Hello, friends! Welcome back to Teachers Write! We’ve spent the past two weeks reflecting, mining memories, and searching for moments that reconnect us with our roots. Today, we’re going to look ahead, but before we get to this week’s prompt, I have a couple of housekeeping items.

First of all, thank you SO much to everyone who ordered a copy of Dr. Fauci: How a Boy from Brooklyn Became America’s Doctor! I’m excited to share the news that our picture book biography of America’s top infectious disease specialist debuted at #4 on the New York Times Bestseller List!  If you still need a signed copy for your classroom, you can order from my local independent bookstore, The Bookstore Plus – and then download our teaching & discussion guide for this book. Educator Melissa Guerrette created the guide and included so many thoughtful conversation starters and cross-curricular extension activities.

Some of you were able to join us for last week’s Teachers Write Authors Happy Hour, and that turned out to be an amazing and open conversation about writing and reading in a time where nothing feels normal. If you missed it, don’t worry – we recorded the whole thing so you can watch this week. Here’s the link for the video!

I want to say one more thank you to Tracey Baptiste, Linda Sue Park,Linda Urban, and Jen Vincent for joining us for this powerful conversation. Please check out their books and order for your classroom if you don’t already have them!

One of the things we talked about in our Zoom session was the importance of play in writing and in all creative pursuits. And this week’s writing prompt captures that spirit. We’re going to spend some time brainstorming story ideas, using one of my favorite strategies of all time – three column brainstorming. It’s designed to get a writer thinking about the sorts of unexpected connections that can spark truly unique story ideas. Here’s a video I made to walk you through it – and (bonus!) this works for writers of all ages, so you’ll be able to share it with your students, too, once you’re back writing together.

Remember – this one is just for fun. It’s play time! We’re going to scribble down whatever comes to mind, and then have fun mixing up ideas for possible stories. Ready? Get some paper or your laptop/tablet and have fun!

Be sure to visit Jen’s blog this Thursday to check in with her and your fellow campers – maybe you’ll even have a story from this week’s brainstorming to share!

Have a terrific week!

Kate


One more note…

This isn’t part of Teachers Write, but some of you have let me know that you’ve been inspired to work more seriously on picture book biography manuscripts this summer, so I wanted to let you know about a separate online workshop I’m offering for writers later this month.

“Out-of-the-Box Biographies” is a 90-minute intensive that focuses on the craft of writing picture book biographies. It’s designed for writers currently drafting or revising picture book biographies and for those who would like to explore this genre. Registration is $49.

In this virtual workshop, we’ll take a look at the research and craft behind bestselling and award winning picture book biographies, with a focus on choosing and researching subjects, experimenting with structure, building themes, and avoiding common pitfalls that cause editors to pass on a manuscript for this competitive market. The workshop will conclude with time for Q&A. ASL interpreting will be provided for both the live webinar and the recording.

Topics include:

-Choosing subjects that capture the attention of kids and teachers (and editors, too!)

-Finding sources for historical subjects

-Using time-period & setting details to flesh out a story

-Researching & writing about living people

-Choosing a structure

-Developing themes

-Creating rich back matter

-Avoiding common pitfalls in a crowded market

The webinar will be recorded, and a video replay will be made available (until August 31) for those who cannot attend live. A link to the video replay and handouts will be emailed to all registrants within 24 hours after the live webinar. If you’d like to join us, you can sign up here. 

Hello, friends! Welcome to week two of Teachers Write! How did you do with your breathing and reflecting last week? I’m hoping that taking a little time to slow down, to center yourself and draw on some peaceful memories, has helped you to destress at least a little after this long and unusual school year. This week, we’re going to do more of that reflection, taking you back to your roots. And we’re going to do that using the same strategies that authors use when we write picture book biographies for kids.

I mentioned that week that I have a new picture book biography of Dr. Anthony Fauci (if you’d like a signed copy, you can still order one here), and this week, I want to share some behind-the-scenes writing process stories from that book – strategies that are useful not only when we’re researching someone else’s life but when we’re reflecting on our own and searching for strength in memories.

