Bubba and Squirt are on their fifth mythical adventure in The Legend of the Lost Pearls. This time, they're whisked away from their home in Ohio through the portal to Japan. They must find two fabled pearls that hold the key to saving their father. To do so, they must travel back in time to meet the Sun Goddess. Their mission includes a sea monster, earthquakes, a tsunami, and much more. Thank goodness Bubba has [...]
Same STEM fun with a new cover! CONTROL FREAKS in paperback is out today! Benjamin Banneker College Prep is a middle school full of STEAM kids. According to seventh-grader Doug Zezzmer, there are the science heads, technovengers, enginerds, arts peeps, mathatrons, and even sportsters. Doug likes to think of himself as a visionary inventor with the goal of impressing the principal, Mr. Lee. But his dad has other visions. He wants Doug to be a [...]
Creepy Underground Catacombs! City of Bones is the third book in the Bubba and Squirt series by Sherry Ellis. This time, the kids travel through the mysterious vortex to Paris, France. It's another wild adventure as they track down art thieves, encounter terrifying monsters, and discover the whereabouts of their missing father. Will they make it out alive or join the rest of the skeletons in the City of Bones? This fast-paced adventure is full [...]
No one puts the fun in non-fiction like Kim Zachman! Her NEW release, There's No Cream in Cream Soda, explores the fun, facts, and stories of the origins of some of America’s most popular beverages. From soda to water to milk and juice, curious kids will get answers to questions like, what kind of root is in root beer, and who put the pink in pink lemonade? This STEM book explores the inventions, innovations, and [...]
Stacy's Nockowitz recent release, The Prince of Steel Pier, is a triumph of middle grade historical fiction. I asked her about her road to publication. MGM: The characters in your book are so authentic, do you have a similar person in your life, like a Bubbe or Uncle Sol? A: My grandparents on my dad’s side were somewhat like Joey’s bubbe and zeyde. They were immigrants who had come to America in the 1920s, escaping [...]
Today is the launch of a wonderful middle grade book set in Atlantic City in the 1970s. The Prince of Steel Pier by Stacy Nockowitz is a suspenseful and inspirational story with rich characters that jump off the page. Joey is a skeet ball wiz and during a trip to the boardwalk, he gets the attention of a dangerous mobster, Artie Bishop, known as the King of Steel Pier. Joey comes from a large Jewish family with [...]
Congratulations to Fleur Bradley on the release of her latest middle grade novel, Daybreak on Raven Island, a wonderfully spooky book that is accessible to younger readers. Three seventh-grade students, Tori, Marvin, and Noah, are on a school field trip to a long abandoned prison island (inspired by Alcatraz). They're the first class to be allowed to tour the facility so you'd think they would be excited, but they have other things on their minds. Tori would [...]
Who can resist a fun retelling of a classic fairytale? Having some knowledge of the backstory allows the reader to get invested in the story quickly. Today's guest post is a fairytale specialist—Leah Cypess is the author of the SISTERS EVER AFTER series and shares some of her favorite retellings of Cinderella. Leah Cypess: While writing GLASS SLIPPERS, I avoided reading other retellings of Cinderella. But now that GLASS SLIPPERS is out in the world, [...]
Congratulations to Leah Cypess on her second installment in the Sisters Ever After series, Glass Slippers. In this story, we meet Cinderella's third, never-before-mentioned "wicked" stepsister, Tirza. In this fairytale retelling, Tirza has lived with the shame of what her family did to Cinderella for years. Against everyone's advice, Cinderella—now Queen Ella—took a chance on young Tirza. She gave Tirza a home in the castle instead of banishing her. The queen told everyone Tirza was good and [...]
You hereby have permission to write badly today. That is, as long as you write something. Anything. Anything at all. On topic, off topic, no topic. Just write. Go for it. Write as poorly as you can. Seriously, aim for the absolute bottom of the barrel. Permission granted. Go! The words that come out don’t need to be your best words. They needn’t compare to the shiny perfection that came out “that one time.” Fix [...]
