Happy New Year, friends! I hope you’re finding moments of peace and joy even amid all that our first weeks of 2026 have brought. My go-to strategy for taking care of my mental health in times like this is walking in nature, always. In case you haven’t been able to get out lately, I’m sharing a photo from a recent birding hike in the Eastern Everglades.
Our graphic novel CAMP MONSTER comes out in just a few weeks! This is my very first graphic novel, illustrated by Falynn Koch. I love it so much, and I hope you’ll consider pre-ordering your copy from your favorite local bookstore. If you do that – and you’re one of the first 500 people to send Bloomsbury your receipt – you’ll get a free CAMP MONSTER baseball cap as a pre-order gift! The hat is seriously cute, so you’ll want to jump on this offer to make sure you’re one of the first 500 orders!
The book comes out February 3rd (hats will ship a little later) so it would make a pretty sweet Valentine’s Day gift for your favorite little monster.
Even if you can’t pre-order right away and aren’t one of the first 500 to send in your receipt to get a cap – if you order before February 3rd, you’ll get a limited edition CAMP MONSTER sticker sheet, which is also pretty great. Here’s all the info and a link to preorder now.
If you haven’t already signed up for my January virtual author visit, don’t worry – there’s still space for your readers to join us! I’ll be Zooming with readers at 1pm EST on January 29th to offer a peek behind the scenes at my upcoming graphic novel CAMP MONSTER, illustrated by Falynn Koch. Falynn will join us on video to share a look at her illustration process as well, and I’ll also lead kids in a mini writing workshop to create their own characters for Camp Monster. We’ll wrap up with live Q&A. It’s going to be so much fun! There will be ASL interpreting provided, as well as a recording, which all registrants will get via email 24 hours after the webinar ends. Here’s how to sign up!
In other news…
OVER AND UNDER THE CORAL REEF is a finalist for the SCBWI Golden Kite Award for Picture Book Nonfiction – AND it’s been named to the 2026 Texas Topaz reading list! This is book eight in our nature series that launched with OVER AND UNDER THE SNOW fifteen years ago. As soon as I sent that first Over & Under book to my agent, she warned me that it was a quiet story – loud, flashy picture books were popular at the time – but she believed in it. My editor at Chronicle Books believed, too. And then so did all of you. So many readers have shared this series over the years, and I’m beyond grateful. So thank you.
I’m headed to Nashville for a school visit this week and from there, I’ll be off to New York for the Society of Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators Conference. I’m leading a craft workshop called Nonfiction Glow Up, and I couldn’t be more excited to work with writers! We’re going to look at some of the most amazing recent informational picture books and what makes them work. Every time I teach a workshop like this, I learn so much from my colleagues’ books as I’m preparing. We’re going to have a great conversation, and I hope to see some of you there!
That’s all for today. I hope you have a wonderful rest of January. Take care of yourself, and I hope to see you and your readers at our virtual author visit on the 29th!
It’s almost time for another amazing World Read Aloud Day! It’s an annual celebration of sharing stories from the amazing folks at LitWorld. This year’s World Read Aloud Day will be Wednesday, February 4, 2025!
If you’re new to this page, I’m Kate Messner, author of more than seventy books for kids. I’m also a former middle school teacher and a forever reader. Each winter, I help out with World Read Aloud Day by pulling together a list of author & illustrator volunteers who have volunteered to spend part of the day doing quick virtual read-aloud visits with classrooms around the world to share the joy of stories.
This February, I’ll be on book tour for my new graphic novel CAMP MONSTER, illustrated by Falynn Koch, so I won’t be available for live Zoom visits, but I hope you’ll have fun reading this one aloud to your classes. (Have fun with all the monster voices!) The first in a planned trilogy, it’s about what happens when a family-run summer camp for Yetis opens its door to ALL different kinds of monsters, with hilarious and chaotic results. You can pre-order a copy for your classroom or library now!
I’ll also be gearing up for the release of two new picture books! THE WHALE’S TALE AND THE OTTER’S SIDE OF THE STORY: A BOOK TO READ FROM FRONT TO BACK AND BACK TO FRONT is illustrated by Brian Biggs and comes out in April. (And yes, it makes sense both ways! From front to back, it’s the whale’s point of view, and from back to front, it’s the otter’s!) This one’s also available for pre-order now, and will make a great spring read-aloud for your kids!
And AXOLOTL-ELLA (cover reveal coming soon!) is a reimagining of the Cinderella fairy tale…but with axolotls. Illustrated by Lian Cho, I promise you, it’s just as delightfully weird as it sounds. Pre-order this one to read aloud this spring – it just may inspire some fractured fairy tale writing, too!
