Here on the book blog, I thought I’d share a taste of the holidays my family enjoyed on a quick day trip to Montreal’s Atwater Market this weekend. Just being around all these trees put me in the holiday spirit!
You have to love a city where people are hardy enough to shop for produce outdoors in December.
Yes, that’s snow on the apples!
The indoor part of the market was decked out in its holiday best, too.
Here’s one of our favorite shelves in the whole place…in a shop that sells about a million kinds of olive oil.
It’s topped only by the bakery that we saved for our last stop, followed by a car ride home in which my husband and I engaged in the great croissant debate.
Husband: Why would someone put chocolate in a croissant?
Me: Why would someone eat a croissant without chocolate when there’s a chocolate-filled one right next to it?
Feel free to share your thoughts on this important matter in the comments…
We have been busy Christmas wrapping and getting ready for holiday skating shows and a book launch this week and were so due for some fresh outdoor air yesterday. So with a nod to Robert Frost’s "The Pasture" …here is an invitation.
I’m going out to walk along the lake I’ll only stop to skip a stone or three
3. I’m reading two books right now because they’re both so good I can’t commit to one, so I keep juggling back and forth. This one…
…is about a Texas teenager who meets Christa McAuliffe in the days leading up to the Challenger space shuttle disaster. And isn’t that a gorgeous cover? TAKING OFF is by my friend Jenny Moss, whose characters are so real my heart aches for them. Beautiful, beautiful writing – and due out from Walker in January ’11.
4. I’m also reading this book…
SEAN GRISWOLD’S HEAD by Lindsey Leavitt (Bloomsbury – March ’11). I’m only a few pages in, but already, it’s fantastic. It’s funny and poignant and about a girl who discovers her true love sitting in front of her in science class the same week she learns her father has MS. I can already tell it’s going to make me laugh and cry in that way that only special books do. Lindsey is going to be Skyping with my creative writing class in a couple weeks, and I’m so excited to share this book with them!
5. This is our new bedtime read-aloud at at the Messner house.
My daughter and I are loving Jennifer Choldenko’s latest, NO PASSENGERS BEYOND THIS POINT (Dial, February ’11). It’s full of characters that we’re already in love with, twists that have us perplexed and guessing, and magical realism that’s filling us with smiles and a sense of wonder. It’s a keeper, for sure.
What about you? Any bookish updates this Friday, either on the writing front or the reading front? Share away in comments!
A few weeks ago, I posted an early review of Lauren Oliver’s DELIRIUM, a book that fascinated me so much I had to send Lauren a note asking a few questions about her process. She was traveling but got back to me with some answers that I think are great food for thought for anyone who loves dystopian literature and especially for anyone writing a book that requires world building. Here are my original thoughts on the book:
Kate-the-reader/teacher says:
This was the first e-galley I ever read on my iPad, and even though I’m not a big fan of e-readers, I’ve never been so motivated to finish a book on one. DELIRIUM is a major league page-turner, full of romance, conflict, and action. Like Ally Condie’s MATCHED, coming out this fall, it’s about a future world where people’s mates are chosen for them by the government. In DELIRIUM, love has been identified as a deadly disease (Delirium Nervosa!) that is "cured" by a mandatory procedure performed when a person turns 18. What happens to those who resist — including main character Lena — forms the central conflict of this book, and keeps readers turning pages through a whole lot of great twists, to find out how it will all end. My 7th grade HUNGER GAMES fans are going to eat this one up.
