Dream Gardens: Talking Up the Children's Books We Love

An Interview with Beth Vrabel

For my twenty-second Dream Gardens kid lit podcast, I interviewed author Beth Vrabel about one of her favorite children’s books,  The Wednesday Wars by Gary D. Schmidt.

Published in 2007 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, The Wednesday Wars is a historical middle grade novel set in the 1967 – 68 school year in Long Island, New York.  Holling Hoodhood is a seventh grader who thinks his teacher, Mrs. Baker, is out to get him.  Every Wednesday afternoon he’s stuck all alone with her while the other kids go to their religious education classes.  And every Wednesday she dishes out all kinds of horrible punishments upon him, like cleaning out the class rat cages, beating erasers and, even worse, reading Shakespeare!  But when Holling learns that Mrs. Baker’s husband is an MIA soldier in Vietnam, he starts to see her as a human being with joys and fears just like everyone else. Set against the backdrop of the Vietnam War and the tumultuous late ’60s, The Wednesday Wars is a heartfelt and humorous story of one boy’s coming of age in a difficult time.

Beth Vrabel is author of such books as the Pack of Dorks series, A Blind Guide to Stinkville, and her most recent book, Caleb and Kit. You can find Beth’s website at www.bethvrabel.com.

All podcasts are available on iTunes, Stitcher, and Google Play. Please link, share, comment, or subscribe. The next podcast will be published on November 1st, 2017.

An Interview with Maria Dismondy

For my twenty-first Dream Gardens kid lit podcast, I interviewed author Maria Dismondy about one of her favorite children’s books,  Rules by Cynthia Lord.

Published in 2006 by Scholastic Press, Rules tells the story of twelve year old Catherine, who wishes she had more control over her messy life. Her autistic brother David consumes most of her parent’s attention, and the rules she tries to get him to abide to make him more “normal” never really work out for either one of them. But when two potential new friends turn up in her life, a girl who just moved next-door and a paraplegic boy who she can only communicate with by touching word cards, things start looking up. Except Catherine still has lot to learn about what it means to be a true friend, and that what “normal” looks like is not what she’d thought.

Maria Dismondy’s books include The Juice Box Bully, Chocolate Milk Por Favor, and her most recent book, Fruit Salad Friend.  In addition, Maria offers coaching services for published authors and is founder of the hybrid publishing company Cardinal Rule Press. You can find Maria’s website at mariadismondy.com.

All podcasts are available on iTunes, Stitcher, and Google Play. Please link, share, comment, or subscribe. The next podcast will be published on October 16th, 2017.

An Interview with Karen Yingling

For my twentieth Dream Gardens kidlit podcast, I interviewed librarian Karen Yingling about one of her favorite Young Adult books, the contemporary sports novel The Football Girl by Thatcher Heldring.

Published in 2017, this YA tells the story of Tessa and Caleb’s last summer before entering high school. It should be a time for friends, fun, and perhaps even a budding romance. But Tessa’s decision to be the first girl to join the football camp threatens to upend her camaraderie with her track buddies, not to mention thwarting her deepening relationship with Caleb. And as for Caleb, how he reacts to Tessa’s decision, and how he deals with the hazing rituals of his soon to be varsity teammates, raises all sorts of questions whose answers are not always easy for him to figure out. Whatever happens, Tessa and Caleb’s life will never be the same after the summer ends.

Karen YingLing is a middle school librarian, as well as a Middle Grade Fiction Organizer for the Cybils award and a book reviewer for the  School Library Journal and Young Adult Books Central. You can find Karen’s website at msyinglingreads.blogspot.com

All podcasts are available on iTunes, Stitcher, and Google Play. Please link, share, comment, or subscribe. The next podcast will be published on October 1st, 2017.

An Interview with Andrea Mack

For my nineteenth Dream Gardens podcast, I interviewed author Andrea Mack about one of her favorite children’s books, the children’s adventure novel The False Prince by Jennifer A. Nielsen, which is Book One of the Ascendance series.

First published in 2012, this novel tells the story of a poor orphan boy named Sage who, along with three other orphans, finds himself plunked in the middle of a dangerous scheme. One of the boys will be chosen to impersonate a prince long thought to be dead. If Sage keeps his smart-aleck mouth shut long enough to be picked (fat chance of that!) he might help to keep the kingdom from being attacked. And if he doesn’t, he might might end up like the previous prince. Either way, he got to figure out how to be picked and at the same time keep the other orphan boys from meeting a bad end. It won’t be easy, and he’ll find there are a few surprises waiting in the wings.

