If you read this blog regularly, you know that I talk mostly about writing and nature, travel and revision and books and how to get kids reading.  None of those things are especially controversial or political. I have readers and friends and family members who wear both red and blue when it comes to politics, and I like that. I like hearing new ideas and getting a chance to think about views that are different from mine.

But the epidemic of teacher-bashing in our society – in our newspaper editorials and Tweets and blogs and status updates –needs to end.

I recently saw a Facebook post from someone whose work I admire a lot that said New York City teachers “should be ashamed of themselves” for not agreeing to a new evaluation system in time to save the state funding attached to it. The post went on to suggest that if those teachers really cared about children, this never would have happened.

But here’s the thing… That new evaluation system is required to base a good portion of a teacher’s evaluation on students’ standardized test scores, a practice that has exactly zero research to support its effectiveness.  In a statement on his refusal to extend the deadline for negotiations in New York City, Governor Cuomo said, “Since we established one of the strongest teacher evaluation models in the nation last year, 98% of school districts have successfully implemented them.”

Successfully?

Really?

Ask some of the teachers in those districts about the “success” of this new program, dubbed APPR for Annual Professional Performance Review.  In many of the districts that Cuomo is citing as “success stories,” the system is proving to be at worst, damaging to school climate and true literacy efforts, and at best, woefully unsustainable in terms of the time taken for each evaluation on the part of both teachers and administrators.

When I see colleagues from the building I used to teach in – one that was long known for its vibrant interdisciplinary teaching and strong student literacy program – they smile and ask how my writing has been going. And then they all say the same thing: “You got out just in time.”

I loved teaching so much.  And that makes me so sad.

Last night, I attended a kids’ music event at the school where I used to work and saw my former principal, a lovely woman who cares about kids and works hard.  I smiled at her and said, “How’s it going?”  And her response was a shrug, “Well…you know…”  She shook her head. She looked exhausted, and she looked sad.  She didn’t look that way before her school district cheerfully met the governor’s deadline by implementing its new teacher evaluation system.

Successfully, Governor Cuomo?  Visit some of these schools. Talk to some of these teachers and administrators.  Ask the kids how excited they are to be starting test-prep in October for an April exam. And ask them what books they’ve read and loved lately. And when some of them can’t answer, ask yourself why.  And while you’re at it, take a look at teacher absenteeism rates in the proud districts with the most ambitious APPR plans.  I hope you’re tracking that when you look at “success.”

But let’s get back to the issue of this deadline. Who’s the bad guy here?

Imagine for just a minute that we’re not talking about educational politics. Let’s take it to the school yard.

Imagine that a powerful kid wants another kid to do something that he or she considers to be wrong – cheating by giving answers on a homework assignment, for example.  And that powerful kid threatens to take the first kid’s lunch money if he or she doesn’t comply by a certain deadline.

In the school yard, we call that bullying. We don’t tolerate it. And I sure hope we support kids who stand up for what they know to be right.

There are many people – teachers and principals and parents alike – who are taking up the fight against APPR-style evaluations that rely on unreliable tests to evaluate teachers.  They should not be ashamed of themselves. They should be proud.  We should be proud of them. We should be standing beside them.  And if we value the kind of teaching that makes kids lifelong readers and passionate learners, then we should be supporting our teachers every chance we get.

Teachers are the good guys.  They’ve proven it over and over again – giving up lunch hours to work with struggling students, buying books with their own limited paychecks to share with emerging readers, and yes…shielding students from violence.  How very quickly we forget.

So I hope you’ll join me in a promise. When people are bashing teachers –  whether it’s on social media or at a dinner party – I’m going to speak up.

Every. Single. Time.

I must admit… I’ve been a bad blogger lately because all  my words have been going into a few projects I’ve been working on. So now that I’m here, how about if I tell you a little about those?

This one’s all done…

HIDE AND SEEK is my follow up to CAPTURE THE FLAG, and in this second mystery, a sacred Silver Jaguar Society artifact goes missing, and Anna, Henry, and Jose go with their families to the rainforest of Costa Rica to try and track down the priceless Jaguar Cup before it falls into the wrong hands forever.  I love this book (maybe even more than CAPTURE THE FLAG – am I allowed to say that?) and can’t wait for it to come out in April.

After HIDE AND SEEK, Anna, Henry, and Jose will have one more adventure, and I’m working on that book right now. It’s called MANHUNT, and it pits the Silver Jaguar Society against the most nefarious art theft gang in all of Europe in a race to save the most beloved works of art in the world. This book takes place in some of the brightest and darkest places in Boston and Paris and was so much fun to research that I wish I could hop on a plane and do it all over again. But the great thing about writing books is that you get to relive your research trips with every draft.  It may be below freezing and drizzly where I live, but in my writing room this week, it was Paris in August, right down to the breeze on the Seine and the wafting smell of banana-Nutella crepes.

