Today, please join me in welcoming Stephanie Willing to the Mixed-Up Files Author Spotlight! Author of the gripping MG horror novel, She Came Back Different, which has been chosen as a Junior Library Guild Gold Standard Selection, the book follows six young dancers who enter the Stadler Ballet Conservatory and the horrors they discover once they get there. (Spoiler alert: It isn’t pretty.)

Praised by Kirkus as “An appealing blend of ballet, camaraderie, mystery, and frights,” the book is available from Viking/Penguin Random House.

She Came Back Different

MR: Congratulations on the publication of She Came Back Different, Stephanie! Can you tell readers a bit about the book?

SW: Thank you! I like to say that it’s Stepford Wives at a ballet school, with evil plants—but make it middle grade. It’s told through new students Gemma’s and Neve’s alternating POVs. Gemma has always felt too loud, too big, too much—while also never being enough. The school promises to take average girls and perfect them, and she is thrilled at the idea that she might finally be something other than who she is.

Neve has been quietly angry for years ever since she saw her older sister, Bex, go to Stadler and change from a charismatic chaos gremlin into a perfectly proper young lady. She knows something is deeply wrong at the school, and she’s determined to figure out what it is. There’s a lot of botanical horror, but the true villain is the idea that perfection is possible and it will save you.

Dance Life

MR: You were a dance major in college, and you moved to New York to study dance. How did your experience as a dancer shape your understanding of the young dancers portrayed in the book? You clearly have a strong sense of empathy toward them.

SW: Ballet is not the bad guy in my book! Instead, we get Gemma discovering the way the world can fall away when you’re dancing and how movement can be a story as much as a shape or a series of steps. Getting to write about how it feels during a dance class when you nail a combination, and the joy of warm muscles moving you across a studio floor, was an absolute delight.

Of course, access to dance classes and the money to afford them are also massive privileges, something the character of Kris bitterly reflects on in one of Neve’s chapters. I grew up in a small town, and while I was lucky enough to take ballet classes a couple times a week, I didn’t have consistent dance training until I was on an academic scholarship at college.

I also drew from my own experience of feeling like I was the wrong shape, or that I didn’t have anything to offer because everyone else was so much better (in my opinion), while simultaneously wishing that I’d be picked for a solo or a starring role. It’s such a painful place, to feel like if you just worked harder, you could unlock this “perfect” version of yourself. I’m still trying to unlearn that.

All Bodies Are Beautiful

MR: She Came Back Different champions the idea that all bodies belong in the dance world, not just skinny ones. At the same time, it’s no secret that dancers’ bodies are often scrutinized, with undue emphasis placed on the necessity to be thin. From your experience, have any strides been made in the dance world to accept a range of body types?

SW: Dancers like Kayla Hamilton (TWU alum!) and other disabled and differently-bodied dancers have never let a traditional ballet body expectation stop them. My kids and I went to an incredible breakdancing performance at the New Vic Theater this year called Ill-Abilities: No Excuses, No Limits. The dancers spun, flipped, and launched themselves through jaw-dropping choreography and shared their stories of growing up disabled and making their own place in the dance world. “The dance world” isn’t an entity—it’s us, and that includes every kind of body.

Specific to ballet…

I see online is that there’s a lot more focus on anatomical placement and safer biomechanics of movement. That means fewer people are contorting themselves for the sake of a flashy dance move or “perfect” turn-out. I also see dance studios working hard to make their classes inclusive for disabled and neurodiverse kids, which is so important. Dance is for everyone.

I can’t speak directly to the experience of a young dancer now, especially in the world of ballet competitions which has become much bigger than when I was a kid. It seems like there’s an outsized emphasis on how many pirouettes you can do or how high your legs go, and while it’s great to have a goal, I can also see how that could become an unhealthy measurement of someone’s value or ability as a dancer.

Also, can I say? Adult ballet is where it’s at. The competitiveness is gone, and it’s just you and this thing you love, in the company of other people who love it too. IT’S AMAZING.

Who’s Perfect?

MR: One of the main themes in the book is perfectionism, as the ballet mistresses—or “Madames”—set unrealistic standards for the girls at the ballet conservatory. They dictate how they dress, what they eat, and even how they sleep (on their backs, to avoid wrinkles!). Can you tell us more about this? It’s super creepy.

SW: Obedient and compliant people are easier to control, right? We often need our so-called flaws—our stubbornness, our anger, our snark—to create or hold boundaries. One of the questions of the book is how culpable the Madames are. At one time, they were students full of creativity and chaotic joy too, but now they are part of the system that erases individuality in favor of docile prettiness.

In real life, so many of the enforcers of traditional femininity and the pursuit of perfection are other women. It’s a system that they feel powerful inside of, without recognizing what they’ve lost or the harm they’re passing on. While dance mistress, Madame Orange, is at the height of her power within the school, she’s still hollow, and if things continued the way they always did, she’d face the same fate as Madame Gray, an aging ballet teacher who is relegated to storage as she becomes a fully hollowed-out husk.

DIFFERENT vs. WEST OF THE SEA

MR: Speaking of creepy, your book is a departure from your debut novel, West of the Sea, which has fantastical elements but isn’t horror. What made you take the leap to horror? Are you a fan?

SW: I’m a big fan of MG horror—that’s my speed. I am the biggest scaredy-cat so I don’t usually seek out horror films to watch. And yet, every horror movie I’ve ever watched, I’ve absolutely loved. So…yes? But I’m terrified?

The biggest shift toward writing horror came from my critique group, made up of me, my husband (he writes creative nonfiction), and two of our dearest friends from theater. We started workshopping each other in 2017 and we’re still going strong.

One of those friends is the horror supernova, Nat Cassidy. So I’ve had the gruesome pleasure of workshopping his horror novels at every stage, and that didn’t just give me a stronger stomach for viscera and gore, but made me really grow to appreciate the importance of experiencing fear in a safe way—and the stomach-churning chills along the way.  Then I read Ally Malinenko’s This Disappearing House, which is the number one middle-grade book I always recommend, and I became a MG horror superfan.

Bloodsucking Vines!

MR: While we’re on the subject of horror, I would be remiss not to mention the bloodthirsty vines that suck out the girls’ personalities, rendering them shells of their former selves—like the Stepford Wives but in tutus. Please tell us more.

SW: In the world of the book, the vines are hungry and semi-ambulatory. They grow in and through the walls of the school and they can’t be seen until it’s too late. The native forests around the school block the vines from escaping further into the landscape, and Gemma’s contact with the trees and their fungus network is what gives her the ability to see the vines from the beginning. The vines are drawn toward noise, chaos, individuality—and then they eat the souls’ creative essence down to the roots.

One reason they flourish so well at the ballet school is that the dancers are always in an act of creation, so even the most hollowed-out students still have creative growth for the vines to eat at the end of the day. One way to avoid the vines’ notice is to act as if you’ve already been consumed, i.e., sweet, demure, literally in step with the other girls at the school.  This defense mechanism looks a lot like the result of being consumed—much like the way girls learn early to smile and people-please as a way of staying safe in social situations.

Early in the drafting process, Nat pointed out that the vines had a #MeToo vibe, and once I saw what I was really writing about, I went all in on the gothic elements of questioning reality. Did this really happen, or is she imagining it? If someone warns of a dancer that no one else can see, do the other girls believe her? If a girl broke the rules and got attacked, does she get blamed, or the institution that lets a predator lurk in its shadows?

Stephanie Says

MR: In addition to writing books for young readers, you are an audiobook narrator. How does this influence you as a writer, and vice-versa?

SW: As a narrator who writes, I always carry the knowledge that I’m bringing someone’s precious and hard-fought book baby to life. I want to take very good care of the author and honor their vision, their story, and the characters as they wrote them.

As a writer who narrates, I’m very aware of vocal descriptors. Authors sometimes get very fantastical in their descriptions like, “His voice was the sound of the sea over crushed glass,” and as a narrator I just stare and think, How am I going to do that??? So when I wrote Gemma as having a distinct accent from my part of Texas, I was internally groaning as I thought about how I’d have to perform that and keep it consistent across her chapters. (Curious about Stephanie’s narration style? Check it out here.)

MR: What is your writing process like? Do you have a specific routine? Also, are you a plotter or a pantser?

SW: I’m a plantser! I love a good outline—I think of it as daydreaming on paper—but I don’t stick to it rigidly. And I wish I had a routine. Maybe when my kids are older! I prefer to write at coffee shops (fewer interruptions, no chores tugging at my metaphorical sleeve), but I would never finish a book if I waited until I was at a café to get started.

At home, I’ve tried to trick my brain into thinking I’m at a coffee shop by making my writing space a high narrow bar against the wall with a comfortable stool and my back to the room. (It only sort of works.)

Regardless, the writing process usually looks like me with earbuds, listening to a playlist of cinematic music that I’ve listened to so many times I don’t hear it anymore, and drinking a lot of coffee.

Up Next

MR: What projects are you working on now, Stephanie?

SW: Inside every writer there are two wolves… kidding, but I do have at least two projects pulling me in different directions. One is a Southern gothic fantasy, a sort of a grown-up and darker take on magic-users and mythic beings in the same world as West of the Sea. But I’m also working on a cozier romantic fantasy for adults. My kids (eight and five) want me to write something for them, so I’ve also got a younger chapter book in mind. We’ll see!

Lightning Round!

MR: No MUF interview is complete without a lightning round, so…

Preferred writing snack? Does coffee count?  I don’t tend to eat while writing at home—my fingers feel gross on the keyboard otherwise–but if I’m at a café, I love having a blueberry scone or a fresh croissant. 

Coffee or tea? Coffee every time, in every lifetime.

Zombie apocalypse: Yea or nay? I love a funny zombie apocalypse.

Favorite ballet? Giselle. Give me all the vengeful female spirits dancing in the woods!

Superpower? The ability to speak any language after hearing it once. A  very long time ago, I wrote X-Men fanfiction about myself as a character with this ability.

Favorite place on earth? Can I pick two? On my back deck watching my flowers and their pollinators while my kids careen around nearby. And walking the streets of NYC on a perfect autumn day with an iced coffee in my hand on my way to meet up with a friend.

