Carie Juettner

I Kill the Mockingbird and Spill a Secret

Psst! I have a secret. Lean close so I can whisper it in your ear. I still don’t quite understand the lines between Middle Grade and Young Adult, which is bad because I’m writing one of them. I think. But more about that in a minute.

The Pleasure of Browsing

A few days ago, I went to Barnes & Noble to look for some books about writing that had been recommended to me in a weekend workshop from the Writer’s League of Texas. I do not like shopping for writing books at Barnes & Noble. I am not a fan of their “organization” (a term I use loosely here) of that particular section of their store. But a nice man who works there, who is also a writer (we are EVERYWHERE), very kindly helped me find no books, by which I mean the books were not there to be found. Ce la vie. So, unable to leave a book store without a book, I started browsing.

I currently have 55 books on my “To Read” list on Goodreads, and it continues to grow at an alarming rate. But most of those books are books that I think I “should” read, or books that have been recommended to me by other people, or books that I already own and really (really!) want to get around to reading some day. These days, with so many volumes waiting in the wings, I rarely just “browse and buy” anymore, and I had temporarily forgotten what a wonderful feeling it is to pick up a book, look it over, read a few pages, and put it down… or not. It’s such a nice moment when you don’t put it down. Or when you do, but then you find yourself wandering back over to pick it up again. For me, finding an unexpected book that I can’t put down in the bookstore is one of those time-stopping moments when everything around me disappears and the importance of my to-do list slowly dwindles, and I realize, with a smile, that I’ll be reading all afternoon.

Book Review: I Kill the Mockingbird

I walked out of Barnes & Noble with Paul Acampora’s I Kill the Mockingbird because it met all the requirements of a time-stopper: I loved the cover. I loved the blurb on the inside of the jacket. I loved the chapter titles, such as “The Queen of England is in Our Bathroom” and “Jesus, Ginger Ale, Norse Gods, and Weiner Dogs.” And I loved the first page. As added proof of this book’s worthiness as a “browse and buy,” I continued reading it as I walked up to the check out counter and stood in line. And as further, subsequent, ADDITIONAL proof, I walked to my car with a theoretical lightbulb over my head because something in the first few pages of Acampora’s novel gave me an idea for how to fix something in my own. An important reminder for any writer: You don’t always need books about writing to show you how to write. All great books teach us to be better writers.

I Kill the Mockingbird is about three life-long friends who love books (especially the classics) more than most kids their age. (Some might say this makes them unbelievable, but I say it makes them interesting.) In an effort to honor the memory of their late, favorite teacher (Fat Bob) by getting as many people as possible to read Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird, they embark on a sneaky summer project that doesn’t quite break any laws, but definitely gets them into a bit of a pickle when it becomes much bigger than they ever imagined. The story moves right along, and all of the characters are lovable, with well-rounded back stories. Acampora’s novel includes strawberry peeps, literary terrorists, and some fun teenage banter. What’s not to like? I gave it 4 solid stars on Goodreads.

Now the Confusing Part

Ok, back to my secret confession.

I’m writing a young adult (YA) novel. I’m pretty sure. Several months ago, however, I started paying closer attention to this other subset, middle grade (MG), and I started to wonder, AM I writing a young adult novel? So I set out to determine the difference.

And it wasn’t so easy, let me tell ya.

The starting point for differentiation is age, but not the age of the character, the age of the reader. I read more than one article which began with the simple definition that MG is for readers 8-12 and YA is for readers 13-18. The first problem here is obvious: What if my readers are 10-15? So the articles then begin to discuss the more subtle dividing lines.

However, the more I read, the more I felt like I was wading into a fog. Because the truth is that very few of the lines between MG and YA are black and white. For every rule I learned, I came across at least two exceptions, until I saw fewer and fewer thin black lines and entered wider swatches of gray.

The following chart contains certain “guidelines,” as we’ll call them (since “rules” seems like too strict a term) that I gleaned from the following four sources:

Shusterman, Michelle. “Five Fast Differences Between YA and MG.” YA Highway. Web. May 13, 2011.
Ruthanne. “YA to MG: Young Adult Vs. Middle Grade.” Ruthanne Reid. Web.
Backes, Laura. “The Difference Between Middle Grade and Young Adult.” WriteForKids. Children’s Book Insider. Web. January 12, 2014
Lamba, Maria. “Middle Grade vs. Young Adult: Making the Grade.” Writer’s Digest.May/June 2014: 25-27. Print.

