Posts Tagged Random House

New School Blues

By on August 22, 2016   /   Book Lists, Fiction, For Kids, For Librarians, For Parents, For Teachers  

CountingThyme

Moving is always a challenge, especially when it involves a new school. Take it from this shy girl who went to three different kindergartens alone and moved more times than she cares to count. Whether it’s a new town or making the leap from elementary to middle school, here are some books to make life easier in the great unknown of a new home.

COUNTING THYME by Melanie Conklin (Putnam 2016) When eleven-year-old Thyme Owens’ little brother, Val, is accepted into a new cancer drug trial, it’s just the second chance that he needs. But it also means the Owens family has to move to New York, thousands of miles away from Thyme’s best friend and everything she knows and loves. The island of Manhattan doesn’t exactly inspire new beginnings, but Thyme tries to embrace the change for what it is: temporary.

After Val’s treatment shows real promise and Mr. Owens accepts a full-time position in the city, Thyme has to face the frightening possibility that the move to New York is permanent. Thyme loves her brother, and knows the trial could save his life—she’d give anything for him to be well—but she still wants to go home, although the guilt of not wanting to stay is agonizing. She finds herself even more mixed up when her heart feels the tug of new friends, a first crush, and even a crotchety neighbor and his sweet whistling bird. All Thyme can do is count the minutes, the hours, and days, and hope time can bring both a miracle for Val and a way back home.

With equal parts heart and humor, Melanie Conklin’s debut is a courageous and charming story of love and family—and what it means to be counted.

HootHOOT by Carl Hiaasen (Yearling 2006) Unfortunately, Roy’s first acquaintance in Florida is Dana Matherson, a well-known bully. Then again, if Dana hadn’t been sinking his thumbs into Roy’s temples and mashing his face against the school-bus window, Roy might never have spotted the running boy. And the running boy is intriguing: he was running away from the school bus, carried no books, and–here’s the odd part–wore no shoes. Sensing a mystery, Roy sets himself on the boy’s trail. The chase introduces him to potty-trained alligators, a fake-fart champion, some burrowing owls, a renegade eco-avenger, and several extremely poisonous snakes with unnaturally sparkling tails.
Roy has most definitely arrived in Carl Hiaasen’s Florida.

TheTroubleWithRulesTHE TROUBLE WITH RULES by Leslie Bulion (Peachtree 2008) For Nadine Rostraver, fourth grade means peer pressure and new social rules she hadn t anticipated. For one thing, girls aren t supposed to hang out with boys anymore. So where does that leave Nadine and her best friend Nick?

Then Summer Crawford arrives at Upper Springville Elementary and Nadine s life goes from bad to worse! Nadine loses her job as the art editor on the class newspaper The Springville Spark and gets in some serious trouble with her teacher, Mr. Allen.

But Summer is a free spirit who marches to her own beat. Slowly Nadine realizes that life can be a lot more fun if you call your own tune. Together Nadine, Nick, and Summer decide breaking the rules is sometimes the best thing you can do. Especially when the rules don t allow you to be yourself.

Author Leslie Bulion s sensitive, realistic look at adolescence and her humorous slant on its unique struggles will resonate with young readers who will recognize themselves and their own dilemmas in her well-drawn characters and their responses to a complicated world.

MovingDayMOVING DAY by Ralph Fletcher, illustrated by Jennifer Emery (Boyds Mills Press 2006) The traumas and trials of moving away are poignantly expressed in new poems from a respected writer. Fletch’s new Diamondback mountain bike and his brother’s new hockey outfit are unexpected gifts from Dad. When Dad announces, “We’re going to move to Ohio,” Fletch’s heart drops to his stomach. Leaving means selling the house, abandoning his best friends,and living next to Lake Erie. . . . Hey, didn’t that lake catch on fire? Ralph Feltcher’s poems evoke what’s hard about moving away as well as what makes moving day, well, maybe, okay.