You’re packing a dance bag with six items only. What are they? These days all I need is a water bottle and my ballet slippers, but back when I was training seriously I also would’ve had my pointe shoes (Chacott or Russian Pointe), gel toe pads, Harmonie knitwear, and an elastic theraband for stretching.

MR: Thank you for chatting with me, Stephanie—and congratulations on the publication of She Came Back Different!

Bio

Stephanie Willing is an author, audiobook narrator, and a lifelong dancer. She has a BA in Dance from Texas Woman’s University and an MFA in Writing for Young People from Lesley University. She lives with her husband, two kids, two cats, and a goldfish in New Jersey. When she’s not writing or recording, you can find her reading, making snacks for her kids, or working in her butterfly garden in the backyard. Learn more about Stephanie on her website and follow her on Instagram.

MELISSA ROSKE is a writer of middle-grade fiction. Before spending her days with imaginary people, she interviewed real ones as a journalist in Europe. In London she landed a job as an advice columnist for Just Seventeen magazine. Upon returning to her native New York, Melissa contributed to several books and magazines, selected jokes for Reader’s Digest, and received certification as a life coach. In addition to her debut novel Kat Greene Comes Clean, Melissa contributed to the Jewish middle-grade anthology, Coming of Age: 13 B’Nai Mitzvah Stories. Learn more about Melissa on her Website and follow her on Facebook and Instagram.

The post Interview with Author Stephanie Willing appeared first on From The Mixed Up Files.

 BAD THINGS HAPPENED HERE  by Moniza Hossain. 208 pp. (Sept 1)

Lonely twelve-year-old Sam Wells has never known his mother. So when his maternal grandmother calls with a plane ticket to Singapore, he hopes the trip will give him the answers he’s been looking for. But her imposing family home isn’t what he expected. Grandmother is a stranger. Spiders crawl over impassable mounds of hoarded mementos. And, the house is such a labyrinth that Sam can barely make his way through the boxes, let alone find out anything about his mom.

Until he meets his mom’s ghost, frozen in time at age twelve.

Sam learns that children went missing decades earlier and the closer he gets to the terrifying truth about what happened to his mom, the more Sam is in danger of becoming the next ghost. To save himself, he’ll have to untangle the mystery. But if he does, he might lose his mom forever.

THE CURSE OF THE SILVAN OAKS  by Georgia Channon. 272 pp. (Sept 1)

All is not well in the kingdom of Silvanland. An ancient feud between Queen Titania and King Oberon started a merciless war, and a deadly curse festers in the sacred woods.

When Oberon’s ruthless soldiers kidnap young Prince Cory, the Silvan forces think all hope is lost. But fate has other plans. In the mortal world, hidden away in an old oak tree, there lies a portal. Through this portal, a girl named Oli will soon fall. Her arrival in the magical land will change everything.

Thrown together unexpectedly, Oli and Cory find the fate of the Silvan kingdom now rests on their shoulders. Together they must escape the clutches of the wicked Queen Hellebore and travel to the very ends of the magical kingdom on a dangerous quest. They will face ruthless monsters and old wicked magic, but will find help in the strangest of places.

HIDING FROM THE DARK: A STAR WARS HORROR NOVEL  by Kiersten White. 240 pp. (Sept 1)

Pursued by Imperial forces, a young girl named Bia must flee her home planet of Coruscant and find her mother. But constantly, a figure in black more horrifying than anything she’s encountered in the past hunts her. Can Bia escape—and what does she have that the Empire wants so badly?

Horror readers and Star Wars fans of all ages will thrill to this fright-filled middle grade novel.

MERRY CHRISTMESS  by Tegan Quin. 288 pp. (Sept 1) 

​Stevie and Jordan Clementine just want to enjoy the Christmas holiday with both of their parents—something they haven’t done since they were too young to remember. Instead, the sisters find themselves spending this season like they always do … hopping between their uncle’s motel where they stay with their Grinchy rock star dad while he’s in town, and home where their frazzled mom is busy running the local community center during its hectic winter season.

But when their dad arrives with news that could wreck the halls, mischief-minded Stevie ropes her reluctant sister into a plan to save the holiday — get their parents under one roof for a movie-worthy Christmas. For their scheme to work, the girls will need plenty of holly-and-jolly cheer … and enough messy white lies to land someone on Santa’s naughty list. Will Stevie and Jordan find a way to be honest with their parents (and themselves) before everything is Scrooged?

THE NEVERFEAR  by Katherine Rundell. 336 pp. (Sept 1)

It’s the Midsummer Feast on the Islet of Glimt, and on this magical moonlit evening, the word on everyone’s lips is bandits. Reports of masked men burning villages have spread throughout the Archipelago, but worse is still to come. Christopher and Anya get ambushed and one of the people closest to them is put in terrible danger.

Now Christopher must face fearsome giants, win a daring race, and outwit deadly enemies, all to save the people he loves most.

QUETZAL’S LABYRINTH  by Karla Arenas Valenti. 352 pp. (Sept 1) 

Diego never believed his abuelo’s stories of gods and monsters and the ancient magic woven through Mexican history. Not until he finds himself sprinting down a dark hallway, chased by a beast straight out of lore—its fur as coarse as iron with five human hands clawing furiously at his throat.

Turns out, the myths are real, and their magic is erupting into Diego’s world. As shadowy creatures besiege his apartment, Abuelo’s dog, Cholo, fixes Diego with a human gaze and speaks. Cholo reveals they’ve been unwittingly ensnared in a centuries-old rivalry between the great God Quetzal and his ruthless brother Tezca. Tezca is rising, summoning an army of minions, while Quetzal, the only one strong enough to stop him, has vanished.

Humanity hangs by a thread, and Diego has no choice but to enter Quetzal’s labyrinth—accompanied by Cholo, his friend Violeta, a sassy rubber chicken, and a bloodthirsty kitten—to face a power older than civilization itself. The stakes are legendary, but maybe, deep down, Diego is too.

Read an interview with this author here.

SCRAP  by Guy Bass. 320 pp. (Sept 1)

When you build a new world, you always send in the robots first. You just don’t expect them to take over. After the robots revolt on Somewhere 513, humanity itself is outlawed. Only the mighty K1-NG remains loyal to the core.

But he is one robot against a thousand.

Defeated and stripped of his magnificent case, K1-NG consigns himself to living as junk among the Piles. But when the last two humans on the planet ask for his help to get off-world, the robot must confront his past.

Does he have what it takes to be the hero he once was? Or is he just “Scrap.”

BRAVEPAW AND THE HEARTSTONE OF ALLURIA  by L.M. Wilkinson. 191 pp. (Sept 3) 

When the sky fills with shadows — And all is turned to grey — Bravepaw will come

When hope turns to ashes — And all have lost their way — Bravepaw will come

The heart will light the dark — Night will turn to day — When Bravepaw comes

Brought up on tales of the gallant mouse hero Bravepaw, Titch has always dreamed of adventure, but she never thought it would actually happen to her. Afterall, she is nobody special. She is the smallest mouse in her family, living in a peaceful little village where nothing exciting ever happens.

But when dire trouble comes to the Plateau, Titch and her best-friend Huckleberry must set out on a dangerous quest to take the Heartstone to the heart of Alluria and repair the crack in the sky before the whole world breaks apart. Can Titch ever hope to live up to the legend of Bravepaw?

SISTERS ALONE  by Shifa Saltagi Safadi. 336 pp. (Sept 8)

Two sisters. One storm. A fight for their lives.

Rama is all fire—fierce, quick to anger, and trying to hold her family together while battling the monster of intrusive thoughts. Leena is all ice—quiet, numbed to the vibrancy of the world, as she silently blames herself for their mother’s death.

When their father must travel for work, a sudden blizzard traps the sisters alone at their rural home. As the storm tears through their house, they’re left without power, without food, without shelter—and with no one to rely on but each other.

Told in powerful, poetic verse, Sisters Alone is a heart-stopping story of sisterhood, survival, and the quiet strength it takes to keep going, even when the world feels like it’s falling apart.

Read an interview with the author here.

THE BURN BEAST  by Mary Averling. 256 pp. (Sept 15) 

As the daughter of private detectives, Pira is used to moving around a lot. So when her mothers’ newest case brings them to the small town of Eyrewood, she expects to find a town just like all the others she’s left behind.

But Eyrewood is nothing like she expects. Ash falls from the skies, the local wildlife is nowhere to be found, and it’s impossible to light a fire anywhere inside the town limits. Worst of all, monsters lurk in the woods—monsters that none of the adults believe in.

When Pira joins up with a group of kids intent on fighting the beasts, she discovers that the monsters may be linked to a series of missing kids going back decades—including the older sister of her new friend Jackie. As Pira and Jackie work with their friends to solve the mystery of the disappearances, they must confront the secrets at the heart of Eyrewood and the danger lurking in every corner.

AN ENCANTADORA’S GUIDE TO LEGENDS & LIES  by Sarah J. Mendonca. 352 pp. (Sept 15)

Rosa Coelho has traveled far from trapping monstros in the lowest city streets of Lua. Ever since her thief crew, the Tea Leaves, successfully heisted from the Ministério dos Monstros, she’s been trying to put her trapping skills behind her to become a full-fledged keeper, master of locks and puzzles.

Now she’s up against the puzzle of a lifetime. Driven to untangle the cryptic message her lost pai left behind, Rosa and her friends must travel to Sol, the City of Thieves, to compete in a series of challenges that would win her access to the answers she’s been looking for.

But when familiar faces return to sow chaos in the competition, the Tea Leaves discover the darkness within the Garden of Monstros is much more treacherous than they ever imagined. Caught between past and future, Lua and Sol, her knowledge as a trapper and her duty as a keeper, Rosa will need to choose the right path to save her found family—and the entire city—before it’s too late.

A MESS OF MONSTERS  by Carissa Turpin. 212 pp. (Sept 15) 

A Mess of Monsters takes readers across the United States where every stop hides a different cryptid. From a wish-granting Mothman in West Virginia to a mischievous jackalope in Arizona to an orange-loving Swamp Ape in Florida, each cryptid comes with new complications for our young heroes. And the monsters aren’t the only things they have to face. There’s also family drama, friendship troubles, and figuring out where they belong. After all, monsters may be scary, but growing up can be even scarier.

