Happy Dance!

I did it! I really did it!

34 Picture Book ideas in 30 days!!

Some of them are more fleshed out than others, but I have 2 that are especially begging to be written NOW, NOW, NOW!!! I keep telling them to shush, I have a thesis to finish.

But there's good news. I finished that first FULL DRAFT of the thesis tonight too!!! Woo Hoo! Double happy dance.

Now, the real work begins with my thesis: revision, revision, revision.

What am I going to do with the picture book ideas?

1) I'm going to write those two that I can't get out of my head.
2) I'm going to sock the other 32 away and let them simmer. You see I plan to do the Picture Book Marathon in February 2011. I need to write 26 drafts during that month. So, my ideas are simmering now. My fingers should be flying in February.
3) I also have 5 more nonfiction picture book ideas that are going to require some research. These weren't even figured into my 34 fiction picture book ideas for this month. I am going to start researching these as well.

Many thanks to Tara Lazar for hosting and providing inspiration all month.

Title Trouble

I've been working feverishly on my thesis for my MFA all summer. I don't have a title for it yet. It hasn't been a problem so far. One of the online critique groups I belong to consists of other Hollins MFA students trying to finish their theses as well. I have just been calling my thesis by my main character's first name, Isla. Actually, I've called it "Isla Untitled". No big deal. It's a work in progress.

However, I'm filling out the paperwork to actually register my thesis. I have to give it a title!

I'm one of those people who typically develops titles last. I have to write my story in order to pull out a good line for the title. I once worked with a fellow teacher who told all of her students that when they started writing their rough draft they had to give their paper a title and write their name. I freaked out when I heard this! I told her, "Don't you know that real writers don't always do this?" For most kids (and writers like me), this would just force me to put a label instead of a title. You know like "My Summer Vacation" is really a label, not a title.

To me, a title is one of those essential tools of pulling the reader in. Just like a cover, it can determine whether someone even picks up your book and opens up to the first page.

There are some really interesting titles out there in the world. They make me want to pick up the book because I think the title is brilliant. Here are just a few I've noticed recently:

The Word Snoop
So Few of Me
After Ever After
The Secret Life of Ms. Finkleman
Draw the Dark

I haven't read any of these books, yet I'm drawn to their titles. I particularly love a title that you don't really "get it" until you've gotten pretty far into the book.

So what am I going to do about this paperwork conundrum? Well, I am going to keep writing and see what kind of title I can come up with. I'm hoping it can be a "working title" that can always be changed.

The Finish Line

I really can see the finish line. You know the big ribbon marked "Summer is Here." You see, many people think summer begins with the Memorial Day weekend. Not me. I think summer begins when I officially get out of school. This year, I will burst through the ribbon on June 17. I can see it waving in the distance. By the time I get there, I hope to still be running instead of walking, out of breath.

This week I finished testing with my kids. That last day I sat out on my sweltering deck and ate a gigantic cupcake with my colleagues. I broke my diet, and loved it. That day I felt like I had a big cheering section saying, "You did it! You are almost there! Keep going!"

Even though the teaching finish line is so close I can see it, I can also see the next race I need to run. For many teachers I know the summer is spent relaxing by the pool, soaking up some good rays and devouring chicklit. Most of my last 10 years haven't been that way. I have spent time on and off since 2001 going to grad school and racking up almost 2 Master's Degrees and having two kids. I have my thesis left to go on the second degree.

It's a novel. I have been piddling with it for a year. But I joined a Hollins crit. group online and I have to turn work in every week. So even though I'll be gardening, swimming, camping, and enjoying the time off with my kids, I'll also be writing my butt off. I want that thesis done by the end of the summer!!!

So, just as one race ends, I will have a quick moment to catch my breath and run the thesis race.

I'm ready.

I love short and silly books!

Books I Wish I Had Written #2: Billy and Milly Short and Silly

Perhaps I should change this series to "Books I Admire and Want to Learn From". I'm featuring books I think are brilliant--books that I want to learn more about what I think makes them great. Last summer Candice Ransom encouraged us to type up the text of favorite picture books and study them. It helps to see the text without the pictures (if you are a writer-only) to see what makes these books "tick".

