Interview with Author: Claudia Mills

The Trouble With Ants (The Nora Notebooks)
by Claudia Mills; Illustrated by Katie Kath
Knopf Books for Young Readers (September 22, 2015)
Audience: 2nd to 4th grade
Fiction * Friendship * Ants

Description from Goodreads: 
Science-obsessed fourth grader Nora has ants all figured out—now she just has to try to understand her fellow humans!
 
The trouble with ants is . . .
. . . people think they’re boring.
. . . they are not cuddly.
. . . who would ever want them for a pet?
 
Nora Alpers is using her new notebook to record the behavior of ants. Why? Because they are fascinating! Unfortunately, no one agrees with her. Her mom is not happy about them being in the house, and when Nora brings her ant farm to school for show and tell, her classmates are not very impressed. They are more interested in cat videos, basketball practice, or trying to set a Guinness World Record (although Nora wouldn’t mind that).
 
Mostly they are distracted by the assignment their teacher Coach Joe has given them—to write a persuasive speech and change people’s minds about something. Will Nora convince her friends that ants are as interesting as she thinks they are? Or will everyone still think of ants as nothing but trouble?
 
With real science facts, a classroom backdrop, an emphasis on friendship, and appealing black-and-white interior illustrations from artist Katie Kath, The Nora Notebooks is perfect for newly independent readers—especially budding scientists like Nora!—and adults who want to encourage awareness of STEM subjects in young readers.

Thank you Claudia Mills for stopping by Kid Lit Frenzy to answer a few questions about your newest series THE NORA NOTEBOOKS: THE TROUBLE WITH ANTS. 

In The TROUBLE WITH ANTS, Nora loves science and finds herself advocating for ants. This reminds me of my first year of teaching and having to do a unit on insects. And students coming up to me to show what bugs they found on the playground. Do you have a favorite insect and how would you advocate for it?

Great question! My favorite insect is one that, sadly, doesn’t live where I now do, in Boulder, Colorado: the firefly that brightened summer nights of my New Jersey childhood. I don’t think fireflies need much advocacy, because it’s so lovely to see trees and bushes at dusk festooned with their flickering light. But if they did, I’d probably write poems about fireflies to help others see their magic and beauty.

Are there any children's nonfiction books about ants that would pair well with TROUBLE WITH ANTS? 

Alas, I don’t know of any. I used the terrific book for grownups, Journey to the Ants: A Story of Scientific Exploration by Bert Hölldobler and Edward O. Wilson, for my own research. But there are a lot of ant books out there targeted to young readers.

With an emphasis on STEM in schools today, did this influence your choice in making Nora a science enthusiast? 

No. I tend not to focus on current educational trends and needs, though perhaps I should. It’s the character who comes first for me when I write. I had already introduced Nora as a secondary character in my Mason Dixon series, and I just felt it was time for her to have a series of her own. Then, as I wrote about her, I came to share her love for the marvels of the natural world.

Will there be more books in the Nora Notebook series? What projects are you currently working on that you can share with us?

Two more Nora books are in the works. In THE TROUBLE WITH BABIES, Nora gets a chance to study the science of human infants up close when she becomes a new aunt to baby Nellie. In THE TROUBLE WITH FRIENDS, Nora and her total-opposite classmate Emma finally forge a true friendship after a misunderstanding that shows Nora how the social world of school needs careful scientific observation, too.

Many of your books are for 2nd to 4th graders, what is it like to write for this age group? Any challenges or things that are particularly fun about writing early chapter books and early middle grade? 

I adore writing for this age group; it’s the absolute best! My child characters and child readers in that age group are so bright and sophisticated, but still have their childhood sweetness. The shorter length of the books forces me, as an author, to keep my pacing peppy, moving the stories forward with lots of humor-filled scenes. And early chapter books and middle grade novels often have black-and-white illustrations throughout, and it’s such fun to see how illustrators add their own depth of detail to my characters. I’m totally smitten with the pictures of Nora drawn by the brilliant Katie Kath.

What was your favorite book or series from when you were in 4th grade?

The Betsy-Tacy books of Maud Hart Lovelace (Betsy-Tacy; Betsy-Tacy and Tib; Betsy and Tacy Go Over the Big Hill; Betsy and Tacy Go Downtown). They remain my favorite books in the world to this day. Readers of that series should be able to see echoes of Lovelace’s dryly comic voice in my own writing.

The New Year is just around the corner - if you make any resolutions, are there any that you care to share - even if you are just entertaining them at the moment.

I always make the same one: to fill my life with as much creative joy as possible. I try to do this in all kinds of ways: writing in different, cozy places; making writing dates with other author friends; reading new wonderful books as they are published; and connecting with readers through school visits to share the creative joy of writing with them as well.

