Picture Book Resources
The Troublemaker by Lauren Castillo
After kidnapping his sister's bunny while playing pirate, a little boy finds himself again accused of taking the toy later…but this time he didn't do it. Then his own raccoon toy goes missing. Who is the real troublemaker?
A light "mystery" for little kids. Careful observers of the illustrations will be able to figure out the true troublemaker.
Activity Tie-ins/Target Readers:
- Making Predictions: This would be a fantastic book for practicing making predictions. I was totally wrong in my predictions of who the troublemaker would be from the cover and opening pages, and had to revise my predictions.
- Personal Character: This is a good book to use when talking about character and how our actions of the past can impact how people trust us in the future.
- Art: As always, Lauren Castillo's illustrations are adorable and wonderful. And she chooses to draw at a tiny size. The Nerdy Book Club last year used her as an inspiration for artists to share on Twitter how big their original artwork usually is. Look up the hashtag #IDrawThisBig to learn about Castillo’s drawing process and other illustrators.
- Creative Process: Time for Kids has a quick interview with Castillo about her job and creative process.
- Animal Lovers: Kids who love to watch wild animals should like this tale.
- Literary Allusions/Further Reading: I thought it was adorable that the little boy had named his toy raccoon after another famous literary raccoon, Rascal. Recommend the Newbery Honor winning autobiographical tale of Sterling North and his pet raccoon for kids to read when they get older. Or read it aloud to kids old enough to take in the longer book.
Ralph Tells a Story by Abby Hanlon
It's time to write stories at school, and Ralph has major writer's block. He can't seem to think of anything to write. With the help of his friend Daisy and encouragement of his teacher and other classmates though, Ralph finally finds his writing voice.
Activity Tie-ins/Target Readers:
- Stories That Ring True/Authentic School Stories: Some “realistic” fiction doesn’t come off feeling all that likely to really happen. Hanlon's experience teaching 1st graders shines through in this book in the eccentricies of kids in a classroom and the simple but crazy topics of their stories. It's authentic but very entertaining. Check out Publisher’s Weekly’s interview with Abby Hanlon on her inspiration for this book and her lower grade chapter book series, Dory Fantasmagory http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/childrens/childrens-authors/article/67512-q-a-with-abby-hanlon.html
- Writing Inspiration: If you have struggling writers, or at least writers who struggle to start, Ralph is useful in encouraging children that pretty much anything is fodder for story material.
This Is Sadie by Sara O’Leary, ill. by Julie Morstad
Sadie is a girl with a grand imagination and a love of stories. Find out all the places her imagination and stories have taken her.
I’ve shared about Sadie before, but I adore this book so much I couldn’t help but share it again.
Activity Tie-ins/Target Readers:
- See activity Tie-ins/Target Readers in Brainstorm Vol. 72: Unplug This Summer
- Theater: Do you love Sadie too? She’s coming to the stage in New York in 2018.
Middle Grade Fiction Resources
Booked by Kwame Alexander
Meet Nick Hall. He's in middle school. His best friend is Cody. He has a crush on April (but don't tell). He and Cody play soccer all the time together. They both love playing, and are good enough to make a futsol team playing for a championship and a club team headed to an elite invitational in Dallas (though Cody is on the rival club team). At school, he's just trying to make it through classes. He has an excellent vocabulary thanks to his father's dictionary (which he's required to read every day), but he doesn't want it to show too much in English class. He really likes the school librarian, Mr Mac, a former grammy-winning DJ who tries to get Nick interested in books and seems like a person Nick can talk to. But books seem a bit boring, and he'd rather be playing soccer. Things seem to be going ok for Nick, but then he finds out his parents are separating, his mom gets a job in a different state, the twin bullies are back at school and don't like him talking to April, and as if things couldn't get worse, just before the trip to Dallas disaster strikes. Can life get pulled back together after it seems to fall apart?