SchooledSCHOOLED by Gordon Korman (Hyperion 2008-from Booklist’s red review) Homeschooled on an isolated “alternate farm commune” that has dwindled since the 1960s to 2 members, 13-year-old Cap has always lived with his grandmother, Rain. When she is hospitalized, Cap is taken in by a social worker and sent—like a lamb to slaughter—to middle school. Smart and capable, innocent and inexperienced (he learned to drive on the farm, but he has never watched television), long-haired Cap soon becomes the butt of pranks. He reacts in unexpected ways and, in the end, elevates those around him to higher ground. From chapter to chapter, the first-person narrative shifts among certain characters: Cap, a social worker (who takes him into her home), her daughter (who resents his presence there), an A-list bully, a Z-list victim, a popular girl, the school principal, and a football player (who unintentionally decks Cap twice in one day). Korman capably manages the shifting points of view of characters who begin by scorning or resenting Cap and end up on his side. From the eye-catching jacket art to the scene in which Cap says good-bye to his 1,100 fellow students, individually and by name, this rewarding novel features an engaging main character and some memorable moments of comedy, tenderness, and reflection.

HowToSurviveMiddleSchoolHOW TO SURVIVE MIDDLE SCHOOL by Donna Gephart (Yearling 2008) Eleven-year-old David Greenberg dreams of becoming a YouTube sensation and spends all of his time making hilarious Top 6½ Lists and Talk Time videos. But before he can get famous, he has to figure out a way to deal with:

6. Middle school (much scarier than it sounds!)
5. His best friend gone girl-crazy
4. A runaway mom who has no phone!
3. The threat of a swirlie on his birthday
2. A terrifying cousin
1. His # 1 fan, Bubbe (his Jewish grandmother)
1/2. Did we mention Hammy, the hamster who’s determined to break David’s heart?

But when David’s new best friend, Sophie, starts sending out the links to everyone she knows and her friends tell their friends, thousands of people start viewing his videos.

AnastasiaAgain!ANASTASIA AGAIN! by Lois Lowry (Yearling 1982) Anastasia has grown to love her new little brother, Sam. But she is in for a new shock as her parents announce that they will be moving to the suburbs. Anastasia is sure that all suburbanites live drab, meaningless lives, and tries to prevent the move by requesting a room with a tower before she will consent to the move. Her parents, however, find just such a house, and Anastasia must confront her misconceptions. Her adventures in the suburbs involve meeting her new neighbors, including a cute boy who mows lawns, and a “witch” who lives next door.

WeAreAllMadeOfMoleculesWE ARE ALL MADE OF MOLECULES by Susin Nielsen (Ember 2016) Ashley’s and Stewart’s worlds collide when Stewart and his dad move in with Ashley and her mom. The Brady Bunch it isn’t. Stewart is trying to be 89.9 percent happy about it–he’s always wanted a sister. But Ashley is 110 percent horrified. She already has to hide the real reason her dad moved out; “Spewart” could further threaten her position at the top of the social ladder. They’re complete opposites, but they have one thing in common: they—like everyone else—are made of molecules.

TheKidInTheRedJacketTHE KID IN THE RED JACKET by Barbara Park (Random House 1988) Can Howard SURVIVE life without friends? Howard Jeeter’s parents have ruined his life. They’ve moved him across the country, and all the kids in his new town act like he’s totally invisible. At least, all of them except for his six-year-old neighbor, Molly Vera Thompson. Howard could use a friend. But a little girl who talks nonstop? Not what he had in mind. Still, when you’re really lonely, you’ll be friends with anyone…right?