RILEY DARE: SLIGHTLY WITCHY SLEUTH  by M.K. England. 256 pp. (Sept 15)

Riley Dare is a master of solving puzzles. After all, she helps run her aunt’s beloved escape room, Level Up, and makes it extra special thanks to the flicker of magic she’s gifted with. Need some extra shadows? Some spooky lighting? She’s got it covered.

But when a celebrated author of children’s mysteries vanishes during the latest, greatest escape room she’s designed with her aunt—one themed after the biggest unsolved heist in her small town’s history—things get complicated fast.

And maybe … there’s a ghost inside the escape room. With reservations being canceled left and right alongside the police investigation, there’s a chance Level Up might not survive. Riley must team up with her closest friends to figure out what’s going on, and how all this might be tied to the same unsolved heist from twelve years ago. A heist that happened on the day she was born . . .

To read more about this author, click here.

SPELLS TO MEND BROKEN HEARTS  by Marissa Macy. 256 pp. ( Sept 15) 

Alex is pretty sure the universe is conspiring against her. Friendless in a new town, with her parents constantly fighting, Alex spends her birthday unpacking alone and comes upon her grandmother’s book of small magic. Alex doesn’t believe in that stuff, but with no birthday plans and nothing to lose, she performs a ritual from the book to attract a friend.

It’s just a coincidence that Tess crashes into her life the very next day, right? Their friendship forms fast and strong, and the way Tess makes Alex’s heart flutter definitely feels like some kind of magic. Together, they make their way through the book’s spells and rituals, healing Tess’s recently broken heart and trying to mend Alex’s broken family.

But it feels as though the book is turning on Alex when her parents announce they’re separating. And when Tess uses a ritual to win back her ex-boyfriend, Alex must face a truth she had not considered. Maybe the magic she felt with Tess was more than friendship …

I AM A GOOD DOG: A DOGTOWN BOOK  by Katherine Applegate and Gennifer Choldenko. 352 pp. (Sept 22)

Dogtown is a shelter for all dogs — real and robot. Metal Head, a robot dog who’s a longtime resident of Dogtown, yearns for a forever home. When a girl named Esme begins visiting Dogtown, Metal Head goes on a mission to get her to adopt him.

But Esme doesn’t like robot dogs. She has her heart set on taking home a gangly wolfhound mix named Ghost with one blue eye and one yellow eye. Sadly, Ghost’s former owner mistreated him, so he’s terrified of everyone. Can Esme, Metal Head, Mouse, and Molly (a dog who fosters stray kittens) figure it out?

And what about Metal Head? When will he get his forever home?

To view more Dogtown books, click here.

THE SWIFTS: A GARDEN OF VIPERS  by Beth Lincoln. 400 pp. (Sept 22) 

After catching a murderer at the family reunion and solving a century-old art caper, the Swift children have built a reputation as expert sleuths. But when cousin Atrocious needs help to solve a murder in New York City, Shenanigan is wary … until she finds out the victim is connected to their old friend Daisy DeMille and her family’s flower empire. Trapped by a snowstorm in the DeMille’s high-rise greenhouse headquarters, Shenanigan will have to weed out the poisoner hiding among the plants.

For their new adventure, Shenanigan and the beloved Swifts are joined by another eccentric, and fabulously fatal, family — the American DeMilles, including flamboyant heir-apparent Dandelion, ambitious brother Basil, and tenacious siblings Moss and Delphinium.

BUILDING 903  by Lois Lowry. 240 pp. (Sept 29)

Twins Tessa and Theo live in a world ruled by the tyrannical Koziris, where there are no dangers and nearly no rebels. In this world, citizens live long lives, and while many hate Koziris, they are comfortable and safe. So, when Tessa’s brother disappears, this anomaly is quickly swept under the rug.

Soon after, when Tessa’s 135-year-old neighbor, Miriam Osterman, is bound for the retirement community, she sneaks Tessa a key — not only to her brother’s disappearance, but to the source of all real magic … books.

As Tessa and her parents begin their search for Theo, Tessa learns that books not only tell us stories, they open portals and unlock our humanity through our most powerful tool: the imagination. Once that truth reveals itself, Tessa won’t be able to rest until she retrieves her twin and society is transformed.

WHERE THE LIGHT SHINES IN  by Jenny Mattern. 224 pp. (Sept 29)

Despite being adopted into a loving family, thirteen-year-old Gloria feels as if her life is a bit too much like the crossword puzzles she and her dad enjoy solving together — too many empty spaces and not enough clues. For as long as she can remember, Gloria has studied the faces of random women in the hopes of finding her birth mother. But when she finally lands on the perfect candidate, it’s in a place she never could have expected — an obituary photo.

Determined to learn more about this dead woman who looks just like her, Gloria embarks on a secret mission to fill in the gaps of her origin story. At first, finding answers about her past feels exactly right. But as the lies Gloria tells keep piling up, and as each step toward her biological family takes her farther from the parents who have loved her forever, she starts to wonder if she’ll ever be able to fill her empty spaces. Because how can you feel truly whole when you’re shattered from the inside out?

THE WILD ZONE  by Rick Riordan. 320 pp. (Sept 29)

Katie Kim may be a newcomer to Camp Half-Blood, but even she knows they’re not supposed to be running through the Wild Zone. The forest is off-limits to campers and staff. Why, then, did Clarisse, head counselor of the Ares cabin, take her and four other newbies there in the dark of night and tell them to race back to camp by morning?

Clarisse’s threat was scary enough, but when Katie’s half-brother Grant goes missing, his disappearance sparks the arrival of vicious monsters and a mysterious curse. It’s up to Katie and the three remaining newbies—the Wild Omada—to brave the Wild Zone again and uncover its dark and deadly secrets.

The post September 2026 New Releases appeared first on From The Mixed Up Files.

Via Scholastic.com

There are plenty of theories for this, as outlined by Grady, including:

• Middle-grade books getting too long, due in part to the success of the billion-page-long Harry Potter series.
• Kids having less free time to sit and read because they are more scheduled than earlier generations.
• Covid-19 threw off reading habits, along with access to libraries and books in school.
• Potential readers putting down books and picking up phones, tablets, and video game consoles.

The good news is that publishers are aware of this, and are actively working to address this huge issue by offering up more illustrated titles, graphic novels, and shorter-length books as well as making sure there are light, breezy, funny options for readers who may still want to read, but aren’t sure they want to crack open the #kidlit version of War and Peace.

Keeping people of all ages engaged in reading is of vital importance.

The post Publishers Working to Stop the “Decline by 9” appeared first on From The Mixed Up Files.

Jump into the world of color and light with this month’s book list!

The Illuminating World of Light with Max Axiom, Super Scientist (Graphic Science) written by Emily Sohn
This engaging graphic science resource brings complex concepts about light and energy to life through an exciting superhero format. Clear explanations, vibrant illustrations, and accessible vocabulary help students build science knowledge while supporting visual learning. A valuable classroom tool for sparking curiosity and encouraging STEM exploration among upper elementary readers.

Before Colors: Where Pigments and Dyes Come From by Annette Bay Pimentel and Madison Safer
This browseable book explores the science and history of color in a BIG way…literally! Its large format makes it stand out on any bookshelf, and for good reason. Safer’s captivating illustrations and Pimentel’s straightforward explanations help to demystify all the amazing pigments that make up our world and to spotlight a diverse group of makers and inventors who have used color in unique ways.

What is Color? The Global and Sometimes Gross Story of Pigments, Paint, and the Wondrous World of Art by Steven Weinberg
If you’ve ever wondered what pigments you can make from cow urine or dead bodies, then this is the book for you! Told in a conversational tone and filled with wacky facts, this illustrated book takes readers on a worldwide journey through the color spectrum, one hue at a time, in a quest to answer the biggest, titular question: what is color? The back matter contains a variety of STEM and art activities that can be done at school or at home.

How to Be a Color Wizard: Forage and Experiment with Natural Art Making by Jason Logan
With this guide in hand, readers can explore the world around them and discover the magic of color. At the intersection of art, ecology, and chemistry, this book instructs young wizards how to create their own confetti, sidewalk chalk, ink, spray paint, and more. Please note that adult supervision/assistance is required for some of the featured projects.

Exploring the Science of Light: 30+ Illuminating Experiments and Colorful Science Activities by The Exploratorium
Through hands-on projects and crafts, this book encourages exploration of sunlight, shadows, and color. Readers can follow step-by-step instructions to make a pinhole camera, cyanotype painting, or even a solar-powered scribbler. Each activity is accompanied by a short explanation of the science that makes it possible.

Explore Light and Optics!: With 25 Great Projects written by Anita Yasuda and illustrated by Bryan Stone
This hands-on science resource encourages young readers to explore the fascinating world of light through engaging experiments and activities. Step-by-step projects, clear explanations, and supportive illustrations make complex concepts accessible and fun. A strong choice for classrooms, makerspaces, and STEM learning environments where students can learn through discovery and investigation.

Over the Rainbow: The Science, Magic, and Meaning of Rainbows written by Rachael Davis and illustrated by Wenjia Tan
This beautifully crafted science resource blends scientific discovery with cultural connections to explore one of nature’s most captivating phenomena. Rich explanations and engaging artwork help young readers understand the science behind rainbows while inspiring wonder and curiosity. A wonderful addition to classrooms exploring light, weather, and the connections between science and the world around us.

Fantastic Optical Illusions by DK
This visually captivating resource invites young readers to explore the fascinating science behind optical illusions and the way our brains interpret the world. Interactive examples and eye-catching designs encourage observation, critical thinking, and curiosity. A great classroom choice for sparking discussions about perception, light, and the science of seeing.

Kaleidoscope: Step into a world of color written by Laura Mucha and illustrated by Nina Chakrabarti
This vibrant exploration of color invites young readers to discover the science, creativity, and wonder behind the colors they see every day. Engaging text and striking illustrations encourage observation, imagination, and curiosity about the natural world. A beautiful addition to classrooms exploring art, light, and the science of color.

