Some love (and not) for Middle Grade Books
Middle Grade readers can be pretty confused about life. Kids in the upper end of elementary school and the lower end of middle school or junior high often don't know from day to day whether they want to be treated like adults or kids. When I taught middle school, I listened to kids snort derisively when a sticker appeared on their returned work, then complain when they didn't. The same kid who seemed to be emotionally bobbing in the rafters one day would seem to crawl on his belly the next. A lot of this confusion is hormone driven. Puberty is hard on bodies and minds alike. 
These conflicting emotions often come to a head around a holiday, especially one as emotionally charged as Valentine's Day. Kids say they don't care if they get valentine's cards, but there's a bit of fear in their eyes right behind the bravado. They may think valentines are childish, but they're afraid that not getting any will mean they're not liked by anyone.
Hector Anderson, the main character in the series named The Anderson Family Chronicles, is a typical geeky 6th grade boy who doesn't get what all the fuss is surrounding Valentine's Day. Like his preschool-aged brother Stevie, he's most attracted to the candy - which Stevie called the tweet sarts and pollylops - until a new girl enrolls in his school and he is bitten by the love bug. Hec finds himself in competition with the handsome, athletic, and rather bullying big man on campus to win a dance with Sandy at the Valentine's Day dance.
If this sounds like a book you'd like, you're in luck. My Valentine's Day gift to you is a copy of Tweet Sarts! You can get a copy for free just by signing up for my emails here. If you'd rather not, you can still download the book for just .99 on Amazon between February 7 and 14. Please pass this on to anyone who might also want a copy.
I recently read From the Desk of Zoe Washington, by Janae Marks. I know that I'm in the minority here, but I didn't love this book. Google says that 97% of the people who read it loved this book. It got 4.3 out of 5 stars on Goodreads, and 4.8 out of 5 on Audible. What turned me off is what I call the Ariel Affect.
Ariel is the name of the little mermaid in the Disney version of Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale. In the original version, the mermaid falls in love with a prince and uses magic to become human, but he spurns her for a mortal princess. The broken-hearted Little Mermaid almost kills the prince in order to become a mermaid again, but instead throws herself overboard and becomes seafoam. In the end, she is transformed into an ethereal, earthbound spirit and given 300 years to make up for her errors by doing good deeds before attaining Heaven.
In the Disney version, the Little Mermaid defies her father and convention to chase the prince, and is rewarded by living happily ever after. She proves that her father was wrong in his assumptions, and that she had every right to determine her own future, despite her father's wishes.
In From the Desk of Zoe Washington, Zoe receives a letter on her 12th birthday from her biological father, who is in prison for murder. She decides to sneak around behind her mother's back to get to know her father. Zoe lies and engages in some pretty dangerous behaviors as she tries to prove that her father is innocent. Occasionally she wonders if he is all that she thinks he is. What if he really is a murder? What if he's not as nice as he appears? In the end, though, she is able to prove that he is innocent and the whole family accepts him into their lives.
This is all well and good in a novel, but it's a bit scary in real life. While it's true that some people are incarcerated for crimes they did not commit, it's also true that a lot of people who are imprisoned are con artists who can sweet talk the innocent and naïve into believing their sad-sack stories. Zoe's story might have turned out very differently.
Parenting has never been easy. It's harder when the media tries to convince children that they know what is good for them far better than their parents do. I know there are bad parents out there, but most are doing their best to protect their children from dangerous and hurtful situations. I hope no child reads From the Desk of Zoe Washington and does what she does, only to end out with a less than fairy tale ending to their own personal story.
After a career teaching English and history at the high school and middle school level, Jennifer Bohnhoff left the classroom and now writes from her home high up in the mountains of central New Mexico. Her next book, Where Duty Calls, is the first in a trilogy of middle grade historical novels about the Civil War in New Mexico, and will be published this summer by Kinkajou Press.
These conflicting emotions often come to a head around a holiday, especially one as emotionally charged as Valentine's Day. Kids say they don't care if they get valentine's cards, but there's a bit of fear in their eyes right behind the bravado. They may think valentines are childish, but they're afraid that not getting any will mean they're not liked by anyone. Hector Anderson, the main character in the series named The Anderson Family Chronicles, is a typical geeky 6th grade boy who doesn't get what all the fuss is surrounding Valentine's Day. Like his preschool-aged brother Stevie, he's most attracted to the candy - which Stevie called the tweet sarts and pollylops - until a new girl enrolls in his school and he is bitten by the love bug. Hec finds himself in competition with the handsome, athletic, and rather bullying big man on campus to win a dance with Sandy at the Valentine's Day dance.
If this sounds like a book you'd like, you're in luck. My Valentine's Day gift to you is a copy of Tweet Sarts! You can get a copy for free just by signing up for my emails here. If you'd rather not, you can still download the book for just .99 on Amazon between February 7 and 14. Please pass this on to anyone who might also want a copy.
I recently read From the Desk of Zoe Washington, by Janae Marks. I know that I'm in the minority here, but I didn't love this book. Google says that 97% of the people who read it loved this book. It got 4.3 out of 5 stars on Goodreads, and 4.8 out of 5 on Audible. What turned me off is what I call the Ariel Affect.Ariel is the name of the little mermaid in the Disney version of Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale. In the original version, the mermaid falls in love with a prince and uses magic to become human, but he spurns her for a mortal princess. The broken-hearted Little Mermaid almost kills the prince in order to become a mermaid again, but instead throws herself overboard and becomes seafoam. In the end, she is transformed into an ethereal, earthbound spirit and given 300 years to make up for her errors by doing good deeds before attaining Heaven.
In the Disney version, the Little Mermaid defies her father and convention to chase the prince, and is rewarded by living happily ever after. She proves that her father was wrong in his assumptions, and that she had every right to determine her own future, despite her father's wishes.
In From the Desk of Zoe Washington, Zoe receives a letter on her 12th birthday from her biological father, who is in prison for murder. She decides to sneak around behind her mother's back to get to know her father. Zoe lies and engages in some pretty dangerous behaviors as she tries to prove that her father is innocent. Occasionally she wonders if he is all that she thinks he is. What if he really is a murder? What if he's not as nice as he appears? In the end, though, she is able to prove that he is innocent and the whole family accepts him into their lives.
This is all well and good in a novel, but it's a bit scary in real life. While it's true that some people are incarcerated for crimes they did not commit, it's also true that a lot of people who are imprisoned are con artists who can sweet talk the innocent and naïve into believing their sad-sack stories. Zoe's story might have turned out very differently.
Parenting has never been easy. It's harder when the media tries to convince children that they know what is good for them far better than their parents do. I know there are bad parents out there, but most are doing their best to protect their children from dangerous and hurtful situations. I hope no child reads From the Desk of Zoe Washington and does what she does, only to end out with a less than fairy tale ending to their own personal story.
After a career teaching English and history at the high school and middle school level, Jennifer Bohnhoff left the classroom and now writes from her home high up in the mountains of central New Mexico. Her next book, Where Duty Calls, is the first in a trilogy of middle grade historical novels about the Civil War in New Mexico, and will be published this summer by Kinkajou Press.
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