 

NewBoy

NEW BOY by Nick Earls (Puffin 2015) Adjusting to a new country and a new school was never going to be easy for Herschelle. The food is strange, it’s so different to South Africa and, worst of all, no one understands the Aussie slang he’s learnt on the web. But it’s the similarities that make things really hard. Herschelle will have to confront racism, bullying and his own past before Australia can feel like home…

 

 

EllieMcDoodle

ELLIE MCDOODLE NEW KID IN SCHOOL by Ruth McNally Barshaw (Bloomsbury 2009) When Ellie’s family moves to a new town, she’s sure she won’t fit in. Nobody else likes to read as much as she does, and even the teachers can’t get her name right. But when the students need someone to help them rally against unfair lunch lines, it’s Ellie to the rescue―and if shorter lines and better food prevail, can friendship be far behind?

 

 

WonderWONDER by R.J. Palacio (Knopf 2012) August (Auggie) Pullman was born with a facial deformity that prevented him from going to a mainstream school―until now. He’s about to enter fifth grade at Beecher Prep, and if you’ve ever been the new kid, then you know how hard that can be. The thing is Auggie’s just an ordinary kid, with an extraordinary face. But can he convince his new classmates that he’s just like them, despite appearances?

R. J. Palacio has crafted an uplifting novel full of wonderfully realistic family interactions, lively school scenes, and writing that shines with spare emotional power.

What other books can you recommend to help kids ease into the daunting world of a new school?

Louise Galveston is the author of BY THE GRACE OF TODD and IN TODD WE TRUST (Razorbill). 

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It’s a Book Birthday for Rosanne Parry and The Turn of the Tide!

By on January 12, 2016   /   Author Interviews, Book Lists, Fiction, For Kids, For Librarians, For Parents, For Teachers, MUF Contributor Books  

We’re very excited to celebrate our own Rosanne Parry’s book birthday today, with the release of her latest middle grade novel from Random House, The Turn of the Tide.

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I was thrilled to get to read this book, and to interview Rosanne for today’s post.

MUF: Rosanne, I loved this book – as a reader, as a writer of middle grade work, as a sailor and as a lover of history. I can’t wait to share it!

R: Wow! Thank you so much. That means a lot coming from a fellow sailor in particular. I found the sailing sections tricky to write. I knew the action I wanted to convey and knew I had to write it in the sort of nautical language a kid who grew up sailing would use. But I bet most of my readers have never sailed and some of them will have never seen a sail boat in action so the trick was to make it accessible to a non-sailor without losing the fun nautical language or the pace of the action. I revised those sailing sections a zillion times.

MUF: Your descriptive language is so evocative of place that the reader is transported to the very scene of the action. I was there in the hills with Kai in Japan. I stood in front of the Coast Guard exhibit at the Maritime Museum (which is in reality my own favorite exhibits there), and felt the tug of the current as Jet sailed her dinghy through the bay. How do you go about researching to create such a sense of place in these realistic scenes?

R: I do love research and I worked on this book over several years so part of it was just making multiple trips to Astoria to visit the museum and browse in the comics shop and sample the milkshakes at Custard King and go to the Scandinavian Festival in the summer. My son and I took a memorable canoe trip on the Columbia right at the starting point of the race. I wanted to see what it felt like to be in among the river islands but I didn’t want to be at the mercy of the wind. We were coming up to the mouth of the John Day River and the tide was coming in so the current of the John Day pushed us up stream and we were not strong enough to paddle against it. Very unnerving. We had to paddle across the current to get back in to the main flow of the Columbia. I’d read about how these currents worked and studied the nautical chart but it was really helpful to be out there actually feeling the strength of the tide acting on the junction of the two rivers.

On the other hand there were places I could not go. Unfortunately I was not able to travel to Japan. But my brother has gone there for work regularly for more than 20 years. Two members of my critique group have lived in Japan. One of them worked in the Ehime prefecture and camped in the area around Ikata. They were very helpful. I had a long interesting conversation one afternoon with a gardener from the Portland Japanese Garden, which is known to be one of the most botanically authentic in North America. The gardener helped me think through what plants would be very familiar to Kai here in Oregon and which ones would be new. One of the tricks to writing good setting is writing, not about what is actually there, but about what, of all the things present in your setting, your character notices and why does he notice it. Writing in two points of view was tricky in some ways, but having two very different perceptions of the same place was interesting and fun.