Almost every article or blog post mentioned exceptions to these rules, books like What Jamie Saw by Carolyn Coman, in which the protagonist is only nine years old, but the seriousness of the content bumps the maturity level up to readers over ten, and the Harry Potter series, which began with a 77,000-word MG fantasy and ended with a 200,000-word (!) YA novel.

Reading about these gray areas and many exceptions might have made me feel better about not finding a clear cut label for my novel draft, except that Lamba’s Writer’s Digest article begins with the admonishment, “A book that doesn’t fit into the parameters of either category is a book you won’t be able to sell.” Gulp. With those words, I found myself once again wanting my novel to conform, conform, CONFORM to one side or the other.

Then I discovered I Kill the Mockingbird.

I’ve already told you how much I enjoyed this book. So what is it? Young adult? Or middle grade? Well…

At Barnes & Noble, I found it in the “Teen” section, so I thought it was YA.
I looked up Paul Acampora’s website and found out it is labeled MG.
The characters’ ages are never explicitly mentioned, but they just finished 8^th grade. If they were here in Texas, that would make them 14, but they are in Connecticut, which (I think) would probably make them 13. (See? Even geography is at play here!)
The kids’ lives are still mainly governed by their parents, but they are able to get in quite a bit of trouble on their own using bus passes and the internet.
The first-person POV protagonist is dealing with first crushes (MG) and cancer survival (cancer is usually YA, but cancer survival, which is happy, can be MG) and is growing internally but is also learning how her actions can impact the whole world. However, she rarely engages in self-reflection.
As far as readership? Hmm… I know it appeals to former teachers in their late thirties… I’m not sure what the readership would be. I would say it is MG (age 8-12) except for all the allusions to classic literature. This book revolves around To Kill a Mockingbird and makes references to Dickens, Twain, Holden Caulfield, Fahrenheit 451, and Norse Mythology, as well as people like Wil Wheaton, Chuck Wendig, and Cory Doctorow. (Not exactly sex, drugs, and rock-and-roll, but still topics probably unfamiliar to most eight-year-olds.) Then again, the book also references The Lorax and Charlotte’s Web and the Grinch.

Based on my observations, here is how I Kill the Mockingbird would place on our chart:

Not so easily defined is it? But it is a great book, and I think (hope?) in the end maybe that’s all that matters. Laura Backes ends her blog post with the words, “As an author, it’s your job to decide who you want to reach with your book… and then create characters and conflicts accordingly. Regardless of genre… if your characters are learning about themselves and the world in the same way as your readers, your audience will find you.”

When I place my own novel draft in the chart above, it still walks that center line in a lot of areas, but it leans to the right, to YA. Later, during revisions, I may have to tame it more to one side or the other, coax some of the gray areas back into semi-straight black lines, but for now my goal is to write a great book. That’s my top priority– the labeling can come later. If I’m able to do what I hope to accomplish, my novel will find its target audience (and maybe appeal to those former teachers in their late thirties as well). Right now, I’m going to trust my instincts and keep writing.

Carie’s Lists: Top Ten Austin Coffee Shops

I’ve been a permanent Austin resident for fifteen years now, and I’ve spent a fair amount of that time in coffee shops. These days I get out of the house at least two or three times a week to write in a place where I can go more than twenty minutes without being distracted by a pet. Once in a while, I bring my biggest distraction– my dog Uno– with me, though he usually gets pretty squirmy after a half hour or so. (How dare I suggest he lie down on concrete? Don’t I know that a delicate creature like himself requires at minimum a sofa cushion in order to be comfortable?) Note: We may have made a few mistakes in how we raised our dog.

But back to the point. Austin has no shortage of great coffee shops and I like variety in my writing environment, so I rotate through as many of them as I can. Below you’ll find my top ten favorite Austin coffee shops, in no particular order. (It was hard enough narrowing the list down to ten. I can’t possibly scale them too.)

You should know that I am not a coffee connoisseur. I don’t have a discerning palate when it comes to my café au lait. All I can tell you is that these places have coffee, and I drink it. But I am discerning about comfort and atmosphere and originality and charm, things that all the coffee shops on this list possess. Along with wifi and a tolerance for customers who linger for long hours.

1. Pacha

Ok, I said I wasn’t going to order this list in any way, but if I’m being honest, there’s a reason why Pacha is in the #1 slot. This cute coffee shop in the neighborhood where I lived for six years holds a special place in my heart. I’ve sat at every table, eaten almost everything on the menu, and have written everything from student essay critiques and thank you notes to poems and novel chapters while sipping a Pacha latte or nibbling a pecan cookie. This place feels like home, and though my commute went from two blocks to twelve miles, I still visit frequently.

