We Love Free Things! Win a Kindle Fire HD

Welcome to the Kindle Fire HD giveaway! Sponsored by some amazing blogs that celebrate the world of children's lit:
Kid Lit Frenzy
Read Now Sleep Later
Nite Lite Book Reviews
The Windy Pages
The Book Pixie
There's a Book
The Late Bloomer's Book Blog
Teach Mentor Texts
The Reading Date
Nancy Tandon
Read Write Mom

Show these blogger friends some love and at the same time earn entries into the giveaway. The Kindle Fire HD winner (U.S. only) will also get their choice of one July or August Kindle eBook from Kid Lit Frenzy, one YA Kindle eBook from Read Now Sleep Later, or one MG Kindle eBook from There's a Book. 

If you are not from the United States, use the second Rafflecopter to enter to win up to $20 worth of books from BookDepository.com and an ARC or signed copy of a book from Kid Lit Frenzy. 

If you are a blogger, you can earn an extra entry by re-posting the giveaway. Copy the HTML from this page and paste it into a new post. We cannot count your entry unless you leave us the link, so remember to paste the link into the Rafflecopter widget. If you cannot embed the Rafflecopter widget, here is the Share Link for the Kindle Fire HD (US only) and the Share Link for the International $20 bookdepository.com widgets.

Rules:

1. You must be 13 years of age or older to enter, or have a parent/guardian enter for you. All entries are subject to verification.
2. We will notify the winner via email within 48 hours after the contest's end (11:59 pm on July 29).
3. The Kindle Fire HD winner must have a mailing address in the United States. The International ($20 bookdepository.com books) winner can be anywhere except the United States.
4. The winners will have 48 hours to reply with their mailing address or another winner will be chosen.
5. Contest sponsors are not responsible for items lost in the mail.
6. We love comments, but please do not leave personal information such as email or mailing addresses in the comments! We are using Rafflecopter because it will keep your information private.

Questions? Please email the organizer, Alethea, at frootjoos at gmail dot com.

Good luck!

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a Rafflecopter giveaway

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Inspired by Kathy at I am a Reader

School Librarians Know Best: More Great Summer Reads

The list sharing continues! Here are a few links to more compilations of great summer reads, this time from the big city librarians of the Boston Public Schools as well as a smaller town's selections, from Carver Middle School in Tulsa, Oklahoma. There is little in the way of description of these titles, so you have to trust that these librarians know what they are doing! And judging by the many talented authors they've included, I think we're in good hands.

The way I take advantage of these lists is to open another window on my laptop and log into my Chicago Public Library account. Then I reserve as many books as I can, and the library notifies me when they come in. So we have a steady feed of good books all summer.

Below is the summer reading list from the Boston Public Schools, specifically the best legends and myths to read this summer:

The Coming of the Dragon, Barnhouse
Trickster: Native American Tales: A Graphic Collection, Dembicki, ed.
Odd and the Frost Giants, Gaiman
Princess of the Midnight Ball, George
A Tale Dark and Grimm, Gidwitz
The Odyssey: A Graphic Novel, Hinds
Outlaw: The Legend of Robin Hood, Lee
Gilgamesh the Hero, McCaughrean
Cinder, Meyer
Ain't Nothing But a Man: My Quest to Find the Real John Henry, Nelson
The Illustrated Book of Myths, Philip
The Kane Chronicles (series), Riordan
The Beautiful Stories of Life: Six Greek Myths, Retold, Rylant

Here is the list of novels Carver Middle School sixth-graders are encouraged to read this summer when they're escaping the Oklahoma heat. (The * means first book in a series or book has a sequel.):

Abduction by Peg Kehret
*Among the Hidden by Margaret Peterson Haddix
Airball: My Life in Briefs by Lisa Harkrader
Arilla Sun Down by Virginia Hamilton
*Bone, Vol. 1: Out from Boneville by Jeff Smith
*Book of Three by Lloyd Alexander
Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins (Read Hunger Games first)
Catherine, Called Birdy by Karen Cushman
*The City of Ember by Jeanne DuPrau
Cracker by Cynthia Kadohata
Curse of the Blue Figurine by John Bellairs
*Eragon by Christopher Paolini

