Category: Uncategorized

If you’re a regular reader of this blog, you know I’m a card-carrying revision geek. My  book for teachers, REAL REVISION: AUTHORS’ STRATEGIES TO SHARE WITH STUDENT WRITERS, features interviews with more than forty authors about how they revise. From time to time, I also like to feature blog interviews on the topic of real revision…the nitty gritty, make-the-book-better strategies that some of my favorite authors use when they’re revising a project.

Today, Ammi-Joan Paquette is here to talk picture book revision with a focus on her brand new book. PETEY AND PRU AND THE HULLABALOO!

Kate: First of all, congratulations on the new book! Tell us a little about PETEY AND PRU – where the idea started and how the text has changed from its first draft to the published book as you revised.

Ammi-Joan: Thanks, Kate! The original inspiration for PETEY AND PRU AND THE HULLABALOO was drawn from my lifelong love of words. I’ve always been the type of person who keeps an “awesome words” page in my notebook/file on my computer. Then one day, a listserv I belong to started swapping and sharing their favorite words—so many of these were ones I loved, too. And seeing them stream by one after the other got me thinking, “What if I could put together these words that are so fabulous to say aloud, so they could form a story?” The idea grew from there.

My original manuscript consisted of just those words I had chosen, strung together in story order, but with the bulk of the work being carried by my italicized art notes in the margin. My editor loved the book idea, but wasn’t sure the words-only approach was the best. With his encouragement, I built an actual narrative story around the words, which I am now so much happier with.

Kate: So what was your biggest challenge in revising this book?

Ammi-Joan: This book was a challenge in that its whole concept was to build a story around words for which kids don’t know the meanings. Put like that, it does seem a bit counterintuitive! But what I tried to do, first in the writing and later in the revising, was to make the story context self-evident enough that the words could be learned just from the story reading. (And, of course, once the story was illustrated by the luminous Joy Ang, the pictures carry a huge part of that load as well.) There is, of course, a glossary in the book—but I really believe that the best way to learn new words is by seeing them in action. And that’s what I tried to do here.

Kate: I think picture books can be tough to revise because they’re so concise. Like me, you write for a wide range of ages. How do you find revising a picture book is different from revising a novel?

Ammi-Joan: With a novel, I think the hardest part of revision is often harnessing the willpower. It’s making yourself sit down and put those words on paper. It’s all about sheer hard work and time and effort. With picture books, the process is more delicate. There is so little space, and so much that has to be taken into account—story arc, character growth, subtext, rhythm, wordfeel, and more. With picture books, the bulk of the work is done in the pre-writing, so I find I need long stretches of just letting the ideas simmer, trying on different solutions, brainstorming, sticking with it. It’s more of a mental than physical process, of putting yourself in the place where lightning will strike and that perfect idea will float right down on your page, the one that will bring your story together just right.

Kate: Will you share a favorite revision strategy when it comes to picture books?

Ammi-Joan: Free-writing and brainstorming is a strategy I find really helpful when I’m stuck on a PB revision. I’ll open a document and start talking to myself about what I need to do in this new draft. I’ll make lists whenever I can, write out the problem in different ways, try out crazy ideas that I don’t even think will work. Because it’s a mental/creative/imagination block often, more than a physical one, anything I can do to stir up my ideas and get the juices flowing helps toward the end result.

Kate: Thanks for joining us to talk revision today! 

I support independent bookstores. If PETEY AND PRU AND THE HULLABALOO is on your must-read or holiday shopping list (and it really should be!) please consider asking for it at your local indie, or check out IndieBound to find a store near you.

It’s been so much fun interacting with classes reading MARTY MCGUIRE for this year’s Global Read Aloud. Students brainstormed some great questions for this week’s Q and A session!

Here’s the brainstorming chart I talked about in this week’s video. Note that “Stuff I like/find interesting” also includes things that scare me, which can be great material for writing. And Place I love/want to visit also includes places that I think would be interesting as settings, even if they’re not places I really love to spend time (like the doctor’s office!).

