It's "spring fever" time around here. My college students are finished. (Congrats to your son, April!) High school seniors are graduating. (Congrats to your daughter, Mary Ann!) With visions of summer vacation dancing in all of our heads, my husband regretfully refers to his last few weeks of instructional time as 'controlled chaos.'
My daughter's wonderful teacher has tried to engage the kids in kick-it-up-a-notch manner by allowing them to write plays based on familiar stories. Kate's, a spin on "The Three Billy Goats Gruff" is titled "Three Ghosts and the Big Werewolf." And, she told me eagerly, "It takes place in the night!" Kate mentioned that she had initially started working on an entirely different project entitled "Three Unicorns and the Big Rainbow." However, this was abandoned when she realized that "it would be really hard to find a problem for them."
I love that my first grader can analyze story mechanics at least as well as I can. She had been reading The Baby-Sitters' Club on my kindle with great interest but yesterday declined to continue. "It's boring now," she said. "They already came up with the idea for the club, so now there's no problem." I explained that another problem was likely about to ensue, and she reacted with surprise. She said, "In short books, there's usually only one problem." I mean, really -- she just defined the difference between chapter books and middle grade more elegantly than I could ever begin to do.
I am taking a picture book writing class this summer, and I will be keeping two questions ever-present in my mind:
What does my character want?
What obstacle stands in the way?
And of course I will take my seven-year-old inner critic along with me. I can't wait. Happy summer to all! --Jeanne Marie
Reading recommendation of the week from Kate: Scaredy Squirrel by Melanie Watt
and from Patrick: Henry and Mudge and the Big Sleepover by Cynthia Rylant
P.S. from Carmela: Don't forget that you must enter by 11 pm (CST) today, Monday, May 21, 2012, for a chance to win one of THREE $30 gift cards from Biblio.comin honor of our Third Blogiversary. See April's post for all the details.
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Howdy Campers! Happy Poetry Friday! Happy just-a-few-more-days-'til-our 3rd blogiversary giveaway ends! At the end is today's poem and a Writing Workout (aka Poetry Exercise).
My fellow Teaching Authors have kindly allowed me to post some good news today.
*Gasp!* My one and only child just graduated from college. And at the exact same time, my books have begun graduating into eBooks. Coincidence? I think not.
Wait...wrong photo.
This guy. He's my kid.
Go, kid, go!
For a bonus point: on what campus is he?
For double bonus points: what is the image on his gold stole?
Actually, that's not the good news they were hoping I'd post. My fellow TeachingAuthorsthought I was going to talk about my new eBook. So...
Once upon a time...I was nine months pregnant with the guy above when we held the launch of my first picture book, To Rabbittown, at Dutton's Bookstore in Brentwood, CA.
Dutton's was our award-winning neighborhood
independent bookstore extraordinaire, whose doors closed in 2008--sniff, sniff.
To Rabbittown began as a scribble...an illustrated poem, in 1984, when I was working in the marketing department of A.T. & T. in downtown Los Angeles. Looking back, writing it was my escape. And it really is an escape story--the child in the book runs away to live with rabbits...and slowly turns into one. How much farther can you run away to hide from the nasty corporate world?
It was one of the few books that has floated down from the clouds directly to my fingers, bypassing my brain, nearly fully formed.
How does that happen? And why can't it happen all the time?
I sent it to Scholastic, it was gloriously illustrated by Robin Spowart and published in the spring of 1989, and you can bet your sweet bippy it felt like the birth of my child (the good parts of giving birth, you understand), who was born a few days later.
It became a blue ribbon best seller for Scholastic (I don't know what that means either), sold over 64,000 copies, and got a starred review in the School Library Journal(I was a newbie author; I thought everybody got a starred review in SLJ...); it was in print for eight years...
...until it wasn't in print. This being my first Out of Print (OP) book, I was devastated. It really did feel like a death. I was mortified. And ashamed. I thought it was my fault. I tiptoed around, eyes on the ground without telling anyone. If I had been better, had done more, if I had written the next one faster, if I had picked up more trash off the sidewalk, my book would have been immortal. I thought books were immortal, and if they weren't, well, then there was something deeply wrong with the author.