*The Face on the Milk Carton by Caroline B. Cooney
Games: A Tale of Two Bullies by Carol Gorman
*Gregor the Overlander by Collins, Suzanne
Heads or Tails by Jack Gantos (1st book in the Jack Henry series)
Heat by Mike Lupica
Hoops by Walter Dean Myers
*Hoot by Carl Hiaasen
Hostage by Willo Davis Roberts
*Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
*Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
*Inkheart by Cornelia Funke
*Into the Wild by Erin Hunter
The Island by Gary Paulsen
Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell
*Joey Pigza Swallowed the Key by Jack Gantos (1st book in the Joey Pigza series)
Joey Pigza Loses Control by Jack Gantos (#2 in Joey Pigza series)
Last Shot by John Feinstein
*The Lost Years of Merlin by T. A. Barron
The Man Who Was Poe by Avi
Million Dollar Shot by Don Gutman
Miracle’s Boys by Jacqueline Woodson
*Maximum Ride: The Angel Experiment by James Patterson
Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins (3rd book in Hunger Games trilogy – Read the other two first.)
Monkey Island by Paula Fox
The Midwife’s Apprentice by Karen Cushman
*The Mistmantle Chronicles Urchin of the Riding Stars by M.I. McAllister
The Mysterious Benedict Society by Trenton Lee Stewart
The Mysterious Matter of I.M. Fine by Diane Stanley
Naked Mole-Rat Letters by Mary Amato
Night of the Twisters by Ivy Ruckman
Or Give Me Death by Ann Rinaldi
*Out of Sight, Out of Mind by Marilyn Kaye
The Phantom Tollbooth by Norton Juster
*The Princess Diaries by Cabot, Meg
*Quid Pro Quo by Vicki Grant
*Redwall by Brian Jacques
*Sammy Keys and the Hotel Thief by Wendelin VanDraanen
Shackleton’s Stowaway by Victoria McKernan
*Son of the Mob by Gordon Korman
*Stormbreaker by Anthony Horowitz
The Revealers by Doug Wilhelm
The River by Gary Paulsen
The School Story by Andrew Clements
The Scream Museum by Paul Zindel
The Skin I’m In by Sharon G. Flake
The Tale of Despereaux by Kate DiCamillo
*Theodore Boone: Kid Lawyer by John Grisham
The Thief Lord by Cornelia Funke
Way Down Deep by Ruth White
*A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle

Kimberley Griffiths Little Works Magic With 'Butterflies'

Summer is a great time for kicking back poolside or on the beach with a juicy mystery to solve. And Kimberley Griffiths Little's latest middle-grade novel, When the Butterflies Came (Scholastic, April 2013), is just the book for young sleuths. The cover alone is enticing, featuring a young girl on the sand surrounded by dazzling butterflies. And that the author is Kimberley, whose honors include the Southwest Book Award, the Whitney Award for Best Youth Novel of 2010, Bank Street College Best Books of 2011, Crystal Kite Finalist, and New Mexico Book Award Finalist, rest assured that readers are in good hands.

When the Butterflies Came tells the story of 12-year-old Tara, whose Grammy Claire has recently died. Tara's mother has sunken into a deep depression and is essentially unreachable, and Tara feels little to no connection to her rebellious sister, Riley. Soon after her grandmother's passing, mysterious butterflies begin to follow her around. Tara believes her grandmother has left her a great mystery to solve.

Question: The mysterious and magical elements to your story pull readers in. Where did you get the idea for Tara and Grammy Claire and those keys? Have you written a mystery before? What was your creative process like? 

Kimberley Griffiths Little: This is my first true mystery, although I adored reading mysteries when I was growing up and attempted to write mysteries years ago, but they are really hard!

