Showing posts with label middle grade readers. Show all posts
Showing posts with label middle grade readers. Show all posts

Halloway Hills Middle School Blog Tour & Giveaway

Monday, October 04, 2021
I'm excited to announce a blog tour with author A.J. Kormon. We're going to be touring with her books, Hiding Out on Halloween, Creeping Up on Christmas, and Veering Off on Valentine’s. These books are perfect for resistant readers who enjoy fast-paced, short mysteries featuring seventh graders and their cats.  

Join us today as we share more about these adorable books, interview the author, A.J. Kormon, and give away an Amazon gift card and copies of these books for our lucky readers.

First, a little bit about the books:

Three short, page-turning mysteries for ages 9-11 featuring mischievous cats and their middle-grade owners.

In Hiding Out on Halloween, Avery Mcintosh borrows the Super Ultimate Minecraft Hacks book from the school library, much to the dismay of the school bully, Becky. When Avery accidentally splashes Becky with an invisibility potion that he learned from the book, she not only disappears from Minecraft, but from the real world, too.

Trying to ease his guilt about Becky’s disappearance, with the help of his friend Jordan and a black cat who appears to be stalking him, Avery sets out to find Becky.

In Creeping Up on Christmas, it’s time for the Halloway Hills Middle School Christmas fair and Violet Sidhu and her friends have planned to sell crocheted hats to raise money for charity. There’s just one problem—the hats are missing!

When Violet discovers what’s happened to her hats, thanks to the new guy at school, getting them back turns out to be harder than she thought.

In Veering Off on Valentine’s, Jordan Cartwright learns the meaning of true love . . . from her cat! After feeling rejected by her best friend Avery because of Valentine’s Day, Jordan wonders if she can still be friends with him.

As she tries to avoid Avery, Jordan witnesses some strange behaviour from her cat Blizzard. When Blizzard goes missing during a snowstorm, Jordan enlists Avery’s help to find him and learns an important lesson in the process.

Includes bonus cookie recipe and word search!

Purchase all three books for Kindle on Amazon.com and make sure to add these books to your GoodReads reading list.

About the Author, A.J. Kormon

AJ Kormon started out writing books about money to help explain the concept to her kids. As her kids got older, they showed signs of not wanting to read, so she enlisted their help creating a series for resistant readers. This is how the Halloway Hills Middle School Mysteries were born. When AJ isn't writing and cartooning, you'll find her losing to her kids at Uno.

Find A.J. Kormon at: 


--- Interview by Nicole Pyles

WOW: First, congratulations on your book! I loved reading that you write this with your family. How do you all work together to write these stories? 

AJ: My boys help me come up with characters and story ideas. They are also the ultimate beta readers. I read the books out loud to them and judge by their reactions what I need to edit. Hopefully, they laugh at the funny parts! For books with illustrations, I also ask for their opinions on things like colour or poses of the characters. They are nine and eleven, which is the same age as the kids I write for. 

WOW: How wonderful you get them involved like that. What led you to write middle-grade fiction? 

AJ: Until the pandemic hit, my kids were in French immersion. That was no longer an option during the pandemic and because they'd been learning to read and write in French, it was like starting over for them with reading English. We read a lot of books together, but when it came to getting them to read on their own, it was a challenge, because most of the books at their reading level felt too young for them. The Halloway Hills Middle School Mysteries are simple stories that are short and easily digestible, but there are no illustrations like books for younger kids might have. 

WOW: I love that you turned a challenge into a positive. What was your path to publishing like? 

AJ: The first children's book I wrote was a picture book. I sent it to two publishers that, at the time, accepted unagented submissions. It's a fairly niche book with a story that focuses on taking care of your money, so I wasn't sure there would be a market for it, and I decided to self-publish it so my kids could see it in print. With the Halloway Hills books, I decided to do the same since they are so short and not a typical middle-grade book. I liked the idea of being able to do what I wanted with the font in the paperbacks to make it easier for some children to read. I'm not against traditional publishing. I have other stories I'd like to try and get published through the traditional route. 

WOW: I think that's an awesome route you took! What does your regular writing habit look like? 

AJ: That I am regularly irregular! I've tried to set the same time aside to write every day, but it never seems to work out. I've accepted that it's okay not to have a regular schedule as long as I keep moving forward on my projects. I do most of my writing on the weekends and the rest I sneak in here and there.

WOW: I struggle with keeping to my own writing schedule, too. How did COVID impact your writing (and/or publishing plans)? 

AJ: When COVID hit, I was teaching adult special education at my local college. Everyone had to work from home, and my students didn't have access to the technology required to continue in an online learning environment. I thought about looking for other teaching jobs, but everything seemed so uncertain that I decided to focus on my writing instead. That being said, I've just started teaching online and back to juggling all the things. 

WOW: That must be a challenge! So, what is your revision process like? 

