April 2018
The Literary Resource for Teachers, Librarians, and Parents
Jason Reynolds On Reading, Writing, and Whatnot
A Journey
Through Autism Dave Eggers
Inspires Young Writers to Make Their Mark
One to Watch:
Eddie Leavy Literature:
A Secret Weapon Against Bullying
Xolo MaridueĂąa is the Next Karate Kid
Students Hit the Dance Floor in
Conga Kids Arts Program Q&A with
Elizabeth Dale
ADVERTISE WITH US! MEET THE STAFF
Would you like to promote your book, product, or business? Contact Cristy Bertini at Cristy@StoryMonsters.com or call 413-687-0733 to reserve your space! Discounts available.
PUBLISHER
Linda F. Radke Linda@StoryMonsters.com
Editor-in-Chief
Cristy Bertini Cristy@StoryMonsters.com
WRITER
Melissa Fales
DESIGN
Bring Story Monsters Ink into Your Classroom! Visit our website at www.StoryMonsters.com to download free classroom question sheets to aid in learning comprehension and encourage your students to discuss what they’ve read in each issue!
Jeff Yesh
Science & Nature Editor Conrad J. Storad
COLUMNISTS
Nick Spake, Rita Campbell, Olivia Amiri, Julianne Black
PROOFREADER
Debbie Greenberg
Web Management Patti Crane
Advertising
Linda F. Radke Info@StoryMonsters.com Cristy Bertini Cristy@StoryMonsters.com
Book Reviewers
www.StoryMonsters.com Order Story Monsters Ink through subscription services for schools, libraries, and businesses. “Like” us on Facebook! www.Facebook.com/StoryMonsters Follow us on Twitter! @StoryMonsters Follow us on Instagram! www.instagram.com/storymonsters
Darleen Wohlfeil, Larissa Juliano, Diana Perry, Jessica Reino, Tynea Lewis
Issues of Story Monsters Ink are recorded by the Arizona Talking Book Library!
Cover photo courtesy of Ben Fractenberg Story Monsters Ink magazine and www.StoryMonsters.com are trademarks of Story Monsters, LLC. Copyright ©2018 Story Monsters Press, ISSN 2374-4413, ISBN: 9781338199932: All rights reserved. Contents may not be published in whole or in part without the express written consent of the bylined author and publisher. The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the individual writers and are not necessarily those of Story Monsters Ink or its advertisers. Story Monsters Ink is published by Story Monsters Press Postal mail may be sent to Story Monsters Ink 4696 W. Tyson St., Chandler, AZ 85226 Phone: 480-940-8182
2
Story Monsters Ink | April 2018 | StoryMonsters.com
Honor Roll Gold Award Recipient, Mom’s Choice Awards. Named among the “great magazines for kids and teens” by School Library Journal. 2016 Irwin Award winner for “Best Publisher of a Literary Magazine” and “Best Editorial Director.”
April 2018
In this issue 04
22
Jason Reynolds on Reading, Writing, and Whatnot
Literature: A Secret Weapon Against Bullying
10
26
A Journey Through Autism
Xolo MaridueĂąa is the Next Karate Kid
14
30
Dave Eggers Inspires Young Writers to Make Their Mark
Students Hit the Dance Floor in Conga Kids Arts Program
18
48
One to Watch: Eddie Leavy
Q&A with Elizabeth Dale
StoryMonsters.com April is School Library Month 36 How Does Your Garden Grow? 38 Kids Can Publish
40 Spring Reading List 44 Monsters at the Movies 46 Liv on Life
52 Book Reviews 58 Kids Corner
Tell us what you think of this issue! Email your comments to cristy@storymonsters.com.
StoryMonsters.com | April 2018 | Story Monsters Ink
3
Feature Cover Story
JASON REYNOLDS on Reading, Writing, and Whatnot by Melissa Fales photo by Linda F. Radke
For Jason Reynolds, each new book is an opportunity to forgo the expected and focus on the exceptional. The New York Times bestselling author’s stories tend to feature characters that, much like Reynolds himself, don’t always fit the standard mold. His latest book, Sunny (Simon and Schuster), is the third in his popular Track middle grade series. “Sunny is a kid who doesn’t connect to anything in his world,” says Reynolds. “It’s an exploration of what that looks like and what that feels like. It’s written in diary entries, because that was the best way for me to get his brain on the page for everyone to see.”
