Middle Grade Monday with J.A. White and THE THICKETY

Israel Hall here, taking over Mom's blog again. I read THE THICKETY and then told Mom even she would like it. She did, so we emailed J.A. White and he let me interview him. Read below, and then read THE THICKETY. You won't regret it. It is full of a ton of surprises. 

IH: The book was amazing, really. I mean spiderwebs catching rocks, wow. Man, and what a cliff hanger. I haven't seen a cliff hanger like that since, well, actually, I've never seen a cliff hanger like that. It was a five star book. I especially like long books because long books give you a lot of time to read it every day. Your descriptions were amazing!

What do you think is the worst thing that Grace did?

JA: Grace really is awful, isn’t she? I’m sure a lot of readers will disagree with me, but I actually think the worst thing she does is in that first scene in the general store, when she takes Kara’s seeds.  Her later actions are evil, of course, but that is just flat-out mean.

IH: Oh, that's a good one. I hadn't thought of that one. When you named Kara's brother Taff, were you eating Laffy Taffy?

JA: Haha!  Sadly, I have never eaten Laffy Taffy in my life!  (But now I really want to try it.)  I’m not really sure why “Taff” is “Taff.”  It just seemed to fit, somehow.

IH: What are the ferries like? Are they old style ships? Since the animals are so different are the fish different too?

JA: Yes, the ferries are old style, like something you might have seen in the 17^th century or so.  The fish are, for the most part, normal fish—with a few notable exceptions.  The really strange creatures are in the Thickety.

IH: Cool. Why did you call the Thickety, the Thickety?

JA: It’s like a thicket, but bigger…and with monsters.

IH: Mom told me a thicket is a clump of trees. I didn't know that, but now it makes sense. Is the Sordyr her uncle or grandpa or something to want her so bad?

JA: Sordyr wants Kara for a very specific reason, which I promise I will reveal in book 2!  Actually, it’s probably the most important secret in the book.

IH: I can't wait. What are the most dangerous creatures in The Thickety?

JA: I think you should answer that one for yourself after you read the second book! I got to make up a lot of creatures in that one.  So much fun…

IH: Can Taff (or any boy) but really Taff, work the grimoire?

JA: You ask good questions!  To the best of Kara’s knowledge, only girls can use grimoires.  Both Taff and Lucas have looked at a grimoire and seen nothing but blank pages.

IH: How long have people lived on the island? What year is it?

JA: The Children of the Fold have lived on De’Noran for centuries.  The calendar in Kara’s world is not the same as the calendar in our world, so I can’t really say what year it is in a way that would make sense.  Just for myself, I created a thirty-page historical outline, however, and in that I reference events as ‘A.K.’ (after Kara’s birth) and ‘B.K.’ (before Kara’s birth).  So, according to that reference, the year is 12 A.K.!

IH: Cool. Have you started book 2?

JA: Actually, book 2 is completely done.  I’ve seen the cover and all the illustrations, which are incredible!  Andrea Offermann is such an amazing artist.  I’m actually working on the third book right now, and I’ll be done with the first draft of that by the end of September.  (And then I’ll sleep.  A lot.)

IH: I can't believe you already finished it. I have to read it. March is forever. I am writing a book too. I'm 68 pages into it. Any advice or questions for me?

JA: That’s wonderful!  My advice would be to work on it consistently each day.  Even if it’s just for a short period—10 or 20 minutes—it’s important to touch base with your story.  This way, your mind will always be thinking about it, and sometimes you’ll come up with some cool ideas when you’re not even trying!  Good luck and keep writing!

IH: Thanks, you too. Bye!

J. A. White lives in New Jersey with his wife, three sons, and a hamster named Ophelia that doesn’t like him very much. When he’s not making up stories, he teaches a bunch of kids how to make up stories (along with math and science and other important stuff). He wishes dragons were real because it would be a much cooler way to get to work.

Middle Grade Monday with MG Expert Israel and Janitors 3

I've invited my ten year old, Israel, to review Tyler Whitesides latest release, Janitors: Curse of the Broomstaff. My son couldn't wait to read it, even if it meant he had to use my kindle. To direct him a bit I asked him to answer the questions in blue.

From Goodreads: A secret society of Janitors with wizard-like powers continue their battle, and now, the stakes are even higher. The Bureau of Educational Maintenance is after Alan Zumbro and this time they mean business - deadly business. Spencer, Daisy, and their little team of rebels must find the source of all magical Glop and destroy it before it can destroy the world as we know it. No small task with the BEM and their monster toxites at their heels. It's a wild and dangerous ride as they follow the trail of clues all the way to the hiding place of the mysterious aurans: guardians of a secret landfill. What they discover there will change the way

Spencer sees himself, not to mention the fate of the rebels.

Why is Janitors Three: Curse of the Broomstaff so cool?
I really like the idea at the beginning that this book is about garbage. Serious, it's garbage. Well, not that type of garbage like the book isn't good, but the garbage that you throw in the trash can. Also, there's this thing, where this guy, if you have the guts he can look in somebody elses trash can and he can learn about them. For example, say you find wrapping paper you would know there was a birthday party or someone was having a birthday or giving a gift. Say you find a bunch of credit cards, then you would know that they were rich or something. And then there's the part about how he put another food fight and that by a custom, they meant following every single glopified crosswalk on the way to the special place. If you didn't cross all of them and just get there the bridge would collapse, unless you're authorized with the secrets, you can't get in.

Tyler Whitesides is an amazing writer, seriously. Glopified is so cool. He took magic and changed it to glopified. (he must have had a baby to come up with that) I loved all three Janitors books, it was like a bouncy house, I was sucked into everything. An evil school, glopified duct tape, glopified razor blades, plungers, push brooms, and so much more.

I also liked the idea of the vortex bag being about to suck up everything and the idea of being able to conquer the trash minions by using trash talk.

Which book in the series is your favorite?
Number three was the best, but they were all awesome. I think my favorite part of book one was the part where they were running around trying to stop the bad guys from becoming warlocks and in book two, I liked the part where they were battling their way down to where Spencer's dad was. (His last name was Zumbro, by the way). My favorite of number three was the part was well, the entire trash site. And seriously, being able to travel between toilets and a trap that sinks you into cement. It is unbelievable.

If you could be one of the characters who would you be?
If I was one of the characters in the book I would be Spencer (he's a Dark Auran). I like the fact that the Aurans are a good guy and a bad guy, but they're being lead by V. Then there are Dark Aurans and the Aurans panned them because they stole the special janitor book from a wizard...

What was the funniest part?
The part where they were trying to lift up Walter the Warlock and they were going to use this plunger and the glopified plungers you can lift up and elephant and it will feel like a feather. Well they tried to do that with Walter but they used a REAL plunger, like that's used on a toilet.

Is there any love involved?
Yes, Roe, she disguised her name as Jenna, has had a crush on Spencer since book two. But don't worry, there's no kissing, just the heroic stuff and close to kissing.

Who would like to read the Janitors Books?
Boys of 7 to any age and girls the same. Parents will kind of get grossed out about the fact that they're using cleaning tools.

Tyler Whitesides and Brian Jaques are my favorite writers. I'll tell you about Brian Jaques's books another time.

Thank you, Israel, for being on the blog, and Tyler Whitesides for writing such a great MG series!