AJ: I love revising! When the words aren't flowing in the writing, I start editing. This means my process can change depending on the book I'm working on, but mostly I start by reading through what I've written in Google Docs and making changes as I go. This can happen at any point I feel I'm stuck in the writing, but for sure once the whole draft is finished. Then I go through a checklist I have with the common errors I make. Some are things I discovered on my own, and others were tips from editors. Once I feel like I've made the necessary corrections in Google Docs, then I download the manuscript as a Word document and email it to my ereader. I read ebooks on my phone, so the screen is really small and it helps me catch even more things, especially typos and word repetition. Once I'm reading on my ereader, I try to read the whole thing in one day. I use the highlight and notes functions to mark any further edits. Then once I've read the whole story, I go back to my notes and highlights and start correcting things in the Word doc. 

WOW: You have great process! What's next for you? 

AJ: I write books for adults as myself (Michelle Cornish) and I have promised my readers the next thriller in one of my series, so I need to make sure I deliver on that promise! For AJ, though, I have a series planned based on Daniel from Creeping Up on Christmas. It will be another mystery series, but geared more toward the older middle grade reader, so it will be longer with a more involved plot.

WOW: Best of luck to you and I can't wait to see what you come out with next! 


--- Blog Tour Calendar

October 4th @ The Muffin
Join us as we celebrate the launch of the Halloway Middle School series. Read our interview with author AJ Kormon, and enter to win the giveaway too. One winner will receive all three copies of the books and a gift card. Three winners will receive one book from the series. Join us today!

October 8th @ Madeline Sharples' Blog
Join Madeline as she shares a guest post by AJ Kormon about things kids learn from entrepreneurial parents.

October 10th @ What is That Book About
Visit Michelle's blog where she shares a guest post written by AJ Kormon that talks about the best books for kids who don't like to read.

October 12th @ Lisa Haselton's Book Reviews and Interviews
Visit Lisa's blog where she interviews AJ Kormon, author of the Halloway Hills Middle School mystery series.

October 14th @ Cover 2 Cover Blog
Join Stephanie as she shares her thoughts about the charming Halloway Hills Middle School mystery series.

October 16th @ Reading in the Wildwood
Join Megan as she shares a guest post by author AJ Kormon featuring must-have Halloween books to read with your kids.

October 20th @ Lisa's Reading
Join Lisa as she reviews the Halloway Hills series on her blog today.

October 22nd @ Quill and Books
Visit Kathryn's blog where she reviews Hiding Out on Halloween by AJ Kormon.

October 22nd @ The Frugalista Mom
Join Rozelyn as she features a guest post by author AJ Kormon about navigating first crushes. She's also giving away a copy of the Halloway Hills Middle School series as an e-book to one lucky reader.

October 25th @ World of My Imagination
Visit Nicole's blog today as she reviews AJ Kormon's Halloway Hills Middle School series books and gives away a copy of the books for one lucky reader.

October 28th @ Knotty Needle
Judy delights us today with her and her granddaughter's review of AJ Kormon's Halloway Hills Middle School series books.

October 31st @ Look to the Western Sky
Join Margo as she reads and reviews AJ Kormon's delightful middle-grade book Hiding Out on Halloween part of the Halloway Hills Middle School series.

November 3rd @ Fiona Ingram's Blog
Join Fiona as she shares AJ Kormon's guest post about why your child should read to their pet.

November 4th @ CK Sorens
Visit CK Sorens' blog today and read her review of AJ Kormon's Halloway Hills Middle School series books.

November 5th @ Quill and Books
Join Kathryn again as she publishes a guest post by AJ Kormon about fun Christmas books to read with your kids.

November 5th @ Bookworm for Kids
Join Tonja as she reviews Creeping Up on Christmas over at her blog today. A perfect book for the holidays!

November 7th @ Jill Sheets' Blog
Visit Jill's blog today where she shares AJ Kormon's guest post about how to help your child deal with a bully.




***** GIFT CARD & BOOKS GIVEAWAY *****

Enter to win a $25 Amazon Gift Card and copies of Hiding Out on Halloween, Creeping Up on Christmas, and Veering Off on Valentine’s by AJ Kormon. Enter the Rafflecopter form by October 17th for your chance to win! We will choose two lucky winners and follow up via email. Good luck!


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Children's and YA Writers: Remember What It's Like to Be Obsessed with Books?

Wednesday, September 08, 2021
My daughter has discovered Percy Jackson. This is after she discovered Harry Potter in early 2020, and then Hunger Games once we made our way through all seven books of Harry, and we were still in the middle of a pandemic. And for each one, she was in love with the books--couldn't get enough of them or the characters or the authors. 

She's in fifth grade this year, and when she discovers something, it consumes her. She's now planning her Percy Jackson Halloween costume and using her allowance to buy a PJ Camp Halfblood shirt. She made a PJ necklace, and she's constantly asking her grandparents and me trivia questions about the plot of Percy Jackson book one, even though we've never read the book (or maybe I read it years ago--it's hard to remember--I'm old). And she's telling us about the Greek gods, as if we had never heard of them before. But I'm letting her because she's excited, and she loves knowing something we don't.

Her enthusiasm helps me remember. I remember being consumed by things like this before I had to get an adult job and have adult responsibilities. I loved Trixie Belden and Sweet Valley High, and when I would go to the mall with my parents, I would beg for the next Trixie or SVH book from the B. Dalton. I wanted to be Trixie. I wanted to be one of the twins, and I couldn't get enough.

