The end of the school year is right around the corner!

For parents that’s no more carpools, no more packed lunches, no more homework battles! Right?

Before you get ready sink into that hammock on the beach… what about summer reading?

Fun and relaxation are important. All work and no play really does make Jack a dull boy. But nobody wants to encourage the “summer slump”. Studies indicate that children lose two months of math and reading achievement when their learning stalls over the summer. Elementary school librarian and children’s lit expert Louise Simone says “Of course, keeping students engaged and using some part of their brains over the summer is a good thing. Reading does that.”

Some kids look forward to plenty of free time reading in the summer. But for others summer reading is like a death curse… hence John Scieszka and Lane Smith’s very funny middle grade novel-

How can you minimize summer reading bloodshed? Consider these ideas-

1. Keep it real. Several years ago New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof proposed a summer reading list that’s a perfect template for how to make your own life miserable and squelch every last ounce of summer reading enthusiasm in your skeptical reader. Sprinkled among Kristof’s ridiculously predictable Harry Potter-ish recommendations were some good old classics like Little Lord Fauntelroy. Really?? Really???  Was he kidding? No. Then he proposed Lad, A Dog, written by Albert Payson Terhune almost one hundred years ago.

Kristof praised the book, saying “this is a book so full of SAT words it could put Stanley Kaplan out of business.”

Indeed! Here’s a paragraph from the first page of Lad-

“The Master had fished the month-old puppy out of the cavern of his pocket and set her down, asprawl and shivering and squealing, on the veranda floor. Lad had walked cautiously across the veranda, sniffed inquiry at the blinking pigmy who gallantly essayed to growl defiance up at the huge welcomer—and from that first moment he had taken her under his protection.”

???

I’m a big dog book lover (not to mention an admirer of high SAT scores). I’m TOTALLY in favor of smart books for kids! But forcing this book on your children guarantees growls of defiance.

Books you remembered from your own childhood? Or your great grandparent’s childhood? Skip them this summer. During the sizzling summer months kids are much more likely to read… and love… modern middle-grade novels, written with today’s pacing and relevant vocabulary. Check out Bobby Pyron’s A Dog’s Way Home

or any of the other fantastic modern middle-grade novels we’ve compiled in reading lists here at From The Mixed-Up Files.

2. Participate!  Some schools have mandatory summer reading lists. Nearly every local library has a summer reading program. Whether you and your child are selecting summer reading books on your own or participating in an established (or required) program fun summer reading should involve parents as much as kids.

Consider reading along with your child. Discuss the book at meal time. Read aloud together, alternating pages. How about a neighborhood summer reading book club? For most people, and that includes kids, going it alone isn’t a lot of fun. Turning summer reading into family reading will pay dividends in ways you’ve never imagined. Read more about parents’ role in creating a rich summer reading experience in this thoughtful article written for the National Summer Learning Association by Harvard professor James Kim.

3. Take advantage of resources-  There’s so much available on the internet these days. Scholastic has wonderful summer reading resources. And check out WETA/PBS’s Reading Rocket’s summer reading tips and activities. Even ordinary moms have posted tried and true summer reading strategies on the net.  When in doubt go with experts like teachers at your own school, the educators at Scholastic, or your neighborhood librarians, and most of all your own good sense. Tune out the dictates of  random newspaper guys who thinks kids want to read Little Lord Fauntelroy for fun… unless your child is that one in a thousand who really gets into Victorian didacticism.

Which is the point of summer reading, actually. Perfect summer reading is tailored to the child. Explore new genres. Delve into great series. Stretch skills but sometimes fall back on old favorites. Let your child pick some books on his or her own. Select others based on your child’s own taste and ability. Summer reading shouldn’t be an unpleasant job for your child–or for you. Have fun reading books! Those lazy hazy days of summer will be a lot less crazy when you and your children settle down together with a stack of great books.

What will your middle-graders read this summer?

Nobody ever had to force Tami Lewis Brown to read in the summer… but she never had to read Lad, A Dog!

As an author who writes books with her daughter, I was thrilled to be able to interview Sheryl and Carrie Berk, mother-daughter co-authors of the yummy The Cupcake Club series!

New York Times bestselling co-author of Soul Surfer, SHERYL BERK is the founding editor in chief of Life & Style Weekly as well as a contributor to InStyle, Martha Stewart, and other publications. Her daughter, CARRIE, a cupcake connoisseur, cooked up the idea for The Cupcake Club series in second grade. Carrie maintains her own cupcake blog, featuring reviews, photos and recipes of her culinary adventures, called Carrie’s Cupcake Critiques: http://carriescupcakecritique.shutterfly.com/

Me:  Hi ladies!  Thanks for joining us here at the Mixed-Up Files!  We’re excited to have you.  As a mother-daughter author-duo myself,  I know it can be great fun working together.  I’m dying to know what your experience is like writing as a team.

Carrie: FUN! We love dreaming up the crazy cupcake adventures for the Peace, Love and Cupcakes girls!

