Mad For Middle Grade: Coming Up Next

December 1, 2014 | lmagaziner

Welcome to MAD FOR MIDDLE GRADE! We’re here the first Monday of every month, discussing middle grade writing, chatting about from our favorite middle grade books, introducing our own middle grade titles, sharing middle grade writing advice, and generally obsess over everything middle grade!

This is our VERY LAST POST! Thank you, readers, for taking this middle grade debut journey with us–we’ve been so extraordinarily grateful for all of your support. Since this is our last post, we wanted talk about what’s happening on the horizon for us, so you’ll be able to find us in the future!

Question: Talk about what’s coming next for you!

Rachel Searles
THE LOST PLANET
Feiwel and Friends/Macmillan

Rachel Searles is prepping for the January 27th release of her sequel, THE STOLEN MOON (which has already received a starred review from Kirkus, hooray!). She’s excited to add that THE LOST PLANET (available in paperback Jan. 27th) has been chosen for the 2015-2016 Texas Bluebonnet Award Master List. Rachel will be spending the next year working on new projects and seeking the elusive balance between making time for writing and caring for a new baby. Keep up with Rachel at www.rachelsearles.com or @RachelSearles.

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Matt London
THE 8TH CONTINENT
Razorbill/Penguin

Matt London is hard at work to bring you the continuing adventures of the Lane family. Book 2 in the series, THE 8TH CONTINENT: WELCOME TO THE JUNGLE, comes out February 24th, 2015. Book 3, BORN TO BE WILD, will be released later that year, in August. Beyond that, well, let’s just say there’s a continent’s worth of stories to tell. In the meantime, you can find Matt at www.themattlondon.com or on Twitter @themattlondon.

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Paul Durham
THE LUCK UGLIES
HarperCollins

This fall and winter Paul Durham is visiting schools and bookstores throughout New England to talk about THE LUCK UGLIES. The second book in the trilogy, THE LUCK UGLIES: FORK TONGUE CHARMERS, arrives on March 17, 2015, and he will be packing his bags for national tour stops in far-flung places such as Houston, Austin, San Francisco, and Portland, Oregon. In the meantime, Paul is writing the third book in the series, which will be released in Spring 2016. You can check in on Paul’s Luck Uglies news and occasional ramblings at www.pauldurhambooks.com, on facebook at www.facebook.com/pauldurhambooks, or on twitter @pauldurhambooks.

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Louise Galveston
BY THE GRACE OF TODD
Razorbill/Penguin

Louise Galveston is excited to announce that By the Grace of Todd is a 2015-2016 Young Hoosier Book Award Nominee and will be available in paperback next month (Jan. 2015). The little Toddlians set off to find a more responsible god in the sequel, In Todd We Trust, which releases on St. Patrick’s Day. Louise and her family will be welcoming a new little person into their lives early this summer, but the title of that masterpiece is yet to be determined. You can keep up with Louise’s news and schedule of appearances at www.bythegraceoftodd.com and www.louisegalveston.blogspot.com. Follow her on Twitter

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Kate Hannigan
CUPCAKE COUSINS
Disney-Hyperion

Kate Hannigan will be coming out with a sequel to her early middle-grade novel CUPCAKE COUSINS (Disney-Hyperion) in June 2015. Titled CUPCAKE COUSINS: SUMMER SHOWERS, it follows more adventures with Willow and Delia on their lakeside vacation. The cousins are ready to help with Aunt Rosie’s baby shower, but with Willow’s hand injured, no one seems to think they can do anything in the kitchen. They face meddling big sisters, a County Fair cooking contest, lost family heirlooms, and more. Book 3 in the series publishes in September 2016.

Kate’s historical fiction for middle-grade readers, THE DETECTIVE’S ASSISTANT, publishes in April 2015 with Little, Brown Books for Young Readers–marking the 150th anniversary of Abraham Lincoln’s assassination. Set just before the Civil War and inspired by America’s first real-life female detective, Kate Warne, it tells the story of 11-year-old Nell who untangles her own family’s mysteries while helping out her aunt with her detective work. It features ciphers and puzzles, as well as hair-raising thrills, as Nell and Kate Warne take part in cases that have nation-changing consequences.

Visit Kate online at http://KateHannigan.com.

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Tara Dairman
ALL FOUR STARS
Putnam/Penguin

For Tara Dairman, next year is looking to be just as delicious as this one was! Gladys Gatsby’s restaurant-reviewing adventures will continue in THE STARS OF SUMMER (sequel to ALL FOUR STARS), which comes out on May 5, 2015. You can find out more about it, add it on GoodReads, or preorder it here: http://taradairman.com/2014/10/14/sequel-title-cover-reveal-the-stars-of-summer/

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Jen Malone
AT YOUR SERVICE
Aladdin/Simon & Schuster

With her debut year in the rearview window, Jen is happy to kick back and enjoy the role of “established author” (hahahahahahaha). Jen’s new series You’re Invited (co-written with Gail Nall) launches with book one on May 19^th and follows four tween girls who form a party-planning business out of their abandoned sailboat clubhouse. Needless to say, the parties do NOT go as planned. It’s been described as “hitting that sweet spot between Babysitter’s Club and Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.”

Also publishing next summer is Jen’s YA with HarperImpulse entitled Map to the Stars. It tells the story of a down-to-earth girl stuck accompanying a teen star on the European promotional tour of his new movie. A “momager”, an annoying assistant, a security team, and rabid fans are plenty to navigate as the two explore a romance, but when the paparazzi hits the scene, things get really sticky.

Both are available for preorder here: http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=jen+malone

You can follow more adventures at www.jenmalonewrites.com or @jenmalonewrites

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Gayle Rosengren
WHAT THE MOON SAID
Putnam/Penguin

This has been an incredible year with so many “firsts” that it’s hard to imagine another time that will

equal it for excitement, unless…*drum roll*… it’s the release of my second book! My middle grade novel, COLD WAR ON MAPLEWOOD STREET will be published (again by Putnam/Penguin/Random House) in early August. It’s about 12 year-old Joanna’s experiences during the week of the Cuban Missile Crisis in 1962, and it speaks to growing up in a world full of uncertainty.

In addition, I’ll be kicking off the New Year with a very special event in Batavia, Illinois at Grace McWayne Elementary School, as the featured author at their first ever Family Reading Night. On February 5th I’ll be signing books at the annual WSRA (Wisconsin State Reading Association) conference in Milwaukee. And other events are in the works, so it’s already plain to see that 2015 is going to be yet another amazing year. I couldn’t be happier!

Gayle would love for you to visit her website at www.gaylerosengren.com and follow her on Twitter @GayleRosengren

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Heidi Schulz
HOOK’S REVENGE
Disney-Hyperion

Heidi Schulz will not be hanging up her cutlass anytime soon. Her sequel to Hook’s Revenge, Hook’s Revenge: The Pirate Code, will be out next fall followed by her picture book debut, Giraffes Ruin Everything, in Spring 2016. Other future plans include finally getting around to painting the no-longer-new trim around her windows and eating pie. Catch up with her on twitter (@HeidiSchulz) or on HeidiSchulzBooks.com

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Jennifer Downey
THE NINJA LIBRARIANS
Sourcebooks

Jen Swann Downey is looking forward to the rapid regeneration of her fingertips which sadly wore away to bloody stumps during the drafting for THE NINJA LIBRARIANS: A SWORD IN THE STACKS. The sequel will release in late 2015, a few months after the paperback release of the first book in the series, THE NINJA LIBRARIANS: THE ACCIDENTAL KEYHAND. She is also hoping to remember to frolic more along dark moonlit streets, and solve all of her family’s single sock riddles. Thanks to the readers of the OneFourKidLit posts for paying attention to all of us as we rode out on our book steeds. Hope we gave something back. Come on over and visit at www.jenswanndowney.com or https://www.facebook.com/JenSwannDowney

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Jennifer Torres
THE BRINY DEEP MISTERIES
Speeding Star

These days Jennifer Torres arrives at her desk promptly at 5 a.m. each morning (before the kids get up) to work on her next project, a middle-grade fantasy/mystery called SPELL’S CANOE. She continues to visit schools, libraries and bookstores promoting her debut series, THE BRINY DEEP MYSTERIES. Jennifer is also working on a new series of biographies for Rosen Publishers to be released in 2015. Keep up with Jennifer at www.authorjennifertorres.com and on Twitter @Jenn__Torres.

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Rebecca Behrens
WHEN AUDREY MET ALICE
Sourcebooks

Rebecca Behrens is looking forward to Audrey meeting Alice again, when the paperback edition of When Audrey Met Alice is released in May 2015. Her next book, Summer of Lost and Found, will be published by Egmont USA in early 2016. She has a short story, “Thatagirl!” running in Scholastic Scope next spring–and another one inCricket, too! In the meantime, she’s visiting schools and libraries, teaching workshops, and (slowly) writing something new. Follow her on twitter (@rebeccabehrens) or visit her online at www.rebeccabehrens.com.

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Lauren Magaziner
THE ONLY THING WORSE THAN WITCHES
Dial/Penguin

Here’s what’s coming up next for Witchling Lauren:

1. Paperback release of The Only Thing Worse Than Witches in August 2015.
2. Book #2 scheduled to release in early 2016. While there is no definitive title (yet), Lauren can tell you that it’s about a whimsically weird school for thieves, muggers, robbers, burglars, crooks, and otherwise intolerable criminals. She’s hoping that Pilfer Academy will steal your heart. *ba-dum-tss*
3. Practicing her evil laughter
Muahahahahahaha*hacking coughs*

Follow her misadventures at http://laurenmagaziner.com/ or on twitter @laurenmagaziner.