Blue: A History of the Color as Deep as the Sea and as Wide as the Sky by Nana Ekua Brew-Hammond and Daniel Minter
This gorgeously illustrated picture book explores the cultural, linguistic, and scientific significance of the color blue. It takes readers on a global expedition from lapis lazuli stones in ancient Egypt to sea snails along the Mediterranean to the synthetic “chemical blue” invented by a chemist named Adolf von Baeyer. Along the way, it traces the indigo plant’s role in fueling the Transatlantic Slave Trade, the religious symbolism of the color blue, and why we sing the blues when we’re feeling…well, blue.

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This month’s STEM Tuesday book list was prepared by:

Lydia Lukidis is an award-winning author of 60+ trade and educational books for children. Her titles include UP, UP HIGH: The Secret Poetry of Earth’s Atmosphere (Capstone, 2025), DANCING THROUGH SPACE: Dr. Mae Jemison Soars to New Heights (Albert Whitman, 2024), and DEEP, DEEP, DOWN: The Secret Underwater Poetry of the Mariana Trench (Capstone, 2023) which was a Crystal Kite winner for the Canada and North America division, Forest of Reading Silver Birch Express Honor, a Cybils Award nominee, and winner of the Dogwood Readers Award. A science enthusiast from a young age, Lydia now incorporates her studies in science and her everlasting curiosity into her books.  Another passion of hers is fostering a love for children’s literacy through the writing workshops she regularly offers in elementary schools across Quebec with the Culture in the Schools program. For more information, please visit www.lydialukidis.com.

Callie Dean is a researcher, writer, and musician living in Shreveport, LA. Her first picture book, Marvelous Mistakes: Accidents That Made History, will be published in 2026. For more information, please visit https://calliebdean.com.

The post STEM Tuesday– Light and Color– Book List appeared first on From The Mixed Up Files.

Karen Reeder: Thank you for joining us today. Can you tell us a little bit about Wish You Well?

Jamie Sumner: Absolutely. I’m Jamie Sumner, and I write middle grade novels. Some are in verse, some are in prose, and I have a graphic novel adaptation of my first book coming out in about a year, which I’m really excited about. That’s been a lot like working on a script—hard and amazing.
Wish You Well is written in prose, but the premise is anything but traditional. Three kids meet at a hospital picnic. If you’ve been lucky enough not to spend much time in hospitals, you may not know about these picnics, but hospitals sometimes hold annual events for families and kids dealing with chronic illnesses, or for children who spent a long time in the NICU. Nurses and families come together, check in on one another, and celebrate how everyone is doing. The main character, Violet, is thirteen, and she absolutely does not want to go. She’s slowly going blind because of macular degeneration, and she doesn’t want to be reminded of it. She just wants to be a normal kid, so the picnic feels like this huge red flag highlighting her illness that she doesn’t want to talk about. So the day of the picnic, she’s in a bad mood. While she’s there, she witnesses a kid choking on a hot dog. Luckily, he’s surrounded by nurses who perform the Heimlich and save him. That’s how she meets Wyatt, who’s had a heart transplant, and Noor, whose mother is the nurse who rescued him.
Wyatt becomes the instigator of their friendship—or really, their scheme. Violet complains about how the wish foundation keeps trying to get her to apply for a wish, but she says that’s for babies. I don’t want to do that. Wyatt and Noor tell her they get those wish foundation things too.
Wyatt points out that they would each get three wishes, so he comes up with this grand idea: they pool their wishes and have one epic year filled with three huge adventures. The catch is that they have to pretend to be best friends, even though they just met. Violet and Noor aren’t exactly warm-and-fuzzy personalities, so Wyatt is the one who tries to bring everyone together. It’s a little like The Breakfast Club: three very different kids are stuck in this scenario and they team up and have to pull it off.

KR: I love the unlikely friendship, the attitude, and the grumpiness. Your voice pulled me in immediately. I kept thinking, I need more books like this. Do you have an unlikely friendship in your own life?

JS: Actually, I had… no one has asked me that question yet, that’s interesting. And it comes full circle. So, one of my best friends now, who I never would have guessed we would become close friends, was actually my son’s nurse in the NICU. So, my son Charlie has cerebral palsy, and he is 14 now. And, he was in the NICU for about 10 to 12 weeks when he was first born, and he ended up coming home with a trach, he had oxygen, he later got a G-tube, many surgeries, lots of stuff going on when he was a baby. And it’s really important, if you know, you know, like, to request someone who you think is good to be their primary nurse, the nurse that is… if they’re on call, they’re gonna be asigned to your baby. So, I ended up requesting Mary and she just seemed very cool under pressure, she and Charlie, like, meshed. Even though he was, you know, 3 weeks, 4 weeks old. This means every day when I’m there, she’s there.

So, we became friends, and then her husband who is also a nurse who works at the Veteran Hospital and he and my husband and Mary… we all became friends. They would come over and Mary would babysit Charlie when I went back to work as a teacher. You can’t do better than the primary NICU nurse taking care of your kid when your go back to work. I threw her a baby shower when she had her first baby, so… it’s so funny how that happens, and it’s kind of like friendships born out of…necessity? Really more, situation or circumstance. Mary and I, we actually texted last night, so we’re still best friends.

KR: That is so great. I love it. You’ve talked briefly about this, can you tell us more about how the setting for Wish You Well is something personal for you?

JS: It’s very personal, but I also think it’s universal. If you’re the parent of a child who’s spent time in the hospital—or if you’re part of the sandwich generation and have a parent who’s frequently in the hospital—you’ll understand it. After Charlie came home from the NICU, he continued seeing lots of specialists. He had surgeries, seizures, tests, sleep studies, and more ambulance rides than I ever wanted to experience.
We live in Nashville, so Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital became this place we knew intimately. I know the smell. I know where the good snacks are. I even know when the cafeteria locks the cold-drink doors because they won’t sell them between these two hours. We spent so much time there, and they were so good to us. I really wanted to tell a story set in that world because it’s something you can’t imagine if you haven’t been in it. When you’ve been through it, you recognize all these little details and think, Oh, yeah. I know that. I wanted readers who have lived through it to feel seen, but I also wanted people who haven’t experienced it to understand that world better and develop more empathy for children—and really anyone—who has had to spend a lot of time in hospitals dealing with chronic illness.

KR: Yes. It’s so important to build empathy.
I have to tell you, I was completely hooked by this story. I cried while reading and could hardly keep going, but had to find out the ending. That seems to be a theme in your writing. I’ve read several of your books, and they all carry these really big emotional themes. What draws you to writing that way?

JS: You mentioned voice, and I think voice is the thing that comes to me first in a story. I start with the character’s attitude, their vibe, who they are. I don’t really plot everything out in advance. I spend a lot of time getting to know my characters, and then I figure out the major plot points. Sometimes I abandon those, too. I let the characters lead me. Because my books are middle grade and because of the situations I put my characters in, they’re certainly adventure stories, but the emotional journey is always the bigger journey for me. That’s the part that makes you care, that makes you tear up, and that makes you not want to put the book down. Those are also the books I love to read. Sometimes you want a book that’s mostly plot, and that’s great. But other times you want to be pulled in and actually feel something. Those are the kinds of books I tend to write because my characters feel very real to me. I hear them. I get to know them. And I’m a pretty emotional person, so that probably plays a part in it, too.

KR: I’ve thought a lot about voice while reading this book, especially with Violet. Then Noor has such a distinct personality and Wyatt has that lovable quality that brings everyone together. When you’re first developing a character, how do you find their voice?

JS: Usually it starts with a line of dialogue. I’ll hear something in my head, and it’s very clearly something that this character would say. That becomes the thread I follow. Voice can also come through music. Sometimes I make a playlist for a character. That song or playlist captures the character’s vibe, and if I ever lose the voice while I’m writing—especially if I’ve gotten too caught up in the plot—I can listen to the music and find my way back.
For Violet, the voice was very early-Alanis-Morissette. She’s angry, but she doesn’t always know why, so when people get too close to her, she takes it out on them. But underneath all of that, she’s kind and she really needs love. That’s where Violet came from.

KR: I love that.
What would you wish for?

JS: Oh, gosh. That’s such a great question. I can’t believe I’ve never asked myself that while writing this book. I’d combine two things, because apparently that’s what you’re allowed to do with a wish. I’ve never been able to go on a writing retreat because of Charlie’s situation. I don’t like to be away from him for more than a night or two. And I also have twins in seventh grade. But I’d love to go abroad—specifically to Italy—and do a writing retreat that also includes a cooking class. I love the idea of writing while also cooking, getting to use your hands, eating great food, and being immersed in the Italian countryside. Wouldn’t that be incredible?

KR: Absolutely. You’re immersing yourself in all the senses and emotions, which would probably create an amazing story, too.

JS: Exactly. And the wish would have to include knowing that Charlie was okay. Otherwise I’d just be worrying the whole time, and I couldn’t really let myself relax and write.

KR: Let’s do a lightning round.
Favorite writing snack?

JS: Trail mix—specifically the California kind with dried banana chips.

KR: What do you do right before you sit down to write?

JS: Go for a run. It clears my head, and that’s usually when I figure out what’s coming next in the chapter.

KR: Your book is divided into summer, fall, winter, and spring. Best thing about summer?

JS: The kids are out of school and we have no schedule. It’s incredible.

KR: Best thing about fall?

JS: Everything pumpkin. I know it’s a cliché, but I can’t help it, I love it. I love baking with pumpkin. And its… fresh starts.

KR: Best thing about winter?

JS: Is there anything? Okay, fun snow days. Where you get to wing it. Those are fun. I usually bake bread on snow days, because I’m at home with them, and I can check in on my rise, see how its going.

KR: Nice. And spring?

JS: When you first hear the birds again in the morning. Those early spring sounds make it a little easier to get out of bed.

KR: Favorite vacation spot?

JS: Colorado. I love it, I love the mountains.

KR: Best reading spot?

JS: My bed. Oh, no! What am I even saying? We built a screen in porch, and there is a couch that is my… I write on it, I live on it, I nap on it, it’s the best.

KR: Favorite holiday?

JS: Christmas has almost too much pressure to make it perfect. So I told my husband this past year I really liked the 4th of July, because it was chill, and it was outside, and it was grilling, and…Fireworks. So that may be my current new favorite.

KR: Hobby when not writing.

JS: Baking, yes, that’s my favorite.

