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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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About Us

Welcome to our website and blog!

In the spring of 2010, a group of nearly thirty authors banded together to form a website and blog like no other in the history of the internet. As writers and readers of middle-grade books, our goal is to bring awareness and enthusiasm and celebration to books for 8-12 year olds, creating a *home* for anyone and everyone who loves books for this Golden Age of Reading. After a decade of chapter books getting lost in a labyrinth of sites aimed at young adult literature, we are excited to give birth to this magical place for all things middle-grade.

From the Mixed-Up Files . . . of Middle-Grade Authors was born!

Our mission is to offer teachers, librarians, parents, kids, writers, and anyone with a passion for children’s literature: booklists organized by unique categories, author interviews, market news, and a behind-the-scenes look at the making of children’s books from writing to publishing and promoting.

To find out more about us, please visit our Author Bios.

MISSION STATEMENT

From the Mixed-Up Files is the group blog of middle-grade authors celebrating books for middle-grade readers. For anyone with a passion for children’s literature—teachers, librarians, parents, kids, writers, industry professionals— we offer regularly updated booklists organized by unique categories, author interviews, market news, and a behind-the-scenes look at the making of children’s books from writing to publishing to promoting.

MEMBERSHIP GUIDELINES can be found here.

Please read the guidelines and see if there is an opening posted before emailing us about joining. Thank you!

NEW RELEASES

Authors, do you have a middle-grade book coming out in the near future? Send us an email at newreleases@fromthemixedupfiles.com with your name, title, and publisher, and we will include your title in our list of upcoming releases. All books must be published by a traditional publisher as listed in the latest Children’s Writer’s and Illustrator’s Market. Fiction and non-fiction welcome.

Please allow us a one-month lead time. We also ask that you do not send ARCS or books for reviews since we do not post reviews on our site. However we will gladly accept an ARC or book donated for one of our book giveaways.

DONATIONS

Would you like to donate a book for our giveaways? We will gladly take any middle-grade book published by a traditional publisher as listed in the latest Children’s Writer’s and Illustrator’s Market. Please contact us at msfishby@fromthemixedupfiles.com with the book title, your name and email and a copy of the cover image, if possible. And thank you! We appreciate your willingness to help spread the word about great middle-grade books.

CONTACT US

Webmaster contact: msfishby@fromthemixedupfiles.com or simply click on the “contact” icon in the top right corner of our site.

LINK TO US

Use this banner to link back to us from your web site or blog.

Find us on these networking sites!

Follow us on Twitter

We send a special thanks to Wendy Martin (www.wendymartinillustration.com) for the header illustrations, and Bonnie Adamson (bonnieadamson.net) for the sidebar illustrations.

5 Comments

  1. jan godown annino  •  Jun 23, 2010 @8:59 pm

    I’m a new reader to the site & can’t wait to recommend it to my critique group.

    Since I’m new, I haven’t read everything, so apologies if I repeat titles/author
    you’ve covered. But has anyone yet suggested the chapter books of HILLARY B. HOMZIE?
    For the 8 year olds I’m thinking of her animation bound ALIEN CLONES from OUTER SPACE series.
    For the older kids her THINGS ARE GONNA GET UGLY.

    Her narrative voice is quirky, strong & she is a funny writer. She was a stand-up comic.

    thanks for creating this tasty & exhuberant site.

    jga-

    [Reply]

  2. Maggie Cary  •  Mar 1, 2012 @4:49 pm

    Hi,
    Love your blog! Have just published Secrets of the Crystal Cavern a MG book on Amazon. If you would like a copy for a give away please let me know.
    mracary@yahoo.com
    Thanks,
    Maggie Cary

    [Reply]

  3. Sarah  •  Jan 2, 2013 @9:20 pm

    Excellent! So happy to hear that reading is still highly encouraged. I remember my high school teacher presenting it like a chore. A passion for reading is truly contagious in the classroom.

    [Reply]

  4. game of thrones season 3  •  Mar 25, 2013 @7:33 pm

    RT @ChristopherSean: Game of Thrones!!! I need a team to watch it with!!

    [Reply]

  5. Rachaels Printable Daily Coupons  •  Apr 9, 2013 @10:54 pm

    Next time I read a blog, I hope that it does not disappoint me just as much as this particular one. I mean, I know it was my choice to read, nonetheless I actually believed you would have something helpful to talk about. All I hear is a bunch of whining about something you could fix if you weren’t too busy looking for attention.

    [Reply]

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