Posts Tagged ‘middle grade’

1
Apr

YA Crossover Books

   Posted by: rettstatt    in children's literature

It’s not news to anyone that adults are reading books marketed to young adults. Harry Potter and Twilight may have made this phenomenon more socially acceptable, but they hardly started it. Think Tolkien and Mark Twain, back before the publishing industry had articulated marketing categories such as “middle grade” and “young adult.”

What’s new is that publishers are increasingly adjusting their marketing strategies to work with this reality instead of against it.

More and more titles are being published as YA in the US and as adult in other countries, and sometimes vice versa. Margo Lanagan’s Tender Morsels, originally published as an adult title by A&I in Australia, was published as YA by Knopf in the US. The Book Thief was published as an adult title in Australia.

And publishers in the UK regularly publish YA and adult editions  simultaneously. This is certainly the case for His Dark Materials.

From my own experience writing middle grade and YA fiction (and working very closely with other writers) is that one of the most difficult questions you can ask an author is the age target of the book. That question confounds me like no other.

When I was writing Kaimira, I did have a certain audience in mind. They were people like me, people who love losing themselves in massive fictional worlds. They are readers above all else, but they enjoy immersive storyverses in any format, from fan fiction to gaming.

But this audience I had in mind did not have a specific age. They could just as easily be 30 as 13.

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9
Dec

The Sky Village Nominated for Cybils 2008

   Posted by: rettstatt    in children's literature, kaimira, kidlitosphere

2008 Nominations
Fantasy and Science Fiction (Middle Grade)


39 Clues
written by Rick Riordan
Scholastic



Airman
written by Eoin Colfer
Hyperion


Best Friend for Claudia
written by Beatrice Weinberg Katz
PublishAmerica


Boots and Pieces
written by Emily Ecton
Simon & Schuster


Boy of All Time
written by Che Dee
Calderwood Books



Cabinet of Wonders
written by Marie Rutkoski
Macmillan


Dark Legacy
written by K. G. McAbee
Calderwood Books


Dark Whispers
written by Bruce Coville
Scholastic


Diamond of Darkhold
written by Jeanne DuPrau
Random House Children’s Books


Dinosaur Blackout
written by Judith Silverthorne
Coteau


Dragon Flight
written by Jessica Day George
Bloomsbury USA


Escape the Mask
written by David Ward
Amulet


Ever
written by Gail Carson Levine
HarperCollins


Fablehaven: Grip of the Shadow Plague
written by Brandon Mull
Shadow Mountain


Facttracker
written by Jason Carter Eaton
HarperCollins


Family Matters
written by Kristin Sheley
iUniverse


Farworld: Water Keep
written by J. Scott Savage
Shadow Mountain


Fish and Sphinx
written by Rae Bridgman
Great Plains Publications


Flora’s Dare
written by Ysabeau S. Wilce
Harcourt


Girl Who Could Fly
written by Victoria Forester
Feiwel & Friends


Gods of Manhattan
written by Scott Mebus
Dutton Juvenile


Graveyard Book
written by Neil Gaiman
HarperCollins


Grim Hill: The Secret Deepens
written by Linda DeMeulemeester
Lobster Press


Gypsy Crown
written by Kate Forsyth
Hyperion


Heck: Where the Bad Kids Go
written by Dale E. Basye
Random House Children’s Books


House of Many Ways
written by Diana Wynne Jones
Greenwillow Books


Inkdeath
written by Cornelia Funke
Scholastic

Kaimira: The Sky Village
written by Monk Ashland
and Nigel Ashland
Candlewick Press


Lamplighter
written by D. M. Cornish
Penguin USA


Land Beyond the Clouds
written by Valerie Bishop
Light Publishing


Magic and Other Misdemeanors (The Sisters Grimm, Book 5)
written by Michael Buckley
Amulet


Magic Thief
written by Sarah Prineas
HarperCollins


Mary Lamb Enters the World of Maze
written by F. T. Botham
PublishAmerica


Masterpiece
written by Elise Broach
Henry Holt


Misty Forest Fables
written by Acrid Hermit
Fauna Trek


Monks in Space
written by David Jones
Annick Press


Once Upon a Time in the North
written by Philip Pullman
Knopf Books for Young Readers


Order of Odd-Fish
written by James Kennedy
Delacorte Press Books for Young Readers


Other Side of the Island
written by Allegra Goodman
Penguin USA


Ottoline and the Yellow Cat
written by Chris Riddell
HarperCollins


Out of the Wild
written by Sarah Beth Durst
Penguin USA


Palace of Mirrors
written by Margaret Peterson Haddix
Simon & Schuster


Philippa Fisher’s Fairy Godsister
written by Liz Kessler
Candlewick Press


Portal
written by Jaqlyn Von Eger
Trafford


Queste
written by Angie Sage
HarperCollins


Remarkable and Very True Story of Lucy and Snowcap
written by H. M. Bouwman
Marshall Cavendish Children’s Books


