The Readers and Writers Paradise

John Steinbeck wrote many classic novels, and Of Mice and Men is widely considered to be among his best. The story of two country workers takes readers into another world and explores some powerful themes.

I definitely recommend this book, but the fact that it’s rather short doesn’t mean that young people should read it, as I’ll discuss later.

Summary

George Milton and Lennie Small are out in search of work, trying to find something to do out in California. They’ve just had a job, but had t0 run after Lennie touched a girl. He didn’t mean anything bad by it, it’s just that he’s not too smart.

No, Lennie isn’t smart at all, but he’s a big fella and a great worker. George is a smart guy, and he helps Lennie and looks after him. They’re always talking about how they’ll save enough money and one day they’ll have enough money and a nice ranch of their own instead of just working for other people.

They start a new job, and start saving up. There are some distractions, with the son of the ranch boss, Curley, just waiting to have a fight with Lennie because of how big and strong Lennie is. Eventually Curley picks a fight, swinging his fist toward Lennie, and all Lennie does is grab the guys’ hand and squeeze on to it, like he has a fixation of doing. That’s enough to seriously hurt Curley, and he’s not going to tell anyone because of how ashamed he is.

George also makes acquaintance with Slim, the leader of the workers. Everybody respects him a lot, and he often gives good advice over horseshoe games. A lot of people go to town on the weekend and blow all of their money, but George and Lennie are determined to save theirs. It isn’t long before Candy, an old ranch worker with only one hand, joins them in trying to get a ranch of their own.

For awhile it seems like they may actually save up the money and get their own ranch, but Curley’s wife is also making trouble. She loves to tease her husband by messing around, and she goes and speaks with the ranch workers, often making trouble for them.

She goes in on Lennie and starts stirring up a conservation. Lennie starts thinking her hair seems really nice and starts petting it. She tries to fight him, but he covers her mouth to make sure no one hears. When he releases his grip, she’s dead.

When George comes back, he realizes what’s happened and knows they’re going to try to kill Lennie. George finds him and tells him the story Lennie likes so much about how they got each other and they’re going to get themselves a ranch of their own. In that relaxed state, George kills him.

Review

This is an excellent book. Steinbeck’s writing ability is quite well known, and in this story he takes us into the ranchers of the West. It’s interesting how the main characters are always dreaming of and planning to get a better life, and Lennie still believes he is about to get it at the end even though he’s really about to get killed. The symbolism is that throughout the novel the characters believe they are really going to get their own place, when no such thing is going to happen.

As for kids reading it, though, it’s hard to support that. Most kids today have absolutely no conception of the kind of world in this novel, and confusing young people with a book like this where multiple people are killed in a rather foreign setting does not really seem advisable. 

I’d say that before introducing a kid to this book you should have them read some other books about ranch work and the West, so that they understand it, and wait with this one until they’re more mature and in their mid-to-late teens. If someone reads a book like this that has a kind of depressing theme and is not able to understand it, it can only be a negative.

Of Mice and Men is a great Steinbeck classic. Not for middle grade readers, but most others will greatly enjoy it.

Do books have an objective standard, or are they purely subjective, the only judgment of them up to the reader to decide?

Let’s remind ourselves exactly what we mean by objective vs. subjective. If books have an objective standard, then that means they are intrinsically good or bad, regardless of what anyone says about them. By a specific measure, we can say this book is not good for such and such reason, and we can also say this book is good for such and such a reason.

If books have a purely subjective standard, then there is no real judgment for books at all. People may like them or not, and they may give reasons to back it up, but there is no way that we can actually say a book is good or not, other than our own opinion.

There has to be some standard for books, because there have to be reasons why a person likes or doesn’t like a book. In that case the standards would be very subjective, but standards would undoubtedly exist.

The standards also have to be different for different audiences and different goals, of course. The standard for a realistic middle grade fiction book is going to be very different from an adult women’s romance, and what would be a good book for one of the genres would be a complete disaster for the others.

Given that there clearly are such standards, it is both a difference in philosophy with regard to exactly what they are as well as personal preferences that will determine whether a person likes a book. A difference in standards is a large part of the reason why serious readers will disagree about the merits of a book. A mathematical text may not be something I would ever read, but I would never say it is not good for a different audience just because of my preference. On the other hand, I will say that a book is not sound based on whether or not it meets my standards.

