Gripping adventures! Real life disasters! Heroic kids!

Posted on 02/02/2014

What middle grade reader doesn’t want to read a book in which the hero in a true-to-life disaster is his own age? The popular I Survived series has been a huge hit among reluctant and not-so-reluctant middle grade readers. Packed with fast-paced action, fascinating information about terrifying disasters around the world, and – at the center of each book – a story about a young hero who has to overcome personal conflict to help save the day and survive, this accessible series has garnered praise from readers and teachers, alike.

In the 9th book of the series, I SURVIVED THE NAZI INVASION OF 1944 by Lauren Tarshis, a young Jewish boy manages to escape the Polish ghetto where he lives with his family when the Nazis tanks invade it, and joins up with a band of resistance fighters in the forest. Does he have the courage to join in their fight? Can he survive a brutal winter living outdoors? The newest adventure joins the series that has covered such disasters as the Battle of Gettysburg 1863, the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the sinking of the Titanic, Hurricane Katrina, and the attacks of September 11, 2001.

ReaderKidZ talked to author Lauren Tarshis about the challenges she faces in writing about true disasters while weaving the story of a fictitious character throughout.

ReaderKidZ: The ninth book in this series – I Survived the Nazi Invasion 1944 – has just been published. It’s about a heavy topic I imagine you approached with a bit of trepidation. Or maybe not. Can you talk about that a bit?

LT: One of the big surprises as the writer of this series is that I get so many emails and letters from readers, and so often they suggest topics that are incredibly weighty, beyond what I would imagine a young child would even know about. Certainly 9/11 was the first topic to surprise me – I got thousands of requests for that topic, and approached it with enormous trepidation. I had so many doubts and worries. In the end, I’m very glad I did it. I have received many emails from NY City firemen who were at ground zero that day, and also people who lost family members. They I Survived Sept 11 Tarshisdiscovered my book with their children, and told me that they appreciated that I provided a way to approach the topic with their kids.

The positive reception I received to that book gave me confidence to approach the Holocaust, which was another topic that many, many, many kids asked about. Like 9/11, it’s not a topic that I would want a child to simply stumble into as a reader of my series. Rather, because these books are purchased by parents or provided by teachers, my feeling is that the kids who would read I Survived the Nazi Invasion would be prepared for it in some way. The book was incredibly challenging to write – to provide enough background so that the students can understand the context, but not overwhelm them with details. Teachers and parents tell me that my books are often gateways for their kids, a way of learning the outlines of an event so that they can discover more as they are ready. This is what I expect – and hope – happens with this title.

ReaderKidZ: I’ve talked to many children who love reading the series. To what do you attribute their wide popularity?

LT: Thank you! It makes me very happy to hear this. I think the books are accessible. I try to make them exciting. They have been especially popular with struggling readers, which delights me (I was a struggling reader myself, and remember how “shut out” I felt). My goal is to take complex and important topics and enable kids to connect to them in a meaningful way.  The books look “easy” in that they are slim paperbacks with short chapters. But in fact if you were to subject them to a text complexity analysis, you would find that they are actually very complex – tons of totally new information, “domain” vocabulary, nonlinear structures (can you tell I’m a complete language arts nerd). And yet I structure the books so that the new information is doled out in a way that isn’t overwhelming. A struggling reader can feel successful reading these books, and they can learn important and interesting facts along the way.

ReaderKidZ: The structure of the books is very interesting. I read an interview with you somewhere in which you explained that it was a comment by a nephew that led to it. I loved his question – both as a writer and as a reader. Could you tell that story again here, please?

LT: The young man responsible for my structure is named Ben Kanter. He is now 15, so he would have been 11 or so when I asked him if I could read him the first few chapters of Titanic. I was actually worried that the book wasn’t interesting, because of course NOTHING too interesting happens on the Titanic voyage for days, until the iceberg. So I was writing and writing, and the character was exploring the ship and eating the food and watching the fancy people – kind of a snore. I decided see if I was right, to road test the book on a real kid who was also my target audience.

Ben is a good friend of one of my sons, and the son of a dear friend. I knew that, like me, Ben had reading issues and that it was tough for him to get engaged in a story. So, poor guy, he had to come to my house and sit there while an eager/needy/insecure writer who is also his friend’s mom reads him the first in her new series. “It’s really good,” he said, but I could tell he was holding back, so I pleaded for honest feedback. And then he blurted out, “Couldn’t you just start with some action? And voilà, the structure was born – to begin the books with a piece of action from the most climatic moments, and then flash back.

For the second part of our conversation with Lauren Tarshis check back here in two days. We’ll talk about why all of the heroes in the series are boys.