 

Once I’ve made my lists, I start mixing and matching. What if I wanted to write a story about snakes? I could set that story in a desert…and maybe someone lost in the desert could be bitten by a venomous snake, making it a survival story. Or what if the snake story were set in an airport? What if snakes were being transported from one zoo to another…and what if they escaped in the terminal? That could be a funny story OR a scary story, depending on the approach. The possibilities are really endless, and I’ve found that this is a fun way to come up with ideas that are fresh and unexpected. Give it a try and see what you come up with!

I’ll be back with our final MARTY MCGUIRE Global Read Aloud Video Q and A session next week. If your class would like to ask a question, please post a comment on this blog post (not last week’s!) no later than Wednesday 11/6 so that I have time to make the video. Remember to include the teacher’s name,  school, city/state/country, and your question. Please limit questions to one or two per class so that I can answer as many as possible. It helps if you look at which questions have already been asked to avoid repeats,  and questions need to be posted by teachers rather than individual students. Thanks – and I’ll see you next week!

Classrooms all over the world have been reading MARTY MCGUIRE as part of the Global Read Aloud this moth, and kids are coming up with some terrific questions for our Video Q and A sessions!

Here are a couple links that may be of interest to classes who want to know more about the real people whose names came up in this week’s video.

Mahatma Gandhi

Jane Goodall

And you should also look for this book in your library – it’s one of my favorites!

I’ll post another MARTY MCGUIRE Video Q and A session next Friday. If your class would like to ask a question, please post a comment on this blog post (not last week’s!) no later than Wednesday 10/30 so that I have time to make the video. Remember to include the teacher’s name,  school, city/state/country, and your question. Please limit questions to one or two per class so that I can answer as many as possible. It helps if you look at which questions have already been asked to avoid repeats,  and questions need to be posted by teachers rather than individual students. Thanks – and I’ll see you next week!

This week’s MARTY MCGUIRE Video Q and A session for the Global Read Aloud is up a little early, since I’m traveling starting tomorrow. I’ll be visiting Nashoba Brooks School in Concord, MA for writing workshops on Friday and then heading to Providence to speak & sign books at the Rhode Island Festival of Children’s Books and Authors. If you live near there, I’d love it if you’d come by the festival to say hello in person!

For now, though… here are your answers to this week’s questions!

One more thing for those who asked about Marty’s teacher. Mrs. Aloi is actually named after a real person, my terrific sister-in-law, Linda Aloi, who teaches in the Rochester, NY area.  Here we are together the week I visited her school last year!

If you’d like to submit a question for next week’s video Q and A session, please leave a comment on this post (not one of the earlier ones…because I won’t find it) by WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 23RD.  Later questions may be answered in comments but won’t make the video because I need time to edit & upload. Thanks!!

You’ve all had such terrific questions, and I wish I could do just fly around the world and visit every single one of your classes to talk about Marty some more. But if I did that, I wouldn’t be able to finish the new books I’m working on this fall. Next week, we’ll have another Video Q and A session, though. And teachers…if you’d like your class to have the opportunity to order personalized, signed books after your Global Read Aloud experience, please drop me a note via my contact form, and I’ll send you an order form for my local independent bookstore – I sign there often, and they offer free shipping for orders over $50.

And finally, for the class that wanted to know more about the scene where Marty’s mom uses a noose tool to catch Sparky when he’s escaped in the house…

http://nwco.net/0530-StepThreeNonlethalToolsAndTechniques/5-1-DirectCapture.asp

I’ll post another MARTY MCGUIRE Video Q and A session next Friday. If your class would like to ask a question, please post a comment on this blog post (not last week’s!) no later than Wednesday 10/16 so that I have time to make the video. Remember to include the teacher’s name,  school, city/state/country, and your question. Please limit questions to one or two per class so that I can answer as many as possible. It helps if you look at which questions have already been asked to avoid repeats,  and questions need to be posted by teachers rather than individual students. Thanks – and I’ll see you next week!

It has been a most exciting autumn for Marty McGuire and me. Marty’s first chapter book adventure, MARTY MCGUIRE, was selected as the 2013 Global Read Aloud title for Grades 1-3, which means that classrooms all over the world are sharing her story. This makes my author-heart very, very happy indeed. It also makes my author-email-in-box a very busy place. I’ve been enjoying all the conversations I’m having with classes reading the book, the back-and-forth discussions on Twitter, and the Skype visits.