Activity Tie-ins/Target Readers:
- Sports/Soccer Fans: It seems that the realistic sports books out there are oversaturated with baseball and American football books. Our international school is in Thailand. The students here would be more likely to play cricket than baseball, and football is usually used in the British sense here, it means soccer. Badminton and table tennis are leaps and bounds more popular over here than American football. But probably most popular of all is soccer. The kids here are absolutely insane about soccer, so I'm quite excited to have another soccer book for them.
- Realistic Fiction for Boys: Let’s face it. The middle grade realistic fiction genre is 90% about girls with friend drama or kids losing a loved one (and half of those are girls or more likely to be read by girls). And as much as we theorize that certain books should appeal to any gender, it just doesn't play out very often in real life. So it is fantastic to have some realist fiction that will appeal to the boys.
- Relatable Issues: Nick's problems are things that lots of readers will identify with from parent expectations to bullying to balancing school and hobbies.
- Librarian Characters that Rock (or Spin): Mr Mac was a brilliant character creation on Alexander's part. I loved the super cool former DJ librarian who seems to break all the molds.
- Novel in Verse: As in Crossover the poetry used isn't just free verse, there's all sorts of types included, even blackout poetry and a book spine poem.
- Reluctant Readers: Alexander’s books are fantastic picks for reluctant or struggling readers because they are written in verse. The format makes for a super-quick read, and as mentioned, the topic should appeal to a broad range of kids.
Summerlost by Ally Condie
Cedar, her brother Miles, and her mom are visiting the high dessert town of Summerlost for the summer, which is where her uncle and grandparents live. Visiting Summerlost for the summer isn't a new thing for the family, but some things about the summer are different. There's the fact that Mom has decided to buy the Wainwright place. There's the fact that Cedar has made a new friend, Leo, a kid her age who lives nearby. There's the job Cedar gets with Leo at the Summerlost festival selling programs, and the secret side job of leading Lisette Chamberlain tours with Leo (Lisette was a famous actress who died tragically and got her start as an actress in the Summerlost Shakespeare performances). And behind it all there's the fact that this is the first summer without Dad or little brother Ben, who were killed in an accident last year.
Activity Tie-ins/Target Readers:
- Building Empathy, Probably Not for the Grieving: Let’s address the target audience of these books that deal with grief and close family deaths. Here's a huge hint: These kinds of books primarily serve to expand the empathy of people who haven't experienced this kind of personal loss, NOT to help those who've experienced the real thing. It is good to walk in others' shoes and get even a smidgeon of a taste of the broad spectrum of ways grief can hit someone. But please, please be careful giving these kinds of heavy grief-filled books to people who've experienced the real thing. I’ve experienced this kind of loss and work with a group of teens who've also experienced deaths of close family members, and you know what the top things that can make old wounds fresh again are? Books and movies. And grief is such a tricky thing it is hard to predict what will trigger that. So just beware, this could be a ticking emotional bomb for some. Don't force it on anyone, let them choose if they're ready for it. By all means recommend it to kids trying to understand friends who are grieving. And there's always that group of readers who just love sad stories.
- Realistic Fiction Fans: I've really liked some of Condie's YA books (and they have a huge fan base among the teens at my school), so I psyched myself up and braved the grief book to see if she could pull off middle grade fiction too. And she did. It was heartfelt, but also had moments of humor. Cedar, Miles, and their Mom feel quite real in the different ways they are each dealing with the deaths. It slowly comes out that the brother who died had special needs - probably somewhere on the autism spectrum - and that plays into Cedar's grief. It was a very new and interesting setting Condie developed with the whole summer Shakespeare festival where two tweens can work and become friends. I've definitely never read anything quite like it before in middle grade fiction. The side plot with the tour of the actress' life and the mystery of her death was also done well, and it offered opportunities for a wiser older person who was part of the festival to speak into Cedar's life. (Though Cedar and Leo have to learn some things the hard way.) Overall, a sweet summer story about making new friends, dealing with shattering loss, and learning from mistakes.
- Theater Fans: The town’s theater is a huge part of the plot and setting, so theater fans should enjoy this one.