Guest Librarian FAQ: How Do I Determine Which Books Are Right For My Child?

Posted on 01/30/2014

Earlier this week, I shared my reflections on helping parents determine whether a given book is appropriate for their child, based on both content and reading level. Here is a list of online resources I have found to be especially useful in assisting parents with questions regarding appropriateness:

  • CommonSense Media’s Book Reviews
    The reviews on this site are designed to inform parents about the content of books. The reviewers assign a particular age to each book, which represents when the book is most appropriate for kids to read.
  • StorySnoops
    This site features a group of parents who blog about kids’ books. It was “founded to […] help [parents] seek out books that may reflect the experiences, interests, strengths or weaknesses of their own children.”
  • Novelist K-8
    This subscription library database provides access to professional reviews of children’s books, as well as subject headings indicating what is covered in a given book.
  • Scholastic’s BookWizard
    This tool allows users to search for a given title, and it will provide the Grade Level Equivalent, Guided Reading level, DRA level, and Lexile measure for the book. Some more obscure titles might not be in the database, but it is not restricted to just Scholastic’s publications.
  • Lexile.com
    Search for a given book’s Lexile number and create reading lists.
  • Local schools’ websites
    Many school librarians and classroom teachers provide leveled reading lists for students and parents to access online. These are not always readily available, but many times they are right there for the taking and the parent just hasn’t been made aware of them. It helps to bookmark pages for quick and easy access whenever a question comes up.

And of course, READERKIDZ!

Guest Librarian Katie Fitzgerald holds degrees in English and library science, and has seven years of experience in public libraries. She blogs about books at  Secrets & Sharing Soda and about library service to children at Story Time Secrets. Katie lives in Rockville, MD with her librarian husband and their new baby.

Guest Librarian FAQ: Is HARRY POTTER & THE GOBLET OF FIRE or THE LIGHTENING THIEF Okay for My Child to Read?

Posted on 01/28/2014

One of the most commonly asked questions I have encountered at the children’s reference desk is from parents wanting to know if a given book is appropriate for their child, based on his or her grade level. This could be a tricky question to answer, but over time, I have found ways of tackling it that satisfy parents and fulfill my desire to provide quality library service.

When dealing with a question like this, it is important to first identify what the parent actually wants to know. Some parents define appropriateness in terms of content. Are the action sequences violent? Do the characters in the book curse? Are there scary moments that are likely to cause nightmares? When other parents ask about the appropriateness of a given book, they aren’t concerned with content at all. Rather, they want to know if the book in question is too easy (or too difficult) for their young reader.

If the parent is worried about content, my answer would include everything I know about the book’s subject matter, either from my personal reading of it, or from review sources. Instead of deciding for the parents whether the book is appropriate for the child, I present the facts and let them make the call.

If the parent is worried about level, again, I can supply the facts that will help the parent make a decision. There are several decent resources online for finding out a given book’s reading level in a variety of reading programs, including the Fountas & Pinnell Guided Reading System, DRA, and Lexile. If the parent has identified the system used by his or her child’s school, I can do a quick search and let parents know which level is listed for the book in question and where I found it. By providing a reading level from an objective leveling system, I’m able to assist the parent without passing my own judgment on the book or the child’s reading ability.

Librarians often feel strongly about promoting a blind love of reading, and some would go so far as to tell patrons they can’t help them with questions about reading levels, or that reading levels don’t matter. It’s true that the public library generally doesn’t support a prescribed curriculum, but it is still part of our job to support the users of our libraries by providing the information they truly need. However we feel about the reading-level-obsessed parents and teachers in our community, we need to be able to provide them with the information necessary to decide whether a given book is going to work for a given child.

Guest Librarian Katie Fitzgerald holds degrees in English and library science, and has seven years of experience in public libraries. She blogs about books at Secrets and Sharing Soda and about library service to children at Story Time Secrets. Katie lives in Rockville, MD with her librarian husband and their new baby.

The Templeton Twins Make A Scene

Posted on 01/26/2014

The Templeton Twins Make a Scene by Ellis Weiner, illustrated by Jeremy Holmes (Chronicle Books, 2013)

This sequel to The Templeton Twins Have an Idea finds brother and sister team, John and Abigail, at TAPAS (the Thespian Academy of the Performing Arts and Sciences), where their father, Professor Templeton, has been hired to create another of his brilliant one-of-a-kind inventions.  Of course, the dastardly Dean brothers – Dean D. Dean and Dan D. Dean – are scheming to share in the success Professor Templeton is sure to garner for his newest invention, and they’re up to their usual, underhanded tricks. 

