What happens to our middle school readers?

One of my former students, a freshman now, came to visit last week.  She had lots to say about high school, most of it positive, but when I asked her what she’s reading these days, she shrugged. "I don’t have time to read with all the homework. We got assigned Of Mice and Men for English, but I only read part of it," she admitted.  "I got a good grade on the test, though."

Two years ago, she was one of my readers…one of the kids who passed books around with her friends. One of the kids who finished a book every few days and came into my classroom asking "What else do you have for me?"  She hasn’t read any books this year.

"Do you want to borrow a really good book?" I asked her.

"That’s okay," she said. "I won’t have time to read it, seriously."

I nodded.  "I’m giving you one anyway."  I reached behind my desk, where I had my copy of this…

Lucy Christopher’s STOLEN isn’t on my classroom bookshelves because as much as I love it, I feel like it’s just a little old for most of my 7th graders right now.  But I knew it would be perfect for my former student.  I gave a quick book-talk… I told her how much I loved this book…how a girl is kidnapped from an airport when she’s about to leave on vacation with her family, how the kidnapper, who is very good looking, drugs her coffee and she wakes up in the Australian Outback, a captive. I told her how beautiful the writing is, and how troubled I was when I found myself empathizing with the kidnapper, just as the main character seemed to be falling for him, too.

"Just take it," I told her, "and keep it until a vacation or something when you have time. It’s okay."

She left, headed home to work on math homework, and I went home, too, a little sad.

On Saturday morning, this note was in my in-box:

OMG, so i started the book you gave me last night at 7pm and COULDN’T put it down! so i finished it at like 3 in the morning, because like if i didn’t finish it, i wouldn’t have been able to sleep. at all. this was such an amazing book!  so, thank you so much for getting me back into reading… 🙂

It made my whole weekend.

But it also made me a little melancholy, wishing there were more freedom for our high school kids to choose the right book at the right time. Is Of Mice and Men the best choice because it’s Steinbeck?  Because it’s considered a classic?  And is there room to talk about student choice in higher level English classes?  I hope so.  Christopher’s STOLEN isn’t a light, fluffy read. It’s full of SAT words.  It’s sophisticated, intense, and thought provoking.  And besides that, she actually read it.

Thank you, Natick Fit Girls!

I had a terrific Skype author visit this weekend with a particularly active group of young women — the Natick Fit Girls.  It’s a crew of 4th and 5th grade girls who read and discuss a book while they train together for a 5K race. Their coach contacted me a few months ago after she selected The Brilliant Fall of Gianna Z. as their book for this fall.  Gianna Z. is a runner herself, so it was a perfect choice.  The kids were energetic, bright, and lots of fun during our Friday evening Skype chat!

While I might not normally dress in jeans and a t-shirt for an author chat, this was a special shirt…the team sent me one of their signature bright green Natick Fit Girls T-shirts, so I couldn’t resist wearing it for our virtual visit!

This is one of the things I just love about Skype chats. I had already had dinner with my own family and was able to chat with this great group from my kitchen table while they were piled in their coach’s living room. 

We talked about Gianna and the choices she makes throughout the book.  They wanted to know what happened to Gianna after the book ended. (I told them that readers get to decide that!)  We talked about their race and my running, which I admitted has been a little sporadic because I’ve been staying up too late revising my next book.  But they inspired me.  Girls, you’ll be happy to know that I got out and ran 2.6 miles in my neighborhood this afternoon before I got back to that marked-up manuscript I showed you!

Thanks, Natick Fit Girls and Coach Colleen, for a terrific Skype visit.  Keep running and reading!

Sugar and Ice Kirkus Review (and another happy-dance!)


Messner’s real-life experience as the mother of a competitive skater * is evident in her skillful portrayal of the sport’s demands. The story follows Claire through eight months of intensive training that leaves her little time for family, friends and relaxation. Claire’s self-doubt and inner turmoil over whether to continue with the Silver Blades after her scholarship ends is both realistic and sensitively depicted. The solidarity among some of the skaters is nicely contrasted with the mind games and meanness of others. The addition of a light romance and the satisfying conclusion will appeal to those who have skating fantasies of their own.                    