Graphic Novel Resource
Awkward by Svetlana Chmakova
On her first day of school, Peppi gets in an awkward situation and unthinkingly hurts the one guy who was trying to help her. She feels terrible about it afterward, and avoids him thinking he hates her. She does make other friends in Art Club, but when it is obvious she's struggling in science, her teacher arranges for her to have a tutor. And guess who the tutor is? Yep, Jaime, the kid she thinks hates her. Meanwhile, the Art Club has been told they aren't contributing enough to the school, so they agree to start making a comics page for the school newspaper. It turns out making comics for publication is way harder than any of them anticipated. But when their arch-rivals, the Science Club gets in trouble at the Science Fair for a prank gone wrong, the Principal makes it a competition between the two clubs for a table at the school Club Fair. Peppi and Jaime have worked out their misunderstanding and are starting to become friends. But Peppi is part of the Art Club and Jaime is part of the Science Club. Neither of them likes the cutthroat rivalry going on, but what can they do to stay friends and make sure both clubs get a table at the Club Fair?
I kept putting off reading this one because, let's be honest, we adults all had enough awkwardness from our own middle school experiences we don't need to live through someone else's. And though this book does have little awkward moments, they are mostly cute awkward rather than cringe-worthy-blot-that-out-of-my-mind awkward.
Activity Tie-ins/Target Readers:
- How to Right Wrongs: I absolutely loved the way Peppi had to acknowledge her mistake and work through the awkwardness of apologizing, because though it wasn't fun it is a very real life experience. She demonstrated the benefits of persevering through that awkwardness in that she then got to reap the benefits in a good friendship with Jaime. And not just them, but their whole families benefited from their friendship.
- Building Friendships: Making new friends can be exceedingly hard, especially in middle school. Peppi and Jamie are great role models, finding common interests despite those in their clubs telling them the other club is the enemy was fantastic. It is never easy to go against your peers, especially those who are your friends.
- Conflict Resolution: I adored the resolution Peppi and Jamie cooked up to bring their clubs together on one project that benefitted the school.
- Awesome Teachers in Lit: I really liked Mr R and his lovable scatterbrained artsyness (especially his copy machine issues, hilarious!) and the scary/cool/awesome Miss Tobins.
- Art: In case you missed it, this is a graphic novel, and Svetlana Chmakova's illustrations are brilliant. She adds just the right touches of humor to keep things light despite how real they are. (And she has a little raccoon hidden throughout the book. Read her notes in the back to find out more.)
- Graphic Novel Fans/Realistic Fiction Fans/Reluctant Readers/Anyone: Since going on the shelves, this book has not stayed on the shelf longer than 24 hours. I even got another copy and that’s still the case. The students can’t get enough of this one. It is super, duper popular. And I feel like it is a double win, not only are they reading, they are getting some great little subtle messages about living real life well along the way.
Young Adult Fiction Resources
Catch a Falling Star by Kim Culbertson
Hollywood has come to the small town of Little, California. Carter Moon couldn't care less. Her best friend Chloe could, but Carter isn't into the whole Hollywood thing. So it is a bit of a surprise when the agent for Adam James approaches her asking her to pose as his girlfriend as part of his return to the positive spotlight after some bad press last year with a messy breakup and rehab. Carter initially turns down the offer, but when her brother's gambling problem roars its ugly head and sends a brick through the family's cafe, Carter decides they could use the money. So she finds herself hanging out with Adam James, posing for pictures, and walking around town with him. At first, Carter's initial impression of a stuck up Adam is confirmed, and she barely manages to make it through the times she has to hang out with him for the contract. But then she starts to see a human side, and against her better judgment finds herself growing sad that his time in Little is drawing to a close. She wasn't supposed to get her heart involved, and he definitely wasn't supposed to rock her comfortable world by challenging her view of her life in Little and the dancing career she'd decided to forego.
Activity Tie-ins/Target Readers:
- Clean Romance Fans: Yes, this is your basic small town girl agrees to hang out with Hollywood boy and ends up really falling for him. Yes, it is pretty much entirely predictable. But it did have some heart and moments of depth, and it was cute and fun and clean. Carter is a very grounded, mature girl, fun to hang out with. Adam has his own surprises. And if you're looking for a light, fluffy, clean contemporary romance this is a good one.