VIDEOS FOR WORLD READ ALOUD DAY
Even though I’ll be traveling for this year’s World Read Aloud Day, I’ll still be celebrating ! I’m offering virtual read-alouds from several of my new & upcoming books! These will be available through the school year, so feel free to save them for World Read Aloud Day or use them as a First Chapter Friday any time!
A first-chapters read-aloud of WILDLIFE RESCUE: HOW TO SAVE AN OTTER, illustrated by Jen Bricking. Perfect for readers who LOVE animals,this is the first in our new early chapter book series about Ivy and Ezra, who work with their family to rescue injured and abandoned wildlife.
For readers in grades 4-8
A first chapters read-aloud from THE TROUBLE WITH HEROES, about a seventh grader who vandalizes a cemetery and finds himself sentenced to high all 46 Adirondack High Peaks in a single summer, with the world’s drooliest, smelliest Bernese mountain dog at his side.
And of course, there’s also an AMAZING list of authors and illustrators who have volunteered to Zoom into classrooms for World Read Aloud Day this year!
AUTHOR VOLUNTEERS FOR WORLD READ ALOUD DAY
WORLD READ ALOUD DAY IS FEBRUARY 4, 2026!
The authors & illustrators listed have volunteered their time to read aloud to classrooms and libraries all over the world. These aren’t long, fancy presentations; a typical one might go like this:
1-2 minutes: Author introduces himself or herself and talks a little about his or her books.
3-5 minutes: Author reads aloud a short picture book, or a short excerpt from a chapter book/novel
5-10 minutes: Author answers a few questions from students about reading/writing
1-2 minutes: Author book-talks a couple books he or she loves (but didn’t write!) as recommendations for the kids
If you’re a teacher or librarian and you’d like to have an author Zoom with your classroom or library on World Read Aloud Day, here’s how to do it:
Contact the author directly by using the email provided or clicking on the link to his or her website and finding the contact form. Please be sure to provide the following information in your request:
Your name and what grade(s) you work with
Your city and time zone (this is important for scheduling!)
Possible times to connect on February 4th. Please note authors’ availability and time zones. Adjust accordingly if yours is different!
A phone number where you can be reached on that day in case of technical issues
Please understand that authors are people, too, and have schedules and personal lives, just like you, so not all authors will be available at all times. It may take a few tries before you find someone whose books and schedule fit with yours!
If you’re lucky enough to book an author to visit for World Read Aloud Day, please honor that commitment. In years past, unfortunately, we’ve had some educators and librarians cancel when they found a different author, and that’s awfully demoralizing for folks who are volunteering their time. Please only schedule visit dates that you’re excited about keeping!
Authors: Once your schedule is full, please send a quick email via my website contact form, and I’ll remove your name from the list. Please note that due to deadlines and other obligations, it may take up to a week for me to update.
The stories we share aloud bring us together and inspire readers, so why not plan a whole day to celebrate? LitWorld’s fantastic World Read Aloud Day is scheduled for February 4, 2026!
Traditionally, authors and illustrators around the world have Zoomed into classrooms & libraries for short read-alouds. Since the beginning, I’ve helped out by compiling a list of author and illustrator volunteers so teachers & librarians can connect with them to schedule virtual read-aloud sessions on that day.
Authors & Illustrators: Are you a traditionally published* author or illustrator who would like to be listed as a WRAD virtual read-aloud volunteer? Please read the information & follow the directions below…
WRAD VISITS AREN’T LONG OR FANCY PRESENTATIONS. USUALLY, THEY LAST 10-15 MINUTES AND GO SOMETHING LIKE THIS:
1-2 minutes: Author gives a quick introduction & talks a little about their books.
3-5 minutes: Author reads aloud a short picture book, or a short excerpt from a chapter book/novel
5-10 minutes: Author answers a few questions from students about reading/writing
1-2 minutes: Author book-talks a couple books they love (but didn’t write!) as recommendations for the kids
When October rolls around, I see a steep sales spike for History Smashers: Salem Witch Trials, the ninth book in our popular myth-busting series. The cover gives off some serious Halloween energy, which probably has a lot to do with that, and this book definitely offers some delightfully gross and creepy stories to go along with it.
Think your neighbor might be a witch? Have you tried feeding your dog a cake baked with the suspected sorceress’s urine? Believe it or not, that was one of the strategies of early witch hunters! Along with the wild stories, this installment of the History Smashers series offers up a healthy dose of more serious history, touching on colonization, Puritanism, America’s judicial system, separation of church and state, and more. And bonus: If you’re reading this one with kids this fall, don’t miss the History Smashers virtual author visit scheduled for October 7th!
