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    May 12, 2012: The Kids Have Voted

    Votes have been tallied for the 2012 Children’s Choice Book Awards. Winner in the 5th/6th grade category was Okay for Now, Gary Schmidt’s companion novel to his Newbery Honor-winning The Wednesday Wars. Illustrator of the year went to Brian Selznick for Wonderstruck, and author of the year went to Jeff Kinney for Cabin Fever, the latest installment in his Wimpy Kid series.

    For a complete list of the winners…

     

    May 10, 2012: Happy Children’s Book Week!

    In honor of National Children’s Book Week, award-winning author-illustrator Matt Phelan posted this delightful review of Polly Horvath’s new book on his blog… 

    For more about Children's Book Week…

     

    May 5, 2012: Oh Me, Oh May

    Check out all the new books releasing in May...

     

    May 5, 2012: Be a Fourth-Grade Somebody

    One lucky fourth-grade classroom will win a Skype visit from author Judy Blume this month. To participate, all you have to do is have your students write a sentence or two on why they like fourth grade. The contest, which ends May 15, is sponsored by School Library Journal.

    For details…

     

    May 5, 2012: Sturm und Drang for Kids

    Guardian columnist Julia Eccleshare tackles the question “Why are so many highly praised children's books gloomy?” in this April 30 article…

                            




    May 1, 2012: It’s No Mystery

    The Edgar Award for the best juvenile mystery of the year was presented this past weekend to Matthew Kirby for Icefall (Scholastic, 2011). Publishers Weekly said of Kirby's Viking suspense novel, “Readers may be drawn in by the promise of action, which Kirby certainly fulfills, but they’ll be left contemplating the power of the pen versus the sword—or rather the story versus the war hammer.” 

    For more on the award…

    To read a Mixed-up Files interview with Kirby... 

     

    May 1, 2012: Crystal Clear

    Winners of the 2012 Crystal Kite Awards, the only peer-given awards in children’s publishing, were announced this week. The awards are voted on by members of the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators. Middle-grade winners include The Friendship Doll by Kirby Larson and The Absolute Value of Mike by Kathryn Erskine.

    For a complete list of winners...

     

    April 30, 2012: Does a Pineapple Have Sleeves?

    What happens when a Daniel Pinkwater story is adapted for use in a statewide standardized test? The New York Times reports on the kerfuffle here...

     

    April 30, 2012: More than One Path to Publication

    The lines between traditional and self-publishing continue to blur as more and more traditionally published authors find ways to utilize the flexibility and freedom that self publishing offers. Author Kate Milford recently announced in Publishers Weekly that her new fantasy, The Broken Lands, which will be published by Clarion in September, will be accompanied by the release of a self-published novella, The Kairos Mechanism.

    Says Milford, "I want to experiment with self-publishing as a way to promote and enhance traditional releases by providing extra content to readers in the form of complete, related tales. I also want to use resources that support independent bookstores." As an added bonus Milford is planning a special digital edition of her self-published work that will include illustrations by 10 teen readers. 

    For more…

     

    April 14, 2012: It’s Raining, It’s Pouring!

    Check out all the new books releasing in April...

     

    April 12, 2012: The Greatest Girls 

    Jen Doll, columnist for The Atlantic Wire, talks about “The Greatest Girl Characters of Young Adult Literature” in this April 5 article, the first in a series called “Y.A. for Grownups.” Among the characters Doll mentions are a number of middle-grade favorites, including Meg Murray from A Wrinkle in Time and Claudia Kincaid of From the Mixed-up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler.

    For more… 

     

    April 12, 2012: Moss Aims to Pick Up Where Tricycle Left Off

    Berkeley-based children’s author and illustrator Marissa Moss, best-known for her Amelia’s Notebook series, is starting a new West Coast publishing venture called Creston Books. Says Moss, “The idea’s been percolating for years. It came to a head after Random House bought Ten Speed and threw Tricycle away.” Moss got her start with the quirky, risk-taking Tricycle Press, which published Amelia’s Notebook at a time when traditional publishers were unsure what to do with the illustrated diary format.  “New York publishing is about: what’s the next Harry Potter, what’s the next Twilight?” says Moss. “When I’ve approached people, I’ve asked, ‘What is the book you’ve been dying to do, but New York won’t do?’ I want the books that they think won’t sell—because I think they will.”

    Creston’s first books are due to release Fall 2013. In the meantime, Moss is seeking kickstarter funds to help back the project. For more…

     

    April 10, 2012: After Chrestomanci

    An online celebration of the life of British author Diana Wynne Jones (1934-2011) will kick off April 12 with a two-week blog tour. In conjunction with the tour a special blog has been set up where fans can share their favorite books, quotes, stories, characters, covers, and memories of Diana with fellow fans around the world.

    Wynne Jones was the author of dozens of popular titles, including the Chrestomanci series and Howl’s Moving Castle, which was made into an animated film by Hayao Miyazaki in 2004.

    For details…

     

    April 6, 2012: Game Over!