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Skila Brown
CAMINAR
Candlewick Press

Skila Brown is hard at work on her next middle grade story. In the mean time, she’ll have two new books out in the spring of 2016 with Candlewick Press: a picture book collection of shark poems, Slickety Quick, and a verse novel for teens about the ill-fated Donner Party, With the End in Sight.

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Dana Alison Levy
THE MISADVENTURES OF THE FAMILY FLETCHER
Delacorte/Random House

Dana Alison Levy is delighted to continue romping with the Fletchers! The sequel, A FLETCHER FAMILY SUMMER, is due out spring 2016. When not trying to keep Sam, Jax, Eli, and Frog out of trouble, Dana will be working on more books for kids and teens, and might occasionally remember to do laundry. You can find her at www.danaalisonlevy.com, where she rarely talks about herself in the third person.

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Tracy Holczer
THE SECRET HUM OF A DAISY
Putnam/Penguin

Tracy Holczer’s novel, THE SECRET HUM OF A DAISY, releases in paperback on May 1, 2015, and she is fiercely working on novel number two. THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF SMALL THINGS is about eleven-year-old Samantha Rossi who writes down small observations about life in order to face all the big things she can’t quite handle. Like her surgeon father coming home from Vietnam a different person, and her best friend choosing to start a Stewardess Club instead of joining the Odyssey Project the way they’d planned. It’s a story about heroes, the big and the small. It’s due out in May, 2016.

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Laura Marx Fitzgerald
UNDER THE EGG
Dial/Penguin

Laura Marx Fitzgerald is hard at work at her second novel, due out in 2016 from Dial/Penguin. Tentatively titled THE GALLERY, this middle-grade mystery takes us to New York in the Roaring Twenties where a young maid discovers an heiress’s secrets through her mysterious art collection. Laura is also busy with school visits and field trips, where she is delighted to share the many real-life mysteries of the art world with elementary and middle school kids. Visit Laura at her website LauraMarxFitzgerald.com for more about writing, art, and history.

Laura looks forward to the paperback release and audiobook releases of UNDER THE EGG in spring 2015.

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Adriana Brad Schanen
QUINNY & HOPPER
Disney-Hyperion

Adriana Brad Schanen has been visiting schools and book clubs with her debut early middle grade novel, Quinny & Hopper, which was selected as a TLA Bluebonnet Award Reading List book and picked up by Scholastic for 2015 book fairs and newsletters. She has several MG and YA projects in progress.

Check out her website in early 2015 for official news of the publication of her second book — she’s bursting to share it! adrianabradschanen.com

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Robin Herrera
HOPE IS A FERRIS WHEEL
Amulet Books

Robin Herrera is currently finishing up what will hopefully be her second book, a humorous young adult novel set in 1990. In the meantime, she’ll continue to edit comics and graphic novels. You might catch her at the annual ALA conference in San Francisco, but for the most part she’ll be staying home in Oregon. 2015 will probably be the year Robin goes to the dentist. She is not looking forward to it.

Visit her online at robinherrera.com or on Twitter @herreracus.

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Well, that’s it from us, folks! Thanks so much for tuning in this past year and a half, and be sure to check out our archives for more of our splendiferous posts.

And now we shall ceremoniously pass the baton to our 2015 middle grade debut friends in the Fearless Fifteeners group! May your journeys be full of wonder and MAGIC!

TTFN–Ta ta for now!

Lauren Magaziner is a 4th grader at heart, watches way too much TV, and loves to steal people’s toes to make Toecorn, which tastes like chewy, meaty popcorn. Only one of those is true. (Okay… you caught me. They’re all true.) Her MG debut THE ONLY THING WORSE THAN WITCHES—about a boy who becomes a witchling’s apprentice in a town full of dangerous, Toecorn-loving witches—is available now from Dial/Penguin.

Mad For Middle Grade: Crunching Numbers

November 3, 2014 | lmagaziner

Welcome back to MAD FOR MIDDLE GRADE!

This post is going to be a bit… unconventional. We’re pulling out all the stops here. And by all the stops, I mean: all the STATS. This post is all about comparing our publishing journeys, and we’re about to prove THERE IS NO NORMAL IN PUBLISHING!!!!

Here a bit of information about this post before we reveal our numbers:

15 authors participated
All the participants were 2014 middle grade debut authors
Each author was allowed to opt in or out of whichever questions he/she choses
All data is presented anonymously

And without further ado:

ABOUT THE BOOKS

Highest Word Count: 78,000 words
Lowest Word Count: 19,000 words
Average Word Count: 53,000 words

Genre?
7 Contemporary
4 Fantasy
2 Historical Fiction
1 Mystery
1 Novel in Verse
1 Science Fiction

Which publishers?
2 books from Abrams
2 books from Candlewick
2 books from Disney-Hyperion
1 book from HarperCollins
1 book from Macmillan
4 books from Penguin
1 book from Random House
1 book from Simon & Schuster
1 book from Sourcebooks

ABOUT AGENTS

Do you have an agent?
Yes: 14
No: 0
Not when the book sold, but yes now: 1

How many query letters did you send out?
Most: 74 Query Letters
Least: 1 Query Letter
Average: 22 Query Letters
A further breakdown:
8 authors had between 1 and 15 query letters.
2 authors had between 16 and 30 query letters.
2 authors had between 31 and 45 query letters.
2 authors had between 46 and 60 query letters.
1 author had over 61 query letters.

How long were you querying?
Longest time: 10 months
Shortest time: 1 week
Further breakdown:
3 authors queried for less than 1 month.
8 authors queried between 1 and 4 months.
4 authors queried between 5 and 10 months.

How many offers did you receive from agents?
One offer: 9
Two offers: 2
Three offers: 2
Four offers: 0
Five offers: 2

How long was the editorial process with your agent?
Longest time: 9 months
Shortest time: No editorial process
Average time: 2 months

ABOUT THE BOOK DEAL

How long were you on submission to publishers?
Longest submission: 2 years
Shortest submission: 9 days
Further breakdown:
3 books were on submission less than 1 month.
7 books were on submission between 1 and 4 months.
2 books were on submission between 5 and 12 months.
2 books were on submission longer than 12 months.

How many offers did you receive from publishers?
One offer: 9
Two offers: 4
Three offers: 1
Four offers: 0
Five offers: 1

How many books did your publisher buy?
One book: 9
Two books: 4
Three books: 2

What was the deal range?
10 Nice Deals
2 Very Nice Deals
2 Good Deals
1 Significant Deal

How long was the time between the book sale and the book release?
Longest wait: 33 months (A little less than 3 years)
Shortest wait: 14 months (A little more than 1 year)
Average wait: 21 months (A little less than 2 years)

ABOUT THE STORY

The numbers below indicate those authors who responded YES to the following questions.

Does your book have:
A girl protagonist? 9
A boy protagonist? 6
Any school scenes? 8
A character who cries? 13
A character who’s a writer? 5
A character with red hair? 3
A chosen one? 0
At least one orphan? 3
Siblings? 10
A first crush? 5
Kissing? 3
Magic? 4
Dogs? 5
Cats? 3
Bunnies? 3
Any references to real-life history? 10
Any references to real-life pop culture? 8

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Thanks for tuning in! Hope you were as interested in some of these numbers as we were!

We will return on Monday December 1st for our LAST Mad For Middle Grade segment. *snozzes into a handkerchief* The wheels are already in motion, and it’s going to be a great post–so tune in next time!

Mad For Middle Grade: Villainous Tricks and Treats

October 6, 2014 | lmagaziner

What’s not to love about the Halloween time? There are pumpkin spiced lattes, candy, costumes, hayrides, and most importantly… SCARY, EVIL BEINGS! There’s a real art to creating a convincing villain, so we’re here today to shed some advice on how to approach the task.

Question: How do you create good antagonists or roadblocks for characters? Share your villainous tricks and treats!

Rebecca Petruck
STEERING TOWARD NORMAL
Abrams/Amulet

The scariest villains are the ones we carry inside us. Being the person we want to be in the face of serious challenges can feel impossible, and in some moments is impossible. But those bad moments only define us if we let them. It seems like it should be easy to let go of the memories of things we’re not proud of and move forward as a better person. But feelings like envy, jealousy, anger, fear, doubt, and insecurity are clingy little dingleberries. Defeating our inner villain who wants everything his way right now without having to fight for it or compromise can be our greatest battle. Yet winning has the kind of long-term effects that can create a life we’re proud of—even if sometimes we just have to through some cow poop to get it out of our systems.

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Dana Alison Levy
THE MISADVENTURES OF THE FAMILY FLETCHER
Delacorte/Random House

Personally, I find it far more difficult to write good villains than good heroes. After all, a good villain should be bad, sure, but also interesting, complicated, and have a story of his or her own. In THE MISADVENTURES OF THE FAMILY FLETCHER I didn’t really have a villain, (though some might have thought of Mr. Nelson that way at first). But I have worked on other stories with a more traditional bad guy (or bad gal!) and I think the only “trick” to writing a good one is to make her (or him) as full a character as possible. Does she love her dog? Does she laugh at puns? Does he only pursue his evil goal because of a desire to help someone else? If an author works to understand the villain readers are “treated” to a far better story!