KR: Alright, well, I love it! Thank you for joining us today. Before we go, can you tell us… you alluded to the graphic novel, but what is next for author Jamie Sumner?

JS: Next! Oh my goodness, it’s called Space Race, it’s coming out in the spring, and it’s a novel in verse.

The post Author Interview with Jamie Sumner on Wish You Well appeared first on From The Mixed Up Files.

I’m so excited to be able to introduce you to author Andrea Beatriz Arango today. Andrea is the author of multiple beautiful middle grade books, including the Newbery Honor title “Iveliz Explains it All”! And today we will be discussing her newest release for middle grade readers: “No Place on Earth” which comes out from Random House Kids on August 25, 2026!

Librarians and educators- you don’t want to miss this!

About “No Place on Earth”:

From the Newbery Honor-winning author of Iveliz Explains It All, comes a moving novel with a touch of magic, where two boys find themselves in each other’s dreams and slowly help one another face the real world.

Since moving to Yellowstone National Park for his mom’s job, Gustavo Santos Costa has had a lot on his mind.

• For instance: bison stampedes. Did you know that bison can run three times faster than the average person?
• Also: Why do people always stand so close to boiling hot springs?!
• Finally: the bad dreams. Why have they only gotten worse since the move?

And that’s all before Gus somehow meets his classmate Kordell inside his dreams. While Gus avoids sleeping (and nightmares) at all costs, Kordell finds that dreams seem to be a welcome escape from his real life . . . until one day, they’re no longer enough. With the connection between the boys, Gus may be the only person who can help Kordell. But when most things already feel too big to take on, how can Gus find the courage to be there for his friends?

In this powerful novel from the Newbery Honor-winning author of Iveliz Explains It All, two boys confront their fears—and their dreams—to save themselves and each other.

Interview with Andrea:

I loved getting to talk to Andrea about her new book and I know you will enjoy meeting her and her characters Gus and Kordell as well.

SSS: I am so excited to talk with you today, Andrea! I love your books! Tells us more about this new book! How did you come up with the idea for it?

ABA: I’m so happy to be here! I’m a big fan of your work . As for the book… It honestly came together very slowly and in pieces. First came Yellowstone, which I’ll dive into in a bit. I knew I wanted to write a book set there, but I didn’t know exactly what kind of story it would be. Second, I really wanted to write my first boy character – readers had been asking me for a boy book for years. Finally, I really wanted to tell a story that involved nightmares, because I’ve always had them but couldn’t ever remember reading a book about them when I was young. At least not the chronic type I had/have. All of that percolated in my brain for a long time before Gustavo’s specific story came to me.

SSS: Tell us more about the characters Gus and Kordell. What are their characters and personalities like, their dreams, and how does the story weave their perspectives together?

ABA: Out of all my main characters, Gustavo is probably the one whose brain is the most similar to mine, so I have a huge soft spot for him. He has (undiagnosed) anxiety, but not the vocabulary to talk about it. This manifests in nightmares and a sort of maladaptive daydreaming where he’s constantly thinking of worst-case scenarios. Kordell, on the other hand, lives with depression, but does have the vocabulary for it, even if he doesn’t have friends he can actually talk about that stuff with. Their stories come together in Dream Yellowstone, where they keep bumping heads at night. It can be extra hard for boys to ask for help with their mental health, especially in cultures like Gustavo’s, and so the boys’ slow-burn friendship is something neither of them realized they needed until they have it. It’s very much a book about learning how to be there for others even when it’s hard to show up. How sometimes friendship can feel difficult, maybe even like an inconvenience, but it’s always worth it in the end.

SSS: What made you decide on Yellowstone National Park as the setting? Have you been there? (It sounds stunning!)

ABA: I have been there! My mom actually took a job there for two years and I was able to go visit her when she was living inside the park. I went in the winter, when most of the park is shut down and the animals extra visible, and I truly don’t think I’ve ever seen a place more beautifully wild. I looked up the size of it while I was there, because I couldn’t get over how immense it seemed, and was shocked to find out the entirety of Puerto Rico (where I live) fits inside the park. When I found out families lived there too, and that a school bus would come grab them from the nearest town, I knew I needed to write a book about a middle schooler moving there. (Which, for the record and unlike Gustavo, 6^th grade Andrea would have LOVED.) 

SSS: Agreed!! I read the book and absolutely adored it and reccomend it to all readers<3

Link to order here.

Writing Process

SSS: I know that this book is your first prose!! How was it writing this book as compared to writing a verse novel (although I will note, that I think verse is weaved into this book as well, correct?)

ABA: I thought I would never finish ! After writing three novels fully in verse, I think I got accustomed to a certain length of pages in my drafts, a certain number of words, and so when I reached that and still had half the story left to tell I almost fell out of my writing chair, haha. I also had to incorporate a lot more descriptions than I’m used to with my minimal verse, and that was a bit of a learning curve, too. Mind you, I’d written plenty of prose before my 3 verse novels, but I’d….forgotten. And yes, that’s despite this novel still having some verse sections. It wasn’t even 100% prose.

SSS: Are you a pantser or a plotter? And what helps you with finishing stories when you first start writing your drafts?

ABA: 38-year-old Andrea is definitely a plotter. Students always ask me about writer’s block and I tell them I have brain block. My mental health doesn’t always cooperate with me and that can make meeting deadlines or finishing projects really difficult. So to me, my outlines are basically crutches for my brain. I don’t think I ever plotted a single story prior to my 30s but now I plot very extensively—15 page outlines, usually—and when I don’t feel creative or I’m having a hard time feeling inspired, I’m still able to write because I know exactly what happens next. Granted, it may not be my best work, but if I don’t get something down on the page I won’t be able to get the draft done and be able to turn to what I actually love, which is revising. I think the biggest difference between the me who is writing now and the me who was writing in her teens and twenties is that I’m able to finish way more projects now because of the plotting.

SSS: I am the same! Revising is my jam!!! Any advice for fellow middle-grade authors looking to write middle grade novels, and verse novels in particular?

ABA: Read all the books! I think with verse, especially, people tend to be scared to try it because we have this idea in our heads of what poetry is or isn’t. And so the wonderful thing about reading a variety of novels in verse is that every author has a different approach to it and a different style. Some verse novelists that I absolutely recommend people study (present company excluded, haha) are: Jasminne Mendez, Amber McBride, Jasmine Warga, Thanhha Lai, Hannah V. Sawyerr, Elisabet Velasquez, and Mariama J. Lockington.

SSS: AGREED!

Bonus!

SSS: What more is coming up for you! (can you tell us?)

ABA: I can! (A little, haha.) I’m actually working on a survival story. So for anyone who read an early version of SISTERS ALONE and loved it, get ready, because my next book might be right up your alley. I’ve been a big fan of the survival genre (in both books and screens) since I was young, and I’m excited to be contributing my own spin to it after all this time.

 SSS: WOOHOO! Cannot wait!

Thank you Andrea for joining us and I know readers and librarians will enjoy your book!

About Andrea:

Andrea Beatriz Arango is the author of the Newbery Honor Book Iveliz Explains It All, the Pura Belpré Honor Book Something Like Home, and most recently It’s All or Nothing, Vale. Andrea was born and raised in Puerto Rico, where she first discovered her love of writing and eventually became a teacher. She then spent a decade in the United States working in public schools and nonprofits. When she’s not busy writing about middle schoolers and their families, you can find her hoping to spot manatees at the beach. Andrea lives in Puerto Rico with her family and two dogs.

Find her online at https://andreabeatrizarango.com

INSTAGRAM: @andreabeatrizarango

The post Author interview with Andrea Beatriz Arango on her newest Middle Grade novel: No Place on Earth appeared first on From The Mixed Up Files.

©Carolina Burgos

We’re excited to have author/illustrator Fernanda Frick H. from Santiago, Chile, on here today to talk about her debut graphic novel, Raise the Bar. In their starred review, Publisher’s Weekly praised the emotion, humor, and action, calling it “an exceptional debut” & “a gold-medal performance.” A very fitting description for a story about a young girl striving to win a debut gold medal in weightlifting.

Hi, Fernanda, thank you so much for joining us here today. We’d like to learn more about you, and then we’ll talk about your graphic novel.

Can you tell us a little about your life growing up in Santiago, Chile?

I’ve lived in Santiago my whole life. It’s the capital city of Chile, so it’s a pretty big city. I grew up being the youngest in my family — my sisters were nine and ten years older than me, so I grew up between adults. I really didn’t like sports, I didn’t like playing outside. I spent a lot of my childhood watching cartoons and playing video games, and reading comic books and novels. That really set the stage for my career in animation and comics.

Your character Sam has a hobby that her friends and family don’t understand or support. Did you ever feel like Sam – that nobody understood you or your interest?

Of course. I felt really misunderstood growing up because, as I said, I grew up between adults. I loved Pokémon when it first came out, but most of my siblings and cousins were much older, so they didn’t really understand the cartoons I liked.

But also, I started animating when I was thirteen, and I became pretty obsessed with that. For me, animation was what for Sam is weightlifting. It really worried my parents that I was so obsessed with becoming an animator when I had trouble fitting in at school with kids my age. It was a tough couple of years, but I guess it ended up well, because I ended up being an animation director and author.

Weightlifting is not only Sam’s hobby, but her dream. A dream that seems too big to come true. Have you ever had a goal that feels as big as that? If so, how did you move toward it?

Yeah! I started animating when I was thirteen. From that moment, I would watch short films online made by animation schools in the US and France — CalArts and Gobelins, the best animation schools in the world — and I would dream of studying there. But they were super expensive, and my parents would never have let me go when I turned eighteen. So it did feel huge. That’s what gave me the drive to start very early.

I started learning animation with tutorials. I would stay up late making my own short animations. And I really got a sense that my dream was achievable when I was fourteen and I got a freelance job: an American music producer hired me to make an animated video clip. He didn’t know I was a fourteen-year-old girl from Chile. He said, okay, I’m going to pay you a hundred dollars, and if it does well, I’m going to pay you another five hundred. For me, that was like being a millionaire. And it worked out — they really paid me, and with that I bought a newer computer. That really gave me confidence that it was possible.

