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.
Monday, June 25, 2007
Saturday, June 23, 2007
Jamestown book
1607: A New Look at Jamestownby Karen E. Lange
Photographs by Ira Block
National Geographic, 2007
ISBN: 1-4263-0012-3
I recently began a bibliography of books about Jamestown in honor of the 400th anniversary of the Jamestown colony. Virginia celebrated in a big way, and many books came out in 2006 and 2007 in step with the anniversary.
This book, published by National Geographic, was one of the books I wanted to get my hands on as soon as I heard about it, but I just found it last week at my local library. I have read a lot of nonfiction books about Jamestown. Many of them have good information but were old and unappealing. What I love about this book is that it is packed full of fantastic historical information, but it is very appealing to read.
Since National Geographic is the publisher, one would expect nothing short of stunning photography. And this book delivers. The photography is the best I have ever seen of Jamestown. In fact, even if I didn’t love the information presented, I would buy this book just for the pictures. Some of the pictures are from the NPS historic site, but most of the pictures are from the living history museum with people in costume. You can actually visit the living history museum at Jamestown and see the same things on any given day. The pictures of the archeological digs have great details and bring the findings up close for students.
The text in this book is some of the best I have read about Jamestown. It is full of interesting and unusual details, but at the same time, it gives all of the important information that students must know. The captions for each picture give extra information too. This is a must have for classrooms and libraries. So far, my favorite nonfiction book about Jamestown.
Friday, June 22, 2007
Rick Riordan Interview
I am catching up on all of my print reading. I just finished reading the SCBWI Bulletin for May/June. The SCBWI website has a great interview with Rick Riordan. Check it out here.
Poetry Friday--Naomi Shihab Nye
I have been working on a collection of poems about growing up between cultures. Having grown up in Thailand, but being fully American, I have always felt like a part of me belonged in more than one country. Much of what I have written about my experiences have been vignettes of things that have happened. I began writing them one of the vignettes down as a poem one day, and it occured to me--this is the form that these stories should take. So, I've been working on that everyday.
I've written some poetry, but mostly prose, so I knew I needed to spend some more time really reading and studying other poets if I was going to do a decent job at writing poetry. I am working my way through a number of poets that my friends at Hollins recommended. Right now I'm reading Naomi Shihab Nye's 19 Varieties of Gazelle. These are poems about the Middle East.
I've written some poetry, but mostly prose, so I knew I needed to spend some more time really reading and studying other poets if I was going to do a decent job at writing poetry. I am working my way through a number of poets that my friends at Hollins recommended. Right now I'm reading Naomi Shihab Nye's 19 Varieties of Gazelle. These are poems about the Middle East. I have never been to the Middle East, but Nye's poems really give details and pictures so that you feel like you are experiencing the same things she has experienced. She is a poet with an artist's eye for details.
Here is an excerpt from her poem "Lunch in Nablus City Park"
When you lunch in a town
which has recently known war
under a calm slate sky mirroring none of it,
certain words feel impossible in the mouth.
Casualty: too casual, it must be changed.
A short man stacks mounds of pita bread
on each end of the table, muttering about more to come.
Many of her poems are several pages long and each tells a story on its own. She tells of her life and her family here, but also paints pictures of life in the Middle East. I can't wait to read more of her poems. I have always known that poets point out the details that often others might miss, but after reading Naomi Shihab Nye's poems, I realized that she really brings out so many of those details. It's time for me to mine some more details out of my heart and get writing.
Another interview with Naomi Shihab Nye with Bill Moyers at PBS
Poetry Friday roundup is over at A Wrung Sponge
Thursday, June 21, 2007
Henry's Freedom Box
Henry’s Freedom Box: A True Story of the Underground Railroad
by Ellen Levine
Illustrated by Kadir Nelson
Scholastic Press 2007
ISBN: 978-0-439-77733-9
One of my colleagues found this book at the Scholastic Book Fair. In our Virginia history textbook it mentions a person who mailed himself to freedom. Henry “Box” Brown became a famous runaway slave during the time of the Underground Railroad. My friend was thrilled when she found this book—a more in depth look at the life of this person who only garnered one line in the history book. He now gets his story read to fourth graders, courtesy of Ellen Levine’s book.
