15th TA Blogiversary Book and Gift Card Giveaway!

I can hardly believe it, but this Monday, April 22, 2024, [in addition to being Earth Day] will be the 15th anniversary of the founding of our TeachingAuthors blog! To celebrate, we're giving away an autographed copy of a very special book (hint: it was written by one of our TeachingAuthors) PLUS a $15 gift card to Bookshop.org. You'll find the giveaway details at the end of this post. Also, in honor of Poetry Friday, I am including a poem excerpt from our giveaway book. (Another hint for you!)  

When we founded TeachingAuthors back in 2009, I had no idea we'd still be here so many years later! Today I kick off a series of posts commemorating this milestone. Each of the TeachingAuthors will reflect on how her writing, her outlook, and/or the industry has changed over the last 15 years.

In one of my earliest posts here, I explained how I became a TeachingAuthor. At that time, I was teaching writing classes for adults and children at the College of DuPage in Glen Ellyn, IL and other local venues. Candlewick had published Rosa, Sola, the middle-grade novel I wrote for my creative thesis for my MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from Vermont College, and I was working on several picture book manuscripts--some I'd started at Vermont College and others I'd drafted later. I'd loved reading picture books to my young son and had hoped to publish my own. By 2009, I had received some encouraging rejections, but I never found a publisher for any of those picture books. 

I believe I've shared here before that I think one of my biggest career mistakes was not writing another middle-grade novel to follow up Rosa, Sola. I'd had several ideas, but none of them quite worked. (And I really wanted to publish a picture book.) Perhaps if I'd sold a second novel to Candlewick, they would have published a paperback edition of Rosa, Sola and it wouldn't have gone out of print when it did. But I was honored to have a middle-grade short story published in a Candlewick anthology that came out in 2010: I Fooled You: Ten Stories of Tricks, Jokes, and Switcheroos, edited by Johanna Hurwitz. That story, "Biz Z, Cammi, and Me," allowed me to prove to myself (and the world) that I can write humorous stories. 😀

My career path has taken other unexpected twists and turns. Back in 2009, I could never have imagined that I would write a historical romance set in 18th-century Milan. Or that, after I finally finished it, I'd end up putting the manuscript in the proverbial drawer when I couldn't find a publisher, despite it winning several awards. But that's what happened with my young-adult historical Playing by Heart, as our long-time blog readers may recall. That book's path eventually had a happy ending, though, when it was published by a small press. I was thrilled to announce the good news here in January of 2017.   

The story of Rosa, Sola had a happy ending too. I eventually got my rights back from Candlewick and self-published the novel in both paperback and ebook format. In fact, we celebrated our 7th TeachingAuthors blogiversary with a reveal of the book's new cover and a giveaway. I'm so pleased that readers continue to find and enjoy the novel.

Now my writing path is circling back to the beginning--the very beginning. I started writing as a young teen, initially writing only poetry. I have returned to those roots the last few years, taking poetry classes and having my poems published in several anthologies. (You can scroll down on the Published Works page of my website to read about my most recent poetry publications.)

I've also returned to picture book writing, both fiction and nonfiction. And just two months ago, I announced that I had signed with agent Anjanette Barr of Dunham Literary to represent those manuscripts. I've never had an agent before--back when I started in children's publishing you didn't need one, and you would, in fact, have been hard-pressed to find an agent who represented books for young readers. That's one of the many ways the industry has changed in the last 15+ years.  

For all the writers reading this, I hope the story of my writing journey isn't disheartening. I confess:  there were many times along the way when I was tempted to quit. But I'm glad I stubbornly kept plodding on. If writing is your calling, I encourage you to be UNSTOPPABLE when it comes to pursuing your goals. 

And that leads into the poem I want to share today, which is an excerpt from the very special picture book you can win as part of our blogiversary giveaway. Here's the poem:

Do you recognize it? In case you don't, here's another clue: the full page from the book: 

This page is from TeachingAuthor Esther Hershenhorn's masterful picture book S is for Story: A Writer's Alphabet, illustrated by Zachary Pullen (Sleeping Bear Press). One reason this book is perfect for our 15th blogiversary giveaway is because it was published the year we started this blog, 2009. In early October of that year, we celebrated the book's release with a whole series of posts about its making. We gave away a copy then, too!