I’ve also been working on a couple proposals for new projects that are too new to be talked about but have been haunting my dreams and my notebooks for a while.

I don’t have a new book coming out until Spring, but I do have a short story to share now.  A while back, Scholastic asked me to write a piece of original fiction for their Storyworks magazine, and I jumped at the chance to try something a little different from what I usually write. It’s science fiction, and it’s called “They Might Be Dangerous.”

Scholastic has made much of the February/March issue of Storyworks available online (they’re great that way) so if you’d like to read my story, you can click here to find it.   Scroll down to find “They Might Be Dangerous,” and then you can click on it to download the story as a pdf to read and share.

Confession: Reading aloud is one of my favorite things in the world. When I was a kid, I was the one forever waving my hand to volunteer to read to the class, and still, I’ll pretty much read to anyone who will listen.

For the past couple 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 Skyping with classrooms around the world to share the joy of reading aloud. World Read Aloud Day 2013 is March 6th, and I’d love to do this again, to help interested authors, teachers, and librarians connect.

A suggested World Read Aloud Day Skype visit goes 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 some 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

Sound like fun? If  you’re the author of a traditionally published* book and you’d like to volunteer to do some 10-15 minute Skype visits with classes on March 6, 2013, please send me an email via the contact form on my website (you can get there by clicking on the little envelope on the right side of the screen).  Deadline: February 1st, please, so people can plan.

• Put WORLD READ ALOUD DAY VOLUNTEER in the subject line
• Include the following information in the body of your email:
  • Your name
  • Your publisher
  • What ages your books fit best (Elementary, Middle School, or High School)
  • What time zone you live in (EST, CST, etc. This is important for scheduling!)
  • Hours you’ll be available for Skype visits on March 6, 2013 (10am-2pm EST, for example)
  • Your website (and email if your website doesn’t have contact information)

So a sample email from an author volunteer will look like this:

Kate Messner

Scholastic

Elementary/Middle School

EST

11am-2pm EST

www.katemessner.com

 

Please use this exact format; it will make it easy for me to copy & paste your entry to the blog post, and then I will love you forever.

I’ll pull all the author volunteer information together in a blog post for early February and share with teachers & librarians who want to Skype with read-aloud authors on March 6th.  Teachers & librarians will contact authors directly to request visits.  If you’re on the list for a while and then realize your schedule for the day is full, it will be helpful if you email me to let me know that so that I can cross you off and you don’t keep getting requests.

*Yes…I’m limiting this volunteer round-up to traditionally published authors who write children’s and YA books. That’s not because I have anything against self-publishing or ebooks — it’s simply to limit the scope of the project so it doesn’t overwhelm me. If someone else would like to create a similar list of self-published and/or ebook author volunteers, I’ll happily link to it here.  Thanks for understanding!

WAKE UP MISSING, my Fall 2013 MG novel with Walker/Bloomsbury is just about put to bed. I spent much of the holiday break reviewing copy edits, and I have to admit, as excited as I am for this book to be out in the world, I was a little sad to let it go because it’s been so much fun, so interesting to work on.  The cover design team has done a spectacular job, and I can’t wait to show you what they’ve created.  But for now, I’ll share a little about the book.

Meet Quentin, a middle school football star from Chicago…

Sarah, an Upstate New York girls’ hockey team stand-out…

Ben, a horse lover from the Pacific Northwest…

And Cat, an artistic bird watcher from California.

The four have nothing in common except for the head injuries that land them in an elite brain-science center in the Florida Everglades. It’s known as the best in the world, but as days pass, the kids begin to suspect that they are subjects in an experiment that goes far beyond treating concussions….and threatens their very identities. They’ll have to overcome their injuries – and their differences –  to escape, or risk losing themselves forever.

 Researching this book meant lots of reading and multiple trips to the Florida Everglades to soak up the setting and details, so I’d have a better sense for what it might be like to attempt an escape through that unforgiving landscape.

 

My daughter and I went kayaking with alligators — twice — once in the early morning hours and once in the dark of night, when their eyes glowed red in our head lamps.

I went hiking in the Fakahatchee Strand with snakes like this one…

…and made it through all those experiences with nary a scratch.

But sometimes, while you’re working on a book, the heaps of laundry really pile up in your bedroom. And so sometimes, when you finish copy edits, you resolve to clean that room as soon as the manuscript is back in the mail. And if you’re not careful, you might bend over really fast to pick up a stray sock from your floor and forget all about that very solid oak bedpost that’s been living in that corner of your room for your entire married life. And it might connect with your head and cause you to see stars and sit down for a little while thinking, “Wow, that hurt!”  And two days later, when you develop a sudden and intense headache on that side of your head, you’ll probably need to go to the hospital for a CT Scan to make sure your brain isn’t bleeding. And you’ll learn that you are just fine, but you do have your first-ever concussion.