Sheryl: It’s a great way for us to bond. It’s wonderful to have my daughter truly understand what my job is. Before when I was on deadlines, she would get frustrated. Now she gets it. She now says when she grows up she wants to be a writer like her mom which makes me very proud.

Carrie: I want to be a New York Times Bestselling author, too.

Me:  My daughter is learning what it’s like to be on deadline, too!  Well, we’re learning it together, so that’s been fun and challenging.  When working on new material, we love outlining, coming up with interesting ideas and creating loveable, relatable characters.  What do you consider the best part of writing together?

Sheryl: Probably cooking up the story arcs for each book. We love to dream where we can take the characters next.

Carrie: So I love Las Vegas, and we had to put that into Book 4: Icing on the Cake. Jenna’s mom is getting married in Vegas!

Sheryl: We also love coming up with the cupcakes the girls will bake in the book.

Carrie: I watch Cupcake Wars for ideas. They put crazy things in their cupcakes: like pickles, Brussel sprouts and sardines.

Sheryl: Writing together also helps me understand what’s important to her and kids her age. She’s suggested topics ranging from bullying to dyslexia to rescue dog organizations. I love to hear what’s on her mind.

Carrie: I love when I get to edit what my mom writes. I change a lot of the things the girls say in the book because I want it to sound real. I’m 10, so I know how 10 year olds talk.

Me: Ha! My daughter does the same thing!  She’s “keeping it real” because I talk like a mom.  What would you say was the inspiration for the Cupcake Club series?

Carrie: Well, I couldn’t find any books about girls my age and cupcakes and I wanted to read one. I was in second grade, and I was having a sleepover party with my BFF, and I just sat down and started writing one. I showed it to my mom and she showed it to her literary agent and everyone loved it. But the idea really just came from me loving cupcakes and wanting other kids to share in that.

Sheryl: Many of the things that happen in the book are inspired by Carrie’s real-life experiences and what her friends have experienced. For example, she’s a peer mediator in her school and she gets to mediate kids who are feeling bullied. She wanted to write this into the first book because she felt it was something kids wanted to understand better.

Carrie: I also named the characters after people I know, like Principal Fontina. My principal’s name is actually Ms. Fontana. I also had the girls baking to raise money for an Eco Center which is just like the one in my school, and performing a Shakespeare play–which we just did this year in Fifth Grade. I played Lady Macbeth.

Sheryl: Carrie started her cupcake blog (www.carriescupcakecritique.shutterfly.com) when she was about 7. I think reviewing cupcakes really inspired her. And she always loved to bake with her friends–an unofficial cupcake club!

Me:  It really is amazing how kids are inspired to write because of what they want to read.   On a side note….we’re fans of sweets in our house.  What’s your favorite cupcake flavor?

Sheryl: For me, it’s always anything with banana.

Carrie: Red Velvet. I always taste red velvet at every cupcake store I critique because I can tell how good the baker is by how good the Red Velvet is. The frosting has to be cream cheesy and not too whippy. The cake has to be moist and I want to be able to taste the chocolate.

Me:  You’re a smart girl.  I have to be able to taste the chocolate, too.  Preferrably by licking the batter right off the spoon!  Thanks for joining us here on the Mixed-Up Files today!  Good luck with your fun series!

Meet Kylie Carson.

She’s a fourth grader with a big problem. How will she make friends at her new school? Should she tell her classmates she loves monster movies? Forget it. Play the part of a turnip in the school play? Disaster! Then Kylie comes up with a delicious idea: What if she starts a cupcake club? Soon Kylie’s club is spinning out tasty treats with the help of her fellow bakers and new friends.

But when Meredith tries to sabotage the girls’ big cupcake party, will it be the end of the Cupcake Club?

Meet Sadie.

When she’s not mixing it up on the basketball court, she’s mixing the perfect batter with her friends in the cupcake club. Sadie’s definitely no stranger to competition, but the oven mitts are off when the club is chosen to appear on Battle of the Bakers, the ultimate cupcake competition on TV.

But the real battle happens off camera when the club’s baking business starts losing money.

With the clock ticking and the cameras rolling, will the club and their cupcakes rise to the occasion?

Meet Lexi Poole.

To Lexi, a new school year means back to baking with her BFFs in the cupcake club. But the club president, Kylie, is mixing things up by inviting new members. And Lexi is in for a no-so-sweet surprise when she is cast in the school’s production of Romeo and Juliet. If only she could be as confident onstage as she is in the kitchen. The icing on the cake: her secret crush is playing Romeo.

Sounds like a recipe for trouble.

Can the girls’ friendship stand the heat, or will the cupcake club go up in smoke?

*

Amie Borst and her middle-grade daughter, Bethanie, write fairy tales with a twist.  Their first book in the Scarily Ever Laughter series, Cinderskella,  debuts October 2013!

What does this mean for the average writer? Is this good or bad?

        Why did you decide to become an independent editor?

           What does an independent editor do?

         How do you choose clients to work with?

What are the advantages of working with an independent editor?

What do you think of mid-grade novels?

What do you think defines a great mid-grade novel? Can you give some examples?

How are mid-grade novels different from YA novels?

What trends do you see in publishing?

Anything you’d like to add?