School's Out! (well almost)

A few photos from my almost-summer school connections. 

When author Kirby Larson suggested to her many friends and fans that we make a connection to be kinder, take notice of our world, and to all-out celebrate the late author Amy Krouse Rosenthal via her #MoreforAKR campaign, my first thought was one of my favorite nearby schools, Wauchula Elementary. I emailed the librarian, Mary Idsardi, and invited myself for a visit. She accepted my invitation and made a party of the day. I brought books. She had the yellow umbrella. I know Amy would have enjoyed the yellow, the red velvet cake and the ice tea. I sure did.

Here's a post about my previous visit to Wauchula Elementary to celebrate my own book, THE WAY TO STAY IN DESTINY. Mary also outdid herself with that. She's one of those special librarians who not only loves books, she loves her kids.

I love to SKYPE also. Especially with such well-prepared students. Here I am Skyping with Kellee Moye's Book Club, down the road a piece in Orlando.

(Perhaps the best student question relating to MAKING FRIENDS WITH BILLY WONG in a while. Maybe ever. At least from a writer's perspective. I hope I remember it right. Juan: "Did you intentionally give Azalea all those exclamations like Holy Moly Mashed Potatoes? Were they part of her personality as you saw her?" Yes, I did. She may have been a quiet kid, but inside her head, she was exclaiming.)

I had two more fun local school visits that I don't have many photos of.  But here I am talking about creating characters from real people. That's my brother-in-law, inspiration and advisor for Robbie in GLORY BE, on the left. And a picture of Ruth Hart's dance class on the right. The students at Countryside Christian School asked great questions and were so much fun to talk to.

Then off to my old stompin' grounds. I know. Some of you don't equate me and New Jersey, but this is The Kent Place School, the actual school where I worked for over ten years. They invited me back. The library felt like home. Especially when I saw these books smiling at me. 

And the librarian, my friend Deborah Afir, makes me so proud! 

The girls were excited, well-read, and full of great questions.

I'm still smiling about a comment from my friend who teaches science and took the photos. Becky Van Ry, quoting her daughter: "She put down the date-due stamp and picked up a pen."

Yes, I did. But it still feels nice to be back in a school media center.

Afterwards, I moseyed from Summit to Madison, NJ, stopping for a treat at this place. Anybody recognize the Magic Fountain? I almost didn't!

Downtown Madison now has a lovely little independent bookstore, Short Stories. Here I am with two of my former teachers, my good friends Pat Casey and Edee Zabriskie. A few years ago, Pat's students brainstormed ideas for THE WAY TO STAY IN DESTINY when I was stuck. It's always good to talk about ideas with kids who love to read.  :)

 

Another school visit the next day back in my old neighborhood. St. Patrick's School, Chatham, was a place I often strolled by with my sweet dogs. I was happy to visit and talk about my books but somehow nobody took any photos!

What a treat to be back in New York/ New Jersey, to see old friends and old places and make new ones. 

I especially enjoyed pulling out a few sweaters. 
The weather was gorgeous. I'd wandered all over the city for the weekend, 

before heading to New Jersey to share thoughts on writing and books. 

Thank you to all the teachers and librarians who've invited me to your schools, who've Skyped, who've prepared your students and sold my books and let me share just a bit of my story with you. 

Have a great summer!

Getting Near to Baby

One of my favorite books ever.

I re-read parts of it periodically, just to remind me what terrific writing really is.

I'd forgotten it was her debut novel though I remembered it won a Newbery Honor.



 If somehow you've missed this middle-grade novel, and you admire truly beautiful prose, go read it right now.

This is what Booklist said when the book first appeared:

''Couloumbis' first novel wears its heart on one sleeve and its humor on the other. Together, they make a splendid fit." - Booklist, boxed review

(Perhaps having roofers walking above me has made me think of this book again this morning. If so, thank you new-roof guys. As frightened as you make me when I look way up at you, I adore the scenes Couloumbis set on the rooftop.)

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!

Another "Pinch Me!" moment...

In a million years, I would not have pictured me doing this, but my new friends at Scholastic thought it would be fun for me to record a chapter and a few words about writing GLORY BE, and off I went, on the train to Manhattan. I worried for a half minute that they might want to actually see me, you know as in video type recording. But no. My editor said I could show up in my jammies. I didn't.

Here's a quick visual tour of the day. Quality of the photos does not reflect the importance of the day. I was trying to be my cool New York self, not my geeky, excited is-this-really-happening-to-me self.

I enjoyed an iced tea and going over my writing, while waiting for my Big Moment.  I did not read aloud inside the teashop. Promise.