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Lauren Magaziner
THE ONLY THING WORSE THAN WITCHES
Dial/Penguin

Writing a villain for middle grade can be especially difficult. Without enough villainous “oomph,” an antagonist would be boring and give no stakes to your story–but at the same time, a villain can easily become too scary or menacing. I think the key is to balance a little bit of humor with the more threatening parts. For example, in one moment in The Only Thing Worse Than Witches the dreadful Mrs. Frabbleknacker makes children stand on their heads until their words come out backwards. It’s a funny kind of threat–something that is actually rather horrible when you really think about it, but so entrenched in humor that it feels almost safe. Almost. (Muahahaha.)

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Robin Herrera
HOPE IS A FERRIS WHEEL
Amulet Books

I hope that people are surprised to learn that Mr. Savage, one of the “villains” of HOPE IS A FERRIS WHEEL, is based on myself. Creating a good villain starts with understanding your villain. The villain is the hero of their own story! In Mr. Savage’s world, he is the heroic teacher hired to shape and mold the minds of young 4th and 5th graders. Star Mackie is the villain of his world, and she’s about to start a rebellion in his own classroom! The only way to stop it is to assert himself in front of his students, belittling Star in the process. When you think about it that way, Star is kind of a huge jerk. (Just kidding! Mr. Savage still wins the jerk award.)

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Louise Galveston
BY THE GRACE OF TODD
Razorbill/Penguin

Bad guys aren’t born, they become. Understanding what warped a villain’s personality is key, even if it takes a while to be revealed. In By the Grace of Todd, Max is evil incarnate to Todd and his tiny Toddlians. But in the sequel, In Todd We Trust, we see that Max is terrified of his big brother, and get a glimpse of the treatment he’s faced that causes him to torment others. I also believe bad guys can be redeemed, as in Ernie, Todd’s elementary school nemesis who does an about face in middle school and becomes Todd and Duddy’s buddy. (I’m dressed as Mongee Poo, a hero from Todd’s favorite anime series Dragon Sensei. Hoo hoo hi-yah!)

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Matt London
THE 8TH CONTINENT
Razorbill/Penguin

I’ve always believed that what makes readers LOATHE a villain is when the baddie gets away with something terrible. So I try to make sure my villains get away with everything! The villain of THE 8TH CONTINENT is Vesuvia Piffle, the ten year old super secret CEO of the Condo Real Estate Corporation. She is rotten! But she is also convinced she’s doing the right thing. And that makes her all the scarier.

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Ryan Gehart
THERE WILL BE BEARS
Candlewick Press

It would appear that Sandy, the vicious grizzly bear prowling the Bridger-Teton National Park who killed two hunters from Ohio would be the villain in BEARS, but she’s anything but. Tyson wants nothing more than to see her. It’s everything that’s getting in the way of the trip that’s antagonizing him. It’s the realities of adulthood, of his beloved grandfather who was supposed to take him to the Tetons get put into a nursing home instead. And as Tyson puts it: being an adult sucks.

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Two more posts left in our Mad For Middle Grade series! Are there any middle grade topics you want to hear about? Let us know!

See you on Monday November 3rd! And remember: the best way to stop an evil villain in his or her tracks is a pie in the face (……or maybe just a fantastic protagonist).

Mad For Middle Grade: A Picture’s Worth a Thousand Words

August 4, 2014 | lmagaziner

Bring on the laugher! Our August debut books are both full of LOL humor:

THE ONLY THING WORSE THAN WITCHES
by Lauren Magaziner
Release date: August 14
Goodreads

AT YOUR SERVICE
by Jen Malone
Release date: August 26
Goodreads

[Insert a super happy funky-little-boogie-dance here in celebration of the release of my book and Jen’s positively delightful book!] YAY!!!!! 🙂

Today we sharing pictures! Some will have captions… and as for the others, well, you know that famous saying: a picture’s worth a thousand words. But whether we’re showing you a photo of our imagined characters, the book’s setting, important objects, or even beyond-the-book inspiration, we hope that these pictures give you insight into the flavor, tone, and feel of our respective books!

Question: Share a photo that has some connection to your book or your publishing experience!

Adriana Schanen
QUINNY & HOPPER
Disney-Hyperion

“Quinny & Hopper” was made possible in large part by daughter’s 2nd grade chick study.

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Dana Alison Levy
THE MISADVENTURES OF THE FAMILY FLETCHER
Delacorte/Random House

Boys, more boys, and SHENANIGANS!

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Gayle Rosengren
WHAT THE MOON SAID
Putnam/Penguin

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Heidi Schulz
HOOK’S REVENGE
Disney-Hyperion

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Jen Malone
AT YOUR SERVICE
Aladdin/Simon & Schuster

This is my daughter and this moment is what I pictured whenever I sat down to write. I cried when I took this shot.

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Kate Hannigan
CUPCAKE COUSINS
Disney-Hyperion

The house where “Cupcake Cousins” is set was inspired by the fantastic Michigan beach houses we see on bike rides during our vacations.

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Lauren Magaziner
THE ONLY THING WORSE THAN WITCHES
Dial/Penguin

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Louise Galveston
BY THE GRACE OF TODD
Razorbill/Penguin

One of the many inspirations behind By the Grace of Todd—my very own not-so-evil genius.

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Rachel Searles
THE LOST PLANET
Feiwel and Friends/Macmillan

Music = Energy = Inspiration!

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Rebecca Behrens
WHEN AUDREY MET ALICE
Sourcebooks

The White House Swingset, with a view into the Oval Office from the slide.

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Rebecca Petruck
STEERING TOWARD NORMAL
Abrams/Amulet

A 4-H competitor gives his steer a wash and blow-dry before the Goodhue County Fair. No lie: steers get more beauty care than I do! 🙂

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Paul Durham
THE LUCK UGLIES
HarperCollins

The morning commute.

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Skila Brown
CAMINAR
Candlewick Press

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Tara Dairman
ALL FOUR STARS
Putnam/Penguin

Mmmm, Indian food.

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Tracy Holczer
THE SECRET HUM OF A DAISY
Putnam/Penguin

One of Mama’s birds.

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Are there any topics you want to hear about next time? Let us know in the comments section!

Miss us already? We’ll be back for another Mad For Middle Grade on Monday September 1st! See you later, alligator!

Mad For Middle Grade: Behind the Scenes

July 7, 2014 | lmagaziner

Looking for a summer beach read? Then look no further than our adorable, delicious, delightful July releases:

ALL FOUR STARS
by Tara Dairman
Release date: July 10
Goodreads

THE MISADVENTURES OF THE FAMILY FLETCHER
by Dana Alison Levy
Release date: July 22
Goodreads

Hooray for Tara and Dana’s spectacular debuts! If you haven’t read them yet, then RUN–don’t walk–to your nearest bookstore or library! Trust me.

Ever wonder why authors choose particular names, include certain scenes, or write about specific topics? Want to learn some little-known facts about the writing of our books? Allow us to give you a sneak peek into some behind the scenes moments!

Question: Tell a behind the scenes story about your book!

Skila Brown
CAMINAR
Candlewick Press

Caminar is based on actual events, but since the story is fiction, I decided not to use real place names. Instead, I made up names, offering a nod to significant words and places. The name of the camp that the rebels are travelling towards, for example, is Ixchandé, which is inspired by Iximché, a place that was once the capital base of the Kaqchikel Maya around the time that the Spaniards invaded. And during the time of Carlos’s story, Iximché held an important meeting where many Guatemalans declared that they would organize and rise up against the militant government.

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Robin Herrera
HOPE IS A FERRIS WHEEL
Amulet Books

I don’t usually name my characters after people I know. USUALLY. But when I was writing the book that would become HOPE IS A FERRIS WHEEL, I was also working at an elementary school. One of my favorite students was a kindergartner named Gloria. I worked one-on-one with her a lot and loved how silly and sweet she was. So when I needed a name for Star’s bubbly, sugar-obsessed pseudo-godmother (who is actually based on ME), I borrowed Gloria’s name. I don’t know if Gloria will ever read the book or make the connection, but it’s there because she always brightened my day.

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Kate Hannigan
CUPCAKE COUSINS
Disney-Hyperion

I knew I wanted my book to be very Midwestern, so set my story in Saugatuck, Michigan, which is this wonderful beach town along the Lake Michigan shoreline in Western Michigan. For Chicagoans who want to make a quick escape in the summertime, it’s an easy trip – no hassles of air travel, lots of fruit picking along the way. It’s a wonderful place to shed the big-city woes and just run around barefoot and enjoy the sand and the sun. I feel like with today’s plugged-in generation, kids don’t experience summertime the same way as generations before them. For too many kids, it’s a time to sit around in air-conditioning playing video games. I wanted to create a place where the characters shed all that and key into the beauty of the area – catching the sunsets, discovering hummingbirds, looking up at the stars as they light up a night sky. Old school joys of being out of school.