A second reason why we want to include S is for Story in our giveaway is because it's all about the writing process. Here's a brief description from the Renaissance Learning Site: 

"This book utilizes the alphabet to explain and examine the techniques, tools, and strategies of those who wish to live a literary life, covering writing terms and topics such as genre and story elements, with quotes from famous authors."

But the book does so much more! Esther's energy and enthusiasm for writing and writers shines through on every page. Which is why the third reason why we're including this book in our giveaway makes me sad: S is for Story is no longer in print. 😢

Fortunately for us, though, Esther has a copy she's willing to part with that she'll autograph for one lucky winner. If you're not that winner, I encourage you to check the book out from your favorite library so that it continues to circulate.    

You'll find our giveaway details below. After you enter, don't forget to visit Heidi at my juicy little universe for this week's Poetry Friday roundup. 

To enter the drawing to win an autographed copy of S is for Story: A Writer's Alphabet PLUS a $15 digital gift card to Bookshop.org, use the Rafflecopter widget below. (Note: if the widget doesn't appear, click on the link at the end of this post that says "a Rafflecopter giveaway" to enter.)

You may enter via up to 5 options. The more options you choose, the better your odds!

If you choose option 4, you MUST leave a comment on TODAY’S blog post or on our TeachingAuthors Facebook page. If you haven’t already “liked” our Facebook page, please do so today!

If you prefer, you may submit your comment via email to: teachingauthors [at] gmail [dot] com.

Note: if you submit your comments via email or Facebook, YOU MUST STILL ENTER THE DRAWING VIA RAFFLECOPTER BELOW.  The giveaway ends May 18, 2024 and is open to U.S. Residents only.

If you're unfamiliar with using Rafflecopter, here’s info on how to enter a Rafflecopter giveaway.  And a second article explains the difference between signing in with Facebook vs. with an email address.

Good luck!

Carmela

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My Word for 2024

 

Great minds think alike. Or rather similar Spirits recognize 

a similar need.

My word for 2024 – LIGHT, both the Noun and the Verb, and 

Carmela’s LIGHTER, both the Adjective and the Adverb, share 

the same root:         

            The word “light” comes from Old English leht 

            (Anglian), Leoht (West Saxon), meaning 

            “brightness, radiant energy, that which makes 

             things visible.”

I admit (painfully):

My expertise at finding silver linings?

My ability to focus on the positive?

To date, neither has totally reduced the sometimes-crushing 

weight of our oft-dark World that surprisingly leaves me – 

a Cubs Fan! – wobbly, unable to navigate.

Fortunately, the two inspirational quotes I keep in view on my 

real-life desk top broadcast a qualifying NEVERTHELESS.

Dr. Martin Luther King’s words help me steady my footing, 

look up and find my way.

He’d been asked if given the choice, what era would he live in?  

He acknowledged his land’s troubles and confusion, messes 

and sicknesses.

     “But I know, somehow,” he said, “that only when it’s dark 

       enough can you see the stars.”

        

(Curly Girl Designs)     

The Dark, I’ve learned, can indeed be a Good Thing.

So, thirty-three days into this New Year, I continue to focus all of 

me on the Anyones and Anythings who and that gift me with joy, 

wonder, cause for celebration and/or prompt me to count my 

blessings on a quarter-hour basis.

All those lights, all those nouns, especially the Proper ones, keep 

me keepin’ on.

Ah, the Possibilities!

 

But even more important, I learned all those lights empower me so 

I can do the same for others.

They recharge my batteries so I can burn bright, so I can light the 

way enabling others to keep keepin’ on.

                                                       (Mary Lou Falstreau)

 L.R. Knost’s words remind me. “The broken world waits in 

darkness for the light that is you.” 

Ah, the opportunities!

 Thanks to Mary Lee at A(nother) Year of Reading for hosting 

today’s Poetry Friday. 

 In signing off, I can’t help but recall the motto of my family’s 

electrician Moish Dove who happened to be my father’s lodge 

brother.  “Let there be light!”

Esther Hershenhorn

p.s.

My go-to sources for inspirational cards that help to keep me, 

and thus everyone I know and love, keepin’ on?

Curly Girl Designs and Marylou Falstreau’s Cards and Prints!

Meet Ethan Long, A Children's Book Creative Virtuoso! + Book Giveaway

 

Once again I shout, “Lucky me!”

I meet The Best People doing what I love and loving what I do, 

here in our singular Children’s Book World.

But now you can, too.