Photo Credit: Larry Harwood

About the author: 
Claudia Mills is the author of over fifty books for young readers. She does not personally keep an ant farm, but she does have a cat, Snickers, with whom she curls up on her couch at home in Boulder, Colorado, drinking hot chocolate and writing. To learn more, and to download free curriculum guides for her books, visit her website at claudiamillsauthor.com

The Little Snowplow: Guest Post by Lora Koehler

The Little Snowplow
by Lora Koehler; Illustrated by Jake Parker
Candlewick Press (October 13, 2015)
Fiction * Transportation * Perceptions

Thank you Lora Koehler for stopping by and sharing how storytime has contributed to her writing. 

In addition to being a children’s author, I am, like many of you, a librarian. I’ve been a children’s librarian with the Salt Lake County Library System for twenty years. Unlike other pursuits that might not be as harmonious, the two careers mesh well.

Take storytimes, for example. Just one part of my job as a librarian, they’ve contributed immensely to what I’ve learned as a writer. I’ve done storytimes in libraries small and large, spaces hushed and raucous, for two kids and for 200.

As a librarian, I’m always perusing the newly arrived picture books for things to use in storytime. As a writer, I’m also looking at them to understand what makes a good read-aloud. Sometimes we’ll get a book in that I wonder about. Clearly, for it to have been published, a number of people loved this book. But I don’t immediately understand why.

So, I take it into my storytime “lab” and experiment. How do the kids react? How does the text work with the page turns? What makes it funny...or not? Why did the kids stare blankly at this book I found hilarious? How does the plot rise and fall? Where does the story fall flat? What keeps the kids involved?

The answers to my questions help me find good books for future storytimes. They also, I hope, help me to create good books for future storytimes.

The skills that librarians develop in storytimes or school presentations translate to the life of a writer in another way: an experienced librarian is probably much more comfortable in front of an audience than many writers.

Librarians know story. I like to anchor my preschool storytimes with a strong story, and this is something The Little Snowplow features. Stories like these encourage a child’s narrative skills. It’s fun to watch the kids eyes widen as they wait to see what happens. At that point you know they’re hooked. With The Little Snowplow, kids feel the injustice of the big trucks’ discrimination against the little plow from the start of the story. And they enjoy predicting whether the snowplow will be strong enough to plow the roads.

In storytime, I also find ways to physically involve kids in the story. In The Little Snowplow, kids can train like the plow does by mimicking the actions. Rolling their heads to make the light on top go around, figuring out what the beep of a little snowplow should sound like (BEEP? beep? beep?), “driving” forward and back, and raising and lowering their plow....the physical movements extend their interest in the story.

After reading so many picture books I sometimes feel like I “think in picture book.” Stories, which almost always start writing themselves in my head, start to unfold with the pictures to go with them, and with page turns in place. That doesn’t mean that it won’t change a lot once I start to get it onto paper -- it almost always does. My critique group has yet to pronounce an early draft “perfect.”

Once I’ve gotten those drafts to where I think they need to be going I usually create a “dummy” to lay out the text in the way I see it being in a book. This helps me to find things that need to be reordered, rewritten, and often, deleted.

Other parts of my job as a librarian translate to the writing life as well. I’ve learned about publishers and the kinds of books they publish through collection development work. This, of course, has been invaluable as a writer, or at least, a writer who wanted to get her book out there.

And the library is always a great source of writing ideas. Prompted by the child who comes in with her fancy hat and gloves, or the older gentleman who sits each day near the fireplace, characters spring to life in my imagination. The questions that people ask sometimes turn into book ideas as well. “Hmm, I’m not finding a book on that....but there should be one.” You would think, by now, that every imaginable topic had been written about, but if it hasn’t been, the library is a great place to discover that.

For this writer (and I know for many others), the library is a fantastic place to work. Perhaps you have a story that you’ve been thinking of writing too?

Enter to win a copy of The Little Snowplow:
Thank you to Candlewick Press for offering copies of The Little Snowplow for giveaway. Two lucky readers will have a chance to win a copy of The Little Snowplow. Complete the Rafflecopter below to enter. All participants must be 13 years old or older and have a US mailing address.

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Penguin's 12 Days of Picture Books: The Day the Crayons Came Home

Penguin Young Readers is celebrating the holiday season with 12 Days of Picture Books from 12/2 to 12/18. Today's picture book is The Day the Crayons Came Home. Check out Penguin Young Readers' Facebook page for the giveaway. For more gift ideas, check out Penguin's Gift Guide.

The Day the Crayons Came Home
by Drew Daywalt; Illustrated by Oliver Jeffers
Philomel (August 18, 2015)
Fiction * Humor
 

Description from GoodReads: 
I'm not sure what it is about this kid Duncan, but his crayons sure are a colorful bunch of characters! Having soothed the hurt feelings of one group who threatened to quit, Duncan now faces a whole new group of crayons asking to be rescued. From Maroon Crayon, who was lost beneath the sofa cushions and then broken in two after Dad sat on him; to poor Turquoise, whose head is now stuck to one of Duncan's stinky socks after they both ended up in the dryer together; to Pea Green, who knows darn well that no kid likes peas and who ran away—each and every crayon has a woeful tale to tell and a plea to be brought home to the crayon box.