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Jen Malone
AT YOUR SERVICE
Aladdin/Simon & Schuster

For most of my childhood, my dad INSISTED he was the missing crown prince of Lithuania. The reason for the fake royal blood? My table manners. Every time he spotted my elbows on the table, I’d hear, “When I return to my birthright, you’re not going to be able to attend royal events at the castle with manners like that.” At a certain point, I learned to place my napkin in my lap (confession: I still sometimes sneak a book under it during dinner!) and I realized my father was, well, full of it. But I also knew exactly who to name the King of Somerstein after when it came time to write my book. You’re welcome for the promotion, Dad!

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Edith Cohn
SPIRIT’S KEY
FSG/Macmillan

The “key” in SPIRIT’S KEY was inspired by a handmade ring I’d made from some Alice in Wonderland fabric. The fabric had all these cute little images on it: a key, a mirror, a rabbit, a cake. I’d isolated the key and made a ring with it that was sitting on my dresser when I was contemplating Spirit’s story. I knew already that Spirit’s Dad was a psychic—one who specifically had the ability to see the future. But I didn’t know how. I saw the key ring, and thought: Yes! People’s house keys! That’s how Dad will know their future. And Spirit’s Key was born.

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Rebecca Petruck
STEERING TOWARD NORMAL
Abrams/Amulet

Researching Steering Toward Normal was so much fun because I visited farms, state fairs, interviewed amazing 4-H’ers, and witnessed a ton of moments that I basically reported verbatim. Like the toddler at the Minnesota State Fair who moo’ed his guts out at a steer’s butt for five minutes, just pleased as heck he knew what sound a cow makes and very determined to get this particular animal to make it back to him. The little guy was hoarse by the time his mom led him away. The scene almost didn’t make the cut, but how could I not shoehorn in such cuteness?

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Dana Alison Levy
THE MISADVENTURES OF THE FAMILY FLETCHER
Delacorte/Random House

THE MISADVENTURES OF THE FAMILY FLETCHER is filled with true happenings (both good and bad) and inside jokes. But one fun secret: their name didn’t start out as Fletcher. They were the family Furnival, until I got some editorial feedback that “some people” thought “Furnival sounded like “funeral.” I know, I don’t really hear it either. Anyway, off I went on a wild search for a new name! Then my editor said, “well, wasn’t the dog in your aunt’s (author Elizabeth Levy) books named Fletcher? What if you named the family after that dog?” So the family Fletcher was born, and only a few people knew that they were named for a basset hound in my aunt’s books! (If you want to see the original Fletcher dog, check here: http://elizabethlevy.com/booksall/ !)

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Tara Dairman
ALL FOUR STARS
Putnam/Penguin

As you may have noticed, Gladys Gatsby shares a last name with a certain other character from literature. Some people assume that this is a reference to “The Great Gatsby,” and it is–but not in the way they think. I’ve never been a fan of that book, so it’s always rankled me that Jay Gatsby is probably the most famous fictional literary character to live on Long Island (where I grew up, and where Gladys lives). So I guess I paid a tiny bit of homage by borrowing the name…but mostly, I just wanted to reclaim and reimagine it. My apologies to Fitzgerald!

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Louise Galveston
BY THE GRACE OF TODD
Razorbill/Penguin

In By the Grace of Todd, Persephone, the spunky Toddlian, is sold as a slave to one of evil Max’s bully buddies. At his house she watches an hombre named John Wayne on TV and so admires his toughness that she becomes a self-styled cowgirl.

Her character is a tribute to my cowboy father, who is my hero and a huge fan of the Duke. I also love the work of Louis L’Amour, and his lingo definitely influenced my writing. Persephone gets a lot more page time in the upcoming In Todd We Trust, as do the rest of the Toddlians. “GERONIMOOOO!!!”

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Heidi Schulz
HOOK’S REVENGE
Disney-Hyperion

Jocelyn’s pirate crew in HOOK’S REVENGE are so desperate to look experienced that they pretend to have battle wounds. There is One-Armed Jack (who keeps an arm tucked inside his shirt), Jim McCraig with a Wooden Leg (who only has a giant sliver in his toe), Blind Bart (who could see fine if he would remove at least one of his eye patches), and Nubbins. Nubbins lost a thumb in a cooking mishap, but claimed a giant squid bit it off. Since he is the only one with the glory of a real injury, I let him keep his given name. He would have felt less need to embellish.

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Lauren Magaziner
THE ONLY THING WORSE THAN WITCHES
Dial/Penguin

Here’s a quick glance at how I found some of my characters’ names:

Fairfoul Witch: Fairfoul was a name I stole off a gravestone in St. Andrews, Scotland.

Rupert: When trying to think of a perfect name for the protagonist, Rupert and Rufus were the first things that popped into my head. I went with Rupert because “Rufus” always makes me think of the (awesome) naked mole rat on Kim Possible.

Allison: One of my best friends once complained to me that there were never any nice, decent book characters named Allison. Challenge accepted!

Bruno: My nod to Roald Dahl’s THE WITCHES.

Rupert’s mom: Her name–Joanne–is only mentioned once in the whole book, but I named her after my favorite author, J.K. Rowling.

Mrs. Frabbleknacker: OK, this one just came from my brain. Fully formed. And weird.

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Jennifer Downey
THE NINJA LIBRARIANS
Sourcebooks

THE NINJA LIBRARIANS is rife with real people, speeches, books, songs, and gadgets, summoned from history to help tell would-be sword-fighter Dorrie Barnes’ story. In it, the time-traveling warrior lybrarians call their headquarters “Petrarch’s Library”. I had never heard the phrase when I came across it scrawled cross-ways, loose, and all by itself on a piece of paper in a spiral notebook during a rare deepish house cleaning. I hadn’t written it, nor had anyone else in the family. The suggestive phrase wouldn’t leave me alone, and conjured the first images for me of a sprawling library connecting ancient and modern times. Petrarch the 14th c. humanist, it tickled me to learn, was a book fiend and restless traveler who often hit the roads leading a short train of donkeys laden with his personal library.

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Rebecca Behrens
WHEN AUDREY MET ALICE
Sourcebooks

I wanted to write about a fictional First Daughter, and I also wanted to write about the very real and awesome Alice Roosevelt. But I didn’t know which story idea to pick, or how to put those two together—at least without time travel.

I was waiting to cross the street at 62^nd and Madison when suddenly the concept for not AUDREY or ALICE but WHEN AUDREY MET ALICE popped into my head. A presidential tween could find Alice’s diary and get ideas for running riot in the 21^st century! I went home and outlined the whole book.

Later, while researching, I found out that the very intersection where inspiration struck was where young Alice lived with her Auntie Bye. Coincidence?

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Ryan Gebhart
THERE WILL BE BEARS
Candlewick Press

There’s a scene in THERE WILL BE BEARS where Tyson threatens his friend Brighton that if he doesn’t confess to liking Taylor Swift, he’ll hack up a wad of snot and spit it into his mouth. Most people would like to believe something this disgusting is entirely fictitious, however, yeah… no. I have five older brothers. I’ve been pinned down by my brother Jacob, a wad of snot dangling from his lips. It fell into my screaming mouth that pleaded for mercy.

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What other behind the scenes info do you want to know about any of our books? Have any questions for particular authors? We’ll answer questions in the comments section!

After that cold winter, please enjoy that hot summer sun! And be sure to return for another segment of Mad For Middle Grade on Monday August 4th.

Mad For Middle Grade: A Trip Down Memory Lane

June 2, 2014 | lmagaziner

We have one wonderful June release that you definitely don’t want to miss:

QUINNY & HOPPER
by Adriana Brad Schanen
Release date: June 10
Goodreads

HOORAY, ADRIANA! Congratulations on your lovely, endearing debut!

This month we are getting personal. Stick with us as we share some of our most vivid middle grade memories–ones that shaped us as authors.

Question: How have your middle grade memories affected your writing?

Edith Cohn
SPIRIT’S KEY
FSG/Macmillan

In sixth grade I marched up to the most popular girl in school and asked, “Hey can I be popular with you guys?” because I figured being popular was as simple as asking for what you want. She responded with a pitying look, “I’m sorry, but some people don’t like you because you have chicken legs.” Wow. Really? I had no idea skinny legs and knobby knees were what was holding me back in life. In high school I told my friends this story, and chicken legs became a fond nickname. I owned it. Hindsight made it funny. But when it happened, I was mortified, rejected and I came to think of myself as an outsider. For years, I snapped at a lot of people who tried to talk to me—assuming I was the butt of some joke. Maybe sometimes I was, but I think a lot of time I was an outsider of my own making. In SPIRIT’S KEY, Spirit is also in some ways an outsider of her own making.

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Gayle Rosengren
WHAT THE MOON SAID
Putnam/Penguin

My parents were long-divorced by the time I was ten. Mom worked full time and we lived on a very tight budget with little money left for the extras I yearned for–piano lessons (not that we had a piano), ballet lessons, ice skates, art supplies. Library books were my salvation. They were free and promised unlimited adventure. I opened their covers and became tomboy and future writer, Jo March; Cherry Ames, RN; Susie the ballerina; Tom Sawyer on his island; Trixie Belden, with her best friends (and horses!) and mysteries always at hand to solve. All of their lives were so much more interesting than my own. Readingwas like leaving a black & white world to enter a techni-color one, like when Dorothy lands in Oz. I decided then that what I wanted more than anything was to be a children’s author because I wanted to make that kind of amazing difference in kids’ lives too.