Fast forward to 2012. I am older. I understand life a little more. Not everything is my fault. And some fabulous things are my fault. My beamish boy is launched into this woolie, wild and wonderful world...
First, here's the text of TO RABBITTOWN as my offering for Poetry Friday--but I really hope you have a chance to see the luscious watercolor illustrations by the amazing Robin Spowart on every page.
TO RABBITTOWN by April Halprin Wayland, illustrated by Robin Spowart
I opened her rabbit-y cage
and while she nibbled celery
I asked her:
Where do the rolling hills go?
She said:
Beyond the wheat
to a pine forest
to the edge of it all
to Rabbittown
I snuggled her close
She told me:
Hop there
Ride the green waves
Find the cliffs
past the smell of the sea
There you’ll find
those brown rabbit eyes
And so I went
They sniffed me and I asked:
How long have you been here?
And what do you eat
in Rabbittown?
The woolly one spoke
She said:
Here before the moon
we drink milk from the milk grass
eat pine needle salad
and save water lilies for dessert
They told me:
Stay
I sat with them
burrowed with them
played games with their babies
and sliced pine branches
at dusk
I grew ears
I heard butterflies fly
I heard the movement of worms in the soil
I heard clouds coming
To Gazelletown. To Wormtown.
To Owltown. To Sharktown.
To Horsetown...
What animal would you like to become? Using To Rabbittown as a structure, become that gazelle, spider, eel, elephant or flamingo. What do you hear, feel, sense, eat? How do you move through your world? Who do you long to be with?
Be in that world. Pull your readers in, too. Remember to breathe...and to write with joy.
You have only a few days left to enter our TeachingAuthors Third Blogiversary Giveaway for a chance to win one of THREE 30$ gift certificates to Biblio.com, where you can purchase new and used books from independent booksellers around the world, often with free shipping! See ...all the bloody details are here.
I secretly call myself "The Constant Reader," which was the name of the late, great Dorothy Parker's New Yorker book review column. I read constantly...most of the time. However, this Constant Reader is currently trying to keep her head above the morass of activities and paperwork involved in my daughter's high school graduation Friday. She's stressed, I'm stressed, and when I'm stressed, I'm not a Constant Reader. My mind sails off to South American, and I crochet while watching endless episodes of Law & Order in all its incarnations. (There. Now you know my guilty secret.)
My brain wasn't entirely on autopilot. The one children's book I read this month (one?!) was a lovely little morsel, Mooshka, written and illustrated by Julie Paschkis. This picture book spoke to several of my loves--quilts, family stories and "blankies" in general.
Mooshka is a quilt who belongs to Karla. Like Karla, I had a grandmother who quilted. When I say "quilt," I don't mean the carefully designed and color-co-ordinated modern quilt. My grandmother made "scrap" quilts. using the leftover material she used to sew her family's clothes. "Meemaw" wasn't intere making art. She was keeping her family warm during the Depression. What she didn't know was that she was also preserving family stories and instilling in me a passion for storytelling.
I am the only person I know who has two baby quilts. The first was made from a cache of pinwale corduroy samples. I dragged that quilt (which was made for a single bed) everywhere. Wrapped around my shoulders and trailing at my heels, "Meemaw's quilt" allowed me to be a queen ( usually the wicked kind) or Miss American (minus the ermine collar and tiara). I was a sickly kid who found comfort in the quilt's soft folds, which grew softer and more velvet-like with every washing. In the instant before I threw up, I would heave the blanket out of the way, to spare it another washing. By the time I went to college, large portions of Meemaw's quilt were all but transparent. So, as her very last quilt, every stitch hand sewn, she made me a new quilt, decorated with bunnies (my favorite animal), all embroidered free-hand. I had a new baby blanket to take to college. (I have no idea what my roommates thought of this.)
I still have both of these quilts (hermetically preserved, like a wedding dress). When Meemaw died, I inherited two of her Double Wedding Ring Depression-era quilts. Fragile as they are, I save them for days when I need some grandmotherly comfort (usually days when I wonder what in the world made me think I could ever be a writer). Then I look at the varied patch prints, and remember Meemaw telling me the origin of every piece. "Now this here was a shirt I made your daddy for his first day of kindergarden." She would then go on to tell me how my father, deciding immediately that school was not his thing, escaped and was dragged back to school three times that first day.