    The Battle of the Books has ended. And the winner is…

    I’m not telling! You’ll just have to click on over to the School Library Journal site and read Jonathan Stroud’s incredible analysis of the three finalists—Life: An Exploded Diagram by Mal Peet; Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys; and Okay for Now by Gary Schmidt.


    March 31, 2012: Hiaasen Says There’s No Fooling Kids

    Newbery-honor winning author Carl Hiaasen talks about writing for kids versus writing for adults in this March 6 School Library Journal interview. Says Hiaasen, “The idea that you're fooling kids is crazy. That's the way I've been able to connect to and go between adult and young adult books. Kids love sarcasm and the idea of bursting a grown-up's bubble. It's a question of calibrating the story to the young adult market. Once I did that with Hoot and it worked, it opened up a new and rewarding way of writing for me.”

    Hiassen’s new middle-grade book, Chomp, was released this week.

     For more…

     

    March 29, 2012: What’s the Buzz in Middle-grade Fiction?

    A panel of editors will share their predictions for this fall’s breakout titles when BookExpo America convenes June 5-7 at the Javits Center in New York City.  You don’t have to wait until June to catch the buzz, though. According to the BookExpo on-line news, titles to watch are:

    • Malcolm at Midnight by W. H. Beck (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt)

    • The Peculiar by Stefan Bachmann (HarperCollins)

    • Starry River of the Sky by Grace Lin (Little Brown)

    • Tales from Lovecraft Middle School #1: Professor Gargoyle by Charles Gilman (Quirk)

    • With Love From Paris: Mira's Sketchbook by Marissa Moss (Sourcebooks)

    For more…


    March 26, 2012: Lindgren Winner Announced

    Dutch author Guus Kuijer has won the Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award given by the Swedish Arts Council to honor an author whose body of work is in the spirit of Pippi Longstocking author Astrid Lindgren. The winner receives 5 million Swedish crowns (more than $700K), making it the richest prize in the world for children’s literature. Past winners include Katherine Paterson, Sonya Hartnett, Maurice Sendak, and Shaun Tan.

    Kuijer was selected by an international jury of experts who praised his "razor-sharp realism,” “subtle humor,” and “visionary flights of fancy.” Kuijer is author of more than 30 titles, most of them for young teens. Sadly, only one of his books has appeared in English—The Book of Everything, a slim but haunting novel published by Arthur Levine Books in 2006.

     For more…

     

    March 20, 2012: No Grownups Allowed

    It’s time for kids to vote for their favorite books of the year in this year’s Children’s Choice Awards. Winners will be announced during Children’s Book Week, May 7-13, 2012. The awards are sponsored by the Children’s Book Council, which celebrates the transformative power of literacy. Kids can vote individually or librarians, teachers, and booksellers can log on to record their students’ votes.

    Finalists for the 3rd-4th grade Book of the Year are:

    • Bad Kitty Meets the Baby by Nick Bruel

    • A Funeral in the Bathroom and other School Bathroom Poems by Kalli Dakos

    • The Monstrous Book of Monsters by Libby Hamilton

    • Sidekicks by Dan Santat

    • Squish #1: Super Amoeba by Jennifer and Matthew Holm

    Finalists for 5th-6th Grade Book of the Year are:

    • Bad Island by Doug TenNapel

    • How to Survive Anything by Rachel Buchholz

    • Lost & Found by Shaun Tan

    • Okay for Now by Gary Schmidt

    • Racing in the Rain: My Life as a Dog by Garth Stein

    For more about Children’s Book Week…

    To vote …

     



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Middle-grade Book Club Guide

Feb 25, 2011
Activities, For Kids

So, you want to start a book club! Cool! But, how do you begin?

I asked my pal and librarian extraordinaire, Deb Marshall, about what goes into making a successful middle-grade book club. She and her Backroom Kids Book Club members came up with some awesome advice to get you started:

Deb’s report on the kids’ thoughts as she went around the table :

SNACKS: since we meet right after school, the kids are hungry and have had NO FOOD since lunch. They really like having a chance to just sit around and chat about ‘whatever’ while they eat. In other words, we start with fifteen minutes or so of eating and chatting. 

FIRST GRABS: the book clubbers LOVE getting first dibs on new books that come into the library. It’s like Christmas every Thursday!  Some call this “first grabs”.  They also like that they get to read Advance Review Copies and do reviews on them.

NEW RELEASES ‘HEADS UP’: they get to find out what new releases are coming out. We decided to make this a weekly feature of our book club.

NEW FRIENDS:  You never know who you will meet, but you all have one thing in common: you love to read! They really like that the book club feels like a social event. (Deb: this one surprised me, actually. That is one of the reasons I love book clubs too!)

OPEN REGISTRATION: they like the open registration and that they don’t have to come to every meeting (although they DO come to every one, lol). They like that we don’t have ‘required reading’ right now…we just go around the table and talk about what we are reading and why we like it. It’s like ’show and tell’ for books!

Deb’s thoughts on book clubs:
 
OPEN DOOR POLICY: it’s important to make everyone feel welcome and on equal ground.  Book clubs are about a love of books and if you are reading the same book over and over again, that’s okay. I had a girl in a previous club who did just that; in fact she told me she didn’t really like to read. I told her that was okay–she could still come and join in–we’d find her something else she liked. And we did! She became one or our most voracious readers!

