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Before I share this morning’s Teachers Write post, would you take a minute to celebrate with me? I have a new book in the world today!

Ranger in Time: Night of Soldiers and Spies is the latest in my Scholastic chapter book series about a time-traveling search and rescue dog and takes Ranger back to the days of the American Revolution. If you’d like a signed, personalized copy of this new book or any of my other titles, just call The Bookstore Plus in Lake Placid at 518-523-2950. I’ll be signing there on Friday, and they’ll happily mail your books so they arrive next week. You can also order online & just make a note in the comments about how you’d like it signed. I’m happy to personalize books for your class or school, and if you mention that you’re part of Teachers Write, I’ll do a special inscription for you as a fellow writer! 

Okay…now on to today’s mentor text! 

Often, when we hear the word “mentor” we think of larger-than-life figures like Albus Dumbledore. But the truth is, finding a mentor is as simple as asking the question “How are you doing that?” And as writers, we can ask that question of books we love as well as people. We call those great books “mentor texts,” and we can learn so much from them by spending a little time picking them apart and looking at how they’re built.
 
Today, we’re going to take a closer look at We Are Grateful: Otsaliheliga, written by Traci Sorell and illsutrated by Frané Lessac. It’s a beautiful and lyrical picture book that’s won a pile of awards, including a Sibert and Boston Globe Horn Book Award Honors.

One of the first questions a writer of nonfiction has to ask herself is “How do I want to tell this story?” Let’s take a look at how Traci structured this look at the tradition of gratitude in Cherokee culture.

She leads with a clear, simple explanation of the book’s title and its refrain: Otsaliheliga.

And from there, the book winds its way through the seasons, looking at expressions of gratitude in fall, winter, spring, and summer. Each season begins with a similar refrain…

When cool breezes blow and leaves fall, we say otsaliheliga…

As bears sleep deep and snow blankets the ground, we say otsaliheliga…

When showers fill streams and shoots spring up, we say otsaliheliga…

As the crops mature and the sun scorches, we say otsaliheliga…

That structure – grouping the many expressions of gratitude by season – gives both author and reader a way to organize all of that information, and all of those vivid images. It’s a structure that was actually inspired by a mentor text that Traci read when she was studying picture books herself.

“I loved the structure and concept in Joann Rocklin’s 2015 fictional picture book, I Say Shehechiyanu, illustrated by Monika Filipina (Kar-Ben). It follows a child’s first experiences through the four seasons as a new sister, going to school, etc. with her saying the Jewish blessing ‘Shehechiyanu’  each time something new is experienced.”

The books are very different from one another – one fiction and one nonfiction – but that structure provided the foundation on which Traci could weave the language that paints Cherokee culture.

You’ve probably already noticed some of that carefully chosen language in the lines shared above – the way the alliteration of phrases like “cool breezes blow” and “showers fill springs and shoots spring up” evoke what’s happening in nature in that season. Did you notice the way, when you read the words “bears sleep deep,” those rhyming long-e sounds force you to slow down? Just like nature slows down when it’s time for creatures to hibernate. While this is a work of nonfiction, it’s also utterly poetic – something that makes for a magical read aloud.

In fact, if you have the book, read it aloud right now. (It’s okay. I’ll wait…) And as you do, jot down the phrases that feel particularly evocative, the places where the word choice really sing. What did you notice?

Here’s one more assignment for today. Try a little writing of your own about gratitude. Choose a season and using Traci’s structure as a mentor text, write a few lines about that season and what it means in your world, what you’re grateful for, and perhaps how you express that gratitude. Consider a repeated refrain. Consider word choice. Make that season sing.

Good morning, and welcome to Teachers Write! I’m so glad you’re writing with us this summer. Together, we’ll be working on our craft through five amazing mentor texts this summer. We’re going to start with a focus on informational writing.

Sometimes, when we’re trying to help writers choose a topic, we ask them questions like “What are you good at?” or  “What do you know a lot about?” Nearly every writer has heard the age-old advice, “Write what you know,” and while that can be a great starting place, perhaps a better question for writers of non-fiction is “What do you wonder about?”

