The Magic Words

October 17, 2016
Klein, executive editor at the Arthur A. Levine Books imprint of Scholastic Books, serves as an insightful and thorough guide to writing fiction for children and young adults. She teaches readers to identify a book’s “core”—its primary reason for being—and examines character, plot development, voice, revision, and specific genres, such as speculative fiction. After covering the writing basics, Klein addresses the nitty-gritty details specific to the younger market, such as choosing an age for the protagonist that will appeal to one’s audience, and insights into what YA editors are looking for (hint: no prologues). Klein also illustrates each section of her book with examples from successful children’s literature and includes frequent writing exercises. The book excels in clarity and usability: for example, it takes the reader step by step through the specifics of character development, which Klein separates into different components that include a protagonist’s compulsions, ethical values, degree of self-awareness, and tastes. She clearly knows the market and how to cut to the heart of what’s important, and provides valuable and methodical guidance for any writer on how to shape a manuscript into a salable book.

July 1, 2016
An industry leader offers a manual for aspiring writers of fiction for children and teens.As executive editor at the Arthur A. Levine Books imprint of Scholastic, Klein has edited such well-regarded titles as Millicent Min, Girl Genius, by Lisa Yee (2003), Marcelo in the Real World, by Francisco X. Stork (2009), and If I Ever Get out of Here, by Eric Gansworth (2013). With this substantial volume, she distills years of experience into an intensely practical, appealingly conversational manual. Klein discusses what makes good writing, parses the differences between the middle-grade and young-adult markets, and identifies the many different points an author must consider in making choices that affect characterization, plotting, worldbuilding, voice, pacing, and more. She assumes that her readers are themselves readers, speaking to them with collegial authority and confidence in their familiarity with touchstones of the literature. Presenting real-world examples, she then analyzes what makes them work, showing readers how Suzanne Collins establishes Katniss as a character readers can empathize with in The Hunger Games (2008), for instance, and how David Levithan and Rachel Cohn balance narration and dramatization in Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist (2006). Discursive analysis is complemented by exercises that frequently challenge readers to analyze how they introduce characters or to rewrite a dramatized scene as a narrated one. Klein's prose can sometimes overwhelm, as in her description of creating a bookmap, a seemingly daunting task that may send readers to her website to see an example that could bear out their first impressions. Her use of technical terminology can also get in the way, as in a paragraph on plotting in which the seven uses of the word "obstacle" become itself an obstacle. Still, there is wisdom aplenty in this book, and the discussion of writing outside one's own culture is worth the price of admission all by itself. Readers serious about writing for young people could do far worse than start here.

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Starred review from September 15, 2016

To this work, Klein (Second Sight) brings 15 years of book editing experience and a boatload of strategies, exercises, and practical tips to help novelists publish for middle grade and YA audiences. Klein draws heavily on familiar series such as J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter books, Stephenie Meyer's Twilight saga, and Suzanne Collins's Hunger Games trilogy, also relating her experiences editing Francisco X. Stork's Marcelo in the Real World and other titles. Though the author's advice is consistently strong throughout, it's mightiest in regards to the idea of character--for example, everyone who reads this wonderful book will know their characters must do things. The volume also distinguishes itself from other similar titles with its wealth of exercises, each provocative, proven, and sure to right the ship. For instance, the "book map" technique ties into a number of other methods that would improve any manuscript. There's also much-needed guidance on writing "outside your groundwork," developing a voice, and penning historical and speculative fiction. VERDICT The new go-to guide for aspiring middle grade and YA authors.--Paul Stenis, Pepperdine Univ. Lib., Malibu, CA

Copyright 2016 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from June 1, 2016
For anyone wishing to write for young readers, Klein's remarkable new book will be a sine qua non, an indispensable, authoritative guide to the act, art, and craft of creation. An editor for 15 years, Klein clearly knows her apples about the writingand publishingprocess and demonstrates an extraordinary gift for analyzing it, breaking it into its constituent parts, and reducing those parts to other parts until an essential kernel of truth is uncovered. Keep digging down until that inner truth is revealed, she advises. Klein then shows how that truth can be applied practically and strategically, guiding the reader through, for example, eight principles of plotting, six of writing outside our experience, 10 strategies to build relatability or compellingness into characters, etc. The book should come with a warning, though: it's not for the lazy because reading its generous contents (more than 350 detail-packed pages) requires careful attention and concentration; moreover, the inclusion throughout of exercises invites the reader to become the writer, interacting with the text. Have characters make choices and DO THINGS, Klein counsels; clearly the same can be said of her readers. Finally, though her focus is on chapter, middle-grade, and young adult books, her sage advice can be applied to writers for any age, who willjustifiablytreasure it.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)