Getting Your Hands Dirty

 Sometimes opportunity presents itself and you get to experience something unique, and other times you have make those experiences happen.

A couple years ago a forest fire broke out about a half mile from our house while we were away on a canoe trip over the weekend. It wasn’t a big fire and luckily no houses burned.
At the time I was writing a story set in a place that has recently burned.

So, I hiked out to the burn and stomped around, watching the way the ash puffed up from my shoes.

Then I inhaled deeply through my nose trying to experience the smell, and ended up in a sneezing fit.

 I put my hand in the ash. It was still a little warm, and was neither as dirty nor as fine as the ash from my wood stove.

In doing research for another story, I tried to set a space blanket on fire but all it did was crinkle and melt. 

Don't try this at home. Oh, wait. That's where I tried it.  

Anyway, I had to change that little detail in my story. I was hoping the space blanket would burst into flames. I mean, the label said, "flammable." And to me flammable means fire.


Have you done hands-on research for your stories? Did you find out anything unusual? Did you have to change your story based on your findings?

How literate are your characters?

Every character in every novel is different. They're people, composed of different traits and personality quirks to make them real and authentic. We have smart boys, athletic gals, tech geniuses, sports fans... the list of character traits goes on and on.

Something I haven't noticed much of, though, is bibliophiles.

bibliophile (n): a lover of books; a collector of books.

Oh, you'll have the aspiring journalist/novelist/writer-in-general. And maybe the character will even come with a little description saying "he/she loved to read." And yet the actual books, the role that reading plays in the character's life, will have little to do with the actual story.

There is the worry that mentioning any titles will date your book right off the bat. The potential is high that mentioning any middle-grade book that's popular nowadays will decrease the longevity of your own book. I mean, if a reader picks up your novel a few years from now, chances are low they'll know exactly which book you're talking about, seeing how quickly times change.

...Unless you're talking classics like Harry Potter, of course. See page 336 (paperback) of Rick Riordan's The Lightning Thief: "He was reading a huge book with a picture of a wizard on the front. I wasn't much into fantasy, but the book must've been good, because the guard took a while to look up."

Okay, so we don't want to date our books. Let's focus on the ways in which reading affects your character, shall we?

As a writer, you (hopefully) know the impact that books have on an average person's life. To me, it's magical that a few hundred pages of black-text-on-white-paper can make me cry, make me laugh, make my heart twinge and pound and ache in turn. Books are such precious things; stories take on their own lives, and no one knows this better than writers themselves.

So write it out. If your character is literate, show it to us. Make it part of your character's growth, or part of your character's past. Show how your character curls up with a new book on a rainy (or sunny) day, or turns to a well-worn title for a surefire pick-me-up when they need one.

Because if your character is literate... then I want to know. Because it means that I might just like them that much more. :)

--Yahong

WE NEED YOUR VOTE!

Hello everyone!

Project Mayhem is up for a blog award on Goodreads for the IBBA Independent Book Blogger Awards! 

Please show your support for all things middle-grade and give us your vote! The bigger we are, the more great middle-grade giveaways and posts we can do for YOU!

And look at all our red, white, and blue! I think that's a sure sign that we are patriotic to middle-grade writing, or maybe we just liked that background the best....hmm.
EITHER WAY, GO ROCK YOUR VOTE ON GOODREADS!
Voting opens today - April 23rd!

Vote for PROJECT MAYHEM for the Independent Book Blogger Awards!

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Please Pass the Poetry: 6 New Poetry Books for Middle Graders

April is National Poetry Month, but, unfortunately, tell that to a bunch of middle graders, and you just might get a groan or two (or is this only the students at the school where I work as a school librarian?). Anyway, I've found the key to poetry and middle graders is to jump right in. Don't talk about it--start reading! After all, poetry is meant to be heard, not just seen.

Here are some new poetry collections that I am looking forward to ambushing my middle graders with this month.



by Lee Bennett Hopkins, Will Terry (Illustrations). Dial, 2012.
ISBN 0803737165 (ISBN13: 9780803737167)

Bugs and poems! From ticks to bed bugs to lice, the creepy and the crawly are sure to drawn in the middle graders who love the yuck factor. By a slew of illustrious poets such as Marilyn Singer and Lee Bennett Hopkins.


by Douglas Florian, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012.
ISBN 0547688385 (ISBN13: 9780547688381)

Baseball--the other big April event, right? This book of baseball-themed poems, complete with Douglas Florian's great illustrations will appeal to anyone who's ever spent any time at all at the ball field.