When the Butterflies Came sort of grew organically. My characters and setting came first, and I wanted to do something with a really cool, smart grandmother. So I made her a research scientist on an island in Micronesia who has a tree-house laboratory and is fiercely trying to protect her special butterflies.

The first chapter always gets rewritten about 10 times or more, but Grammy Claire’s letters to Tara seemed to write themselves. They are the only part of the book that didn’t go through major revision – just a few tweaks, which almost never happens.

I included many elements I love, like secret letters and old-fashioned keys. And then, of course, butterflies are just awesome. So after a lot of brainstorming the story started coming together – and turned into a mystery of all things, which I never expected!

Q: The butterflies make delightful characters. Was it hard to write elements of magic realism? While it is so easy to devour as a reader, I think writing fantasy and magic realism is challenging. What was it like?

KGL: We have a cultural fascination with butterflies because they’re such gorgeous and extraordinary creatures. Butterflies have this magical ability to “sleep/die” when a caterpillar becomes a chrysalis and then “resurrect” into a flying flower.

The realism angle: I wanted to know more about one of the minor characters, Tara Doucet, from my previous novel, Circle of Secrets. She’s a modern day Scarlett O’Hara whose family still lives in their crumbling Doucet Mansion in the South along the bayou – and who hasn’t dreamed of being Scarlett O’Hara? But she’s Scarlett with a touch of OCD and a bratty older sister!

I love magical realism: a story set in the real world with real characters and problems and then turning one element upside down/inside out that gives the story a magical, otherworldly feel. I grew up reading lots of magical realism books – although that term had not been coined 30 years ago!

Book giveaway! Kimberley will send a copy of When the Butterflies Came to one lucky person who comments on this interview!

Q: There is a lot of adventure going on in When the Butterflies Came, but ultimately it is a book about coping with loss. What do you hope readers take away from your story?

KGL: No matter what we write, our personal beliefs often creep through. I hope readers will feel the importance of unconditional, family love; that we can get through anything with love and faith and forgiveness. I want readers and kids to know that families can be strong and that they are the most important relationships we have. I’ve personally gone through a lot of loss in my own life, losing all of my grandparents and my father and a few friends by the time I was 16 years old. Several months ago we lost my baby brother (out of six of us) to sudden, out-of-the-blue brain cancer, and it has left me reeling and unbearably sad. The only way I get through it is to rely on my sisters and my other brothers, and I’m so very grateful for them.


Q: You're a prolific writer for middle-grade (The Healing Spell, The Last Snake Runner). What do you hope to achieve with your books? And why did you choose middle-grade as your niche?


KGL: Middle-grade books are special and marvelous in so many ways. Seven- to 14-years-old is the age where books are more powerful than any other. Ask any adult reader their favorite children’s books and they can name several right off the top of their head. Our favorite children’s books impact us and stay with us throughout our lives, influencing our reading and education forever more.

Middle-grade books are so important, I also helped found this terrific site, which has turned out to be the biggest middle-grade blog/website on the internet. From the Mixed-Up Files . . . of Middle-Grade Authors. One of the quotes on the site is from me:

"Middle-grade books = Magic. Kids devour their favorite books, laugh and giggle, shiver with goose bumps, and sometimes sob on their pillows with strong emotions. When I was young, books were my lifeline, my best friends, and books were usually better than real life. That’s why I now write middle-grade books—to recreate the magic and discover new best friends, and sometimes sob into my pillow."

Q: You're the founder of Spellbinders and have a commitment to growing lifelong readers. With so much competition for young readers' time from other realms (social media, video gaming, computer gaming), what is your take on the state of children's literature and literacy?

KGL: That is such a huge question and one that sometimes frightens me but usually ends up comforting me because no matter how big we get for our britches there will always be a place for story. Stories are part of our DNA. Social media, video/computer games are inherently all about story, too. And the past 10 years, due to books like Harry Potter and the surge of paranormal YA novels, children’s literature has become very popular reading for adults, too. Kid’s books are booming bigger than adult literature. Which is exciting!

