Middle Grade Reading for October

Now that it's getting a little colder outside (or maybe just a little less hot), it's time to check in on some new middle grade fiction for October, and I interviewed some authors on my blog, Book Q&As with Deborah Kalb, about their new novels...

Sherri L. Smith's new book is called Candace, the Universe, and Everything. When I asked her about the inspiration for the novel, she said, "Initially, I was interested in the idea of a girl finding a notebook from a previous student that helps her navigate her friendships. But I quickly realized the notebook would not just be a 'left behind' item, but something more unusual, which lead to the idea of the wormhole in her locker, and the link to earlier generations." She added, "From there, I leaned into different elements, like a bird I saw fly overhead one day that seemed to have translucent wings, and the 'visual snow' I see when I stare into a blue sky. It looks like a boiling pot, so why not a portal?"

 

J. Anderson Coats's new novel, The Unexpected Lives of Ordinary Girls, was inspired by the life of her grandmother. "After she died, I learned that she’d graduated from high school when she was in her mid-teens, but her family didn’t support her going to college and her father refused to let her get a job outside the home," Coats said in our interview. "Instead, she had to help her mother with household chores and child care. So when she was in her 20s, she eloped with my grandfather and barely spoke to her parents ever again. What struck me was how stifling and unfair it must have felt to her, to be really good at school but refused any opportunities to have a career with those skills. That’s where I started with Unexpected Lives – that feeling of wanting something for yourself when your parents demanded something completely different from that."

 

Are you craving something with a little spookiness to get into the Halloween spirit? Try Charis Cotter's new novel, The Mystery of the Haunted Dance Hall, which is set at a summer camp. "Camp was the highlight of my childhood. I loved it so much—I spent 11 months longing for the 12th month to arrive so I could go back to camp. It felt very adventurous to leave my family behind in the city and go to live in a tent under the stars," Cotter told me. "I loved the rituals of campfire and chapel and early morning swims, and I loved being with my peers, sleeping in a sleeping bag, and the sense of order that came with the daily schedule. Most of all, I just loved being out in nature. For a long time, I wanted to write a book about camp so I could relive that experience through my writing."

 

Enjoy, and keep reading!

 

--Deborah Kalb