MUF: When you shared the images for this interview, you included this one of the compass. You called it a character in the book. I love that! Can you tell us more about this particular compass, and how it might have inspired your story?

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R: The compass in the picture belonged to my grandfather. He was a hunter and an accomplished woodsman. He used this compass until he gave up deer hunting at the age of 75. (He continued to hunt ducks until he was 84). It’s an army corps of engineers compass and he told me he got it from a friend after the First World War. It’s still in working order and I carried it around in my pocket quite a bit as I was writing. I thought about what the various heirlooms of my family mean to me now, and what they meant when I was twelve.

It was also a good reminder to think about the moral compass by which my characters were navigating their lives. I think of both Kai and Jet as very honorable young people, but they come to their honor through very different cultural lenses. So I’d watch the compass needle swing into place and think about what forces were tugging at my characters—pride and shame, sorrow and kinship, loyalty and competitiveness. It made me reflect about my own motivations too. There are more sensible ways to make a living than this. What is it about literature that continues to tug me in the direction of writing it?

MUF: I already asked about the research you did in order to describe setting so well. Can you share a bit about how you conduct your historical research?

R: I do read quite a bit, sometimes reading things that are quite tangential to the book. Treasure Island for example. I spent a long afternoon reading various nautical poems and found a poem translated from the Japanese which says a lot about Japanese culture and values. It’s called Be Not Defeated by the Rain by Kenji Miyazawa. Here’s a link to the poem. 

Interestingly, when I was discussing the book with my daughter’s Japanese teacher (who very kindly checked all the Japanese words for me and commented on the cultural matters) she said that since the Sendai earthquake, many in Japan are rethinking the cultural value of stoicism that the poem promotes. There is a feeling that the expectation that people suppress their grief and horror is unkind and even unhealthy. An interesting perspective and not one I’d be likely to find by reading alone.

Fellow writers are often great about sharing a research resource. James Kennedy, of 90 Second Newbery fame, introduced me to someone who has made a long study of Japanese ghost stories. He helped me understand Kai’s fears in better context. For example, in Western tradition monsters reside in the depths of the ocean and the darkest, innermost parts of the forest. But in Japan, the “haunted space” is on the margins—at the edge of the jungle, on the surface of the water. So interesting. And again a nuance I might miss if I just relied on reading.

MUF: Here’s one last question for you: What’s a middle grade read that has stuck with you lately?

R: I’ve been working on a new book narrated by a wolf. It’s been great fun, so I’ve read a bunch of wolf stories old and new. There’s one by Avi and one by Tor Seidler this year. But the one that really captivated me was The Wolf Wilder by Katherine Rundell. It’s the story of a girl in the waning days of imperial Russia who works as a wolf wilder, a person who takes the pet wolves of the aristocracy and makes them able to live in the wild again. She runs afoul of a corrupt army officer and sparks a child-led revolution. It’s the sort of book twelve year old me would have adored.

MUF: Another book I can’t wait to read now! Thanks for sharing with us Rosanne, and best of luck with The Turn of the Tide!

 

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You can visit Rosanne’s website  to find out more about her books., as well as her Pinterest page for The Turn of the Tide.

 

In fourth grade, Valerie Stein touched an ancient artifact from an archaeological dig. Though she never got to travel the world in search of buried treasure, she ended up journeying to new and exciting places between the pages of books. Now she spends her time researching history, in museums and libraries, which is like archaeology but without the dirt. Valerie’s book, THE BEST OF IT: A JOURNAL OF LIFE, LOVE AND DYING, was published in 2009. Both her current work and an upcoming middle grade series are historical fiction set in Washington State. Valerie is proprietor of Homeostasis Press,blogs at The Best of It, and manages Gather Here, an online history site for middle grade readers and teachers.

