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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5 contemporary<br />
22<br />
“G<br />
abe, honey, come sit down,” says my<br />
mom. The line between her eyebrows<br />
doesn’t go with the smile on her face. “We<br />
need to talk to you about something.” It<br />
looks like the weird thing is coming my way.<br />
I search around in my brain and try to<br />
figure out what I did wrong or how I messed<br />
up. I come up blank. Nothing out of the<br />
ordinary has happened the last few days,<br />
my room is kind of picked up, and I did my<br />
homework last night. I don’t even think I’ve<br />
been too rotten to my sister lately.<br />
“What’s going on?” I flop into the chair<br />
that’s the only other place to sit. Too late,<br />
I remember this is not a chair for flopping.<br />
I wince and rub the spot on my butt that<br />
hit first.<br />
“Well, Champ, Mr. Dooley called today<br />
and told your mom something interesting,”<br />
says my dad.<br />
Everyone knows that nothing good has<br />
ever happened to a kid after a call from the<br />
principal. My stomach clenches up like a fist.<br />
I hold myself perfectly still and wait for more.<br />
“Do you remember those tests that you took<br />
at the beginning of the year?” my mom asks.<br />
“Yeah, the whole seventh grade took them.<br />
It was two days of boring. What about them?<br />
Did I do something wrong?” They seemed<br />
pretty easy, but maybe I used the wrong kind<br />
of pencil or filled in the wrong bubbles.<br />
“No,” says my mom. “Just the opposite.<br />
It seems that you did exceptionally well.”<br />
She stops and looks at my dad. My dad<br />
P R E M I E R E I S S U E : F A L L 2 0 1 3<br />
Ages 10-14<br />
A.K.A. Genius by Marilee Haynes<br />
Pauline Books & Media | www.pauline.org<br />
“What do I think about that? A genius? That can’t be right.”<br />
COOL READS FOR COOL KIDS<br />
jerks his chin toward me, which I guess<br />
means he wants my mom to tell me.<br />
“It seems that the tests showed that you<br />
have a very high IQ.” My mom smoothes<br />
her already-smooth blonde hair. “Actually<br />
your IQ is so high that you’re—”<br />
“A genius! A real genius,” my dad blurts.<br />
“What do you think about that?”<br />
From A.K.A. Genius by Marilee Haynes,<br />
Pauline Publishing, 2013. http://www.pauline.<br />
org/PublishingHouse/tabid/1006/Default.aspx.<br />
Reprinted with permission. All rights reserved.
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