Billy & Milly Short & Silly

by Eve B. Feldman

illustrated by Tuesday Mourning

Penguin, 2009

This book comes in at a whopping 49 words. In the class I took last summer on picture books, we had to keep our manuscripts under 500 words. You can see why. So many of the phenomenal picture books being published are super short.

This text is told in individual words, grouped in threes or fours that tell the story. "Tee Tree Bee Flee" is on one spread. The illustrations show Billy hitting a golf ball off a tee, smacking the ball into a bee's nest in a tree, then running away when the bees come after him.

The first time I read this book I honestly thought it was an author/illustrator book. I thought--this text is brilliant, but I know it didn't sell on text alone because the pictures tell way more than a typical picture book. But I was wrong. The text and illustrations are by different people. Then I thought--even more brilliant!

Each set of words rhymes, and each set of words tells its own episode in Billy or Milly's world.

WHY I WISH I HAD WRITTEN IT: It's amazingly short, but each word works perfectly. The text allows for a lot of illustrative interpretation.

I definitely want to give this super-short text idea a whirl.

Time Marches On

I realized last summer that if I wanted to write, really write, I was going to just have to make time. No more excuses. See, I have been involved in these wonderful MA and MFA programs of Children's Literature at Hollins Unversity. Every summer, I became a writing maniac. I banged out a lot of writing, but I had a hard time keeping motivated after Hollins. When September hit and school got into full swing, I would taper off.

My life has gotten busier, and since I have two kids, I don't think it will settle down for many, many years. I made a determination. Write. Write. Write. Even if it is only for 15 minutes everyday.

Things I've learned about myself in this process:

1) Deadlines help me. I joined a local critique group. I must turn something into them every month, so I'm accountable.
2) Challenges help me. I did the picture book marathon in February. I have spent much of March rewriting and writing some more. I will be doing a poem-a-day in the month of April.
3) Little bits of time do add up. I write in the evenings after my kids go to bed. I am a morning person, but so is my son. So unless I get up before 4:30am to write, I have to write after he goes to bed at 7:00pm. I always have a journal in my bag so I can write when I have short snippets of time. When my daughter has ballet, I throw Cherrios at my son, and revise my writing. When she has Daisy Scouts, I leave my son with my hubby, and I write in my car while I am waiting for her to come out. It does add up.
4) I really don't need to watch TV that much. The best Christmas present I bought myself is a DVR. I record things I want to watch. I'm not beholden to that stupid TV. I watch it without commercials when I have time on the weekends.
5) Sometimes writing is serendipitous. I feel like ever since I made the commitment, I have found lots of articles about this very idea. Apparently it's a very common thing.
* Kristi Holl at Writer's First Aid talks about using "hidden time" to write.
* Kim Norman talked about "squeezing creativity into an overbooked life" at her talk at the VSRA conference (which I didn't get to go to, but her handout is on their website). She gives a dozen habits to foster creativity.
* Eileen Spinelli talks about this on an e-mail I just received from Highlights Foundation. I couldn't find this online, so I'll quote from the e-mail. Spinelli says, "In terms of 'writing time'—it's not a matter of finding it. It's a matter of making it." She also talks about finding snippets of time in your day.

6) Taking a day off is okay. I have worked 12 out of the last 14 days. I was exhausted, mentally and physically. Yesterday I cleaned my house, took care of two sick kids, and I read a book! I read the last 250 pages of the latest Jodi Picoult novel called House Rules. I was about halfway through yesterday morning and it was already two days overdue.  I never turned my computer on all day. And I don't feel one bit guilty about it.

Now...off to practice what I preach. I will be writing...

Book Spine Poetry Challenge

100 Scope Notes put out a challenge to do a book spine poem.

I took at a look at my Hollins writers shelf where all of my friends and professors from Hollins have their own designated shelf in my office for their fabulous books. There are a lot of them, but I picked a bunch and then rearranged them to try to make a poem. So, here is my book spine poem made from some of the Hollins' friends books.

My photography skills are lacking, so I have the text below too.