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Heidi Schulz
HOOK’S REVENGE
Disney-Hyperion

When I was in sixth grade I went to Skate Palace and couple skated with the wrong boy. He was nice and cute and seemed to like me, but he was wrong because another girl said so. Thus began the Get All the Girls to Hate Heidi Campaign.

It worked. For the rest of the year, the girls in my grade only spoke to me if they had something mean to say. Sometimes weapons were fired in the coatroom, via “anonymous” notes shoved in my pockets.

I still remember one: Dear heidi, Notice I didn’t capitalize your name. Only important words are capitalized.

In Hook’s Revenge, Jocelyn also gets pocket hate mail, though hers does not insult her with a grammar lesson.

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Robin Herrera
HOPE IS A FERRIS WHEEL
Amulet Books

In fourth grade, my class

was assigned to write a “sequel” to the fairy tale Jack and the Beanstalk. My favorite cartoon had just aired a hilarious episode about that very topic, which included Jack being sued by the Giant for breaking and entering. So I wrote that and turned it in.

A few weeks later I had my parent-teacher conference. My teacher, usually critical of me, told my parents about the story I’d written. So creative and funny!

I squirmed in my seat, ashamed. My teacher finally had something nice to say about me, and it was for something I hadn’t even come up with on my own. I left with slumped shoulders that day, but I vowed never to pass someone else’s work off as my own.

So far, so good!

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Tracy Holczer
THE SECRET HUM OF A DAISY
Putnam/Penguin

When I was six, my parents divorced. My mom grabbed me and Pooh, our teacup Chihuahua, and headed for Grandma and Grandpa’s house. It was summer, and they had a pool, so the shock of what was going on was dulled by sunshiny days, the pain of my peeling nose, and the excitement of watching my poor little dog get chased around by my aunt’s orange tom cat. While there, I happened upon a statue in the donation box that I snatched, and kept under my pillow. It didn’t take long for my six-year-old mind to decide the statue was my guardian angel.

Eventually, I found out the hard way the statue was, in fact, just a statue. She shattered into a million pieces at the feet of one of the meanest girls in my third grade class.

But it was moments like those, shardlike and brilliantly lit, that made me a writer.

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Jen Malone
AT YOUR SERVICE
Aladdin/Simon & Schuster

In eighth grade, assigned teams in gym class gave me unprecedented access to the rantings of the two queen bees at my middle school. I was well aware that we traveled in different social circles, but I never suspected we were living in different universes, until I heard one complaining to the other about how her boyfriend liked her to do a certain something that I literally did not know existed as a thing. In the span of two minutes of overheard conversation, my whole world tilted on its axel and I was left dumbfounded. What was most shocking to me was my complete and total ignorance before that moment. Was I the only one who didn’t know about this stuff? What other stuff was I oblivious to that everyone else not only knew about but, even worse, was already DOING? Would I be expected to do these things? The answer was “not anytime soon”, but in that moment, it sure knocked me on my butt. It would be logical to assume this made me want to write edgier middle grade so no other poor soul is caught unawares, but it has actually had the opposite effect. I write sweet and light MG because adult me wants to give young, naive me hugs and tell her to stay that way as long as possible. The rest of that stuff is out there waiting when she’s ready for it.

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Adriana Schanen
QUINNY & HOPPER
Disney-Hyperion

Some of my best childhood memories were of spending time at my friend Kirsten’s summer cottage, in rural Southern Wisconsin. Our families were neighbors in a near-downtown part of Chicago, and we all grew close. She and I were busy with school and sports/activities most of the year, but at the lakeside cottage we did nothing much except read moldy old Nancy Drew books, perform shows on the rickety pier and wander the shoreline. These were the memories I went back to when writing my early MG novel, QUINNY & HOPPER: the contrast between city bustle and rural quiet, the breathlessness of a packed schedule versus the balm of a leisurely day all to yourself.

I changed schools a lot when I was young, and the anxieties and uncertainties of that informed my writing of this book, too — but it’s those simple, sweet cottage-day memories that made me want to write about a great summer friendship in the first place.

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Louise Galveston
BY THE GRACE OF TODD
Razorbill/Penguin

I was feeling very pleased with myself as I sashayed into the Jr High Halloween dance. I was all dolled up in a vintage black 60s dress, stilettos, pillbox hat with a net (my favorite part), and a diamond-studded cigarette holder (minus the cig, of course). I’d done my make-up a la Marilyn and felt my power as boy after boy wanted to slow dance with me. A big, good-looking farm boy (who’d never given me the time of day before) leaned in close to my hair and pulled back. “Yup,” he said with a lopsided grin. “Your hair does smell like BLEEP!” I was utterly humiliated. Curse you, Aquanet!

There is an extremely awkward Halloween dance in the sequel to BY THE GRACE OF TODD-IN TODD WE TRUST. Only Todd’s partner’s hair smells exotically of coconuts. 🙂

This picture is taken in the very cafeteria of the dance of shame. I think the hand-hold was a dare.

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Jennifer Downey
THE NINJA LIBRARIANS
Sourcebooks

It’s in those middle years that one’s native cheery sense of the possible, and the obviously self-evident suffers its most scraping of challenges! The summer after 5th grade, I went off to camp. One with wooden mouse-
chewed cabins, a beautifully unsupervised archery range, a lake, and a supply of boys, a species newly of interest. I had gone with a friend. We had decided ahead of time to ditch our real names and enjoy two weeks of summer paradise as “Katie” in my friend’s case, and as “Sandy” in mine. Quickly, we fell in love with a pair of twins from Long Island who wore matching stars and stripes bathing suits. Meaningful glances were exchanged. Clearly a note needed to be written. Arrangements codified. Cross-legged, on the eau-de-urine mattress, I licked my pencil tip. “Dear Ricky and Larry,” I composed, following with a business-like laying out of facts about the attraction “Katie” and “Sandy” felt in equal, though non-discriminatory parts. I closed with a question: “Which one of you, likes which one of us.” At that evening’s lakeside 4th of July gathering, the note was passed up to the blanket on which our beloveds sat. In the expectant hush that presaged the release of the first round of fireworks, the twins’ answer came back in slow deafening unison: “We both like Katie!” No malice. Just the facts. And a vast audience for my stunned burning-faced recognition of logic’s betrayal.

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Do you have any significant middle grade memories? Come share your highs and lows with us in the comments!

We’ll be back on Monday July 7th for some more middle grade fun! Stay tuned!

Mad For Middle Grade: Writing Quotes

May 5, 2014 | lmagaziner

The sun is shining, the birds are chirping, and four fantastic middle grade books are headed your way in May:

THE SECRET HUM OF A DAISY
by Tracy Holczer
Release date: May 1
Goodreads

CUPCAKE COUSINS
by Kate Hannigan
Release date: May 13
Goodreads

STEERING TOWARD NORMAL
by Rebecca Petruck
Release date: May 13
Goodreads

SLEEPOVERS, SOLOS, AND SHEET MUSIC (I HEART BAND #3)
by Michelle Schusterman
Release date: May 15
Goodreads

Congratulations to Tracy, Kate, Rebecca, and Michelle! Their books are fantabulous, so definitely seek them out!!!

And now, for this week’s topic:

Question: What is your favorite quote about writing and why?

Kate Hannigan
CUPCAKE COUSINS
Disney-Hyperion

Clutter and mess show us that life is being lived…Tidiness makes me think of held breath, of suspended animation… Perfectionism is a mean, frozen form of idealism, while messes are the artist’s true friend. What people somehow forgot to mention when we were children was that we need to make messes in order to find out who we are and why we are here.

―Anne Lamott, Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life

For me, this applies to those messy, ugly, unruly first drafts. It’s not about producing something tidy and perfect. It’s about getting the thoughts out, the brain dump. There will be time later for shaping and polishing. But if we’re shooting for perfection, we’re snuffing out that spark of creativity.

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Dana Alison Levy
THE MISADVENTURES OF THE FAMILY FLETCHER
Delacorte/Random House

My older brother […] was trying to get a report written on birds that he’d had three months to write, which was due the next day. […] he was at the kitchen table close to tears, surrounded by binder paper and pencils and unopened books about birds, immobilized by the hugeness of the task ahead. Then my father sat down beside him put his arm around my brother’s shoulder, and said, “Bird by bird, buddy. Just take it bird by bird.

–Anne Lamott Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life

I’ve now written five novels (though some will never see daylight), so I know, empirically, that I can crank out 80,000 words on a regular basis. But still, every time I face a blank page, or a massive revision, I remember this quote. Just take it bird by bird.

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Skila Brown
CAMINAR
Candlewick Press

Writing is hard for every last one of us…Coal mining is harder. Do you think miners stand around all day talking about how hard it is to mine for coal? They do not. They simply dig.–Cheryl Strayed (from TINY BEAUTIFUL THINGS)

My sister framed this for me and it sits on my desk, right next to a picture of our coal-mining grandfather. It keeps my butt in the chair.

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Jen Malone
AT YOUR SERVICE
Aladdin/Simon & Schuster

Be vulnerable.