Most comical, though, is the intrusive Narrator who sprinkles every page with his uncommon wit, commentary, footnotes, recipes, pop quizzes, and multiple choice questions at the end of every chapter.

Fittingly dedicated to Mr. Lemony Snicket, this is a book, “perfect for boys and girls who are smart, clever, and funny (just like the twins), and who enjoy reading adventurous stories (who doesn’t?!).”

Click HERE for a ReaderKidZ review of the first book in the series, The Templeton Twins Have an Idea.

Goldy Luck and the Three Pandas

Posted on 01/23/2014

GOLDY LUCK AND THE THREE PANDAS by Natasha Yim, illustrated by Grace Zong (Charlesbridge, 2014)

In this spirited retelling of the classic fairy tale Goldilocks and the Three Bears, Goldy doesn’t go looking for bad luck on Chinese New Year. But she finds it anyway. Not only does Goldy ruin the turnip cakes she delivers to the neighbors, she eats Little Chan’s congee (rice porridge), smashes his rocking chair, and sleeps on his futon. But when Goldy apologizes, the Chans are quick to forgive and forget. After all, that’s what good neighbors do. “Kung Hei Fat Choi, Goldy!”

Yim and Zong’s collaboration is festive and fun. At the back of the book, an author’s note details some of the Chinese New Year’s customs and a recipe for Goldy’s favorite food—turnip cakes.

This year’s Chinese New Year is January 31 and marks the year of the horse. ReaderKidZ would like to wish everyone a Happy New Year or Kung Hei Fat Choi! May you experience good luck, long life, and great wealth.

Click HERE to see additional books we’ve reviewed that celebrate Chinese New Year.

Two hilarious picture books the youngest readers can read by themselves.

Posted on 01/21/2014

AH HA! written and illustrated by Jeff Mack. Two letters. That’s all this delightful book uses to tell a humorous story about a frog in a pond and what starts out as a relaxing day. Ahhh! the frog thinks as he sits in the sun on his rock. But then, along comes a boy with a glass jar and a lid, and suddenly … Ah ha! the joke’s on the frog. And so it goes, back and forth, with bright, colorful illustrations that tell the ups and downs in the life of a frog. And, at the end, when the joke’s on the boy? Ahhh! says the frog.

Not only is this book funny, but the youngest readers will be able to read it by themselves. Again and again. And catch the jokes and watch the frog triumph, thanks to the perfect teamwork of illustration and words. Two letters = an entire, funny story.

that is not a good ideaYoung readers will laugh just as long and hard when they read  That Is Not a Good Idea! illustrated and written by Mo Willems. It’s the age-old story of the hungry fox and the innocent goose with a very surprising twist. This reader laughed out loud. Young readers will, too, along with their teachers and parents. And, once again, children will be able to read it by themselves because of the felicitous marriage between text and illustration. What could be better than a good laugh you can enjoy again and again and again – all by yourself?

THE MARBLE QUEEN – meet Freedom Jane McKenzie

Posted on 01/19/2014

Marbles?  YES. And Freedom Jane McKenzie is determined to be THE champion winner, a Marble Queen.  She is determined to enter the marble competition at the Autumn Jubilee and show the neighborhood boys – especially those boys that tease and bully her – that she is the best marble player around. Better than any boy in town!  But first Freedom Jane McKenzie has to convince her mother that not only is it okay for a girl to play marbles in the mud, it is okay for Freedom Jane to be the only girl to enter a marble contest.  After all, there are NO RULES that girls cannot compete – except maybe her mother’s.

But one problem after another looms dark and difficult.  Freedom’s mother is expecting a baby soon and needs help at home.  Extra chore time means less marble-shooting practice time. Dad is troubled about money and bills and begins drinking too much.  Freedom’s little brother is too often a pain in the neck.

In this middle grade novel, author Stephanie J. Blake brings us back to the time of jellybeans, hop scotch, jump rope and marbles.  Also to the time when families struggled to make ends meet – a timely concern for many children – and when younger siblings sometimes needed a few important lessons, such as the delicate art of eating worms.  Stephanie J. Blake has created a realistic, daring and delightful character -Freedom Jane is feisty, funny and fearless.  Her strategies to cope with bullies and boys will make the reader laugh with recognition and nod with compassion.  THE MARBLE QUEEN is fun, thoughtful and universal to the yearnings, fears and antics of young girls of any generation.

Stephanie J. Blake, a Colorado Book Award Finalist, has more to say at www.themarblequeen.com and www.stephaniejblake.com  This book was published by  Amazon Publishing, December, 2012.