Q: What can we expect to see from you next?

KGL: I just turned in my next middle-grade novel to my editor at Scholastic for Summer 2014. It’s called The Time of the Fireflies and is about a girl who lives in an antique store with a cursed doll.

I’m also doing final revisions for my YA debut novel with HarperCollins, which will publish Fall 2014. It’s a trilogy pitched as the Young Adult version of The Red Tent by Anita Diamant. I’ve been working on this project for 10 years, and I’m thrilled that it sold in a huge deal to Harper. It’s about the roots of belly dance in the women’s world of the ancient Middle East, goddess temples, tribal warfare, and a delicious romance.

A firm title is still forthcoming but keep checking my website for details and keep up with me on Facebook and Twitter where I’m pretty active.

Thank you so much for having me here, Kate! I enjoyed the questions very much, and your readers are always welcome to email me at: kglittle@msn.com.

School Librarians Do the Heavy Lifting for Summer Reads

Sometimes it feels like a tall order to find titles that excite my three kids. The just-finished-second-grade reader still judges a book's merit based on the cover and how many weapons are on it. The newly minted middle-schooler flips to the back of the book to see how many pages, then decides whether he's up for tackling it. And the 13-year-old holds out for exclusively dystopian YA, turning her nose up at the classics or other titles that do not threaten global annihilation.

So when I come across recommended reading lists, I'm grateful. Some wonderful librarian somewhere has taken the time to compile a list of books that have pleased her readers, thus saving me having to slog through stacks of titles to find the right covers, the right number of pages, and the right end-of-the-world scenarios!

Over the next few weeks, I'll share a few lists that feature fun titles for these lazy days of summer reading. Happy hunting!

First up from the fabulous librarians at the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools comes a vast list of titles for fiction and non-fiction, picture books and more. Here is a partial rundown of their middle-grade novel recommendations:

Books marked with an * are easier; those with a # are more challenging.

Baker, Dierdre. Becca at Sea
This lovely book chronicles three separate visits by Becca to her Gran’s house on a remote Canadian island. Becca fears being lonely with no one her age on the island, but various adventures and a multitude of quirky relatives and neighbors keep life interesting.

#Corder, Zizou. Lion Boy (first book in a trilogy)
His ability to speak to cats in their own language proves very useful when Charlie Ashanti’s parents are kidnapped. Helped by cats of all kinds, Charlie manages to escape the unpleasant Rafi who is sent out to capture him. When he ends up on a circus boat, Charlie and the circus lions make a pact to help each other.

#Curtis, Christopher Paul. Elijah of Buxton
The first freeborn child in a Canadian town populated by runaway slaves, Elijah is in many ways an ordinary kid. He is helpful to his neighbors, throws rocks with amazing accuracy, and is often confounded by the adults around him. Things take a dramatic turn when he embarks on a dangerous journey to the United States, where runaway slaves are hunted down.

Dyer, Heather. The Fish in Room 11
An orphan of mysterious parentage (Toby), good guys, bad guys, unexpected changes of heart, mermaids and treasure all in one book!

*Grimes, Nikki. Make Way for Dyamonde Daniel (first book in a series)
Dyamonde just moved to a new neighborhood with her mom after her parents’ divorce. She’s funny, smart, speaks her mind, and loves math. She doesn’t have a best friend yet but, as she’ll tell you, she’s a gem waiting to be discovered!

#Horvath, Polly. My One Hundred Adventures
Twelve-year-old Jane, who lives in a house on the beach with her three younger siblings and her dreamy single mother, longs for something different to happen this summer and prays for a hundred adventures. Like Horvath’s other fine books (Everything on a Waffle, The Trolls), this is quirky, sad, funny, and wise.

King-Smith, Dick. Three Terrible Trins
Three mice brothers, ignoring the class system of rodents in their farmhouse, befriend a lower class mouse and form a team to fight cats. King-Smith has written many wonderful books for animal lovers.

