Kids are the best!

I just finished a Skype visit with The Learning Center for the Deaf. I've Skyped with this school before and it's always such fun.

(This was one of my free Skypes, 15 minutes or so of Q&A with students who've read my book. Easy Peasy, I do it whenever I can.)

But y'all, I wanted to talk all day to these two.

Their teacher had gently cautioned me that they might need a little extra time. There would be an interpreter signing my answers. The boys were nervous about meeting an author in "real life."
Because really we're pretty scary!

Their questions about GLORY BE were thought-provoking; I'm still pondering my answers.

They wanted to see my office. (I showed them the palm trees out my window. I know, mean. They were cold up there. I'm pretty warm down here.) 

They wanted to know why there's no "Glory Be 2." (I get that a lot.)

They made a movie signing GLORY- a first! Their teacher explained that they used the sign for "laughing" because they think a lot of what she does is fun!

They sent me a thank-you letter. Which cracks me up. I hope my sister sees it.

This is truly why authors spend all those hours figuring out their stories. Mining our characters for depth and emotion, ARCS and DIALOG and INNER WISDOM. 
And then you send that book into the universe and you get this back. Kind of makes it all worthwhile, no?

Time to Skype!

Must pop into my sometimes overlooked blog to share what a fantastic week this has been.

First of all, if you have the opportunity to study with Patricia Lee Gauch, take it. I spent four days at a Highlights workshop and am still processing that fabulous time. 

Then I returned home to two great Skype experiences. Thank you to the fun kids in Jonesboro, Arkansas, for reading MAKING FRIENDS WITH BILLY WONG and for your excellent questions.

(Aside: While we were Skyping, it started snowing.  It doesn't snow every day in Arkansas! Which reminded me of my very first school librarian job in Atlanta. I had a group of kindergartners in the library when it snowed for the first time and they went crazy with excitement. So thank you for continuing to ask questions, kids!)

The next day, I spoke to a really lively and smart group of sixth graders in Worthington, Ohio. 
They'd read a mix of my books and had some great questions, too.
Example: Why do your characters talk so country?
I truly LAUGHED OUT LOUD. 
And then I explained that that's how southerners talk whether they live in a city or in the country. 
That is, if they're natives. 
And especially if it was a "while back."

Books Mentioned
(I always try to tell them about at least one book other than mine. Sometimes time doesn't allow too much other than Q&A though!)

Have a Super Summer!

I am in awe of two teachers who pulled off one of my best ever Skype Q&A sessions on their LAST DAY OF SCHOOL.
(Okay, officially it was Facetime, not Skype, but it worked equally well, if not better than Skype...)

Their students were literally out the door! I mean, who would even attempt this? Two super teachers from Syracuse, that's who.

These same teachers from Jamesville-DeWitt Middle School were the first Skype visit I ever had, way back in spring, 2012. They've shared GLORY BE with their sixth graders and we've Skyped ever since. What a treat.

Today the questions were serious, funny, thoughtful, and challenging. I'm still thinking about the boy who asked if I could change places with one of my characters, what would I do differently. 
Or whether I saw the "times" as the antagonist/ villain. 
And how about that age-old question, asked by every writer: How do you know when your book is finished?  

(See below for more of the questions, just emailed to me.)

I suspect these kids are great readers and I hope they (and their fabulous teachers) and ALL you amazing teachers and librarians out there have a summer filled with books, friends, and maybe even time to write.

(When they asked what I would recommend for their summer reading, I just happened to have these books on the table right next to my computer!)

SUPER QUESTIONS:

After reading Glory Be, I felt that Emma kind of replaced the mom role to Glory.  Did you mean to do that?

What gave you the idea to make JT so mean? 

What made you decide to bring fact and history into your book instead of having it all fiction?

Have you written any other books?

How did Frankie's back story come to life or Who inspired Frankie's back story?

How do you know when your story is the way you want it? 

In the process of making your book how did you give (develop) Glory's personality?

Why did you choose July 4th as Glory's birthday?

How do you organize yourself for your book?

Were you a big fan, like Glory, of the Beatles, Elvis and Nancy Drew?

Thank you, Skype!

One of the fun things I've done this year is to Skype with more classrooms than ever. Perhaps it all started with World Read Aloud Day. Scholastic also supported some of my Skype sessions. But somehow, this school year, I connected with more smart kids and their teachers and librarians than ever before.

Check out the trailers these fifth graders at Pioneer Middle School in Yorkshire, NY, made. It's an amazing class project, and I thank Mrs. Rice and her smart kids for all their hard work. They'd read GLORY BE as a class, and you can tell they spent a lot of time, energy, and love on this.

I'm so proud of them!
One of my favorite comments? "Charming like Jesslyn's charm bracelet."
And such strong verbs- I suspect there are more than a few budding writers in Mrs. Rice's class. Not to mention film makers!

Finding images that fit perfectly with their words = what a super learning experience.

Here's the link, again,  to watch their trailers:  http://www.pioneerschools.org/Page/7545

Here we are, Skyping!

Thank you, Mrs. Rice, her fifth graders, and Maria Muhlbauer their super librarian who set it all up.

And thank you for the lovely note that arrived in my mail today!

Thank you, Pope Elementary

Skyping is so much fun!

This week a great group of readers from Jackson, Tennessee, appeared on my screen, fully prepared to present me with their reaction to THE WAY TO STAY IN DESTINY.

The first thing I saw upon answering their Skype call? A whole room full of kids waving their copies of "Destiny" in the air.

And then they held up illustrations and explained why they'd chosen that moment to feature. 

Here they are. 

(Apologies in advance. My Skype image was a little fuzzy that day.)

Here we go!

 Green birds!
(Guess what? They're making a lot of noise right outside my window today.)

  Mr. Dawson and his Bait Shop. 

This student told me she thought he played an important role in the book.
I confessed that he is a character I like a lot. Even if he had to be beefed up when I edited.

 The piano. No explanation needed!

 Bird's eye view of the piano (no pun intended), modeled after the book cover image.

Thank YOU, Pope Elementary!

And a special thanks to my friends at Scholastic who made this particular Skype event possible.

Friendship

My week was filled with bright kids asking great questions.
Four Skype sessions later, I'm still pondering what they said about THE WAY TO STAY IN DESTINY.
 
For example:
Are any of your characters based on real people or named after real people? How do you figure out what a character would say?

What does "Oh my stars!" mean? Are you from the south, or something?
(This always cracks me up because it never occurs to me that kids don't know some of the totally normal sounding things I say/write...)

And mixed together with all the writing questions I regularly get asked (and never mind answering) was a new one:

"Do you know any other authors and what do you talk about when you get together?"
(Totally not answering this one. My lips are sealed.

Another question made me wonder. This is only the second time it's been asked, and both times I could tell the student had thought hard about it. It wasn't one of those "How much money do you make?" off-the-cuff questions that teachers and librarians caution kids not to ask.
(But they sometimes do.)

This young reader asked why Theo, a boy, was friends with Anabel, a girl, and what made me write about friendship and friends and especially boys and girls being friends. 

I have the answer to that. Or at least an answer.
One is because purely from a writing sense, it's nice to work in both girls and boys in a novel, especially those who don't exactly fit the mold. Theo plays the piano AND baseball. His new friend Anabel wants no part of her dance class but is possibly a sports fanatic. 

In THE WAY TO STAY IN DESTINY, Theo was adrift. He was someplace he'd never been before. He felt like an outsider. Every single time I talk about my new book and ask students what helps you fit in when you are brand new to a place, they know the answer: Find a friend.

Been there, done that, right? Haven't we all felt like we didn't know the ropes until we had one person to show us the way?