Every one of my informational picture books has started with that sense of wonder, that big curiosity that makes us ask more and more questions. And then the answers beget more questions still.

The spark for one of my first picture books came on a school field trip. I was snowshoeing in the Adirondacks with my seventh grade students when our naturalist guide  pointed to a set of a tiny tracks that led to a hole in the snow and whispered, “Look! We’ve had a visitor from the subnivean zone!” I listened, enchanted, as she described the secret network of tunnels and caves under the winter snow. On the bus ride home from the field trip, I scribbled the beginnings of picture book, and many drafts later, Over and Under the Snow was published, illustrated by Christopher Silas Neal.

Another flash of wonder hit one afternoon while I was reading a book about Charles Darwin that included a quote from the famous naturalist’s autobiography.

“One day on tearing off some old bark, I saw two rare beetles and seized one in each hand; then I saw a third and new kind, which I could not bear to lose, so that I popped the one which I held in my right hand into my mouth. Alas it ejected some intensely acrid fluid, which burnt my tongue so that I was forced to spit the beetle out, which was lost, as well as the third one.”

If you’re anything like me, this passage fills you with questions, not the least of which is, “What kind of person thinks it’s a good idea to keep a beetle in his mouth for safekeeping?” But I had other questions, too. What kind of beetle was it? And how exactly did it get Darwin to spit it out?  Question led to question, and I discovered that later experts thought it was probably a bombardier beetle, which is known to shoot a hot chemical mist out its rear end when it’s threatened or annoyed.  Pretty neat trick, right?

That made me wonder even more. Just how many insects had secret super powers like that beetle? Lots of them do, it turns out, and that’s what my November 2019 picture book is all about. It’s called Insect Superpowers: 18 Real Bugs that Smash, Zap, Hypnotize, Sting, and Devour. Jillian Nickell brilliantly illustrated insects-with-powers that can rival any comic book superhero. And yes…Darwin’s beetle made the cut.

Talk with any author of nonfiction and deep down inside (or not so deep, for some of us) you’ll find a curious kid. And that’s very much the case with the creators of our mentor texts for this week, Traci Sorell, author of We Are Grateful: Otsaliheliga, and Patricia Valdez, author of Joan Procter, Dragon Doctor.

Traci Sorell, who is an enrolled Cherokee Nation citizen, moved from Oklahoma, where her tribe is located, to Southern California. That’s when she realized how invisible the Cherokee and other Native Nations were to most Americans. “No one in my new community knew or understood that I was a dual resident of the Cherokee Nation and the United States,” Traci shared in this Celebrate Science nonfiction post.

 “Even the tribes from the San Diego area didn’t figure into the local news or community events, and they certainly weren’t included in the school curriculum. Talk about identity crisis.”

Hungry to learn more about her tribe’s history and contributions, Traci majored in Native American Studies in college and pursued advanced degrees to learn more. We Are Grateful: Otsaliheliga, illustrated by Frané Lessac, is a book about the Cherokee tradition of gratitude that certainly fits into that “Write what you know” category. But it was also fueled by Traci’s curiosity,  and that same sense of wonder has led her to the two picture book biographies of Native women she’s writing now. 

Patricia Valdez, author of Joan Procter, Dragon Doctor (illustrated  by Felicita Sala) is a scientist as well as a writer, and curiosity has served her well in both callings. Her book started with the Komodo dragon at the National Zoo.

“My family visited him often at the zoo, and I read articles to learn more about these fascinating reptiles,” Valdez writes in this Kidlit411 interiew. “One article briefly mentioned that Joan Beauchamp Procter was the first person to describe Komodo dragons in captivity in the 1920s. I immediately had to learn more about this woman. I found out that she cared for reptiles her entire life, since she was a little girl. She also designed a state-of-the-art Reptile House at the London Zoo, which is still in use today. Plus, she pioneered new techniques to perform surgeries and care for the reptiles. She even took a Komodo dragon for walks around the zoo and helped dispel the myths surrounding these animals.”

