NCTE Stands Behind Military Kids

Isn't this awesome? I asked teachers and authors attending the NCTE Conference if they would participate in the National Military Family Association's "Wall of Thanks" to show support for military families. And look how many said yes!

(If you want to join us, go to this site and download the PDF of the sign. Fill in your name, hold it up and snap a photo of yourself. Upload the photo, and you'll be part of the slideshow.)

David Macinnis Gill

Wendy Mass

Margaret Peterson Haddix

Elaine Magliaro

Kurtis Scaletta

Kirby Larson

Kate Messner

Jack Gantos

Anna J. Small Roseboro

Tricia Stohr-Hunt

Holly Black

Carrie Ryan

My NCTE panel on "Military Families in Fiction":
Rosanne Parry, Suzanne Morgan Williams, and me

Jessica Anderson, Jo Whittemore, P.J. Hoover

Gennifer Choldenko

Teachers and others who attended our panel on military families

Oh, and yes, I brought home a lot of books.

The haul

And my signing at the Scholastic booth was wonderful. They always make me feel like a rock star.

At the Scholastic booth
(note my Scholastic red dress)

To everyone who came by to say hi, to buy books, to hug me, to tell me your class is using Operation Yes in literature circles, to share that you are reading my book to your three boys, to say that you're buying my book for your grown brother :), or just to give a wave of encouragement: Thank you!

And to the young boy who walked by, snapped his head around and pointed at my cover, and said "I loved that book!", you are in charge of the world from now on, you hear?

Stuck in the Middle With You

I'm a middle child. That can't be why I write middle-grade fiction, can it? That would be illogical. But then again, some say birth order plays a role in career choice. (Rebuttal: here.) Has anyone ever surveyed writers to find out if birth order correlates to what they write?

Meantime, while all of you are researching that (and if you want, posting your birth order and writing/reading preferences in the comments) check out these posts about middle school and middle-grade readers. And yes, it's confusing that middle school is usually 6-8th grade students (ages 11-13) who are reading both up and down in grade level, while middle-grade books are often labeled for grades 4-6 (ages 8-12.)

First: Here's a YouTube soundtrack of Stuck in the Middle With You (set to X-Files clips!) for you to listen to while you peruse. (Also: Stuck in the Middle with You: Wikipedia entry) Wow! I'd forgotten that I really LIKE this song.

Links:

Interview with three sixth-grade girls (Courtesy of Danette Haworth's blog)

Uncensored answers to "Im going into middle school I want to know whats going on there?"

Middle Grade is a Muddy Name (ShelfTalker at Publishers Weekly)

How To Impress Middle School Boys (WikiHow)

Betsy Bird's definition of middle-grade fiction for the Cybils Awards

The Difference Between Middle-Grade and Young Adult Fiction (from Children's Book Insider)

Books for the Ages: Or Why I Don't Use the Term MG (Little Willow, and be sure to read the awesome comments section)

Is a Sixth-Grader a Young Adult? (Mitali Perkins. Keep pressing for more middle school lists, BTW. VOYA's got one: TopShelf Fiction for Middle School Readers.)

Middle Children Get the Worst Deal (I don't agree. I liked being a middle child. Except when my older sister got to sit in the front seat and I was forced to sit in the back seat between my two younger brothers while they poked and generally annoyed the crap out of each other. Thus, a peace-maker and a "maybe I'll imagine I'm really somewhere else" writer was born.)

***Don't forget to leave your birth order and writing/reading preferences in the comments, if you want to participate in this most unscientific survey.