So first…here’s how Dr. Fauci: How a Boy from Brooklyn Became America’s Doctor came to be. I had the idea for this book while I was working on another project about the childhoods of famous scientists. When I heard a story about Dr. Fauci riding his bike around Brooklyn to deliver prescriptions for the family pharmacy, I knew his story would make a great picture book biography, all on its own.

I spent last summer doing research, reading interviews & articles on Dr. Fauci, along with his own speeches, papers, and other writings. In the fall, I reached out to his office to request a Zoom interview, knowing it would be probably be a long shot. It was at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, and I was requesting time from possibly the busiest man in the country. But education is essential to public health, and scientists are often generous with their time when it comes to inspiring future scientists. It was worth asking, right?

Dr. Fauci’s office staff at NIAID got back to me that week, and we set up an interview for late November, at the end of one of his long work days. I’d done all of my other research, so I was able to use that time to focus on things that aren’t part of the public record. I asked questions that I knew kids would wonder about, too. Dr. Fauci talked about his childhood, the experiences that shaped him. He talked about his dad’s advice to approach problems with an open mind. About Sunday dinners with his grandfather, an Italian immigrant.

He talked about school and sports, too. How he played stickball in the streets and learned to get along with different kinds of people.

When it came time for illustrator Alexandra Bye to begin her work, I sent along some photographs that Dr. Fauci’s office had shared as references, showing what he looked like at different ages and what his family members looked like. Some of those photos were pretty great – from the high school basketball court and even Dr. Fauci’s first Communion – so we asked for permission to include them in the book’s back matter.

And throughout the illustration process, more questions came up. What color were the uniforms for Dr. Fauci’s high school basketball team? What about their rivals?

The research for a project like this continues through the whole book-making process. I’m in awe of the work Alexandra did to get illustrations ready for a late-June book release and to make sure we got all the details right. If you want to see her amazing art, too, you can pick up a copy of the book at your local bookstore or library.

But let’s talk a little more about interviewing subjects for a biography like this. When I do research, I’m always searching for the seeds of my subject’s future life in their childhood. What formative experiences helped young Anthony grow up to be the Dr. Fauci we see on the news at night? To find out, I ask open-ended questions and then a lot of follow-ups to probe deeper. “What did you do for fun as a kid?” might be followed by something as simple as “Stickball! Would you tell me more about that?” and “Do you remember any games in particular?”

It’s an invitation to reminisce – to take a memory walk among the smells and sounds of childhood, to revisit voices from the past – and when people do that, they inevitably offer the kinds of reflections that come with age and perspective. As he was sharing a memory about his mom, for example, Dr. Fauci paused and then talked about how she’d emphasized, over and over, how everyone deserved respect and had a right to be heard. Having read so much about Dr. Fauci’s career in public health, I was immediately able to connect that to a news article I’d read about a time when AIDS activists protested outside his office – and when the police came, instead of allowing them to break up the demonstration, Dr. Fauci invited the protesters into his office to talk. There are connections between who we were as kids – the experiences we had and the values loved ones shared with us – and the work we do in the world as adults.

This has been an especially trying school year for teachers and librarians. It seemed as if everything was expected of you, and few people stopped to say thank you for keeping kids learning through all of the pandemic’s trauma and uncertainty. So first, I want to say that now. Thank you. Thanks for sharing stories at a time kids needed them most. Thanks for being there on their screens and holding them close with your words and your smiles, when you couldn’t hug them in person. Thanks for providing that measure of love and security and normalcy when everything else felt upside down. And I also want to lead you through a writing prompt that I hope will help you rediscover the roots of why you do what you do, why you chose this essential work.

Imagine that you’re writing a picture book biography of yourself. You have some research to do before you get started, and it begins with an interview. Are you ready?  Find a good spot to conduct this interview, maybe over tea in the kitchen or on the porch, or spread a blanket on the grass outside if you’d like. Open your notebook or laptop. And write for a while in response to these questions.