Tomorrow, we’ll take a closer look at where that curiosity led the authors of our mentor texts and how exactly they worked to craft books that inspire that same sense of wonder in their readers. But we’ll wrap up today’s post with a short assignment:

What do you wonder about? Spend ten minutes making a list. It can be anything from Komodo dragons to how babies learn to what happens in our brains when we cry. Anything you’ve ever wondered about. Because wonderings can be the best beginnings for writing. Ready…set…wonder!

My next novel for young readers comes out early next year, and I’m excited to share the cover with you today! But first, a little about the book. Here’s the publisher’s description…

From acclaimed author Kate Messner comes the powerful story of a young girl with the courage to make her voice heard, set against the backdrop of a summertime mystery.

When Mia moves to Vermont the summer after seventh grade, she’s recovering from the broken arm she got falling off a balance beam. And packed away in the moving boxes under her clothes and gymnastics trophies is a secret she’d rather forget.

Mia’s change in scenery brings day camp, new friends, and time with her beloved grandmother. But Gram is convinced someone is trying to destroy her cricket farm. Is it sabotage or is Gram’s thinking impaired from the stroke she suffered months ago? Mia and her friends set out to investigate, but can they uncover the truth in time to save Gram’s farm? And will that discovery empower Mia to confront the secret she’s been hiding—and find courage she never knew she had?

In a compelling story rich with friendship, science, and summer fun, a girl finds her voice while navigating the joys and challenges of growing up.

Some amazing people read a very early copy of Chirp and said lovely things about it, which made me cry in the best possible way…

“Kate Messner strikes the perfect balance of joy, pain, and strength in this deftly-layered mystery about family, friendship, and the struggle to speak up.”

—Laurie Halse Anderson, Bestselling author of Speak and Shout

“CHIRP is so many things: a mystery, a family story, and a story of the power of friendship. It’s about learning to speak out when it seems the whole world would rather you shut up. Sure to be passed from kid to kid to kid.” 

—Laura Ruby, National Book Award Finalist and author of the YORK Trilogy

“Once again, Kate Messner has written a book that will be a dear and important friend to her readers. A loving and compelling ode to the joy of friendship, the many kinds of strength, and the everyday bravery of girls.”

—Anne Ursu, author of The Lost Girl

“Messner’s fantastic book will resonate with readers across generations, who will appreciate Mia’s steady determination. Her story will inspire others to chirp. Loudly.”               

–Sara Hines, Eight Cousins Bookstore

“Chirp is the book that will pass student to student, with whispered recommendations, and barely take up any space on my library shelves. Chirp is the book I wish I had had as a kid.”

—Katherine Sokolowski, Grade 7 Teacher, Central Illinois

“Kate Messner has written a timely, honest, heart-filled story that will invite courageous conversations and empower young readers to use their voices about boundaries, consent, harassment, and gender equality.”

—Melissa Guerrette, Grade 5 Teacher, Oxford, ME

“I wish I had this book when I was a young girl. I wish I had a book that would have let me know that I wasn’t alone, that I shouldn’t be ashamed, that I should be brave. This was an amazing read.”

—Vera Ahiyya, The Tutu Teacher

Illustrator Christopher Silas Neal is responsible for Chirp’s amazing cover art. Here it is…

And here is a poem that I wrote about this book that I wrote. It’s for anyone who doesn’t think we should talk about tough subjects in fun books for kids. But even more than that, it’s for the teachers & librarians who do the essential work of putting the books kids need in their hands every single day.

#BecauseGirlsCan
by Kate Messner

Why have you written a fun summer mystery about a girl with a secret?
Why that kind of secret?
Who would put that in a book for kids?
Why do people have to keep talking about this stuff?
It just happens, you know.
We didn’t used to talk about it. We just dealt with it.
That’s just how boys are how men are how things are.
You don’t have to go talking about it.
Can’t people just move on?

Actually, no.

We need to talk about it.
It might be how things were,
How you thought they’d always be
When you figured it was best to let it go.
But just because you did
Doesn’t mean we should.
Just because it could have been worse
Doesn’t mean it’s okay.
Just because you’d like us to be quiet
Doesn’t mean we will.

We won’t.

