Great Writing Resources for Children’s Writers

Hello from Cullowhee, North Carolina- home of NCCAT where Joyce Hostetter and I are teaching the seminar, "Is There a Children's Book in You?" We are acting as midwives-- helping 21 talented teachers from across the state write picture books, early chapter books, and novels.

Here are some writing resources I have collected for them, as well as for any of you who are also interested in writing and publishing for children.

HELPFUL WRITING WEBSITES:
Society of Children's Book Writers & Illustrators
Children's Book Insider

• http://www.writing-world.com/children/nonfiction.shtml - Five Reasons to Write Nonfiction for Children
  
• http://www.dpi.state.nc.us/curriculum/NC
  State Standards
  
• http://joycemoyerhostetter.blogspot.com/ Joyce Hostetter's blog
  
  
  
  

GRAPHIC NOVELS WEBSITES:

• http://www.education-world.com/a_curr/profdev/profdev105.shtml -Education World Article about Graphic Novels
  
• http://www.manuscriptediting.com/publishers-children.htm
  Graphic Novels
  
• http://yahelp.suffolk.lib.ny.us/yacomic.html Comic and Graphic Novel Resources
  
• http://ublib.buffalo.edu/libraries/units/lml/comics/pages/index.html Comic Books for Young Adults: A Guide for Librarians
  
• http://www.rationalmagic.com/Comics/Comics.html Graphic Novel Reviews
  
• http://www.duluth.lib.mn.us/YouthServices/GraphicNovelsParents.html A Parent's Guide to Graphic Novels for Teens
  
• http://my.voyager.net/~sraiteri/graphicnovels.htm Recommended Graphic Novels for Public Libraries
  
• 
  Kid Safe Graphic Novels Kid Safe Graphic Novels
  

MAGAZINE WEBSITES:

• 
  http://www.cobblestonepub.com/magazines.html Cricket and Cobblestone
  
• http://www.writerswrite.net/pubdisp.cfm?market=1100201 Highlights- writers guidelines
  

EDUCATIONAL MATERIALS WEBSITES

http://ngsp.com/ National Geographic School Publishing. Materials for the classroom. *****

http://www.outofthecradle.net/categories/lunar-library/youth/youth-educator-materials/ *****

https://www.secureaep.com/awards/attendees.php - Get a list of the 500 people who attended the Association of Educational Publishers summit on publishing for the digital future. **

http://www.evan-moor.com/Science/Catalog.aspx?CurriculumID=6 – An example of one educational publisher, Evan Moor. **

http://www.prufrock.com/ Publishes materials for gifted children ***

http://www.pearsonhighered.com/ Megabig publisher for school materials ****
http://www.pearsonhighered.com/educator/hip_main_content/1,3120,-802,00.html ) author's guidelines for Pearson's companies

http://www.readingprograms.info/ed_pubs.html **** lists websites of major educational publishers

http://www.buzzle.com/chapters/education-and-higher-learning_teachers-guide-and-related-resources_publishers-and-publishing.asp *****-lists of educational publishers

PROPOSAL WEBSITES

• http://write4kids.com/a2e.html "Author To Editor: Query Letter Secrets of the Pros"
  
• http://www.right-writing.com/factors.htm "Ten Factors to Consider when Writing a Book Proposal"
  
  

  
  

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Books, Librarians, & Friends

As a presenter last week at AASL in Charlotte, I had the opportunity to meet media specialists from all over the country. I was deluged by librarians for my poster session on "Wikis, Red Font, & Revision: Ride the Revision Wave of the Future." Willing participants learned how to exercise muscle words: vivid verbs, specific nouns, image-driven adjectives, similes, metaphors, personification, onomatopoeia, and alliteration. I talked with dozens of people about using wikis to practice word processing and revision skills. I just about lost my voice.

On Friday, in my session on "Learn from the Masters: How Creating a Fictional Character and Setting Enhances Reading Instruction," I read selections from six mentor novels: Blue, Imitate the Tiger, Write Before Your Eyes, Double Helix, Cecelia's Harvest, and Milkweed. In small groups librarians enjoyed brainstorming characters FAST as well as writing sensory settings.



After the sessions, particpants told me they were excited about sharing these activities with the English teachers in their schools. Both days ended with pictures of me with my friends Margriet Ruurs, Joyce Hostetter, and of course...books. This sculpture is conveniently located across from the Charlotte Convention Center where the conference was held.

Teaching the Story sold out and I went home exhausted and satisfied. Two good days work.

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Authors Visit

Since I live in the city where AASL is having their national conference, and since my passion is writing and books, then you may have guessed that besides presenting two workshops, I invited several author friends to spend the night here. The only "price" to stay at my home was a copy of a book--which these three authors cheerfully paid. Left to right in this picture is:
Louise Hawes, North Carolina author of Black Pearls.. Watch the book trailer on her website and you'll be hooked!
Clay Carmichael, another North Carolina whose new book Wild Things is receiving wonderful reviews.
Margriet Ruurs is the author of many picture books, several novels, a few books for Maupin House, and edits a wonderful online magazine which publishes children's' work.

Excuse me now. I have some reading to catch up on!
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A Day of Tears: A Novel in Dialogue

Julian Lester's thought-provoking book, A Day of Tears, builds a fictional story out of of a real event: the day when the most slaves in American history--over400--were sold at one auction. The place is Savannah, Georgia, the time is 1859 and the slaveowner is Pierce Butler who is "forced" to sell his slaves to pay off his gambling debts. Known afterwards as "The Weeping Time," the four days were marked by torrential rain; thus the tie-in to the title of the book.