At this point, my free Skype visit schedule for this fall is mostly full, though, so I wanted to offer something else for classes with whom I may not be able to connect via Skype.

Marty McGuire Video Q and A

Starting today – on this very blog post – classes reading MARTY MCGUIRE as part of the Global Read Aloud can submit questions in the comments section of this blog, and I’ll choose a whole bunch of them to answer in a video that I’ll share the following Friday. We’ll do this until the Global Read Aloud wraps up in mid-November. Sound like fun? I think so!

Note: This post is closed to comments now. To ask a question for Video Q and A, please go to www.katemessner.com/blog and leave your question on the latest Q and A post!

If you’d like to submit a question to be considered for next week’s video, please leave a comment on this post that includes these things:

1. The name of the school & teacher’s name

2. City/State/Country where your school is located

3. Your question!

 

Note: If your comment doesn’t appear right away, don’t worry – and please don’t post it again! I moderate comments, and it takes me a little while to do that when I’m writing. But don’t worry. I’ll find it!

 I won’t be able to answer every question via video, but I’ll sneak in as many as I can and try to answer the rest in blog comment replies, okay? Our first Video Q and A session will be posted on my blog (www.katemessner.com/blog)  on Friday, October 11th!

In the mean time, if your class is enjoying MARTY MCGUIRE, you’ll want to check out Marty’s second adventure, MARTY MCGUIRE DIGS WORMS (available now!) and the forthcoming MARTY MCGUIRE HAS TOO MANY PETS, which comes out this winter from Scholastic.

I’m getting a lot of MARTY MCGUIRE mail these days, since it’s the Grades 1-3 selection for this year’s Global Read Aloud, and I thought it would be fun to share a little news about Marty’s upcoming adventure!

MARTY MCGUIRE HAS TOO MANY PETS!

After visiting a sanctuary for retired lab chimpanzees, Marty wants to follow in the footsteps of her idol Jane Goodall and help with their care. But “adopting a chimp” is expensive, so Marty and her third-grade pals hatch a plan to raise money by holding a talent show at school and opening a pet-sitting business in Marty’s basement. It turns out that each pet has a personality of its own, and wrangling them is much harder than Marty expected. How will Marty keep her latest great idea from going to the dogs?

Kids with an eye for detail will be able to gather some more clues from the cover, especially when it comes to guessing which animals Marty will have as house guests. I only have personal experience pet sitting one of the cover critters…

This is Hermione, the hedgehog my friend Marjorie used to have as a pet. Hermione was indeed a guest at our house while her own family was on vacation a few years ago. She was adorable but prickly in both body and personality, though I think the latter was just a result of missing her usual people.

MARTY MCGUIRE HAS TOO MANY PETS comes out from Scholastic in February. If you know it’s on your books-to-buy list, I’d love it if you’d pre-order through your local independent bookstore.

On a stormy Friday last February, I flew to Ohio for a school visit and the amazing Dublin Literacy Conference. The school visit…well…was one of the quieter ones I’ve had (school was closed for a snow day, so we had to connect via Skype later on) but the conference itself was a whirlwind of bookish enthusiasm. One of the other speakers was Jarrett J. Krosoczka of LUNCH LADY fame, and during one of our breaks, he interviewed me about CAPTURE THE FLAG for his Sirius XM Live Show “The Book Report.”

That show is available online now, along with Jarrett’s interviews with Tomie dePaola, Norton Juster, Grace Lin, Amy Ignatow, and Dav Pilkey. (Fun fact for Dav’s fans… My Scholastic editor for the MARTY MCGUIRE series also edits CAPTAIN UNDERPANTS. So they’re like…literary second cousins or something.)

Anyway, you’ll want to check out Jarrett’s Book Report archives, especially if you’re a teacher or librarian. The interviews average around ten minutes each and are great for author studies or just to share along with a read-aloud.

