One day on Twitter I saw an author commenting on reviewers and especially how influencers pick their subjects. It made me curious about the author so I looked up their books. Imagine my surprise to find out I had started but not finished one of their books. So I decided to finish it… Especially because it was about Paris, which is one place I really want to go.
1. It’s a treasure hunt.
2. It’s in Paris.
3. At the start of each chapter it teaches you French.
4. It’s about fashion too.
5. It a very nice story of how family stuff can get in the way of love.
I saw on Twitter about a very outdated reading list for kids. I bet Little Women is a book recommended but I don’t get it. Lucky me I got to read MORE TO THE STORY first!! It is a modern retelling of the same story and so much easier for a kid to get.
The characters are dealing current issues and represent the diversity of schools. Plus the book touches on a big issue at schools called “microaggression”. As a kid, let me tell ya this is an issue in the middle grades.
Middle grade teachers and librarians should plan to add this book to their library.
Heck this would be a fantastic way to start a new TV show for kids. I mean they are rebooting everything so why no Little Women but from Hena Khan perspective. Can you imagine how much kids could learn about Muslim culture???
Book Source: purchased book 1 and borrowed book 2 from library
Book Status: available
The first book is about a girl who’s mom becomes the tour manager for her favorite band and spends the whole tour with them and moves her crush from one member the one other and meets an annoying girl who is the daughter of an important person who is a big helper to the band. But the band is falling apart and she has to stop it from falling apart .
The second book is about the bands next song being stolen and a sneaky vlogger who’s leaking the bands secrets and the new band has to cope with the old band and it torture for the kids but they devise a plan to stop is. The second book is about trust and working as a team.
What is interesting about these books is every kid thinks it would be cool to hang out on tour with their favorite but in reality, it sounds like a lot of work. This could be an interesting creativity writing project for students. Who would you go on tour with and what would you do? That would be so much more interesting than “What did you do this summer?” I think you would learn a lot about each kid and their interests.
When you were my age (10), did you have a book inspire or impact you? Yes! Bridge to Terabithia had a huge impact on me. I grew up on a little farm in the middle of nowhere and I really connected with Jess. But then I got to the end of the book and got so mad at Katherine Paterson for what she did to Leslie. I vowed to never read the book again and maybe even form an anti-Terabithia club or something. But I couldn’t stay away from that story for some reason. It had rooted itself in my heart and it wasn’t going anywhere.
2. Have you read anything recently that inspired or impacted you? Recently, I can’t get enough of Ronald L. Smith’s books. He writes the most wonderfully creepy stories and his latest, The Owls Have Come to Take Us Away, has quickly become one of my most favorite books of all time. And it’s the one that inspired me to begin working on a spooky story of my own.
3. Can you share what your usual day as an author looks like? It’s positively glamorous. I’m talking fluffy fleecy robes, cereal in diamond-studded bowls with milk that has the little gold flakes in it, imported coffee, you name it. wakes up Oh, sorry, what was the question? My typical day? Got it. Well, I’m also a full-time teacher, so most of my day looks like me running around, making weird jokes and goofy faces, trying to make kids laugh while I teach them stuff. Which is odd because that’s also how I look when I write. I do that for one hour before I go to work. I have my cereal (normal bowl, normal milk), my coffee (it’s from Kroger), and a head full of ideas freshly plucked from dreamland.
4. Is there a newer or less known author you think kids should know about? Absolutely. Greg Howard should be on everyone’s to-read list. His first MG book, The Whispers, is positively phenomenal and he’s got a new MG coming out next year that is going to be so much fun!
5. What is a cool thing about being an author? Connecting with young readers will always be my absolute favorite thing about being an author. Emails, letters, drawings, all of it. And when I’m lucky enough to meet readers in real life? My smile practically wraps the whole way around my head. Which is scary. It scares people. Especially me.
6. Is there anything hard about being an author? I know it is not rainbows, cupcakes, pens and a pot of gold. Well, there are cupcakes. But that’s because I like cupcakes and I buy them sometimes. Mainly because being an author is hard. One thing every author faces is rejection. For every book we have out there, there are probably two or three (or more!) that never made it. Rejection stings. And when you’ve got anxiety like I have, sometimes that sting carries a bit of poison that soaks into your brain, infecting every thought you have about your writing. Sometimes it can feel like you’re sinking. But luckily I have the most amazing wife who is a pro at helping me stay afloat. And my agent is so relentlessly supportive. I’m very grateful to have them on my side.
7. Book access and diversity in books is a big topic. As an author what do you think your role is in this topic? You know those cheerleaders who toss the other cheerleaders into the air so they can do some amazing flip kick twist move? I think that’s my role. Not doing the flip kick twist move, but heaving others into the air so they can do it. I want to find those books my students need and show them off. I want to lift up those voices because, unfortunately, a lot of times they don’t get the attention they deserve.
8. If you could portal into any book which would it be? This is such a tough question! There are so many books I want to live inside. But if I had to pick just one, I guess I’d go with the Kiranmala and the Kingdom Beyond series by Sayantani DasGupta. There’s so much magic and action and adventure. There are also plenty of monsters, but I know I’d be safe because Kiranmala is exceptionally good at kicking evil’s butt.
This book is cool because the girl ( strong female!) Desires to be and astronaut and go to Mars!
It’s also cool because her aunt who lives in PARIS is a scientist!
Her aunt sends a loooooot of boxes before she comes to the girls house and in a box is a robot!
The robot is a very intelligent bot and is the result of a date to make bot as curious as a kid. The bit helps the girl make her science project for the science fair because a he wants to win so she can go to the space center.
It teaches how to make a basic telescope through the story!