*Mills, Claudia. 7 X 9=Trouble
Third grader Wilson is having a hard time learning the times tables, and it definitely doesn’t help when his 5-year old brother learns them without even trying.

*Osborne, Mary Pope. Tales From the Odyssey. Book 1: The One-Eyed Giant
The first in a series of short, accessible chapter books relating the adventures and misadventures of Odysseus trying to find his way home to Ithaca following the Trojan War. Begins with the brief explanation of the war and the story of the Trojan horse. Includes a map of his journey.

Pinkwater, Daniel Manus. Fat Men From Space
William is able to receive radio signals on his tooth, a useless annoyance until he starts receiving bulletins from outer space. Now he is the only one who knows that thousands of fat spacemen in plaid sport jackets, knitted neckties and two toned shoes are confiscating and eating all the junk food on Earth.

Robinson, Barbara. The Best School Year Ever
School has started, and that means the six Herdman kids are back and creating their inimitable brand of destruction and mayhem. This classic series begins with The Best Christmas Pageant Ever and continues with The Best Halloween Ever.

*Segal, Lore. More Mole Stories, and Little Gopher, Too
Warm, funny stories about the adventures of Mole and his grandmother, who are perfectly happy together–most of the time. If you like it, try their first book, Why Mole Shouted.


From Town School for Boys in San Francisco comes another list, this one more focused on dystopian middle-grade. And please note that as this is a BOYS school, the titles are geared toward getting the young fellas reading.

Unwind, by Neil Shustermann

Gone, by Michael Grant

The Other Side of the Island, by Allegra Goodman

The Maze Runner, by James Dashner

The Sky Inside, by Clare B. Dunkle

The Dead and the Gone, by Susan Beth Pfeffer

Life as We Knew It, by Susan Beth Pfeffer

Uglies, by Scott Westerfeld

The Hunger Games, by Suzanne Collins

The City of Ember, by Jeanne DuPrau

Winter's End, by Jean-Claude Mourlevat

Lockdown: Escape from Furnace, by Alexander Gordon Smith

Truancy, by Isamu Fukui

The Adoration of Jenna Fox, by Mary Pearson

The Carbon Diaries 2015, by Saci Lloyd

The Compound, by S.A. Bodeen

Candor, by Pam Bachorz

Surviving Antarctica: Reality TV 2083, by Andrea White

The Roar, by Emma Clayton

Cecil Castellucci's 'Odd Duck' Makes a Perfect Fit

 We're wrapping up our Graphic Novel Summerfest with one of my favorite new books to come out this year, Odd Duck (First Second, May 2013) by Cecil Castellucci and illustrated by Sara Varon. I've gifted my kids' teachers with this title, enjoyed reading it again and again with my sprogs, and recommended it to anyone whose uniqueness is worth celebrating. In a starred review, Kirkus calls Odd Duck a "clever celebration of individuality," and it is. For anyone searching for a title to give a recent graduate, Odd Duck fits the bill.

This is the story of two ducks, Theodora and Chad. Theodora enjoys swimming in the pond with a teacup balanced on her head, and she has a yen for mango salsa. When the other ducks fly south for winter, she prefers staying north and enjoying the wonders of wintertime. But when Theodora meets newcomer Chad with his funny feathers, she realizes he is one strange bird. Thank goodness Chad has Theodora around to set him straight. But who is the odd duck after all?

Question: You have worn so many hats, from indie rocker to filmmaker to YA novelist. What made you decide to write a book for young readers?

Cecil Castellucci: I’m a big believer that you must follow where a story wants to go and how a story wants to be told. Whatever genre or medium it wants to be. Actually, this isn’t the first time I’ve written a book for younger readers. I had a picture book called Grandma’s Gloves that came out a couple of years ago. But with Odd Duck, it just seemed like ducks were more suited to the younger set, or at least framed in a story like that. I originally thought it would be an early reader, but once Sara came on board I realized it would be more fun to make a hybrid picture book/graphic novel since we both do comics.