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Sky Jumpers! (Author interview and a giveaway!)

By on September 9, 2013   /   Author Interviews, Giveaways  

sky jumpers

Who doesn’t love a series? Peggy Eddleman’s Sky Jumpers plunges you right from the first page into a post World War III world where things have gone both wrong—and right—since the release of green bombs. There’s enough drama to keep the pages turning and this new series going. Book one releases from Random House on September 24—add a comment below to win a copy!

As the jacket blurb says, it’s the story about twelve-year-old Hope, who lives in White Rock, a town struggling to recover from the green bombs of World War III. The bombs destroyed almost everything that came before, so the skill that matters most is the ability to invent so that the world can regain some of what it’s lost. But Hope is terrible at inventing and would much rather sneak off to cliff dive into the Bomb’s Breath—the deadly band of air that covers the crater the town lives in—than fail at yet another invention. When bandits discover that White Rock has invented priceless antibiotics, they invade. The town must choose whether to hand over the medicine and die from disease in the coming months or to die fighting the bandits now. Hope and her friends, Aaren and Brock, might be the only ones who can escape through the Bomb’s Breath and make the dangerous trek over the snow-covered mountain to get help. Inventing won’t help them, but the daring and risk-taking that usually gets Hope into trouble might just save them all.

Peggy Eddleman authorPeggy Eddleman, who lives at the foot of the Rocky Mountains in Utah with her husband and their three kids, took some time to answer a few questions via email:

Mixed-Up Files: Sky Jumpers is post apocalyptic, but yet it’s more hopeful than some of the other books out there. Can you talk about that?

Peggy Eddleman: This came from two things: First, to me, if the world came close to ending and only pockets of people remained, one of those pockets would emerge to be very similar to White Rock. Mankind has an amazing ability to survive and fight to carry on and move forward. When devastating things happen, we emerge stronger. We stick together and we work together to make a life that’s worth living. We, as humans, have a lot of hope in us.

Second, I don’t believe that middle grade kids are as big of fans of dystopia. I think that dystopian conflicts in books work really well for teens—they are at a time in their life where they feel like they are constantly fighting against authority figures to move from childhood to adulthood, so conflicts with an uberly-controlling government are right up their alley. But middle grade kids have their whole lives ahead of them—the whole world ahead of them—and they want to know that the world is going to be one worth living in. That no matter what crazy things happen, they are going to flourish living there.

MUF: Hope struggles to be an inventor like everyone else, since inventions are so important to the survival of the community. How did you get your ideas for the inventions?

PE: The idea for Hope came first—I wanted a character who couldn’t do the one thing that mattered most. So then I asked what mattered most in White Rock? When the answer of inventions came to mind, it felt natural and right. When most of everything we had was destroyed, and there are people alive still who remember what things used to be like, of course inventing would be important. It’s what got us to the point we are at today, and it’s what will get White Rock back to that point in the future.

MUF: One of the other things I love about this book is the strong emphasis on family. Everyone sticks together. Was that important to you?

PE: Very. My husband and my kids mean the world to me, as do my parents and siblings and their families. I think strong families can make an incredible difference in the lives of children, and I wish every kid could experience that. When they can’t experience it in real life, I think they should get the chance to experience it in books.

MUF: Have you ever jumped off a cliff?

PE: Yes. 🙂 But into water, not into the Bomb’s Breath. I think a more close representation to jumping into the Bomb’s Breath would be paragliding, which, sadly, I’ve never gotten the chance to do. But I do take every opportunity to jump into water that I can. And no—you’d never catch me jumping out of a perfectly good airplane. As fun and fascinating as that sounds, the part of my brain that controls my will to live speaks louder than the part that wants to experience that.

Like to win a free copy? Post a comment below by midnight September 24 to be entered in the drawing. The winner will be announced on Thursday, September 26.

 

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