Cheryl Klein

The best children's and young adult novels take readers on wonderful outward adventures and stirring inward journeys. In The Magic Words, editor Cheryl B. Klein guides writers on an enjoyable and practical-minded voyage of their own, from developing a saleable premise for a novel to finding a dream agent. She delves deep into the major elements of fiction--intention, character, plot, and voice--while addressing important topics like diversity, world-building, and the differences between middle-grade and YA novels. In addition, the book's exercises, questions, and straightforward rules of thumb help writers apply these insights to their own creative works. With its generous tone and useful tools for story analysis and revision, The Magic Words is an essential handbook for writers of children's and young adult fiction.

Writing Great Books for Children and Young Adults

The Magic Words

a novel

Lilac mines

"Henry is desperate for a little peace and quiet from his extremely chatty roommate Marvin, and after Henry finally loses his cool, these hamsters must find ways to compromise and live together"--

Hamsters Make Terrible Roommates

A discussion of disability, what it really is and some assistive technologies [that are] available.

Sara Hendren Rethinks Devices for the Disabled, and I Contemplate My Cyborg Boobs

The Body Eclectic

“Klein’s characters are compelling, one and all.”—San Diego Union-Tribune "A quirky, quickly paced story of a young woman ending a relationship with a young woman then developing a relationship with another young woman: herself. Klein’s first book, The Commuters, was a fine debut. Second books aren’t necessarily as good. In this case, it’s better."--Noel Alumit, Frontiers Felix Ketay, a twenty-five-year-old Los Angeles dyke, has her foundations shaken when she’s ditched by her pomosexual girlfriend and then gay-bashed on the streets of West Hollywood. Felix’s old-school lesbian aunt, Anna Lisa Hill, ran away from home in 1965 at age nineteen and ended up in Lilac Mines, a small town in California’s Sierra Nevada foothills with a small but tight-knit butch/femme community. When Felix joins her aunt in Lilac Mines hoping to discover a place of respite, Anna Lisa proves stand-offish, so Felix devotes herself to investigating the town’s one hundred-year-old mystery: the disappearance of sixteen-year-old Lilac Ambrose in the mine shafts that run beneath the mountain. Felix learns that finding an authentic history is never easy, but Lilac Mines—with its abandoned mines, unknowable secrets, and the occasional quirky-cute thrift store employee—might not be such a bad place to try. Cheryl Klein is a shameless Angeleno, quiet pescatarian, and shameful tabloid reader. She lives in Los Angeles where she is West Coast director of Poets & Writers, Inc.

A Novel

Lilac Mines

Two hamster roommates with wildly different personalities crammed in one cage--what could go wrong in this hilarious story about introverts versus extroverts? It's been two hundred and five days since Henry has had peace. That's because it's been two hundred and five days since Marvin has come to live with him. Marvin, who loves to talk in the tunnels, talk while they're eating, talk while they're running. Marvin, who drives Henry up the cage walls. But when Henry finally loses his cool and gets exactly what he wanted, both hamsters have to figure out a way to live together and work through their communication mishaps.

This master class in writing children’s and young adult novels will teach you everything you need to know to write and publish a great book. The best children’s and young adult novels take readers on wonderful outward adventures and stirring inward journeys. In The Magic Words, editor Cheryl B. Klein guides writers on an enjoyable and practical-minded voyage of their own, from developing a saleable premise for a novel to finding a dream agent. She delves deep into the major elements of fiction—intention, character, plot, and voice—while addressing important topics like diversity, world-building, and the differences between middle-grade and YA novels. In addition, the book’s exercises, questions, and straightforward rules of thumb help writers apply these insights to their own creative works. With its generous tone and useful tools for story analysis and revision, The Magic Words is an essential handbook for writers of children’s and young adult fiction.

Cheryl Klein

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