Kate-the-writer says:
I knew this book was classified as dystopian and assumed that it was set in the future. Because I’m revising a dystopian novel right now and navigating my way through all the related world-building details relating to everyday life and technology, I pay close attention to the way other authors handle this challenge. As I was trying to figure out the time period in which DELIRIUM was set, I found myself confused by the references to present-day name brands, even though oil was strictly rationed and other elements of the novel (regulator squads, government approved music lists) felt more futuristic. It was only after I’d finished reading that I realized that the novel is actually not set in the future but in an alternate reality of our present times. (Note: I read this one quickly, and it’s entirely possible that I missed a reference to the time frame early on in the text – or perhaps I was just so sure it would be futuristic that I ignored the references. I do things like that sometimes…)
Anyway, as a writer, I find this setting choice fascinating because it allowed the author to manipulate the elements of society that needed to be changed for the story to work without reinventing the world in other areas. Now I find myself wondering how the story might have been different if it had, in fact, been set in the future instead. Would the technology changes and other futuristic elements have detracted from the main conflict and the love story? Maybe. Either way, I think it was an interesting choice, and one that worked beautifully for this particular story.
Here are Lauren’s thoughts, in response to three quick questions I asked her:
Why did you make the choice to set this book in an alternate present day instead of the future, like much other dystopian fiction?
I chose to make it an alternate present because I wanted it to feel as real and as accessible as possible for the readers. I wanted them to perceive both the parallels and the differences between this society and ours as clearly as possible–I didn’t want to give them "space" to see this as a futuristic fantasy.
Was DELIRIUM always set in modern times, or was that something that happened during the revision process?
Yes, DELIRIUM was always meant to be in modern times. That was very important to me as I was writing.
Can you talk a little about how you handled the world building for this book?
I kept a separate document, in which I brainstormed (before beginning) all of the ways the world would have to be reconceived/altered in order to support a society of the kind i needed to create. I thought about what kind of music they would listen to, what kind of books they would and wouldn’t have, etc. As I wrote, I added to this document, and brainstormed additional aspects of this world as I got to know it better. Then I re-read the big "world-building" doc before beginning my revisions, so I could strengthen and deepen the world in edits.
Thanks, Lauren, for taking the time to share some of your process!
DELIRIUM is due out in February from Harper Teen and is definitely one that fans of MATCHED and THE HUNGER GAMES will want to read.
I’ve been feeling those almost-time-for-book-release jitters lately, so two pieces of happy SUGAR AND ICE news were especially welcome today.
First…School Library Journal called it "delightful" in the December issue and said:
Messner has a flair for depicting engaging characters who are imperfect without being quirky. The dialogue between classmates and siblings is realistic, and the intergenerational or extended family relationships are interesting. The author shows the intensity of the world of competitive skating without dwelling on its rough edges, making it accessible not only to tween readers, but also to those who might have Olympic aspirations.
SUGAR AND ICE is also on the Winter 2010-2011 Kids IndieNext List, so it should be available at your favorite indie bookstore as well as Borders and Barnes & Noble on December 7th. If you have plans to purchase, I’d love it if you supported your local bookstore if you can!
SUGAR AND ICE, my latest middle grade novel from Walker/Bloomsbury, comes out on December 7th, a week from today, and I’ll be visiting a whole bunch of blogs over the next few weeks, talking about everything from revision to research to skating schedules. I hope you’ll visit some of the great bloggers hosting me to check out their home bases and read about some of the secrets behind SUGAR AND ICE.
Also…an invitation! The Bookstore Plus in Lake Placid is hosting a launch party from 3-5 pm on Saturday, December 11th. If you can’t make it but would still like a signed, personalized copy, just give them a call at (518) 523-2950 by December 10th. They’ll take your order, have me sign your book after the event, and ship it out to you in plenty of time for the holidays.
Our family partakes in many of the usual Thanksgiving traditions…pie, turkey, naps…and then there’s the figure skating.
Almost every year, the touring skating show Stars on Ice launches its season Thanksgiving weekend in Lake Placid, and with a house full of skating fans, we’ve made it part of our holiday Saturday. This year, it was extra-special spending a night at the Olympic Center, since that’s where most of my soon-to-be-released figure skating novel SUGAR AND ICE is set. I kept looking around, thinking of my main character. "Oh! Claire would love that costume." or "Claire can do that jump!"