Q: Theodora and Chad are wonderfully wacky. Who or what were you channeling when you came up with the idea for them? What was your creative process like?

CC: Thank you! Theodora sort of sprung from my head fully formed, teacup and all. I love a prim and proper duck! Chad I think falls a little bit closer to my true nature. I think I’m much more Chad than Theodora. Except when I’m being more Theodora than Chad! I think that I was channeling from all of the amazingly odd people that I know. And I know quite a lot of weirdos. Thank goodness!  

Q: There's a lot to consider when writing for early and emerging readers vs. a YA audience. How did this affect your writing? And do you prefer one genre over the other?

CC: When you are trying to do what is best for a particular story, what’s right and wrong sort of fall into place. So I don’t think that it affected my writing in any way at all. I love all the genres that I write in. I think that’s what makes it “easy” to switch around. If I want to write about something that doesn’t fit or isn’t appropriate style-wise for one kind you get to do it in another. They are all so very different and they all have their pluses and minuses. The fun thing about writing for little kids is how streamlined and simple you’ve got to be. There is an economy to the narrative that is very fun to play with.

Q: While the book is earmarked for second- to fifth-graders, it has wide enough appeal that adults can enjoy it too. Were you writing to the odd duck in all of us?

CC: Oh yes! I was writing for the Odd Duck in me! I really think that is the magic secret of books for younger readers! They are really for everyone! I give picture books to my adult friends all the time.

Q: What was the collaboration like with illustrator Sara Varon? How did you merge your storyline and writing with Sara's wonderful illustrations? And will there be more Odd Duck books in the future?

CC: Working with Sara was amazing. She’s incredibly talented. Sara broke down what was originally the early reader manuscript and then once it was thumbnailed, she and I had a lot of back and forth until we got the text and images together in a way that we wanted. She added all of her Varon flourishes (like the egg replacer and stuff like that). And I sure do hope that there will be more Odd Duck books. I already know what Book Two and Three would be. Believe me, Chad and Theodora may have worked something out in this book, but there are plenty more things to work on in their friendship.

Q: Will you write more for young readers? What can we expect to see from you next?

CC: I am quite sure that I will write more for young readers when the next right idea comes along. Meanwhile, I’ve got two YA books coming out next year. Tin Star, which is Book One in a two-book sci-fi series, and an as-yet-untitled graphic novel about hobos.

Maxwell Eaton's Fast-Paced 'Flying Beaver Brothers'

Maxwell Eaton III's first graphic novel had me at hello. Who can resist a title like The Flying Beaver Brothers and the Evil Penguin Plan? Seriously. When evil penguins are involved, I'm all over it. Both Penguin Plan and The Flying Beaver Brothers and the Fishy Business, which Kirkus Review calls "funny from the first panel," were released in January 2012 by Knopf. And for those of us eagerly anticipating his next installments, we have only a few weeks left to wait. As part of our monthlong Graphic Novel Summerfest, we're celebrating the release of his third and fourth titles, The Flying Beaver Brothers and the Mud-Slinging Moles and The Flying Beaver Brothers: Birds vs. Bunnies, which come out next month, on July 9th.

The Flying Beaver Brothers are the adorably furry siblings Ace and Bub. Ace is the active one, who loves extreme sports, surfing, and seems always up for adventure. Bub prefers nap time. But when danger lurks, the Beaver Brothers leap into action. And young readers will take the leap right along with them.

Whether it's swinging through trees, hang-gliding, or swimming deep below the waves, Ace and Bub are on the move battling the bad guys in these action-packed stories. Maxwell offers up the right dose of suspense, silly puns, and zany humor (the evil penguins are Bob and his assistant, Bob). The three-color palette that he uses is reminiscent of Jennifer Holm's wonderful Babymouse books.


