As an author, sometimes you walk into a school and know right away it’s your kind of place. Loudonville Elementary was one of those schools. And what a welcome they had prepared! Look what greeted me when I walked into the library!
Seeing book-inspired art created by young readers is one of my favorite things about school visits! We were so busy in Loudonville, talking books and reading and writing, that I didn’t actually get to take any photos during my presentations with the kids. But I did get the chance to snap a picture of some of their friends…
Before my first presentation, I made a special visit to the morning kindergarten class to read them a story. They were the first-ever real-life kids to hear me read my upcoming picture book, SEA MONSTER AND THE BOSSYFISH, and it was so much fun! After I left their classroom, I heard they’d gone outside to hang out with their ducks. Turns out they’d raised baby ducks from eggs, and the ducks were just getting bigger, wanting to explore their world a bit. I had a chance to sneak outside and spend a little time with them, too, before my workshops started!
The ducks were a little nervous…but the kids at Loudonville were all super-friendly. And great readers, too! Many thanks, Loudonville Elementary staff and students, for an amazing day at your school!
I’ve been knee deep in book deadlines and a secret research trip for an upcoming project, too, but I can’t let another day go by without saying a BIG thank you to the staff and students of Cobbles Elementary School in Penfield, NY, where I spent a magical day with readers a couple weeks ago.This was an extra-special visit because it’s the school where my sister-in-law Linda teaches.
Marty McGuire’s teacher, Mrs. Aloi, is named for Linda. The students at Cobbles loved hearing about that!
Here I am with the ORIGINAL Mrs. Aloi!
In addition to giving presentations for the K-5 students here, I got to spend lunchtime with some terrific book club readers who came with lots of questions!
The library staff at Cobbles has a wonderful tradition – visiting authors sign a leaf on this amazing quilt.
This school has had so many great visitors that choosing a tree-neighbor was a tough decision, but ultimately, I choose a leaf next to Bruce Coville.
I’ve read his Magic Shop series out loud to both my students and my own kids, and I always notice something new and wonderful when I read. Bruce also spoke at the very first children’s writing conference I ever attended, so getting to sign a leaf next to his was a pretty neat moment for me.
Thank you, Cobbles Elementary kids & staff, for making my day at your school such a special one!
Many, many thanks to EVERYONE who donated to KidLit Cares for Oklahoma! Together, we raised more than $3000.00 for Red Cross Disaster Relief, to be used where it’s so urgently needed right now.
And I have some great news! Thanks to the generosity of all the authors who offered up books in the spirit of this donation drive. we have a signed book as a thank you gift for every single person who donated! If you’re one of the people who donated during our window and you emailed me your receipt, I’ll be getting in touch via email to get an address for your signed book. And…if you’d like to make any requests (MG, YA, or picture book – or even if you want to toss out a few titles you’d love), I’ll see what I can do. Obviously, I can’t maeke promises about specific books, but I can do my best to match you with a title you’ll love.
Our GRAND PRIZE WINNERS ARE:
Bob Forbes (who made the highest donation & will receive his choice of the thank you gifts!) , Samantha Cote and Nikki Lofton – who will each receive one of the other two thank you packages.
OTHER WINNERS OF SIGNED BOOKS:
If you’re one of the other winners (that’s you if you donated at least $10 and emailed me your receipt!) you can actually go ahead and email kidlitcares@gmail.com right now with the following information:
1. Your mailing address (must be a U.S. address) where you’d like the book sent
2. Any requests – if you’d like to list your top five titles, or a genre or something like that. Again – I can’t make promises, but I’ll do my best. You can see the list of donated books here.
3. If you’d like the book signed TO someone – and the donor was the author – let me know to whom you’d like it signed, too.
Author friends… Many of you have donated to the Red Cross and/or donated signed books for our KidLitCares for Oklahoma donation drive, so first of all…thanks! Some of you also wanted to know about sending books to Oklahoma to help libraries and schools affectd by the recent EF5 tornado. Here’s an update on that.