~from the Kirkus review

*Actually, the reviewer got this part half right. My daughter figure skates – but not competitively…unless you count when she wants to race with me during public skating at our local rink. Then she’s very competitive.

Thankful Thursday – Revision and The Quiet of the Woods

My thankfulness this week comes in black and white…

…because I’ve been working on two big revision projects.  This is a couple pages from EYE OF THE STORM. They…err…need just a bit of work.  But revision is my favorite part of the writing process, so as messy as this looks, it’s great fun.

I’m also reviewing edits on my revision book for teachers.  It’s called REAL REVISION: AUTHORS’ STRATEGIES TO SHARE WITH STUDENT WRITERS, and it will be available this spring, sooner than I’d thought.  (They are quick over there at Stenhouse!)

And amid all that black and white, I’m thankful for this…

The colors of fall in Northern NY.  It’s been a busy one for my family, so we’ve been making it a point to take walks in the woods on weekends.  It’s kind of amazing, how peaceful talking together and just…breathing fresh air together can make everyone. 

Hope your weekend is wonderful and full of color, too!

Brian Floca’s MOONSHOT winner!

Last week, I was pretty much bubbling over with excitement when I was able to share the news that the incredibly talented Brian Floca will be illustrating my MARTY MCGUIRE chapter book series with Scholastic. Thanks to all those who commented and entered the drawing for a signed copy of his book MOONSHOT.  

The winner was chosen by an extremely magical process…drawn not out of a hat, but a crock pot.

I may have mentioned that I am now the proud owner of a crock pot. (This is not as exciting as having Brian illustrate, but it’s still exciting.  It made chicken and potatoes while I was teaching today.)  So I put all the names in the stoneware from the crock pot and had my son take a break from writing code for his latest iPhone application to choose a winner.

Ta-Da!!!

 …a signed copy of MOONSHOT is headed your way!  Congrats – and thanks again to everyone for all the good wishes. I hope to have a cover to share very soon – MARTY MCGUIRE is a simultaneous hardcover/paperback/audiobook release from Scholastic on May 1st!

Burlington’s Great Pumpkin Regatta (In which my husband paddles a giant pumpkin in Lake Champlain)

"So what do you have going on this weekend?" my parents asked during a recent phone call.

"Oh, not too much," I answered. "We’re just busy Sunday. Tom has to paddle a pumpkin across Burlington Harbor."

"Paddle it across, like in a rowboat?  Or what?"

"No…he’s getting in a giant, hollowed-out pumpkin and then paddling it around as if it’s a kayak."

There was laughter on the other end of the phone line.

But it’s true.  And I now have photographic evidence from the Great Pumpkin Regatta hosted by the Lake Champlain Regional Chamber of Commerce. 

For those who may not know, Tom’s the local TV meteorologist, so he was part of the celebrities race.  It went very well…until he got close to the finish line and encountered a reporter from a competing TV station splashing & blocking his way.

Then things got ugly.

And look…he was still smiling even after being dumped in the lake!  (Note the special-occasion, Doppler radar swim trunks. That is high fashion for meteorologists…)

The crew had to bail out the capsized pumpkins for the next round of racers.

It really was a perfect fall day for the event.  And you have to admit…

…Burlington knows how to celebrate Halloween in style.

Questions for a Tuesday Afternoon…

Warning: These are random, and some are more meaningful than others. I’ll start with the most important one…

1. What happens when kids with autism aren’t kids any more?  My nephew Danny, who has autism, is 16 now, so my brother Tom and his family have that question on their minds a lot. It’s prompted them to become more active with the Organization for Autism Research. Tom has run in the Marine Corps Marathon for the past couple years, and this year,  Danny is running the 10K along with his dad to raise money for OAR.  They have a fund raising site set up – it’s here, if you’d like to help, too.

2. Will the Dewey Decimal System still exist in some form in the year 2050?  I’m trying to decide because there’s a library scene in my dystopian set in that year. I’m betting yes…kind of.

