction and fantasy. Now he asks me to get novels for him from the library.

My son is a science lover who learned to appreciate narrative fiction through sciency fiction.

Good sciency fiction combines a compelling story with interesting science, and it can serve is a bridge between science and fiction. Got a student who only reads nonfiction about science? Got a student who doesn’t care for science class, but loves a good story?

Give them both some sciency fiction.

Where to start? Here’s a list.

Kurtis included some great titles in his post, including

The Higher Power of Lucky by Susan Patron

The Evolution of Calpurnia Tate by Jacqueline Kelly

The Apprenticeship of Lucas Whitaker by Cynthia DeFelice

Every Soul a Star by Wendy Mass

He also included some more speculative titles in his list and mentions Isaac Asimov several times.

“The paragon for me will always be Isaac Asimov, a knowledgeable science-minded author. Asimov made his work true to science the way a historical novelist would be true to history… Science was my worst subject in school, but authors like Asimov made science lucid and compelling while telling a good story.”

Some people like their science real, so I’m limiting my list to those titles where the science is not speculative at all.

101 Ways to Bug Your Teacher by Lee Wardlaw

Brendan Buckley’s Universe and Everything in It by Sundee T. Frazier

Fever 1793 by Laurie Halse Anderson

Nerd Camp by Elissa Brent Weissman

Ninjas, Piranhas, and Galileo by Greg Leitich Smith

Phineas L. MacGuire . . . Erupts! By Frances O’Roark Dowell

Samantha Hansen Has Rocks in Her Head by Nancy Viau

Back in April, I wrote a post for this blog about sciency novels that address environmental sciences—Eco-fiction if you will. That list is here.

I like to call my debut novel, The Reinvention of Edison Thomas, sciency fiction. It just came out in paperback, and to celebrate, I’m giving away the remainder of my Advance Reader Copies in one big giveaway. If you would like your school or library to have a teaching set of up to 15 ARCs, leave the name of the library or school in the comments, along with the title of your favorite sciency novel (it can be one I’ve listed, or something else) and the number of copies you’ll need. Enter by 11:59 CDT Saturday October 27. Winner will be announced October 28.

 

Jacqueline Houtman spent 27 years in school so she could be a scientist. Now she’s a freelance science writer and middle-grade novelist–living proof that biology (or chemistry or physics) is not destiny. Find out more at www.jhoutman.com.

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