Aerial view of damage – photo via OK National Guard
The Moore Public Library was very close to the storm’s path but was not damaged, which means the library is an amazing resource and sanctuary for displaced families right now. They say they do not need books for the library at this point, but they would LOVE to have some signed books to give away to kids enrolled in their summer reading program. There is not a need for used books or large-scale donations but if any author/illustrator friends would like to send a signed book or two, perhaps with a quick message of hope and support, that would be welcome and wonderful. I’m sending along signed copies of HIDE AND SEEK and SUGAR AND ICE.
The Pioneer Library System will collect the books & drive them to Moore to be put directly into kids’ hands. Any extra books will be shared with teachers who need to replenish their classroom libraries.
Here’s the address:
Pioneer Library System
Attn: Kate Lyon
1210 McGee Drive
Norman, OK 73072
Again – this is an invitation for authors & illustrators to send signed books that you’d like to see distributed to kids in the Summer Reading Program. Please do NOT send boxes of used books or other large-scale donations at this time. If there’s a need for that down the road (and there may well be as schools prepare to rebuild), that will be a separate effort.
Yesterday, while I was talking about books and writing with an amazing group of 4th and 5th graders in Western New York, another group of elementary school students took shelter in their school, clinging to walls, huddling in the protective arms of their teachers as a tornado swept through their city. Later on, I saw the rescue crews on the news, and my heart ached for all of those families.
I spent time in the Oklahoma City area when I was researching my weather thriller, Eye of the Storm, and the people were so welcoming and wonderful. Those of us who weren’t in the storm’s path may be in a position to help now. So here’s a chance to do that.
Instead of pulling together an auction like we did to benefit the SuperStorm Sandy KidLitCares relief effort, I thought we’d try something faster, because Oklahoma needs help right now, given the magnitude of damage from this week’s EF5 tornado. Please consider making a donation to the American Red Cross Disaster Relief Effort now. If you donate at least $10, I’ll enter you in a drawing to win a signed book.
I’m donating some of my books, and some other authors are doing the same – not because a book giveaway is the real reason to make this donation but because it’s a way for the children’s literature community to promote the effort and say thanks to those who decide to donate. I’m hoping that we can also donate signed books to the library system that serves families affected by the tornado, either to add to their collections or to distribute to displaced families. More on that when things settle down some…but here’s the KidLitCares Donation Drive information.
To be entered in the KidLitCares for Oklahoma Book Giveaway:
You’ll receive an email receipt from the Red Cross. Forward that receipt to kidlitcares@gmail.com, and you’ll automatically be entered in the drawing for one of our donated signed books! You can see an ever-updating list of donated signed books below!
On June 7th, I’ll draw names for as many books as we have donated. I’ll contact you via email if you win so that you can provide a mailing address for the author to mail your signed book. Because our authors are donating postage, books can be mailed to US addresses only. (Sorry!) Again – the deadline is 12pm EST on June 7th.