Here are seven more great-for-Halloween-season books that offer great STEM and History content along with the scares!
History Smashers: Ancient Egypt – With a screaming mummy on the cover, this latest installment in the series comes out October 7th and is another easy sell for the Halloween season. Inside, readers will learn the history of Egypt’s kings, pyramids, and gods (including one that threatens to eat your heart if you’re not a good enough person!) and decide for themselves if the curse of King Tut’s mummy is real.
Spooky Lakes: 25 Strange and Mysterious Lakes that Dot Our Planet by Geo Rutherford – This book’s terrifically creepy cover features jellyfish, skulls, and…is that a disembodied hand sticking up from the seaweed? Spooky Lakes introduces readers to 25 lakes around the world whose scary claims to fame include creating lightning storms and mummifying any creature that touches the water.
When Plants Attack by Rebecca E. Hirsch – Venus flytraps might not be the usual stuff of nightmares, but the one on the cover of this book about strange and terrifying plants looks ominous enough to inspire a bad dream or two. (The insect legs sticking out of it do a lot to help with that bad-plant image!) Inside, readers will learn about everything from ravaging invasives to “vampire vines.”
Poison: Deadly Deeds, Perilous Professions, and Murderous Medicine by Sarah Albee – Hello, creepy skeleton on the cover! Don’t let the comic font fool you; this book is packed with history and science, along with the poisonous thrills. It chronicles the role that poison has played in the past, from the days of Socrates and Alexander the Great to more modern toxins.
The Haunted States of America – This anthology created by SCBWI features fifty two creepy legends, monsters, and ghosts from all fifty states, plus Washington, D.C. and Puerto Rico. The Crafted by fifty-two different authors, including Padma Venkatraman, Ellen Hopkins, Freeman Ng, and K.E. Lewis, these scary stories star everything from the Jersey Devil to La Llorona and will have readers up reading under the covers long after dark.
Death Eaters: Meet Nature’s Scavengers by Kelly Milner Halls has a great title and a genuinely creepy vulture on the cover to draw kids in. Once they start reading, they’ll discover how essential scavengers are to our planet’s ecosystem. Gross and fascinating!
I absolutely LOVE in-person author visits and have traveled to spend time with readers all over the world. But I understand that not all schools can afford to fly authors in for a visit.
That’s why each season, I set aside a few days for very low-cost virtual author visits for schools, libraries, and homeschoolers who may not have the budgets for an in-person visit.
My Fall 2025 virtual author visit dates are September 15th and October 7th. I so hope you and your readers will join us for these engaging, interactive events! Here are all the details:
Cost: $15 for each 40-minute virtual author visit includes live access for one device and a recording, available for 2 weeks after the event. ASL interpreting will be provided.
For Grades K-5
Over and Under: Reading & Writing Science Picture Books – Award-winning author Kate Messner will share the research and writing process behind her popular Over and Under nature picture book series, including the newest book, OVER AND UNDER THE CORAL REEF. She’ll also offer a sneak preview of upcoming Over & Under books and answer reader questions.
Not So Scary Stories – Award-winning author Kate Messner will share a read-aloud of THE SCARIEST KITTEN IN THE WORLD, give a sneak-preview of upcoming picture books (spoiler: there are whales, otters, and axolotls involved!) and answer reader questions.
The Trouble with Heroes – Kate will share the research, writing, and revision process behind her New York Times bestselling novel in verse THE TROUBLE WITH HEROES, including an interactive read aloud excerpt, and answer reader questions.
History Smashers – Kate will share behind-the-series secrets from her popular HISTORY SMASHERS graphic nonfiction books, which smash common myths about history. She’ll also challenge readers to a quick interactive history trivia quiz and answer questions.
Yes! We’ll have live ASL interpreting, which will be available on the recorded version as well.
Will there be Q&A?
Yes! At least 15 minutes of each webinar will be reserved for Q&A. That may not be enough to answer every last question, but Kate will respond to as many as possible.
How many students are allowed to attend with each registration?
Each registration is good for live webinar attendance on one device. The number of students attending is up to you. You can choose to purchase a registration for each individual classroom or stream the webinar on just one device and have 500 students watch together in an auditorium.
Will the webinar be recorded?
Yes! The recording will be available to all registrants after the event and will remain available through the school year. About 24 hours after the webinar ends, you will get an email with the link for the recording.
What if we sign up for the webinar but then can’t attend live? Can we get a refund?
Unfortunately, no. Because of the very low cost of these virtual author visits, we’re not able to process refunds unless you cancel before the day of the event. There will be NO REFUNDS after that. However, if you can’t to attend live, you’ll still be able to watch the recorded version!
Can we pay with a check/purchase order/etc. or do we have to use the Zoom link with Paypal?