Tell me about something you liked to do for fun when you were younger. Think about when you were eight years old…twelve years old….fifteen years old.

Now choose one of those pastimes and dig a little deeper. What was it that made you feel alive and happy when you were swimming or playing field hockey or knitting?

Who taught you things that have mattered to you in your calling to work with young people? Can you remember a specific conversation, or a time when someone in your life showed you, by example, what it means to teach and share stories? Capture that moment in as much detail as you can. If there were conversations, see if you can write them out in dialogue.

Now imagine you’re watching a movie of your life story. Rewind to your childhood, and pause the video when you first notice a scene that makes you think “This person will grow up to be a teacher or librarian.” Describe that scene in as much detail as you can. Where are you? Who else is there? What sounds and smells do you notice? What’s said aloud in that space, and what’s unspoken?

If you’d like, you can take this prompt a step further and write a picture book biography – of yourself. Not to publish. Not all the writing we do has an audience beyond ourselves and our families and friends, but that personal writing has just as much value. My hope for you is that today’s writing has reminded you why you do what you do, even in the toughest of years. It’s worth taking time to honor the teacher/librarian/writer that you have become.

You’ll get another writing prompt from me next week, focused on moving forward from here. How do we rebuild after a year of difficulties and doubt? Don’t forget that each Thursday, teacher-writer-coach Jen Vincent hosts our weekly Teachers Write check-in on her blog. Stop by to share goals and reflections and get to know some fellow campers!

Have a great week!

Kate

Good morning, friends, and welcome to Teachers Write!

It’s week one of our online summer writing camp, especially for teachers and librarians (but if you’re not a teacher or librarian, that’s okay, too – we won’t tell anyone!). This was a school year like no other, and so our focus this summer is on reflecting, writing, and renewal. Ready for your first writing camp assignment?

Go outside. You can take your notebook or laptop out to the balcony or the yard or the garden, or if you want to be really fancy about it, you can go to a park or a pond or a mountaintop. But get outside. Because your first assignment for writing camp is to breathe. This year didn’t allow for a lot of that, and some of us forgot how for a while. So do this now…

Take a slow, deep breath as you count to six.

Hold it for six counts.

And then exhale slowly while you count to eight.

Now do that a few more times, until you feel yourself settle into the outdoor air. Pay attention to the sounds around you and the feel of the breeze, or the sun, or the light rain, on your skin. Take one more of those slow, counting breaths. And then, think about a time when you were growing up and you felt peaceful and whole.

I’m using the word “whole” on purpose today, because the 2020-2021 school year fractured us in some pretty dramatic ways. For many, it was a year of profound loss, and nearly everyone who spends time in a classroom or library was stretched to the limit, forced to reimagine everything, pulled in so many directions – teaching in-person, teaching remotely, serving patrons who weren’t even allowed in a building, sanitizing books, all while taking care of other people and trying to stay healthy, to be okay. It was a lot, and it takes time to pull all those fractured pieces of the self back together. So close your eyes, take another one of those deep breaths, and think about a time when you felt truly whole and at peace. Put yourself back there in your mind, and when you arrive, try to capture that time and place in a paragraph or two.

When I was growing up, the youngest in a busy family with two working parents and four kids, those moments of wholeness, of stillness, always happened outdoors. When I was eleven, we moved from our small village out to the country. Out in back of the house was an apple orchard, and if you walked through that orchard and down a hill, the path narrowed between the trees. If you kept walking downhill through the dappled sunlight, you’d come to a small wooden footbridge that ran over a creek. I’d scramble down the bank next to that bridge and turn over rocks, my hands numb in the cold water. Sometimes there were crayfish, and I’d pick them up before they could flick their tails and disappear, holding them just behind their heads so their splayed claws couldn’t reach my fingers. I’d study them for a minute and then leave them gently back at their rocks and climb back up onto the bridge, where I’d open my notebook. I’d close my eyes and breath in the smell of leaves, green and bursting overhead, brown and wet and changing on the damp bank below. I’d listen to birdsong and the rush of water over rocks, and I’d collect all of those things in words on the page, to keep for later when I needed them.