Now that we’ve established that,
It’s a fun summer mystery about a girl with a secret
Because girls can do both.
Girls who are struggling and grieving,
Girls who are trying to forget but still remembering,
Girls who wonder what they could have should have done differently,
Girls who are learning to be enraged,
Rejecting old ideas,
Getting ready to speak up.
Those girls?
They get up every morning, tuck their secrets away and get dressed.
They got to school and camp and soccer games.
They kick goals and write code, and solve problems.
They love their friends fiercely.
They jump off rocks into clear, cold lakes
And they laugh.
They notice what the world takes from girls
And they’re getting ready to take it back.
So yeah…
It’s a funny summer mystery about a girl with a secret
Because girls can do both.

Who’s ready for a great summer of writing? For those who don’t already know about Teachers Write, it’s a free summer writing camp that I offer for teachers and librarians (and anyone else who loves to write, too!). This summer’s camp runs from July 8-26. Each weekday, Monday through Thursday, we’ll be learning from mentor texts, talking about writing craft, and chatting with the authors of those mentor texts for some Q&A. You’ll get each day’s Teachers Write post via email if you sign up.

Teachers Write 2019 won’t begin for a while yet, but here are some things you can do now to get ready.

1. Click here and sign up to join us, if you haven’t already!
2. Get a notebook and a pen or pencil you love, if you prefer to do quick-writes by hand.  If not, get your laptop or tablet ready to go.
3. Order this summer’s mentor texts, or pick them up from your library, and start reading.

Here are our mentor texts for this summer. Please consider taking the list to your local independent bookstore if you have one. Indie booksellers support our communities in so many ways!

Week 1, we’ll be taking a close look at two amazing nonfiction picture books.

Week 2, we’ll look at two more picture books – both written in rhyme. You may have heard from other writers that rhyming picture books are among the toughest to write well. That’s true – but these two authors are masters of the craft and will have some great tips for us!

Week 3, we’ll be looking at what I think is one of the best middle grade novels published in 2018. This one is a master class in character development, dialogue, and so many other elements of craft.

We’ll have official Teachers Write posts Monday through Thursday each week. I’ve left Fridays open for other authors who would like to offer a mini-lesson or writing prompt on their own websites. If you’re an author who’d like to do that, just use the hashtag #TeachersWrite so our campers will be able to find your post on social media!

Teachers Write has always been free for participants – all I ask is that if you can, you support it by purchasing one or more of my books this summer. Or if you can’t do that, please request them at your local library.

If you work with readers in early elementary school or want to write picture books or easy readers, you might like one of these…

If you work with chapter book readers or want to explore series writing, you might want to choose one of my Ranger in Time historical adventures.

And if you work with older readers or want to write novels, maybe try one of these…

The countdown is on for our summer of writing and learning together! Spread the word, share the sign-up form, pick up your notebook, start reading, and I’ll see you in July!

Hello, teacher/librarian/writer friends! Here’s an update on Teachers Write, our free online summer writing camp for teachers & librarians. Many of you have reached out to ask about this summer, and I hope you’ll be excited about the news I’m sharing today! I’m a little late with this year’s information because I’ve been busy writing books. Like this one…

And this one…

But now those projects are put to bed, and it’s time to talk about summer camp, which will be just a little different this year. As most of you understand, coordinating an ongoing online project like this involves many hours of work. This has been a labor of love for me since Teachers Write began in 2012, but I’m at a point in my writing and personal life where I need to spend fewer hours online. I’m also mindful of the fact that this project has asked for many hours of free labor from our amazing guest authors, who are also busy writing books and doing other good, important work in the world.

Don’t worry, though – Teachers Write isn’t going away! This summer’s camp will just have a new format. Teachers Write 2019 will run for three weeks, from July 8-26. Instead of coordinating blog and social media posts, I’ll be sharing a daily newsletter, Monday through Thursday during those three weeks. Each week, we’ll focus on learning and practicing some element of writing craft by studying a mentor text or two. This summer, we’ll be learning from five amazing mentor texts – four picture books and one novel – and we’ll have a visit from the authors of our mentor texts each week for some Q&A. The list of books will be coming soon, so you’ll have time to purchase or request them at your library.