***NEWSFLASH 5/22 2pm : We’ve just had a MEGA-DONATION FOR A GRAND-PRIZE GIVEAWAY!!
One of my amazing publishers, Chronicle Books, has just donated TWO great big prize packages for KidLitCares for Oklahoma Red Cross donors. One is a collection of great Chronicle YA titles, and the other is a spectacular picture book package. So here’s what we’re going to do…
Whoever makes the LARGEST Red Cross donation via KidLitCares before noon EST on June 7th will get to choose one of these two packages as a thank you gift. The other package will be given to one of our $10 or more donors, chosen in a random drawing. That way, there’s incentive to give BIG if you can – as well as incentive to give whatever you can, even if your heart is bigger than your wallet. 🙂 Check out these great titles…
Chronicle Books YA Books KidLitCares Thank You Package
PRISONERS IN THE PALACE by Michaela MacColl
GIRL MEETS BOY by Kelly Milner Halls
THE SPACE BETWEEN TREES by Katie Williams
THE ORPHAN OF AWKWARD FALLS by Keith Graves
Chronicle Books PICTURE BOOKS KidLit Cares Thank You Package
HIS SHOES WERE FAR TOO TIGHT by Daniel Pinkwater and Calef Brown
WUMBERS by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and Tom Lichtenheld
BEARS! BEARS! BEARS! by Bob Barner
IT’S A TIGER by David LaRochelle and Jeremy Tankard
AN EGG IS QUIET by Dianna Aston and Sylvia Long
DUCK! RABBIT! by Amy Krouse Rosenthal and Tom Lichtenheld
FLORA AND THE FLAMINGO by Molly Idle
CHLOE INSTEAD by Micah Player
Update: 5/24 – Another Mega-Donation from Boyds Mills Press – this will be given away as another grand prize in our drawing!
WORDSONG Book Basket from Boyds Mills Press
Cowboys by David L. Harrison
Bug Off by Jane Yolen
Running with Trains by Michael J. Rosen
If You Were a Chocolate Mustache by J. Patrick Lewis
Grumbles from the Forest by Rebecca Kai Dotlich and Jane Yolen
Face Bug by J. Patrick Lewis
Please donate – and help us spread the word about KidLitCares for Oklahoma by sharing this link on Twitter, Facebook and wherever else you have friends!
This is a thank you note mixed with a confession. Read on, and you’ll understand.
First, I have to say that I loved your talk at the New England SCBWI Conference and was thrilled to finally meet you in person.
So thank you for that. But that’s only part of the thank you. Before I get to the rest, I have to do the confession part.
So…you know that poem you have on your website? The one that explains to teachers why you can’t accept any more invitations for school visits this year? It starts like this:
My phone is ringing and the fax is going and sometimes I am sick (I hope you are not sick!) and my car needs fixing and I have to go to the grocery store and do the laundry and clean up messes and I am supposed to be writing a new book which takes a lot of time to think about and to write all those little words…
You might not remember this, but a whole bunch of years ago – maybe nine or ten – you got an email from a teacher begging you to requesting that you consider making an exception to your no-more-school-visits-this-year policy. It was written as a poem, too, because she thought you might like that, and she figured it was worth a try. She doesn’t have that exact poem any more, but it went something like this.
We know that you are busy
Answering your phone
And buying food
and doing laundry
and sneezing
(Bless you)
And writing books we adore..
But we love-love-love those books so much
And wondered if you might sneak away
To visit us anyway.
It would just be for a day,
And then you could go back
To your grocery-shopping
Laundry-doing, phone answering, sneezing life
(Bless you)
To write more magical stories
For us all to love.
That teacher figured it was a long shot. (She used to be a reporter and understood all about deadlines.) But your poem inspired her poem, just like that, and before she knew it, she’d gone and hit the send button.
Your schedule was too busy to visit. (She figured it would be.) But you made time to write back. You told her you loved her poem, that it made you smile.
And that made her whole teacher-day.
That teacher was me.
And that explains why I had to sit down when you tweeted this picture last week, saying you found your book in good company at the bookstore. There’s your book on the left, and beside it, Grace Lin’s book, and then mine. Roald Dahl and Karen Cushman are there, too, just for good measure.
Last Friday, I was lucky enough to be one of the two keynote speakers for Vermont’s annual Dorothy Canfield Fisher Conference, a full day celebration of books and reading. When this invitation landed in my email a while back, I have to admit that I did a little happy-dance. First, because Vermont teachers and librarians are some of the nicest, funniest, most dedicated people you’ll ever meet. And second, because the other keynote speaker was Barbara O’Connor. I left home at the crack of dawn so I’d arrive in time for Barbara’s morning talk, and it was so worth it. She talked about realistic fiction for kids. How real should it be? Barbara’s keynote was funny and thoughtful and got me thinking about my own writing, too.