The show itself is always incredible, and this year was its 25th anniversary. 2010 Olympic Gold medalist Evan Lysacek was one of the headliners.
I enjoyed watching him skate…but more than that, I enjoyed the commentary of the older ladies who were sitting behind us. "He is SO handsome! Look at him!" they’d say, every time he appeared on the ice.
Jamie Salé and David Pelletier skated one song that was just amazing. This move made the skater-mom in me want to shout, "Be CAREFUL!"
And the group numbers were, as always, spectacular.
Sunday at NCTE started bright and early with a morning run, which…left a little to be desired. When I got down to the hotel lobby in my running clothes and asked about trails nearby, the hotel person said, "Yes, we have a running path. You can run on the boardwalk around the lake."
I looked out the window. The lake was more of a pond. "How far is that path?"
".8 miles," she said.
"Is there a longer route around anywhere?"
"Sure," she said. "You can run around the lake several times."
So I did. And I learned that Disney begins pumping "It’s a Small World" music out of all the bushes at full blast at 7am. This may scar me for life. That and Mickey Mouse’s face imprinted on every bar of soap, which sounds cute but is actually creepy when you notice it in the shower.
Then it was time for the Scholastic Literary Brunch, where I found my name tag at a table a few seats away from the delightful Kirby Larson, whom I’d met at a different conference last year. "Kate," she said, gesturing to another woman a couple seats over from me. "do you know Lois Lowry?"
I am pretty sure some actual squeaks came out of my mouth before I was able to articulate that we hadn’t met, but that as a teacher, reader, and mom, I know and love her books very well. Here are some photos from the brunch.
Kirby Larson and Lois Lowry both read from their new DEAR AMERICA books with Scholastic; both sound like amazing additions to the series, which is being re-released.
Kirby is wearing a 40s-inspired outfit to go along with THE DIARY OF PIPER DAVIS, which takes place in a Washington community during the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II.
And Lois Lowry’s THE DIARY OF LYDIA AMELIA PIERCE takes place during the 1918 influenza pandemic. I’m a huge fan of well-written historical fiction and just loved both of their readings.
Lisa Yee was up next…
…reading from her upcoming middle grade novel WARP SPEED, which sounds funny and poignant. She read a passage that made me cry. Look for this one in March!
And here’s Derrick Barnes, reading from WE COULD BE BROTHERS. He told us that he started writing this as a book for African American boys, but it turned into so much more — a novel about social responsibility and brotherhood. His reading was stunning, and I can already think of four or five kids in my class who are going to love this book.
Pam Munoz Ryan read from THE DREAMER and also shared a bit from her charming upcoming picture book, TONY BALONEY, about a young penguin who’s the persecuted middle child in his family. She showed us some of the adorable illustrations by Edwin Fotheringham, and as I am easily distracted by shiny things, I completely forgot to take a picture. But the book looks funny and wonderful.
Sunday afternoon, I attended a fantastic session on reading workshop in the classroom with Franki Sibberson, Aimee Buckner, Mary Lee Hahn, and Donalyn Miller. Hahn talked about trusting the phases of reading workshop (and trusting your students), something that I am still thinking about and probably need to put in its own blog post one of these days.
Miller, who is the author of THE BOOK WHISPERER, one of my favorite books about teaching in a way that promotes reading, had great things to say about helping kids to plan their reading. She asked the audience, "How many of you know what you’re going to read next?" Almost every hand went up, and Miller talked about how she encourages her students to plan their reading so there’s no lull for them in between books — such a powerful idea when it comes to building lifelong literacy.
Aimee Buckner shared a Post-It note strategy she uses with readers in her classroom (and if you know me, you know that I was bouncing in my seat by then because I LOVE sticky notes so much I should buy stock in the Post-It company.) Students write notes while they’re reading and then sort them later on — into ideas they want to think about more, ideas for writing, and ideas that no longer make sense and can be tossed out. I loved this strategy, since I often have students mark passages with sticky notes, but then I never know quite what to do with all those slips of colorful paper after our discussions. Mostly they end up on the floor and sticking to my shoes later on. So thanks, Aimee!