The only way to register is to pay via Zoom/Paypal. (Paypal allows for the use of a credit card, though) The streamlined nature of this is what allows me to keep the cost so low, and that’s my priority for schools this fall.
Hi, Kate. I love that we both have verse novels coming out this spring with main characters learning about themselves via the natural world. Could you tell me a bit about The Trouble with Heroes? Would you describe it as a survival story or…?
It’s definitely a survival story – and in more than one sense of the word for the main character, Finn. On the verge of failing seventh grade, he gets caught vandalizing a cemetery. The headstone he kicked over belonged to one of the first women to hike all 46 Adirondack High Peaks, and her daughter makes Finn an offer. She’ll drop all the charges if he climbs all 46 mountains in a single summer. Also? He has to bring her mother’s drooly Bernese mountain dog, Seymour, along on every climb.
Oh my gosh. Bernese mountain dogs are the cutest. And I’m getting Peak vibes from this description. Remember that Roland Smith book? Loved it. So did my students way back when.
These mountains are rugged and remote, and the climbs involve everything from knee-deep mud to near-vertical rock climbs, so Finn has his work cut out for him. But his emotional journey may be an even greater struggle, as he begins to face the loss of his dad two years earlier and the legacy he left behind.
What about your new book? The cover immediately caught my attention because my oldest lives in California, so we’re constantly watching the wildfires.
The Burning Season is about a girl named Opal who has been raised in a fire tower in New Mexico’s Gila Wilderness. She will one day be the fourth-generation woman in her family to serve as a lookout in the tower, and as part of her family’s tradition, she has started her training on her twelfth birthday. Opal is proud of her family’s legacy and work, but she longs to go to school in town and she’s keeping a secret: she’s afraid of fire. When her mom goes to town on a supply run and her gran goes missing, Opal is the only one left in the tower. Then she sees smoke in the distance. With the tower’s radio dead, Opal realizes she’s the one who will have to face the fire, and she’ll have to do it alone.
Like Finn, Opal has lost her dad. He died fighting a wildfire before she was born.
You’re a hiker, right? Is that how you came to this story?
One of the first questions readers ask about this book is “So have you climbed all 46 of those mountains?” And the answer is yes! But I didn’t climb them all in a single summer like Finn has to; it took me eight years to summit them all. I’d like to tell you that I loved every minute, but honestly, there were times out there when I’d be standing in knee-deep mud wondering, like Finn, why people climb mountains on purpose. The mountains become a part of you, though, and they call you back. And Finn learns along the way that his dad has a connection to those mountains, too. That becomes important to him. It’s fascinating to me that both of our characters live in the shadow of hero dads. (Finn’s father was a 9/11 firefighter who died later, during the COVID-19 pandemic.) What was the inspiration for Opal’s story?
First, I’ve wanted to write about my beloved home, New Mexico, for ages. And I wanted to write a “girl in a tower” story. I wasn’t sure exactly what that meant at the time I first thought of it, but I love working with limitations (a limited setting in this example). I thought perhaps my tower would be a lighthouse, but there have been a fair number of lighthouse books. Then I saw in Sunset magazine a picture of a fire tower that had been converted into a home and realized that was it! That was my tower. There are a number of fire towers still in service across the state (as there are in many Rocky Mountain regions). So there was my New Mexico connection. And wildfire is a huge, never-going-away issue we deal with here and in many places across the country. The idea felt relevant and important.
At the same time I knew I wanted to explore the ideas of solitude, nature, and survival as I had with my first verse novel, May B. (which is also a book with a limited setting). In a lot of ways I see The Burning Season as May B. 2.0. I never say it in the story, but I picture Opal as May’s great-great-great granddaughter. There are some fun parallels between the girls and some Easter eggs for astute readers to find. Opal’s Great Aunt Dor (her gran’s great aunt, actually), was modeled after Hallie Dagget, the first woman to serve in a fire tower for the US Forest Service in 1913.
Are Finn and Seymour out there alone? How does this time on the mountains help Finn see himself and his world?
We have fire towers in the Adirondacks, too! Sometimes they’re open during the summer and fall, so you can climb up after you summit for an even higher view of the surrounding peaks. There, though, wildfires are rare enough that we sometimes forget what the towers are really for.
Finn doesn’t do any fire tower hikes, but he does summit a whole lot of mountains and has more than the dog for company. Obviously, no one’s going to sentence a rising eighth grader to climb 46 mountains alone, so volunteer 46ers go along with him on each hike. They’re people who have already climbed the 46 High Peaks and are there in case anything goes wrong (though they’re under strict orders to let him figure things out himself!) These “trail nannies,” as Finn calls them, become unexpected mentors for him, each opening his eyes to something he doesn’t realize he needs in order to heal.
