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    March 28, 2013: Big at Bologna

     

     

    This year at the Bologna Children's Book Fair, the focus has shifted to middle-grade.  “A lot of foreign publishers are cutting back on YA and are looking for middle-grade,” said agent Laura Langlie, according to Publisher's Weekly.  Lighly illustrated or stand-alone contemporary middle-grade fiction is getting the most attention.  Read more...

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    March 10, 2013: Marching to New Titles

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Check out these titles releasing in March...

     

     

     

     

     

    March 5, 2013: Catch the BEA Buzz

     

    Titles for BEA's Editor Buzz panels have been announced.  The middle-grade titles selected are:

     

     

    A Very Nearly Honorable League of Pirates #1: Magic Marks the Spot by Caroline Carlson

     

     

    Counting By 7s by Holly Goldberg Sloan

     

     

    The Fantastic Family Whipple by Matthew Ward

     

     

    Nick and Tesla's High-Voltages Danger Lab by Bob Pflugfelder and Steve Hockensmith

     

     

    The Tie Fetch by Amy Herrick

     

    For more Buzz books in other categories, read more...

     

     

     

    February 20, 2013: Lunching at the MG Roundtable 

     

    Earlier this month, MG authors Jeanne Birdsall, Rebecca Stead, and N.D. Wilson shared insight about writing for the middle grades at an informal luncheon with librarians held in conjunction with the New York Public Library's Children's Literary Salon "Middle Grade: Surviving the Onslaught." 

     

     

    Read about their thoughts...

     

    February 10, 2013: New Books to Love

     

     

     

     

     

    Check out these new titles releasing in February...

     

     

     

    January 28, 2013: Ivan Tops List of Winners 

    The American Library Association today honored the best of the best from 2012, announcing the winners of the Newbery, Caldecott, and Printz awards, along with a host of other prestigious youth media awards, at their annual winter meeting in Seattle.

    The Newbery Medal for the most outstanding contribution to children’s literature went to The One and Only Ivan by Katherine Applegate. Honor books were: Splendors and Glooms by Laura Amy Schlitz; Bomb: The Race to Build--and Steal--the World’s Most Dangerous Weapon by Steve Sheinkin; and Three Times Lucky by Sheila Turnage. 

    The Coretta Scott King Book Award went to Hand in Hand: Ten Black Men Who Changed America written by Andrea Davis Pinkney and illustrated by Brian Pinkney.

    The Laura Ingalls Wilder Award, which honors an author for his or her long-standing contributions to children’s literature, was presented to Katherine Paterson.  

    The Pura Belpre Author Award, which honors a Latino author, went to Benjamin Alire Saenz for his novel Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe, which was also named a Printz Honor book and won the Stonewall Book Award for its portrayal of the GLBT experience.

    For a complete list of winners…

     

    January 22, 2013: Biography Wins Sydney Taylor

    Louise Borden's His Name Was Raoul Wallenberg, a verse biography of the Swedish humanitarian, has won the Sydney Taylor Award in the middle-grade category. The award is given annually to books of the highest literary merit that highlight the Jewish experience. Aimee Lurie, chair of the awards committee, writes, "Louise Borden's well-researched biography will, without a doubt, inspire children to perform acts of kindness and speak out against oppression."

    For more...

     

    January 17, 2013: Erdrich Wins Second O'Dell

    Louise Erdrich is recipient of the 2013 Scott O'Dell Award for her historical novel Chickadee, the fourth book in her Birchbark House series. Roger Sutton, Horn Book editor and chair of the awards committee, says of Chickadee, "The book has humor and suspense (and disarmingly simple pencil illustrations by the author), providing a picture of 1860s Anishinabe life that is never didactic or exotic and is briskly detailed with the kind of information young readers enjoy." Erdrich also won the O'Dell Award in 2006 for The Game of Silence, the second book in the Birchbark series. 

    For more...