On a positive note…I got to see pictures of my brain, which is pretty cool.

My friend Irene thinks this should be the author photo for WAKE UP MISSING.

My post-concussion headache has abated now, but for a few days, it allowed me to empathize with my poor novel characters in a way I’d never planned.  I’m calling it accidental research. And also…validation. For years growing up, I told my mom that I was sure cleaning my room was somehow hazardous to my health.  Now I know, I was right all along.

Last weekend, I had an author signing at The Bookstore Plus, a terrific independent bookstore in Lake Placid. In addition to signing for holiday shoppers in the store, I spent nearly three hours personalizing & signing books for students whose classes had Skype visits with me this fall. The Monday after my event, Sarah, one of the store owners, sent me a picture of all the books, boxed up and ready to be shipped to schools all over the country – from Georgia, to Maine, to California and everywhere in between.

Many thanks to Sarah, Marc, and Cherise for handling the phone calls, paperwork, and organization for this, and to all the teachers and librarians who offered their students the chance to order personalized, signed books.  They’re on the way!

There’s a bit of snow on the ground where I live now, and the Christmas lights are up, leaving me to wonder how on earth it’s gotten to be December already. But December is good because it means family and Christmas cookies and the smell of evergreen in the living room, and cuddling on the couch laughing at The Grinch.

Consider this a catch-up blog since I’ve been quiet lately, busy writing and Skyping and signing.

First, the writing…

I’m working on the third book in my Silver Jaguar Society mysteries with Scholastic. It’s called MANHUNT, and it takes place in all the brightest and darkest places in Boston and Paris, and that’s all I want to say right now, other than that I am having SO much fun writing it. The first book, CAPTURE THE FLAG, came out this summer, and the second, HIDE AND SEEK, is coming out April 1st, but the cover is already online, so I can share it with you.

In other writing news, WAKE UP MISSING, my Fall 2013 novel with Walker/Bloomsbury is off to copy edits, which makes me very happy. I’ve seen a draft of the cover, too, and this makes me even happier because it’s a stunner. I can’t share just yet, but I’m excited.

And the third book in my Marty McGuire chapter book series with Scholastic is with my editor there now. It’s called MARTY MCGUIRE HAS TOO MANY PETS! There will be animals and shenanigans of all kinds. It comes out in Spring of 2014.

Now, the Skyping…

I’ve done more than forty Skype visits in the past two months, talking books and writing with hundreds of readers from Pennsylvania to Calgary. Here’s one of my groups from this week – a crew of Gwin Oaks Elementary School kids in Georgia. Can you guess which book they read?

And finally, the signing…

It’s been a busy fall for me with book events, but I’m getting ready to hibernate for a couple months. I have one last event this weekend — a book signing at The Bookstore Plus in Lake Placid, NY on Saturday, December 8th from 11am-12pm. If you’re local, I’d love it if you’d stop by to say hello – and if you’re a far away friend who would like to have one of my books signed and personalized as a holiday gift, you’re more than welcome to order from afar. Just give the bookstore a call any time this week – it’s 518-523-2950 – and let them know which books you’d like and how you’d like them signed. They’re great about shipping them out in plenty of time for gift giving. (And if you’re one of my Skype schools that ordered books, I’m signing yours this weekend, too – look for them next week!)

Hope your December is off to a great, sparkly start!

I’m still catching up from last week…Thanksgiving and the NCTE Conference and ALAN Workshop in Las Vegas.  But now that I’m digging out from the turkey bones and piles of laundry, I wanted to share a few more photos from an amazing week.

After three days of speaking and signing at NCTE, I had one last event before heading home — an ALAN breakout session called “Creating Ripples: Writing for Kids in the Middle” with some of the authors who inspire me most.  We had a wonderful afternoon talking with teachers about why writing for middle school kids is such a privilege for us.  Here’s our panel:

I loved hearing the other ALAN speakers in the main ballroom, too — so many amazing ideas and so much inspiration. But I also spent a little time away from the conference center on the Monday afternoon of ALAN.

 

This is Valley of Fire State Park. My friend & fellow TED2012 speaker Angie Miller decided that a little fresh air would do us good after Monday’s morning workshop, so we rented a car and headed out to climb rocks, spot wildlife, ogle 4000-year-old petroglyphs, and just explore. Here’s some of what we found.

 

Valley of Fire is a truly stunning landscape — one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen with so much space to roam. It was so very welcome after the bright lights and loud music of Vegas.