I love how timely both of our novels are, in different ways. What do you hope readers will take away from The Burning Season?
While Opal’s situation is unique, I think fear is a very real part of being a person. Learning to talk about it is the first step in lessening the power it can have on us. I’d also like readers to see the complex nature of fire and its role in the world. Fire can destroy but it can also heal. They’re necessary for forest growth and renewal.
And what do you hope readers take from The Trouble with Heroes?
I hope they’ll understand that they’re not alone. I’ve realized that this is actually the underlying theme of so much of what I write. At the beginning of this novel, Finn feels pretty isolated, and there’s a scene later on where he’s blown away by how many people show up for him, again and again, no matter how many times he screws up. I think you may know that I used to be a middle school English teacher, and I taught so many kids like this, boys especially. Kids who had kind of given up on themselves, and they were always surprised when you hadn’t given up on them, too. I loved those kids, and I hope a lot of them find this book.
I used to teach middle school, too. I adored my students – and I love readers this age. They are curious, open-minded, and fun.
Thanks so much for the conversation, Caroline. I can’t wait to read Opal’s story!
Hello, friends! Are you ready for World Read Aloud Day? It’s an annual celebration of sharing stories from the amazing folks at LitWorld and Scholastic. This year’s World Read Aloud Day will be February 5, 2025!
If you’re new to this page, I’m Kate Messner, author of more than sixty books for kids. I’m also a former middle school teacher and a forever reader. Each winter, I help out with LitWorld’s World Read Aloud Day by pulling together a list of author & illustrator volunteers who would like to spend part of the day doing quick virtual read-aloud visits with classrooms around the world to share the joy of stories.
To celebrate World Read Aloud Day, I’m be offering virtual read-alouds from several of my new & upcoming books! These will be available through the month of February.
For grades 4-8 – A sneak preview read-aloud of two books that come out this spring! Click below to be the first to hear excerpts from HISTORY SMASHERS: EARTH DAY AND THE ENVIRONMENT and THE TROUBLE WITH HEROES.
For grades K-3 – An interactive read-aloud of THE SCARIEST KITTEN IN THE WORLD, illustrated by MacKenzie Haley. (This one is out in hardcover now, with a new board book edition coming in July!)
This virtual Author-in-Residence program includes:
• A pdf of the first 40-ish pages of The Trouble with Heroes to share with students • The Trouble with Heroes teaching & discussion guide • FOUR on-demand virtual poetry workshops (about 10-15 minutes each), all available through June 30 • An invitation to a live Zoom Author Visit Q&A session with me in late April • A link for families to order personalized, signed copies (delivered to your school in early May)
And of course, there’s also an AMAZING list of authors and illustrators who have volunteered to Zoom into classrooms for World Read Aloud Day this year!
WORLD READ ALOUD DAY IS FEBRUARY 5, 2025!
The authors & illustrators listed have volunteered their time to read aloud to classrooms and libraries all over the world. These aren’t long, fancy presentations; a typical one might go like this:
1-2 minutes: Author introduces himself or herself and talks a little about his or her books.
3-5 minutes: Author reads aloud a short picture book, or a short excerpt from a chapter book/novel
5-10 minutes: Author answers a few questions from students about reading/writing
1-2 minutes: Author book-talks a couple books he or she loves (but didn’t write!) as recommendations for the kids
If you’re a teacher or librarian and you’d like to have an author Zoom with your classroom or library on World Read Aloud Day, here’s how to do it:
Contact the author directly by using the email provided or clicking on the link to his or her website and finding the contact form. Please be sure to provide the following information in your request:
Your name and what grade(s) you work with
Your city and time zone (this is important for scheduling!)
Possible times to connect on February 5th. Please note authors’ availability and time zones. Adjust accordingly if yours is different!
Your preferred platform (Zoom, Google Meet, etc.)
A phone number where you can be reached on that day in case of technical issues
Please understand that authors are people, too, and have schedules and personal lives, just like you, so not all authors will be available at all times. It may take a few tries before you find someone whose books and schedule fit with yours!
If you’re lucky enough to book an author to visit for World Read Aloud Day, please honor that commitment. In years past, unfortunately, we’ve had some educators and librarians cancel when they found a different author, and that’s awfully demoralizing for folks who are volunteering their time. Please only schedule visit dates that you’re excited about keeping!
Authors: Once your schedule is full, please send an email via my website contact form, and I’ll remove your name from the list. Please note that due to deadlines and other obligations, it may take up to a week for me to update.