My second-grader devoured the first two books and laughed out loud at the humor. "Some readers won’t make it through the most painful jokes," writes Kirkus, "but those who do will see something marvelous building itself in front of their eyes." Maxwell is also the author and illustrator of The Adventures of Max and Pinky series and Two Dumb Ducks.

Question: You've created a fast-paced, engaging story about two adventuresome brothers who save the day – and just happen to be beavers. Did the idea for this series come to you in a dream? How did you settle upon beavers as your heroes?

Maxwell Eaton III: At first they were The Flying Groundhog Brothers, but then I realized there were large rodent alternatives that made for catchier titles (plus “flying” and “ground” in the same title somehow fail to inspire). I also happened to grow up next to a swamp full of beavers and had been lucky enough to witness a lot of their skydiving and dry banter in person. After 18 years of eavesdropping, the stories basically wrote themselves.

Q: Graphic novels are a hot commodity for young readers. Did you study any other series before launching the Flying Beaver Brothers? What were your influences?

ME3: Of course I’d read Babymouse, which really broke ground for these sorts of series. But I’ve also always savored my newspaper comics. Especially the terrible ones, which really teach you the importance of timing. It can make or break things like make joke. Also or action. Too. Hi. [Editor's note: These typos are Maxwell's. Please message him directly to figure out what the heck he means or to gently point out his typing shortcomings!]

Q: There is a lot of sly humor in your stories, especially from the penguins. It seems perfectly calibrated for my second-grader, yet my older kids love the stories too. Are you writing to a particular audience or reader? Or perhaps to the reader you were back in elementary school?

ME3: I don’t really ever have a reader or audience in mind. I just write what I think is funny and what seems to work with the characters. A lot of the time my editor has to remind me that a certain joke might not work for the age group, and I remember that these are for young readers. Then I have to go back and take out all of the dirty stuff. And the reader I was back in elementary school wasn’t a reader at all. But he did manage to avoid ever getting head lice, so he couldn’t have been all bad. I do hope these books would have appealed to him and any of his modern day counterparts. Lice or not.

Q: What I love most about the Flying Beaver Brothers books is that they are hilarious without being obnoxious. Is this deliberate restraint on your part? Or are you trying to hit at a different level with your series?

ME3: Are you suggesting that I’m naturally obnoxious and have to reel it in when I’m writing? Well, you’ve done your research. But again, I just write what I think is funny. I know that sometimes it’s a little goofy, but there’s a fine line between goofy and obnoxious. And it’s straddled by a fish wearing a neck tie.

Q: What do you hope to accomplish with your writing?

ME3: A few laughs and a couple of readers to read without worrying it’s reading. I’m also on the lookout for synonyms.

Q: What will we see next from you?

ME3: Two new Beaver Brothers installments this July! In The Flying Beaver Brothers and the Mud-Slinging Moles, Ace and Bub defend their island from the diabolically pleasant Captain Jojo and his crew of near-sighted, dirt-stealing, but-basically-courteous moles. Then, in The Flying Beaver Brothers: Birds vs. Bunnies, Ace and Bub are caught in a battle between the feathers and the fuzz as they’re caged, cooped, and chased across Little Beaver Island in search of some vacation time amongst more oversized household appliances than a Claes Oldenburg retrospective. And, of course, there are further adventures in the works!

Jorge Aguirre and Rafael Rosado Hit Big WIth 'Giants Beware'

Jorge Aguirre, GiantsBeware.com

True confession: I am a sucker for First Second Books. Publisher of the Zita the Spacegirl series, Sara Varon's beautiful titles, the award-winning American Born Chinese, and many more terrific books for young readers as well as adults, First Second is the gold standard for graphic novels. And as we celebrate week two of our Graphic Novel Summerfest over here, let's take a look at Giants Beware (First Second, 2012) by Jorge Aguirre and Rafael Rosado as another example of how this imprint does things right. 