–Chinese fortune cookie

I do have other quotes I love by real actual people (although, as evidenced in Lauren Magaziner’s THE ONLY THING WORSE THAN WITCHES, someone quite real writes all those fortune cookie slips) but this phrase has become my motto for 2014. It applies to my writing, for sure, and reminds me to not hold back in what I write and which parts of my writing I share with others (those extra messy first drafts, for one), but it also applies a lot to this debut year where I’m putting myself out there in new ways: asking strangers to read, review, talk about, blog about, and (hopefully) buy my book. That doesn’t always feel natural to me, but I’m learning to embrace the discomfort and grow from it. Someone else (okay, fine, I think it was Oprah. Fortune cookies and Oprah–I’m so very cliche!) once said “If you aren’t at least a little bit uncomfortable, you aren’t doing life right.”

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Lauren Magaziner
THE ONLY THING WORSE THAN WITCHES
Dial/Penguin

Prose is architecture, not interior decoration, and the Baroque is over.

–Ernest Hemingway

I live by this quote. Sometimes it’s tempting to get lost in pretty sentences that look and sound beautiful. But resist the temptation; instead, write to build something.

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Louise Galveston
BY THE GRACE OF TODD
Razorbill/Penguin

Follow your bliss.

–Joseph Campbell

I’m at my happiest when I’m creating. So I try to create something every day, for everyone’s sake.

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Rebecca Behrens
WHEN AUDREY MET ALICE
Sourcebooks

A writer is a person who cares what words mean, what they say, how they say it. Writers know words are their way towards truth and freedom, and so they use them with care, with thought, with fear, with delight. By using words well they strengthen their souls. Story-tellers and poets spend their lives learning that skill and art of using words well. And their words make the souls of their readers stronger, brighter, deeper.

–Ursula K. Le Guin

I’ve scribbled down many other, more practical writing quotes–tips on being brave when facing a blank page, or on how to tidy up a messy draft, or mnemonic devices on lay versus lie. But this writing quote helps me see the big picture; it reminds me how important and powerful words are, and that storytelling, while often a fun and delightful way to spend one’s time, shouldn’t be taken lightly.

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Edith Cohn
SPIRIT’S KEY
FSG/Macmillan

If I have something I want to say that is too difficult for adults to swallow, then I write it in a book for children. Children still haven’t closed themselves off with fear of the unknown, fear of revolution, or the scramble for security. They are still familiar with the inborn vocabulary of myth.

–Madeleine L’Engle

This quote inspires me to dream big and think outside the box with my writing.

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Gayle Rosengren
WHAT THE MOON SAID
Putnam/Penguin

The difference between the almost right word and the right word is the difference between the lightning bug and the lightning.

–Mark Twain

On first reading this may seem more humorous than inspirational, but like most “simple” adages, it embodies true wisdom, which in this case comes from one of our country’s most esteemed, beloved and prolific writers.

Sometimes we get so caught up in writing a story that we forget to take notice of each word we choose to tell it with. But no matter how compelling the storyline, what takes it from the realm of a good story to a powerful one rests in the tiny building blocks we use to shape it–the words. Thoughtful, patient selections of just the right word make all the difference. So on that final draft, no matter how anxious we are to ship it off to agent or editor and collapse in an exhausted heap, we must try to hold back, proceed slowly, linger thoughtfully over each word, and ask ourselves if another one might say it just a little better.

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Adriana Schanen
QUINNY & HOPPER
Disney-Hyperion

If you are a dreamer, come in.
If you are a dreamer, a wisher, a liar,
A hop-er, a pray-er, a magic bean buyer…
If you’re a pretender come sit by my fire.
For we have some flax-golden tales to spin.
Come in!
Come in!

–“Invitation” by Shel Silverstein

Nothing gets my all-over-the-place brain in the writing way like a hit of Shel Silverstein. This classic opener to “Where the Sidewalk Ends” is a lifelong favorite, an invitation to leave the literal world behind and cross over into the sublime.

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Heidi Schulz
HOOK’S REVENGE
Disney-Hyperion

If you don’t have time to read, you don’t have the time (or the tools) to write. Simple as that.

—Stephen King

I write for the same reason I read: I love stories. So if you see me curled up in my favorite chair, book in hand, please don’t disturb me. I’m working.

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Tara Dairman
ALL FOUR STARS
Putnam/Penguin

If there’s a book that you want to read, but it hasn’t been written yet, then you must write it.

–Toni Morrison

The biggest missteps I’ve taken as a writer have been in trying to write what I “should” instead of the kind of book that, as a reader, I would most enjoy. And given that the publishing process requires you to read and reread your book until you’re blue in the face, it may as well be a story that’s right up your alley! 🙂

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Rebecca Petruck
STEERING TOWARD NORMAL
Abrams/Amulet

What we call the beginning is often the end

And to make an end is to make a beginning.

The end is where we start from.

…

We shall not cease from exploration

And the end of all our exploring

Will be to arrive where we started

And know the place for the first time.

…

And all shall be well and

All manner of thing shall be well

–“Little Gidding” by T.S. Eliot

These words have been with me for twenty years. (Even painted on a wall!) They comfort me with the interconnectedness of things. Stories were how I felt part of the world, inspiring me to reallysee it and want to see more. When I write, I imagine my stories as introductions to the world for other readers, too, and encouragement to go beyond their everyday and explore.

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Laura Marx Fitzgerald
UNDER THE EGG
Dial/Penguin

“Perfect is the enemy of good.”

Using this line as a mantra is the only reason I got a word, a sentence, a chapter, let alone a book written. And you know what? The book still isn’t perfect. But it’s published.

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Jennifer Downey
THE NINJA LIBRARIANS
Sourcebooks

I…I….I don’t HAVE a favorite quote about writing! Not one that I’ve hung on a wall, or know by heart, or have tattooed on my forearm for easy reference. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate such quotes, and I know I’ve come across many great ones voiceover-ed in documentaries, typed in light italics at the start of book chapters, and scrawled across the top of chalkboards. I’ve just never felt so strongly about one writing quote that it became my guiding light. Well, truth to tell, some did affect me strongly, but I was too lazy to write them down. Okay, okay, don’t look at me that way! Yes, I confess that I DID possibly manage to copy one or two down on scraps of paper but then lost them before I could hook the sentiments into a suitable rug design. And now I’ve got bupkus. I actually considered googling “writing quotes”, picking one, and claiming it as mine own special one. THAT’S the sad bus station at which my life of quotelessness has left me. So let that be a lesson to you. I’m not sure which one exactly it is…but have at it!

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What are your favorite writing quotes? Let us know what speaks to you–we are ready to be inspired by quotes we haven’t heard before! And remember, if there is there a topic you’d like us to discuss next month, feel free to let us know in the comments!

Enjoy those May flowers! We’ll be back on June 2nd!

Mad For Middle Grade: Office Space

April 7, 2014 | lmagaziner

You know what they say about April, right? April showers bring… perfect opportunities to curl up with a great middle grade book! Like, for example, our wonderful April releases:

THE NINJA LIBRARIANS
by Jen Swann Downey
Release date: April 15
Goodreads

THERE WILL BE BEARS
by Ryan Gebhart
Release date: April 22
Goodreads

THE LUCK UGLIES
by Paul Durham
Release date: April 29
Goodreads

Hooray for Jen, Ryan, and Paul–and their spectacular books!

This month, inspired by cute writing-nook pictures that many other authors have posted of their own writing spaces, we decided to show and/or describe our favorites place to write!

Question: Describe or show your office space!

Paul Durham
THE LUCK UGLIES
HarperCollins

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Edith Cohn
SPIRIT’S KEY
FSG/Macmillan

I write anywhere. Have lap desk, will travel.

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Lauren Magaziner
THE ONLY THING WORSE THAN WITCHES
Dial/Penguin

The view from my favorite writing spot… my bed!

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Kate Hannigan
CUPCAKE COUSINS
Disney-Hyperion

Kate Hannigan’s writing space is protected not only by her Australian shepherd, Bella, but by the double-sworded ninja her son made in first grade. Elliptical workouts optional.

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Laura Marx Fitzgerlad
UNDER THE EGG
Dial/Penguin

We’re in a small apartment, so my commute consists of moving my laptop from a cluttered side table to the cluttered kitchen table. The writer’s life is not glamorous (at least this one isn’t).

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Rachel Searles
THE LOST PLANET
Feiwel & Friends/Macmillan

I usually work either plugged into a monitor at my desk (works best for revisions) or on a couch with my feet up (allows for greater free flow of thoughts, so better for drafting), but as you can see, there is generally one constant besides my laptop: my writing buddy cats, Simon and Jack.

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Louise Galveston
BY THE GRACE OF TODD
Razorbill/Penguin

I have my “office” in a corner of our living room. This old roll-top belonged to my grandmother and I love all the little cubbies because I am unfortunately more of a crammer than a filer. It’s deceptively tidy right now because of spring cleaning urges. I love my “sunshine” lamp (I usually write when it’s dark out).

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Tracy Holczer
THE SECRET HUM OF A DAISY
Putnam/Penguin

I write from a chair in my living room, flanked by my small, fluffy dogs, Buster and Molly. Sometimes, I wear a fancy crown as a warning to my husband and kids that I am not to be disturbed. It doesn’t always work, though, so I’ll often leave my “office” for glamorous destinations like the public library or nearest coffee shop.

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Robin Herrera
HOPE IS A FERRIS WHEEL
Amulet Books

I finally moved into an apartment big enough for an office and a real desk! Before I was using a coffee table and had no room for various things pictured here: pens, pencils, photos, and actual books. Now my office has bookcases and I can shut the door if I want… Sigh. Sadly, it also has the litter box for my cat.