by Susan Katz, Robert Neubecker (Illustrator),  Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012.
ISBN 054718221X (ISBN13: 9780547182216)

Who doesn't love quirky facts about famous people? Especially people as important (and, let's face it . . . stuffy) as the presidents. 43 poems highlight little known facts about all those leaders of the free world. With historical notes, too.

by J. Patrick Lewis, Michael Slack, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012.
ISBN 0547513380 (ISBN13: 9780547513386)

This is the perfect example of "read it, don't talk about it!" Because these are math riddles wrapped in parodies of classic poems. Yeah, don't say "huh?," just go read them. And you might want to have the originals on hand when you share them with kids because they'll be asking for them for sure. By Children's Poet Laureate J. Patrick Lewis.


by Rick Lieder, Helen Frost, Candlewick Press, 2012.
ISBN 0763656011 (ISBN13: 9780763656010)

This one slows it down a little--instead of rowdy, funny poems, it's one poem, about stopping to really see what's around you in nature. Paired with stunning photographs that get even the most antsy middle grader looking closer.


by Ntozake Shange, Rod Brown, Amistad Press, 2012.
ISBN 0061337412 (ISBN13: 9780061337413)

An example of a picture book made for older kids. This one's free verse poems about the Underground Railroad. Their emotion puts readers (and listeners) right there in that world. Perfect for an immediate taste of history.

And finally,


by Laura Purdie Salas, Capstone Press, 2012.
ISBN 1429672099 (ISBN13: 9781429672092)

Okay, so this isn't a book of poems. But who doesn't share poems with kids without wanting to try some of their own? Laura Purdy Salas covers the basics while using pictures as inspiration.

Happy poetry reading! Do you have more ideas? Be sure to add your favorite middle grade poetry books in the comments.

Adults or Predults…We’re All Kids at Heart

Adults welcome!

There are some really amazing books that might very well be on the shelves disguised as adult fiction when, in fact, they would find themselves at home on any YA or MG bookshelf. Crossover books? Perhaps. More like shared books of interest.

Let us all remember that Harry Potter was not considered an MG book when it was written and first marketed. Once YA/MG readers discovered it, they loved it. The fact is that two covers were designed, one for adults and one for kids! I remember being in the UK in 2000 and noticing Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone (the original title of the US-renamed Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone which sadly overlooked the actual relevance of something called the philosopher’s stone in alchemical history) on the shelf kids’ shelf in  London bookshop. The artwork was not the same as it was in the US but it was a cute illustration with the same spirit as the American version. Perusing the shelves, I came to the adult fiction section. There was a book with a dark edge, an obscured photograph of a train, foggy and mysterious. And the name of that book was (wait for it…) Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone! Could it be? Were there two books by the same name… and by the same author? I may be a little slow in the uptake, but I was quick to realize that it was, in fact, the very same book. Talk about not being able to tell a book by its cover.

Harry Potter is an excellent example of books that appeal beyond the confines of their designated shelf. But we cannot always rely on different covers to guide us. We need to share books with each other to know what can work. A book (or series) I’d love to share is Jasper Fforde’s Thursday Next series. The first book, The Eyre Affair, knocked my socks off. I think there are few things as exciting as finding a book so unique and incomparable, that upon finishing it I had to immediately turn back and read it again! No blurb can do it justice, though on the cover I have,  the quote from the Wall Street Journal says that the book “combines elements of Monty Python, Harry Potter, Stephen Hawking, and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.” The hero is a literary detective in a 1980s world that is not quite the one we know. In this world cloning is hip and dodos are the ‘in’ pet. There is street warfare between gangs with different theories of who wrote the works of Shakespeare. Croquet is an extreme sport.  And protecting the integrity of a manuscript can be, well, murder. And you don’t have to know all the literary references to appreciate this book. Like so many kid shows and films and stories, there are meanings on many levels and pleasure for all. There’s nothing worrisome or dangerous in the language or action, probably tamer in some respects than some books labeled YA. But it is enormously fun.

The reason books like Harry Potter and Thursday Next work for different ages is that they were not written for any genre. They were just written by excellent storytellers who can spin a good yarn. There was no attempt to be naughty or attempts to be tame. The books were written to be read and enjoyed and they can be, by adults and YA readers, alike.

It is one of my greatest pleasures when a reader claims that the book is written for his or her own age. I get adults (never kids, other authors, teachers, or librarians) who say the Young Inventors Guild is too mature, too young for teens, too old for MG readers, or should be read by adults. It makes me feel like I’ve done something right.

Posted by Team Member Eden Unger