A book trailer is an engaging marketing tool that brings your book to life in a unique visual experience. It's basically a 30-90 second video that explains the narrative arc of your story. Why have one? First, video is a popular way of marketing. People like quick entertainment and information. Video provides both. Second, they are easy to share. They can be shared from YouTube across multiple social platforms including Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. When [...]
Since November is the month of Thanksgiving, we thought we'd feature middle-grade stories that celebrate kindness and gratitude. Enjoy! Hope in the Holler by Lisa Lewis Tyre: There’s nothing like the kindness of friends when family situations become difficult. Right before Wavie's mother died, she gave Wavie a list of instructions to help her find her way in life, including this one: Be brave, Wavie B! You got as much right to a good life [...]
October is a month of ghosts, ghouls, and goblins. Here is our list of scary reads to celebrate the season. Creepy and True: Ghosts Unveiled by Kerrie Logan Hollihan: Ghosts Unveiled contains tales of ghosts of all kinds—cats, dogs, soldiers, famous people—and from places around the world. Most would think of ghosts as people who have lived long ago. But in this collection, there are ghosts of people who have recently died. The stories [...]
September is Hispanic Heritage Month. Our picks this month celebrate this rich culture. Enjoy! Merci Suarez Changes Gears by Meg Medina: A sometimes heartbreaking, but mostly heart-warming story about Merci as she weaves in and out of her school life and her home life, facing difficulties in both. It’s especially challenging for her to understand and accept the mental decline of her beloved grandfather, Lolo, due to Alzheimers. It [...]
This month's Mojo picks feature middle-grade prize-winning books. Enjoy! New Kid by Jerry Craft, was the winner of the 2020 Newberry Medal, which was the first time a graphic novel won. Jerry’s story is about Jordan Banks, an artsy middle grader who wanted to go to an art school. Instead, his parents enroll him in an expensive private school because he has been given a scholarship. Not only is he one of the “scholarship kids," but [...]
Enjoy our July mojo picks—middle-grade books that celebrate America. Capture the Flag by Kate Messner: Capture the Flag celebrates the American flag and is a fun mixture of fact and fiction. Anna, José, and Henry have never met, but they have more in common than they realize. Snowed in together at a chaotic Washington, DC, airport, they encounter a mysterious tattooed man, a flamboyant politician, and a rambunctious poodle named for an ancient king. Even [...]
Enjoy this month's Mojo picks---middle-grade historical fiction. Chains (The Seeds of American Trilogy) by Laurie Halse Anderson: As the Revolutionary War begins, thirteen-year-old Isabel wages her own fight...for freedom. Promised freedom upon the death of their owner, she and her sister, Ruth, in a cruel twist of fate become the property of a malicious New York City couple, the Locktons, who have no sympathy for the American Revolution and even less for Ruth and Isabel. [...]
Our Mojo picks this month feature STEAM books: books that celebrate science, technology, engineering, art, and math. The Secret Notebook by Debbie DAurilieo: Riley Green is a twelve-year-old student at an elite school in Washington DC. She loves inventing things and doing detective work. When her teacher's classroom gets ransacked, and a death message is left on the board, Riley has to put her super-sleuthing skills to work. Why was the inventor, Nikola Tesla's notebook [...]
This month our Mojo picks feature stories that travel to fantasy worlds. Unleash your inner child and check out these great reads: Extraordinary Sam and the Adventurers' Guild by Kevin Springer: Sam is an ordinary boy with an ordinary life. Or so he thinks. When he goes into an old barn and finds a hatbox, all that changes. He is transported into another place where he has to battle pirates, tribal warriors, spiders, and [...]
Our March Mojo Picks are biographies. Here they are: Never Caught by Erica Armstrong Dunbar. This is an eye-opening narrative of Ona Judge, George and Martha Washington's runaway slave, who risked everything for freedom. -SE Buy Undefeated by Steve Sheinkin. There are three stories in this book. There's the biography of one of America's greatest athletes, Jim Thorpe. There's the story of the Carlisle Indian School; another [...]