This summer, I’m leaving Fridays open for other posts that folks in the writing/publishing community would like to share with Teachers Write campers. So author friends… if you’d like to offer a mini-lesson or writing prompt on a summer Friday, just share it with the hashtag #TeachersWrite. I won’t be involved in these, but our teacher-librarian-writers will be able to search the hashtag for more inspiration & lessons on our summer Fridays and throughout the year.

Ready to sign up and write with us this summer? Just sign up for my email list here:: http://eepurl.com/grB4p1

And watch for our list of Summer 2019 mentor texts, coming next week!

Ever since the Ranger in Time historical adventure series launched in 2015, readers have been asking me to send Ranger to the Titanic. They’re getting their wish with book nine, which comes out January 29 from Scholastic.

It’s available for pre-order now, and copies ordered from The Bookstore Plus in Lake Placid by January 28^th will be signed & personalized! To pre-order signed copies online, click here.  When you order, make a note in the comments field about how you’d like your book signed.  You may also pre-order by phone by calling The Bookstore Plus at 518-523-2950.

To celebrate Ranger’s ninth adventure, I’m holding three different contests – one for booksellers, one for teachers & librarians, and one for readers (with help from their adults). I hope you’ll participate and spread the word!

For Booksellers: The Ranger in Time Window Contest!

To enter: Create a Ranger in Time window display, or a display elsewhere in the store. Be creative (and if you’d like, feel free to feature other books that Ranger readers would love, too, along with the new book!)

Share your display on social media with the hashtag #RangerInTime and be sure to tag me (@KateMessner). The contest runs from now until February 22. Entries will be judged on the basis of enthusiasm and creativity. Winners will be selected by a panel of bookstore-loving authors and notified the following week.

First Prize: Bookstore Pizza Party with Really Excellent Chocolate for Dessert!

You’ll receive four large pizzas and a big salad from your favorite local pizza place, to be delivered on the day of your choice. You’ll also receive a big box of Lake Champlain Chocolates (with is pretty much the best chocolate ever), and you can either save that for the party or eat it as soon as it arrives. I know what I’d do…

Two runners-up will also receive that big box of Lake Champlain Chocolates (and should probably eat it right away.)

For Teachers & Librarians: Win a Class Set of RANGER IN TIME: DISASTER ON THE TITANIC!

To enter: Just share the contest graphic on social media! If you’d like, you can also include your students’ suggestions for where Ranger should go next! Include the hashtag #RangerInTime and be sure to tag @KateMessner. Deadline is January 29th at 11pm EST.

Bonus Entries: Pre-order a signed copy of RANGER IN TIME: DISASTER ON THE TITANIC for your classroom or library from The Bookstore Plus by January 28th, and you’ll receive 10 bonus entries for the contest, along with a pack of Ranger bookmarks to share with your readers (while supplies last).

To pre-order signed copies online, click here and make a note in the comments field about how you’d like your books signed (to “Ms. Porter’s 3^rd grade readers” or “To Orchard Elementary School”).  You may also pre-order by phone by calling The Bookstore Plus at 518-523-2950.

Grand Prize: A class set of RANGER IN TIME: DISASTER ON THE TITANIC (up to 30 copies)

Winners will be drawn at random from all entries and announced/contacted on February 1^st.

For Ranger in Time Readers: A Ranger in Time Art Contest!

To enter: Create a drawing or other piece of art inspired by your favorite Ranger in Time book! Have your parent, grandparent, or other caregiver, or your teacher or librarian share it on social media with the hashtag #RangerInTime and be sure to tag @katemessner. (For internet safety reasons, please use only your first name. I’ll contact the adult who posted for you if you win!) Or have that adult email it to me (katemessnerbooks at gmail  dot  com). A grand prize winner will be chosen by a panel of book-loving authors, and five more winners will be drawn at random from all entries.

Grand prize: A signed copy of RANGER IN TIME: DISASTER ON THE TITANIC, along with a $50 gift certificate to The Bookstore Plus so you can order even more books along with it!

