K.L. Pickett's Blog: Why Write Middle-Grade Books?

As a fourth grade teacher, one of my tasks is to teach my students the different narrative points-of-view authors use when writing stories. The first person point-of-view is popular among children's book authors and is easy to ascertain. Just look to see if a character in the story is telling the story and look for words such as I, me, mine, and my.

Third Person point-of-view is also widely used in children's stories. With this point-of-view, a character is not telling the story. Instead, the narrator is the author. The reader will find words such as he, she, they, and them.

One of the trickier points-of-view to teach to my students is the Second Person point-of-view. In this case, the author is speaking directly to the reader, and thus, the reader will be addressed as 'you' in the story. This point-of-view is rarely used.

So I was delighted to find as I began reading Alistair Grim's Odditorium, that the first chapter in this enjoyable book is written in the second person point-of-view (and therefore, I can use it as a teaching tool in my classroom). Here are a few example sentences from the book by Gregory Funaro:

You needn't bother trying to find the Odditorium on any map.

On the other hand, if you were too timid to ask for directions, you could just walk around until you came upon a black, roundish building that resembled a fat spider with its legs tucked up against it sides.

You'll have to take my word on that for now.

So if you ever need a good example of Second Person narrative point-of-view, or if you want to read a great children's novel, pick up a copy of ALISTAIR GRIM'S ODDITORIUM.

Wow. It's 2015. Time for New Year's Resolutions. Here are mine:
Write more.
Read more.
Make people happy more.
Smile more.
Laugh more.
Complain less.
Worry less.
What are your resolutions?

I love to enter writing contests. Why? For a number of reasons.
1) Sometimes I win!
2) I find it easier to write something when I’m given parameters.
3) I’m a competitive person.
4) It’s fun.
Recently I wrote a short story for the Ligonier Valley Writers Flash Fiction contest. The Ligoniers Valley Writers are in Pennsylvania but their contest is open to all writers. The topic this year is Cemeteries, Asylums, Mausoleums, Haunted Houses, and any other spooky, creepy, or weird place you can imagine. If you’re a writer, check it out! Entries must be received by August 15, 2014. You can find their rules here: http://lvwonline.org/Shapshifters.html

As a teacher, I have summers off from work which gives me time to do one of the things I like best: Read! I recently finished JINX, a middle-grade fantasy, by Sage Blackwood and I loved it. It captivated me from beginning to end. Simon was my favorite character because he was hard to figure out. Was he bad or good? Read the book and find out. It's a great read.

The first day a book is available to the public is always an exciting day. Will people welcome it? Will they read it? Will they tell their friends about it? My third book, THE UNWANTED GIFT,(a middle-grade paranormal ebook novel) came out today from MuseItUpPublishing. I feel like I'm sending my child out into the world.