StoryMonsters.com | April 2018 | Story Monsters Ink
5
Feature Cover Story
The Track series follows four promising athletes—all members of a middle school track team. Sunny’s mother died while giving birth to him and while he tries to wear a smile, he carries the weight of her death on his shoulders. “My stories are mainly about black children,” says Reynolds. “I like writing about black kids who are strange, like Sunny. The idea that all black kids are cool and have cool dance moves and wear the cool clothes … those are stereotypes. There are so many other kinds of black kids and those are the kids I want to write about.” The final installment in the Track series, titled Lu, will be released in the fall. Reynolds had little interest in reading as a youth and struggled to connect with the stories fed to him in school. As a result, he didn’t develop an appreciation for the power of words until he began listening to rap music. “Rap music spoke my language,” he says. “Those lyrics were poetry, the first type I could relate to.” While attending the University of Maryland, he began reading African American poetry. “I fell in love with it,” he says. “I wanted to be the next Langston Hughes. I learned about the heroes of the Harlem Renaissance and I longed to find my space in that tradition.” After graduating, Reynolds moved to Brooklyn where he and his friend, Jason Griffin, published a poetry collection called My Name Is Jason. Mine Too. Our Story. Our Way. But it was another friend and mentor, writer Christopher Myers, who was
6
Story Monsters Ink | April 2018 | StoryMonsters.com
instrumental in getting Reynolds to give prose a try, convincing him the world needed to hear his voice. “He encouraged me to fill the pages as I see them,” Reynolds says. “He introduced me to the idea that I had permission to be myself. I felt like I needed permission to free my own voice.” The result was Reynolds’s 2014 debut novel When I Was the Greatest. “That’s when everything changed,” says Reynolds. Other books followed, including Long Way Down, For Every One, and The Boy in the Black Suit, as well as the first two books in the Track series, Ghost and Patina. Numerous awards followed as well, including a Kirkus Award, an NAACP Image Award, and multiple Coretta Scott King honors. “I’m working hard,” says Reynolds. “I appreciate the glory, success, and fame, but what weighs heavier is the mere idea that there are young people out there who find something in my writing that they can connect with. I get to fortify their lives with these books and I’m in perpetual gratitude for that. Reynolds says books need to have an entertainment factor in order to appeal to today’s young people. “There are so many stimuli out there,” he says. “There are so many easy ways for young people to be distracted and engaged elsewhere. If books are going to compete with everything going on out there, we have to get creative. We’ve got to step it up.” However, he also believes well-written literature doesn’t have to sacrifice its integrity or authenticity in order to be entertaining. “We need to rethink the
Feature Cover Story
way we’re writing in terms of who we’re writing for,” he says. “If we’re creative enough, we should be able to engage them with the words on the page.” For Reynolds, getting young people to read is just as relevant and important today as ever. “Books are empathy machines,” he says. “Books can bring you to tears and allow you to imagine what someone else is going through. That helps you do the same thing in real life. That’s so important.” For Reynolds, reading is also the key to lifelong success. “Books are still the
“Reading and writing becomes daunting when you try to force yourself into a box that feels so small. I was a grown man before I realized I didn’t need to do that. I want to help others get to that point earlier in their lives.” greatest form of vocabulary expansion,” he says. “If you can’t use language to express yourself, you’re at a great disadvantage in life. To be able to express a good idea is just as important, if not more important, than being able to have one.” Named the 2018 National Spokesman for School Library Month, Reynolds believes school librarians are unheralded heroes on campuses. “I believe in the power of the school librarian,” he says. “They’re often the most progressive adult in the institution, and usually the most well-read.” With this power, says Reynolds, comes responsibility. “When it comes to getting kids excited about reading, schools are often only as good as the school librarian,” he says. “The books are crucial, but what really makes the
difference is the human in the librarian position, who’s there not just to usher kids to the right books, but to create a space where the kids can have a dialogue about those books.” Reynolds says school librarians are in a crucial role at a time when young people are shaking things up. “What’s exciting about right now is that we’re embarking upon an entirely new way to talk about identity, which leads to more authenticity in life and in literature,” says Reynolds. “When it comes to trying to understand the spectrum of different ways to be, today’s young people have burst it open in a good way, in a healthy way. It’s no longer about binary, about having two choices, this or that. Young people are refusing to fit into those little boxes. Instead, they’re standing up and saying ‘I’m this and that and everything in between.’ Reading and writing becomes daunting when you try to force yourself into a box that feels so small. I was a grown man before I realized I didn’t need to do that. I want to help others get to that point earlier in their lives.” Reynolds acknowledges that his own literary journey reads like fiction, perhaps even a tall tale. “To go from not reading books at all to winning awards for the books I write is amazing and a little overwhelming,” he says. “It’s a strange ending to the story. But it validates the idea that being authentic is always the way out. Being able to own yourself and all the things about you that make up the complicated human being that you are—the good, the bad, and the ugly—is the only choice.” For more information about Jason Reynolds and his books, visit jasonwritesbooks.com.
•
StoryMonsters.com | April 2018 | Story Monsters Ink
7