Middle Grade Reading for August!

Time to check out some MG books for August! Here are some excerpts from interviews I did with MG authors about their new books, for my blog, Book Q&As with Deborah Kalb...

 

Emma Otheguy's new novel is called Adventure in the City of Stories. It's a companion to her novel Cousins in the Time of Magic. In the first book, her characters traveled to 1862; in this one, they visit 1930. I asked her how she'd compare the two time periods, and she said: "I had a lot of fun writing about 1930 because it is much more familiar. The New York City skyline looked different than it does now, of course, but major landmarks like the Empire State Building were already being built. Simply put, the world in 1862 was much more different and required much more intensive research to write about. It also helped that I was writing about New York City, where I live, for this book–it was very easy to hop over to the New York Public Library for research, and many of the places I was writing about still exist. In the previous book I also visited the landmarks in person, but it took a lot more time to travel to Virginia and Puebla, Mexico."

 

India Hill Brown is the author of the new novel Girl from the Ashes. I asked her how the book's title was chosen, and she said: "It signifies rebuilding. The ghost in the story is red hot with the need for revenge, and while it’s understandable, it’s not always the right answer. The kids understand that the real way to change was to expose the bad, and rebuild with something beautiful." When I asked her what she hoped readers took from the novel, she said: "I hope readers learn to appreciate their strengths, and lean on one another for help in their weaknesses. I hope they learn how important it is to have compassion for one another, and that through history and the bad choices of others is a huge way that we can improve and do better."

 

Jessica Khoury's new novel is Monster and Apprentice. I asked her what inspired her to write the book, and how she created her protagonist, Rolan, and she said: "For as long as I can remember, I’ve wanted to write a book centered around the master-and-apprentice dynamic. I always loved these kinds of stories as a kid! And actually, the first thing I came up with was the title—Monster and Apprentice! But it took me a while to find the right characters for this story, and for several years I let it bubble in the back of my mind. Maybe it was adult? Maybe it would be young adult? But it all clicked for me after I read Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver. In many ways, Rolan is inspired by Demon, even though they are two wildly different stories! But I immediately loved the idea of a smart-mouthed kid who acts tough and independent, when really what he needs is to open himself to trusting the adults who care about him."

 

Happy reading!

 

--Deborah Kalb