From The Mixed Up Files

August is a good month for reading, and  we’ve got you covered with some fun New Releases.     Ghost in the Night by Tiffany D. Jackson  From mega-bestselling author Tiffany D. Jackson comes this highly anticipated follow-up to her Edgar Award-winning, instant middle-grade bestseller Blood in the Water. Ghost in the Night is another spine-tingling, can’t-put-it-down murder mystery, this time set in America’s Most Haunted City. Savannah, Georgia, with its mossy trees and ornate old homes, is a place rich in history…and ghosts. Ghosts are what pique Harmony Roundtree’s interest. Still reeling from her...

The Association of American Literary Agents (AALA) has revised its Canon of Ethics, with changes set to take place September 1, 2026.   Significant Changes to Note   While agents still may not charge a client for editorial work done to prepare a manuscript for submission, other avenues of generating revenue have opened up. As reported by medium.com, agents can now “offer clients paid services, such as marketing, publicity, web design, and, in some circumstances, editorial services, as long as representation is not contingent on purchasing those services.”   A significant change to the Canon, while not encouraging agents to...

As a kid, my summers were spent hanging out at the library reading Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys. I loved a good mystery, and not much has changed in that department. With summer reading in full swing, I’ve picked six of my favorite middle grade mysteries to share. They...

  Welcome to STEM Tuesday: Author Interview, a repeating feature for the last Tuesday of every month. Go Science-Tech-Engineering-Math! Today we’re interviewing authors Danio Miserocchi and Maciej Michno and illustrator Valentina Gottardi, the creators of Who Hid the Stars? How LIght Pollution Changes Our World. Who Hid The Stars? artfully explores the causes and consequences...

In today’s author spotlight, Landra Jennings chats with John Claude Bemis about the newest book in his novel series with illustrator Nicole Miles, Rodeo Hawkins and the Sons of Disaster: A Graphic Novel, published by Holiday House and available August 11, 2026. Rodeo Hawkins and her ragtag gang of interdimensional outlaws...

As a kid, my summers were spent hanging out at the library reading Nancy Drew and The Hardy Boys. I loved a good mystery, and not much has changed in that department. With summer reading in full swing, I’ve picked six of my favorite middle grade mysteries to share. They...

August is a good month for reading, and  we’ve got you covered with some fun New Releases.     Ghost in the Night by Tiffany D. Jackson  From mega-bestselling author Tiffany D. Jackson comes this highly anticipated follow-up to her Edgar Award-winning, instant middle-grade bestseller Blood in the Water. Ghost...

A question I hear often from kid readers is “How can you write for us when you’re an adult?” There’s a lot of reasons why this question pops up, but one of the biggest is the fact that adults simply aren’t kids. In their minds, we don’t look like them,...