Barbara and I have chatted back and forth on Twitter and Facebook for years, but this was the first time we’d ever met in person, unless you count 20 seconds on an escalator once. I was at a big conference –NCTE or IRA or something like that — and heading up the escalator to one of my sessions, when I saw Barbara on the other side of the railing on the down escalator. “Barbara, hi!” I called and waved wildly in the way that only true author-stalkers wave. Barbara waved back and said hi but now claims to have no recollection of this. So we’ve decided to call this our first meeting.
One of my favorite things about this conference is the number of kids who are invited to present sessions alongside their teachers and librarians. I was sad that I didn’t get to sit in on all their sessions, but I did catch a glimpse of some Camels Hump Middle School students giving book talks to tables full of teachers and librarians. They all handled themselves so beautifully, and it was clear that when you love books, there really are no age boundaries. We’re all just book people.
Another happy conference moment came when I had time to look through the books on next year’s DCF List. That’s Vermont’s Children’s Choice Award, and the nominations this year include many of my favorite titles from 2013. Seeing friends’ books on display at a conference is always fun — like spotting the actual friends through a crowd of people — so I couldn’t resist snapping a photo.
Many thanks, Vermont teachers and librarians, for such a wonderful, warm welcome at this year’s DCF conference. I loved spending the day celebrating stories with all of you!
I’m not a big recipe-sharing person online, but today is one of those days… In a little while, I’m giving a Skype historical fiction writing workshop for a school in Vermont, and later I have a virtual author visit with 2nd graders in Ohio. I’m on deadline for a new book that I’ll be working on, and the kids have after-school activities that will have them eating dinner at all hours. It’s a Busy-Day Crockpot Turkey Stew kind of day.
This is one of my go-to recipes when I’m busy at home or heading out of town for an author visit in the morning and want to have dinner ready for the family later on. It’s hearty and super-quick — about ten minutes prep time — and makes a big batch.
I know a lot of my blog readers are also busy writers, teachers, librarians, and moms, so I thought I’d share. The directions are simple:
THROW ALL OF THESE THINGS INTO YOUR BIG CROCK POT:
5 or 6 turkey breast cutlets, cut into chunks
2 packages of potato gnocchi (I use this kind…but you can use whatever you like)
64 ounces of chicken broth (I use two of these, but again…whatever)
A bunch of chopped garlic (2 tablespoons or more if you love garlic)
About a cup of chopped onions
Half a package of frozen corn
Half a package of frozen peas
Half a package of those matchsticks-cut carrots
A couple good handfuls of dried cranberries
Give it all a good stir. It will look kind of like this…
Set your crock pot for 7.5 – 8 hours on low. Go write your books or teach your students or whatever else you need to do. The starch in the gnocchi will make a lovely, thick stew while you’re off doing interesting things. Serve it with some salad and a crusty loaf of bread, and dinner’s good to go. This is my big, mom’s-probably-out-of-town-for-two-days batch. If you have a smaller crock pot or don’t want leftovers, just split everything on the ingredients list in half.
I spent this weekend at the New England SCBWI Conference, which is always an amazing opportunity to talk writing and learn about craft as well as a chance to see so many friends. This was the first regional SCBWI Conference I attended back in 2007, and I so remember working up the courage to say hello to Jo Knowles and Loree Griffin Burns, both of whom I recognized from their blogs. Now, I’m lucky enough to count both as friends, along with so many other amazing writers whose company I enjoyed this weekend. If you’ve never been to a writing conference but want to give one a try, I highly recommend this one.
A highlight this year was getting to clap for Jo when she accepted her 2012 Crystal Kite Award for PEARL. I was sitting in the back, so Jo is tiny in this photo, but I promise you, she’s there, and she’s smiling.