Food Situation: Good menu– homemade, organic, and yummy.
Dog Friendly: Yes. Well-behaved dogs are allowed on both front and back porches.
What I Like Best: The painted tables and mismatched chairs and general adorableness.
Drawbacks: Limited parking. And the staff is friendly but sometimes a little forgetful. (I love you guys, but you know it’s true!) 🙂
One Other Thing: About seven years ago, one of my favorite bookmarks fell between the boards of Pacha’s back patio. If anyone ever goes crawling around under there, I’d like it back.

2. Epoch

This twenty-four hour coffee shop has changed over the years. The battered old couches and stuffing-sprouted armchairs that used to dominate the inside have been replaced with tables and chairs, allowing for a lot more seating. There’s also a vintage clothing shop and a record store next door and more fun local shops down the street if you need a break from working.

Food Situation: Good, reasonably priced pizza slices and a few other things.
Dog Friendly: Yes. Dogs are allowed on the outside patio.
What I Like Best: The Olivia pizza and the clever way they hung retractable extension cords from the ceiling for the tables not close enough to the wall outlets.
Drawbacks: It’s such a popular place that it’s sometimes tough to find a table for two.
One Other Thing: If you sit outside, you’ll have a nice view of the Austin State Hospital Cemetery.

3. Monkey Nest

Just up the road from Pacha is Monkey Nest, a coffee shop that really makes good use of its space. There’s not a lot of elbow room in there, but there are plenty of seats even for the busiest times of day. They also have some unique drink options, like the Spicy Monkey Mocha (mocha, cinnamon, & cayenne pepper) and the Chocolate Chimp (coconut mocha latte).

Food Situation: Great menu– Sandwiches, salads, soups, pizza, and baked goods.
Dog Friendly: No. Monkey Nest has no outdoor seating.
What I Like Best: The Greek salad and the cookies with walnut filling.
Drawbacks: It is often freezing inside. Bring a sweater, no matter the weather.
One Other Thing: Monkey Nest has a room called the nest that can be reserved for meetings and private events.

4. Crema Bakery and Cafe

I find myself at Crema quite often these days. Though this South Austin cafe doesn’t have the crunchy, hippie vibe of some of my other favorite haunts, it does have a cozy atmosphere for working and a lot of yummy delights to try. Plus it’s close to home for those days when Mopac is broken and I don’t feel like sitting in traffic.

Food Situation: Great menu– breakfast items, sandwiches, salads, and a daily special that’s often too good to pass up. Not to mention their wonderful baked goods– muffins, cookies, cakeballs, cupcakes, etc.
Dog Friendly: Sort of. Dogs are allowed outside, but there are only two small tables.
What I Like Best: The yummy salads and the snickerdoodle cookies and the soothing turquoise color of the walls.
Drawbacks: Least likely to encounter good people-watching. Most likely to encounter toddlers.
One Other Thing: While the coffee shop itself is usually a pleasant temperature, the bathroom is absolutely freezing. Walking in there is a good way to wake up when you’re slowing down in your productivity.

5. Opa!

Opa makes me happy. Its huge, shaded front patio filled with picnic tables and plants kind of makes you feel like you’re on vacation somewhere just outside of the “real” world. And when it’s too hot to sit outside, there are plenty of tables inside too, where art books are scattered around for your reading pleasure. Opa is a great place to get work done, but it’s also a nice place to just sit and drink a glass of wine and let the day share with you what it has to offer.

Food Situation: Greek food– It’s good, but the selection is small and they need a few more reasonably priced snack-sized items.
Dog Friendly: Yes! Opa’s front patio is perfect for furry friends, and the staff loves dogs.
What I Like Best: The tall table in the corner in the back room. (I’m always productive there.) I also like the beer and wine selection. Although some of the other coffee shops in this list also serve alcohol, this is one of the few where I sometimes transition from work to happy hour. It is a smooth transition.
Drawbacks: Outdoor outlets often don’t work. Also, see food situation.
One Other Thing: Boundary lines are a little blurry at Opa. Here, more than at any other coffee shop in the list, strangers have a tendency to talk to one another. I’ve had several random and interesting conversations at Opa, and about a year ago, when I offered a woman a seat at my table, we discovered that we were from the same home town, went to the same elementary school, and had fathers in the same business. We’ve been friends ever since.