Border Crossing

The Boy Who Dared

Worth

Seeing Sky Blue Pink

Send Me Down a Miracle

The Other Side of Blue

Something Beautiful

With thanks to the brilliant authors of the books: Jessica Lee Anderson, Susan Campbell Bartoletti, A. LaFaye, Candice Ransom, Han Nolan, Valerie Patterson, Sharon Dennis Wyeth.

I'm back--from a long hiatus!

I have no idea if anyone even sees my blog anymore, but I'm back--after a VERY long hiatus. In 2008 I stopped blogging, thinking it was just temporary, but it ended up being much longer than I anticipated. I became pregnant with my son. I was quite ill the entire pregnancy and managed to basically go to work, take care of my daughter, and go to bed each and every day. Six weeks after he was born I went back to Hollins University to finish my coursework for my MFA in Children's Literature. I only had two classes left, so I needed to finish. I did. Whew! Then I went back to work--teaching. I feel like I have finally come up for air after about a year and a half. I have finally gotten back to reading, writing, and living like a normal human being. I have been back to reading blogs--yippee! I have missed blogging. However, I don't think I'll be able to blog as much as before. I'm going to keep my expectations reasonable for myself. I do plan to share at least once a week though.

Memoir Monday: Drumroll please...

On Friday I posted about reading at the Francelia Butler Conference at Hollins University. It was the first time I shared my poem publicly. I know, I know, I post poems here all the time. BUT there is a net of safety there. I don't have to see your faces when you read my poetry. I don't hear your comments like "She thinks she's a POET?!" And of course, I share my poetry with all of my fourth graders all of the time. But once again, there is a net of safety there. They think everything I write is wonderful, which is probably why I've continued to write poetry all of this time.

This summer I have been writing poems, not just for me, but I got brave enough to share with other people. I grew up overseas and the collection of poems I'm working on is based on some of my experiences trying to fit in and be comfortable in multiple cultures, yet still be who I am. The poems are set in Salem, Virginia, ChiangMai, Thailand, and Penang, Malaysia--three places I have spent significant time.

A few weeks ago I submitted some of these poems for consideration in the Francelia Butler Conference. My poems were chosen, which meant that I would be one of seven people with creative submissions to read aloud at the conference. Seven critical papers were chosen also.

I was a bundle of nerves because I knew there were poets in the audience, and I wondered if they would know I didn't know what I was doing.

This year's theme was a Dr. Seuss theme, because Philip Nel, author of The Annotated Cat:Under the Hats of Seuss and His Cats and Dr. Suess: American Icon, was the keynote speaker. Fellow students performed a Suessical Musical between readings, and it kept the day lively and fun. There was a silent auction, in which I won three things: a picture from The Tale of Despereaux, a lovely photograph of a clemetis donated by Sharon Dennis Wyeth, and a book of poetry by Billy Collins.

There is always a winner for each category: creative, critical, and art. After listening to the amazing stories crafted by my six other fellow readers, I knew I didn't stand a chance of winning. That's what's so amazing about Hollins--being in the company of so many good writers that you admire. I am always very impressed at how much good writing is produced in such a small group.

But when the winners were announced, they called my name! Yes, I won the Shirley Henn Award for Creative Scholarship. Wow! I was humbled and surprised!

Even if I hadn't won, this reading gave me a chance to share my work publicly. Several people came up to me during the break and shared how much they liked it. Two people introduced themselves: one is from Taiwan, and one lived in Malaysia, and both said they related to my poems. What a huge compliment. That's what I was hoping for. Other people were kind enough to just give me words of encouragement. Thank you! Thank you!

Hollins students are the ones who actually narrow down all of the submissions to a list of finalists. Then other writers actually judge the finalists. When I read the list of judges, I was so excited. The judges were: Bruce Coville, Steve Jenkins, Kerry Madden, Claudia Mills, and Janet Wong. I'm fans of all of their work, and it was an honor just to have them take the time to read something I had written.