The great thing about being the mom of a kid who loves stories is that my enthusiasm for creativity gets a spark--all the time. She helps me remember what it's like to be absorbed by the things I love, by the things my friends loved, and to have a big worry (be not such a big worry at all), like how will I get the next book in the series? Or how will I design my Halloween costume?

Plus, another bonus right now is she's the age of the audience I write and publish for. And she tells me my books are good (although not quite as good as Percy Jackson...), and trust me, she wouldn't just say that because I'm her mom. Her words are encouraging and hopeful, and I feel so lucky to be her mom and to have a kid who loves books. 

But what do you do if you're writing for this audience and you don't have this spark of energy in your home? Eventually, I won't--eventually she'll be driving and dating and working her part-time job, and then she'll be in college. What do I do then? How do I keep that kid-like enthusiasm alive? How do I remember what it's like to be that age?

We read. We watch Netflix shows that kids are watching. We schedule school visits (although I know that's pretty hard right now!). We talk to librarians and bookstore clerks. We talk to people whose kids are that age. What are they into? What are they obsessed by? How do they act? Then we read and binge the shows they're binging. Maybe we even play a video game or two. We understand our audience. Or we try.

My point?

We write because we love to write, but we all must remember our audience. And when you're a children's writer or a YA writer, your audience is different than you, and it's important to remember how they are--not just for the characters whom you're writing, but for your readers. Imagine your perfect reader, your reader who is obsessed with your books and wants to dress up like your main character or write fan fiction or make YouTube videos about your book. Write the best book you can for that reader. Keep that reader in your mind, and you will already be on your way to having a Halloween costume designed.

As for my daughter? She's currently on to book two of Percy Jackson, already watched the first movie, and her Camp Halfblood shirt is on its way from Amazon, arriving tomorrow. I better get busy with book one. 

Margo L. Dill is a writer, editor, instructor, coach, and publisher, living in St. Louis, MO with her daughter and dog. Find out more at www.margoldill.com.

Want to learn more about writing for kids and YA readers? Consider taking Margo's class that starts October 6 and is CURRENTLY ON SALE this semester. Find out more about Writing Middle Grade and YA Fiction: A Study and Workshop by clicking here. 
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What Middle Grade Readers Really Want

Thursday, May 12, 2016
As I sat pondering what to write my latest post about, I called out to my kids to pick up ALL of their stacks of books that were downstairs. Then it hit me. Books. A lot of them. I switched my tactic and sat them both down so we could talk books. They loved that. As an aspiring children's books author, I know I should take advantage of the fact that I have two voracious readers in the house. I already make them read my crappy first drafts--why not ask them what reels them in as a reader?

First I chatted with my daughter (almost 13 years old). I've spent the last two years watching her devour every single book (including the graphic novels) in the Warriors series. She said the series, which follows the various clans of wild cats as they battle the elements and each other, initially drew her in because it was full of action and adventure, along with being fast-paced. She loved them so much her brother had to read a few of the books because he wanted to see what the fuss was all about. Did I mention these books are all about cats, and take place from the point of view of cats? So for many children, animal characters mixed with fantasy can do really well.

Another collection of books on my daughter's bookshelf (besides the Percy Jackson series) are graphic novels by Raina Telgemeier. She had already read Smile (I'm positive that book helped her get over the shock of having to get an orthodontic appliance recently) and Drama when she discovered Telgemeier had created a series of graphic novels based on The Babysitter's Club series. As she explained, it was fun reading about a series she was already familiar with, because this time, she could see the story visually appear on each page.

Both of my kids love a good series. I guess I can understand that, having grown up reading Sweet Valley High, The Babysitter's Club, Trixie Belden, and many others. Or I would get hooked on one particular author and have to read everything in his or her catalogue (hmm . . . I still do that)! At first I thought Harry Potter was going to pass right by my kids. Then this year, my fourth-grade son saw all his classmates reading the first book in class, and thought he'd give it a try. I was skeptical when he first brought it home, because he is normally drawn to humor like Diary of a Wimpy Kid, I Funny, or Big Nate. Imagine my surprise as he is now on the fifth book in the series. And my daughter decided she needed to read the series since her brother was reading it and she was not going to be left out.

So let's see. What do middle grade readers really want to read? If you look at what my own kids are reading, it varies. They love humor . . . British humor included. They love stories with animals. They want to read about magical, fantastical worlds, where characters are taught an important lesson. Stories that help them deal with bullying and growing up are also high on the list. (And based on their reaction to a middle-grade book draft I wrote a few years ago, you can throw time travel in there, too.)

I'm impressed and proud of my kids' tastes in books. I hope I've had a little to do with it. However, I can't take all the credit. Their school does a wonderful job introducing them to new authors, such as the unit they had on Roald Dahl. Now I'm hooked on his wonderful tales after reading with the kids.

What are some of your children's (or your own) favorite books for kids?

 Renee Roberson is an award-winning writer and editor who loves reading good middle-grade and young adult fiction almost as much as adult novels. Visit her blog at Renee's Pages.
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