Kidsmomo

The books for our current theme are all about new kids — some of whom don’t exactly get the warmest welcome. Sure, you could luck out like Emily Ebers (in the books by Lisa Yee) and make friends with someone really cool like Millicent Min. Okay, Millicent isn’t exactly “cool,” but she’s really nice.

On the other hand, some of the locals aren’t so nice to the new kids in our books for this theme. And I caught up with some of them to get the inside scoop for Kidsmomo:

“Well, once there was this girl who was just… just… WEIRD. Her clothes didn’t match. I mean, I guess some people would think she’s original and cool, but I thought it was weird. She dressed like it was Halloween every day. It must be a family thing, because her little brother dressed like it was Halloween all the time, too. Maybe they’re just really into Halloween.”

— Rosemary

“Word of advice: When you meet the new girl, don’t pull her pigtails and call her ‘Carrots,’ no matter how much you want her to pay attention to you because she’s really cute. Because she’ll hold a grudge for a really, really long time. It might be years before she agrees to be your friend.”

— Gilbert Blythe

“I hate when people get in my face. Especially losers. So when a new kid — a big-time loser — gets to camp, I show him who’s boss. I usually grab his scrawny neck and drag him into the bathroom. Then I give a good dunking in the toilet.”

— Clarisse La Rue

When asked about the incident with a certain son of Poseidon, Miss La Rue rudely stated the interview was over, tore off her microphone, and hit me in the face with it.

Okay, I didn’t actually interview these characters, obviously. Because they’re fictional. Which is just as well, because I’m pretty sure Clarisse would beat me up. 🙁

— Nancy

After re-imagining an encounter with Clarisse, Nancy decided that she could get a decent punch in. She’s pretty feisty.

More about Nancy »

First romance, lifelong romance, even anti-romance — we’ve got it all in our latest podcast, all about (you guessed it!) books involving romance. PLUS, how Nancy informed boys she liked them as a kid, and why Karen is single (according to her, at least).

So whether or not you caught the love bug yourself this Valentine’s Day, you can always cuddle up with our podcast:

  (15:09) 
Download the MP3 (7.3 MB)
• Stargirl hearts Leo — aka our mystery book revealed
• Our Romance book picks (Allie Finkle #3 and Flipped)
• A review from YOU (The Tale of Despereaux)
• We reveal our literary crushes! Ooh la la!

And in case you missed it, we’ve also got a very BIG announcement: Up until now, we’ve focused on one theme per week. But we’ve heard from the masses (that’s you!) that one week is just not enough to really get into a theme. So from now on, all our themes will be two weeks long. Starting… NOW!

And don’t forget: our next theme is food! (Nom nom nom…) So check out these delicious books involving food and watch this Mystery Book Theater that will definitely get your stomach rumbling!

— Nancy and Karen