3. Do you have any healthy crock pot recipes that you love?  I bought my first crock pot today, mostly because my kids’ schedules now require that they be picked up and dropped off places when I’d normally be cooking dinner.  So I have the crock pot now. What should I put in it?

4. I got a final book jacket for SUGAR AND ICE in the mail from my editor. Do other authors run around the house wrapping their book jackets around every hardcover within striking distance when they get the first copy, or is that just me?

5. THE CANDYMAKERS by Wendy Mass is up next in my to-read pile – can’t wait! What are you reading right now that you love?

Dystopian World Building Worksheet – Part III

This is the third in a series of posts about the world-building process I’m revisiting as I work on edits for my 2012 dystopian novel EYE OF THE STORM. Part one of my dystopian world building worksheet– with an introduction to the concept of world building — is here.  Part two is here. And here’s part three…

What social ladders exist? Who has power and why? What are the tangible symbols of that power? Who is at the bottom of this society’s social ladder, and why?

What kind of ethnic diversity exists?

What role, if any, does religion play in this society? What are the dominant religions? What religions are marginalized?

What do international/inter-group relations look like? What wars are going on?  What countries or groups are fighting, and why? Which ones are allies? Which are enemies?

What climate and weather patterns are prevalent?

What does agriculture look like? Where do people get food?

What foods are considered standard fare? What foods are delicacies, and why?

In working on EOTS, a book with monster tornadoes, that weather question was obviously one that I spent a lot of time with before I ever started writing. But I’m going far beyond climate and weather in this new round of world-building (Can I still call it world building? I did that before I wrote…  Perhaps this is world-remodeling.)  And it’s interesting to me to explore how that climate & weather issue would shape the rest of this society’s world.

More world building questions soon.  Back to the colored markers & Post-It Notes now…

Super-quick post on a Wednesday: Revising, Reading, and More

1. I’m revising.

I was up way top late with colored markers and lots of timelines and notes and critique comments and lists and scribbles. This is my favorite part of writing, so even though the kitchen table looks like a tornado hit, I’m happy.  Sleepy…but happy.

2.  I’m reading this right now –

It’s funny and awesome so far.

3  And did you enter my Marty-McGuire-illustrator-announcement-win-a-book contest?   You have until Saturday!

4.  My SCBWI group meets at our local coffee shop, Koffee Kat, tonight. Then I’ll be revising again, fueled by the best mocha lattes in the history of lattes.

More dystopian world building stuff later on. Have a great Wednesday!

Dystopian World Building Worksheet – Part II

This is the second in a series of posts about the world-building process I’m revisiting as I work on edits for my 2012 dystopian novel EYE OF THE STORM. Part one of my dystopian world building worksheet– with an introduction to the concept of world building — is here.

Even though my editorial letter for EOTS arrived a week ago, I haven’t touched the manuscript yet. Instead, I’ve been writing answers to the questions on this world building worksheet I created to get myself thinking in the right direction for this revision.  Here are some more of the questions that I included:

What are the non-negotiable rules of this world?   Are there any exceptions?

What laws does society impose?  What happens to people who break them?

What rules or laws does the main character break or challenge?  Why?  What are the consequences?

What kind of government is in place?  Consider local & national levels as well as international cooperation. How does government impact citizens’ everyday lives?

What official document is in place to define that government? If it is a future version of a current document (i.e.Constitution), how has it changed? What amendments have been added?

What rights do people have?  What rights are they denied, and why?

What are this society’s most closely held values?

It’s interesting to note that when I created this worksheet, I was pretty sure some of the questions had nothing whatsoever to do with my novel. I answered them anyway, and it was actually one of those questions that led me to one of my best ideas for the revision. It’s not a huge change, but it’s a tiny detail that fits perfectly and resolves an issue my editor had raised. Had I not journaled about that "irrelevant" question, I doubt that idea would have surfaced.Tomorrow, I’m printing out my completed worksheet document with major breakthroughs and ideas highlighted, and it will be time to get back to the manuscript.

I’ll share another set of questions soon — the bunch that deals with diversity within the society.