Category: Uncategorized

Friday Five (and one of them is a big one)

1.  I did two cartwheels in the hallway at school today.  It was part of a shameless bribe to get my 7th graders to hand in homework on time. It worked.  And I’ve been practicing, so it wasn’t too painful.

2.  If I read one more amazing MG novel this month, I’m going to have to quit the Cybils panel because I can’t possibly choose a short list.  My short list is a long list.

3. I’m talking to kids about history and writing and signing books at the Kent Delord House Museum Holiday Open House in Plattsburgh, NY this Saturday from 11-12.  If you live in the area, please stop by and say hello!

4.  After that, we’re going here to get our Christmas tree.  They have a wood stove and apples and warm cinnamon sugar donuts.  Yay!

I saved the big one for last. 

Before I became a teacher and children’s writer, I worked  for seven years as a tv news reporter and producer. 

In my old business, what I’m about to do  is called burying the lead, and it’s a no-no. 

Now it’s called building suspense, and it’s fine.

5. There’s a new book contract on my desk! 

North Country Books, which published Spitfire, has bought American rights to my new middle grade historical novel, Champlain & the Silent One.  It’s about a Montagnais Indian boy who guides Samuel de Champlain on his journey from Quebec to Lake Champlain to encounter the Iroquois.  It’s scheduled for release next fall, in anticipation of the Champlain Quadricentennial — the 400th anniversary of Champlain’s voyage to the lake outside my window.  I’m thankful and excited and very, very happy.

The Wild Girls

The Wild Girls is a book for writers.  It’s a book for girls who don’t always follow the rules and for girls who play with spotted newts.  As a girl who enjoys writing, newts, and occasional rule-breaking, I fell in love immediately.

 Pat Murphy tells the story of two girls — the rule-following Joan (aka Newt), who just moved to California from Connecticut and has always written the kinds of stories she thought her teacher would like, and Sarah (aka Fox), who hangs out throwing rocks in the woods near the run-down house where she lives with her dad, a motorcycle-writer-guy who doesn’t fit the image of any dad Joan has ever known. Fox and Newt form the kind of bond that can only be forged in secret clearings and treehouses, and together, they weather the storms of family trauma and trying (or not) to fit in among their peers.  More than anything, though, they learn about writing and about the power of story to help us see truth — especially when truth is different from the story that the grownups are dishing out.

Joan and Sarah call themselves the Wild Girls — thus the title — and through this new sense of self, they’re able to confront questions that always lurked in the shadows before.  This book reminds me of Clarissa Pinkola Estes’ Women Who Run with the Wolves: Myths and Stories of the Wild Woman Archetype.  Women Who Run With the Wolves is non-fiction aimed at adult readers, but the spirit of the two books feels the same.

There are so many fantastic moments in The Wild Girls.  My copy is riddled with Post-It notes marking my favorite passages.  One of them comes when Azalea, a colorful character Joan meets during a writing class on the Berkeley campus, offers her a chance to try walking on stilts.

I hesitated, thinking about it. “I don’t know. I’d probably fall.”

Azalea frowned fiercely, shaking her head.  “That is the wrong attitude.  That’s a Failure of the Imagination.”  When she said that, I heard it in capital letters.  By her tone, I knew that a Failure of the Imagination was a terrible and contemptible thing.  “All it takes to walk on stilts is imagination. If you believe that you can walk on stilts, then you can.”  She looked at me.  “What do you think?”

What do I think?  I think I after reading this book, I could walk on stilts…or finish my WIP…or jump across a stream…or…or….just about anything.  It’s empowering in that way, and that makes it a perfect choice for kids, especially girls who love to read and write. 

Leepike Ridge

The used book gods were smiling on me last weekend.  Somehow,  a copy of Leepike Ridge ended up in the Barnes & Noble bargain room for three dollars.  I scarfed it up and read it in two sittings that would have been one sitting if people around here hadn’t started getting hungry on Sunday.  It was that good.