"This flowery piece here was a dress I made for Easter one year. I was wearing it the first time I met your mother." Meemaw was a great storyteller. Recalling those stories as I touch each quilt patch, I remember why I wanted to be a writer in the first place.
In Mooschka Karla's quilt actually talks to her, telling her the stories sewn into its seams. Mooschka not only touched my heart with it's story of passing on family history, but it's beautiful folkloric illustrations.
Not surprisingly, Paschkis is also a textile designer. (Warning: This is not a story to share as an e-book. The pictures are half the story, and they need to be seen full-sized.)
My daughter is graduating (I hope) on Friday. Next month she will be leaving for a month-long pre-college arts program. (She inherited Meemaw's artistic talent.) Packed in her bag will be her own Mooshka, one of Meemaw's quilts. She knows it's only for those special days when she wonders why she thought she could be an artist.
Don't forget, faithful friends, you have until 11 pm CST today to enter the drawing for a copy of GuestTeachingAuthor Karen Schreck's new YA novelWhile He Was Away.
Also, for our TeachingAuthorsThird Blogiversary Giveaway Contestprize of THREE 30$ gift certificates toBiblio.com.You must enter by 11 pm CST Monday, May 21, 2012. See April's post for more information.
Posted by Mary Ann Rodman
Before I share what's on my to-read stack and a bit about my latest read, I want to remind you that time is running out to enter our current giveaway contests:
to win an autographed copy of Guest TeachingAuthor Karen Schreck’s newest YA novel, While He Was Away (Sourcebooks Fire), you must enter by 11 p.m. Monday, May 14, 2012 (Central Standard Time). Read my interview with Karen for all the details; and
for our TeachingAuthorsThird Blogiversary Giveaway Contest prize of one of THREE $30
gift certificates to Biblio.com (where you can purchase new and used
books from independent booksellers around the world, often with free
shipping!) you must enter by 11 pm (CST) Monday, May 21, 2012. See April's post for more information.
And now, for our current TeachingAuthors' topic: Children's Book Week and what we're currently reading: I'm lucky to live in the same town as the wonderful independent bookstore, Anderson's Bookshop, which hosts the monthly Not for Kids Only Book Club "for adults who like to read books for children and teens." At our next meeting, on Sunday, May 20, we'll be discussing Dead End in Norvelt (Farrar, Straus and Giroux) by Jack Gantos, this year's Newbery Award Winner. I just picked up the book, so I can't comment on it yet. However, I can comment on, and heartily recommend, last month's book,Between Shades of Gray(Philomel) by Ruta Sepetys. The book was a finalist for the American Library Association's 2012 William C. Morris Award, which "honors a book written for young adults by a previously unpublished author."
In 1941, fifteen-year-old Lina is preparing for art school, first dates, and all that summer has to offer. But one night, the Soviet secret police barge violently into her home, deporting her along with her mother and younger brother. They are being sent to Siberia. Lina's father has been separated from the family and sentenced to death in a prison camp. All is lost.
Lina fights for her life, fearless, vowing that if she survives she will honor her family, and the thousands like hers, by documenting their experience in her art and writing. She risks everything to use her art as messages, hoping they will make their way to her father's prison camp to let him know they are still alive.
It is a long and harrowing journey, and it is only their incredible strength, love, and hope that pull Lina and her family through each day. But will love be enough to keep them alive?
I found Between Shades of Gray to be a powerful and moving story. Before reading this book, I knew nothing of Stalin's atrocities during World War II, which it so vividly depicts. I recommend the novel not only as a terrific read for ages 12 and up, but also as a wonderful contribution to World War II-related literature.
I met Ruta Sepetys a few weeks ago when she visited the Anderson's Bookshop in Naperville to celebrate the paperback release of Between Shades of Gray. She spoke then about the connections between her own family history and her novel. Her words reminded me of stories my mother told of her childhood in Italy, when German troops occupied her small mountain village. And that leads me to today's Writing Workout.