Your moment might involve a similar escape in nature, or maybe you felt whole somewhere else – on the basketball court or at the piano or in the art studio with clay between your fingers. Wherever it was, take a few minutes to transport yourself there. What does the air smell like? What sounds do you hear when you close your eyes? What do you see when you open them and look up? Spend a little time back in that place this morning. And if you’d like, feel free to share a snippet of what you wrote in a comment here.

Before you go inside, do that breathing thing a couple more times – in for six counts, hold for six, and out for eight. Remembering to breathe is always a good starting place when we need to pull ourselves back together. So try to take five or ten minutes each morning or afternoon or evening this week to step outside. Take a few of those slow, counting breaths, and see if you can add a little more detail to that scene from your growing-up years when you felt whole. Maybe there are multiple scenes – a series of moments from different years – and you can explore more of those in other paragraphs as the week goes on. But try to take a few minutes every day, even if you only get to the breathing part. Because that’s the most important thing.

Next week, we’re going to talk about picture book biographies for kids, how authors research the details and uncover how the seeds for a person’s life work and passions are often planted in those childhood moments. This is something I thought a lot about when I was doing research for my picture book biography Dr. Fauci: How a Boy from Brooklyn Became America’s Doctor (which comes out tomorrow!). 

So often, we think of careers being charted in college or graduate school, but when I research scientists like Dr. Fauci and Ken Nedimyer, the coral restoration pioneer featured in my book The Brilliant Deep. I almost always see that those seeds are planted much earlier, in small moments of wonder. It’s like that with teacher and librarians and writers, too, and that’s what we’ll look at next week, using the tools of writing a picture book biography to do some research on ourselves.

One more quick note: Teachers Write has always been, and will always be, free, but I do have a favor to ask. If you’re taking part this summer and you’re able to, please order one of my books from your local bookstore or order from mine, The Bookstore Plus in Lake Placid, NY, and I’ll sign and personalize it for you. I’ll be there tomorrow (Tuesday, 6/29) doing a store signing for my Dr. Fauci picture book, and I’d love to sign a copy for you or your classroom or library while I’m there. Just order here – and leave a note in the comments about how you’d like it signed. I’m happy to sign copies of my other books as well.

I’ve been thinking a lot about what we need as writers, in terms of self-care, in order to be able to tell stories.

Sometimes I write about real people, like Dr. Anthony Fauci, the subject of my new picture book biography, Dr. Fauci: How a Boy from Brooklyn Became America’s Doctor, or Coral Restoration Foundation founder Ken Nedimyer, who’s profiled in my picture book The Brilliant Deep.

And sometimes I write stories about characters who are Real – not real in the sense that they actual people in the news or folks counted in the census, but Real in the sense that they feel like they could be our neighbors, or the kids we teach, or that guy we saw that time at the dog park. Real in the way they hold certain truths about what it means to be flawed and vulnerable and human.

I’m going to tell you a secret today about both kinds of books: writing them well begins not with looking out but with looking in, at ourselves. And that brings me to the theme of Teachers Write 2021.

Reflection, Writing, and Renewal.

This has been a year unlike any other. And Teachers Write 2021 is going to be a different season of writing. There’s no pretending that we are the same people who gathered online just a few years ago to tackle daily writing prompts. This time we’ve lived through, this collective trauma, has changed us. For far too many, it has left literal holes in our lives – people who should be here with us are gone, careers that we loved have been swept out from under us, or faded into jobs we no longer recognize. Even those who escaped the harshest effects of the pandemic are exhausted and emotionally raw in so many ways.

It takes time to rebuild from that, and that’s the work we’ll focus on as we come together to write this summer – making time and space to reflect and renew in ways that strengthen us as writers and as teachers. One of the gifts of living a writing life is that it creates that space for us, and in looking inward, we not only begin the process of healing ourselves but also developing the insight and empathy we need to tell other stories.

