{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"Mischief, Monsters, and Middle Graders: Celebrating Cryptid Stories with Adriana Cuevas","description":"In this episode of the Reading With Your Kids Podcast, Jed welcomes back award-winning author and teacher Adriana Cuevas to celebrate her spooky new middle grade novel, Mischief and Monsters. Adriana explains what cryptids are\u2014creatures born from mythology, urban legends, and local lore\u2014and shares how each state, including her home state of Texas, seems to have its own mysterious monsters. Listeners meet some of the unforgettable creatures in the book, from the Bear King of Marble Falls and La Lechuza to the Houston Batman, Wampus Cat, Madre de Aguas, and of course, a chupacabra. Adriana talks about why cryptid stories endure, connecting them to our human need to explain the unexplainable and our love of storytelling. She also digs into why spooky middle grade books are so magnetic for kids\u2014especially readers with ADHD or shorter attention spans\u2014highlighting how tension, suspense, and cliffhanger chapter endings keep kids turning pages. Drawing on her experience as a middle school teacher of English language learners, Adriana shares how graphic novels, short stories, choice, and rereading help reluctant readers fall in love with books and see themselves as readers. Families who co-read Mischief and Monsters will find rich opportunities to talk about fitting in, standing out, and finding your voice, and they might even be inspired to invent their own cryptids and stories together. In the final segment, Jed chats with debut author Shannon Mulholland about Finding Sea Legs, a modern pirate story set off the coast of San Francisco that explores identity, truth, and what\u2019s really \u201creal\u201d in a world full of stories, legends, and \u201cfake news.\u201d ","author_name":"Reading With Your Kids Podcast","author_url":"http:\/\/readingwithyourkids.libsyn.com\/site","html":"<iframe title=\"Libsyn Player\" style=\"border: none\" src=\"\/\/html5-player.libsyn.com\/embed\/episode\/id\/42944483\/height\/90\/theme\/custom\/thumbnail\/yes\/direction\/forward\/render-playlist\/no\/custom-color\/88AA3C\/\" height=\"90\" width=\"600\" scrolling=\"no\"  allowfullscreen webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen oallowfullscreen msallowfullscreen><\/iframe>","thumbnail_url":"https:\/\/assets.libsyn.com\/secure\/content\/206395848"}