A pdf of the first 40ish pages of The Trouble with Heroes to share with students
The Trouble with Heroes teaching & discussion guide
Four on-demand virtual poetry workshops (10-15 minutes each), all available through June 30.
An invitation to a live Zoom Q&A session with me in late April
A link for families to order personalized, signed copies (delivered to your school in May)
Bloomsbury is also offering a truly unique pre-order gift for anyone who pre-orders THE TROUBLE WITH HEROES from any bookstore – a poetry notebook loaded with writing prompts to try out!
Bestselling and award-winning author Kate Messner takes readers on a heart-filling journey as a boy finds his path to healing.
One summer. 46 mountain peaks. A second chance to make things right.
Finn Connelly is nothing like his dad, a star athlete and firefighter hero who always ran toward danger until he died two years ago. Finn’s about to fail seventh grade and has never made headlines . . . until now.
Caught on camera vandalizing a cemetery, he’s in big trouble for kicking down some dead old lady’s headstone. But it turns out that grave belongs to a legendary local mountain climber, and her daughter makes Finn an unusual offer: climb all forty-six Adirondack High Peaks with her dead mother’s dog, and they can call it even.
In a wild three months of misadventures, mountain mud, and unexpected mentors, Finn begins to find his way on the trails. At the top of each peak, he can see for miles and slowly begins to understand more about himself and his dad. But the mountains don’t care about any of that, and as the clock ticks down to September, they have more surprises in store. Finn’s final summit challenge may be more than even a hero can face.
Early Praise for THE TROUBLE WITH HEROES…
Equal parts suspenseful adventure and heartrending emotion, this beautiful book will capture your heart.
~Jasmine Warga, #1 New York Times-bestselling author of A Rover’s Story and Other Words For Home
Take one drooling dog, add one pretty desperate kid, mix in mountains–a lot of mountains–sprinkle with unexpected cookie recipes and hardnosed quirkiness, and let rise. You’ll know it’s finished when the generosity and hope and truth of this novel run over. Let it.
~Gary Schmidt, bestselling author of Okay for Now and Orbiting Jupiter
Messner’s masterful storytelling is unique, timely, and enthralling in this novel-in-verse. THE TROUBLE WITH HEROES explores the heartbreak of grief and reminds us that the strongest heroes are the ones who are brave enough to admit when they are hurting. With astute intention and invention, each verse touches your soul and puts tears in your eyes—the kind of tears that comfort and heal.
~Renée Watson, #1 NYT bestselling and Newbery Honor author of Piecing Me Together and All the Blues in the Sky
The Trouble With Heroes is a compelling and deeply moving story of an angry boy who must conquer mountains both literal and metaphorical. As always, Kate Messner writes with an acute understanding of the emotional lives of today’s kids, and her respect for readers shines on every page. Messner is the Judy Blume of a new generation.
-Anne Ursu, Award-winning author of Not Quite a Ghost
You’d think a story about a young man who must climb 46 mountains in one summer would be a story of survival. This story, though, is about surviving and survivors. Pack your tissues and hold onto to your heart as Finn sweeps you into a tale that traverses the peaks and valleys of adolescence, of life, of grief, of growth. Through poetry, recipes, letters, texts, and more, Finn’s shrewd honesty and cut-to-the-bone humor creates a peak multi-modal experience for middle grade readers.
~K.A. Holt, Award winning author of House Arrest
Kate Messner, master of so many different kinds of stories, has delivered a masterpiece with The Trouble With Heroes. Part funny, part fascinating, and fully rooted in a deep emotional soul, readers of all kinds will be rooting for Finn Connelly with everything they’ve got.
~Ann Braden, Award-winning author of Flight of the Puffin
You don’t have to relish poetry to love Kate Messner’s The Trouble With Heroes, but if you do, you’re in for a special treat. This richly imagined story of grief and the great outdoors, of healing and transformation—and the reverberations of 9/11—is a layered tale, told in a refreshing variety of poetry that includes sonnets, haiku, found poems and free verse.
Messner gives us Finn, a character with attitude, swagger, and a smart mouth who also reveals emotional depth and vulnerability. Readers will not only laugh at and with him, but will undoubtedly root for him throughout. Creating a character of such complexity is something of a magic trick, and yet no wands were involved. Messner simply knows what she’s doing, and boy aren’t we glad!
Split this story like a log, and you’ll find concentric circles of metaphor and meaning on every page. There are passages that will gut you, and others that will leave you laughing out loud. The 46 Adirondack mountain peaks Finn begrudgingly ascends in this story, and the joy and healing he finds along the way—these are satisfying metaphors, indeed. Would I call The Trouble with Heroes a poem? Yes. Yes, I think I would.