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Skila Brown
CAMINAR
Candlewick Press

This is the view from the window over my desk. (Hence the screen. Sorry!) A giant backyard, lots of snow all winter, and always deer. There are always deer in my yard (and birds, and owls, and often coyotes.) It’s terrible for gardening but wonderful for distractions. Writers need to look out the window and let our minds wander. I feel lucky to have a great place to do that.

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Dana Alison Levy
THE MISADVENTURES OF THE FAMILY FLETCHER
Delacorte/Random House

I work in the finished attic of our house, which is a great spot as long as you are 5’6” or shorter (not a problem for me). I like it because it is MY space, and any mess I make stays just how I left it.This labeled photo shows several of my requirements for a good work day; other vitals would include lip balm, headphones, and, of course, internet-blocking software, because I have no willpower.

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Gayle Rosengren
WHAT THE MOON SAID
Putnam/Penguin

I love my writing desk. It’s a roll top style, so if company arrives unexpectedly and my desktop’s a mess–as it’s apt to be when deadlines loom–I can just pull down the top and hide it all away! I also love my desk because it has so many nooks and crannies and drawers. There’s a just-right place foreverything from paper clips to file folders, from manuscripts to memory sticks And although it has a window, from my desk I can only see trees and sky and the occasional bird flying by, which is pleasant without being distracting. I love my writing desk. Everything about it is perfect.

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Adriana Schanen
QUINNY & HOPPER
Disney-Hyperion

“Did you get locked out?” asked a neighbor, who spotted me hanging out in the yard in mid-30 degree weather.

Nope. Actually, I was working. Sitting in an adirondack chair with my coat on, scribbling away on a manuscript.

Earlier that week, I’d written in the car, in my daughter’s bed, in the bleachers at the rink, at the town library, and while walking the dog (on my smartphone).

I do have a proper desk up in the attic. But I find that I often need to get away from it, in order to do my best work. A change of scenery and perspective can shake loose all sorts of wonderful things from a stuck and deadline-addled mind.

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Jen Malone
AT YOUR SERVICE
Aladdin/Simon & Schuster

This is the handmade vintage writing desk I bought at a flea market ten years ago, which promptly went into my attic until last year (note: don’t shop like I do!) when I finally found the perfect spot for it. I love to think about the letters (maybe even books?) that may have been written on it before it was mine and also that the slanted top means I can’t even be tempted to have messy piles of stuff on it (though the inside compartment is scary). However, I confess, it’s far better suited for writing by hand, which I never do. That’s why, if you peer closely at the type on the computer screen, you’ll learn my dirty secret!

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Rebecca Behrens
WHEN AUDREY MET ALICE
Sourcebooks

I have many writing spots in my apartment, from my desk to the couch to the kitchen table, and writing spots in other places scattered around the city. But one of those writing places doubles as an inspiration spot, goodfor daydreaming and brainstorming and problem-solving–both for writing problems and sometimes IRL problems. Anyway, my inspiration spot is a makeshift window seat. From it I get a nice, sunny view of the sidewalk below my apartment. It makes for good people-watching. While I sit there, I can watch kids playing on the sidewalk and even catch the sunset. It wasn’t until I started cultivating my inspiration spot that I realized how important a place–or mental space–that is for writers, too. As important as an ergonomic desk chair!

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What do you think is a must-have in a writer’s space? Is there a topic you’d like us to discuss next month? Let us know in the comments!

Hope you enjoy those April showers! My tip: wear rainboots and splosh in lots of puddles! See you again when there’s May flowers… Monday May 5th, to be exact.

Kate Hannigan: CUPCAKE COUSINS

March 13, 2014 | onefourkidlit

As we’re starting to emerge from the grips of winter, it’s a relief to think about warmer weather. Today we’ll get an introduction to OneFour Kidlit author Kate Hannigan, whose middle-grade cooking caper CUPCAKE COUSINS comes out with Disney-Hyperion on May 13th.

What’s your debut book about? Can you share any cool details with us?

CUPCAKE COUSINS is a celebration of a whole bunch of things. Mostly it’s the joys of summertime. It’s about two cousins, almost-10-year-olds Delia and Willow, who get together every summer with their extended family at an old Victorian beach house on the shores of Lake Michigan.

Only this summer it’s different because their aunt is getting married. And she’s asked Delia and Willow to be her flower girls. It’s a task the girls feel is far beneath them; they’d much rather be “flour girls” and bake delicious desserts for the wedding. So they spend the whole week doing everything they can to get out of having to wear pink dresses and get into white aprons.

I wanted to create a pair of strong girls who are on equal footing. One is not sidekick to the other. They are both the stars of the show. And I wanted to present them “making and doing,” really pursuing their interests and making things happen for themselves and the people they love. The story is filled with cooking disasters along the way, but failing (sometimes miserably!) is all part of the learning.

The Great Outdoors features prominently too. I wanted these girls engaging with bugs and critters and dirt and sand during their summer vacation. Sometimes in the rigorously scheduled worlds we build for our kids, we forget to let them play outside and experience nature up close. So these cousins get to meet hummingbirds and pick blueberries, watch sunsets and boogie-board in the lake.

What are you most excited about in the debut process?

Other people! I’ve been able to connect with some wonderful writers, readers, and book lovers because of this story. The coolest connection might be with the owners of a cupcake food truck, Cupcake Gangsters, which will be a big part of my book launch here in Chicago in May. They are from the South Side as well, and they’re so great to take an interest!

Photo courtesy of Yelp.com

I’ve also loved getting to connect with other writers. A handful of Chicago-area middle-grade authors has sort of bonded together – I’ve been calling it a middle-grade jam session – to do some bookstore events and festivals, talking about the magic of middle-grade. I am thrilled to be going out into the world with my book alongside some warm, wonderful people. We’ve called ourselves Middle-Grade in the Midwest, and it feels like a party. I can’t wait for the first events with this group.

Do you have any writing quirks, places you need to write or things you need to have with you?

My characters are really superstitious, and that’s because I am too. I find lucky talismans all over the place, and I never ever pass up a penny on the sidewalk. At any given moment you can find me carrying a lucky charm in my pocket, whether it’s a Petoskey stone shaped like a heart, a plastic monkey my daughter (now 14) used to play with when she was 2, Santa Yoda, a decorative key I found on the street, a shark tooth (needs no explanation, right?), and best of all, a 1946 wheat penny, which is just like the wheat penny that brings the girls extra good luck in CUPCAKE COUSINS.

What’s missing from this talisman collection is the little soldier I found on the grass right around the time Disney-Hyperion was considering my manuscript for publication. I knew this little guy was going to bring me luck, so I carried him with me in my coat pocket for weeks. While his disappearance has me distressed, I am imagining he was picked up by another hopeful writer and is right now bringing her the good luck she needs to see her manuscript turned into a book.

Mad For Middle Grade: Watch Your Language!

March 3, 2014 | lmagaziner

Hey–guess what. It’s MIDDLE GRADE MARCH MADNESS! Which works out perfectly because we have three amazing March releases:

HOPE IS A FERRIS WHEEL
by Robin Herrera
Release date: March 11
Goodreads

UNDER THE EGG
by Laura Marx Fitzgerald
Release date: March 18
Goodreads

CAMINAR
by Skila Brown
Release date: March 25
Goodreads

Congratulations Robin, Laura, and Skila on your fantastic releases! May your books nestle into the hearts of young readers everywhere!

HOLY RAVIOLI!

This month we are discussing language in middle grade–from colorful swears to slang to made up words to integrating foreign language to how to use particular words to construct a voice. Read on as we spill our secrets about how word choice can affect the setting and characters.

Question: How do you handle language in middle grade, and what tips do you have about using word choice effectively? How does your use of language create a particular voice?

Louise Galveston
BY THE GRACE OF TODD
Razorbill/Penguin

Characters define themselves by the words the

y use, and if those words don’t ring true, you’ve lost your reader. To put it in a proverb: “Out of the overflow of the heart the mouth speaks.” When I compose a first draft, it’s nearly all dialogue with no description, because that’s how I discover who my characters want to be.

By the Grace of Todd has four viewpoint characters, and several other main characters, all with distinctly different voices. I relied on using catch phrases and varied sentence structure to keep the voices unique from each other: Duddy says “Dude!” a lot, Lucy “mmm hmms” and “yannos,” Todd likes “holy frijoles,” Lewis the Toddlian speaks very formally, like C3PO, and Persephone, the cowgirl Toddlian talks like a character in a Louis L’Amour novel, using such phrases as, “yer jest a sorry sack o’ taters.” To keep consistency of voice, I wrote the different POV chapters out of order. It was important to me that the kid characters sounded authentic, because that makes the fantasy elements more believable and fun.

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Rachel Searles
THE LOST PLANET
Feiwel & Friends/Macmillan

In writing THE LOST PLANET, I didn’t make any changes to the complexity of the sentence structure or vocabulary just because it was middle grade–I wrote the way I would write for any age. Because it’s science fiction, there are a few made-up terms like “annirad” blasters and colorful exclamations like “What on Hesta’s seven suns?”, but their meaning is apparent in the context, and I tried to never overexplain anything. Because I personally find that science fiction with a boatload of made-up words and slang gets a bit inaccessible to the average reader, I intentionally kept those expressions to a minimum. Even my main character names are straightforward, 21st century names–sure, those probably won’t be average names in the future, but I find it makes the characters more easily relatable. Besides, if I waste good weird names like Zap and Xaphlod on my Earthan boys, how will I distinguish my aliens?