Did you love to read as a child? If so, can you tell us some favorite books?

I really loved to read. I had trouble falling asleep when I was a kid, so for a while I needed to read a lot to fall asleep. I read all of The Chronicles of Narnia. I really loved Roald Dahl’s books—The BFG, The Witches — I thought they were hilarious. And also Chilean comics, like Condorito, and Argentinian comics like Mafalda.

When did you first become interested in art?

I really don’t remember a time when I wasn’t drawing. But the moment I realized this was something people actually do was when I would watch those old Disney making-ofs that came on VHS — yes, I’m old. You would see the animators working on the films, and I was like, oh my god, people do that. Maybe I could do that.

What was your biggest fear when you were young? Did you get over it?

One of my biggest fears was spiders, and I haven’t really gotten over that one. Another was that I was really, really scared of the witch in Disney’s Snow White. I don’t know what it was, but it scared me for a lot of my childhood. And one day I had a dream where I hugged her — I hugged the witch in the dream — and when I woke up, I wasn’t afraid of her anymore.

What advice would you give to your younger self?

To enjoy what she enjoys. Not to be ashamed of your interests and the cartoons you like. I used to be really embarrassed to watch Pokémon and Digimon, because I felt like both my sisters would make fun of me a little. And as I got a little older, my classmates stopped watching cartoons. Also, back then Pokémon and Digimon were “boys’ cartoons,” so it was weird to be a girl who liked them. So my advice would be: just enjoy, without shame, the things that you enjoy.

Is your past woven into the story? If so, how?

Yes, a lot of me is in Sam. For me it wasn’t weightlifting, it was animation — but that drive, that stubbornness, that single-mindedness Sam has of being interested in only one thing for the great majority of the book, that was definitely me. I didn’t really care about making friends. Though I did make friends afterwards, thanks to animation — people at school started thinking it was cool that I made animations.

It was also a constant battle with my parents, because my first couple of animations were very scary for them. I was a really depressed kid, and my first animations were like a Tim Burton–style character who takes a knife and pulls his heart out and then eats it, with metal music in the background. Of course they freaked out, and they sent me to a psychiatrist. And of course I was fine — but now I understand how worried they were.

Around that time, because of one of these more gory animations I made, my family told me that some members of my family had been persecuted during the Chilean dictatorship. I was around Sam’s age in the book. Of course, they didn’t explain how that connected to them being scared of me not having friends and being obsessed with this weird hobby. But now I’ve made the connection, and it makes sense. A lot of Chilean people are still afraid of seeming different, because the scars of the dictatorship are still there.

So a lot of those family dinner table conversations in the book are how it actually felt to be that age — being in conflict with my parents about what I wanted to do with my life.

Would you be willing to share an embarrassing grade school moment?

I wasn’t athletic until high school — I’ve never really been athletic, but I started exercising in high school. Before that, I was a real couch potato, and I was kind of known for it. My favorite cartoon when I was young was Garfield, so my gym teacher would sometimes narrate as if I were Garfield. If we were playing volleyball, every time I had the ball it was, “Garfield gets the ball, Garfield throws the ball.” That was embarrassing. But I loved Garfield. I still do.

It’s interesting that you didn’t really enjoy sports, but you ended up writing about a weightlifter. How did you get interested in weightlifting? Did you ever try it later on in life?

At first I started doing CrossFit. For some reason, I really like intense sports, even if I’m really bad at them — I’m not in great shape, I never have been. But back in 2016 or 2017, I started doing CrossFit, and CrossFit includes the Olympic weightlifting movements, the snatch and the clean and jerk. At that gym, there were also weightlifting classes aside from the CrossFit ones.

I really loved how weightlifting made me feel. It made me feel strong. And I thought it was a really bizarre idea to make a story about weightlifting, because it’s a weird sport and it would be such a big challenge to make it interesting for people. For some reason, I wanted to take that challenge. And I think I kind of succeeded — I think Raise the Bar gets pretty fun even if you don’t know anything about weightlifting. Even if you don’t follow exactly what’s happening, the emotions of the competitions are there, and anyone can understand them.

What gave you the idea for this story?

In 2016 I was watching the Rio Olympics, and I thought: why has no one made a sports anime about the Olympics? Sports anime are usually about one sport — swimmers, or volleyball, or football, or judo. And I thought it would be really cool if there was one character from each sport, and they all went to a high-performance center together. That’s where it started.

Are the characters in the story based on anyone you know?

Not exactly, but there’s a bit of the people in my life — or people who were in my life — in each one of the characters. Some of them come from elsewhere: Eva dos Santos is based a little more on another anime character, All Might from My Hero Academia. That mentor who comes in and promises he’ll help you. She was kind of a fantasy of the kind of mentor I wanted to have.

And Chichi is kind of based on one of my cats, who passed away a couple of years ago.

And of course Sam’s family is very similar to my family in some ways — though I don’t have a brother, I just have two sisters.

Does Sam resemble you in any way?

In a lot of ways, starting with the fact that I think we’re physically similar. Young Sam has exactly the hair I had at that age — and even now, I think we have the same haircut. It wasn’t like that when I started writing and designing the story; I had a short pixie cut then. But now that I’ve grown my hair out again, we’re really similar.

But also, I’m autistic and have ADHD, and I got diagnosed at thirty — so I had already created the character of Sam. Since she was like me, and I have always been autistic, she’s pretty autistic too. After the diagnosis I really tried to dial that up, even if it’s never mentioned in the story. She has a lot of autistic traits: having trouble socializing, and having really, really strong special interests.

Did you have to fight for anything the way Sam did?

I would say up until this point I’ve always felt like I had a chip on my shoulder about having to fight for my career and my passions, as an artist from Latin America.

At the time I started writing Raise the Bar I was really frustrated, because I had just finished my first animated short film and I was experiencing firsthand how difficult it is to get noticed by the rest of the world when you’re from Latin America. This was pre-pandemic — I think it’s a little easier now, people are more used to working with people all over the world and online. But back then I really had to fight for my short film to get noticed. I would travel to festivals financed by the Chilean government; I had to apply for grants because it was so expensive to go anywhere there were animation markets and festivals. I sent so many emails, to so many specialized websites, trying to get my work noticed. And for a while it really seemed like no one cared.

But in the end it kind of did work — Raise the Bar was picked up by an American streamer to become an animated series, even if it didn’t work out in the end.

So Sam’s story started out as a movie idea, but ended up as a graphic novel. Please tell us about creating the book version.

It started as an animated series idea. In the beginning, it was going to be twelve episodes, going from Sam training alone in Santiago without any support all the way to the Olympics — the actual Tokyo Olympics. This was a long time before those Olympics. The midpoint of the series was going to be them going to the Pan American Games.

Since the book was much shorter, at first I thought maybe I’d do three books. But my agent said no, no, no — let’s sell one first, finish one first, and then if you want you can maybe do more. And I thought, I don’t think I’m going to do more if I don’t sell it as a series, so I’m just going to tell this story in one book. So I had to shorten Sam’s journey to end at the Pan Americans and not the actual Olympics.

At first there was a little bit of grief, because I really wanted to see Sam get to the Olympics. But in the end it was for the better, because the message of the book is about the journey, not the destination. The way it ends now is perfect for what I wanted to convey.

A lot of other things changed too. In animation it had to be aged down a little — the notes I would get, they didn’t want much emotional depth. Books allow a lot of emotional depth. And I had so much more time to write it. I rewrote everything; there’s very little in the book that was in the animated series. The story that ended up in the book is the story I really wanted to tell.

Can you explain the different processes involved in creating the art for a graphic novel and tell us who did which part?

The stages are thumbnails, sketch, inks, and then color.

I start with the script, so I write everything out. Then I thumbnails, which I did on paper in little sketchbooks. My thumbnails can’t be read by anyone except me — they’re for me to figure out how to break the dialogue and the action into panels. Then I draw the sketches for the whole book digitally.

Usually I do everything myself, but this was so much work that I hired support from my friends. I inked chapters one, two and five, and my friend Ale Carrasco inked chapters three and four. My friend Kat drew almost all the backgrounds in the book. My friend Gaby did more than half of the lettering — she decided where to put the word balloons, which was a really difficult task because there wasn’t much space. She did a great job. And coloring was a double effort between Perry Wheeler and me. This is my first book in color, and it was such a big task.

What is your favorite or most challenging part of being a writer and illustrator?

I think it’s the same thing: being able to tell stories. Getting things out of my head where I can be in control of both the storytelling and how it’s visually depicted. I’ve usually worked as an illustrator, illustrating other people’s stories, but I don’t think I would ever write other people’s stories, because I do it to communicate personal stuff, stories inside me. So I really love being able to tell stories.

Have you had any careers besides writing and illustrating?

Only recently — because, as I said, I started really young. My first freelance job as an animator was at fourteen, so it’s been a lifetime of working as an illustrator, animator and director.

But two years ago, I became really interested in psychology. I started working on myself, on this self-development journey, and that made me want to help other people directly. So I applied for a job to become a mental health coach, and I got certified with the Healthy Gamer Institute. For the past two years I’ve been working part-time, a couple of hours a week, with clients all over the world, helping them accomplish their goals. It’s been very, very fulfilling.

Do you have any tips for children who want to create graphic novels?

Just start. Create what’s interesting to you — what you find funny, or fun to draw. If there’s a story you want to tell, something you want to express, or characters you want to exist, just do it. It’s very fulfilling, and it’s something anyone can do, in the sense that you don’t need expensive software or tools. You can start making comics with a pen and paper.

Do you have any message or advice for the teachers and parents who will be sharing your book with their students and families?

I would love for this book to be read by adults and kids together. Even if most of the story is Sam’s and happens with the other teenagers, there are also adults — there’s her relationship with Eva, her mentor and teacher, and her relationship with her family. In the end there’s a lot in there about the bridge between kids and their parents. There’s a lot of understanding to be made on both sides.

I think this story really gives space for adults and kids to understand each other. Sam gets to understand what made Eva who she is. Eva learns how to support Sam in the best way. Sam gets to understand why her parents were so opposed to her doing weightlifting, and her parents get the chance to understand why it was so important for her.