     

    January 15, 2013: After the Call

    Past Newbery winners Jack Gantos, Clare Vanderpool, Neil Gaiman, Rebecca Stead, and Laura Amy Schlitz talk about how winning the Newbery changed (or didn't change) their lives in this piece from Publishers Weekly...

     

    January 2, 2013: On the Big Screen

    One of our Mixed-up Files members may be headed to the movies! Jennifer Nielsen's fantasy adventure novel The False Prince is being adapted for Paramount Pictures by Bryan Cogman, story editor for HBO's Game of Thrones. For more...

     


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Win Win Win Erica Perl!

Mar 20, 2012
Learning Differences

Wake Up Readers!

The Mixed-Up Middle-Grade Skype Tour bus is in the driveway…

Open up those peepers. Did you win a Skype visit with Rosanne Perry??? Take a big drink of orange juice… but keep holding your breath… because before we announce the winner we’re meeting author extraordinaire Erica Perl.

Erica does it all – picture books, YA, and now with her latest novel MIDDLE-GRADE!

Erica, welcome to the Mixed-Up Files Middle-Grade Skype tour!  We love your middle-grade novel WHEN LIFE GIVES YOU OJ

What do you like best about writing for middle grade readers? 

I love how smart, funny and opinionated middle grade readers are.  The things they love, they LOVE and the things they think are stupid they think are COMPLETELY AND TOTALLY STUPID.  I can relate to that, since I have pretty intense opinions myself but I became really reasonable at some point.  Writing allows me to tap into my unreasonable side.
What was your favorite book when you were 8-12?
CHARLOTTE’S WEB.  It was the best book I had ever read, and actually it still is. (Yes! I agree. Readers, if you really love Charlotte’s Web you’ll love love love E. B. White and Peter Neumeyer’s Annotated Charlotte’s Web. It’s not just a book lover’s dream. It’s a teacher’s and writer’s master class!)
Another of my favorite books at that time was Constance Greene’s A GIRL CALLED AL, which I recently reread and I highly recommend.  I also went through reading phases, like reading all the Little House books, or reading everything by Judy Blume or Lois Duncan.  Books were like potato chips for me – who could stop at one?
YUM! What makes your school visits special?

I talk and show a powerpoint presentation that includes a lot of my reference points for my books, including family members (like the grandfather who inspired the character “Ace” in WHEN LIVE GIVES YOU O.J.).  I also talk about my process, from idea through lots of revisions to finished book and I often use examples from my picture books as well as novels.  But what really sets my visits apart?  It has to be the fact that I am probably the only author on the planet that presents her work wearing a genuine, hand-knitted chicken butt hat.

I’ve seen that hat! 

(But this is not Erica’s hat.)

Her hat is absolutely NOT TO BE MISSED! And I bet she’ll wears it on a Skype visit too! Readers would you like Erica to visit your classroom, book club or any other group of enthusiastic middle-grade readers? You came to the right place. Leave a comment here for your chance to win. Pass it along on Facebook or Twitter for more chances– just be sure to come back and leave a comment telling us how you’ve spread the word. We’ll draw the lucky winner next Tuesday when we’ll present the next Mixed-Up Middle-Grade author for your Skyping pleasure! For all the scoop and frequently asked questions about the contest look HERE!

 But wait!!!! We have a winner to announce!
 The lucky winner who’ll be welcoming Rosanne Perry to visit her readers is…………………

Portia Pennington!

Please email the please email the Mixed-Up Files at msfishby (at) fromthemixedupfiles (dot) com with your contact information! You’ll be hearing from Rosanne shortly! And huge congratulations!!!!!  And Pragmatic Mom we’re waiting to hear from you about your visit with Sheela Chari! Please send us your contact info too.

Readers— keep those entries coming and you might welcome Erica to your group… and come back next week for our next pit stop on the Mixed-Up Middle-Grade Skype Tour!

Tami Lewis Brown writes middle-grade books when she’s not battling computer viruses or driving the Mixed-Up Middle-Grade Skype tour bus.
Written by: Tami Lewis Brown on March 20, 2012.on July 10, 2012.
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