Everyone has somewhat different standards for books, and if you’ve been a reader of this website you’ve probably been able to tell some of mine. I believe middle grade books should be written for fun, period. I believe that middle grade authors don’t need to try to teach lessons, because every book has to have a lesson by definition, and that lesson should be funness. I believe the whole crux of middle grade books is kids actually doing something; not just responding or reacting, but accomplishing something on their own, and something worthwhile.

I actually made a whole forty minute video a few months back about what I think makes good writing. You can watch it if you want, it’s got plenty of great tips for people writing for kids.

Do you agree with me that there is an objective standard for books, specifically tailored to the genre and audience, and that personal preferences are added on top of that? What are your standards for middle grade fiction? Let me know in the comments below.

The concept of Diary of a 6th Grade Ninja by Marcus Emerson is great-a secret ninja clan living right in the midst of an erstwhile normal seeming school. A secret ninja club like this is just the kind of thing that gets me super excited. Unfortunately, there are a number of missteps in the book that preclude a recommendation here.

Summary

The main character, Chase, is going to a new school, and being the normal kid that he is, is a little nervous about it. That’s why he’s excited to see that run into his cousin, Zoe, at the school. She helps show him around and get him acquainted with everything.

When they are walking on the gym track on the first day of school, they see a weird set of eyes peering out of them from the forest. They are scared and run off, but when they tell Brayden, a kid with a little out of the ordinary persuasions, about it, he suggests that they might be a group of ninjas he has heard rumors about.

Only one way to find out, right? Brayden sticks his hand into the forest, and is pulled in and captured. To Chase and Zoe’s great shock, there actually is a large ninja gang, made up of kids. They release Brayden on the condition that they don’t speak about it to anyone.

It isn’t long before the two get an invitation to become ninjas themselves. Chase is interested; after all, who wouldn’t want to become a ninja? Zoe joins because she views it as a way of helping out her cousin. Brayden warns them that the ninjas are the bad guys, and it isn’t long before they see what he’s talking about.

To become initiated into the group, the leader, a seemingly quiet kid named Wyatt, insists that they steal the purse of one of Zoe’s friends. They go along with it, and Zoe creates a diversion to help Chase snatch the purse.

Afterward, Zoe is having second thoughts about what has happened, and leaves the group despite threats that the ninjas will not allow her to disrespect them. Chase stays on, going against his cousin.

Chase starts turning against the idea of his membership, especially after $3,000 is reported missing from the school. But all his concerns evaporate when presented with a ninja suit. He gladly dons it, and immediately afterwards is instructed to plant Zoe’s backpack in the front office; with the $3,000 in it.

Chase is definitely not about to do that. He enlists the help of Brayden, but it looks bad because he already has the backpack on him. Wyatt and his team show up at the scene, and Chase hurls the backpack at him, spilling the money all across the floor. Wyatt beats up Chase, but it isn’t long before he admits to the crime and is kicked out of the ninjas. Chase is installed as the new ninja.

Review

The premise of this book is awesome, so it’s sad that there are a number of things wrong with the way it shows itself in this book.

First of all, the whole reason the secret ninja club thing is exciting is if it’s a force for good. Or at least ambiguous. Or maybe two different ninja clans, one being more good and one being more bad. Either way, having the only alternative to a stupid ninja club that simply steals stuff be to go to the principal is really not inspiring. I’m hoping that in future books, which have already come out, the club will do awesome things with Chase at the helm, but that definitely wasn’t the case with this one.

The fight scene of the book also makes very little sense. It portrays Chase as having a victory over Wyatt by allowing himself to get beaten up, which to me is extremely stupid. If someone is fighting you, you’ve got to defend yourself. It shows Wyatt getting furious when Chase won’t fight back, which can be true in the sense that it is possible to let another person abuse you so much in a way that you ultimately defeat them by letting their conscience overwhelm them. But most serious bullies, on seeing a defenseless victim who is not going to fight back, will simply go in for the kill. In some cases of mild attacks, simply not letting it get to you means that people will lose interest, but has you on the floor and is wailing on you, it is long past that point. In fact, fighting back aggressively against them may either make them stop, or not pick a fight with you again. Either way, just letting yourself get beat up is not something I would recommend, but the bigger problem in the naive way the author describes this as totally defusing the situation, which is unlikely.