This is a fictionalized biography, but Levine creates such an emotion in this book. I read it to my fourth graders and they were taken aback, stricken with grief, and amazed at the story of this man.
Henry Brown was a slave. He was separated from his family at a young age when his master became ill. Then he married another slave who had a different owner. He was concerned that their children would be sold—and they were. His wife and his children were sold. Ellen Levine’s striking prose told it like this, “Henry couldn’t move. He couldn’t think. He could work. ‘Twist that tobacco!’ The boss poked Henry. Henry twisted the tobacco leaves. His heart twisted in his chest.”
Henry Brown found some men who disagreed with slavery who helped him devise a plan to mail him to freedom.
Levine tells the journey in the box in great detail. Kadir Nelson’s artwork really shows how squished Henry would have been. The only thing I wondered was—how did he go to the bathroom? He was only in the box for twenty-seven hours, but I still wondered.
All of my students were amazed at all that Henry went through—especially losing his family. They realized how cruel it all truly was. The book says when Henry’s family is sold, he knew he’d never see them again. And in the book he doesn’t. My students were expecting a happy ending where he meets up with his family again. The author’s note didn’t give that hope either. I think it was a horrifying awakening for them to see that many of the slaves who’s families were separated never reunited.
by Ellen Levine
Illustrated by Kadir Nelson
Scholastic Press 2007
ISBN: 978-0-439-77733-9
One of my colleagues found this book at the Scholastic Book Fair. In our Virginia history textbook it mentions a person who mailed himself to freedom. Henry “Box” Brown became a famous runaway slave during the time of the Underground Railroad. My friend was thrilled when she found this book—a more in depth look at the life of this person who only garnered one line in the history book. He now gets his story read to fourth graders, courtesy of Ellen Levine’s book.
This is a fictionalized biography, but Levine creates such an emotion in this book. I read it to my fourth graders and they were taken aback, stricken with grief, and amazed at the story of this man.
Henry Brown was a slave. He was separated from his family at a young age when his master became ill. Then he married another slave who had a different owner. He was concerned that their children would be sold—and they were. His wife and his children were sold. Ellen Levine’s striking prose told it like this, “Henry couldn’t move. He couldn’t think. He could work. ‘Twist that tobacco!’ The boss poked Henry. Henry twisted the tobacco leaves. His heart twisted in his chest.”
Henry Brown found some men who disagreed with slavery who helped him devise a plan to mail him to freedom.
Levine tells the journey in the box in great detail. Kadir Nelson’s artwork really shows how squished Henry would have been. The only thing I wondered was—how did he go to the bathroom? He was only in the box for twenty-seven hours, but I still wondered.
All of my students were amazed at all that Henry went through—especially losing his family. They realized how cruel it all truly was. The book says when Henry’s family is sold, he knew he’d never see them again. And in the book he doesn’t. My students were expecting a happy ending where he meets up with his family again. The author’s note didn’t give that hope either. I think it was a horrifying awakening for them to see that many of the slaves who’s families were separated never reunited.
I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is studying the Underground Railroad and wants children to be drawn in to the emotions and reality of this time in history.
Wednesday, June 20, 2007
Artist's Block Book
The Last Resort
written by J. Patrick Lewis
illustrated by Roberto Innocenti
Creative Editions, 2002
ISBN: 1-56846-172-0
I read this book twice. I know that if I read it 3 or 4 more times I’d find things I didn’t see the first few times. This is a picture book. What I found interesting is that the illustrator’s name was listed first. In fact, the illustrator’s name was almost as large as the title, so I wondered if it was part of the title. I had to look at the Library of Congress information (I’m sure there’s another scientific name for this, but I don’t know what it is ) to figure out who was the author and who was the illustrator.
The illustrations are very pivotal to this book. It has heavier text than many picture books, but the illustrators—often several to a page—tell much of the story. In fact the format reminded me somewhat of a graphic novel where you have several pictures and text to read per page and both are very important to your understanding of the story.
It’s the story of an artist who has lost his imagination and he goes on a trip to try to get out of his “artist’s block”. His car (a red Renault to be exact) leads him to a seaside hotel where other guests are also trying to find themselves again. A man with a pegleg, a young fisherboy, a sick young woman, a writer, a cowboy, a policeman, a pilot, and a Georgian gentleman all have parts in this magical hotel.