Five more winners (drawn at random from all entries) will receive a signed copy of RANGER IN TIME: DISASTER ON THE TITANIC along with a pack of bookmarks to share with your friends!

Deadline: January 25, 2019 at 8pm EST – Winners will be contacted on January 28.

And finally, for everyone…

A great big THANK YOU so much for reading Ranger’s adventures and sharing them with the readers in your life. Ranger and I think you’re the greatest – even better than squirrels and bacon.

xo

~Kate

Hi there – and welcome to the World Read Aloud Day author Skype volunteer list for 2019!

If you’re new to this blog, I’m Kate Messner, and I write books like these:

Authors & Illustrators: If your schedule is full & you need to be crossed off the list, please leave a comment to let me know. If you’re an author or illustrator and you’d like to be added to the list, directions are here. Please note that this particular list is limited to traditionally published authors/illustrators (such as those listed here), only to limit its size and scope. I’m one person with limited time. However, if someone else would like to compile and share a list of self-published, specialty, magazine, and ebook author/illustrator volunteers, I think that would be absolutely great, and I’ll happily link to it here. Just let me know!

Happy reading, everyone!

“World Read Aloud Day is about taking action to show the world that the right to read and write belongs to all people. World Read Aloud Day motivates children, teens, and adults worldwide to celebrate the power of words, especially those words that are shared from one person to another, and creates a community of readers advocating for every child’s right to a safe education and access to books and technology.”              ~from the LitWorld website

It’s release day for Ranger in Time: Hurricane Katrina Rescue!

Ranger, the time-traveling golden retriever with search-and-rescue training, arrives in New Orleans as Hurricane Katrina approaches and residents start to evacuate the city. Ranger meets Clare Porter, who is searching for her grandmother. Once Ranger helps Clare find Nana, he takes shelter with them at their home in the Lower Ninth Ward, and they wait for Clare’s father to return from the gas station. But there’s no sign of him as hours pass and the weather gets worse. The wind picks up and rain pours down. And when the levees break, floodwaters dangerously rise, and Clare and Nana are separated. Can Ranger help Clare navigate the flooded streets to safety and back to her family?

This is book eight in my Scholastic chapter book series about a time-traveling search and rescue dog, and its more recent setting made it one of the toughest to research and write. The first seven books in the series are set in the more distant past…

Most kids who enjoy the Ranger in Time series weren’t born yet when Hurricane Katrina happened in 2005, so this story is also “history” to these readers. But for those who lived through the storm and its aftermath in New Orleans, the memories are still raw. When I was researching this book, I spent my usual weeks in library, reading everything from first-person accounts to news reports and government documents. I watched hours of video, including Spike Lee’s powerful documentary When the Levees Broke. I spent time doing research in New Orleans, too.

It was December of 2016 when I visited, and the tourist areas of New Orleans were sparkling with holiday decorations. But parts of the Ninth Ward were another story. Some streets looked as if the hurricane might have happened in the past year or two, rather than more than a decade ago. And many people who live here still feel just as forgotten as they did when they were waiting for help in the days after the storm. Laura Paul with the relief and rebuilding organization lowernine.org drove me though the neighborhoods that were hardest hit in 2005. She pointed out the homes that her organization helped rebuild and the areas where the neighborhood seems to be coming back.

But there are still blocks where most every home is ruined. Porch steps that lead to nowhere. Streets littered with debris from work crews. Uncovered storm drains that don’t seem to get fixed, no matter how many calls people make to the city. And there is still so much frustration and anger. A sense of betrayal over how the people of this neighborhood were treated when they needed help.

There’s a wonderful little museum in this neighborhood called the Lower Ninth Ward Living Museum, and it chronicles the history of the neighborhood, from its role in the Civil Rights Movement through the devastating aftermath of Katrina. Photos tell the story of the storm and the days that followed.

One of the things I appreciated about this museum is that it pointed out examples of racist media coverage of the aftermath of the storm. Below is a pair of headlines about people taking supplies from grocery stores, described as either “looting” or “finding,” depending on the survivor’s skin color.