Between the wonder of the desert and the magic of so many book lovers at NCTE/ALAN, I came home feeling refreshed and full of hope. The world is a pretty amazing place, full of some truly awesome people.

Imagine a conference center full of thousands of teachers who love books, reading, and writing more than anything.  Add in a hundred or so enthusiastic authors, an enormous exhibit hall full of amazing books, and a music-pulsing, neon-light flashing hotel lobby, and you can begin to imagine this year’s NCTE Conference and ALAN Workshop in Las Vegas.

 My conference began with a signing of EYE OF THE STORM, followed by a wonderful dinner with the Walker/Bloomsbury crew, including my fellow KidLitCares organizer Joanne Levy. Here’s the whole bunch of us showing off the team’s latest books.

 

(From left to right: Linette Kim, Susan Vaught, Michelle Naglar, me, Emily Eason, Donna Knoell, Megan Miranda, Shannon Hale, Sarah Maas, Jessica Warman, Lindsey Leavitt, Caroline Abbey, and Beth Eller)

The next morning, I headed to my first speaking engagement, where I met up with my fellow panelists, Donna Knoell, Anita Silvey, who talked about THE PLANT HUNTERS, which I started reading on the plane home, and Lindsey Leavitt, whose upcoming book GOING VINTAGE looks so funny. Here’s Lindsey…

 

My long-time online friend, author April Henry, stopped by my signing at Chronicle Books to say hello.  We figured out that we’ve been chatting over our blogs since 2006 or so but never connected in person until Saturday.

 

I spent an hour at Chronicle, signing SEA MONSTER’S FIRST DAY along with lots and lots of copies of OVER AND UNDER THE SNOW, which was on the NCTE Notable Books in the Language Arts list this year.

I also signed copies of REAL REVISION at Stenhouse, and the very first advance reader copies of HIDE AND SEEK at Scholastic.

This one’s the second book in the Silver Jaguar Society Mysteries with Scholastic, and it comes out April 1^st.

 I got to spend much of Sunday morning with the Scholastic team and several hundred amazing teachers at the Scholastic Literary Brunch.  We shared excerpts from our new and upcoming books, using a readers’ theater format, which was so much fun. I got to read from CAPTURE THE FLAG, Blue Balliett’s HOLD FAST, and Eliot Schrefer’s ENDANGERED, along with Blue, Eliot, and David Levithan.

 After brunch, it was time for the session celebrating NCTE’s Notable Books in the Language Arts, where OVER AND UNDER THE SNOW was one of thirty books honored.  I was happy to see my friend Linda Urban’s HOUND DOG TRUE on the big screen, too!

Sunday night brought a Scholastic family dinner at a great Mexican restaurant whose name eludes me.  A few of us decided to forego the cab ride and walk back to our hotel instead.  Las Vegas is very shiny.

 

I’m not much of a fan of casinos and loud music, but the lights were pretty, and Las Vegas sure knows how to do dessert.

Monday kicked off the amazing, author-filled ALAN Workshop, along with a little time away from the city lights, climbing rocks at Valley of Fire State Park.  More photos to come in a future post, but now…it’s time for the quiet of home and some turkey this weekend.  Hope you’ve all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Earlier this week, I attended the biggest Scholastic Book Fair in the country – absolute heaven for a book geek like me!

This is just part of the set-up at the amazing Montclair Kimberley Academy in New Jersey, which is celebrating its 125th birthday this year. There were SO many books, and Scholastic brought in authors to speak to the students each day. I was one of the featured presenters, along with Trent Reedy, Lisa McMann, Loren Long, Matthew Reinhart, and Dav Pilkey.

Because this whole part of New Jersey was hit hard by Superstorm Sandy, I wondered for a while if this scheduled event would happen, but the Scholastic folks assured me that the school had power, even though most of the families’ homes did not, and the book fair would be a welcome break from storm clean up.  I knew there were lots of people in this area who couldn’t even think of getting to a book fair, though, so I checked with a Newark Red Cross shelter to see if they could use some books and things for the kids. They said yes – and told me they sure could use some socks and sanitary napkins, too –  so I loaded up my suitcase with books and notebooks…

…then stopped at the store to buy sanitary napkins and lots and lots of socks on my way to the airport. I can only imagine what the TSA inspectors thought of my stuffed-to-bulging bag full of books, socks, and feminine supplies. I had the chance to drop it all off at a shelter not far from the airport in Newark and spend some time talking with the coordinators there, who were still friendly and smiling a week after the storm.

There were plenty of smiles to go around at the book fair, too.  I loved chatting with these kids about books and reading and their own writing, too. Many were working on stories of their own and were eager to tell me about them.

Thanks, Montclair Kimberley Academy and Scholastic, for a wonderful book fair day!