I presented two workshops at this year’s conference – one on revision and one on mystery writing. Here are the fantastic writers who attended my revision workshop, hard at work…
And here are a couple of them in a more active writing activity, an emotional role-play that we used to replace cliched body language.
We talked about using maps, timelines, and charts as revision tools. After the session, Michelle Cusolito came by my signing table to show me the timeline she was using to keep track of events in her novel-in-progress. Michelle and I share a deep and abiding love for really big paper…
I had a few people waiting with books when I arrived for the author signing, so I dug out my pens and got right to work. I kept wanting to say hello to Dawn Metcalf and Hazel Mitchell and see what they were doodling on their tablecloth at the next table over. But every time I started to get up, someone else came with a book. Finally, I got to see their masterpiece — a fantastical interpretation of…my signing line, complete with a wild array of characters holding books!
Above: Hazel & Dawn with their masterpiece!
I promised to share my workshop slideshows here so attendees could reference them later on. (If you weren’t at my sessions but want to check these out, feel free. You’ll just have to make up my words and imagine me next to the screen, talking and waving my hands around enthusiastically.) Here’s REAL REVISION, and here’s WHODUNNIT…AND HOW TO DO IT WHEN IT COMES TO WRITING MYSTERIES FOR KIDS.
Many thanks to the organizers of this year’s amazing conference and to everyone who came to my workshops or took the time to say hello in the lobby or a busy hallway. Being part of this community of writers is truly one of the great gifts of writing for kids!
The first book in the series, THE STORM, follows a German Shepherd named Shep as his owners are forced to evacuate their home during a hurricane, leaving Shep behind. Here’s the publisher’s summary:
When a hurricane forces his family to evacuate without him, Shep the German Shepard is confused. Where is his boy? Will he ever return? And what will Shep do in the meantime, now that the extra bowls of food — not to mention all those tasty things he found in the big cold box — are gone?
Then another dog shows up at Shep’s window and convinces him to escape. There’s food outside, and a whole empty city to explore. Shep just wants to go home . . . but the adventure of a lifetime is just beginning.
Shep is a great character with a troubled past (he used to be a fight dog and has flashbacks to those days), and kids will relate to his struggles to deal with the other dogs he encounters in a city that seems to have been abandoned by most of its human residents.
I know that this book has been a beloved read-aloud in some classrooms, but I’m surprised it’s not used in more — especially because of the natural text-to-text connections kids can make reading THE STORM along with some truly riveting nonfiction accounts of pets’ ordeals during Hurricane Katrina. In fact, Dayna says on her blog that she was inspired to write this series after a friend went down to New Orleans to rescue trapped pets after Katrina, and after she viewed a documentary called MINE, about people trying to track down lost pets after the storm.
There have been a number of great articles written on this topic, too, and that’s a natural opportunity for teachers to create a fiction/nonfiction pairing for their readers. Here’s an excerpt from the discussion and resource guide I created for THE STORM that gives an example of how that might work:
Nonfiction Connections: Write a persuasive letter to pet owners and emergency preparedness crews, explaining what you think should happen to pets when people need to evacuate an area due to severe weather. Use details and examples from THE STORM as well as information from the articles “Saving Pets from Another Katrina” and “Will Your Animal Companions Be Protected in a Disaster?” and to make your points and lay out what you think is a solid plan for pets in the case of an emergency.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.7.9 Compare and contrast a fictional portrayal of a time, place, or character and a historical account of the same period as a means of understanding how authors of fiction use or alter history.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.4.1 Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.5.1 Quote accurately from a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.6.1 Cite textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.7.1 Cite several pieces of textual evidence to support analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RL.8.1 Cite the textual evidence that most strongly supports an analysis of what the text says explicitly as well as inferences drawn from the text.
One of my amazing publishers, Chronicle Books, has just donated TWO great big prize packages for KidLitCares for Oklahoma Red Cross donors. One is a collection of great Chronicle YA titles, and the other is a spectacular picture book package. So here’s what we’re going to do…