A lot of special things can happen when we try to hear each other. And I know it’s difficult — it took me a long time to put myself in my parents’ shoes and understand why they were so scared for me when I was a teen and started animating.

What do you hope readers will take away from your book?

I hope they get a feeling of hope. That there’s hope to do what you want to do, hope to find your place in the world and to find people like you, and to take steps toward your dream even if you don’t end up where you hoped. There’s real joy and fulfillment in just striving to be really great at something you love.

Can you tell us about some of your other books?

I’ve published two other books in Chile. They’re available digitally in English from my shop.

One is Trazos — Brushstrokes — about an artist who suffers a really big failure, decides to never create again, and goes to work at a bar. It’s the story of how she regains her passion to create again. And everyone in it is a cat.

The other is Here’s the Plan, a picture book adaptation of my animated short film of the same name, which can be watched on YouTube. It’s about a married baker couple, a cat and a dog, who make cupcakes. Their oven explodes and they have to take normal jobs, and that starts to drift them away from their dream and from themselves.

So it seems there’s a common theme of ambition and dreams in all of my work so far.

What are you working on now?

I want to write more books. I’ve started writing another picture book, and I want to write another middle grade story after that — I don’t know yet if it will be an actual novel or a graphic novel, but I really want to do it. I’m also working on the development of a new animated series project. It’s not my idea, it’s an adaptation, and I don’t know if it will work out or not. But for now it feels great to go back to animation.

Thank you so much for taking the time to do this interview. Good luck with your career.

ABOUT RAISE THE BAR

A debut graphic novel about one girl’s weightlifting dreams and how far she’ll go for them, from a popular Chilean animator.

Sam Sanchez might not have a coach or proper equipment, but she’s going to become Chile’s first weightlifting gold medalist. She just knows it.

When there’s an opportunity to train at the high-performance center with her weightlifting hero and Olympic gold medalist Eva Dos Santos . . . well, Sam can’t let that opportunity pass. Even if it means going behind her parents’ back.

As she makes friends (and a rival) during training and tries to qualify for the Pan American Games, she’ll find out how far hard work and perseverance can take her and just how much weight she’s able to hold.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Fernanda Frick H. is an animation director, storyboarder, illustrator and comic artist. “Here’s the Plan”, her 4th short-film, was selected in various festivals around the world including Nashville International Film Festival, SANFIC, Chilemonos, Anima Mundi, CICFF and the Premios Quirino. It won the Jury Prize at SIGGRAPH ASIA. It was also long-listed for the 2017 Academy Awards. In 2019, she published “Trazos”, her first graphic novel with Editorial Planeta and had a series project in development with Netflix. Currently, she manages her independent animation studio FFrick Studio.

The post Author Spotlight: Fernanda Frick H., author/illustrator of the graphic novel Raise the Bar appeared first on From The Mixed Up Files.

Interviewing a middle-grade author is always a pleasure, but it’s even more exciting when the author happens to be fellow Mixed-Up Files member Shifa Saltagi Safadi! Shifa, who won the National Book Award for Young People’s Literature in 2024 for her debut novel, Kareem Between, is here to tell us about her latest novel, Sisters Alone, a novel-in-verse about two sisters who survive a dramatic blizzard and live to tell the tale. The book releases from Penguin Young Readers on September 8^th.

And now, without further ado, please join me in welcoming Shifa to the blog!

MR: So happy to have you here, Shifa. I read Sisters Alone in two sittings, and cried at the end. It was incredibly moving, and so beautifully written. Congratulations on this wonderful book!

SSS: Thank you so much, dear Melissa! It is my honor to be here and I am SO GRATEFUL you enjoyed the read. Thank you for loving Sisters Alone.

Sisters Alone

MR: Could you tell readers more about Sisters Alone? What was the inspiration behind it?

SSS: Sisters Alone is a story of two sisters who are grieving the sudden passing of their mother when they are somehow, due to a missed field-trip form, left home alone without their father during a blizzard. And when the blizzard gets intense, they have to figure out how to heal their fractured relationship to survive and find hope together again.

MR: On the surface, the two sisters in the book, Rama and Leena, couldn’t be more different. Rama, the eldest, is gifted academically and is perceived by her little sister as “perfect.” Leena, on the other hand, is forgetful and impulsive. What is it about the nature of sibling relationships that intrigues you? What inspired you to explore them?

SSS: I had a very complicated relationship with my younger sister growing up. As the eldest, I was often frustrated with her, and she viewed me as bossy and irritating. I am happy to report that we are in fact the best of friends now, but we do still bicker occasionally! I loved writing and infusing the complexities of sisterhood into this book, because it is fascinating to me, even in watching my own three daughters, how complicated love can be. And showing young readers that relationships, sisterhoods, and family bonds can be complicated, and yet also so special, is a beautiful symbol for hope in the world—that even in differences, there can be love and closeness.

Coping with Grief

MR: Grief is an overarching theme in the book as Leena blames herself for her mother’s death. She copes by making a scrapbook to preserves her mom’s memory, while Rama, who is struggling internally, tamps her feelings. Can you tell us more about the sisters’ respective coping mechanisms?

SSS: As you said, both girls find different ways to cope, with Rama being more focused on the future and moving on from her feelings, while Leena feels stuck in the past and unable to let go of the pain. Both girls represent different ways of grief because people have different ways of processing loss. For Leena and Rama, their coping mechanisms represent their characters, as Rama is someone who is very focused on control and achievement, while Leena is someone who likes creativity and daydreaming.

Through their emotional arcs, I hoped to show that each of them had to take a step toward each other to find that balance, whether Rama letting go of control a bit or Leena stepping up her helpfulness. In this middle ground of love, they are able to lean on each other and process their grief in a better way.

Understanding Anxiety

MR: Another important theme in the book is mental health, as Rama struggles with anxiety and intrusive thoughts. I know this is a deeply personal issue for you, and you’ve addressed it in the author’s note. Can you elaborate on this?

SSS: Intrusive thoughts and anxiety are important issues I wanted to highlight, because growing up, and especially in my teen years, I couldn’t understand the sad feelings I felt and the way my thoughts seemed to always be negative. It was only by realizing what this was and putting a name to it, as well as accepting myself as I am, that was I able to not feel alone or shamed by this experience. I hope young readers who experience anxiety feel seen and loved in this story too.

Syrian Roots and Muslim faith

MR: In addition to the themes mentioned above, the sisters take great pride and comfort in their Syrian roots and Muslim faith. Is this something that resonates deeply for you as well?

SSS: Absolutely. As a Syrian and Muslim American, I grew up never seeing my identity on the bookshelf, and so now, I really like to provide that rep for my young kids and others like them. There are so many harmful stereotypes that are Islamophobic that permeate the media, and so I hope my books offer a view into what the lives of Muslims and Arabs are really like, and how we are all so similar in humanity— all of us just wanting lives with love and peace in them.

Shifa’s Writing Process

MR: Switching gears, what does your writing process look like? Do you have a specific routine or rituals?

SSS: I usually like to write in the early mornings, right after coffee, as that is when my energy is most high and my mind is sharpest. However, that does not mean I write every day. Some days I am unable to focus too long on the screen, and so I give it a rest and just read (or

I usually do like to write in the early mornings right after coffee, as that is when my energy is most high and my mind is sharpest. However, that does not mean I write every day. Some days I am unable to focus too long on the screen, and so I give it a rest and just read (or honestly doom scroll!). Sometimes, all I can do is plot or outline a new story. Other times, I feel like my mind is in a revision mood, or in an essay mood. So I try to follow my instincts into what I want to do, and that usually leads me to the best creative productivity of that moment. I try not to push myself too hard if I am not ready to draft or revise, because that can lead to burnout, and burnout is the hardest creative rut to recover from!

The Magic of Novels in Verse

MR: Like Kareem Between, your latest novel is written in verse. What is it about this form that appeals to you? Also, what advice would you give to writers who might want to attempt a verse novel?

SSS: I absolutely adore verse! One of the reasons is the tightness of the storyline. Most verse novels come in at around 20,000 words, and I feel like today’s readers are clamoring for shorter books and tighter plots. But also, I just love poetry. Something about the magic of language, and how it can transform an image mentally to something with meaning and feeling, makes my heart happy. I love sitting with a poem and tinkering and tinkering with it until it feels like it has that “clicking” moment!

My advice for new verse novelists is to READ! Read ALL the verse novels you can get your hands on, because the best way to train your mind to write poetry is to read a lot of it.

Also, Cordelia Jensen gives a fantastic novel in verse course at Boyds Mills, so make sure to check that out if you like to take courses!

Up Next

MR: What are you working on now, Shifa? Can you give Mixed-Up Files readers a sneak peek?

SSS: I am happily looking forward to the publication of two more Amina Banana  books coming out in 2027 and 2028, and a picture book titled The Kaabah Cat in 2027, as well as another picture book titled Summers in Syria, scheduled for 2028!

As for what I am writing, I do have more verse novels in the works, and the next one is a mystery! I am thrilled to get it out into the world, although the details are still a bit secret.

Lightning Round!

MR: And finally, no MUF interview is complete without a lightning round, so…

Preferred writing snack? Snickers!

Plotter or pantser? Plotter ALL the way!

Zombie apocalypse: Yea or nay? I would probably die first lol

Superpower? My ability to function with no sleep!

Favorite place on earth? Mecca for sure!

If you were stranded on a desert island with only three things, what would they be?

A cellphone so I can call for help! A book to pass the time. And maybe my glasses, so I can see clearly!

***For more about Shifa, check out THIS INTERVIEW from the Mixed-Up Files archives!*** 

SHIFA SALTAGI SAFADI is the author of Kareem Between and several picture books, including The Gift of Eid. She has a bachelor’s degree in English literature, teaches ELA at a local middle school, and reviews Muslim books on her blog, Muslim Mommy Blog. Shifa was born in Syria and immigrated to the US with her parents as a young girl. She lives near Chicago with her husband and four children. Learn more about Shifa on her website and follow her on Instagram.

