This Marvelous Middle Grade Monday I’m going to feature another Vancouver author represented by my agency, The Carolyn Swayze Agency:  Gail Banning whose book OUT ON A LIMB is also set in Vancouver. Here’s the blurb: Rosie and her family’s financial problems find them living in the most unexpected of places  a treehouse, on the … More MMGM – OUT ON A LIMB

Last month Katie Dekoster from Book Love speculated that Novels in Verse (NIVs) were becoming the new vampires. I certainly hope so, since I have one coming out next year and another (the sequel)  in 2014. I’ve written about novels in verse many times on this blog, and people are becoming more familiar with this form. … More Marvelous Middle Grade Monday: Verse Novels

This MMGM I want to highlight two short books by Natalie Babbit, an author who is still writing and publishing, but seems to have been a bit forgotten. TUCK EVERLASTING, which was made into a slightly unsatisfying film a few years back, is a very concise and contained fantasy story about immortality. Here’s the blurb: … More Marvelous Middle Grade Monday – Natalie Babbit

I’ve just this second come up with a theory. Here it is: Writers not only start out as readers, they start out as re-readers. When I was a child I would read books over and over again – some countless times.  Some until the books was dog-eared and falling apart. Others I would borrow from … More Marvelous Middle Grade Monday – Are you a Reader or a RE-READER?

Normally with Middle Grade Monday I do classics, or at least books from my past that I recall fondly. Sometimes I might do something more recent that I feel is destined to become a classic or that fills a particular niche. This week I’m looking at a book my agent gave me. I was written … More Marvelous Middle Grade Monday – LUCY UNSTRUNG

For this week’s Marvelous Middle Grade Monday  I’m doing something a little different. My daughter and my niece came into my office so I thought I would interview them about their favorite book series. My daughter, L is 7 and my niece B is 11. What is your favorite book series? L (7) – My favorite book series is, um, … More Marvelous Middle Grade Monday : Readers Interviewed about PERCY JACKSON and MAGIC TREEHOUSE

I’ve never written a talking animal.  I’m not inspired by reducing the natural limitations of characters. In fact more than once I’ve written a character whose ability to communicate is somehow impeded. This is more narratively interesting to me. That said, I’ve read many books with talking animals, and enjoyed them. I thought for this … More Marvelous Middle Grade Monday – SILVERWING and talking animals

For this week’s Marvelous Middle Grade Monday the obvious choice is C. S. Lewis’s Narnia Series. Of the series, the “first” book THE LION, THE WITCH AND THE WARDROBE is the one that first comes to mind to focus on as a standalone, and it IS a great book. But my favorite of the series is … More Marvelous Middle Grade Monday – THE SILVER CHAIR by C. S. Lewis