Scrappy Claudette is a pint-sized giant slayer who teams up with her best friend Marie (who aspires to be a princess) and her little brother Gaston (a pastry chef in the making) to venture off on a quest to rid the land of a baby-feet-eating giant. But there's one minor detail, they forgot to tell their parents. Along the way, Claudette and her sidekicks encounter plenty of challenges but ultimately realize that “monsters” often don't live up to their bad reputation.

Rafael Rosado, GiantsBeware.com

Jorge is a writer for television and documentaries, and Rafael works in the animation industry as a storyboard artist for Warner Brothers, Disney, and Cartoon Network. So trust that with these guys behind the scenes and Claudette at the helm, we're in good hands. Giants Beware has earned rave reviews, including from The New York Times, which wrote, "Claudette may be undersize, hotheaded and prone to violence and lock-picking, but she’s also loyal, brave and ambitious."

Question: Where did these characters come from?

Rafael Rosado: Claudette had been kicking around my sketchpad for years. I kept drawing this rambunctious girl with spiky hair who was looking for a fight. Later, I added Gaston and Marie and drew the three kids as French street urchins. I had a general idea about the three of them going after a giant and asked Jorge if he could flesh out the story and write the script, and he added other characters as he wrote.

Q: You both have long careers in other fields, so why children's literature? What inspired you to create books for kids?

Rafael: We’re both fans of graphic novels and comic books in general, and in a way we made the kind of book we would go out buy for ourselves. There seems to be a renaissance in children’s comics and graphic novels at the moment, and we’re very happy to be a part of it.

Jorge Aguirre: Giants Beware is our first graphic novel, and this might sound a little naive but we didn’t realize we’d written a children’s book until we were done. (Maybe it started dawning on me about three-quarters of the way through). Rafael and I have known each other for years, and our main goal was to write a story that would entertain both of us. If I wrote a gag, Rafael would take the gag a step further in the art, then when I was re-writing all the dialog when I lettered, I’d try to re-write lines to make Rafael laugh some more. There was a lot of back and forth, but our first audience was each other. Probably since our starting point was three child characters, most of the jokes and story lent themselves to a young audience. But we never made a conscious decision to write for children.

Q: The beauty of graphic novels is that they hook young kids into reading early and reading often. They are the genre of choice for many students, strong or struggling. But sometimes graphic-novel creators can forget about their audience, for example, including things like fancy typography that can distract or make the act of reading a frustrating exercise. How much do you think about young readers as you collaborate on your projects?

Jorge: As a writer of graphic novels, I try not too think about it too much. I obsess about the story and the dialog, but if I think too much about the reader, like trying to please someone else besides Rafael or me, then I get a little stilted in my writing or I’m afraid I might start talking down to our readers. For example, when it comes to vocabulary, I like to throw a word or two in there that I found in my thesaurus just because it makes Rafael and me laugh, even though kids might not know the word. I think that’s okay as long as I give the reader context so he or she is not lost or frustrated, and there is always that secret hope that the reader will learn a new word or two. Having said all that, we stay away from sex, extreme violence, cuss words, but that’s pretty easy because that doesn’t feel like a part of Claudette’s world. Now, when I write for TV, the audience is a big part of what I think about.

Rafael: Well, sometimes we knew or guessed that a particular visual gag would go over well with the kids, so we went ahead and put it in. Like all the potty humor with Valiant the dog. It’s a cheap gag, but kids love it. . .

Jorge:  And so do we!

Q: What do you hope kids take away from your books? What do you hope to accomplish?

Rafael: We hope that it gets them excited about reading in general, not just graphic novels. We hear from a lot of parents, and kids themselves, that this is a book they read over and over. That makes us happy. It means the story clicks with them, and they want to go back and re-visit the world we’ve created.

Jorge: We hope they enjoy our story. We hope it makes them laugh and that the story sticks with them after they put the book away.

Q: What will we see next from you guys?

Jorge: The story for Book 2 of Claudette is done, and Rafael is very busy drawing it. It’s going to be action-packed! We’re very excited. And we’ve just started working on the story for Book 3.