MELISSA ROSKE is a writer of middle-grade fiction. Before spending her days with imaginary people, she interviewed real ones as a journalist in Europe. In London she landed a job as an advice columnist for Just Seventeen magazine. Upon returning to her native New York, Melissa contributed to several books and magazines, selected jokes for Reader’s Digest, and received certification as a life coach from NYU. In addition to her debut novel Kat Greene Comes Clean (Charlesbridge), Melissa’s short story “Grandma Merle’s Last Wish” appears in the Jewish middle-grade anthology, Coming of Age: 13 B’Nai Mitzvah Stories (Albert Whitman). Learn more about Melissa on her Website and follow her on Facebook and Instagram.

The post Interview with Shifa Saltagi Safadi, Author of SISTERS ALONE appeared first on From The Mixed Up Files.

Welcome to STEM Tuesday: Author Interview, a repeating feature for the last Tuesday of every month. Go Science-Tech-Engineering-Math!

Today, we’re interviewing Martha Brockenbrough author of Future Tense: How We Made Artificial Intelligence and How It Will Change Everything (Feiwel & Friends, March 2024). This 23-chapter deep dive into the history, prevalence, and future of artificial intelligence is sprinkled with black-and-white photos and sidebars.

About the book:

Unlike the wheel, combustion engines, or electricity, AI does the thing that humans do best: think. While AI hasn’t reproduced the marvelously complex human brain, it has been able to accomplish astonishing things. AI has defeated our players at games like chess, Go, and Jeopardy!. It’s learned to recognize objects and speech. It can create art and music. It’s even allowed grieving people to feel as though they were talking with their dead loved ones.

On the flip side, it’s put innocent people in jail, manipulated the emotions of social media users, and tricked people into believing untrue things.

In this nonfiction book for teens, acclaimed author and teacher Martha Brockenbrough guides readers through the development of this world-changing technology, exploring how AI has touched every corner of our world, including education, healthcare, work, politics, war, international relations, and even romance. This is essential reading for anyone who wants to understand how artificial intelligence got here, how to make the best use of it, and how we can expect it to transform our lives.

Future Tense: How We Made Artificial Intelligence and How It Will Change Everything

Linda: This is a timely subject that affects writers, publishers, and other creatives. What inspired you to take on this project?

Martha: I started research on this book after my biography of Donald Trump, UNPRESIDENTED, came out. During his first run for the presidency, bots attempted to influence opinions and divide Americans. This got me interested in the many ways artificial intelligence will affect our lives. So I started researching everything I could. 

Linda: You covered a lot of ground in this book: the history of AI, the pros and cons, relationships with AI, the future, and more. What was your research process like, and how did you keep track of so much information?

Martha: I’m not gonna lie, Linda! It was an enormous challenge. I wanted there to be a lot of ways into the book for readers. Some people are really into tech. Some are more into the history of science. Some people like reading stories about people. I read books about the history of science. I read some books that got into the implications (I agreed with some and disagreed with others). I listened to tons of podcasts. Watched videos. 

When I am first researching a subject, I’m trying to get a sense of the big picture. I didn’t know anything about A.I., really. To understand it fully, I wanted to understand the history. Also, the practical bits of how it works. And that’s what helped me write the later chapters, where I engaged in some predicting. Those chapters were very much guided by my questions. Honestly, the whole book was. That’s how I write, most of the time. Questions and my best shot at answers.  

As I learn, I write about what I’m learning and where I learned it, and the deeper I get into things, the more I start to see the shape of the story. When you’re writing nonfiction, it is so important that you keep track of what you’re learning and where it came from, because you will need to demonstrate that for fact-checkers and to make footnotes, if you’re using them (I always use them in longer works). There are tools like Zotero that you can use to keep track of your research, but I am a big fan of spreadsheets and tabs. Also? I put the footnotes in as I write. It does slow the writing down, but the saddest writers in the world I’ve met are the ones who are “finished” with their books and suddenly realize they haven’t done their footnotes.

Linda: Do you have any fun facts that you learned about AI that you’d like to share?

Martha: I don’t know that this is fun, but it’s useful. Human beings have a propensity to form emotional bonds with bots. When I was working on my book, this was not something people were talking about. Now, it is. But I really wanted readers to understand this tendency and how vulnerable it makes us. So, put up some guardrails. Don’t personify any AI tools you use. Don’t disclose information to them that you wouldn’t tell a stranger. Understand that bots are primarily designed not to serve you, but to make a profit or influence you in some way. Now, we can get some utility out of certain kinds of AI, even generative AI. But there is always a cost to it. 

OK, now this is more fun. AI is being used for all sorts of cool purposes, including understanding what animals are saying. Maybe someday, my dream will come true, and I’ll be able to talk with animals. 

Linda: Now, that would certainly be entertaining. Martha, what do you hope readers take away from this book?

Martha: I hope they’ll have a deep understanding of why humans make tools, why AI represents a change in the type of tool we make, and that the “is it good/is it bad” question is an oversimplification. Like any tool, it can make life better. It can also cause harm—both intended and unintended. We are at a turning point in technological history, as well as a turning point in political history, where the very wealthy—many of whom are profiting from this technology—have a great deal of political power. I want readers to understand this technology and become engaged citizens so we can ensure AI serves humanity and the planet. Unless we ensure AI is optimized to serve humanity instead of simply being profitable, it represents an existential threat. We cannot prepare for things we don’t understand, and I wanted to prepare the next generation as well as I could. 

Linda: The book has a wealth of information about AI that could benefit students, and the chapter about AI in the world today was enlightening. Technology teachers might find it useful in their classrooms. How do you envision the book being used by students, teachers, and librarians?

Martha: I hope people get from it what interests them. There’s history, there’s some computer science, there’s futurism and a splash of biography—follow your interests. That’s what we should ideally be doing as readers. I hope that the information is such that readers recognize AI where they’re seeing it in the world, and that they have gained enough understanding of how it works to ensure their safety and prosperity. 

Linda: Ironically, technology is changing technology jobs. I programmed computers for fifteen years. I’ve always embraced technological advancements; however, if my job had become obsolete because of AI, I don’t think I would have welcomed it. How do you feel about AI?

Martha: Generative AI that is based on intellectual property theft is an outrage. The people who designed these tools protect their IP vigorously and absolutely knew better. That said, these same tools, trained responsibly, could save a lot of labor. Let’s say you’re a coder and AI does a first draft for you, and then you fine-tune. I can see where that would be useful. But I think we need to be measured in our glee about this. Lots of tech has saved certain kinds of labor, and we aren’t working shorter days or work weeks. In the end, the only people who benefit from the saved labor are the people at the top, who are highly paid and have company ownership and other benefits. 

With AI, a lot of people are going to lose their jobs. The solution to this is to have a universal basic income and adequate housing, health care, and the rest. Otherwise, we are going to see a lot of suffering. 

Certain jobs, I don’t think, should be replaced by AI. For example, writing stories or making art. No problem is being solved when you have generative AI gush this stuff out. These are human pleasures and human challenges, and AI-produced art is grotesque. The purpose of art is to make us feel something, and if it’s a machine that cannot feel doing that, well, it’s being emotionally manipulated by a machine. Does anyone actually want that? Is that what we want to subject our children to? 

On the flip side, there is great potential with AI to solve complex problems based on pattern recognition and production. Say, for example, taking novel viruses and rapidly developing vaccines to prevent infection. That’s cool. I love it when technology is a solution to a problem and not just an engine of profit. That’s when humanity and our tools are at our best. 

Linda: I totally agree. When AI helps us find cures and solutions, it’s a hero. When it’s being fed pirated work, it’s a thief. Martha, you certainly opened my eyes to the many places where we encounter artificial intelligence and how it is transforming our world. Thank you so much for joining us!

Martha Brockenbrough (rhymes with “broken toe”) is the author of 29 books, including YA fiction and nonfiction, picture books, middle-grade novels, and a chapter book series.

She is the Program Director for the MFA in Writing for Young Readers at the University of San Francisco. She founded National Grammar Day, wrote game questions for Cranium and Trivial Pursuit, was the editor of MSN.com, and has interviewed lots of celebrities, including the Jonas Brothers, Jason Bateman, Mike Myers, and Slash. She also wrote an educational humor column for Encarta for nine years. 

She lives in Seattle with her family. Besides reading and writing, she likes dogs, cats, cooking, working out, and laughing. 

Linda Zajac is the author of Robo-Motion: Robots That Move Like Animals and eight Minecraft books for kids. She is an award-winning science writer and a former computer programmer and systems analyst. Find her at www.lindarosezajac.com

The post STEM Tuesday– Computers– Author Interview appeared first on From The Mixed Up Files.

Building a Classroom Library

A well-stocked, high-quality classroom library can generate interest and motivation, support differentiated reading instruction, and help develop expert readers in your classroom. But sometimes it’s overwhelming on knowing where to start. Below are some amazing resources if you are struggling to figure out where to find high quality books.

• ALA Book, Print and Media Awards (Newberry, Caldecott, Siebert Medal, etc.): https://www.ala.org/awards/books-media
• American library Association Booklist Online: https://www.booklistonline.com/
• Cooperative Children’s Book Center: https://ccbc.education.wisc.edu/
• School Library Journal Best Books lists: https://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/page/best-books-2025
• From the Mixed Up Files Book Lists: https://fromthemixedupfiles.com/mixed-up-files-book-lists/#

One rule of thumb is to have anywhere from 10-20 books per students in your classroom at a variety of text lengths, genres, grade levels, and so forth. The more diverse the better!

Organizing a Classroom Library

While there is no wrong way to set up a classroom library, the following questions should guide your thinking on how you organize your library and situate it in your classroom.

• When you walk in your classroom, does the library jump out or is it invisible?
• Does the library have display areas for “teacher recommended” and “student recommended” books?
• Are there books related to students’ cultural backgrounds and communities?
• Is there a clear system for organizing the books, a check-in and check-out system, and a way to monitor students’ selections?

Two of the best books I’ve seen that help organize your classroom library and answer all of the questions above and MUCH, MUCH MORE are below (click on each picture for the website link):

Of course a well-stocked, well-organized library is only good if you get students excited to use it! Make sure you plan lots of book talks, help your students find books they will like to read, and keep new books coming in throughout the school year to keep the classroom library fresh and a place to be!

What are your plans for your classroom library this year? Share your ideas in the comments section below!

The post From the Classroom – Building and Organizing a Classroom Library appeared first on From The Mixed Up Files.