The Memoir Monday prompt was to write about something that you did that you didn't think was possible. Believe it or not, this was it. I really never imagined I would share my poetry with anyone but my students. Now, thanks to a lot of encouragement from my friends at Hollins, I have the courage to share it with others.

Francelia Butler Conference

For the last five weeks I've been taking an Advanced Writing Tutorial at Hollins under the brilliant tutelage of Sharon Dennis Wyeth. I'm writing, critiquing, and moving forward with my class which consists of only five students. Our motto for the tutorial is "Write On!" and Sharon and my tutorial-mates have really pushed me to write on.

I'm working on a collection of poetry about growing up between cultures, which I have posted some of those early drafts here and here.

Hollins has a conference every year where students can read both critical and creative works. Only seven students are chosen for each category. I was surprised to learn I'll be reading my poetry tomorrow for the conference. It's the Francelia Butler Conference and this year, Philip Nel, Dr. Seuss expert, will be speaking.

The last time I read for the Francelia Butler Conference was when I was working on my M.A. Thesis on Vinnie Ream in 2003.

This is the very first time I've read this poetry out loud to adults (except for my tutorial). I read my poetry out loud to my students frequently, but this public poetry reading is all new.

Thanks to Nikki, Sharon G., Elissa, Jenette, and Sharon Wyeth for supporting my poetry beginnings!

The Boy Who Dared

The Boy Who Dared: A Novel Based on the True Story of a Hitler Youth

by Susan Campbell Bartoletti

Scholastic Press, 2008

Remember back to reading Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow. Susan Campbell Bartoletti also wrote this book. It was a nonfiction book (or "informational book" according to the Sibert Award committee). Hitler Youth won a Newbery Honor and a Sibert Honor. It's a fascinating book that really delves into the lives of specific young adults who were part of the Hitler Youth--those who were in support of Hitler and were trained (or brainwashed) at an early age to serve and submit to Hitler. However, a few began to see Hitler for who he was. They secretly rebelled. Some of them even paid a high price.

One of those young men was Helmuth Hubener. This book is about his life. Unlike Bartoletti's Hitler Youth which was nonfiction, this book is historical fiction. Bartoletti tells Helmuth's story in flashback. It begins with Helmuth in jail on death row. The jail scenes are set apart in italics, but most of the story is set in the past as Helmuth remembers his life.

Helmuth was once a Hitler Youth. But then he began to listen to the BBC German broadcast. It was forbidden for Germans to listen to it, but he did anyway. He realized how different it was from the government sponsored broadcast and he began to take notes. He and two other friends began to write pamphlets telling the truth. Helmuth's Morman faith and his activities with the Hitler Youth seemed to be in conflict. When Helmuth was finally captured, tortured, and put on trial, and ultimately died, he died knowing he stood for what he believed in and spoke up for those who were dying without a reason.

Just like Bartoletti's nonfiction books, this one is impeccibly researched. There are photographs of Helmuth and a timeline of Third Reich events. She provides an extensive author's note where she delineates what is real/factual and where she has filled in the gaps as a novelist.

Her writing is so memorable, just like in all of her other historical fiction novels. Here is a brief description from the jail cell:

Footsteps. A rustling sound at the heavy blue door. Helmuth
takes a great gulp of air. His heart pounds in his ears. The small latched
window slides open. Please, God, no, not the executioner.

He sees an eye, a nose, half a mouth, half a face. The morning guard.
Helmuth breathes again. Part of a prisoner's punishment is not knowing his execution date.

This is a must read historical fiction novel for 2008 and would be a perfect pairing with the nonfiction Hitler Youth for students studying the Holocaust.

Christmas Ideas

Looking for a wonderful Christmas gift for a child who loves fairy tales or an adult who loves children's books? Look no further...

Ruth Sanderson, exquisite illustrator, has a redesigned website with a large selection of artwork, cards, tiles, and books for sale. Check out her new website here. Her artwork dons the walls of my office and the walls of my daughter's room. I just ordered a print and book from The Snow Princess. I remember seeing the original artwork for The Snow Princess one summer at Hollins. She invited all of us Children's Lit. people from Hollins for an open house to view the artwork before it went off to the publisher. Gorgeous!!

