Interview with Stan Yan: The Many Misfortunes of Eugenia Wang

 

Art by Stan Yan

 

Stan Yan’s middle grade, graphic novel, The Many Misfortunes of Eugenia Wang, with its flame red and embossed black cover, leaps out and catches the eye and was published by Atheneum Books for Young Readers an imprint of Simon & Schuster in 2025. The text and plot carry the reader through the travails of Eugenia, not least of which is the dreaded rope climb in physical education. Eugenia encounters parental pressure regarding grades and academic studies, an annoying younger brother and a dear friend who is accident prone. Humor stalks the pages. This book will engage reluctant and advanced readers with its action, hilarity and resolution.

Mr. Yan wrote, digitally illustrated and created a new font, Eugenia Wang for his novel. Greg Stadnyk designed the book. This novel was purchased by me and will be given to the grandson.

One Question Interview with Stan Yan

ETC: Welcome Stan. What advice would you give those in grades K-12 who would like to become writers, or illustrators or cartoonists?

SY: My advice would be to lean into your passions. The only guarantee in our pursuit is you will spend a lot of time doing it. There is no guarantee you will make money at it. Sometimes the only payment we get is in the enjoyment or satisfaction of the process. If you'd be willing to do something even if you're not getting paid, it's probably a passion. And regularly finding time for our passions is important.

ETC: Thank you, Stan for the realistic answer.

Links:

Visit author, illustrator and font designer: Stan Yan

Visit Greg Pattridge host of: Marvelous Middle Grade Monday

Visit your local book store: Boulder Bookstore

 

Book Review Tara Lazar's FLAT CAT and FLAT CAT: THE CLASS PET

 

Flat Cat illustrated by Pete Oswald

 

 

With Flat Cat and Flat Cat:The Class Pet Tara Lazar has written a pair of quirky, funny picture books that one will want to read over and over again. Ms. Lazar’s imagination delights as Flat Cat flips and floats from one adventure to the next. New York Times best seller, Pete Oswald rendered Flat Cat’s amusing antics using painted textures and computer software. Ms. Lazar uses alliteration, rhyme and a varied vocabulary to tell Flat Cat’s stories.  

Both books were published by Flamingo Books an imprint of Penguin Random House in 2023 and 2025, respectively. These books were purchased, read and given to nieces who are far too young to read this blog.

In addition to writing humorous books, Ms. Lazar created, hosts and coordinates Storystorm, an online, picture book idea generating fest, which takes place in January. Storystorm doubles as a picture book masterclass with a variety of published authors as guest contributors.

 

Visit author: Tara Lazar

Visit illustrator: Pete Oswald 

Tara's Interview with Flat Cat:The Class Pet book designer: Opal Roengchai 

Visit book designer: Opal Roengchai 

Learn about Pete Oswald's character design for Madagascar 2

A post about collaboration: Leaving Room for the Illustrator 

Previous review of: Tara Lazar's Absurd Words  

Visit your local book store: Second Star to the Right

Interview with Mike Steele: Not Lucille and Giveaway

Not Lucille cover art by Kelsey Grass

 

 

Mike Steele’s debut middle grade novel, Not Lucille, is set in Trenton, New Jersey during the Great Depression and tells the friendship story of two fifth grade girls, Lucy and Florence. This story encompasses the financial and physical hardships of the 1930s and the attitudes of the time including those toward left handed people and deaf people.  Lucy and Florence meet when Lucy climbs the tall fence of the Academy for the Deaf, sneaks past some ball players and climbs through the window of a garden level classroom. The girls endure ongoing challenges that are not limited to meeting and communicating. Mr. Steele evokes the heat and humidity of late summer and later the bitter cold of winter in drafty houses without insulation. This empathetic novel depicts friendship and is recommended.

Kelsey Grass illustrated the engaging cover of Not Lucille which was published by Creative James Media in 2025. The novel is 236 pages long with additional pages devoted to history.

Giveaway!!! Leave a comment below by 11pm, EDT, September 18, 2025 to be entered to win a gently used ARC of Not Lucille. (U.S. addresses only.)