Andrea Mack is author  of several picture books, such as Let’s Ride, the Joy the Tomboy series, and Super Tim Saves the Day. In addition she has written many articles and stories for educational publishers as well as beginner readers for ESL  students. You can find Andrea’s website at andrea-mack.blogspot.com.

All podcasts are available on iTunes, Stitcher, and Google Play. Please link, share, comment, or subscribe. The next podcast will be published on September 16th, 2017.

An Interview with C. Lee Mckenzie

For my eighteenth Dream Gardens podcast, I interviewed author C. Lee McKenzie about one of her favorite children’s books, the children’s classic Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, pseudonym of the of the British writer and mathematician Charles Dodgson.

First published in 1865, this classic tale of young girl’s adventure as she literally tumbles into a strange dream world continues to be read and to inspire countless other books, films, music and art throughout the world.  Her encounters with such off-beat characters  as the White Rabbit, the Mad Hatter, the Duchess, the Queen of Hearts, and the Cheshire Cat remain as just absurdly weird and as nonsensically funny as when it was first published. And though we don’t discuss it in the interview, Carroll’s follow up book,  titled Through the Looking Glass,  And What Alice Found There, is worth checking out as well.

C. Lee Mackenzie is author  of the middle grade fantasy adventure The Sign of the Green Dragon,  as well as several YA novels, including  Sudden Secrets and Sliding on the Edge. You can find Lee’s website at www.cleemckenziebooks.com

All podcasts are available on iTunes, Stitcher, and Google Play. Please link, share, comment, or subscribe. The next podcast will be published on September 1st, 2017.

An Interview with Allison Tait

For my seventeenth Dream Gardens podcast, I interviewed author Allison Tait about one of her favorite children’s books, the Australian classic Storm Boy by Colin Thiele, illustrated by Robert Ingpen.

First published in 1963, the short book tells the story of a young boy who lives with his father on the isolated Southern coast of Australia.  One day, a mother pelican is shot, and the boy rescues her chicks and raises them. After growing up, one of pelicans, Mr. Percival, remains with the boy and becomes his closest friend.  And when a fishing boat is threaten to be shipwrecked on the coast, the two of them jump into the fray. What happens after that will change both of their lives forever.  For over fifty years this narrative has been beloved by children and adults alike for its lyricism, and for its timeless narrative of friendship,  adventure, and heartbreak.

Allison Tait is author of the middle grade adventure series The Mapmaker Chronicles, which includes the books Race to the End of the World, Prisoner of Black Hawk, Breath of the Dragon, and the recently published Beyond the Edge of the Map .  She is also host of the podcast series So You Want to be a Writer along with Valerie Khoo of the Australian Writers’ Centre, which is available on itunes. You can find Allison’s website at allisontait.com and the website for her book series at themapmakerchronicles.com.

All podcasts are available on iTunes, Stitcher, and Google Play. Please link, share, comment, or subscribe. The next podcast will be published on August 16th, 2017.

An Interview with Alina Sayre

For my sixteenth Dream Gardens podcast, I interviewed author Alina Sayre about one of her favorite books (and one of mine), the children’s middle grade  fantasy novel  The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane by Kate DiCamillo.

The book tells the story Edward Tulane, a particularly self-centered, vain and selfish china rabbit whose whole world is turned, literally, topsy-turvy, when he is accidentally tossed overboard and sinks to the bottom of the ocean. Separated for the first time from Adelaide, the little girl who adores him, Edward is eventually rescued, but that is only the start of a terribly long journey to find his way back home. It is a journey that is sometimes frightening, sometime joyous, and sometimes just plain heart-breaking,  which comes as quite a surprise to a china rabbit who did not know he had a heart to break.

Alina Sayre is the author of the middle grade fantasy series Voyages of the Legend, which includes the books The Illuminators Gift,  The Illuminators  Test, and most recently, The Illuminator Rising. You can find her website at alinasayre.com.

All podcasts are available on iTunes, Stitcher, and Google Play. Please link, share, comment, and/or subscribe.

IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT: I will be taking a break from podcasting for the month of July. However, I will return with a brand new podcast on August 1st, 2017, so please stay tuned!