Lest you think the conference was all work and no play, I did take time out for a rather spectacular hot fudge sundae with my Bloomsbury publishing sister, Jackie Dolamore, who wrote MAGIC UNDER GLASS and the forthcoming BETWEEN THE SEA AND SKY (with mermaids!). Here’s a picture of Jackie and me at the Middle Mosaic.
My Twitter-teacher-friend Jennifer Ansbach (@jenansbach) came to the Middle Mosaic, too! She told me she was already back at her hotel, but when someone tweeted that I was at the Mosaic, she hopped back on the shuttle to come say hi. (Thanks, Jennifer!)
More Twitter-teacher friends who came by the Bloomsbury/Walker booth – @jenniesmith@mindi_r & @kelleemoye. Anyone who doesn’t believe in the power of social media to connect like-minded people has never been hugged by a Twitter friend in the middle of a busy convention floor. It was great to meet so many online friends in person! I wish I’d been able to snap pictures of them all. (Great to see you, too, @RdngTeach!)
Sunday evening brought the ALAN cocktail party, where authors & teachers got a chance to meet before the Monday-Tuesday conference.
I met Gary Paulsen. (Gary Paulsen!!!!)
That’s me, Danette Haworth, Lisa Yee, and Ann Angel.
And here is Lisa on a chair, taking a picture of Peepy with the ALAN crew.
Lisa also posted a bazillion photos from NCTE/ALAN on her blog. She asked everyone to balance Peepy on their heads. I saw this happen a dozen or more times and was amazed that no one questioned or even hesitated. We all dutifully and carefully balanced her stuffed Easter candy on our heads and posed for photos. I think this speaks to the power of Lisa’s charisma, and it makes me hope that she only uses her powers for good because seriously…imagine if she wanted to take over the world or something. Everyone would just say, "Okay!" and balance Peeps on their head, and follow her. Check out her blog…you’ll see what I mean.
Here’s the whole Walker/Bloomsbury crew with Mickey at the ALAN reception. From left to right, you’ll see Danette Haworth, me, Katie Fee, the mouse, Jessica Warman, Jackie Dolamore, and Beth Eller. (Note that Jackie and I strategically placed ourselves a bit away from Mickey, as we had recently discussed the whole Mickey-on-the-soap creepiness.)
Monday morning, I sat in on the ALAN sessions & got to hear great authors like Rebecca Stead, David Levithan, Rachel Cohn, and Darren Shan, and that afternoon, I presented a breakout panel on helping young writers discover their voices, along with David Macinnis Gill, Jo Knowles, and Chris Crowe. Here’s David, our fearless leader, getting ready for the workshop.
Here are my fantastic panel-mates…
…and our fantastic audience. It was so nice to see ‘s face in the front row!
The panel went well, and I was thankful I spoke first so I could relax & learn from Jo, David, and Chris, all of whom shared great ideas that I’ll be able to use in my classroom after the Thanksgiving break. After our panel, it was off to the airport (after a quick stop at FedEx to ship books home for my students. (Total cost of shipping? $78.49. But when my kids see those books Monday morning, the looks on their faces will be priceless.) And look what I saw on the way to the airport!
It actually turned into a much bigger double rainbow a few minutes later – just gorgeous! Then it was time to say goodbye to Orlando and head home to get ready for Thanksgiving. Thanks so much to everyone I met at NCTE/ALAN – old friends and new ones made the weekend so, so special. Hope everyone has a GREAT holiday!
I am home from the NCTE and ALAN conferences and pretty much bubbling over with thankfulness all around — for safe travels, new friends and old friends I had a chance to see in Orlando, new books for my classroom, and great ideas.
To top it all off, I got two great bits of book news today!