J.F. “Smitty” Smith, a resident of the Lower Ninth Ward, talked with me about his experiences in 2005 and read an early draft of this Ranger in Time manuscript. When we talked on the phone, he was incredibly helpful and pointed out some details about the storm and recovery. But mostly, he wanted to talk more about the lack of help in 2005, and how awful it was, waiting. Reading the manuscript had brought it back for him, and he was frustrated all over again. “You don’t understand,” Smitty told me. “That dog has got to get in there and SAVE more people.”

That conversation, more than any of the other research I’d done, helped me to understand how residents of the Lower Ninth Ward felt after Katrina. And it led me to revise the manuscript, again. I’m so grateful to Smitty for making time to talk with me.

There are still many residents of the Lower Ninth Ward who need help rebuilding homes that have been in their families for generations. I’ll be celebrating book release day by making a donation to lowernine.org. Will you join me?

If you donate $20 or more, I’ll enter you in a drawing for a 30-minute Ranger in Time Skype visit in the fall (date to be agreed upon in September). You can use it for your classroom, library, or book club – or give it away to a school you want to support. To enter the drawing, just make your donation, and then leave a comment below.

And of course, if you’d like to read RANGER IN TIME: HURRICANE KATRINA RESCUE, it’s available from your favorite bookseller today!

“This highly recommended tribute to the imagination is comprised of delightful pictures and three clever and entertaining stories.” –Booklist, starred review

There’s a beautiful new picture book in the world today, and it’s a perfect choice for kids with big imaginations. MABEL AND SAM AT HOME is written by my friend Linda Urban and published by Chronicle Kids. Here’s the official description…

At the new house, there were movers and shouting and boxes and blankets. There were many places a girl like Mabel and a boy like Sam could be tripped over or smooshed or trod upon. There was one safe place where they would not. And that is how Mabel became a Sea Captain. In this three-part picture book of moving house and imaginative play, Mabel and Sam sail the high seas of their new home; tour the intriguing museum of their living room; journey through outer space to the safety of their own beds; and discover how far afield—and how close to home—imagination can take them.

Linda and I are good friends who constantly talk writing – over lattes in Burlington, VT or chatting online. We thought it might be fun to invite everyone else into one of those conversations as we celebrate Linda’s new book. So get yourself a cup of coffee or tea or whatever you love, and listen in….

KATE:  Hi, Linda!  You already know this, but I’m SO excited about your new picture book MABEL AND SAM AT HOME releasing today, especially because I was there to hear some of your early noodling on this project. This is a picture book, but I think in those earlier days, you were thinking of it as more of an easy reader or transitional chapter book, right?

LINDA:  Right. You know  I have wanted to write an easy reader for a long time, but as soon as Mabel and Sam started talking it was pretty clear that their vocabulary would be too complicated for very beginning readers.  A transitional reader seemed more reasonable and I wrote five chapters about these two imaginative kids using play to get comfortable in their new environment. A few editors who saw it mentioned that the story had a very visual quality that suggested the possibility of a picture book interpretation, but it was Melissa Manlove at Chronicle who sorted out how that might actually work.  It was her idea to cut two of the stories and treat the other three as episodes/adventures in one expanded picture book.

You’ve worked with Melissa, I know.  She’s got amazing vision and can see a project in ways nobody else does.  I think you’re working on something for her now that might feel similar?

KATE: Yes! Melissa really does have an amazing gift when it comes to looking at a manuscript and imagining what it might be. We were having a very casual dinner in Montreal (Melissa was there for a conference) when she asked what I was working on and I told her, “Well…it’s kind of a mess right now, but I have this idea for a picture book about American presidents…” In ten minutes, she’d whipped out a pen, asked for an extra napkin, and sketched out how the project I was describing might look on the page. It’s fun knowing how she worked that same kind of magic with MABEL AND SAM AT HOME.

One of the other things I love about your new book is how you capture the dynamics between brother and sister and the real-kid language of imaginative play. How much of that came naturally, inspired by your own kids, and how much of it was the result of playing around with language as you revised?