Meet Ethan Long, a veritable Children’s Book Creative Virtuoso 

whose debut middle grade novel The Death and Life of Benny 

Brooks (Christy Ottaviano Books/Little Brown, October, 2023) 

might luckily be yours simply by entering our Book Giveaway.

(See details at the end of this post.)

Fate first connected me to Ethan oh, so long ago, in 2001, 

when Holiday House editor Mary Cash chose him to illustrate my 

debut middle grade novel, The Confe$$ion$ and $ecret$ of 

Howard J. Fingerhut.  Ethan and I met in person at that year’s NY 

SCBWI Conference, his smile every bit as impish as the one he’s 

sprouting in the above photo. His Professionalism, Commitment, 

Passion, Smarts and Joy bowled me over. He was all in when it 

came to creating children’s books, grateful to be illustrating, but 

eager and determined to someday figure out a way to tell his 

story, his “crazy family’s story,” in words.  He’s done just that, 

adding illustrations, of course, in The Death and Life of Benny 

Brooks (Sort of a memoir). I knew he someday would, which is 

just what I’d told him.

 

Ethan has added all sorts of descriptive nouns in the intervening 

years - author/illustrator, author, graphic novelist, cover artist, 

game designer, animator, just to name a few, creating baby board 

books, picture books, novelty books, chapter books, murals, 

baseball cards, poetry books, joke books, book trailers, 

digital book series, animated shorts, indeed his very own NFT 

collection. His awards include the 2013 Theodor Seuss Geisel 

Award for Up! Tall! And High! and a 2022 Kidscreen Award for 

Scribbles and Ink, an Emmy Award Nominee. His latest noun in 

apposition should be no surprise: AGENT!  He and his wife 

Heather recently joined the Tugeau 2 Art and Literary Agency to 

represent fellow creatives. You can learn more about his artists 

and the story-tellers he seeks here.

Imagine my surprise when Good Ol’ Serendipity arranged a long-

awaited meet-up at ALA this June in Chicago! Ethan’s puckish 

smile was the same, his eyes twinkling behind round horn-rimmed 

glasses just like mine. He was as grateful a human being as ever.  

When he shared his Good News - how he’d finally figured out a way

to tell his “crazy family story,” as an illustrated middle grade novel, 

how The Death and Life of Benny Brooks would release this 

October, I could only thank him for affirming my “I told you so!”

 

The book’s front flap copy captures Benny perfectly.  “Benny's life 

is slowly unraveling. His parents are newly divorced, his mom 

chooses to move away, and Benny and his brother and sister are 

left with their chain-smoking dad, who has just been diagnosed 

with lung cancer. Benny is lonely, anxious, and very angry. He 

can't sleep at night and spends his days trying to survive fifth 

grade.”

 

Numerous starred reviews praised Ethan’s illustrations – 

“dynamic youthful-feeling pencil drawings by the protagonist” - 

but as important, the “bighearted story brimming with hope.”

Janet Tashjian’s testimonial lauded Ethan’s novel as “the perfect

 book for readers trying their best to come to terms with the 

many curve balls life hurls.  It also has the most important 

quality a story can have – honesty.  There’s not a false note in 

it.”

I agree, 100%. Benny’s heart reaches out to the Reader and

never lets go from the very first image on page one: Benny 

lying beneath the clouds, wondering what it would be 

like to be dead. “The part of me that used to be happy and 

funny and smiley is gone,” he shares.

 

After a tortuous school year in which his teacher Mr. Rogers guides 

him to focus, not fight, “YOU,” Mr. Rogers tells Benny, “are going 

places, Sir! Once you realize how much you have to give, which is a 

lot, you’re going to soar.”

 

Read my interview with Ethan that follows. Click on the links to 

read about his books.  

I know you’ll agree: Ethan Long continues to soar!

 

Thank you, Ethan, for being who you are and doing what you do - 

for Young Readers, for our Children’s Book World and for gifting 

one lucky TeachingAuthor reader of this post with an autographed 

copy of The Death and Life of Benny Brooks.

 

Long live Creatives!

 

Esther Hershenhorn

p.s.

Thanks to Bridget at WeeWords for hosting today’s Poetry Friday.

…

 You’ve had quite the Children’s Book Creator’s Journey, from illustrating my first middle grade novel in 2001 to writing yours, with a bounty of written and illustrated picture and early chapter books in between. You shared on your website you’ve experienced in the publishing industry both “struggles as well as successes.”  What wisdom did you glean from both that kept you keepin’ on?