Many fine books have been written depicting the harsh and unjust conditions surrounding slavery. Jester's novel distinguishes itself by giving voice to each character who plays a part in the drama. As a result of sparse narrative, the reader is engaged in the immediacy of the setting and conflicts. Instead of the traditional novel format, Lester relies primarily on monologues to tell the story. Readers hear the voices of Pierce, his abolitionist wife Fanny Kemble, their two daughters (with two very different points of view on slavery), the auctioneer, several slaves (also with different perspectives on slavery), and the man who helps some of the slaves escape to Cincinnati. Interludes within the main story fast forward the action as the characters reflect upon the years and events that transpired after that pivotal day. The reader watches as families are torn apart--both slaves and their owners--over an issue that divided our country.

I listened to the book on CD and found the acting compelling. Even without much actual physical description of the characters, I could imagine them talking directly to me.

Since the book candidly shows a variety of perspectives on the same event, it makes an excellent Social Studies resource for classes studying the Antebellum Age in the south. In addition, language arts teachers should point out the different uses of syntax, word choice, and dialect to make the voice of each character distinct and powerful. Given the way it is written, this would be an excellent choice for readers theater in middle school or high school classrooms.

The author's notes at the end include glimpses into some of the resources which Lester used to write the book. Since I am researching my own historical novel, I was particularly interested in his resources. He cites a pamphlet "What Became of the Slaves on a Georgia Plantation?" which is in the Library of Congress and can be viewed online. Written by an observer to the entire event, it provides "up close and personal" details of the auction and makes a terrific companion tool to this book.

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Monday Morning Mini-Blog

After my last blog post on Incognegro, my editor informed me that Maupin House has started a new blog for teachers for the forthcoming book, Teaching Graphic Novels by Katie Monnin. If this is a genre you use in your classroom, be sure to check out the blog and the book.

Last night I was moseying around on the internet and checked out my friend Joyce Hostetter's blog to see her latest post. She is my co-author for the newsletter Talking Story, and I was delighted to find a terrific summary of our latest issue. I hope you'll take a minute to visit her blog and then decide to subscribe to our newsletter. Our goal is to provide information about books as well as writing resources for teachers, media specialists, homeschool parents, and writers. Let us know how we're doing!

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Incognegro

Researching an historical novel can take you many different places. Looking to expand my understanding of my young, light-skinned African American character, I searched my local library for books on multi-racial issues. One of the books which popped up was Incognegro, a graphic novel written by Mat Johnson and illustrated by Warren Pleece (DC Comics, 2008).

I am new to this genre, and admittedly brought a dose of skepticism to the book. I wondered if it would really be anything more than a glorified comic book. My embarrassment aside, I can now unequivocally say that yes, this illustrated novel is far different than the Archie comic books of my elementary school years.

Johnson tells the story of a light-skinned Harlem journalist, Zane Pinchback, who reports on lynchings. Zane can easily “pass” and publishes under his pseudonym, Incognegro . But he longs to “come out” and be a part of the Harlem Renaissance. Before he has a chance to do that, his boss asks him to investigate the arrest of a black man in Tupelo, Mississippi, accused of murdering a white woman. The black man is his dark-skinned brother Alonzo, and Zane has no choice but to go undercover again.

The short novel portrays the dangers he and his light-skinned friend Carl experience as they fool the “crackers” they meet in Mississippi. There are multiple twists and turns in this short 134-page book which surprise and confront the reader. Through realistic dialogue and vivid pictures, the time period is explicitly portrayed--including sub-plots depicting rural southern white prejudice.

Since Johnson did not hold back on time and race appropriate language or on his portrayal of violence and sexual liaisons, I would recommend this book for mature teens. My main issue with the book is that I found transitions between events difficult to follow; I had to reread sections to totally understand what was happening.

Incognegro’s portrayal of historical events will be an asset in the social studies and American history classrooms.

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How are You Celebrating the National Day on Writing?

October 20th is National Day on Writing. I'm celebrating the day by sharing a book that I have just begun to read as I research my young adult historical novel.

Notes of a White Black Woman (Pennsylvania State University Press: 1995) was written by lawyer Judy Scales-Trent. it is a collection of autobiographical essays about her experience as a light-skinned African American woman. It not only gives me insight into the issues she struggled with growing up, it also causes me to evaluate my own preconceived notions about race and color.

This segment is from her observations of generations of photographs in a family album:

"When you look at the photograph of my mother and her sisters, you see that two of the women have white skin. So did my uncle, Big Buddy. But then, when you turn the page to look at the photograph of the grandchildren, it almost takes your breath away, for these are all brown-skinned children. Their skin color ranges from light brown to dark brown, but it is clear that these are not white children....

I am just now realizing that I was so anxious about how they [the dark-skinned men Scales-Trent dated] viewed my color that I did not consider the value I attached to theirs. For it is very likely that without any instruction, without conscious plan, without even thinking about it, I--and perhaps others in my family--thought seriously about skin color when I thought about who would be the father of my children. For this is a country where it is dangerous to be too dark, and where it is wrong to be too light." (p. 48-9)

As a writer, I am indebted to other writers, such as Scales-Trent, who have shared their research and/or life experiences. My work will be richer as a result of their work and honest self-exploration. And that is definitely a reason to celebrate good writers and the writing craft.

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