An Interview with Jen Vincent

For my fifteenth Dream Gardens podcast, I interviewed author and educator Jen Vincent about one of her favorite books, the children’s middle grade  fantasy novel and 2017 Newbery Award winner, The Girl Who Drank the Moon by Kelly Barnhill.

The book tells the story of Luna, an infant rescued from sacrifice by the good-hearted witch Xan. Trouble begins when Xan feeds the child moonlight, making her “enmagicked”. As Luna grows up in the forest with Xan, along with a tiny dragon convinced he’s enormous and an ancient swamp monster with a knack for poetry, her magical abilities threaten to explode out of control and wreak havoc on everything she touches. Add in some sinister secrets, a heroic young carpenter, a madwoman in a tower commanding an army of paper birds, and a volcano ready to erupt, and you have a fantasy adventure with thrills and heart and, of course, a touch of magic.

Jen Vincent is the author of the ebook: My Story Is Here: Be Present and Explore Your Story, a guide for new and developing writers on how to explore  and improve their stories.  She is also a blogger and an educator, focusing on how writers can use “mentor texts”, which are examples of quality writing, to inform writing decisions. You can find her blog at www.teachmentortexts.com and her website at www.jenvincentwrites.com.

All podcasts are available on iTunes, Stitcher, and Google Play. Please link, share, comment, or subscribe. The next podcast will be published on June 16th, 2017.

An Interview with A. T. Baron

For my fourteenth Dream Gardens podcast, I interviewed author Angela Baron, who writes under the name A. T. Baron. We talked about one of her favorite books, the children’s middle grade comic fantasy novel, The Wee Free Men by the late, great Terry Pratchett.

First published in 2003, The Wee Free Men is a Discworld book, the setting of so many of Terry Pratchett’s middle grade and adult satirical novels.  Here we are introduced to nine-year old Tiffany Aching, who discovers she may have a calling as a witch after she dispatches a river monster with a well-aimed frying pan.  But before she can learn more about what all that means, she must rescue her bothersome little brother from the Queen of Fairyland.  She won’t have to go it alone, though.  She has the assistance of the Nac Mac Feegle, the Wee Free Men, a band of six-inch, kilt-wearing, sheep-stealing blue men who never pass up the opportunity for a fight or a drink. This is the first of a series of books featuring Tiffany and the Nac Mac Feegle. Others include A Hatful of Sky, Wintersmith, I Shall Wear Midnight, and the posthumously published The Shepherd’s Crown.

Angela Baron has written under the name A.T. Baron such children’s books as  the self-illustrated Tale of Two Squirrels as well as her forthcoming YA novel The Ruby Cell. She has also created the illustrations for Sandy Barton’s picture book, The Tree. You can find her website at www.atbaron.com.

All podcasts are available on iTunes, Stitcher, and Google Play. Please link, share, comment, or subscribe. The next podcast will be published on June 1st, 2017.

An Interview with A. B. Westrick

For my thirteenth Dream Gardens podcast, I interviewed author Anne Westrick, who writes under the name A.B Westrick. We talked about one of her favorite books, the children’s middle grade comic mystery novel, Three Times Lucky by Sheila Turnage.

The novel was first published in 2012 and was a Newbery Honor Book. Set in Tupelo, North Carolina,  the story is told by Moses “Mo” LoBeau, a young girl who was rescued from a flooded river eleven years before, and has stumbled into the middle of a mystery when one of the locals turns up murdered. Along with her best friend Dale, she tries to find the answers to a whole basket full of questions. Who killed Mr. Jessie?  What happened to the Colonel, the man who’s been raising her along with the cafe owner Miss Lana, before he lost his memory? When will her “upstream mother” answer the notes she’s been stuffing into bottles and releasing in the river? Why was her teacher at the races with the detective investigating the case? And where was Dale’s head at when he thought it was a good idea to steal Mr. Jessie’s boat? All these questions and a few more besides are answered in this not terribly serious mystery novel.

Under the name A.B Westick, Anne has written the young adult novel Brotherhood, which was an ALA/ YASLA Best Book for Young Adults in 2014 and a Junior Library Guild selection. The story  is set during the tumultuous time of the Reconstruction, and deals with one brother’s conflict between his ties to the Ku Klux Klan and his friendship with a young former slave. Her website can be found at abwestrick.com/

All podcasts are available on iTunes, Stitcher, and Google Play. Please link, share, comment, or subscribe. The next podcast will be published on May 16th, 2017.