START SMALL AND GROW FROM THERE: if you start with small numbers, don’t get discouraged. Just keep going if your time and budget allows. Both book clubs I’ve been a part of started really small. In both cases, 2 kids. We ran all summer with just two kids, then fall arrived and they brought friends and so on–until that club was running with at least 10 kids per week.

Same with the one I have now–we started with two, now we’re up to 12! The key here (I think) was letting the kids know it is a social event. We get together and talk about books, laugh and have fun.  Even if you’re not a speed reader, have only read one book in your life but love that book to death—join us!

Wow! Thanks so much to Deb and the Backroom Kids Book Club for all these great tips! I  totally want to join your book club now (especially if you have SNACKS! ;-) )

In fact, I’ll be joining them via SKYPE in the next little while and can’t wait. :-)

Your turn: Are you part of a middle-grade book club? Are you planning to start one? Please share your tips for success in the comments!

Hélène Boudreau is the author of the upper middle-grade novel, REAL MERMAIDS DON’T WEAR TOE RINGS (Sourcebooks/Jabberwocky).  She offers FREE 30-minute Q & A sessions via SKYPE with REAL MERMAIDS book clubs. You can visit her at www.heleneboudreau.com

Written by: Helene Boudreau on February 25, 2011.
10 Comments
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10 Comments

  1. Karen Scott  •  Feb 25, 2011 @7:10 am

    One of the things a middle grade book club my daugher and I belonged to did– We took turns “choosing” three books to recommend, then we gave a description to the group. The whole group voted on which one to read for the next month. It worked out pretty well.

  2. Deb Marshall  •  Feb 25, 2011 @8:52 am

    Helene! You are so welcome, thanks for asking us to share our passion!

  3. Karen Schwartz  •  Feb 25, 2011 @12:48 pm

    Sounds like a fun club. Wish they had something like that when I was a kid!

  4. Cathe Olson  •  Feb 25, 2011 @7:48 pm

    I really like the idea that the kids don’t have to all read the same book to discuss it. I love that they just share about what they are reading. I think that opens it up to so many more kids.

    Thanks for sharing this.

  5. Sayantani DasGupta  •  Feb 25, 2011 @7:50 pm

    Such a fantastic post – because it makes me realize, exactly like Cathe – that book club can be just kids talking about what books they are reading… fantastic…

  6. Diana Greenwood  •  Feb 25, 2011 @8:17 pm

    This makes me miss our old mother-daughter book club so much now that my girl is all grown up (and still an avid reader). Many good memories. LOVE the idea of talking about what books kids are reading. That could have really worked for ours when there was disagreement on choices and the reading felt forced. Didn’t happen often but once in a while.

    Thanks for a great post!

  7. Mindy Alyse Weiss  •  Feb 25, 2011 @10:45 pm

    Thanks so much for the great post, Deb and Helene! I’m part of several critique groups and we often discuss books we’re reading, but I’m not involved in an actual book club. Wow–wish I could be a part of yours, Deb! I’ve always thought that book clubs had participants read the same book–I love the thought of a more show and tell approach! I bet it helps a lot of your readers find wonderful new books!

  8. Pragmatic Mom  •  Feb 27, 2011 @5:12 pm

    Thank you for great ideas for middle grade book clubs! I run a book club for my kids (5th and 3rd grade) so it is great to know what is up head. I wanted to share my posts on Book Clubs for Kids at http://www.pragmaticmom.com/?category_name=book-club-for-kids

    I have some book and project ideas that might be helpful on this post: http://www.pragmaticmom.com/?p=120

  9. Megan  •  Mar 2, 2011 @8:20 pm

    This is a great idea! I am a writer, but, ironically, getting my daughter to read has been a struggle. I mentioned a book club, and she is excited. I think this will be the perfect thing to get her reading. Thanks!

  10. Deb  •  Mar 3, 2011 @12:44 pm

    Thanks for commenting, everyone! I must say I love my book club kids. They are amazing. Hard to believe it’s my job, lol. And yes on joining a book club, Megan. Maybe she could suggest it to her library, help organize it. When we started there was just 2-3 at a time, one of the boys really said he didn’t like reading, but he loved taking part in the planning and talking about the books he did like (many of which are graphic novels, so I told him it was great to have a graphic novel reader on board, I’d don’t get time to read as many as I want, so he is our go to guy, he’s been coming weekly since…Sept.) I think the key is to fit the club to the kids and recognize we are different kinds of readers. Some are good with reading one book a month, sometimes the same one over, some read a book a day. If we mold to them, though, I think we create the ground work for building non readers into readers, little bit of reading readers into more readers and voracious readers into kids who are willing to explore a wide variety of genre’s and take a role in creating a love of reading among their peers without being all “well I can read a book a day and you are only reading one a month?!?” (yeah started with a couple of those too, lol!) Anyhow, am still talking! Will stop. Thanks again for reading and commenting!