You can even sign up for her newsletter.

Paul Janeczko at Hollins

Saturday night I had the good fortune of listening to Paul Janeczko speak at Hollins. I was looking forward to hearing him speak out of all of the speakers this summer, and he did not disappoint.

Paul Janeczko is a former English teacher. Paul Janeczko wasn't a good student but as a young child was a collector. He thinks that paved the way for his obsession of collecting poems. He has written novels, nonfiction, poetry collections, and edited over 20 poetry anthologies.

He says he travels around to preach the gospel of the possibilities of poetry. He wants kids to know that poetry doesn't have to rhyme, have a certain form, or be long, boring, and stupid.

He is probably most famous for his numerous poetry anthologies. With each anthology he is always wanting to show a new way of looking at things.

He talked about several poetry anthologies:
1) Poke in the I--A collection of concrete poetry illustrated by Chris Raschka. Concrete poems are typically in the form of a shape. They play around with language and white space. Some don't read like a regular poem, and in fact, they would be hard to read like a regular poem. Some do read like regular poems, but they are arranged differently.
2) Stone Bench in an Empty Park--A collection of haiku set in the city. He wanted students who lived in big cities to know that they could write haiku. Some kids thought since they didn't live in the middle of the country (nature) that they couldn't write haiku. He said they needed to see that they could write haiku, they just had to slow down and pay attention to their life and their surroundings. This haiku collection is illustrated in black and white photographs.
3) Wing Nuts: Screwy Haiku (my review of this book here)--He cowrote this with J. Patrick Lewis. This book is actually a collection of senryu, a type of Japanese poetry that has the same form as haiku, but instead of being about nature, it's about human nature.
** On a side note--I personally use the three poetry anthologies above ALL of the time. I highly recommend them to use with young writers.
4) Dirty Laundry Pile: Poems in Different Voices--This book is full of persona or mask poems. These poems are written from the point of view of an object.
5) Hey You!--This is a collection of poems of address. They are talking to something or someone. This one is brand new and I can't wait to get ahold of it!

One of the books he spent a lot of time talking about was a collection of poems he wrote about a circus tent fire in Connecticut in 1944. The book is entitled Worlds Afire. Each poem is told from a different person's perspective. Each of the people were in some way involved or affected by the fire that killed many. He did a lot of research for this book and was able to see his poems performed on stage at a local theater in Maine.

His advice to promising poets:
1) To get your foot in the door, send poems to magazines. It's a good way to get started with some publishing credits and gives you some credibility when you send off a collection of poems.
2) Read a LOT of poetry. Read as many poets as you can get your hands on. Then you can start to see which poets you really like and study them.

Paul Janeczko is getting reading to update his website. He is in the final proofreading now. So stay tuned for more.

Michael Stearns at Hollins

Michael Stearns, editorial director at Harper Collins, came to speak to writers at Hollins on Friday evening. In addition to his editorial director title, he is also the head of foreign acquistions and manages a half dozen other editors.

He gave sort of an Introduction to the Publishing World 101. While much of the information I have read about and heard before, he gave us a visual representation (via a hand drawn chart) that really summarized publishers and what books fall into different categories.

There are four extremes on this chart (imagine a x and y axis). Literary books on one end of the extreme--competent books on the other end. They intersect with institutional books one on end and commercial books on the other end. Most books fall somewhere in the four quadrants. Likewise, most publishing companies publish within a certain range.

Here's the jist:
* Big publishers--Random House, Harper Collins, Simon and Schuster
These publishers have to concentrate a lot on commerical books that are big sellers. They have many divisions that focus on certain types of books. They have certain expectations on money to be brought in and have fewer slots for mid-list books by unknown authors. The bigger the publishing house, the more pressure on the editors to bring in books that have commercial appeal. He says he is always looking for books he can fall in love with. Series fiction is big with the bigger houses too.
* Mid-Size Houses--Harcourt, Holt, FSG, Bloomsbury, Candlewick, Abrams
These publishers don't have the big budgets, so they can't afford to do as many commercial books that the big houses do. They can take more opportunities to purchase literary fiction.
* Smaller Houses--Walker, Tricycle, Marshall Cavendish
These publishers are very effective at focusing on publishing for the school and library markets.