~Nikki Grimes, award-winning author of Garvey’s Choice
Verse is the perfect format for Finn’s journey through the Adirondack High Peaks in The Trouble with Heroes by Kate Messner. The pitch-perfect tween voice spills out of the poetry with raw authenticity. Any tween who’s ever lost someone, made bad choices, or felt unworthy of love will identify with Finn, forced to hike the peaks as reparation for vandalism. I couldn’t put this book down!
~Kip Wilson, award-winning author of White Rose
In poems filled with humor and heart, The Trouble with Heroes is a story about the healing power of place. Finn’s journey will speak to every kid who’s felt the weight of the world on their shoulders.
~Laura Shovan, award-winning author of Takedown
The Trouble with Heroes is a heartfelt, moving page-turner that tackles grief, loss, anger and redemption. Another Kate Messner triumph!
~Dan Gemeinhart, author of Coyote Sunrise
Magnificent and moving. The Trouble with Heroes is a triumph — as healing and inspiring as the view from a mountain peak. Finn’s voice and his story will stay with me for a long time. I can’t wait to put this in young readers’ hands.
-Julie Berry, NYT Bestselling Author of Lovely War, and owner. Author’s Note, a Bookstore
I just finished The Trouble with Heroes with tears in my eyes. Adirondackers will appreciate the history incorporated into this book, but folks who have never stepped foot in our mountains will still feel right at home. A beautiful story that I will be championing in our store.
~Sarah Galvin, The Bookstore Plus, Lake Placid, NY
The Trouble with Heroes brings readers up and down the Adirondack mountains with tenderness, toughness, humor, and heroics. Messner’s poetry allows heightened access to the emotional roller coaster Finn rides while battling the unexplained loss of his father as he attempts to climb every one of the 46 High Peaks … with a slobbering dog. Positively unputdownable- with one caveat: Readers may occasionally break to test the cookies Finn bakes after reaching each summit.
~Karen Armstrong, Children’s Librarian, Lake Placid Public Library
I’m not a hiker or a dog person, but THE TROUBLE WITH HEROES makes me feel like I could be! Readers will relish every step and delicious morsel of Finn and Seymour’s journey as they grapple with obstacles both physical and mental. Messner captures Finn’s inner monologue with wit, warmth, and just the right amount of snark. THE TROUBLE WITH HEROES is a testament to the power of showing up.
Messner’s The Trouble with Heroes opens your heart up, breaks it into pieces, and knits it back together again. Finn’s voice is clear and true as he struggles with unimaginable loss and how to get yourself back onto the path where you belong. Strap in, you are about to embark on a journey you won’t soon forget.
– Katherine Sokolowski, 7th grade teacher.
In true Messner fashion, Finn’s story will offer company to young people who are trying to make sense of life’s complexities. The Trouble with Heroes is an artfully crafted adventure that showcases the mountains as a place of self-discovery and healing.
~Melissa Guerrette, National Board Certified educator
I read The Trouble with Heroes as my very first read of the summer and I fear I have now set myself up for disappointment. A captivating, perfectly tuned middle grade read from cover to cover. Finn’s journey is complex, as our middle grade children are, and his transformation in the subtleties is perfection. You feel his grief pour off the pages while also searching for something else to cling onto. His frustration simmers and bakes, much like the cookies that not only separated him from his dad but also provide his family’s hope. A truly meaningful read, that will go down as one of my favorite reads and one that I wish I could physically thrust into the hands of as many readers as possible to say; find yourself in these pages, surely you can connect somehow, and then go explore to seek what else you didn’t even know you needed.
~Pernille Ripp, educator & creator of the Global Read Aloud
In THE TROUBLE WITH HEROES, Kate Messner reminds us that there is no such thing as a lost cause. Through lyrical verses which capture voice and emotion, the reader meets Finn, a 7th grader, who is off balance, lost, and full of grief following the COVID-19 pandemic and the loss of his father. He now faces a future that seems unpredictable, and the reader gets to join him as he treks through learning to truly live again, even though his life will never be the same.
~ Kellee Moye, middle school librarian & 2024 ALAN President
When a teacher reads a book as wonderful as The Trouble with Heroes do they:
A) Make a curriculum connection with poetry focusing on Haikus
B) Build a unit on resilience and determination or fitness and endurance
C) Create a cooking after school activity based on the recipes Finn creates
D) Start a Social Studies Exploration on the Adirondack High Peaks
My suggestion?
E)All of the above, but only after their students have devoured it for a toppingly unique story that will have them hooked from the first page.
