21.10.2013 Views

MARGARET PETERSON HADDIX

Welcome to the debut issue of Middle Shelf: Cool Reads for Kids. I am thrilled to be a part of this amazing new endeavor. Good books have the power to entertain, to spark imaginations, and to transform lives, which is precisely why Middle Shelf came into being. We want to connect middle grade readers with the very best books, whether they are on the best-seller lists, published by small and indie presses, or self-published. What will you find in this issue? First, Margaret Peterson Haddix, author of many popular books for kids and teens, gives us a glimpse into the latest book in her The Missing series. Gilbert Ford and Nicole de las Heras discuss how they worked together to create the cover for Escape From Mr. Lemoncello’s Library by Chris Grabenstein, who is interviewed in this issue as well.

Welcome to the debut issue of Middle Shelf: Cool Reads for Kids. I am thrilled to be a part of this amazing new endeavor. Good books have the power to entertain, to spark imaginations, and to transform lives, which is precisely why Middle Shelf came into being. We want to connect middle grade readers with the very best books, whether they are on the best-seller lists, published by small
and indie presses, or self-published. What will you find in this issue? First, Margaret Peterson Haddix, author of many popular books for kids and teens, gives us a glimpse into the latest book in her The Missing series. Gilbert Ford and Nicole de las Heras discuss how they worked together to create the cover for Escape From Mr. Lemoncello’s Library by Chris Grabenstein, who is interviewed in this issue as well.

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3 multi-cultural<br />

Shida ran back to her own cooking<br />

hut. Mama was stirring their ugali to<br />

a thick consistency. Shida handed her the<br />

two tomatoes and, after hesitating for a<br />

moment, offered her the onion as well.<br />

“Good, Shida. That was fast.” Mama<br />

began peeling the onion with their dull<br />

kitchen knife.<br />

Shida handed Mama their other pot and<br />

threw the peeling scraps over her shoulder<br />

into the yard before propping herself up in<br />

the doorway. “Mama, I think this move to<br />

Njia Panda could be a good thing for us.”<br />

Mama grunted and raised her eyebrows.<br />

“I could go to school and learn from the<br />

nurse. She could teach me how to become an<br />

even better healer and then when I’m older —”<br />

“Shida, stop!” Mama put down the knife.<br />

Her eyes were suddenly focused. “You’re a<br />

girl now, a child. Yes, you have healing skills.<br />

So did I when I was a girl. But how many<br />

medicine women do you know in our village?”<br />

Shida stared at the flames. “But, Mama —”<br />

“No, Shida. You don’t know any. Only<br />

men. And now try to imagine one of these<br />

medicine women you dream about coming<br />

from what people call a dishonorable family,<br />

a family without a father. Do you see? That’s<br />

you, Shida. Is that the sort of luck people are<br />

looking for when they go to a healer?”<br />

“No,” Shida said. She shifted back and<br />

forth between her feet and pulled at a hole<br />

in the waist of her dress.<br />

“You have to understand this, Shida.<br />

Ages 10-14<br />

A Girl Called Problem by Katie Quirk<br />

William B. Eerdman’s Publishing | www.eerdmans.com<br />

She who hates, hates herself. —South African proverb<br />

COOL READS FOR COOL KIDS<br />

Now, you’re a girl. But tomorrow, you’ll be<br />

a woman. People have room in their lives for<br />

girls with crazy mothers and dead fathers.<br />

They feel sorry for these girls. How many<br />

fathers will choose to have their sons marry<br />

a young woman without a father? A young<br />

woman whose family has an unlucky history?<br />

Your best hope is to get married now<br />

while people still think of you as a girl.”<br />

From A Girl Called Problem by Katie Quirk, William<br />

B. Eerdman’s Publishing, 2013. www.eerdmans.<br />

com. Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.<br />

19

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