Writing Workout:
Researching Our Family Stories
Are there stories your relatives have told that could make interesting seeds for a story? Did any of them live through unusual or difficult circumstances, such as war, economic hardship, or natural disaster? Don't know? Then ask! Schedule time to sit down with a family member and really listen to his or her stories. Take notes. Then write a short story that captures part of his or her experience. If you need some inspiration for how powerful this process can be, go to the official Between Shades of Gray website and watch the video about how Ruta Sepetys researched her novel. And for another Writing Workout about writing family stories, see this post by April.
Wait!And
whoa there! Before
you read another line, be sure to enter, if you haven’t already, (1) our
TeachingAuthors Blogiversary 3 Contest to win one of three $30.00 gift
certificates to Biblio.comand (2) our separate autographed book giveaway of
Guest TeachingAuthor Karen Schreck’s newest YA novel, While He Was Away.
Sponsored
by the Children’s Book Council and administered by Every Child is a Reader,
Children’s Book Week celebrates the transformative power of reading. It is the longest-running literacy initiative
in the country, formally established in 1919.
Be sure to visit the website to
learn more about official and local events, including author and illustrator
appearances, accompanying activities for teachers, parents, booksellers and
librarians and the listing of the 2012 Children’s Choice Book Award Winners.
I’m biting at the chomp, beyond
eager to share the latest children’s book I read, re-read and took into my
heart, R. J. Palacio’s multiply-starred middle grade novel Wonder.
Here’s the flap copy:
“August (Auggie) Pullman was born with a
facila deformity that prevented him from going to a mainstream school – until now. He’s about to enter fifth grade at Beecher
Prep, and if you’ve ever been the new kid, then you know how hard that can
be. The thing is, Auggie’s just an
ordinary kid, with an extraordinary face.
But can he convince his new classmates that he’s just like them, despite
appearances?"
Auggie
introduces himself to the reader:
“I know
I’m not an ordinary ten-year-old kid. I
mean, sure, I do ordinary things. I eat
ice cream. I ride my bike. I play
ball. I have an Xbox. Stuff like that makes me ordinary, I
guess. And I feel ordinary. Inside.
But I know ordinary kids don’t make other ordinary kids run away
screaming in playgrounds. I know
ordinary kids don’t get stared at wherever they go….. My name is August, by the way. I won’t
describe what I look like. Whatever you’re thinking, it’s probably worse.”
The flap copy is right: R.J. Palacio has crafted an uplifting
novel full of wonderfully realistic family interactions, lively school scenes,
and writing that shines with spare emotional power.”
The Former Fifth Grade Teacher inside me wondered
non-stop: how could Palacio present this grade and age so perfectly, portray the truths
of the school experience so honestly?
Oh, to have a class with which to share this book today! (I’ve emailed three teachers already recommending
this title.)
The Mother in me ached, kissing the top of
Auggie’s head each and every time his Mom or Dad did the same. So often we writers are told: kill those parents
in Chapter One! The child needs to navigate the world on his own! But the depth and glory of Auggie’s parents’
love for him, and his sister’s love too, portrayed honestly, warts and all,
prove pure Show, Don’t Tell so Auggie can be brave.
The writer in me simply sighed at Palacio’s
craft, how she brilliantly chose multiple viewpoints to tell Auggie’s story so we
the readers could see how others saw Auggie - for who he is, what
he is and not how he looks, how she nailed each and every voice, and best of all, how
she still moved Auggie’s story forward, in compelling scenes, September through
June.
It’s the little ol' me I am, though, who, along with Auggie and his
changed-forever classmates, was different for the journey. Auggie became everyone’s Hero, standing out
and above the crowd because of who he was - an ordinary kid doing extraordinary
things.
The Library of Congress classified the
novel [1. Abnormalities, Human – Fiction. 2. Self-importance – Fiction. 3.
Middle schools – Fiction. 4.
Schools – Fiction.] I wish they would
have asked me. I would have listed Kindness
as the one-and-only classification.
Auggie’s English teacher Mr. Browne shares
a precept for each month of the school year; students copy the precept into
their English notebooks. Precepts, they decide, are “rules
about really important things.”
September’s precept had me on my way, turning the pages late into the night, and it turns out, so was Auggie, after heartbreaking hurts and the inevitable taunts. “WHEN GIVEN THE
CHOICE BETWEEN BEING RIGHT OR BEING KIND, CHOOSE KIND.”
