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Journey by Patricia MacLachlan (1991)
Journey is a middle grade novel by American author Patricia MacLachlan (1938-2022). MacLachlan was a prolific author and published over 60 novels, eventually collaborating with her daughter. People may know her best for Sarah, Plain and Tall which won the 1986 Newbery Medal. She won it again for Journey, a slim paperback of just 80 […]
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Story Opening Case Study: Uglies by Scott Westerfield
A close analysis of the opening to a 2005 young adult novel. How much backstory to include? What about setting? And how does setting link to character and theme?
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Story Opening: Insignificant Events In The Life Of A Cactus by Dusti Bowling
The opening to Dusti Bowling’s middle grade novel, Insignificant Events In The Life Of A Cactus, is notable for its lists.
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Opening Sentences: Middle Grade Novels
Let’s take a look at openings to various middle grade novels. How do contemporary storytellers hook young readers?
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Young Adult And Middle Grade Books With Trans Feminine Characters
Young adult readers can now find better queer diversity scattered across young adult literature. Many of these new stories feature trans masculine characters. Here are some young adult stories featuring trans feminine characters.
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Children’s Fiction Based On The Odyssey
There are three main types of modern myth, and by ‘modern’ I mean ‘3000 years old’. In one type the main character hangs around home base (e.g. an island). This type of myth is known as a Robinsonnade. Another much newer type is the so-called Female Myth, in which the main character (of any gender) […]
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Two Weeks With The Queen by Morris Gleitzman Novel Study
Two Weeks With The Queen is an Australian middle grade novel by Morris Gleitzman. My edition is copyrighted 1989, though other places on the web will tell you this book was first published in 1990 or 1991.
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The Halfmen of O by Maurice Gee
The World of O is a trilogy of fantasy novels by New Zealand author Maurice Gee published 1982-1985. The Halfmen of O (1982) is the first of the series. We might call this series The New Zealand Chronicles of Narnia with a bit of sci-fi thrown in. There are also tropes recognisable from The Wonderful […]
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In A Dark, Dark Room And Other Scary Stories
In A Dark, Dark Room and Other Scary Stories written by Alvin Schwartz was first published in 1971 for emergent readers ready for scary… but not too scary. I recently looked closely at a modern picture book called Creepy Carrots, another excellent example of a ‘scary’ story perfectly pitched at 4-6 year olds. This collection […]
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Danny The Champion Of The World by Roald Dahl Novel Study
As an English speaking child of the 80s I grew up on a heavy diet of Roald Dahl. Danny The Champion Of The World (1975) stands out in my adult memory my favourite Dahl story, perhaps only bested by the frisson of horror left by The Witches (in which I actually examined my J2 teacher, thinking she might be a…
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Little House On The Prairie Analysis
Should parents expose our modern kids to Little House On The Prairie, given the uncomfortable realities?
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Charlotte’s Web Novel Study Analysis
At almost 32,000 words, Charlotte’s Web (1952, 1963) is a middle grade novel rather than a chapter book. This is a story with many hidden depths, which appeals to middle grade kids as well as their adult co-readers. Below I’ll be getting into how this story appeals to both children and adults, the themes of […]
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The Weirdness of Yotsuba&! by Kiyohiko Azuma
The other day someone in a book recommendation group wanted suggestions for a 10 year old who loves Hayao Miyazaki movies. This basically describes my own kid, who’s been a Miyazaki fan since the age of three, before she even knew transmogrification wasn’t a thing. My kid enjoys Yotsuba&! (among other things, so I recommended […]
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Junie B. Jones and Rejection Sensitive Dysphoria
Rejection sensitive dysphoria is an unpleasant emotion which should be more widely known. Not many people know how it feels, and even fewer know what it’s called. But Barbara Park’s Junie B. Jones is an excellent fictional example of a character who lives with these hard emotions.
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Chekhov’s Toy Gun In Children’s Literature
Chekhov’s gun is a storytelling technique to do with foreshadowing. The author places a gun in the story/picture and one of the characters uses it later. This is the general rule: If the gun has been placed, the author must make use of it. Otherwise the reader will wonder what on earth it was doing […]