My soon-to-be-released novel SUGAR AND ICE, which comes out December 7th, is on the Winter Kids IndieNext List of recommendations from independent booksellers. My editor also emailed an amazing review that will be in the December issue of School Library Journal. So, so exciting!
On to the NCTE and ALAN magic now. (And note that when I say "magic," I’m talking about teachers, authors, and books — not Disney!) The four day trip was such a whirlwind, I decided a photo essay was the best way to give a snapshot of my conference.
First, leaving home… and it was snowing Friday morning.
This is the machine that gives you your parking ticket at the Burlington Airport. Yes, it is wearing a coat. I went from that…
…to this.
Okay…so this view from the cab was about the only time I saw the outside of a convention center. But it was still pretty.
Friday afternoon, I had a chance to wander the exhibit hall for a little while before introducing a session with Wendy Mass & Danette Haworth. I was delighted to see so many friends — and friends’ books!
Here’s Mitali Perkins signing BAMBOO PEOPLE and RICKSHAW GIRL at Charlesbridge.
I found Jennifer Brown signing HATE LIST at Little, Brown. I’m looking forward to her new book, THE BITTER END.
And look~ Tammi Sauer’s good friend Bernadette was there!
Here’s Ilsa Bick and me. I’m smiling because I have a signed copy of her new book, DRAW THE DARK, which I fear I shall need to read with ALL the lights on!
I spotted books from two of my critique partners – Eric Luper’s SETH BAUMGARTNER’S LOVE MANIFESTO at the Harper Collins booth…
…and Loree Griffin Burns’ THE HIVE DETECTIVES at HMH.
Sara Lewis Holmes, the author of OPERATION YES, had a great idea at the conference.
She took photos of authors with this sign, to be uploaded to militaryfamily.org to show military kids that the nation supports them. You can go to the site and upload your picture if you’d like, too!
I also tracked down – aka Teri Lesesne. She signed my copy of READING LADDERS and gave me this:
SpeakLoudly.org is a website and group of people speaking up against book challenges. They’re good people, doing important work for kids’ right to read – and I’m wearing my pin proudly.
Here’s Sharon Draper, signing one of my favorite 2010 books, OUT OF MY MIND.
This is the dauntless Beth Eller, Bloomsbury/Walker school & library publicist and one of my heroes, along with Katie Fee. They set up the booth, ran the signings, shuttled authors to events, and fed me when I was hungry. (Thank you, Beth & Katie! I am waving & throwing kisses.)
They also arranged a lovely authors & educators dinner that ended with this…
…as if I’d needed a reason to love them more.
On Saturday morning, I spoke on a panel about Skype author visits and then hustled back to the exhibit hall. Some friends stopped by my SUGAR AND ICE and GIANNA Z. signing at the booth, including one who was a big surprise!
This is Betsy Lynch, the teacher with whom I did my student teaching 15 years ago! She lives and works in Florida now and came by to say hi. Fellow teaching writer Cindy Faughnan came to give me a hug, too –
And so did my Twitter-teaching-book-recommending-writing friends Donalyn Miller and Paul Hankins.
Donalyn is the author of THE BOOK WHISPERER, an amazing teacher resource about getting kids excited to read.
And Paul is the Indiana teacher who runs the groundbreaking Raw Ink Online – a Ning where his high school students talk books among themselves and with YA authors.
When it was time to sign books, I got to sign with talented illustrator Leuyen Pham, who actually sketched each child for whom a book was being signed if there was a photograph available. I could have sat there watching her draw with her Japanese brush pen for hours.
Isn’t she amazing?
I also got to spend some time at the Scholastic booth, signing advance reader copies of my new MARTY MCGUIRE chapter book, illustrated by Brian Floca and coming in May.
Sunday brought the Scholastic Literary Brunch, some terrific teacher time when I attended sessions and learned a ton, and the ALAN evening get-together. I’ll share some more photos from the rest of the conference soon!
Kate-the-reader/teacher says:
