Kirby's Lane: A Place for Readers and Writers

Wednesday Wisdom

noreply@blogger.com (Kirby Larson) — Wed, 24 Jun 2015 12:30:00 +0000

"A book is like a garden carried in the pocket."

Chinese proverb

Goodbye and Hello

noreply@blogger.com (Kirby Larson) — Sat, 14 Mar 2015 12:30:00 +0000

This blog started some years ago at the request of the amazing illustrator, Jaime Temairik. She helped design the header (yes, that is my house!) and got me thinking about what I might be able to add to the blogosphere conversation. And I was tickled when I came up with the blog name which allowed me to incorporate my own middle name, something I don't use but really like.

Jaime making me laugh. What else is new?

My first ever post appeared on December 23, 2008 (at the holidays; what was I thinking?); today's entry makes number 1304. Not bad.

But good things must sometimes come to an end. Don't fret: I plan to keep blogging. But I have a spiffy new website and it makes sense that my blog lives there, too. And, though I really am sad to leave Kirby's Lane: A Place for Readers and Writers behind, the sage folks at BookSparks have convinced me that I need to unify my social media presence (next thing you know, I'll be talking about my brand!).

The only thing that changes is the address. Oh, and the header. But other than that, you're still gonna find Teacher Tuesday, where the amazing and over-worked teachers of this world take time to answer 6 silly questions about their reading habits; Wednesday Wisdom; Throwback Thursday and Friend Friday, which is when I shine the light on new books created by my terrifically talented friends. And, of course, I reserve the right to post on Mondays and Saturdays and Sundays, when the spirit moves.

We're still going to have tons of fun talking books and writing and Winston the Wonder Dog. Drop on by. You won't want to miss a thing.

Friend Friday

noreply@blogger.com (Kirby Larson) — Fri, 13 Mar 2015 12:30:00 +0000

I so love how the internet has made gathering friends so much easier. I'm thrilled that Sarah Tomp has agreed to visit with us today, in honor of the publication of her debut novel, My Best Everything. I know you will give her a warm Kirby's Lane welcome! And if you would like to follow her blog, Writing on the Sidewalk, (co-authored with Suzanne Santillan), click here. You might especially enjoy this older post on writer friends; I know I did.

Sarah Tomp

I’m so pleased to be here today, Kirby. Although we’ve never met, I’ve read your blog for years—it’s a lovely place to spend time!

In keeping with the theme, let’s talk about literary friendships.

When I was a teen, my friends were the focus of my life. I loved them with the same intensity of any romantic relationship—often even more. Although romance tends to be a common staple in books for young adults, I think platonic friendships deserve attention and respect as well. A main character’s friends can add depth and layers to your story.

My debut novel, My Best Everything, has been called a “love story steeped in moonshine.” It’s a story about Lulu Mendez, who is desperate to escape her small Virginia hometown. When her father loses her college tuition, she cooks up a plan with her two best friends, Roni and Bucky, to illegally make and sell moonshine in order to pay her own way. It’s written as a letter to Mason—the boy who helps the plan actually work—although readers don’t know if the letter is an apology, a love letter, or a good-bye until the very end.

The developing love story between Lulu and Mason is an important part of the story, but so are the friendships!

The genesis of my title is Lulu talking about Roni. They’ve known each other forever, and work together in the local junkyard, but they are very different people with discordant hopes and dreams. Having graduated from high school, this may be their last summer together. Even though they are headed in opposite directions, they truly want the best for the other. They love each other enough to call each other out, and to fight and bicker along the way.

Friendship also develops between Bucky and Mason: there’s a definite bro-mance! And then, when Roni is at a low point, Mason is the one she goes to for needed help and support. It’s clear they have a friendship separate from Lulu and Bucky. All four characters are tightly enmeshed and invested in their relationships—and the trouble they’ve gotten into!

A few ways friendships can help tell a story:

A friend—new or old—can be the catalyst for action.
Friends are someone to talk to, and do things with.
A friend shows your character is likable – even when they are going through a rough and potentially unlikable time.
Friends provide backstory and history.
If friends have their own simultaneous stories, even if they take place off the page, it adds depth and layers to the primary story.
They can be good for measurement through comparison. How does your MC stack up against his/her best friend? How are they different?
Friends can provide motivation.
Friends can cause tension and stress—and can raise the stakes.
Friends are something—someone—to lose or gain.

Thank you so much for having me on your blog today, Kirby. I do hope we will meet some day!

Sarah Tomp is the author of My Best Everything (Little, Brown), a novel for young adults and a picture book, Red, White and Blue Good-bye (Walker and Co/Bloomsbury). She earned a MFA in writing for children and young adults from Vermont College of Fine Arts. She teaches creative writing for UCSD Extension. She lives in San Diego with her family, but spent her teen years in the beautiful mountains of Virginia.

Throwback Thursday

noreply@blogger.com (Kirby Larson) — Thu, 12 Mar 2015 12:30:00 +0000

I have just spent a lot of time "living" in 1910 and from everything I can glean, there is no solid evidence to support the myth that President Taft got stuck in a bathtub.

However, a lot of good stuff did happen in 1910 and some of it will appear in my book. But you have to wait until spring 2016 to read about it.

Wednesday Wisdom

noreply@blogger.com (Kirby Larson) — Wed, 11 Mar 2015 12:30:00 +0000

What makes you different or weird. That's your strength.

Meryl Streep

Teacher Tuesday

noreply@blogger.com (Kirby Larson) — Tue, 10 Mar 2015 12:30:00 +0000

Today's guest is Laura Simeon, Learning Commons Director & Diversity Coordinator at Open Window School in Bellevue, Washington. Thanks for playing, Laura! You know the drill.

Please fill in the blank:

You should never read and (blank) at the same time.

Well, if you stretch the definition of “reading” to include listening to audiobooks, many seemingly impossible combinations can be achieved! And thanks to my nifty bookstand I am able to read and knit at the same time: my two favorite pastimes combined!

If you were invited to be on Oprah, what book would you bring for her to read?

My Sister Lives on the Mantelpiece by Annabel Pitcher. It’s a book we need now more than ever, about choosing love and forgiveness and healing in a time of great tragedy.

What is the funniest book you’ve read?

For adults, it would have to be any of Jasper Fforde’s Thursday Next literary detective series. They are absolutely hilarious and the book-related plots and puns are like catnip for librarians.

One that really stands out for middle grade readers is The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place: Book I: The Mysterious Howling by Maryrose Wood. Any child who at times wants to behave as if they were raised by wolves (and are there any who don’t?) will enjoy its madcap antics.

What is the saddest?

For adults I’d have to say Heather Andrea Williams’ Help Me to Find My People: The African American Search for Family Lost in Slavery. She quotes from letters and newspaper advertisements that will rip your heart out – and the losses these families suffered cast a long shadow.

So Far from the Bamboo Grove by Yoko Kawashima Watkins is the harrowing true story of what befell the author and her siblings following World War II. Middle and high school readers will be riveted; the impact of war on kids their age isn’t something that comes up a lot in history textbooks.

Favorite reading snack/beverage?

A nice cup of tea and a plate of British biscuits (cookies) always hit the spot – chocolate Hobnobs, Garibaldis, digestives, Rich Teas – not too sweet and also substantial enough to keep you going so you can read longer!

What’s next on your TBR list?

The teen book I’m most excited to pick up next is A Song for Ella Grey by David Almond, a magical writer from Northumberland, where I had the best holiday of my life a couple of years ago. For adults, it would be The Interpreter by Suki Kim. I just finished her deeply moving memoir about teaching English in North (!!) Korea and was glad to see she’d written a novel too.

Teachers, librarians, reading coaches, principals, custodians, lunch ladies, anyone with school connections: Please play along! Email me here and I'll get you the questions so you, too, can be featured on Teacher Tuesday.

Friend Friday

noreply@blogger.com (Kirby Larson) — Fri, 06 Mar 2015 13:30:00 +0000

I can count on one hand ( a few fingers!) the number of times Kathi Appelt and I have been in the same room. But she feels like a dear friend despite infrequent contact. She's just that kind of person, as you can quickly surmise from her full-of-heart books. It's an honor to host Kathi today in time to celebrate her newest picture book, Counting Crows, just out. It's one you will definitely want in your collection -- along with When Otis Courted Mama, and Mogie, the Heart of the House.

Kathi Appelt

Don’t get me wrong; I enjoy writing novels, even though they often make me feel inadequate. But my first love will always be picture books. Until I had my own kids, I never dreamed that I would write for children. Me? I wanted to write academic stuff, essays and the like, books that would rock the halls of esteemed universities. And I earnestly tried that. But when my two little sons came along, picture books saved me.

If you want to talk about feeling inadequate, wow, motherhood provided that in bunches. I was completely unprepared to be a parent. I didn’t know how to do crafty things with my boys, nor was I great at games or fingerplays or even peek-a-boo. However, the one thing I did well was read to them. And boy, we did a lot of that. I came to think of picture books as the magical element of our lives. Not feeling good? Corduroy to the rescue. Out of sorts? “Milk! Milk! Milk for the morning cake!” Tired and cranky? Star-bellied Sneetches could handle that.

So, when a good friend asked me if I had ever thought about writing a picture book, it took me about five minutes to realize that she had just opened the door to something wonderful. Why not?

Why not? Well, for one thing, they’re a whole lot harder than they look. But at the same time, they make my heart sing. So it’s with happiness that after a few years of not writing picture books, I now have three new ones to share.

Mogie, The Heart of the House, illustrated by Marc Rosenthal, is about the very real dog that lives in the Ronald McDonald House in Houston. I might have missed this story if not for an old friend who found me on Facebook and asked me to visit the House and the dog, and to please consider writing his story. This book was based on pure joy. I’m not even a dog person (I have five gifted and talented cats, after all). But who couldn’t love this amazing pup that has such an intuitive sense for when a child needs him? I fell in love with him in less time than it took for him to give me a big, sloppy kiss right on the mouth. He taught me so much about compassion. And working with the people who make the Ronald McDonald House a home for families with very sick children continues to be an honor. A portion of the proceeds from this book goes directly to the House. Here is video about Mogie:

I actually wrote When Otis Courted Mama almost twenty years ago, then signed the contract for it back in 1998. So, it’s not exactly new to me. But it was definitely worth waiting for Jill McElmurry’s wonderful art to bring life and energy to my coyote family.

This book is a tribute to my stepfather, George. One day I was sitting at my desk, just noodling, and it occurred to me that stepparents often get short-shrifted in children’s literature. The words “evil” and “wicked” are not uncommon when describing them. But in reality, there are a lot of terrific stepparents out there, doing their best for their families. This book is also my paean to good storytelling and the salve that it can bring to the people in that circle—just like it did for me and my little guys back in the day. Enjoy this book trailer about Otis:

Finally, Counting Crows was an “idea” that I carried around in my head for a long time, that idea being a group of crows who would count things.

But an idea is not the same as a story, and it took me a while to think up how I could offer up the idea in a way that also told a story. There was a period in my life when it seemed like everything I wrote ended up rhyming. I actually got sick of rhyme. I never wanted to hear “moon” and “spoon” in the same sentence again! But sometimes, despite her best intentions, a girl has to rhyme. That’s all there is to it. And when I finally gave in, this book became a kind of jazz song. I hope when people read it they add a few little scats between the lines, including one for the cat who appears right at the very end. And Rob Dunleavy’s jazzy art seems to inspire a cool, bouncy rhythm.

At the end of the day, my hope is that my picture books will find a way into the hands of a tired, frustrated mom who is working hard to help a cranky little toddler feel better. How great would that be? I think picture books matter. And maybe, probably, they matter as much to those of us who write and illustrate them as they do to their small readers. Like I said, they saved me, and they still do.

Kirby! Thank you for inviting me to ramble down your Lane.

Kathi Appelt’s books have won numerous national and state awards, including the Irma and Simon Black Award, Children’s Choice Award, Teacher’s Choice Award, the Oppenheimer Gold Award, Parent’s Choice Award, Storytelling World Award, Growing Good Kids Award, Texas Writer’s League Award for Children’s Literature, the Texas Institute of Letters Award, Best Books for Young Adults, VOYA Top of the Shelf Award, and a host of others.

Her first novel, The Underneath, was a National Book Award Finalist and a Newbery Honor Book. It also received the Pen USA Award, and was a finalist for the Heart of Hawick Children’s Book Award.

In 2009, she was named “Texas Distinguished Writer” by the Friends of the Abilene Public Library.

She is married to Ken, a musician and all around nice guy. Together they have two grown sons, Jacob and Cooper. Both of them are musicians too. They also share their home with six cats: Jazz, Hoss, D’jango, Peach, Mingus and Chica.

She serves as a faculty member at Vermont College of Fine Arts in their MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults program.

Throwback Thursday

noreply@blogger.com (Kirby Larson) — Thu, 05 Mar 2015 13:30:00 +0000

Plain and simple: I would not still be writing without my creative friends. My heart is especially full when I think of my Write Sisters, the very first writing community I was part of: Tricia Gardella, Helen Ketteman, Mary Nethery, Ann Whitford Paul, Dian Curtis Regan and Vivian Sathre. They guided me through my first books and I can never thank them enough for their encouragement and support.

L to R: Tricia, me, Helen, Dian, Vivian, Mary, Ann

Thanks, sweet friends!

Wednesday Wisdom

noreply@blogger.com (Kirby Larson) — Wed, 04 Mar 2015 13:30:00 +0000

“I don’t want to write for adults.

I want to write for readers who can perform miracles. Only children perform miracles when they read."

Astrid Lindgren

Teacher Tuesday

noreply@blogger.com (Kirby Larson) — Tue, 03 Mar 2015 13:30:00 +0000

Today's quiz participant is Kristi Leland, from Queen Anne Elementary in my good old hometown of Seattle Washington. Thanks for playing Kristi!

Please fill in the blank. You should never read and blank at the same time.

You should never read and try to listen to your 10 year old daughter's story. You'll always get an eye roll in the end.

If you were invited to be on Oprah, what book would you bring for her to read?

Either Upside Down in the Middle of Nowhere, by Julie Lamana, or I'll Give You the Sun, by Jandy Nelson. Oprah book club for kids, of course.

What is the funniest book you’ve read?

Kids: Wayside School is Falling Down, Louis Sachar

Adults: Where'd You Go Bernadette?, Maria Semple

What is the saddest?

Moloka'i by Alan Brennert. I seriously cried for two days of my vacation in Hawaii reading this book.

Favorite reading snack/beverage?

Coffee and a cookie, or chips and a diet coke. Depends on what time of day I'm reading.

What’s next on your TBR list?

Stella by Starlight by Sharon M. Draper

Good News Monday

noreply@blogger.com (Kirby Larson) — Mon, 02 Mar 2015 19:09:00 +0000

Congrats to Heather, Joann and Michelle who entered my GoodReads giveaway and each won a signed copy of Dash! And thanks, too, to the nearly 500 folks who entered. I wish I could send each of you a copy.

When I win the lottery, I will. Promise!

Friend Friday

noreply@blogger.com (Kirby Larson) — Fri, 27 Feb 2015 13:30:00 +0000

I had the pleasure of reading Stacey Lee's Under the Painted Sky in ARC form and was so taken with it that I asked if she would be willing to visit with us here, for Friend Friday. I was thrilled when she said yes!

Stacey Lee

Staring at the Wall

Most of us writers spend our time in comfy clothes, feet kicked up, staring at the wall. To the untrained eye, it may look like we are doing nothing. But in reality, we are the flesh and blood vessels in which ideas incubate, ideas that will one day grow into stories. The wall is a blank space for the mind to wander. For me, it is even more than that.

My wall measures 8x14 ft. Above the wainscoting lies a field of 'pressed powder' pink, coated with Idea Paint, a dry-erase whiteboard paint gloss. One thing I do early in the writing process is create a calendar of my story on my wall. This helps me organize the time frame in which all the events in my story occur. I'm constantly shuffling events around, and it's extremely helpful to have a visual understanding of where things go, especially with longer books and complex story lines.

The other thing I do on my wall is stick notecards, recalling the main point/event of each chapter, in chronological order. This usually happens after the first draft, when I'm honing story and character arcs. I add emotional beats for each character using a different color for each character, again, so I can see how their story is taking shape. I'm often asked how I keep track of all the things happening in my story. My wall is the answer.

Actually, there is one more way my wall helps me. My family likes to leave notes there, including words of encouragement, and pictures. And there's nothing like, say, a monkey with a party hat, to let my imagination take flight.

Stacey Lee is a fourth generation Chinese-American whose people came to California during the heydays of the cowboys. She believes she still has a bit of cowboy dust in her soul. A native of southern California, she graduated from UCLA then got her law degree at UC Davis King Hall.

After practicing law in the Silicon Valley for several years, she finally took up the pen because she wanted the perks of being able to nap during the day, and it was easier than

moving to Spain. She plays classical piano, wrangles children, and writes YA fiction. Her historical YA, UNDER A PAINTED SKY, debuts March 17 from G.P. Putnam's Sons. Follow her on twitter@staceyleeauthor.

Throwback Thursday

noreply@blogger.com (Kirby Larson) — Thu, 26 Feb 2015 13:30:00 +0000

In 1927, each school child in Japan contributed one sen (about half a cent) toward the creation of 58 exquisite dolls. These Ambassadors of Friendship -- soon called Friendship Dolls -- were thank you gifts for the several thousand blue-eyed baby dolls sent to the children of Japan by American school children the prior year. The doll exchange was the brainchild of Dr. Sidney Gulick, a missionary to Japan, who longed more than anything for the two countries he so loved to be friends. He thought that such a friendship could best be built by starting with the hearts of children.

Sadly, his plan did not bring about the positive relationships he dreamed of. At least, not right away. Over the years, some of the dolls have been lost or destroyed. But the spirit of friendship exemplified by these dolls has caught the hearts of many (including me, which is why I ended up writing about them in The Friendship Doll) who have spent time and resources trying to find the dozen or so still-missing dolls.

Miss Miyazaki

I was so tickled when an intrepid librarian in Minnesota finished reading my book and realized that the library in her town had been given a Friendship Doll way back when. She poked around in the basement of the old library and soon found a trunk containing Miss Miyazaki. Sadly, she had not been stored properly and her gofun face -- made of ground oyster shells -- was severely damaged. Repairs are quite costly, partly because of the materials and partly because they must be undertaken in Japan.

Masuru Aoki

This is Masuru Aoki who works for the Yoshitoku Doll Company in Tokyo; he is the individual who oversees the restoration of the Friendship Dolls. My friend Alan Scott Pate (this country's leading expert on the Friendship Dolls) recently visited Aoki-san and kindly presented him with a copy of my book. In the background, you can see there are other hina-ningyo, ceremonial dolls, in preparation for Girls Day.

I love thinking that dolls that were lovingly created so long ago are still cared for today. And I love visualizing Aoki-san's hands as representations of the hands of those craftsmen who, 90 years ago, first made those dolls who were sent on such a hopeful mission.

Wednesday Wisdom

noreply@blogger.com (Kirby Larson) — Wed, 25 Feb 2015 13:30:00 +0000

Fantasy is hardly an escape from reality.
It's a way of understanding it.

Lloyd Alexander

Teacher Tuesday

noreply@blogger.com (Kirby Larson) — Tue, 24 Feb 2015 13:30:00 +0000

Here's what I love about this fun quiz -- that teachers are sending it on to their friends and colleagues! Today's guest Lara D. Francisco, was sent the quiz by Laura Cooper. Don't be shy! You can forward these questions to your comrades in education, too!

Lara, you know the drill. The first question asks you to fill in the blank. You should never read and blank at the same time.

You should never read and ride in a car at the same time - I get car sick easily

If you were invited to be on Oprah, what book would you bring for her to read?

Anything by Tony Horwitz

What is the funniest book you’ve read?

Bossypants by Tina Fey

What is the saddest?

Most of the "Oprah List" books I've read. But more recently the last book in the Divergent series - Allegiant.

Favorite reading snack/beverage?

Coffee and cookies

What’s next on your TBR list?

Egg and Spoon, by Gregory McGuire.

Friend Friday

noreply@blogger.com (Kirby Larson) — Fri, 20 Feb 2015 13:30:00 +0000

Stephanie Lile and I met through the Northwest Institute of Literary Arts, a really wonderful MFA program sponsored by a writing community rather than a university. She has a wicked sense of humor and shares my passion for history so I am thrilled to host her today as she talks about her first novel, The Tail Gunner.

Stephanie Lile

There was a box, not in an attic as is often the case, but in the hayloft of a horse barn. The box was filled with dusty, curling photographs; a sea of unknown faces amidst mouse-chewed letters and a tattered red diary. I knew there was a story there. I knew with one look that the secret stash had been my father’s. But he’d died before we even found the stash, and although we knew he’d served as a tail gunner in World War II, we didn’t know much else.

Seven years later, I’m honored to have this opportunity to share the story of The Tail Gunner, a new cross-genre work of young adult fiction. In simple terms, it’s the story of a girl, a ghost, and his final mission. In more complex terms, it’s a grand experiment based on a collection of World War II ephemera and photographs spawned in the strange catacombs of a museum geek’s mind.

Having worked in the museum education field for over two decades, one of the most complex challenges I face is getting our visitors, many of them K-12 kids, to relate the present to the past in a way that makes the past tangible, attainable, and intriguing. Ultimately, what tools can I use to get people of the present to care about the past?

Stories are a key piece to unlocking that riddle. Ask 90 percent of the exhibit designers and interpreters in the field, and they’ll say that “telling stories” is what they do. But my goal has always been to go beyond “telling” stories to imparting skills children need to find the stories, and eventually discern their own truths in the barrage of information that bombards us everyday.

In the writing-for-children field, “show, don’t tell,” is the rule of thumb. So when my sister and I found Dad’s secret stash, I thought long and hard about how, as a historian and writer, to pull teens from one world to the next with this amazing collection. Not interested in writing a Catch 22 for the modern age, I wanted to expose the holes in the veil of the past and show how various images, diary entries, and ephemera connect us to other situations and conventions unique to different times. The Tailer Gunner does that using a framework of magical realism that allows Sylvie, the main character, to tap the young tail gunner’s memories associated with particular objects and images.

In the two months since The Tail Gunner has released, I’ve found myself telling people that, “it's not what you expect.” Friends and family have purchased the book for their dads and brothers, perhaps thinking it will launch them into the heat of battle against the “Krauts.” The book is really about another type of battle—the internal battle that caring, conscientious humans face when we can’t forgive ourselves for what we’ve done in the turmoil of a moment—in the terror of war—and the judgments and glorifications people from the present place on those actions.

People have asked why I didn’t write straight historical fiction or even a work of creative nonfiction. It was tempting, but the truth is that I felt it important to take a risk in my writing just as my Dad did serving 59 missions perched like angler bait in the tail of a B-25. I also believe in the power that objects have to take us to other times. Why do you think museums place “don’t touch signs” in their galleries? Is it to protect the object or the visitor?

_____________

Stephanie (S.T.) Lile has worked in the museum field for more than 20 years and is known for her skills as an object detective. When not creating museum exhibits or publications, she writes stories for young readers and teaches museum studies at University of Washington Tacoma. THE TAIL GUNNER is her debut novel published by Bering Street Books. ISBN: 978-0-9896505-0-2

Throwback Thursday

noreply@blogger.com (Kirby Larson) — Thu, 19 Feb 2015 13:30:00 +0000

Today is a Day of Remembrance, recalling the date that President Roosevelt signed Executive Order 9066, a slippery slope of an act that led to the incarceration of some 120,000 people of Japanese descent, most of them American citizens. None of those incarcerated were ever convicted of treason or espionage; some, like the extraordinarily brave Gordon Hirabayshi, were jailed for breaking curfew, and otherwise trying to fight the unjust measures taken by our government. By us.

Today, I'd especially like to remember two people.

Reverend Emery Andrews

The first is Reverend Emery Andrews whose courage and good-heartedness inspires me to do a little bit better in my life, though I could never stand up against the tide of public opinion in the way he did. Reverend Andrews was the inspiration for the father in my book, The Fences Between Us; you can read more of his story here or in my Author's Note.

Mitsi Shiraishi

The second person is Mitsi Shiraishi, the inspiration for my latest book, Dash. When Mitsi learned it would be against the rules to take her precious dog, Chubby, with her to Tule Lake, she wrote General DeWitt to ask him to reconsider that rule. He refused. Mitsi was one of the lucky ones and was able to find a home for her pet, with a neighbor, Mrs. Charles Bovee. Mrs. Bovee kept a diary of Chubby's first few weeks in her household -- writing it in Chubby's voice! -- and sent it to Mitsi while she was still in the camp.

At the end of her life, Mitsi's family found that diary in her nightstand. When I think of all of the really rotten things that happened to Mitsi and when I think of the fact that what she held onto was a sign of compassion, rather than bitterness, I am in awe. That is true courage. That is a life well-lived.

Who do you remember on this Day of Remembrance?

Wednesday Wisdom

noreply@blogger.com (Kirby Larson) — Wed, 18 Feb 2015 13:30:00 +0000

I am extraordinarily patient,

provided I get my own way in the end.

Margaret Thatcher

Teacher Tuesday

noreply@blogger.com (Kirby Larson) — Tue, 17 Feb 2015 13:30:00 +0000

Today's quiz participant is Leigh Anne Eck, a 6h grade ELA teacher at Clark Middle School in Vincennes, Indiana. Leigh Anne became a teacher at the age of 43 and says, "It was one of the best decisions I have ever made." Follow her on Twitter here @Teachr4 or read her blog, A Day in the Life.

Okay, here goes, Leigh Anne. You should never read and blank.

I read every night before I go to bed and know first hand that you should never read and take Tylenol PM. I have done this before, and the next morning I could not remember a thing I read.

If you were invited to be on Oprah, what book would you bring for her to read?

I would bring her the 2015 Newbery Medal and Honor Winners, Crossover, El Deafo, and Brown Girl Dreaming, because I think she would be a champion for all of the characters in the books and the difficulties they had to overcome. Plus she needs to be aware of all of the great children’s literature that is available today.

What is the funniest book you’ve read?

I do not read a lot of humorous books, but two that come to mind are The Fantastic Secret of Owen Jester by Barbara O’Connor and Ungifted by Gordon Korman. Both books have characters who remind me of former students who always made me laugh.

What is the saddest?

I love what I call heart fiction, those books that make me cry. So, picking the saddest book would be hard because I have read so many. The Bridge to Terabithia by Katherine Patterson is one that I have read many times with my students. Each time I read it, I still feel the raw, gut-wrenching emotion of Jesse losing someone he dearly loves, and yes, I still cry…every single time.

Favorite reading snack/beverage?

My favorite reading snack goes back to my childhood. My mother and I would go to the public library together on Saturday afternoon after the housecleaning was done. That night, we would fix big bowls of popcorn and read together. This is one of my favorite reading memories and still my favorite reading snack today.

What’s next on your TBR list?

I just received a package yesterday with Fish in a Tree by Lynda Mullaly Hunt, All the Answers by Kate Messner and The War that saved Me by Kimberly Brubaker. Those will be the next three I read.

Friend Friday

noreply@blogger.com (Kirby Larson) — Fri, 13 Feb 2015 13:30:00 +0000

I have yet to actually meet the lovely Caroline Starr Rose, but I do feel as if I know her after reading her debut novel, May B. I am hoping to coax her back to this blog when her picture book, Over in the Wetlands, comes out later this year. Maybe if you all leave lots of comments, we'll convince her to stop in again!

Caroline Starr Rose

In 2008 I was teaching fifth-grade social studies. We’d gotten to those textbook paragraphs about England’s first colony in the Americas. Not Jamestown, the Virginia settlement started in 1607. Roanoke, the community established twenty years before. Reading about the Lost Colony of Roanoke along with my students, I remembered the fascination I’d felt the first time I’d encountered the story: 117 missing people. The word CROATOAN the only clue left behind.

While the inspiration for Blue Birds came from this moment of rediscovery, the story itself grew in part from my own childhood experiences moving back to the US from Saudi Arabia and meeting my first life-long friend.

In 1980 I returned from Saudi at the ripe old age of six. I didn’t understand America, this place with “deer crossing signs” (weren’t those pictures of goats?) and weird playground slang. While living on the other side of the world, what had once been familiar was now strange. That’s when I met Sergio, my boy-next-door, playmate, classmate, sometimes sworn enemy, and stand-in sibling. Our friendship gave us a place to be ourselves, to grow into our fuller selves. It was a safe place for me to navigate my new surroundings and learn about my new home.

Little Caroline and her friend Sergio

I’ve made my literary home as a verse novelist, but I have a little secret to share. Conventional wisdom encourages authors to read 100 books in their genre or format before beginning their own story in the same style. Guess how many verse novels I read before writing my first novel-in-verse, May B.? A grand total of two. Why? Because I never planned for May B. to be written as poetry. But as I wrote I found verse gave me access to May’s character and world in a way prose never could.

In writing Blue Birds, I chose verse deliberately this time. For a genre like historical fiction that is often viewed as distant or hard to understand, verse becomes a beautiful fit. It strips away the unnecessary and gives readers an intimate picture of a book’s central characters.

I believe in order to fully appreciate poetry it must be seen and heard. A poet communicates with language, yes, but she also speaks to the reader through line breaks, stanza breaks, and the placement of words on a page. My favorite passages in Blue Birds come from the poems Alis and Kimi share together. Here are two girls from two entirely different worlds and yet they become friends. It was essential the structure of these dual-voice poems “spoke” the story visually as well as told it through the words they contained.

I hope Blue Birds allows poetry to feel less mysterious and history more accessible. I hope you come to love these girls as I do.

Caroline Starr Rose was named a Publishers Weekly Flying Start Author for her debut novel, May B., which was an ALA-ALSC Notable Children’s Book and received two starred reviews. She spent her childhood in the deserts of Saudi Arabia and New Mexico, camping by the Red Sea in one and eating red chile in the other. She has taught social studies and English, and worked to instill in her students a passion for books, an enthusiasm for experimenting with words, and a curiosity about the past. She lives in New Mexico. Blue Birds is her second book. Visit her here.

Throwback Thursday

noreply@blogger.com (Kirby Larson) — Thu, 12 Feb 2015 13:30:00 +0000

I'm just back from New York, where I was the guest of the New York Historical Society for their Historical Fiction book club.

Me with fellow historical fiction lovers at the NYC Historical Soeiety

I had a grand time with the young people and their families and a grand time re-visiting the Historical Society, where I spent many hours researching for an earlier book of mine, The Friendship Doll.

That book centers on the Ambassador Dolls, or Friendship Dolls, sent by the children of Japan to the children of this country in 1927, in hopes of improving relations between our two nations.

The book opens in New York city, with the presentation of five of the dolls at City Hall, an event presided over by then-Mayor Jimmy Walker. Research revealed that Miss Belle Wyatt Roosevelt—granddaughter of Teddy-- was selected to accept one of the dolls on behalf of the children of America. Another snippet of research uncovered the fact that Belle was quite nervous and wobbled upon receiving the treasured token of friendship.

That detail was all it took for my writer’s mind to wonder “what if?” If you want to see how I spun that fact into fiction, check out The Friendship Doll for yourself. And be sure to do a little homework here to find out if your state was one of the lucky ones to have been gifted with a Friendship Doll way back when.

Miss Miyazaki, presumed lost but uncovered after an intrepid librarian read
The Friendship Doll and was moved to search for her

Miss Tokushima, Washington state's Friendship Doll

Wednesday Wisdom

noreply@blogger.com (Kirby Larson) — Wed, 11 Feb 2015 13:30:00 +0000

Mistakes are the portals of discovery.

James Joyce

Teacher Tuesday

noreply@blogger.com (Kirby Larson) — Tue, 10 Feb 2015 13:30:00 +0000

Please welcome today's guest, Tara Smith, a 6th grade teacher from New Jersey. We're dying to know how you would answer the Teacher Tuesday quiz, Tara. So let's get started!

Please fill in the blank: You should never read and blank at the same time.

You should never read and try to do anything else at the same time. Reading requires all of you to step into another world.

If you were invited to be on Oprah, what book would you bring for her to read?

Margaret Wild's Fox - to show her that children's book authors are on to something powerful - children can be deep thinkers given the invitation and the respect to do so.

What is the funniest book you’ve read?

I guess I am a grouch - I don't read funny books (but I guess I should start to!)

What is the saddest?

The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison. Pecola Breedlove's story is one that I will never forget.

Favorite reading snack/beverage?

Starbuck's venti skim chai - hot in the winter, iced in the summer. It goes so perfectly with reading...plus I love crunching on the ice on a hot summer day.

What’s next on your TBR list?

An alumna of my sixth grade classroom, now a junior in college, sent me a collection of her short stories - I'll be reading these with much love and pride.

Friend Friday

noreply@blogger.com (Kirby Larson) — Fri, 06 Feb 2015 13:30:00 +0000

What I love most about cyberspace is that it has allowed me to form warm friendships with folks I've never even met, except through their books. That's the case with today's guest, Lynda Mullaly Hunt, whose debut novel One For the Murphys captured my heart. Her newest novel is just out and I'm delighted that she's agreed to visit with us today to talk about it.

Lynda Mullaly Hunt

Friends.

My new book, FISH IN A TREE, is a lot about the kinds of friends who know the ins and outs of you. Who forgive you when you say something dumb because they know your heart. The kinds of friends who, when you say you’re fine, will raise an eyebrow and pull the truth out of you. These are the people who help you figure out who you are. They serve as both mirrors and windows.

In Fish in a Tree, Ally Nickerson confesses to her best friends that she can’t read. She finds out that they already know and is horrified but then realizes they don’t see her any differently because of it. Then the three friends discuss “being yourself” like their teacher tells them. Being a cerebral type, Albert has even Googled “being yourself” searching for an answer on how to actually do it. He knows who he wants to be when he grows up but he has trouble picking out who he is now. After all, there are many opinions he hears at school about who is – nerd, loser. etc. However, it is Ally and Keisha who mirror back to him who he really is—intelligent. Observant. Kind. Fiercely loyal.

These friendships we have as children are like no others later in life, I think. When we are young, friendship is just about the love—the pure joy of camaraderie and having found a kindred spirit. Remember those days when, after one recess period, you had a very best friend ever? The joy? And sometimes the relief?

As authors, we teach children a lot of things. We don’t set out to do that necessarily, but children “become” our characters as they read—and thus experience what our main characters do. (Studies on readers’ brains have proven this.) So, kids are learning and feeling what friendships should be—and shouldn’t be—while reading.

When my daughter was in elementary school she commented to me one day that she was nervous around a particular friend and we talked about how a true friend is someone you can let your guard down with. When you do, you trust them to care for your feelings and when they do that, the connection is deepened. Friendships are made that way. One kindness upon another. A trusting gesture upon another. And acceptance of who we are. Really are.

Ally gives these bits of herself to Keisha and Albert—and they do the same with her. These friends care for each other. Cheer each other on. Hold each other up. Step forward in defense. They are loyal. And as they each give this affection and receive it, they each learn what true friendship is. Hopefully, their readers will as well.

Lynda Mullaly Hunt is the author of middle-grade novel, ONE FOR THE MURPHYS (Nancy Paulsen Books/Penguin), winner of The Tassy Walden Award: New Voices in Children’s Literature, an ABA New Voices Pick, A Nerdy Book Award Winner, and an Editor’s Choice Book with Scholastic Book Clubs. It also appears on 22 state lists. Lynda has directed the SCBWI-NE Whispering Pines Retreat for eight years and is a former teacher and Scenario Writing coach. Her second novel, FISH IN A TREE, was released on Thursday. Lynda lives with her husband, two kids, impetuous beagle and beagle-loathing cat.

Throwback Thursday

noreply@blogger.com (Kirby Larson) — Thu, 05 Feb 2015 13:30:00 +0000

I love this scrapbook that Scholastic created for my character, Piper, in The Fences Between Us, the title that kicked off the relaunch of the Dear America series. Young readers can try their hands at 40s wartime vocabulary, food and fashion. The site also has great images from WWII to help kids understand rationing and other homefront experiences.

Check it out!