Teachers Write 2021 will begin on June 28 and wrap up on July 30, with each week’s reflection and writing prompt delivered to your email inbox on Monday morning. Educator-writer Jen Vincent will also host weekly check-in posts on her blog, where those who wish can continue the conversation online, sharing reflections, writing, and feedback. And on July 8^th, everyone’s invited to a special Teachers Write Happy Hour with Authors, where we’ll chat informally about how we renew our spirits and fill the well for our writing lives during tough times.

This is going to be a no-pressure, participate-on-your-own-terms summer, so feel free to sign up, even if you think you might only try one or two prompts, or if you’d just like to watch from the sidelines. However you choose to participate, I think you’ll come out of this season of writing feeling a little more whole and with new strategies and ideas for writing that will help your students along on their journeys, too.

Join us, won’t you? You can sign up for Teachers Write 2021 here, and then look for an email from me in your in-box on Monday, June 28.

Are you ready for World Read Aloud Day 2021? We’ve put together a special video to share with readers this week, with a dozen award-winning authors sharing read-alouds from their new and soon-to-be-released books! We hope you’ll add these great titles to your classroom and home libraries!

Want to keep reading? Here’s where you can order (or pre-order) your own copies of the books!

History Smashers: Pearl Harbor (and the other History Smashers books!) by Kate Messner
Signed copies available now

Ways to Grow Love by Renee Watson
Available for pre-order – out 4/27

The Troubled Girls of Dragomir Academy by Anne Ursu
Available for pre-order – out 10/12

Merci Suárez Can’t Dance by Meg Medina
Available for pre-order – out 4/6

African Icons: Ten People Who Built a Continent by Tracey Baptiste
Available for pre-order – out 10/19

Almost There and Almost Not by Linda Urban
Available for pre-order – out 4/6

Amina’s Song by Hena Khan
Available for pre-order – out 3/9

It Doesn’t Take a Genius by Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich
Available for pre-order – out 4/13

Finding Junie Kim by Ellen Oh
Available for pre-order – out 5/4

Ancestor Approved: Intertribal Stories for Kids edited by  Cynthia Leitich Smith (includes the story Dawn Quigley shares in the video!)
Available for pre-order – out 2/11

Just be Cool, Jenna Sakai by Debbo Michiko Florence
Signed copies available for pre-order – out 8/3

Red, White, and Whole by Rajani LaRocca – Signed copies available now

Much Ado About Baseball by Rajani LaRocca – Available for pre-order

Below is information about the World Read Aloud Day author volunteer list for 2021! If you’re new to this page, I’m Kate Messner, author of more than forty books for kids, including these recent & upcoming releases.

I’m also a former middle school teacher and a forever reader. For the past few years, I’ve helped out with LitWorld’s World Read Aloud Day by pulling together a list of author volunteers who would like to spend part of the day doing quick virtual read-aloud visits with classrooms around the world to share the joy of stories.

Before we get to the list, I want to share one other fun WRAD surprise. This is a busy time for many authors, and while we wish we could visit every one of your classrooms live, that’s just not possible. So this year, I’ll be posting a special World Read Aloud Day video here, with a dozen of your readers’ favorite authors, reading aloud from brand new books (most won’t even be out yet!).

I’ll be reading from HISTORY SMASHERS: PEARL HARBOR, the third book in my illustrated nonfiction series aimed at unraveling the myths we learn about history. (It’s out January 5th & is available for pre-order now!)

I’ll be joined by Tracey Baptiste, Debbi Michiko Florence, Hena Khan, Meg Medina, Ellen Oh, Dawn Quigley, Rajanni LaRocca, Olugbemisola Rhuday-Perkovich, Linda Urban, Anne Ursu, and Renee Watson. We’ll each read a five-minute sneak-preview from an upcoming book for readers in grades 3-7. The whole video will run just about an hour, and I’ll aim to have it posted at least a day early so teachers can embed into Google classrooms, use in lessons, and share the link with families celebrating WRAD remotely.

So bookmark this page and check back on February 3, and you’ll be the very first to hear read-alouds from some amazing upcoming books!

Okay…on to this year’s read-aloud volunteer list!