- Fear of Change: Carter is a brilliant dancer, but for some reason she gave up on a dancing career that was obviously within reach. She also seems a bit too settled in her town. Many teens will identify with her issues and her fear of change, that gets a healthy challenge as the book goes on. And Culbertson keeps a good balance. Sometimes change is good, sometimes it can be bad.
- Loving Addicts: Carter’s brother is a minor character in this book but has a major impact on the plot. Culbertson does a good job in the way she handles his issues and the way Carter and her parents deal with them.
- Light Read Seekers: Whether your life is crazy enough that you don’t need fictional stress, time demands that you read something short and easy to follow, or if you just survived a major literary read (let’s face it, some books take a lot out of readers), sometimes we all need a light and fluffy book to keep us reading. Light and fluffy frequently gets a bad name, but it isn’t always bad. This is a fun one with a teensy amount of depth to drive away a complete sugar comma.
The Possibility of Now by Culbertson by Kim Culbertson
Mara is a Junior at an elite private school in San Diego. She was at the top of her class and headed right for being Valedictorian next year. That was until her melt down in calculus. All the stress and perfectionism got to her, and she turned her test into confetti along with several others…and it went on YouTube. Now she's headed to Tahoe to spend some time with the biological father she hardly knows and try to figure out how to put her life back together. She's got her lists, and her plans. She's going to take online classes to keep her scholarship at Ranfield while she figures things out and can get back to being Miss Perfect.
Activity Tie-ins/Target Readers:
- Perfectionists/Teachers or Parents of Perfectionists: Wow, thank you Kim Culbertson for writing this book! It is something that a lot of the students I work with need. I work at a private international school in Asia. Perfectionism runs rampant in the hallways, and there are lots of students I hope can learn from Mara's struggle. As a perfectionist myself, I completely understand Mara's struggle with how to live a balanced life and not give into the stress and pressure to be perfect. I really appreciate how Culbertson subtly works in the various ways perfectionism and pressure can play out in people's lives (Mara isn’t the only perfectionist), and healthy and non-healthy responses to it in a non-preachy way. A very poignant story for driven teens. Adults who work with teens and parents of driven teens, this is also a good read for you.
- Character Development: This is a heartfelt and entertaining story. There's a tiny bit of romance, but it is really takes a backseat to the character development part of the story. Mara isn’t the only one who has changed by the end of the book. English teachers, if you’re looking for character development examples, there’s several in this book. (But please don’t ruin the fun of the story in your dissection process.)
- Snowy Setting/Ski Fans: Tahoe in winter is a very different world from the tropical country I live in. Skiing daily is about as familiar as life on Mars, so I also enjoyed learning about daily life in a very different world. Ski fans or readers who want a dose of winter should enjoy this book.
- Can’t Run Away from Problems: Though the Tahoe setting is fun and unique, the message comes through that people everywhere are the same. And that is part of the strong and well done point of Culbertson's story, location will not really change you or other people. Eventually, Mara does face her problems, which takes a lot of guts. Most importantly though, she survives. It’s an important and hope-filled lesson that facing problems can be done.
- Clean Weighty Realistic Fiction Fans: This is definitely a different type of realistic story from Culbertson’s Catch a Falling Star. There’s a much weightier topic, but unlike other weighty realistic fiction, this doesn’t deal with death or a brutal assault or substance abuse. In that way, it’s a more universally-appealing weighty realistic read since it doesn't have mature content. And in many circles, perfectionism is a lot more rampant than some of the grittier heavy topics of teen fiction. It’s an important and real issue, and Culbertson tackled it well and wrapped it up in an entertaining story.
P.S. I Love You by Kasie West
Ok, so technically I haven't read this yet because we’re still waiting for it to be delivered. I’m sure it would make this list if it were here, so I'm just going to go ahead and add it. West is hands down the most popular YA realistic author with the students at our school. Many of them love her so much they’ll branch out and explore her two science fiction books, which has convinced more than one YA realistic fan that scifi is an OK genre too. I really appreciate that she writes clean realistic love stories I can hand to anyone with no qualms.
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