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When I found out I was going to be teaching 4th grade next year, I immediately emailed Tony Keefer (@tonykeefer) to recommend some great books that beginning 4th graders (especially boys) might read--books that I would not normally pick up on my own.  I love having Tony as one of my reading friends--we enjoy some of the same books but overall, our tastes are different. So I can always count on Tony to recommend good books I may not have discovered on my own.  Here are three of the books he recommended that I picked up today. They are series that I have dabbled in but I really need to commit to so I'm ready for lots of different 4th grade readers in the fall.

As the editor of the U.S. editions of Andrew Lane’s series about Sherlock Holmes’s formative years, I have known for a months what a good read the second book in the series is. Rebel Fire will more than satisfy fans of Death Cloud with a similar blend of action and outlandish plot invention together with echoes and harbingers of many of the qualities that attract detective-story fans to the original “grown up” Sherlock tales.

In the U.K., the book was published as Red Leech, a title quickly explained in the deliciously creepy opening scene. It’s also Mr. Lane’s nod to a passing reference Dr. Watson makes in Conan Doyle’s story from The Return of Sherlock Holmes. Contemplating three thick volumes of case summaries for the year 1894, Watson pauses momentarily to tease us with a seven-word recollection of “the repulsive story of the red leech” before diving into his narration of “The Adventure of the Golden Pince-Nez.”

Disgusting blood-suckers definitely play a role in the second book but are not the main attraction. For the American audience in particular that would be the plot connections to the Civil War, and the fact that the story involves Sherlock in a kidnapping and chase sequence that carries him all the way from London to New York City and beyond. My colleagues and I felt that a title which suggested these unexpected themes and setting was the ticket.

In Rebel Fire, Andrew Lane has taken the preposterous and made it believable: What if John Wilkes Booth had not been killed at Garrett’s farm days after the assassination in 1865? What if he had escaped to England, and was now, in 1868, being used as a figurehead by a villain with a diabolical plan to resurrect elements of the Confederate Army to stage another uprising—with only a teenage boy from England and his two friends in a position to stop him?

I will let the rave review from The Book Zone (for Boys) take it from here:

“We are now given a chance to get to know [young Sherlock] properly; this is often difficult in a first-in-series book for young readers who demand fast pace and regular action scenes, and so second-in-series books are all the more important when it comes to character development. Andrew Lane certainly rises to this challenge with [Rebel Fire] as we start to observe the genesis of some of the mannerisms and beliefs that are so well known in the full-formed adult version. Some of these moments in the story are very subtle, some are far more obvious, but almost every one I spotted sent a small shiver of delight down my spine . . . Death Cloud was packed full of great action sequences, and the sequel is no different in this respect. Sherlock finds himself escaping from the jaws of certain death time after time as the story progresses, but unlike modern heroes such as Alex Rider he does not have gadgets to help him out of sticky situations, he has to rely purely on his own intelligence and desire to stay alive. He is of course aided in this by his good friends Matty and Virginia, although quite often the final life-saving decisions end up falling to Sherlock as he finds himself having to get all three of them out of perilous situations . . . As in Death Cloud, we see She

by author Travis Nichols

Matthew Meets the Man is set in an unnamed mid-sized city in Texas, similar to my hometown of Abilene. It's a part of the country where much of the year revolves around football. You don't have to be on the team or even be interested in the game. From dances to marching band competitions and beyond, football is the center of attention. I was never into football, but I participated several times in a tradition that I only recently discovered isn't well-known nationally.

In Texas and Oklahoma (and apparently some parts of Louisiana and Arkansas), the most grand and opulent of football-related traditions is THE HOMECOMING MUM. In the '70s, a guy would pin a chrysanthemum on his main squeeze's blouse for homecoming. How quaint. As time passed, the real flower was replaced with a fake, and ribbons and charms sprouted out in greater and greater numbers. Then, the double mum. Then, the triple mum.

Then, stuffed animals. Neckstraps became necessary. I've seen recent photos of mums with LED lights. SPEAKERS. Sure, you can still buy/make a more modest mum for $30 or so, but what's the point? If she doesn't need a back brace after, what does that say about your affection?

I was visiting Texas in the fall, and I took photos of part of the mum-making section at a craft store. Repeat. Part of the mum section. Do an image search online to see more of the glorious madness.

RECOIL IN (SCHOOL-SPIRITED) HORROR. Note: the first image is of pre-charmed mums.

I love telling people about homecoming mums, so I knew early on that I HAD to include mums in Matthew Meets the Man. In the book, to avoid depleting his drum fund, Matt makes his date a skimpy nothing of a mum. His mom sees it and does NOT approve. He adds to it and ends up with something that is on the tasteful end of the spectrum.

Matt's friend Greg makes a mum for his date, and it's a whole different animal. Hint: the illustration takes up a page and a half.

Looking back on my pre-teen and teen years in a football town while writing Matthew Meets the Man was a lot of fun. Sure, I never cared about football, but the traditions and energy that surrounded the games was a great part of growing up. Most importantly, immortalizing the mammoth mum my friend Kip (who, um, in no way is, ahem, er, the basis for 'Greg') made for his girlfriend one year makes me feel like I accomplished something really special with my life.

In your face, Kip. In your face.

In response to a recent Times article author Tommy Greenwald read, he drummed up a little fodder for our blog:

Patricia O’Brien had five novels to her name when her agent, Esther Newberg, set out to shop her sixth one, “The Dressmaker”… A cascade of painful rejections began… Just when Ms. O’Brien began to fear that “The Dressmaker” would be relegated to a bottom desk drawer like so many rejected novels, Ms. Newberg came up with a different proposal: Try to sell it under a pen name.

Written by Kate Alcott, the pseudonym Ms. O’Brien dreamed up, it sold in three days.

            -THE NEW YORK TIMES, FEBRUARY 23, 2012

Dear Readers:

I sympathize with Ms. O’Brien completely. The publishing world is a jungle, and I’ve never been particularly fond of jungles, what with the mosquitoes and humidity. So when it came time to publish my modestly successful children’s book, CHARLIE JOE JACKSON’S GUIDE TO NOT READING, I too decided to use a nom de plume (which is French for “unlisted number”).

I went with Tommy Greenwald because I thought it had a nice ring to it, plus it’s a name that makes you think of a kind, humble, extremely handsome person.

But if I’m not Tommy Greenwald, who am I really?

I’m not quite prepared to tell you.

I will, however, give you a hint: My actual identity is one of the following five people. Please examine the following choices carefully, then decide for yourself who you think I am. You may well be right. And if you’re not right, please be at least assured in the knowledge that you’re wrong.

Here are the possibilities:

MITT ROMNEY – I had to change my name because no one would believe I would spend time on something that would yield so little income.

JEREMY LIN – I had to change my name because people would expect a better vocabulary from someone who went to Harvard.

THE GUY WHO STARS IN “THE ARTIST” – I had to change my name because people think I can’t form actual words.

BARBARA KELLERMAN – I had to change my name -- even though you don’t know who I am -- because I’m Tommy’s mother, and I’m so desperate for him to be successful, I wrote the book in his name.

J.K. ROWLING – I didn’t have to change my name – I don’t have to do anything for anyone, as you well know – but I’m tired of people telling me how bloody brilliant I am all the time, and if I had to go on one more publicity tour (you know I love you, Oprah, but enough is enough), I may well have clobbered someone.

So those are your choices. What do you think? Who am I? And perhaps more importantly… did I really write this Op-ed piece?

Come to think of it, this would make a great mystery! Someone should write a book about it.

by Craig Moodie, author of Into the Trap

Had a hurricane threatened Fog Island, where Into the Trap is set, Eddie and his family would have taken the same kind of precautions that we did when Hurricane Irene was heading our way. The cove below the house where Eddie’s dad kept his boat was well protected, but in a hurricane, you have to look for the safest harbor possible. They might have taken Marie A into a snug inlet in the marsh in Saltworks Cove or even out to Malabar Island, where Eddie’s dad knew where the find a cove protected on all sides by high dunes.

We did the same with Finn, our little catboat. Last year when another hurricane was taking aim at us, my son and I sailed Finn into Squeteague Harbor up a switchback channel from where we moor Finn in Megansett Harbor. Tucked behind the open water is an inlet that narrows into a marsh and a small guzzle or trickle of water. Higher ground on Amrita Island protects it from southerly winds. On the other side lies a disused campground in a pine grove.

When Irene was going to hit, my brother-in-law and I sailed the boat to the same spot and set her even farther up toward the head of the cove—what we call the hurricane hole. By the time we got the anchors set in the deep black stinky marsh muck (oysters abounded on rocks buried in the slurpy bottom around us), the tide had dropped so much Finn sat only in a thin puddle. We took the sail off and removed all the gear from below the foredeck and left her sitting pretty.

Not long after, the rains began coursing down,

So guess where I was Tuesday night?

Books of Wonder.

Yup.

THE Books of Wonder.

The place is a celebrated children’s bookstore, and for good reason. It’s huge. It’s awesome. It’s got gazillions of books. And its owner, Peter Glassman, wrote MY WORKING MOM, the picture book that Tina Fey trashes (unfairly) in her book BOSSYPANTS. Come on, what’s cooler than that?

I was thrilled that BOW wanted to host a launch celebration for Charlie Joe Jackson. It was one of those “I guess I’m actually an author now” moments.

My 98-year-old Force Of Nature grandmother came as a surprise! She doesn’t look a day over 78 fyi.

Lots of my colleagues were there from Spotco, which is the greatest place to work on earth.

The whole Roaring Brook/Macmllan gang was there, including Nan, Lizzy, Kathryn and Emily. I heard a rumor the head of Macmillan’s Children’s Group was there, but he vanished into the night before he had a chance to tell me that I was his favorite author.

Old friends were there. New friends were there. Even a few total strangers were there!

I read from the book. Then, as an awesome surprise, Macleod Andrews, who reads the Brilliance Audiobook of Charlie Joe, came up and read a section.

Hi. My name is Charlie Joe Jackson. I'm the author of CHARLIE JOE JACKSON'S GUIDE TO NOT READING, a new book for kids who hate books.

It's something to read if you hate reading.

Now, I know what you're thinking. Why am i writing a blog on a website dedicated to reading? Won't I make a lot of people upset?

Well, probably. But what I have to say is so important that I've decided to risk your anger. And there are a lot of us non-readers out there, and we deserve a voice.

It just so happens that I elected myself.

So here's what I have to say:

Nothing.

Why nothing?

Because a longer blog post would mean more reading for you.

And what kind of a hypocrite would I be if I made you read?

Now go find something else to do.

-CJJ



Liz Hartman, our Director of Publicity and Institutional Marketing, and snazzy dresser, introduces three fun reads for boys:

“What do you have for boys?”  “I need something for boys.”  That’s the mantra I hear from librarians and teachers at conferences, book talks, and via email.  Here at MacKids, we have lots of books for boys, but for the moment,  I’m highlighting three middle-grade books because they are just in time for summer reading and they are wonderfully written stories full of fun, adventure, and sprinkled with goofiness.  Aren’t those the three ingredients that boys love?  What better way to get them reading than to give ‘em what they want? Truth is girls love to be goofy, too – they just hide it better, but they are sure to love these as well.

First up is KILLER PIZZA: THE SLICE by Greg Taylor.  The intrepid trio of Monster Combat Officers are back from Killer Pizza. It’s been four months since they discovered that their new place of employment, Killer Pizza, was a front for an underground Monster Hunting Organization. Now, Toby and his fellow rookie Monster Combat Officers, Annabel and Strobe, have been invited to New York City to tour KP Headquarters. But the exclusive tour is cut short when a monster emergency sends the trio off on a secret mission delivering Calanthe, a beautiful 14-year-old, defecting monster with serpent-like abilities, into the Monster Protection Program. It seems like an easy assignment until the teens realize Calanthe is the sacrificial offering in a ceremony set to happen in a few days and her people will stop at nothing to get her back!

If it sounds like the Killer Pizza books are made for Hollywood, it’s because the proverbial apple doesn’t fall far from the tree.  Before Greg Taylor wrote Killer Pizza (and his recent YA novel, The Girl Who Became a Beatle), he wrote screenplaysfor Jumanji, Harriet the Spy, Prancer, and The Christmas Box.  It’s no surprise then that the first installment in the Killer Pizza series has been optioned for film by CJ Entertainment.  And it should be no surprise that there’s a kickin’ book trailer for the Killer Pizza books. Hungry for more Killer Pizza?  Go to http://killerpizzabook.com/ for lots of fun stuff!

Next on our summer reading parade is for all those smart and sassy and funny kids out there, be they readers or not.  If they are readers, CHARLIE JOE JACKSON’S GUIDE TO NOT READING will surely be the funniest thing they’ve ever read to date.  And if they are non-readers, or “reluctant readers,” or maybe just really smart kids who haven’t found anything they like, they will eat this up.

Tommy Greenwald, who is making his writing debut with CHARLIE JOE JACKSON’S GUIDE TO NOT READING, claims that Charlie Joe Jackson (or CJJ as those in-the-know call him), is really three people:  Charlie, Joe and