I read a review (I think it  might have been from Fuse #8, but I’m too lazy to go hunting for it right now) that made comparisons between this book and Louis Sachar’s Holes.  This kind of comparison always makes me skeptical.  “We’ll just see about that,” I thought.  I read it.  I saw. And I get it now.  This one is worthy of that comparison — and then some.

Leepike Ridge is a book for every kid (and every grown kid) who played in refrigerator boxes, caught critters in the woods, and floated down creeks on homemade rafts.  It’s a fantastic story with a grand adventure, a heroic boy, bad guys that you love to hate, a loyal dog, and a hidden treasure.  The fact that it’s beautifully written with magical, transporting descriptions is gravy.

If you know and like a boy between the ages of, let’s say 9 and 13, you really ought to pick up Leepike Ridge for him this holiday season. 

Snow Day!

When the guy on the radio made that announcement at 6:15 this morning, it was like having someone knock on the door with a batch of cookies, eight hours, a pile of books, and a warm blanket all wrapped up in a bow.

Snow Day Reading:
Me: LEEPIKE RIDGE and THE WILD GIRLS.
E: ME AND THE PUMPKIN QUEEN
J: LIFE AS WE KNEW IT

DH: Working because meteorologists don’t get snow days  :^(

Emma Jean Lazarus Fell Out of a Tree

This story begins Emma Jean Lazarus opens a door.  Literally, it’s the door to the girls’ bathroom at school, where she finds Colleen Pomerantz (a kind, sensitive girl and not one of the usual 7th grade criers) sobbing over a problem with a friend.  Figuratively, it’s the door we all open when we make the sometimes scary decision to reach out to another human being.  This is a big deal for all of us, but especially for Emma Jean, who’s one of those brilliant, wise-beyond-her-years kids who seems to watch everything from the sidelines.  She reminds me a lot of Lisa Yee’s Millicent Min, Girl Genius.  Because Emma Jean is brilliant at math and logic, just like her father who died two years ago, she uses logic to find solutions to her classmates’ problems, with results that are hilarious and heartwarming.

There’s a lot to love about this book.  If you’re a writer, you should read it because it’s a fantastic example of how to pull off changing points of view in third person narrative.  If you spend any time in a middle school, you’ll love it because the characters are so real.  As a middle school English teacher, I recognized these kids.  I’ve seen Emma Jean watching the other kids at lunch.   I’ve comforted Colleen when one of her friends was mad at her.  And I’ve seen them all in their specially picked outfits at that first middle school dance.  Author Lauren Tarshis has nailed middle school to a tee; she even understands one of the great secrets of school hallways: that the custodians are the real heroes.

Emma Jean Lazarus goes out on a limb in this middle grade novel (and yes, she really does fall out of a tree).  Her journey is one that manages to be funny and sad and uplifting and true, all at once.  You’ll love this book.

Me and the Pumpkin Queen

This is one of those books that sneaks up on you.  It caught me off guard.  Based on some positive reviews I’d read and the back cover blurb, I expected it to be cute. I thought I’d kind of like it.   I didn’t expect to be so swept up in Mildred’s quest to grow the perfect giant pumpkin that I was tempted to ignore my 7th period English class today.

But I was.

Marlane Kennedy captures the voice of a fifth grader who has settled into life with her dad after her mother’s death and explores the very real issues that face fifth grade girls – shopping for a first bra, getting ears pierced, and dealing with a bossy aunt.  I found hints of Judy Blume in the coming of age parts of this book and big servings of warm humor on just about every page. Add to that one huge issue – growing a HUGE pumpkin, and protecting it from bugs, fungus, drought, and tornadoes – and you have one amazing book. 

I was enchanted by the story and terribly intrigued by the process of growing a giant pumpkin.  I kind of want to try and grow one myself now. Mostly, though, I want to stand up and cheer for Mildred and for Marlane Kennedy.  ME AND THE PUMPKIN QUEEN is a little book with a giant-pumpkin sized heart.