Note: Though the tea place was dimly lit-- a nice touch on a hot day--can you see my Good Luck Paperclips? Critique group friend Teddie returns our pages, clipped with these festive clips. They always make me smile.

I was still early, so I sat next to one of my favorite buildings to do one of my favorite NYC things: People Watching!

For some really good photos of the art inside that Sprint store inside the Flatiron Building, click here.  They are so worth that click! Seriously worth it. The art was amazing. Go ahead, click that link now!

This was my view, while waiting in the shade, next to the flowers, in the Flatiron Building's plaza. Note the lack of the normal NYC black clothing, an obvious bow to the summer heat. Flip-flops were everywhere! Did I say it was hot?

And I finally made it to BEATSTREET STUDIOS.

Yep, that's the recording studio. Picture me in that room, headsets on, just like a rock star. Interesting drums in there. My new Scholastic friend Adrienne Vrettos and I considered playing them, but wised up.

I finished my session (see how quickly I pick up the lingo) in record time and was off to meet my agent, Linda Pratt, for tea and chocolates. We met in another of my favorite spots: Grand Central Station. And truly, this is a terrible photo, but it's hard to get a shot of that gorgeous ceiling with my iPhone, especially when I'm trying to appear cool and rock-star-ish. With a big emphasis on the ish part of that word...

More than just a great day- an amazing, fantastic day! And I didn't even mention one of the other surprising, terrific moments. All the way in to the city, my unexpected trainmates were two of my favorite people-- a former student I've known since her kindergarten days and her mom who was a loyal "library mom" in my many years at Kent Place School. Happy to say, Annie still loves to read.

Scholastic, NYC. Post #2.

One last post about my fabulous trip to New York, and then I really do need to stop floating, get back to earth, and dig deeper into my final polishing of GLORY BE. (But really, I was at the library at 8:30 this morning, working working working.)

Four of us were invited to be part of the Debut Author luncheon at Scholastic. Our instructions were clear. Talk about ourselves, how we came to write these novels, and do a short reading. 10 minutes max for the entire presentation.

Advice from friends and family included

1. Use your Southern-est voice
2. Be funny
3. Speak slowly and breathe deeply
4. Equate yourself with Eudora Welty.

Yeah, right.

Well, the drawl comes naturally.  ✔ Check.
Funny? Hmmm. And Eudora Welty is my hero, but I'm not about to climb on that high mountain.

Instead, I started out with one of my favorite (non-Southern) writer quotes:

"Let your fiction grow from the land beneath your feet."

(Willa Cather)

Then I talked about my first inspiration- A talk given by Ruby Bridges, ten years ago, while I was still the librarian at the Kent Place School in Summit, NJ.  And my final joy when my agent called to tell me her dream editor Andrea Pinkney wanted to buy the book.

I went on to tell a few true things in the story:
Our streets flooded, often. I was once caught skipping church, playing in the rain, and singing 99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall with Nan and Frank and Beverly.
Robert Kennedy really came to town.
We had an amazing librarian.
My sister and I played Junk Poker, a game of 21/ Blackjack we made up.
My beloved Alice and I read Nancy Drew together.
I've seen Elvis's house in Tupelo, before it was a national shrine.

And some of what was pure fiction, based on historical research (most of the actual plot):
During "Freedom Summer," my hometown never closed the town pools, parks, schools, etc.
My daddy, unlike Glory's, didn't care if my sister and I played poker and bet our Cracker Jack prizes, Doublemint gum, pecans from the back yard, and other valuables.

The highlight of my talk, no doubt, was when I unveiled the Buster Brown shoebox, a la Junk Poker, tied with the beautiful purple ribbon. And revealed my prized possessions inside. ☺

As I said yesterday, it was a drizzly day in New York. This is what I saw from my window. I love the thought, even if it is a beer ad.

 The heavens opened up and the rains poured down, just as I started toward the Scholastic headquarters.

I was so happy to discover I'd brought my fabulous cardinal and straw-colored Spinnaker Purse Snatcher, made by my friend Leslie.

My Junk Poker box and my chapter to read aloud traveled, safe and dry, for their big moment. (And not that I doubted it a minute, Leslie, but the bag is completely waterproof! As promised.)

 After the luncheon, the sun came out. Though no flowers could be seen, the day was beautiful.





Before leaving for the airport, I had a teaparty in the big squishy chairs of the Soho Grand's lobby, with my agent, Linda Pratt. She gave me these precious little notebooks. I adore the quotes.

(Sigh....)