middle grade fiction

helen frost: oatmeal bread for the ages

~ jama ~ 56 Comments

#4 in the Poetry Potluck Series, celebrating National Poetry Month 2012.

Helen in San Antonio, TX

It only happens once in a great while. You read something that totally takes the top of your head off and leaves you breathless with its brilliance.

This was my experience when I read Helen Frost’s latest novel-in-verse, Hidden (FSG, 2011), which along with her other award winning books (Crossing Stones, Keesha’s House, Diamond Willow), sets the gold standard for excellence in this genre.  I wholly agree with Anita Silvey, who said in her Hidden review at The Children’s Book-a-Day Almanac: “For my taste, Helen Frost has emerged as our greatest living craftsperson of verse novels.” Helen’s books have received many prestigious awards, including a Printz Honor and four Lee Bennett Hopkins Awards or honors for Children’s Poetry, the most recent of which is a 2012 Lee Bennett Hopkins Honor for Hidden.

I’m beyond thrilled that Helen agreed to join us for the Potluck this year. She’s sharing a previously unpublished poem where oatmeal bread saves the day, along with the recipe and wonderful photos representing four generations in her family who have baked the bread. Could there be a more delicious legacy?

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my darling, my wonton

~ jama ~ 8 Comments

Last year, when I first read The Great Wall of Lucy Wu, the wonderful middle grade novel by Wendy Wan-Long Shang that recently won the 2012 APALA Asian/Pacific American Children’s Literature Award, I noticed something interesting in the Acknowledgements:

No acknowledgement would be complete without recognizing my sources of support: my mom, who told me I could do anything; my dad, who made me believe writing was in my blood; my husband, who wrote ‘writer’ on our tax forms and has never (never!) once wavered in his support; our three beautiful, funny children; my amazing extended family; Fairfax County Public Library; A&J Restaurant, which makes absolutely inspirational bowls of soup. Get the Shanghai-style wonton soup.

Is there anything more exciting than a writer who cites soup as a source of inspiration? If you’ve read the book, you know it opens with a restaurant scene and contains many food references, including a reverential beef noodle soup as well as homemade dumplings. Yum!

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soup of the day: dumpling days by grace lin!

~ jama ~ 29 Comments

“There was no day that dumplings couldn’t make better.” ~ Pacy Lin

Pass the dipping sauce, I’m in dumpling heaven. ☺

I’m thrilled to be serving up Newbery Honor Author Grace Lin’s brand new middle grade novel, Dumpling Days (Little, Brown, 2012), as our very first Soup of the Day for the new year!

Before I tell you a little about it and tempt you with some of its dishes, please put on BOTH of these bibs. You’ll definitely need double protection for this fabulous feast of a book, which is absolutely brimming with gustatory goodness.

 

Oh, and don’t forget your passport:

 

In this third novel featuring beloved heroine Pacy Lin, she and her family spend an entire month in Taiwan visiting relatives and preparing for Grandma’s 60th birthday party. Instead of traveling to her parents’ faraway homeland, Pacy would much rather spend her summer going to a fun place like Hawai’i or California where she could see her best friend Melody. But her parents want Pacy and her sisters to “know their roots,” to experience the “island of treasure.”

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loving lisa schroeder’s sprinkles and secrets

~ jama ~ 14 Comments
Cover Bear Pauline loves this book!

We’ve been having lots of fun recently in the Alphabet Soup kitchen thanks to Lisa Schroeder’s Sprinkles and Secrets (Aladdin, 2011).

*nibbles on a Monster Cookie*

Not only have I reread this totally scrumptious companion book to It’s Raining Cupcakes (Aladdin, 2010), but I made Monster Cookies — one of two recipes included in the book (the other is Isabel’s prize-winning Chocolate Jam Tarts). Perfect way to get into the holiday spirit AND indulge my neverending cookie cravings.

Just in case you haven’t read Sprinkles and Secrets (please remedy that immediately!), it’s about Isabel’s best friend Sophie, an aspiring actress who gets her big chance to audition for a television commercial. She’s thrilled, of course, until she finds out she’d be advertising for Beatrice’s Brownies, the chief competitor to Isabel’s family’s cupcake shop. She tries to keep the specifics of the commercial under wraps for fear of jeopardizing her friendship with Isabel, but things go from bad to worse when she wins the audition and still can’t bear to tell Izzy. How do you choose between your fondest dream and your BFF?

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soup of the day: hound dog true by linda urban

~ jama ~ 25 Comments

“You’ve got to trust the moon, if you want the moon to trust you,” he said, handing Mattie his hat. (Uncle Potluck from Hound Dog True)

I’m absolutely over the moon today because it’s the official book birthday of Linda Urban’s brand new middle grade novel, Hound Dog True (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2011)!!

So glad you’re here for the celebration. Are you wearing your party clothes (pajamas would be best)? For the duration of this post, please put on these sparkly mouse ears,

 

and a pair of rubber gloves.

 

(They’ll help you channel the main character of the story.) Continue reading →