~Kimbra Power, the Barefoot Librarian
The Trouble With Heroes represents an emotional journey as well as a physical one. A young teen, mourning the death of his father in the post-COVID era, is tasked with hiking all 46 Adirondack High Peaks during his summer vacation. This novel in verse reads like part journal, part school poetry project, and incorporates several other media such as text messages, documents, and articles. Full of humor and heart, the layered plot offers many entry points for engagement and connection. Highly recommended for any upper elementary or middle school library or classroom!
~Rebecca Sofferman, middle school librarian, Colchester, VT
This is a story that unboxes the spaces where heartbreak and loss are contained, walks us through the darkest cloud-shadowed valleys of grief, and guides us to the highest summits of hope and healing. Kate Messner’s natural poetic voice deftly navigates the complexities of grief — unfiltered pain and heart-aching beauty — not as an experience to be repaired, but an evolution that allows it to be both released and held, left behind and found. The truth just might be that transforming a relationship with grief takes moving through it — mud puddles, insect bites, fatigue, and all — to begin to heal. One step, one hand-hold, one unpredictable path at a time, and a community of those who have traveled there before to guide the way.
Hello, friends! How goes your writing this week? It’s hard to believe that we’re already in our final week of Teachers Write. Before we get started with today’s mini-lessons, I want to say thank you. I’m so grateful you chose to spend part of your summer writing with us, and I hope you’ll take that inspiration into your new school year.
And may I also take a moment to share some exciting news? THE NEXT SCIENTIST: THE UNEXPECTED BEGINNINGS AND UNWRITTEN FUTURE OF THE WORLD’S GREAT SCIENTISTS just got the most amazing starred review from School Library Journal!
Fascinating and captivating, Messner’s latest nonfiction book encourages elementary readers to keep digging, crafting, deconstructing, building, reading, and moving to find out more about themselves and the world around them…. The inclusion of names that are not often covered is a breath of fresh air. A first purchase for all libraries ~School Library Journal (Read the full review here.)
All this month, we’ve been sharing specific revision strategies that you can try out with your own writing and with your students. Some of you have written to let us know how much you appreciate having a checklist of revision jobs to offer young writers and to use with your own projects. But today, I want to talk with you about departing from that list and trying something new. Sometimes it’s not a matter of fine-tuning text; it’s a matter of going back the drawing board entirely. And that brings me back to The Next Scientist!
When I was working on this book, I knew I wanted to include a wide variety of scientists from all different fields and all different backgrounds, so that every curious reader would have a chance to see themselves in the book. It probably won’t surprise you to know that my first draft was way too long. There were so many amazing scientists! How was I supposed to trim this manuscript down to a reasonable length?
Sometimes, the best way to revise is to return to an earlier stage in the writing process – in this case, brainstorming and planning. So I wrote down all of my scientists on Post-It Notes. I tagged those notes with smaller colored stickers to indicate the field of science in which each person worked. Then I rearranged the scientists into spreads that would make sense for both the text and the illustrations.
Stepping back from my laptop and getting away from the rough draft allowed me to look at the book’s subject with fresh eyes, and to create a new shape for the text, keeping that balance of diverse scientists and discoveries even as I trimmed. That allowed for a book that was much more readable and gave our amazing illustrator Julia Kuo a much stronger draft to start with when it was time to work her magic. Here’s a sampling of how those rearranged page spreads look now.
This week’s Teachers Write guest author Amy Guglielmo went back to the drawing board, too, when the draft of her picture book LUCY! HOW LUCILLE BALL DID IT ALL needed work.
My co-author, Jacqueline Tourville, and I struggled to revise our most recent picture book biography LUCY! HOW LUCILLE BALL DID IT ALL. Our opening page felt wordy, setting a slow, heavy tone for the rest of the book.
How it started: Lucy loved to make people laugh. When Lucy was three, she hopped up on the counter of Mr. Newman’s general store and pretended that she was a frog. She stuck her tongue out to catch a make-believe fly. She puffed out her cheeks, crossed her eyes…and let out a great big Riiibbit!
We wanted the text to feel light and zippy, like a joke or a song. So, we decided to turn it on its head by trying it in rhyme.
Rhyming version: Back in the days when kids were calm and proper… A girl named Lucy put on shows for Newman’s shoppers. [At a grocery store]
A lady shook her head. “Good girls don’t yell out jokes!” But Lucy just laughed and let out a great big…CROAK!
While the book didn’t ultimately come out as a rhyming book, this process helped us find our flow, rhythm, and groove with the pacing and page turns. We made major edits that let the text sing!
Final text: Back in a time when children were told to be proper, calm, and quiet, a girl named Lucy hopped up on the counter of Mr. Newman’s general store, puffed out her cheeks, and let out a great big… Riiibbit!
Trying something different can open a pathway to perfect pacing!