LINDA:  When my kids were little they played in very much this style — sort of like little kid improv, riffing on each other’s ideas, picking up language from one another and rolling it around to see where it led.  

As a parent, I was terrible at it.  I could not engage in their play in the natural, free-form, open-ended way that they did.  I was fine to serve tea to or to string up blankets for safari tents, but I was not IN play in the way that they were.  I was always aware of how much time there was before I needed to make dinner or checking myself on the logic of space walking without an oxygen tank.  And they sensed it. I was audience or prop master, not player.

One of the great things about writing, for me, is that when I am writing well, I am experiencing the fictive world through the character, much like my kids do when they play.

For me, so much of that experiencing is in point of view as understood through dialogue.  I’d love to claim some sort of careful crafting here, but really, if I’m feeling IN the character, the dialogue is of that character, too.  

This is not to say that there wasn’t a lot of revision.  There was. And it tended to be of two different kinds. One sort is the analytical revision, the kind that comes with the conscious mind that recognizes a scene takes too long or that an action verb would be more powerful than using a verb/adverb combination.  The other sort is what Robert Olen Butler would call “redreaming” and feeling myself go back into that character world and expanding or rephrasing in a more improvisational way, just like kids do when they play.  Is it the same for you, Kate?

KATE: In many ways, yes – it’s always interesting to me how when you and I are teaching together at a workshop, I gravitate toward the big-picture revision things (like my beloved charts!) and you have such a gift for the fine tuning of words and sentences and language. And I know that your notebooks play a big role in your thinking process, too, whether it comes to brainstorming or revision. Can you talk a little about that – how writing about the manuscript but not in the manuscript is helpful? (And could we maybe see a page or two? Pretty please?)

LINDA:  I’ll see if I have a notebook page for Mabel and Sam around, but I can tell you that the notebook part of my thinking is most valuable to me because it is in the notebook and not typed up in the same sort of format that my manuscripts are.  

When I first started writing, it was all play.  While I dreamed of publication, I wasn’t writing with anything under contract or expecting that THIS would be the book that sold.  It was all loosey-goosey messing around and mostly just for me. Once I sold something, a little bit of that play slipped away. I started thinking that the writing needed to “count”, you know?

When I started writing by hand in a notebook, though, a lot of the play came back.  Of course what I was writing wasn’t for anyone else to see! It was in handwriting and messy and it looked and felt nothing like the sort of thing I’d submit to an editor.

I’m a big fan of Lynda Barry and I believe a lot of what she says about how the hand being in motion can sometimes let us access thoughts and memories and modes of play that typing doesn’t — at least, I believe that’s true for me. So I mess around a lot in my notebooks in order to experience things differently, to come at them from new angles, or to get outside of my own awareness.

I’ll go look for a notebook example now.  

I know you carry a notebook with you everywhere, too.  But I think you also have project notebooks, right? How are they different and when do you find you use them most?

KATE: I do!  It’s important to me to get away from the manuscript. It’s like I can’t talk about it while it’s right there in my face, so writing elsewhere helps a lot. But these scribblings are not as pretty, so I have a major notebook crush on yours. I especially love seeing how they help you move forward with a story.  

Hey – can we talk about the art in this book for a minute? Because as you know, I read this manuscript long before there was even an artist on board, and I truly cannot imagine it in the hands of anyone except Hadley now. It’s brilliant.

LINDA:  IT IS! Completely, beautifully, stunningly brilliant.  I love the way she characterized these two kids. I love the way she grows and broadens the color palette as the grow  more and more comfortable in their home. I love the way household objects take on metaphorical value and then return to themselves again.  

I think her work in Iridescence of Birds and Another Way to Climb a Tree is wonderful, but she has outdone herself here.

There’s such a growing sense of warmth and comfort as the book comes to a close, too.  I want to live in that room, with that family, under that moon.

KATE: Me too! And that’s a perfect note for us to end on for now, I think.

Linda, thanks for doing this with me, and congratulations to you and Hadley on such a magical adventure of a story!

Everybody else….you should go read it now. Seriously. Read it to a kid if you can. And then imagine an adventure of your own.