What is selling right now?
* Chick Lit
* Teen novels with an edge (The Book Thief, The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing)
* Series Fiction
* Middle Grade Fiction--Stearns is always look for this

Books he recommends writers read:
Skulduggery Pleasant by Derek Landy
The Golden Compass by Phillip Pullman
A Northern Light by Jennifer Donnelly

He also had us take a look at the current NY Times Bestsellers List. He said it was important to take a look at what types of books are selling well and to read some of those books on the list.

Some advice for writers:
1) Go to conferences (like SCBWI). He recommends meeting with agents there and have them critique your manuscript. In fact, he recommends meeting with agents over editors. He says agents know what the individual editors are looking for. He also recommends trying to find an agent that is trying to build up a list of authors.
2) Go to workshops and learn about your craft.
3) Try to understand that rejection is not personal. An editor has to really LOVE your book to spend time with it and take up space on their list. They must feel like they can't live without your book--and sometimes even that isn't enough at an acquisitions meeting.
4) Read broadly. Read a variety of books.
5) Read books on craft. Books he recommends include: Narrative Design by Madison Smartt Bell, Revising Fiction by David Madden, and Making Shapely Fiction by Jerome Stern.
6) Learn to love language--language is what it's all about in kids' books.
7) Most importantly--Do NOT write to trends. Yes, it's important to see what's selling and to read the authors that are doing well, BUT it's also best to write what you LOVE! Publishers work so far in advance that it doesn't matter what is hot now. If you write to the trend, it may not be what you are passionate about, and it will be not a trend by the time it gets published.

Check out Amy's take on the same lecture at The Virginia Scribe.

Sharon Dennis Wyeth at Hollins

Sharon Dennis Wyeth came to speak at Hollins on Monday, July 2. I had never heard of her before this summer, but she is the Hollins Children's Literature program's Writer-In-Residence this year. I realized when I saw her, and her books, that I was familiar with some of her work.

Sharon Dennis Wyeth began writing poetry because she wanted to make sense of things. She needed to heal from things that had happened in her life. In fact, she encouraged us as writers to tell about an event in our lives, "attaching action to specificity", and to create a narrative that will be healing for ourselves and perhaps for our readers.

She became a children's writer because it sounded important. In fact, she hadn't intended to be a children's writer at all, but she told her college friends that she was going to be a children's writer, and they seemed impressed. It was only later that this became a reality.

Wyeth writes about difficult circumstances and has characters that go through a lot. She doesn't want to sugarcoat their lives. Instead, she writes characters that rise up above their circumstances and survive.

Her advice to writers:
1) Write what you MUST write
2) If you have a memory that you think about everyday, then it is something important to you--write about it.

Some of her books include:
Something Beautiful (illustrated by the amazing Chris Soentpiet)--A picture book for all ages. Sharon Dennis Wyeth talks about her something beautiful here. I can't wait to read this book to my fifth graders at the beginning of the year and do some writing with them!

Orphea Proud--A young adult novel about Orphea, a poet. She is an African American teenager, orphaned, who falls in love with her best friend.

Corey's Underground Railroad Diary (My America Series)--Middle grade novels written by a slave boy who escapes to freedom. She talked about how many slaves were forbidden from learning to read or write, but some of them had been taught in secrecy. Corey's diaries begin with his limited writing, but he improves as the series goes on.

Always My Dad (illustrated by Raul Colon)--now out of print, Picture book, Reading Rainbow selection

D. Anne Love--YA Writer

I went to Hollins Saturday night for one of their author talks. D. Anne Love was the speaker. She is the author of many historical fiction and YA fiction books.

A little bit about her:
D. Anne Love wanted to be a writer when she was a child much like her cousin wanted to be Miss America. She thought she had a better chance at being a writer than her cousin did at being Miss America. She was a teacher, principal, and college professor for 15 years before writing full time.

She tried to write picture books for a long time until an editor finally told her that she really wasn't a picture book writer--she was a novelist. The editor told her she was going into too much detail with characters, plots, etc.

