Shopping for Kids’ Books (ages 9 to 12) at your Home or Library?

It’s not easy to find books for kids ages 9 to 12. You can flip through picture books fairly easily, but books for elementary school or primary grades take longer to read. Here’s a little help for you–I suggest my new favorite book for this age group every month in my Readers List and once a year, I put all the recommendations together in a convenient book menu for you. Take it to the library or bookstore and amaze the kids with wonderful books to read!

There’s more to explore!

The second book in the Seven Kingdoms Fairy Tale series is all about exploring–with a prince who has no sense of direction! Just for fun, here are the real castles that inspired the Blackfly and the Saffron Kingdoms. LOST WITH LEEKS stars the Blackfly Prince Nero and the Saffron royal twins: Prince Magellan and Princess […]

6 ways THIS JOURNAL BELONGS TO RATCHET shows its warm and funny heroine

Get handout Click here to download Six Ways to Reveal Character handout as a pdf with links to Karl Iglesias’ website and to WRITING FOR EMOTIONAL IMPACT. I’ve been studying Karl Iglesias’ insightful and practical WRITING FOR EMOTIONAL IMPACT while reading Nancy J. Cavanaugh‘s funny, charming, and warm THIS JOURNAL BELONGS TO RATCHET for Middle […]

Think, Act, Speak: What order makes character reactions feel real?

Download graphic Infographic for Motivation Reaction Units. The best order for character reactions is feeling/thought, action (involuntary or voluntary), speech. You don’t have to include all the reactions every time, but they should be in this order. The reader will be able to take in the story with the least amount of friction. Do you […]