 

Two Question Interview with Mike Steele

ETC: Welcome Mike. Congratulations on the publication of your debut novel, Not Lucille. That is so exciting.

What advice would you give K-12 students on writing plays?

MS: See lots of plays. Pay attention to how the stories are structured. Note
how audiences respond to specific moments, specific dialogue, and
specific character types. You’ll find there are trends. You’ll discover
what works and doesn’t work onstage. Then start writing. You’ll never
know if you can do it until you try. When you’re stuck, ask a friend for
advice (preferably one who enjoys theater). Push forward. Keep writing.

ETC: What advice would you give K-12 students on getting their plays
produced?

MS: The first production is the hardest to get because you don’t have
evidence your work is good. After all, no one has ever seen one of your
plays. Write something you can produce yourself at your school or local
arts center. Invite everyone you know with an interest in theater. You
may have to repeat the process until the right person sees one of your
shows at the right time and recommends it to their community theater
troupe or some other organization that will want to mount a play you’ve
written. Writing talent is important, but luck and grit are just as
important.

ETC: Thank you, Mike.

    Visit author: Mike Steele

    Visit cover art illustrator: Kelsey Grass 

    Learn about: Kelsey Grass Cover Art Process for Not Lucille 

    Visit Greg Pattridge host of: Marvelous Middle Grade Monday

    Short videos for common phrases, an online: American Sign Language Dictionary 

    National Association of the Deaf American: Learning American Sign Language 

    Learn about Leonardo da Vinci Museum of North America: Leonardo da Vinci   

    Visit your local book store: Second Star to the Right Bookstore

    Learn about insulation for houses: Energy Star Insulation and Energy Star Insulate  

Book Review: Polly Holyoke'sThe Neptune Challenge

 

Cover art by Christian Fuenfhausen and Shane Rebenscheid

 

With the second book in the Neptune trilogy, The Neptune Challenge, Polly Holyoke has written a good versus evil novel that is a perfect read for hot summer days as most of the story takes place in cool ocean waters. The story begins a week after The Neptune Promise ends and is an engaging underwater adventure. This upper middle grade novel features genetically altered children and teens who must rescue their abducted friends from an evil scientist and find important data which will help the oceans. They are accompanied by a delightful pod of dolphins and face danger from humans, sharks and other genetically altered beings. This page turning book was first published by Disney ● Hyperion an imprint of Disney Book Group in 2015 and then in paperback by Little Brown and Company, an imprint of Hachette Book Group in 2016. The cover was illustrated by Christian Fuenfhausen and Shane Rebenscheid. Themes of caring, leadership, group responsibility and problem solving echo throughout the story along with an environmental concern. Ms. Holyoke’s detailed descriptions of the sea creatures on the ocean floor and lining the canyons describe a beautiful, fascinating world. The ending is most satisfying.

The Neptune Challenge was short-listed for the Green Earth Book Awards, 2016.

This year’s 12 year olds would have been two years old in 2015 and this compelling adventure will be brand new to them. The paperback version is 340 pages long .There are some deaths in the novel.

 Previous posts featuring books by Polly Holyoke:

 Interview with Polly Holyoke: The Neptune Project

Skyriders

Visit author: Polly Holyoke 

Visit Greg Pattridge host of: Marvelous Middle Grade Monday

Learn more about: Channel Islands National Park, California 

                                Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary 

                                Habitats, Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary 

                                Underwater Sound, Olympic Coast National Marine Sanctuary 

Visit your local book store: Off the Beaten Path 

Poetry

 

Colorado Blue Sky photo by ET Charles

Delighted to have my poems fly on The Dirigible Balloon. Thank you Jonathan Humble and All at The Dirigible Balloon.

 

 Elk Walk, The Dirigible Balloon, March 2025.

 

 May , The Dirigible Balloon, March 2025.

 

 Lemon Blossoms , The Dirigible Balloon, March 2025

 

 

Yellow Swallowtail Butterfly, The Dirigible Balloon, June 2025.

Hello , The Dirigible Balloon, June 2025.

Bee and Iris , The Dirigible Balloon, June 2025.

 More poems and a photograph of Colorado snow by ET Charles.