Her advice to writers:
1) Write what you WANT to know. If you are passionate about it, then your readers will enjoy reading about it.
2) Don't worry about current trends. Write what's in your heart.
3) Try to find the heart of the story--What does your character want? What is preventing them from getting it?
4) There are NO failed stories. Not every piece will be published, but you will learn from all of them.
5) Nothing is wasted except for the paper. (This is my favorite one)
6) Read 100 books for every one you write. Read like a writer.
7) Take a lot of showers. Something about showers is conducive to the creative process. When you are stuck and trying to work out a problem in your novel, take a shower.
8) Persistance pays.
9) Be patient with yourself.
10) Write the kinds of books you like to read.

Some of her historical fiction books include:
Bess's Log Cabin Quilt
I Remember the Alamo
The Puppeteer's Apprentice

Her YA books include:
Semiprecious--About a girl whose Mom leaves the family to make her way as a country music star. She thinks her mom is coming back for her shortly, but she doesn't.
Picture Perfect--A girl whose mother has invented beauty hair care products and gets offered a wonderful job away from home.
Defying the Diva--Forthcoming. This is about bullying that goes on with teens.
Be Mine--Forthcoming in 2009. About abusive relationships and about a girl who gets in a relationshiop with a girl that is controlling.

One of the things you can't get out the printed text is how wonderfully D. Anne Love reads her stories. She has an entrancing southern accent that gives life to her characters that she reads about. I am on my way to the bookstore today to pick up some of her books. I can't wait for Defying the Diva to come out. She talked a lot about her concern for youth in America and how they are "plugged in" constantly. The lack of interaction with people allows kids to withdraw and lack in empathy for others. She read a lot of studies about bullying and talked to kids. Both pointed to the fact that it's not always the troubled kids that bully. It's the kids who come from privileged homes that have a sense of entitlement and bully others often. Her story Defying the Diva addresses some of these issues.

New Edge of the Forest

The May issue of The Edge of the Forest is up.

It includes book reviews of two of Candice Ransom's books in the Middle Grade book reviews section.

There is also a feature interview with Kerry Madden, author of Gentle's Holler. It is a fascinating interview. I first had the chance to hear Kerry Madden speak last year at Hollins University. She came to speak at the program. I bought Gentle's Holler, set in Maggie Valley, NC. Inspired by the setting, my family and I made a trip to Maggie Valley this fall. We explored Maggie Valley itself, some of the Great Smoky Mountains, rode on the Polar Express, and visited Asheville. What fun!

It's Hollins Time Again!

The highlight at the end of my winter is always receiving the Hollins packet that gives the courses being taught and the events for the summer.

I did a little dance yesterday when I got my packet. I was thrilled to see Paul Janeczko and editor Michael Stearns (HarperCollins) will be speaking in July (not together). There is a summer chock-ful of good stuff. I really would LOVE to take the Children's Mystery Novels class, but I will be otherwise engaged this summer. We have plans to be in Thailand visiting my parents for the summer. I will only be here for some of the summer activities at Hollins. I'm so fortunate to live only 15 min. away from Hollins, so even if I can't take classes, I can still go to the special events.

I can't wait!

My love of children's books

When did I start loving children's books? Probably when I was being potty trained. I heard stories of my cousin forcing me to sit on the toilet while she read me a book and insisted that I use the bathroom. I have loved children's books ever since.

I became a teacher as a good excuse to keep reading children's books and to promote good books to kids. I also fell in love with good children's books all over again when I took my first children's lit. class as an undergrad.

Then, I decided I wanted to really get serious about my study of children's literature and get even more serious about writing children's literature. I had always loved writing, and I wanted to do even more. When I was finally paying for my own graduate school, I did what I'd always wanted to do--get a degree in writing. Well, I sort of did. My masters is from the wonderful Hollins University Children's Literature program.

I've missed discussing and critiquing children's lit, so I have found a new way to do it. Blogging.... So here begins my book banter.Hopefully it will be a place where I can regularly talk about my writing and my reading of children's books.