Thank you, Esther! Great question. And I love that we have 

known each other for over 20 years! The struggles: They 

teach you about yourself and your limits — what you will 

put up with and what you won’t put up with. When I am 

struggling or have struggled, sometimes it is so hard that I 

want to give up, and sometimes do (temporarily), then 

realize I HAVE to keep going because of the commitment 

I made to myself as a creator and also the commitments I 

have to my family. It is not fun, but knowing my family, 

friends, and other artists have seen me struggle and succeed 

lets them know they can do it, too. At least, that is my hope.

 

·       Channeling Richard Peck’s Dear Reader letter for The Best Man (Dial, 2016), what does Benny’s story mean to you and what do you hope it means to your Readers?

Benny’s story is about struggle and hope. The goal was just 

to get the book out of my head and down on paper, but now 

that it’s out, it makes sense to me that people are thanking 

me for writing it and how it has inspired them to reach out 

to estranged family members or deal with a lingering issue. 

The book has inspired them to ACT. It has also inspired

 other writers to go emotionally deeper into their stories. 

That is satisfying.

 

·       Congratulations on your newest endeavor, partnering with your wife, Heather – Heather and Ethan Long Art & Literary Agents with the Tugeau Art & Literary Agency! You’ve already signed 13 creators you’ve deemed “amazing.” How would you describe the creatives you seek? How can interested writers and illustrators contact you?

Oh my gosh, our time with Nicole Tugeau and Lillian 

Mazeika at Tugeau 2 has been an amazing experience. Both 

struggle and success have been intertwined since we started 

in November of 2022. The creatives we seek have to be 

technically skilled in what they do, have the content and 

expression to make us go WHOA, but also have the 

inclination to write stories. They need to be prepared for 

that kind of hard work. We will have 17 artists by the end 

of 2023 and although not everyone has gotten work yet or 

sold a story to a publisher, everyone is working and 

growing. It’s amazing to watch and be a part of.

 

·       I once heard an editor share that as writers and illustrators, each of us has a story to tell, a Truth, of sorts, we wish to leave behind. We tell that story again and again, in various formats and genres, for a variety of Readers. What might be your story?

You are a pro at asking great questions, Esther! Hmmm. My story 

is multi-faceted in that I came to this earth with a lot of gifts, but

 also a lot of baggage that I had to sift through over the years to 

let my gifts shine through. It has taught me to continually clean 

myself out by talking through things and letting them go. That 

process keeps me as in-the-moment as possible and allows my 

creativity to flow effortlessly and without boundaries to others.

It gives me the mindset to work on many projects at a time and

not feel weighed down. Is it a perfect process? No. But I work 

at it every day of my life.

·       

Y   You write on your website you “can’t wait to see what comes next.” Either can I and now, I’m sure, the Readers of this interview. Can you give us a clue or a hint? Might something new be in the works (I hope)?

You know me by now…there is ALWAYS something in the 

works. :) Two middle grade novels, some easy readers, two 

“non-fictiony” picture books with a writing partner and friend, 

some animation development, and of course, the artists at the 

agency, which are always a work in progress, like the rest of us.

. . .  . . . . . .

OUR BOOK GIVEAWAY!

To enter the giveaway drawing for The Death and Life of Benny 

Brooks, use the Rafflecopter widget below. (Note: if the widget 

doesn’t appear, click on the link at the end of this post that says 

“a Rafflecopter giveaway” to enter.)

 

You may enter via up to 4 options.  The more options you 

choose, the better your odds! If you choose option 3, you 

MUST leave a comment on TODAY’S blog post or on our 

TeachingAuthors Facebook page.  If you haven’t already 

“liked” our Facebook page, please do so today!

If you prefer, you may submit your comment via email to: 

teachingauthors @gmail.com

Note: if you submit your comments via email or Facebook, 

YOU MUST STILL ENTER THE DRAWING VIA 

RAFFLECOPTER BELOW.  The giveaway ends 

November 1, 2023 and is open to U.S. Residents only.

 

If you’ve never entered a Rafflecopter giveaways, here’s info 

on how to enter a Rafflecopter giveaway.  And a second article 

explains thedifference between signing in with Facebook vs. 

with an email address.

Good luck!

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