The pictures which give important details are matched with J. Patrick Lewis’ poetic prose. He describes the avenue he travels to the hotel as “a lane as long as loneliness, past a cliff beyond forgetting, through a spider-lightning night.” (p. 9)
There is an afterward in the book that explains the literary references to each of the characters in the book, many of which are characters that readers may not have heard of before. Nonetheless, it makes the tale of these characters even more enchanting as they go to the place of The Last Resort only to find their way out and inspired about what lies ahead.
If you have ever suffered from writer's block (or artist's block) and tried to find your way out, this book would appeal to you.
written by J. Patrick Lewis
illustrated by Roberto Innocenti
Creative Editions, 2002
ISBN: 1-56846-172-0
I read this book twice. I know that if I read it 3 or 4 more times I’d find things I didn’t see the first few times. This is a picture book. What I found interesting is that the illustrator’s name was listed first. In fact, the illustrator’s name was almost as large as the title, so I wondered if it was part of the title. I had to look at the Library of Congress information (I’m sure there’s another scientific name for this, but I don’t know what it is ) to figure out who was the author and who was the illustrator.
The illustrations are very pivotal to this book. It has heavier text than many picture books, but the illustrators—often several to a page—tell much of the story. In fact the format reminded me somewhat of a graphic novel where you have several pictures and text to read per page and both are very important to your understanding of the story.
It’s the story of an artist who has lost his imagination and he goes on a trip to try to get out of his “artist’s block”. His car (a red Renault to be exact) leads him to a seaside hotel where other guests are also trying to find themselves again. A man with a pegleg, a young fisherboy, a sick young woman, a writer, a cowboy, a policeman, a pilot, and a Georgian gentleman all have parts in this magical hotel.
The pictures which give important details are matched with J. Patrick Lewis’ poetic prose. He describes the avenue he travels to the hotel as “a lane as long as loneliness, past a cliff beyond forgetting, through a spider-lightning night.” (p. 9)
There is an afterward in the book that explains the literary references to each of the characters in the book, many of which are characters that readers may not have heard of before. Nonetheless, it makes the tale of these characters even more enchanting as they go to the place of The Last Resort only to find their way out and inspired about what lies ahead.
If you have ever suffered from writer's block (or artist's block) and tried to find your way out, this book would appeal to you.
Tuesday, June 19, 2007
Ocean in Motion
by Loree Griffin Burns
Houghton Mifflin 2007
ISBN: 978-0-618-58131-3
I am moving to fifth grade next year, and in my preparing, I am reading up on things that I may or may not teach next year. Since I don't know exactly what subjects I'll be teaching, I'm reading a little bit of science, social studies, and preparing for the fifth grade novels I might be teaching.
When the Boston Globe-Horn Book Awards were announced and Tracking Trash was on the nonfiction honor list, I knew I had to get ahold of this book. First of all, I love nonfiction, so I love to see children's writers make ho-hum subjects incredibly interesting. And better yet, fifth graders have to learn about the ocean and its currents in science.
One of the great things about this book is that it talks to real people who are scientists that study the ocean currents. What makes it appealing to kids is that these scientists track the oceans currents by keeping track of trash like sneakers, rubber duckies, and LEGOS. They use modern technology to study this trash and predict where it will float to.
The things I like about it as a teacher:
1) The information is current. This is research that is being done right now (not 30 or 40 years ago). So many of the science books in our libraries are very outdated.
2) The photographs are beautiful. It doesn't do any good to have fabulous information in a kids nonfiction book if it doesn't have good pictures. The photos really draw you into this book and bring the information to life.
3) It makes science real and important for kids. The trash being tracked in the ocean is harming polluting the oceans and harming sea life. Kids find out what they can do about this problem and how they might be contributing to the demise of our ocean wildlife.
4) The book has links to websites and other books on oceans for kids. The only thing I was disappointed in was that one of the links is dead. It tried to find it by googling also, but was unsuccessful. It's obviously not the author's fault, but it's still frustrating.
Other cool things:
You may remember the book 10 Little Rubber Ducks by Eric Carle. He was inspired by a story he read where plastic bath toys went overboard from a cargo ship at sea. Tracking Trash is about the real life situations were this has happened.
Author Loree Griffin Burns has her own blog. Check it out.
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