IMHO, WONDER
is an important book. Auggie Pullman
is an unforgettable character.
Thank you, R.J. Palacio, for showcasing
the transformative power of literacy.
Oh, and Happy Children’s Book Week!
Esther Hershenhorn
Writing
Workout
Up for Auggie’s
October Homework Assignment?
Mr. Browne’s October precept read, OUR DEEDS ARE OUR MONUMENTS.
It was written on the tombstone of an
Egyptian who died thousands of years ago and Auggie’s class was beginning its
study of ancient Egypt. The homework assignment: write a paragraph
about what the precept means or how you feel about the precept. Here’s what Auggie wrote:
“This precept means that we should be
remembered for the things we do. The
things we do are the most important things of all. They are more important than what we say or
what we look like. The things we do
outlast our mortality. The things we do
are like monuments that people build to honor heroes after they’ve died. They’re like the pyramids that the Egyptians
built to honor the pharaohs. Only instead
of being made out of stone, they’re made out of the memories people have of us. That’s why your deeds are like your
monuments. Built with memories instead
of with stone.”
.
Howdy, Campers! Happy Poetry Friday! I’ve been OUT AND ABOUT. But before I tell you about IRA in Chicago and ask for your advice about my poem, don’t forget to enter both of our contests:
Followers know that we are celebrating our THIRD blogiversary. Enter our Blogiversary giveaway contest to win one of THREE$30 gift cardsfromBiblio.com, where you can purchase new and used books from independent booksellers around the world, often with free shipping!!! There are three ways to enter, so get crackin'!
Spring, spring, spring--as I said, I've been out 'n about! The trees were green-leafing, the flowers a-blooming along the slick avenues in rainy Chicago, (our own Esther’s beloved hometown) this past week. She and I were honored to have taught in a full-day Institute at the International Reading Association there.
Someone in our group said, “Reading is the inhale, writing is the exhale,” which I’d never heard before, though when I Googled it, it’s all over the web, without an author. I love this quote.
At another session, Jane Yolen said that a child asked her,
“Did you write a Christmas book?”
“Yes,” said Jane.
“But I thought you were Jewish,” he said.
“I write murder mysteries, too,” Jane replied.
On my final day in Chicago, the skies cleared. One last breakfast with Esther, one last walk past fast pedestrians along Michigan Avenue.
Bright orange and magenta tulips, in cement boxes lining the bustling streets, which were just blooming when I arrived, were no longer bright, tight blooms—instead they were faded and splayed open, like unmade beds.
I was thinking about how short their stay is...Bingo! I found my topic for this day’s poem!
Here are three drafts of the eight or nine I’ve written so far…I need your thoughts! I’m thinkin’ I went overboard in the last one draft..it needs to be more condensed, right? Just get in, get out—bam! What do you think?
I love Chicago! I love fellow authors! I learned so much this week! I’ll leave you with a writing prompt Uma Krishnaswami taught us, inspired by her wonderful picture book, OUT OF THE WAY! OUT OF THE WAY!
In her free downloadable activity kit for this book, Uma writes: “The tree in this story became a meeting place for the people of the village, a spot where children could play and grownups could talk…Do you know of a special tree that holds a story for you? A tree that you climbed? A tree that provided shade for picnics? Write your tree story.”
I found this to be an extremely evocative prompt. Do you? Try.
P.S: If you've read this far, you deserve a bonus. Check out Amy Goldman Koss' blog post this week, "Why Write?" (Warning: you will become addicted to her blog posts, so watch out.)
Today I'm especially pleased to feature a guest TeachingAuthor interview with my good friend, Karen Halvorsen Schreck, whose second young-adult novel, While He Was Away (Sourcebooks Fire) was just released YESTERDAY! After reading the interview, I hope you'll enter for a chance to win an autographed copy of Karen's book. And don't forget to also enter our Blogiversary giveaway contest to win one of THREE $30 gift cardsfrom Biblio.com, where you can purchase new and used books from independent booksellers around the world, often with free shipping.