Another thing that makes no sense is that Zoe’s friend just forgives her for stealing her purse and doesn’t even care. Part of the reason according to the book is that there isn’t much of anything valuable in the purse. Nevertheless, if a “friend” steals from me they’re not my friend anymore. Period.

The constant desire of Zoe for her cousin to fit in is also very strange in the way that it’s overemphasized. The fact is that there is no black and white about this, and it’s really not anything too difficult or that should give kids that much undue attention. Sure, a nice cousin will maybe introduce you to some people and stuff, but making friends should be a natural thing, not something to agonize over. I went to several different schools and never worried about this, because I knew I would be alright and it’s just something that happens. Zoe stealing from her friend because of this motivation really doesn’t make sense. The book would’ve been better if Zoe wasn’t thinking like this and it wasn’t such a big plot point throughout the book.

Diary of a 6th Grade Ninja ended by telling us that Chase will be the new leader of the ninjas and may lead them against a “pirate invasion”, which I’m excited to read about. I loved the part of the book where Wyatt attempts to frame Zoe by handing Chase the backpack, putting him in an impossible spot where some intense action is happening. This series has a lot of good potential, and they were some good plusses about this book, even if I can’t recommend it on the whole. I’ll be reading the future books with the hope that some of these problems have been eliminated and that they are truly fun and awesome books to read.

Note: It’s also very noticeable that these books are released solely as ebooks through the Kindle store. Kids ebooks are not typically thought to be a huge market, but these books have enjoyed great success. It’s something for all middle grade writers to take note of, and I’ll be interested to learn more about how Emerson and his co-authors made these books such successes.

Hi everyone! Thanks for you all being great and helping me through with the launch of Kid Writers Magazine, the only writing magazine in the world managed by kids, for kids. As you may know, it’s a place where kids can learn about writing and get published.

I’m proud to announce that the second edition of the magazine is out today! This edition is jam-packed with even more awesome content that first one. We’ve had tons of submissions from kid writers throughout the country, and I’ve worked with many of them to get them published in this edition.

Get the magazine here!

We’ve got our usual seven stories, the cover story being The Superfly Scavengers, a tale written by me where a kid finds a secret message on an old record player and tries to track a treasure down only to have to steal it by from a dishonest relative. Sounds pretty crazy, huh? 

Some other great ones are The Treehouse Tussle by Nancy Burton, where a kid has new neighbors who try to get the property line redrawn to remove his treehouse, and the second part of The Treasure Chest Trackers by Lisa Fitzgerald, continuing from the first edition where two kids have found a hundred year-old treasure and now have to travel across the country to get it.

Perhaps my favorite story in this edition is Jack and Mary’s Spy Club: Mission 2: The Crooked Classroom Cheaters. In this mission Jack and Mary’s class is taking state tests, but when some students seem to be cheating and inflating their scores at the expense of other kids, it’s up to Jack and Mary to stop them. We’ve also got a mini-book coming out for the JMSC where they track down a writer who apparently doesn’t exist, so stayed tuned for that.

We’re also lucky enough to have an interview with Linda Sue Park, author of some books in The 39 Clues, the Newbery Medal winning A Single Shard, and A Long Walk to Water. Ms. Park lives just minutes from my house and she kindly agreed to an interview at the local Rochester Book Festival. You can hear more of those interviews here.

To make this magazine even better, I’m releasing a mini-book in conjunction with it as a free gift to the first thirty people who order. It’s a hilarious tale called The Wrecking Ball Employee where a kid attempts to get a job but is more successful in things like getting eaten by a girl who thinks he’s a hot dog and being accused of poisoning by a government agent. After the first thirty buyers it’ll be coming out as a separate book you can purchase, but you can get it as a bonus now (you might want to hurry because I’ll have some more publicity for this later in the week but I wanted to make sure my loyal blog readers got the first go).

I’ve got tons more exciting projects in the works as we speak, so be ready. Head on over to kidwriters.org and get the magazine and let me know what you think! You can also check out a preview of the magazine here. We’re always accepting new submissions from kids so adults make sure they all know about it and kids get busy! 