6. Bouldin Creek Cafe

After a long hiatus from Bouldin Creek Cafe (I hadn’t been there since they were still at their previous location) I rediscovered this quirky coffee shop and immediately fell back in love. Their vegetarian menu sets them apart from most other places and they draw an eclectic crowd of Austinites.

Food Situation: Good menu– All food is vegetarian with a lot of gluten-free and vegan options.
Dog Friendly: Yes. Dogs are allowed on the outdoor patio, but that area is full service, so I don’t think you can linger all day over your coffee there.
What I Like Best: The garden breakfast with scrambled eggs, fresh tomatoes, and spinach. (Yum!) And the good people-watching.
Drawbacks: Limited parking.
One Other Thing: Make sure your laptop is charged. Outlets are somewhat limited.

7. Fair Bean Coffee

Fair Bean, located just down the road from Bouldin Creek, is a recent addition to my coffee shop circuit, but it’s already become a frequent choice. Like Monkey Nest, they do a good job packing in the tables to offer ample seating, and it’s one of the few coffee shops where I’ve never (so far) had trouble parking.

Food Situation: Limited menu, but enough to make up a lunch. Good empanadas and various breads.
Dog Friendly: Yes, but there are only a few outdoor tables.
What I Like Best: This may sound weird, but the oatmeal. It’s a BIG bowl and I get it with dried cranberries, walnuts, and brown sugar. It’s good fuel for a long writing session.
Drawbacks: Gets very hot in the summer.
One Other Thing: The last time I was there, I was entertained by a guy wearing headphones who didn’t seem to realize that he was humming/singing out loud.

8. Strange Brew

Strange Brew is a truly original Austin gem. Since its opening in 2010, I’ve watched this twenty-four hour cafe grow from a single strip mall coffee shop to a space six times its original size, complete with a music venue and a room that can be reserved for private functions. For a while there, every time I went to Strange Brew a new wall had come down and a new addition had been added. I’m not sure they’re finished yet. Much more than just a coffee shop, Strange Brew has nightly shows, a Gospel brunch on Sundays, and even hosted this year’s Austin International Poetry Festival. There’s really something for everyone there.

Food Situation: Small menu of breakfast tacos (until noon), sandwiches, and baked goods.
Dog Friendly: Yes. Dogs are allowed on the back patio.
What I Like Best: The practical compartmentalization of the space. This part is for music and this part is for ordering food and this part is for hanging out and this part is for being quiet and getting work done. It’s very organized. Also there are lots of bathrooms, which is nice.
Drawbacks: You have to purchase something every two hours to keep your wifi on. (I’m not opposed to having to purchase food/drinks, but sometimes I like to make all purchases at once rather than standing in line every two hours.)
One Other Thing: Because it’s a music venue, a lot of interesting musicians and artist types hang out there. I also met the grandson of some famous soap opera stars there once, which was random.

9. The Coffee Bean

This is the only non-local coffee shop on my list, and I’d be sinning by omission if I didn’t include it. I like this particular location because it’s really close to home. In fact, it would be in walking distance if the street separating us wasn’t a sixty-five mph highway. I escape to The Coffee Bean when I need to get away from the distractions of home but don’t have time to journey far. They have spacious tables, ample outlets, and I almost always get a lot of work done when I’m there.

Food Situation: Not great. Just baked goods and sandwiches in the cold case. But they share their patio with a pizza place next door, so that’s an option.
Dog Friendly: Yes. Dogs are allowed on the front patio.
What I Like Best: Its proximity to my house and the 90s indie rock radio station they play.
Drawbacks: Not local. Sometimes cold inside.
One Other Thing: This coffee shop does not serve alcohol, but it is about a hundred yards from 400 Rabbits, which has an excellent assortment of tequila cocktails for when you finish your day’s work.

10. Spider House

I seldom go to Spider House anymore, but I will always love it. I’ve been hanging out at this large, funky coffee shop since college. I’ve read there, written there, seen music there, played games there, and I love practically everything about it. I love the paintings on the walls and the crazy junk on the patio and the creepy narrow staircase leading down to a basement I’ve never seen. I love the fact that some people say the cafe is haunted. This place definitely has magic in it.

Food Situation: Good menu– sandwiches, salads, snacks. They also have a full bar.
Dog Friendly: I don’t think so, but was unable to confirm by the time of publication.
What I Like Best: The huge, funky patio and all the fun memories I have of this place.
Drawbacks: Parking can be tricky.
One Other Thing: Some of my bridal portraits (taken by my cousin Kelley) were done at Spider House, and my husband and I sat at one of the tables on the porch around midnight on a May night four years ago and wrote our wedding vows. 🙂

Honorable Mentions:

These coffee shops almost made the list and definitely deserve to be mentioned. For most of them, I simply haven’t been there enough to form a lasting opinion yet.