Before I share the interview, here's a little about Karen:
The winner of a Pushcart Prize and an Illinois State Arts Council Grant, Karen Halvorsen Schreck has a doctorate in Creative Writing. Her first young-adult novel, Dream Journal (Hyperion), was a 2007 Young Adult BookSense Pick. She is also the author of the acclaimed picture book, Lucy's Family Tree (Tilbury). Karen balances her writing and freelance work with teaching writing and literature at the college level. She also loves to do author visits! For information about her, visit her website or the official While He Was Away website.
And now, here's the interview:
Karen, how did you become a TeachingAuthor?
My parents were teachers, and from the time I was a very little girl, and talked C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe with a college English professor who actually chummed around with Lewis and the other Inklings in Oxford, I knew that I wanted nothing more in my life than to read, write, and share books. I was blessed with a wonderful high school English teacher who fearlessly taught authors like Flannery O’Conner, D. H. Lawrence, and Leo Tolstoy (among so many others). In college I discovered how healing and meaningful the writing process was for me by taking a creative writing class. I taught my first college class when I was a twenty-three-year-old Creative Writing graduate student, and I’ve taught many, many since. I find I learn about writing from teaching about writing—my students and the published authors we’ve studied together have always taught me so much. Like writing, teaching is really so much about finding the right voice to tell the right story to a particular audience—the two go hand-in-hand, as craft and art. I feel alive and engaged when I teach. I feel alive and engaged when I write.
What's a common problem/question that your writing students have and how do you address it? Many people of all ages (myself included) seem to experience a kind of inner critic—a censoring voice that’s been internalized that expresses itself in various ways: either when faced with a blank page (Oh! I have no ideas! I am not good enough! I have nothing to say!) or after the first burst of inspired writing (Well, that might have been good, but where do I go from here?), or at the end of a first draft (What c&*p—this’ll never see the light of day. I’m putting it in a drawer/recycling it/using it as kindling). I’ve seen students find great relief when they externalize that voice as words on paper, perhaps tracing the origins of the voice to an actual person or people in their lives, or creating a character who represents the voice. Sometimes I’ll ask them to draft a character description of the critic. I always ask them to write out the statements, almost in a kind of exorcism (if I may use this term). I encourage them to ritualize this process. Maybe writing it is enough, but some have shredded their critical words, and then proceeded to write from there. If that’s not sufficient, I have them describe or create someone who’s profoundly affirming, and then write down what they might say to encourage the writing process. People honestly have been freed up by doing this exercise, and they’ve come back to it again and again.
I love the idea of "exorcising" our inner critic! I'm going to have to give it a try. Would you also share a writing exercise for our readers?
I love having students create what I call a Body Map. Through drawing or collage or sculpture or sewing—you name it, people have done it—they’ll represent visually the stories, memories, images, their bodies carry—the blessings and burdens they’ve born over their histories. It’s a fun and profound exercise to do over a period of time. The results are often quite beautiful and meaningful, and people discover that in their own physical experience, they have no shortage of story material.
Wow, what a tactile way of coming up with story ideas Thanks, Karen. Now, can you tell us a bit about your new book, While He Was Away, and how you came to write it?
My YA novel, While He Was Away (Sourcebooks Fire), is about an eighteen-year old girl, Penna Weaver, whose boyfriend, David O’Dell, is deployed to Iraq. Penna and David are deeply in love, and commit to be true to each other while he’s away, but Penna quickly realizes that the realities of David’s situation will make this more challenging than either of them expected. Lonely and isolated, it seems Penna’s world is falling apart, until she works to solve a family mystery, hidden for half a century, about love in wartime, and ultimately learns some powerful truths about love and forgiveness.
The inspiration for this novel lay in my own family history, and in my own response to the news I was hearing about young soldiers deployed to Iraq. My father served in WWII; my mother’s first husband was killed in WWII. I grew up hearing war stories, and when this current generation of young people put their lives on the line, I was struck by a certain disconnect between what they seemed to be experiencing, and how our nation was responding, and the experience of my parents’ generation. When I don’t understand something, I find it helpful to explore the questions through story-telling. I may never get black and white answers (good fiction rarely give these), but I do experience a sense of resolution. I hope someone else reading While He Was Away does too. Readers, if that isn't enough to pique your interest, watch the beautiful book trailer below. (Email subscribers can watch it at the official While He Was Away website.)