Someone Named Eva

I’ve read quite a bit of historical fiction set in Nazi Europe, but SOMEONE NAMED EVA by Joan M. Wolf takes a look at a part of World War II that I never knew about.  Eva is really Milada – a young Czech girl who has blond hair and blue eyes that allow her to pass as a German.  The Nazis raid her village and steal her from her family; they take her name, her language, and her very identity in an attempt to remake her into one of them.  

This book is beautifully written, and I simply ached for Milada, renamed Eva, every time I turned a page.  Wolf writes with a sensitivity that allows us to understand how a young Czech girl could feel herself slipping into another identity.  

The characters in this historical novel seem painfully real, and the author’s extensive research, which took her to Czechoslovakia in search of her roots, is evident throughout the book. The author’s note explains how that research is woven into the novel, though it never feels like you’re being fed facts while you’re reading. No matter how much you’ve read about the Holocaust, you’ll come away with a new perspective.  Mostly, though, your heart will break for Milada.

Joan Wolf’s debut novel provides a unique perspective on a much-written-about chapter in world history. More than that, though, it provides readers with a heartbreaking and thought provoking journey through the human spirit – at its best and at its worst.  SOMEONE LIKE EVA is a poignant book about survival, redemption, holding on, and remembering who you are.

Cybils – Middle Grade Fiction

I am reading and reading and reading some more, and slowly, my stack of Middle Grade Fiction Cybils nominees is dwindling.  I’m a panelist for this year’s Children & Young Adult Bloggers Literature Awards, and I’m loving it, every page of the way.


It’s been an interesting process for lots of reasons, most of which relate to books and writing and learning how writers make different narrative structures work.   But you know what else has been interesting?  The nominated titles for which review copies haven’t been sent to panelists, including some from bigger publishers.  My publisher for Spitfire, which is tiny by most people’s standards, has sent out review copies every time I’ve made a request.  I guess I’m kind of surprised; I always thought bigger publishers were more liberal about this kind of thing, but maybe not.  Granted, a few of the missing titles have been available at my library, but since it just went through city budget cuts, a lot of them are missing, and I may or may not be able to get them through inter-library loan.  Anyway…just food for thought.

I’m going to start posting reviews of the Cybils nominees with these two understandings:

1. I’m only reviewing books I like.  As a teacher, I love matching kids with books, and I book-talk titles in my classroom all the time.  I don’t badmouth books, even if they aren’t my cup of tea.  I’m not interested in turning a kid away from a book he or she might enjoy, even though I didn’t.  The world would be a very boring place if everyone only read the books that I like.

2.  Just because I don’t review a book here doesn’t mean I didn’t like it.  I’m not going to review all the books I liked. I can’t.  I’d never get any writing done.

One more thing…  I’m glad I’m a panelist and not a judge. I can’t  imagine how they’re going to choose one winner from so many amazing novels.  It’s been a very good year for middle grade fiction.

Thankful Thursday

Three things today –

1. I finished the first draft of my chapter book last night.  It has messy hair and ripped sweatpants and warts, but it’s done, and that’s what revision is for.  Plus, parts of it are funny and sparkly.

2. This relates to #1.  I’m thankful for E, who lit a fire under me to finish.  If you ever really want to meet a writing goal, share your unfinished draft with a 6-year-old. I have heard “Do you have a chapter for me this morning?”  every day for the past three weeks.

3. I got a letter in the mail yesterday from a 5th grader named Olivia.  It’s one of those letters that is so perfect you want to keep it and frame it and be buried with it some day.  Here’s an excerpt:

I LOVED your book SPITFIRE!  I am not going to exaggerate the words I am about to say. And those words are, That was the BEST book I have EVER read!!!!!!!!!

You had beautiful word choices.  I LOVED the sentence fluency.  I like the way you set the mood and showed how the characters felt with the injured men and all of the emotional bits.  I like the way you switched Abigail (Adam) and Pascal in the chapters to show each of their emotions. I LOVED the epilogue for the same switching reason I just said.  And that they wrote to each other. Plus the part where they both saw honking geese.

Thank you, Olivia — and thanks to all the other Olivias out there, too — kids who love stories and words so much.  You are the reason I write.