Mason Dixon: Basketball Disasters
A Junior Library Guild Selection
Mason Dixon survived the school choir. He survived adopting his now-beloved dog. But now he faces his biggest challenge yet: joining the local basketball team. Not by choice, of course. Not only do his parents encourage it, but his dad even volunteers to be his coach. Now, with his best pal Brody and a team of misfits even worse at basketball than him (if that's possible), Mason must try to rally to beat his arch-rival, the school bully Dunk. Just another day-in-the-life of a disaster-prone fourth grader.
"Mason encounters believable situations enhanced by a fast-paced third-person narration that effectively captures his grade-school perspective. Non-athletic kids will recognize his concerns and fully sympathize with his plight." - Kirkus Reviews
Mason Dixon: Fourth Grade Disasters
Illustrated by Guy Francis. Ages 7 to 11. Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers, 978-0375868740.
A Junior Library Guild Selection
This second entry in the series finds Mason starting the fourth grade, which he's dreading: everyone in fourth grade is expected to join the school choir. And sing. In front of everyone. Mason can't think of many things he enjoys less than singing. But performing in front of other people might come close; Mason devises a foolproof plan that will keep him out of the spotlight on concert night. Of course, in the world of Mason Dixon, there is no such thing as a foolproof plan. There is only disaster.
Mason Dixon: Pet Disasters
Illustrated by Guy Francis. Ages 7 to 11. Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers. 978-0-375-86873-3
A Junior Library Guild Selection
Soon-to-be fourth-grader Mason Dixon does not want a pet, but his parents think it will be good for him. Goldfish dies soon after his arrival (from overfeeding). Mason is relieved. Hamster escapes. Mason is relieved. Cat has to go back because best friend Brody is too allergic to ever be at their house while Cat is there. Mason is relieved. But when Dog comes, it takes a little dose of jealousy for Mason to realize he does want a pet, all of his very own.
"The book makes Mason keenly sympathetic as the kid resignedly towed along in the wake of others, not because he’s afraid but because he doesn’t want to make a fuss or hurt anybody’s feelings; readers will particularly and ruefully relate to the way his life keeps careening out of his control, no matter how hard he tries to rein it in. There’s plenty of age-appropriate wit to add a little comic distance to the situation, keeping things from getting too angsty. Even kids with wider comfort zones will relate to Mason’s trials, and they’ll look forward to his future outings." - Bulletin from the Center for Children's Books
"Mills’s account of this quirky kid and his trials and tribulations is both funny and touching." -School Library Journal
Fractions = Trouble!
(Sequel to 7 x 9 = Trouble! )
Illustrated by G. Brian Karas. Ages 7 to 10. Farrar Straus Giroux. 978-0-374-36716-9
A Junior Library Guild Selection
“Third-grader Wilson Williams knows he'll never learn fractions: “Multiplication was hard enough,” he tells his pet hamster, Pip. Worse, his parents have arranged for a math tutor. Just the idea of a tutor is embarrassing, but sympathetic Mrs. Tucker uses his love for hamsters to help him understand the math, and soon he's quite clear about the difference between the Nice Numerator and the Dumb Denominator. At the same time, Pip becomes the basis for a successful science-fair project. Not only does Wilson have some academic success, he makes his little brother happy. Though only in kindergarten, Kipper has a science-fair project too. In the process of Kipper's investigations, one of his favorite stuffed animals disappears. Big brother Wilson comes to the rescue. Most satisfying of all, he discovers that others—even his very best friend—are tutored, too. The short chapters have believable dialogue and plenty of reader appeal. Familiar school concerns, nicely resolved, make this another excellent selection for early chapter-book readers.” –Kirkus
“Perfect for new chapter-book readers. Students having difficulty with math will relate to this lighthearted story.” –School Library Jounral
One Square Inch
Ages 9 to 12. Farrar Straus Giroux 2010. 978-0-374-33652-1
A Junior Library Guild Selection
“For sixth-grader Cooper and his seven-year-old sister, Carly, the new school year brings new friends, stimulating class projects – and increasing worry as their mother goes from disappearing into her room for hours and hours to rushing about buying art supplies, taking on special projects without following through, and undergoing wild swings. Cooper and Carly find some refuge in constructing a tiny bedroom kingdom, and Cooper knows he should talk to an adult. But the right time for that never seems to come. . . . Mills effectively and realistically conveys both Cooper's rising anxiety and his mother's increasingly erratic behavior. . . Expertly crafted.” –Booklist
“Affecting and emotionally true.” –Kirkus Reviews
How I Came to Write This Book
When my husband was growing up in the 1950s, he participated in the marketing frenzy created by Quaker Oats when they began offering in every box of cereal a deed to one square inch of the Yukon, a tie-in the popular radio program, “Sergeant Preston of the Yukon.” When he first showed his deeds to me, I thought nothing could be more magical than having a claim to such a tiny piece of land, one's own square inch, with all its possibilities. I knew I wanted to write a book about this someday.
I knew it would be about a boy and his sister who escape from something difficult in their lives by creating an imaginary world in their one square inch, but I didn't yet know the source of their need to escape. Finally, some twenty years later, my own life was touched in a painful way by mental illness. So then I knew that Cooper and Carly would be trying to create a refuge from their mother's bipolar disorder, and that they would discover that the only safe place anyone can ever find is the one we create for ourselves within.