Karen, do you have any suggestions for teachers on how they might use one of your books in the classroom?
I could give suggestions for all three of my books, but I’ll focus on While He Was Away. :-) I think this novel could give teachers the perfect opportunity to encourage their students to consider the ways in which their personal, family histories intersect with their shared, communal history. My process in writing the novel really parallels my character Penna’s process over the course of the novel. We both asked: what don’t we understand about our pasts, what mysteries are there, and how do these mysteries from the past connect with the pressures all around us, the lives we are living now, the events of this world? Or to put it another way: what family stories do you need explore and tell in your own way?
Finally, would you tell us how you first became interested in writing?
When I was in third grade, I became obsessed, as many girls do (or at least did, at that time), with the book Harriet the Spy. As you may know, the book’s central character, Harriet, records her observations about the world in an orange notebook. Well, I went out and bought an orange notebook. I proceeded to do the same as Harriet, carrying that notebook everywhere I went, documenting my life to the best of my ability, and even writing a few chapters of my first attempt at a novel (no surprise: the novel involved a girl and a horse called . . . Starfire; I was also on a big Margeurite Henry kick). I still have that notebook to this day, and I still carry a notebook in my purse, just in case I need to jot something down. There is something really wonderful about having the perfect notebook . . . and pen . . . and pencil . . . just in case.
Thanks so much, Karen, for sharing with us today.
Readers, I'm especially thrilled to celebrate the release of Karen's new book with you because I had the privilege of reading an early draft of the manuscript. I can't wait to get my hands on the final book. And you, too, can soon be holding your own autographed copy of While He Was Away by entering our giveaway contest. Before entering, please read our Book Giveaway Guidelines. Then answer the following question: If you're our winner, would you keep the book for yourself or pass it along to a young adult reader, and if so, to whom?
You
may either post your answer as a comment below or email your answer to
teachingauthors [at] gmail [dot] com with "Book Giveaway" in the subject line. If
you enter via a comment, you MUST include a valid email address
(formatted like: teachingauthors [at] gmail [dot] com) or a link to an email
address where we can reach you. Your entry must be posted or received
by 11 p.m. Monday, May 14, 2012 (Central Standard Time). The winner will be chosen in a random drawing and announced on May 16, 2012. Good luck, everyone!
When you're done here, be sure to hop on over to April's post about our Third Blogiversary giveaway contest and enter to win one of THREE $30 gift cardsfrom Biblio.com, which you can use to purchase new or used books from independent booksellers around the world, often with free shipping.
The TeachingAuthors are six children's book authors with a wide range (and many years) of experience teaching writing to children, teens, and adults. Here, we share our unique perspective as writing teachers who are also working writers. Our features include writing exercises (our "Writing Workouts"), teaching tips, author interviews, book reviews, and more. Click here for detailed information about our "Writing Workouts." For our individual bios, please see the "About Us" page. To contact us regarding reviewing a book on the craft of writing, see the section below labeled SUBMITTING BOOKS FOR REVIEW.
Chicken Soup for the Soul: The Spirit of Christmas: 101 Joyful Holiday Stories, edited by Amy Newmark, includes a story by Carmela A. Martino
Newest TeachingAuthor Title
Playing by Heart by Carmela A. Martino (revised edition)
Recent TeachingAuthor Title
Egyptian Lullaby (Roaring Brook Press) by Zeena M. Pliska illustrated by Hatem Aly
Anthology featuring Poetry by two TeachingAuthors
Clara's Kooky Compendium of Thimblethoughts and Wonderfuzz, edited by Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong, illustrated by Frank Ramspott (Pomelo Books), includes poems by April Halprin Wayland and Carmela A. Martino
Anthology Featuring TeachingAuthor Poetry
The Mistakes That Made Us: Confessions from Twenty Poets edited by Irene Latham and Charles Waters, illustrated by Mercè López (Carolrhoda Books), includes a poem by April Halprin Wayland
Submitting Books for Review
If you have a writing book you would like to submit for review consideration, then Contact us!for submission guidelines. Please be sure to include the words "Teaching Authors Book Review" in the subject.
If you have general questions about this website, please contact Carmela Martino via her contact page here.
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