The Way to Stay in Destiny

When your book first appears, you have no idea whether the audience it's intended for really gets it. Or not.
Oh, reviewers may rave and reviewers may Boo. 
Bloggers may invite you. Teachers may Tweet.
But it's the kids we're trying to reach, isn't it.

Then,  if you're lucky, you'll hear from your actual readers. 
Which in the case of my books mostly means Grades 3-7. 
(And their teachers, librarians, parents, too.)

From groups like the after-school Book Group in Jackson Township's Christa McAuliffe Middle School, just up the road in New Jersey, I learn as much from great questioners as they do from reading and interviewing the author.

When I Skype with a class, I try to scribble notes. 
(Since it's the end of the year, I didn't have time to verify the names and the quotes, so don't hold me to this. It's hard to Skype and scribble at the same time.)
If I decipher my notes correctly, here are a few observations.

After Allison called DESTINY awesome and Glory Be amazing (Be still my heart, on both counts), she asked specific writing questions. She wants to be a writer. She IS a writer, according to her teacher.

I told Vinnie he reminded me of the picture in my head of Theo!

Others said they liked how I incorporated baseball and piano. They wanted to know why I chose Hank Aaron. Had I ever actually heard Thelonious Monk perform, in person.

Tyler asked about the parrots! Which are real and a real nuisance where I live in Florida. Though fascinating and unusual- which he told me added to my setting.

Zander read the book in one day. (He reminded me a bit of my own visual image of a character I'm now writing. Glasses, dark hair. Adding his name to my collection, too.)

Others asked about Anabel and why she was the way she was. 
They wanted to know about backstory.

And whether I'd ever moved to a brand new place, like Theo. 
If not, how did I know exactly how it felt.

Now, those are careful readers and writers. 
Hats off to their amazing and awesome teachers, Nancy Dell'Osso and Linda Fera.

For a post about my actual, in-person visit to this school two years ago, with pictures, CLICK HERE.

Junk Poker

(Note, I'm reposting this from May, 2011, written as I prepared for the book's launch. I'm reposting because I just had the nicest comment from a reader, today, and can't resist sharing. Oh, and by the way, the actual wallpaper, deemed valuable, has been retired. But I now have a great facsimile supplied by the kids at one of the schools I visited last year. )

When I changed my Facebook profile picture this week, I had a few questions. Like what in the heck is that shoebox tied up with a big purple ribbon all about?

It's all about Junk Poker.

When we were very little and shared the Sleeping Porch as our bedroom, my sister and I created a game. I remember it vividly, so what if she doesn't?  I was older. I get to elaborate on the memories. So I'm telling the story: we played Blackjack with our "treasures." We hid the shoeboxes under our beds. We took them out during nap-times (every day of the summer to escape the heat and survive polio- but that's another story).

In my upcoming novel, Glory and her big sister play Junk Poker. In fact, I first titled the book Junk Poker, way back when I first began writing it. Back then, it was a short story narrated by an adult caregiver, who also happened to be  the organist/ wedding planner/ maker of tissue paper carnations for the First Baptist Church. What can I say? The story has evolved. Have you never started with one idea and come up with something completely different?

New title, new genre, new characters.
But Junk Poker and the shoebox survived.

Inside my box is my prized possession. I thought it was lost until I rediscovered a manila envelope tucked in the bottom of an old footlocker from Camp Skyline Ranch. The trunk had traveled many miles since my Mentone, Alabama days. When it finally fell apart in our last move, I salvaged the envelope.

I found corsages from old boyfriends, a photograph of my dad's Army jeep that I learned to drive on, and the best treasure of all: wallpaper from Elvis's house in Tupelo, Mississippi.

So that's what I shared in my Scholastic talk in New York. Green floral wallpaper from Elvis's childhood home, tucked into this Buster Brown shoebox just like Glory's, wrapped in a big purple ribbon. Why Elvis's wallpaper? You'll have to wait for Glory and her big sister to tell you...

Meanwhile, it's only fitting that my Junk Poker box serves as my new Facebook profile picture. 

Sharing Glory

I love it when teachers send me pictures of their students' projects. 
GLORY BE was on the summer reading list for the Christa McAuliffe Middle School in Jackson Township, NJ.

Jordan made an entire book of her pictures, storyboarding the book. Here are two pages from Jordan. I love the pool scene!

This is A'Blessyn H. and her Glory Be project - a storyboard of events.

(And don't you adore her name?)

Thank you, readers and teachers, for all the hard work you do to make authors proud!

Happy Summer to All!

A HUGE thanks to all the teachers and librarians who've invited me in to share GLORY BE this year.

As you eat ice cream, race in your Field Games, plan your summer reading, I'm remembering what fun it was to hear your questions, your suggestions, your brilliant ideas for sequels.

Here are a few of my own memories from my final spring school visits. Thanks for having me!

A morning with the fifth graders at Kent Place School, Summit NJ, where I was a librarian for ten years. 

I shared my inspiration, Ruby Bridge's speech to faculty and students there. And I signed a lot of books!

 

While in New Jersey, I also visited the awesome After School Book Group at the Christa McAuliffe Middle School in Jackson Township. What great kids! 

Here's the table. Decorated for the occasion. 

 They presented me with my own little Junk Poker box! Filled with all sorts of treasures, including a piece of "Elvis's wallpaper" that's very close to the real thing. Those kids are careful readers. Wow.

 A closeup of the table. 
(He plays Robbie in the book trailer, below!)

Here they all are!

 My last school visit was with the terrific readers at the Nightingale Bamford School in New York. I didn't get a lot of pictures, but I couldn't resist this. She was in a big crowd of adorable finger puppets. Kind of reminded me of Glory in her bathing suit!

 As I was leaving, I received a handful of great thank you notes. I love this one. I wonder if she was channeling Elvis.

And now for the crowning glory (no pun intended). The kids at Christa McAuliffe, all on their own, created this book trailer for Glory Be. Thank you, thank you very much!

 
GLORY BE BOOK TRAILER

Kids and teachers- Click on over to fellow Florida writer  Donna Gephart's blog and scroll all the way through to the end for her excellent suggestions of Things to Do This Summer!

And check out the BANK STREET BEST BOOKS of 2013. Some perfect selections, by age and genre, for summer and winter reading!