I hated growing up. And that time - just before the world turned upside down - when I was still a child but I felt it all leaking away - I fought that time with every sobbing breath. It took me a while to realize that you don't just -
poof! - grow up. It happens bit by bit. I didn't like learning about adulthood's inevitability. (There are those who think I fight it still.)
In Tricia Springstubb's
Moonpenny Island, Flor and Sylvie are perfect friends. This is a good thing. They are the only 11-year-olds on Moonpenny Island. But the end of summer brings enormous changes. Sylvie leaves to go to school on the mainland and Flor is alone. Flor's older sister, perfect Cecelia, has started acting strangely. And her parents, well, they should not be acting that way at all.
On a small island, it can be easy to put people in slots. Flor must open her eyes. She needs to see people as more than just labels. Ceclia is not "perfect". Perry is more than just the "bad boy". Joe Hawkes is not "trash". And her best, best BEST friend, does not have to stay the same always.
A young visitor to the island - a paleontologist's daughter - a family crisis, and her own impetus nature force Flor to truly see her island, and her family, for the first time.
Good book. Read it.
For better or for worse, as parents, librarians, and teachers, we rely a lot on series to get reluctant readers to keep reading. Heck, even very strong readers love the predictability and familiarity they have with characters and storylines they’ve encountered before. To that end, there are some #2 books coming out in new series this fall and they just might be the perfect recommendation for the kids in your library or classroom (or home):
THE FAMILIARS #2: SECRETS OF THE CROWN by Adam Jay Epstein and Andrew Jacobson
THE MYSTERY OF THE MISSING EVERYTHING by Ben H. Winters
MO WREN, LOST AND FOUND by Tricia Springstubb
THE MAGNIFICENT 12: THE TRAP by Michael Grant
What other series are your kids
Our popular feature is back! Blank-Meets-Blank was actually started first by Betsy Bird at Fuse #8 – she ranks the best “Blank-Meets-Blank” when she attends publishers’ librarian previews. This is an awesome way to booktalk to kids and teens in your library or classroom!
Today, we’re sharing the best Blank-Meets-Blanks for our upcoming Fall 2011 titles:
“Richard Scarry meets Where’s Waldo?”
EVERYTHING GOES: ON LAND by Brian Biggs
On-sale 9.13.11
“Kate DiCamillo meets Neil Gaiman”
LIESL & PO by Lauren Oliver
On-sale 10.4.11
“Ramona meets The Penderwicks”
MO WREN, LOST AND FOUND by Tricia Springstubb
On-sale 8.23.11
“Lord of the Flies meets Michael Grant’s GONE”
VARIANT by Robison Wells
On-sale 10.4.11
Many thanks to Tricia Springstubb, who lives and writes in Cleveland, Ohio, for sharing this memory of her fourth-grade teacher, Mrs. Minot, who inspired her to think of herself as a writer for the first time. I guess I'm about as close to "self-taught" a writer as possible. I've never taken a writing class, and my first publications came when I was living in the middle of Nowhere U.S.A., with