As many of you know, I spend a lot of time doing Skype author visits with readers at schools and libraries around the world. I schedule these season by season, after I have my real-life schedule for deadlines, travel, and family commitments. My Fall 2013 Skype visit schedule opens September 10th (that’s today!) which is also release day for my new book, WAKE UP MISSING.

WAKE UP MISSING is one of those books that kind of defies genre. It’s probably best for readers age 10 and older, , and if I had to define it, I’d call it a “concussion-swamp-survival-DNA-science-thriller.” If you’re intrigued, you can learn more about the book and read the first four chapters for free here. If you know you’re going to buy this book for your classroom or library or just for your family, it would be GREAT if you did so this week (first-week sales actually help authors a lot). I support independent bookstores and hope you will consider buying your books at your local bookstore, too.

Now…about those Skype visits. Here’s all the information you’ll need to set one up for your readers. I offer two kinds of Skype visits:
 
SKYPE AUTHOR PRESENTATIONS – 45 minute presentations that include visuals, short readings, discussions of writing, research, and revision, an optional mini writing workshop with kids, and time for Q and A. Students may read one of my books ahead of time; this is optional but does make the experience more meaningful.

Cost: $200

Availability: I offer paid Skype presentations on a flexible basis as my schedule allows  – please email me (kmessner at kate messner dot com) with a few dates/times that would work for you and we’ll figure something out.
 
SKYPE Q AND A SESSIONS – 15-minute Q and A sessions with groups that have read one or more of my books and prepared questions in advance. Please note that these free sessions are often scheduled back-to-back, so they must be via Skype only and can’t be scheduled with other videoconferencing platforms that would take time to launch & set up.
 
Cost: free – (one per school, per year – additional sessions may be scheduled as paid visits)

Availability: 11:00-2:30 EST on the following days only:

September 25

October 3

October 11

October 24

November 5

November 14

 

Note: If you would like to book a Q and A session for a different date/time or using a videoconferencing tool other than Skype, it may be scheduled as a paid visit (see above).

 

With both kinds of Skype visits, I’ll be offering the opportunity for students & teachers to order signed, personalized books through The Bookstore Plus in Lake Placid, with books for fall visits to be delivered in late November. If this is something that your group chooses to do, I’ll send an order form for you to distribute. I’ve worked with The Bookstore Plus for Skype author visits in the past. They do a great job taking orders and offer free shipping anywhere in the U.S. for orders over $50.

Here’s how to schedule your Skype visit:
(Sorry to be picky, but I’ve found that having a strict format for these emails saves loads of time, which leaves me more hours to write books and chat with your students, too!)

Please email me (kmessner at kate messner dot com) answering ALL of the following questions in a numbered list:

1.     What’s your name, and where do you teach/work? Please include your city, state, AND time zone.

 

2.     Which type of visit (free 15-minute Q and A or longer paid presentation) would you like to book?  (If you need more than one Q and A session, the first is free, and the second may be scheduled as a paid visit.)

3.     What are a few dates/times that would work well for a Skype chat?  Please list your TOP THREE choices for days/times, based on the available dates listed above.  If your first choice is available when you email, it’s all yours. I’ll get back to you within a few days to confirm.  Note: My life runs on Eastern Standard Time – if you’re in a different time zone, please remember to account for that.

 

4.     About how many students will be in the group, and what grade(s) will be included?

5.     What book(s) will the students have read prior to our Skype chat? (required for free chats, optional but recommended for paid visits)

6.     What is your username on Skype? (If you don’t have one yet, let me know. You can do this part later.)

7.     Please provide a classroom/library or cell phone number where I can reach you on the day of the visit in case there are any technical/weather issues. This needs to be a phone that is with you and turned on, on the day of our visit. It is the number I will call at the time of our chat if there’s any trouble connecting via Skype.

8.     Do you plan to distribute a book order form to offer students the opportunity to order signed books through The Bookstore Plus after our Skype visit?  This isn’t required, but it’s appreciated and helps add to student excitement.
 

Note: Right now, I’m booking free visits through November 14^th and paid visits through December. I’ll begin booking winter/spring visits in early January. Let me know via email if you’d like to be on the list to be notified when those dates open up.