Tag: mglit

Trunk No. 3, drama/fantasy mglit that engages kids who want to read

Last year I was teaching ELA in high school. One of my writing prompts was to write a short story from the perspective of an inanimate object. I had a photograph of a streetcar, an automobile, advertising sign and more. All of the photos, plus our detailed speech about the essay, had enough details to inspire those high school kids to write something with a modicum of meaning, creativity or heart. Olivetti was an mglit book that we really enjoyed. Author Allie Millington’s book, Trunk No. 3 follows a similar set up. Does it payoff as efficiently as a story from the perspective of a typewriter?

Trunk No. 3 offers a fly-on-the-wall take of a trunk that can mystically send objects to different locations. It’s mglit for the reading faithful.
It won’t do much to sway reluctant readers

The Intergalatics, sci-fi mglit with story to sway reluctant readers.

It’s tough to introduce worlds to audiences. What makes a young reader want to explore a new book with unknown characters? In my over simplified mind I view the world of authors as being similar to cartoonists. Assuming that all of the work is done under the same name, the content needs to have enough of the footprint that brought the audience, without being repetitive. I know, there are many adult authors who defy that mantra and flaunt the sheer volume of published or co-authored books. The Intergalactics is the first book in a series by Erik Jon Slangerup. It’s mglit that introduces young readers to aliens, who are surprisingly like us, despite being unique and in fantastical situations.

The Intergalactics, mglit whose characters run with energy and a science-fiction/adventure plot that doesn’t get in the way of audiences enjoying it.
mglit, sci-fi and other cool abbreviations lie in wait

Golden Boy-good-time chapter reading for those who think they don’t want to

Golden Boy is kind of like the Afterschool Special that you never saw. The Afterschool Special was usually smaltzy movies that were on ABC ( a television network that Disney purchased….) and usually had soft melodramatic lessons on empathy. They had popular teen actors like John Travolta, Jodie Foster or maybe even Kristy McNichol staring in them. Golden Boy reminds us of those movies, but is a much more lighthearted, comedic version. It’s very easy to enjoy Golden Boy, but it does require you to suspend disbelief and believe that a dog can be transformed into a teen. OK, maybe to some people Golden Boy is the canine and football version of Freaky Friday. However, since that inspiration also starred Jodie Foster and was from the mid-70s, we’re taking the win on the reference. *

Golden Boy is the implausible, silly on the face of it, mglit that you didn’t ask for, but can’t resist reading about a dog that turns into a boy.
Resistance is futile

The Sherlock Society Art Attack balances intrigue, family, action and humor

The Sherlock Society: Art Attack, AKA, The Sherlock Society 3 knows its family, and its role. It’s very important to know your role. The Sherlock Society is the literary sibling to City Spies, which is the literary best friend to Spy School. Note that the first two series are related and the third one is RIYL. The Sherlock Society is mid-elementary through middle school as middle school metaphorical manna. Art Attack is a fun, confidence-building romp that’s got travel, age-appropriate relationships, a surprisingly twisty plot and characters audiences will grow along with.

The Sherlock Society 3, or The Sherlock Society: Art Attack, is the answer for upper-elementary, mglit people who want a semi-grounded, great book.
Neatly fits in the upper-elementary through mid-middle school puzzle

Little Monsters, a fun twist on Little Women that engages girls aged 8-12

I never read Little Women. I saw the shout-out that the classic book received in Ride or Die, felt momentarily guilty for it, but it’s not enough to make me read it. Little Monsters alludes to that classic title by having “Little” in the same regal font as “Women”, but having the latter word physically scratched out via a series of horizontal claw marks. Underneath that is “Monsters”, hastily scrawled as if someone’s leaving the scene of a cattle mutilation. You don’t need to have read the timeless book it references to be attracted to Little Monsters. This is a retelling of that story, and updated in ways that will engage young readers.

Little Monsters twists the time and setting of Little Women, and adds some monster paranoia, that will entertain girls in upper-elementary through middle.
Girls, gossip, monster, paranoia the destroyer

Blood in the Water is younger-skewing mglit that speaks to grades 4-7

Blood in the Water has a nice, bubbling sense of tension. Creating a book for mid-elementary school through mid-middle school can’t be easy. That age is learning to read chapter books, reluctant to read anything, or too ensconced in fart-borne books to care about anything else. Young readers in that eight through 14 demographic want to read something with bite and suspense. Throw in the caveat that said book needs to be age-appropriate, and you’ve got a bit of a challenge on your hands.

Blood in the Water is realistic fiction, albeit on the dramatic end, that will speak to kids in upper elementary through lower middle school.
For a season, this book will scratch the itch

A Tale of Plagues and Perfumes, fast-paced, original mglit that pays off

As kids get halfway through middle school they could lose their ability to use adjectives. I’m normally a glass-half-full kind of a guy. However, the essays that I see in 9th grade have a majority of students who need a map, compass and guide dog in order to find adjectives. They’d be overly excited if they came up with two ways to describe the weather in July and then ask for a waiver on future assignments. A Tale of Plagues and Perfumes is one of the more original middle-grade releases you’ll read this year. It does that by delving into a world that mglit readers know as familiar, but not too familiar, and exploring a realm that other books haven’t had the scents to do.

A Tale of Plagues and Perfumes is fast-paced mglit that cuts its own path in a very original and entertaining story.
smells like teen reading

The Traitor Moth, adventure fantasy that hides in plain sight for 8 and up

It could’ve begun as a side comment, or maybe even a dare. Write a book that has an action backbone, with the heart and emotive lessons that are age-appropriate, and entertaining, for upper-elementary and mglit audiences, with a moth as the main character. A moth. That flighty, lightweight, seemingly pointless creature who is hopelessly attracted to light and the punchline to a classic Norm Macdonald joke and its nemesis, Gregory Illininivich. Author Katherine Orton heard this sidebar, slipped into her moth exoskeleton, said hold this light and created The Traitor Moth. This is the first in the Moon Realm fantasy book series that lives in the world of eight through twelve-year-old, reading-because-it’s-awesome space.

The Traitor Moth places an adventure, action, fantasy world within the confounds of a potentially lame insect.
Adventure fantasy at a jumping off point
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