WORLD READ ALOUD DAY IS FEBRUARY 3, 2021!

The authors listed have volunteered their time to read aloud to classrooms and libraries all over the world. These aren’t long, fancy presentations; a typical one might go like this:

• 1-2 minutes: Author introduces himself or herself and talks a little about his or her books.
• 3-5 minutes: Author reads aloud a short picture book, or a short excerpt from a chapter book/novel
• 5-10  minutes: Author answers a few questions from students about reading/writing
• 1-2 minutes: Author book-talks a couple books he or she loves (but didn’t write!) as recommendations for the kids

If you’re a teacher or librarian and you’d like to have an author Zoom or Skype with your classroom or library on World Read Aloud Day, here’s how to do it:

• Check out this list of volunteering authors and illustrators, and visit their websites to see which ones might be a good fit for your students.
• Contact the author directly by using the email provided or clicking on the link to his or her website and finding the contact form. Please be sure to provide the following information in your request:
  • Your name and what grade(s) you work with
  • Your city and time zone (this is important for scheduling!)
  • Possible times to connect on February 3rd. Please note authors’ availability and time zones. Adjust accordingly if yours is different!
  • Your preferred platform (Zoom, Skype, Google Meet, etc.)
  • A phone number where you can be reached on that day in case of technical issues
• Please understand that authors are people, too, and have schedules and personal lives, just like you, so not all authors will be available at all times. It may take a few tries before you find someone whose books and schedule fit with yours!

If you’re a traditionally published author or illustrator who would like to be added to the list, you can fill out this form to sign up.  Once your schedule is full, please send an email via my website contact form, and I’ll remove your name from the list. Please note that due to deadlines and other obligations, it may take up to a week for me to update.

LitWorld’s magical World Read Aloud Day is February 3, 2021 – and one of the fun traditions of this day of sharing stories is for authors and illustrators around the world to Zoom or Skype into classrooms & libraries for short read-alouds. For a while now, I’ve helped out by compiling a list of author and illustrator volunteers so teachers & librarians can connect with them to schedule virtual read-aloud sessions on that day.

Teachers & librarians: Please hold tight for right now… the list will be coming soon! Sign up for my email newsletter if you’d like to get the link in your in-box when it’s ready!

Authors & Illustrators: Are you a traditionally published* author or illustrator who would like to be listed as a WRAD virtual read-aloud volunteer? Please read the information & follow the directions below…

WRAD VISITS AREN’T LONG OR FANCY PRESENTATIONS. USUALLY, THEY LAST 10-15 MINUTES AND GO SOMETHING LIKE THIS:

• 1-2 minutes: Author gives a quick introduction & talks a little about their books.
• 3-5 minutes: Author reads aloud a short picture book, or a short excerpt from a chapter book/novel
• 5-10 minutes: Author answers a few questions from students about reading/writing
• 1-2 minutes: Author book-talks a couple books they love (but didn’t write!) as recommendations for the kids

Interested in volunteering? If you’re a traditionally published author or illustrator, just fill out this form to sign up.

*Why traditionally published? Honestly, it’s to limit the size and scope of this list because I’m one person with limited time. However, if someone else would like to compile and share a list of self-published and ebook author/illustrator volunteers, I think that would be absolutely great, and I’ll happily link to it here. Just let me know! 

As kids head back to the classroom, either in person or remotely, one of the best things they can do this fall is spend some time outdoors with a writer’s notebook. If they have phones or other cameras available, challenge them to take a photograph and write a poem about it. Here’s a short poem I wrote in a drizzle of rain on my dock this morning that can be shared as a mentor text.

An Inch of Sunrise
by Kate Messner

There was only an inch of sunrise today.
The murky purple sky turned pink,
And a thin ribbon of gold stretched over the mountains.
It lasted two minutes, maybe three,
Before the sun set backwards into the clouds.
By then it was raining, fat drops falling on my knees
But I stayed until the pink faded again to grey.

I took a photo
Because you never know when you’ll need a sunrise
And even an inch is enough to light a day.

© Kate Messner, 2020