Ring Dragonz
written by Mister Rengerz
Helm Publishing


Robe of Skulls
written by Vivian French
Candlewick Press


Runemarks
written by Joanne Harris
Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers


Savvy
written by Ingrid Law
Penguin USA


Seer of Shadows
written by Avi
HarperCollins


Shadow Diamond
written by S Brooke
PublishAmerica


Sisters of the Sword
written by Maya Snow
HarperCollins


Skulduggery Pleasant: Playing with Fire
written by Derek Landy
HarperCollins


Softwire: Betrayal on Orbis 2
written by PJ Haarsma
Candlewick Press



The Curse of Cuddles McGee
written by Emily Ecton
Aladdin


Things That Are
written by Andrew Clements
Philomel


Thornspell
written by Helen Lowe
Knopf Books for Young Readers


Travelers Market
written by Maureen Doyle McQuerry
Idylls Press


Tygrine Cat
written by Inbali Iserles
Candlewick Press


Unnameables
written by Ellen Booraem
Harcourt


Warriors Power of Three: Eclipse
written by Erin Hunter
HarperCollins


Well Witched
written by Frances Hardinge
HarperCollins


Wild Magic
written by Cat Weatherill
Walker Books for Young Readers


Winter Wood
written by Steve Augarde
Random House Children’s Books

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16
Mar

YAuthor to YAuthor: Interview with Adam Rex

   Posted by: rettstatt    in children's literature, writing

I’m starting a new feature called “YAuthor to YAuthor,” a series of interviews with other authors of Middle Grade and Young Adult books.
As a judge in this year’s Cybils, I was pulling for Adam Rex to win with THE TRUE MEANING OF SMEKDAY, which was one of my favorite books of 2007. Hilarious and heart-warming, which is a tough combination to pull off.
YAuthor to YAuthor with Adam Rex
Chris: Why do you prefer working on books for kids?
Adam: Well, I like reading them, though I read at least as much adult fiction and nonfiction as well. Maybe it’s because, when I write, I naturally lean toward genre stories of some kind or another. My impetus for writing tends toward ideas like, “human and alien come to terms with each other and forge a relationship against the backdrop of massive alien imperialism,” rather than, say, “humans come to terms with their disappointing lives and forge unhealthy relationships against the backdrop of an age of crippling ennui.” The former is typical kid lit, the latter is adult lit. I don’t know how to write the latter.
Chris: You seem to have more ideas than you have time for. How do you decide which ones you want to spend time on?

Adam: I don’t, frequently. The position of MOST PROMISING is something that a lot of my ideas take turns occupying. It’s very democratic. But some ideas are just lightning, and can’t be ignored.

Chris: Was there a moment when you felt like you had “arrived” as an author or illustrator?

Adam: I felt pretty good a year or two ago when people in the industry, librarians and booksellers and people in publishing, began to know who I was without my explaining it first. Once a librarian recognized me by sight alone. I understand now what a seductive feeling that can be, but as long as it’s happening primarily at book expos or conferences I’m pretty comfortable with it. When it starts happening at the supermarket I think it’s a problem, but then again I’m only an author, so it’s not a problem I’m likely to have.

Adam Rex’s cats

Chris: Are you a cat person?

Adam: I don’t really make a philosophical choice between cats and dogs, but I have no dogs and two cats, Little Nemo and Dr. Simon Dicker.

Chris: What did you think when THE DIRTY COWBOY was banned at W.C. Andrews Elementary?

Adam: Not a lot. There is a sort of thrill that comes from being banned, from being in the company of Sendak or Twain or the Apostles. And I’ve never known a book banning that didn’t raise interest in the book in question. So I can probably thank the school for a couple sales I wouldn’t have made otherwise. Otherwise, book banners just make me feel tired and full of pity. They have to be frightened, unhappy people who have entirely lost the connection with their childhood selves.

Chris: You seem to have successfully made the transition from illustrator to author/illustrator. Is there anything you miss about illustrating other people’s stories?

Adam: Not at all–I’m illustrating another author’s picture book right now. If a manuscript is great, I want to be a part of it. In an ideal world, I already am because I wrote the thing. But if that can’t be the case, I can at least illustrate it.

Chris: What are you working on now?

Adam: The debut book by author Mac Barnett, to be called Billy Twitters’s Blue Whale Problem. So lots of paintings of whales, and whale maintenance.

Chris: How do you say “Please pass the horseradish” in the Gorg language?

Adam: Hmmm…that would be…BAFF G’TA TODF’DAQIFT! You’ll notice I omitted the word “please.” It doesn’t really translate.

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