Thoughts about this book: 
The crayons are back in more than one way. The creative team of Daywalt and Jeffers is also back with a companion book as good as the first. 

This time the crayons communicate in a series of postcards to Duncan. Through these messages, Duncan learns of these lost crayons that were forgotten and many times left in terrible condition. The neon red crayon has an adventure on his way back home and will capture your heart. However, it is the pea green crayon who changes his name to Esteban that I really liked.

Fans of the Day the Crayons Quit will equally love the Day the Crayons Came Home. Pick up a copy at your local indie bookstore as a gift for your favorite young reader.

Nonfiction Picture Book Wednesday: Best Nonfiction of 2015 Part I

Every once in awhile there is a year that you would like to forgot. A year that you will only be too happy to say good-bye to. This has been one of those years for me. When I looked back at last year's Best Of post, I realized how many books I had read and how many fabulous books I recognized in those end of the year Best Of posts. Though I might not have exceed last year's goals,  there are some wonderful books to highlight for this year.  Since I am still reading, stop by next week for some additional favorites.

Also, don't forget to check out my Mock Sibert posts: Part I | Part II | Part III

Here are some of my favorites from this year. They are in no particular order. It doesn't matter if they meet the criteria for an award. They only needed to meet one criteria - be a book that I really liked this year. 

Favorite Nonfiction Books for Younger Readers:

Favorite Dual Text book (Fiction and Nonfiction): I (Don't) Like Snakes by Nicola Davies: Illustrated by Luciano Lozano. 

Favorite Biography: The Swan: The Life and Dance of Anna Pavlova by Laurel Snyder; Illustrated by Julie Morstad

Favorite Animal Book: The Great Monkey Rescue: Saving the Golden Lion Tamarins by Sandra Markle

Favorite Fiction Book that would pair well with a NF book about polar bears : The Bear Report 

Favorite NF Graphic Novels:

Favorite Author of the year goes to Margarita Engle. 

Don't forget to link up your nonfiction reviews below:

Penguin's 12 Days of Picture Books: The Nonsense Show

Penguin Young Readers is celebrating the holiday season with 12 Days of Picture Books from 12/2 to 12/18. Today's picture book is The Nonsense Show. Check out Penguin Young Readers' Facebook page for the giveaway. For more gift ideas, check out Penguin's Gift Guide.

The Nonsense Show
by Eric Carle
Philomel Books (October 13, 2015)
Fiction * Imagination * Word Play

Description from GoodReads: 
Ducks growing out of bananas? A mouse catching a cat? What’s wrong with this book?
 
Yes, there’s something strange, something funny and even downright preposterous on every page of this bookBut it’s not a mistake – it’s nonsense!  And it’s also surrealism. Nonsense lies at the heart of many beloved nursery rhymes.  Children readily accept odd statements like “the cow
jumped over the moon” and “the dish ran away with the spoon.”  This fanciful bending of reality is also basic to surrealism.

In this book, nonsense and surrealism combine to spark creativity and imagination.  What’s true? What’s impossible? What’s absolutely absurd? From Eric Carle, creator of the classic, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, comes a book to make children laugh and think, preparing them for a
lifetime of loving both words and art.

Following on the heels of The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse (an homage to the artist Franz Marc and expressionism) and Friends, with its semi-abstract artwork,  The Nonsense Show  forms a trilogy of sorts, dedicated to introducing young readers to different styles of artwork without ever overlooking the need to, first and foremost, appeal to children and their love of play. One of the true legends and pioneers of picture book making continues to expand and challenge the genre. 

Official Book Trailer:

Thoughts about this book: 
At 86 years old, Eric Carle is still creating children's books. His latest, The Nonsense Show came out in October 2015. 

Filled with rhyming text, riddle like questions, Carle leads readers through a series of absurd images and scenarios such as the duck coming from the banana on the cover or a fish in a bird cage. 

Though The Nonsense Book is different from some of Carle's more well-known books, the book invites readers to explore, laugh, and talk about the wacky combinations throughout the book.

Collectors of Carle's previous books will want to add this to their collections. Those looking for a read aloud that will engage students in conversation and laughter will want to pick this one up.

Photo: © Cirsten Carle

About the author/illustrator: 
Eric Carle is acclaimed and beloved as the creator of brilliantly illustrated and innovatively designed picture books for very young children. His best-known work, The Very Hungry Caterpillar, has eaten its way into the hearts of literally millions of children all over the world and has been translated into more than 25 languages and sold over twelve million copies. Since theCaterpillar was published in 1969, Eric Carle has illustrated more than sixty books, many best sellers, most of which he also wrote.