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Dana Alison Levy
THE MISADVENTURES OF THE FAMILY FLETCHER
Delacorte/Random House

I love words. I love long words, slippery words, and — a writer’s favorite — words that I can use perfectly but have no idea how to pronounce. I also love swears! But when writing Middle Grade I had to rein in both tendencies and make sure that the language worked for four Fletcher brothers. With four narrators is that word choices really changed depending on whose head we’re in. Eli, who has a real fascination for science, explains things precisely. Jax is more prone to hyperbole, while Sam, the eldest, uses the most slang. And of course Frog, who is only six, speaks largely in exclamation points. When you’re the youngest, I guess you need to be loud to be heard!

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Heidi Schulz
HOOK’S REVENGE
Disney-Hyperion

Talking about language in MG? Yes!

One thing I love is when authors use sophisticated language and advanced vocabulary. I’m not talking about overwriting or purple prose, but rather, not shying away from complex sentence structure and/or less familiar words. (Lemony Snicket does this well.)

I think most MG readers are able to pick up on contextual clues to figure out what something means. If not, there’s always the dictionary—which I must admit to using myself for the word “perfidy” in Kate DiCamillo’s The Tale of Despereaux.

I think the key to making more difficult language accessible is to write with a strong, engaging voice that will carry the reader through the unfamiliar parts.

But that’s easy, right? RIGHT?

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Jennifer Downey
THE NINJA LIBRARIANS
Sourcebooks

Language! Playground. Arsenal. Paintbox. Box of Shrimp Chocolates. First-Aid Kit. Third Rail. Last Resort of Humans Separated by Skin Sacks. Growing up I fell in love with the serpentine, multi-claused language of Mark Twain and Charles Dickens, L. M. Montgomery and E. Nesbit. I liked and like my narration packed with asides, double-backs and unexpected passage-ways — pockets to hold the comic perspective in the tragic sentence, and the tragic perspective in the comic one. I assume there are kids alive today who also delight in such rich mazes.

Because The Ninja Librarians is an adventure fantasy which had to, if not hurtle forward, at least move smartly in that general direction, I (and my suffering editor!) had to pick and choose when the story could afford my natural er…excesses. Despite our best efforts, I think my incorrigible impulse to force readers to cuddle/ lick the kitten/crowbar shapes/tastes of words, remains detectable. Forgive me, Hemingway Youth Guild members!

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Adriana Schanen
QUINNY & HOPPER
Disney-Hyperion

I love a good, juicy, breathless, careening run-on sentence. I also love when people get to the point. Writing QUINNY & HOPPER in two first-person POVs let me indulge both linguistic loves.

Quinny is a Tae Kwon Do green belt, expert tap dancer, beginner accordion player — and the life of any party. Relentlessly sociable and often hot-tempered, she has trouble using her “indoor voice” and her engine’s got one speed: very, very, extra-very fast.

Hopper is a gifted artist and budding scientist who’s deeply curious about people – but from a distance. He’s happiest holed up in his room, sketching, reading or juggling. He thinks Quinny talks too much, but he’s mesmerized by all the words in her mouth.

Dual first-person narratives are tough to pull off, especially in characters this young (rising 3^rd graders – yikes!). But, being a Gemini, I went for it.

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Kate Hannigan
CUPCAKE COUSINS
Disney-Hyperion

When I was writing CUPCAKE COUSINS, I wanted to capture the spirit of books that I think have a certain timelessness. Elizabeth Enright’s GONE AWAY LAKE, Jeanne Birdsall’s THE PENDERWICKS. Both features kids running around in the summertime enjoying the simple pleasures of being a kid. So while my book is clearly contemporary – one of them goes to zoo camp each summer! – I was deliberate in my references and language in not going for up-to-the-minute trendiness.

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Edith Cohn
SPIRIT’S KEY
FSG/Macmillan

For me, language in middle grade is the same as language in any novel. It’s best when it reflects the character’s personality, background and setting. Setting? Yes, language can enrich your setting. Here are some examples from my novel SPIRIT’S KEY which takes place on an island.

“Nector grins wider than a clam at high tide.”
“Luck of the oyster crab has abandoned me today.”
“Last one there is a rotten jellyfish.”
“Son of a sand fiddler!”

My main character Spirit uses ocean references because she lives on an island and is deeply connected to her home. Her place on the island is one of the book’s biggest themes. Whooping wowzers! Language can convey everything.

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Jen Malone
AT YOUR SERVICE
Aladdin/Simon & Schuster

One thing I’m really conscious about is using language and phrasing to try to give another level of insight into my characters. My opening line of AT YOUR SERVICE (which is: Oh! Holy! Yikes!) is a phrasing I made up just for Chloe and hopefully shows her tween voice well. But I also tried hard to show how much a part of her New York City (her hometown) is, by choosing similes that refer to it whenever possible. When she has a crush on the boy she describes his eyes as “the same navy as the Hudson River before it storms” and she blushes “the bright red color of the TKTS booth” in Times Square. It was a very deliberate decision that also was a ton of fun to write. My favorite is when she describes her feeling of “ugh- this is too much to handle at once” as being like “walking to school in February and having to go down a half block from the crosswalk to avoid the puddles of slushy, sooty, melting ice puddles and then stepping off the curb only to land in the dog poop someone didn’t scoop AND getting sprayed by a taxi driving too close to the side of the road.” As much as I love visiting New York myself, there ARE some times the city turns on you. 🙂

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Tara Dairman
ALL FOUR STARS
Putnam/Penguin

When you’re writing a book with a large cast, one of the biggest challenges can be making sure that your characters don’t all sound the same. One trick that sometimes helps me with this is to give a character a sort of “catch-word,” which they use when they’re feeling strongly about something. For instance, in ALL FOUR STARS, Sandy pronounces things “excellent” a lot, and Charissa (kinda like this author) overuses the word “awesome.” Meanwhile, our heroine Gladys—who tends to face disaster more often than her friends do—relies heavily on the middle-grade-friendly (and cooking-related!) expletive “Fudge!”

One word may not sound like much of a start, but I’ve found that it can serve as a gateway into a character’s entire speech pattern.

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Skila Brown
CAMINAR
Candlewick Press

When I was including Spanish words and phrases in Caminar, I had to think about how to let a reader know what each phrase meant. Sometimes I included the English translation right after that. Sometimes I relied on context clues. Other times I just allowed that the word was similar enough to an English cognate that even the youngest reader would figure it out. My editor suggested adding a glossary at the end of the book—a great idea. But definitely the hardest part was coming up with a pronunciation guide. It’s hard to explain the sounds of one language using only the sounds of another to do so. I don’t envy the writers of language dictionaries!

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Rebecca Behrens
WHEN AUDREY MET ALICE
Sourcebooks

In WHEN AUDREY MET ALICE, I had two very different voices to work with: a contemporary first daughter, Audrey, and a historical one, Alice. I had so much fun figuring out how Audrey would use language—she mentions a lot of names and acronyms, such as her Secret Service code name, “Tink,” acronyms like POTUS, and other nicknames based on her family’s political roles, like “First Gent” and “Fido.” Alice’s voice was a little trickier—I really wanted to make sure her diary entries were realistic. Hopefully, her voice is believable as that of a seventeen-year-old in the early 1900s. I’m sure I’ve included a few anachronistic words here and there, even though I did rely heavily on an online etymology dictionary and other resources to see when terms came into use! But I also wanted Alice’s words to flow nicely and stay accessible for young readers today.

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Robin Herrera
HOPE IS A FERRIS WHEEL
Amulet Books

I’ve read a lot of craft books that advise against using any sort of slang. They specifically tell you that slang is a bad way to date your novel. But does anyone read Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret and think about how dated the slang is? NO!

Anyway, my one golden piece of advice on slang is to use it consistently. Yes, your book will sound dated if you have a character blurt out hot slang words a couple times. That’s not how kids talk! And a lot of kids don’t even use known slang, they make up their own. (Which is what I like to do!) Stellar example: just started reading Ryan Gebhart’s There Will Be Bears, where the main character, Tyson, uses the word “yamhole.” I love it! The meaning hasn’t even been explained yet, but contextually it’s easy to figure out, and it gives you insight to Tyson’s personality. (It helps that Tyson doesn’t just say it once.) Whatever you do with slang, be consistent! Don’t be slangin’ all over the place or it will ring false.

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What do you think are the distinguishing factors in language for middle grade readers? Is there a topic you’d like us to discuss next month? Let us know in the comments!

Happy springtime! See you again on Monday April 7th.

OneFour KidLit

YA and MG authors debuting in 2014

Tag Archives: Mad For Middle Grade

Mad For Middle Grade: Coming Up Next

Mad For Middle Grade: Crunching Numbers

Mad For Middle Grade: Villainous Tricks and Treats

Mad For Middle Grade: A Picture’s Worth a Thousand Words

Mad For Middle Grade: Behind the Scenes

Mad For Middle Grade: A Trip Down Memory Lane

Mad For Middle Grade: Writing Quotes

Mad For Middle Grade: Office Space

Kate Hannigan: CUPCAKE COUSINS

Mad For Middle Grade: Watch Your Language!