How Oliver Olson Changed the World
Illustrated by Heather Maione. Ages 7 to 10. Farrar Straus Giroux, 2009. 978-0-374-33487-1
An ALA (American Library Association) Notable Book
New York City Public Library 100 Best Books for Reading and Sharing
Bulletin from the Center for Children's Books Blue Ribbon list
Cybil Award finalist for early chapter books
“Oliver’s overprotective parents insist on doing everything, including homework, for him, whether it’s making a diorama of the solar system of coming up with a big idea for changing the world. But when Oliver is drawn into opinionated classmate Crystal’s orbit – she’s outraged at ex-planet Pluto’s banishment – and they decide to work together on the diorama, Oliver slowly begins to assert himself. Mills’s previous beginning chapter books have been stellar, and this one is no exception.” – Horn Book
“An engaging and thought-provoking chapter book.” – Booklist
“A fast-paced entertaining read.” - Kirkus Reviews
“Won’t someone think of the middle graders? Fortunately, Claudia Mills does, and with continued perception, humor, and sympathy.” – Bulletin from the Center for Children’s Books (starred)
“How Oliver Olson Changed the World . . . is better than gold. Better than diamonds and jewels. It’s an early chapter book that’s thoughtful, original, funny, and wry.” – Fuse # 8
How I Came to Write This Book
I was at a school here in Colorado a couple of years ago and saw a hallway display of kids’ suggestions on what they would do to change the world: everything from designing a jet-powered skateboard to working toward world peace. Instantly I had the idea of writing a book about a kid who would desperately need to change at least his own corner of the world to escape from the influence of his over-protective parents. But I had no idea that the planet Pluto would end up in the book in a starring role!
The Totally Made Up Civil-War Diary of Amanda MacLeish
Ages 8 to 12. Farrar Straus Giroux, 2008. 978-0-374-37696-3
Colorado Book Award
Bank Street College of Education Best Children’s Books of the Year
Nominated for the Mark Twain Award (Missouri) and the South Carolina Book Award
“Budding writer Amanda is totally into her fifth-grade class assignment, writing a diary from the point of view of a person living through the Civil War. Assigned to be ten-year-old Polly from Frederick, Maryland, whose brothers are fighting on opposite sides of the war, Amanda writes about Polly's heartbreak when her brothers enlist and about her deep feelings of betrayal when her favorite brother decides to fight for the South. The diary entries are filled with genuine emotion, possibly because Amanda's family is in the midst of its own civil war. Her mother has asked Amanda's father to move out, and Amanda, like Polly, is desperate for life to go back to the way it was, wounds healed and a truce declared. Like Polly, she doesn't know whom to root for, her loyalties torn between those she loves. . . Young readers will appreciate the cathartic nature of the diary and be drawn along by the real-life battles Amanda endures with her family and with her best-friend, who seems to have deserted her for another girl. Veteran author Mills wins again, with an eminently likable protagonist, well-integrated subplots, and an emotionally involving story, perfectly aimed at her middle-grade audience.” - Horn Book
How I Came to Write This Book
I've been increasingly drawn to write books inspired by the remarkably creative assignments my sons' teachers gave to them when they were in elementary school, such as Mini-Society ( Trading Places ), a biography tea ( Being Teddy Roosevelt ), and here, a diary-writing project. I knew I wanted to write about a child who would pour out her feelings about her own life into the diary she was writing for her school social studies assignment, and it seemed natural then to pair a Civil War diary with a story of a parental separation. The cat Peanut in the book was inspired by our own cat Snickers.
Being Teddy Roosevelt
Illustrated by R. W. Alley. Ages 7 to 10. Farrar Straus Giroux, 2007. 0-374-30657-5.
Bank Street College of Education Best Children’s Books of the Year
Nominated for six state readers’ choice awards (Rhode Island, New Mexico, Iowa, Oregon, Oklahoma, New Jersey)
"Riley goes to school with Harriet Tubman, Helen Keller, Martin Luther King, Jr., Queen Elizabeth and many other world-famous figures -- all fellow fourth-graders researching their chosen topics for Mrs. Harrow's biography tea. Riley is Teddy Roosevelt, and not only is he learning about Teddy Roosevelt, he's being influenced by his can-do spirit. Riley may still lose things, like all of his notecards, but now he figures out how to get them back. He still wants the saxophone his mother can't afford to get for him, but now he is determined to earn the money (after begging his mother failed). Mills writes with such a light, humorous touch that many scenes beg to be read aloud. Much information is subtly woven into the narrative, and the gathering of world leaders at the tea is a sight to behold. The black-and-white illustrations perfectly complement the humor of the story." -- Kirkus Reviews
"Bully for Riley and bully for Mills." -- Horn Book
How I Came to Write This Book:
When my boys were in fifth grade at Mesa Elementary, in Boulder, they both participated in the fifth-grade "biography tea," in which kids had to read a biography and attend a fancy tea party dressed up as that person. At Mesa, kids could choose the subject of their biographies, but I thought it would be more interesting in a book to have kids encounter great figures whose stories they might not otherwise have known. And so I have inattentive, dreamy Riley assigned to read about go-getting Teddy Roosevelt, and materialistic, video-gaming-playing Grant assigned the very opposite figure of Mahatma Gandhi. Perfect Sophie gets assigned Helen Keller -- as a child, I read Helen Keller's biography and was so inspired that I wrote Helen Keller a letter, only to find out that Helen Keller was already long dead! And as a child I also loved reading about Queen Elizabeth I, the subject of feisty Erika's report.