Austin Java
Once Over
Summermoon
Irie Bean

Didn’t see your favorite Austin coffee shop in this list? Maybe I haven’t been there yet! Share your favorites in the comments, and I’ll give them a try.

In a Kingdom of Poetry

I have trouble writing reviews of poetry books. Poetry is so subjective. What I like and what I don’t like has as much to do with the day of the week, the weather, and what dreams I had the night before as it does the quality of the poet’s work. Sometimes I can appreciate a poem even though I don’t like it, and other times I can love a poem even while listing its flaws in my head. (And do those flaws even matter if it brought me joy?)

Even those poetry collections that I’ve given 4 or 5 stars on Goodreads haven’t impressed me completely. A poetry book does not exist (yet) in which every poem pleases. But there are some whose overall impact was positive, whose poems left me with a feeling of satisfaction or, even more memorable, a feeling of dissatisfaction—lines of verse following me on my walks and popping up, unbidden, in grocery store aisles, or lingering, tauntingly, in my sleep.

The point is, you should take my views of poetry books with a sprinkle of salt, because my opinion is small and personal and, often, changeable.

Though my views are subjective, I have a simple, reliable way of assessing a book of poetry:

I start with a large, disposable bookmark—a post it note or receipt or crossed-off list.
When a poem captures my attention, grips my heart, or makes me laugh out loud, I tear a strip off my bookmark and leave it there.
I keep reading, kept tearing.
At the end, I can tell how much I liked the book by how small my bookmark is, and how many paper breadcrumbs I’ve left behind.

Last week, I read In a Kingdom of Birds by Ken Fontenot. In general, the poems in this collection did not strike a chord with me. I didn’t feel a strong connection with the overall themes and revelations. However, certain lines stood out in several of the poems, so that by the end of the book, my ticket stub from my visit to the Longhorn Caverns was carved up into nine pieces.

Also, there were many moments during my reading of In a Kingdom of Birds when I put down Fontenot’s book in order to jot down my own ideas for poems. I even penciled the first seven or eight drafts of a haiku right into the margins of his pages. Whether I loved the contents of this collection or not, you can’t go wrong with a book of poetry that makes you want to write.

Since it was individual lines in Fontenot’s work that stuck with me, rather than each poem as a whole, I decided to try something with his book that I’d never done before.

I’ve always loved found poetry, which Wikipedia defines as “a type of poetry created by taking words, phrases, and sometimes whole passages from other sources and reframing them as poetry by making changes in spacing and lines, or by adding or deleting text, thus imparting new meaning.” When I was teaching, I used to enjoy giving the students construction paper and scissors and piles of old magazines to see what they would create (besides a giant mess). I was often surprised at some of the poignant poems they could piece together from ads for diet pills and Teen Vogue quizzes.

Another fun activity was to ask every student to underline their favorite line in the poetry folder, a collection of sixty or so poems that we read and studied over the course of the school year. Then we would stand in a circle, draw a random name for the starting point, and read our favorite lines in a clockwise motion, without pause, without comment in between. The result rarely disappointed. Often funny, at times chilling, sometimes with an unexpected refrain (if more than one student chose the same favorite line), the literary beast formed from the voices of so many diverse poets nearly always gave me goosebumps of one form or another.

So, for the first time ever, after I finished In a Kingdom of Birds, I decided to type up all the lines I marked in Fontenot’s poems, in order, to see what would happen. What happened was, in my opinion, pretty awesome.

With apologies to Mr. Fontenot, who may or may not appreciate me chopping up his poems like this and gluing them back together like my own version of Frankenstein’s monster, I give you the result of my experiment:

I cannot accurately express how much I love this.

So what’s the moral here? (For today feels like a day of morals and lessons and notes taken in crisp, fine handwriting.) The moral is to read poetry. You don’t have to like all of it. You don’t even have to try. Just read a little once in a while, and if a line or a poem catches your attention, even if you can’t explain why, underline it. Make a note in the margins. Tuck the torn-off corner of a grocery list between the pages. After a while, when your notes have accumulated and your grocery list is gone, go back and see what you have. Maybe, in finishing the book, you’ve “found” the poem you liked best after all.

If I ever publish a collection of poetry, I give all my readers permission to make monsters out of my work. In fact, I encourage you to do so.