Hi everyone, thanks for helping support me with my project, Kid Writers Magazine! I’ve been working on something else that’s also going to be awesome; my first book!

Of course I’ve been writing books for a long time, but this is the first time I’m actually going to publish one. It’s called The Club Calamity: Calvin’s Crazy Cookie Caper. The story revolves around Riverwood Elementary where school clubs are taken away because of lack of money. Calvin and his friends start a fundraiser to get the clubs back, but not without dangers along the way.

It’s really a fun kind of a book and I think it’s inspiring how Calvin pulls the whole thing off. It’s about a 16,000 word book, so it’s for kids 7-12 years old. I’m planning to self-publish it soon, so I would really appreciate anyone who would be kind enough to take a look at the book and give me some advice on it. I would also really appreciate any reviews you guys can offer once the book comes out.

So if you want an ARC of the book just let me know and I hope you like it as much as I do!

Hi everyone! Wonder why this blog has been kind of quiet lately? It’s because I’ve been devoting all my time to something amazing, something far beyond anything I’ve ever done before. It’s taken three months and hundreds of hours of work, and I’m proud to tell you today about the launch of Kid Writers Magazine!

I decided to start Kid Writers Magazine because I’ve been a kid writer for a very long time, as you guys know. There are truthfully not many opportunities for kid writers to be published, nor are there a great deal of ways for kid writers to get help and advice and improve their craft. Kid Writers Magazine is the only writing magazine managed by kids, for kids, and it is a great way for kid writers to get published.

Any kid from the ages of 6-12 can send in their stories to our magazine for publication. We will personally review all of them, and those that are good but that we can’t publish in the magazine will go on our website, kidwriters.org. I would have loved to have something like this when I was younger.

The first edition of the magazine is now launched-today! They are rolling off my printer as we speak, and we’ll be getting them out to you as soon as possible. In this first edition are almost 20,000 words of content–seven awesome stories, an interview with author Gordon Korman, writing tips, book reviews, and inspiration. It is chock full of fun and inspiration for kid writers. You can learn a lot more about our magazine and get sneak previews at our website.

Most of the contributors to the magazine are personal friends of mine or kids who have gotten in contact with me for the magazine. One kid in the magazine who you all know is Erik of thiskidreviewsbooks.com, who is writing a book review column. We have all worked very hard to put this magazine out and think it will greatly help all kid writers. I especially recommend it to parents of kid writers, teachers, and librarians. To be honest, it is a great magazine even for kids who aren’t necessarily writers, because any kid can appreciate the crazy stories inside!

So are you wondering how to get your hands on this super magazine? Good question 🙂 You can purchase a print copy of the first issue of Kid Writers Magazine for $12.99, and an e-copy for $8.99. However, because I love you guys so much, I’m offering a special 20% discount only for readers of this blog for the next two weeks if you get a one year subscription! The magazine will be coming out six times a year, and a subscription costs $69.99, so you already save 11% per issue. An e-subscription costs $47.99. To get a 20% discount on a subscription, simply enter the code below writersparadise. Or you can choose to not get a subscription and simply order the first edition.

Either way, we hope you love our magazine! It’s a great tool for kid writers, and my hope is that it will become widely used and loved by kids, parents, teachers, librarians, and more everywhere!

[stripe name=”Kid Writers Magazine” description=”First Edition” amount=”1299″ shipping=”true” billing=”true” payment_button_label=”Get the first edition of Kid Writers Magazine!”][/stripe]

[stripe name=”Kid Writers Magazine” description=”First Edition PDF” amount=”929″ shipping=”false” billing=”true” payment_button_label=”Get the e-version!”][/stripe]

[stripe name=”Kid Writers Magazine” description=”One Year Subscription!” amount=”6999″ shipping=”true” billing=”true” stripe_subscription id=”KIDYEARLYPRINT” payment_button_label=”Get a yearly subscription to Kid Writers Magazine!”][stripe_coupon][/stripe]

[stripe name-“Kid Writers Magazine” description=”One Year E-Subscription!” amount=”4799″ shipping=”false” billing=”true” stripe_subscription id=”KIDYEARLYPDF” payment_button_label=”Get an e-subscription!”][stripe_coupon][/stripe]