I grew up in the kind of small southern town where everybody knew each other. I had friends whose grandparents were my own grandparents' friends. That's me in the corsage and my best friend since (before!) birth next to me. We were college roommates, bridesmaids for each other, and we're still best of friends. But I've also been that newcomer, so I know how it feels not to fit in. 

(In fact, I still know every person in this photo, including the too-cool-for-school boy on the trike)

A friend, yes. That's what a good book can be. But also a way to figure out how to make a friend. How to be a friend.  

Frankie and Glory? Anabel and Theo? And in my forthcoming book, there's a girl who befriends a boy, and the two attempt to figure out the world together.

Makes perfect sense to me.


(Here's a link to a blogpost by one of the terrific librarians who invited me into her class via Skype)

And one more photo. 

My friend and I still talk a lot about our shoes.

  

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.

Ending the School Year with Skype

This has been a very interesting couple of weeks.
Have you ever tried to talk to somebody when your roof was being repaired?
Have you ever SKYPED with a whole bunch of kids while your house was shaking?

I moved to my basement.
I moved to a corner of my room.
There was nowhere to hide.

That was pretty much how it went with my end-of-the-year Skype sessions.
There were times when I questioned my sanity in agreeing to do so many.
Especially since I had this teensy little writing deadline looming.

But each session made me smile.

The girls who talked to me during their recess and lunch.
The third graders who'd read the book as a class project.

And so many of the questions were truly thoughtful.

For example:
(These are from 4th and 5th graders)

Who helped you when you started out?

What character changed the most after working with an editor.

 What advice did your editor give you?

What's your favorite genre?

(I'm not entirely sure I knew the word GENRE in 4th grade...)

Also, I got to talk to two groups of kids who'd read THE WAY TO STAY IN DESTINY.
Until recently, I didn't know much about how young readers were responding to my new book.

I was especially wowed by a group of 2nd grade advanced readers in Florida who really had some fabulous questions.
(And I added a new name to my Potential Character Name Book= Treasure!)

These bright, smart readers were from The Learning Center for the Deaf in Framingham, MA.

They wrote a thank-you note that very day! Just like our mamas told us we should do.

And this group in Deerfield, IL.
(They told me all about the Bluestem List!)

Their teacher tweeted our picture. It always cracks me up to see that large <ME> on the screen. Paused mid-sentence!

Thanks so much @ARScattergood for talking to us all about Glory Be!— Jill Bonnette (@jill_bonnette) May 21, 2015


As the year winds down, I have to say AGAIN how amazing teachers and librarians are. How hard they work.
How they love books.
How they go that extra mile to connect with books and their authors.

Have a great summer, all you remarkable teachers and librarians.
Put your feet up, stare at the ocean or the lake or the mountains.
And enjoy those summer books.



Just for fun, here's a previous post about Skyping in your flipflops...
:)

Who's Reading Your Book?

This month has been Skype month. 
No, not an officially designated celebration, it just happened that way in my world. 

I love talking to kids about writing, reading, history, genres, characters, the truth or not the truth. So many great questions. Skyping has given me the chance to spread book love to places I've never been.  
(In my flipflops.)

But I got a question yesterday that truly stumped me.

Sixth Grade Boy in Wisconsin, to me: 
"Who would you recommend your book to?"

Now see, the librarian in me should be all over that.

But I stammered and hemmed and hawed.
Finally I mentioned a few authors I love, as in "If you liked THIS book, you'll like THAT book."

I think I mentioned kids who like books that take place in the past. 
But that's so not true. 

(True confession: My first draft of THE WAY TO STAY IN DESTINY wasn't even set in the past!)

Maybe I mumbled something about Books With Heart.

Because really and truly, one of my favorite tweets in the whole world had recently taken my breath away:

And just like that, my book had become

#heartprintbook

Be still my heart.

But the librarian in me still wasn't happy with my answer to that boy in Wisconsin.

And the writer in me didn't want to leave it at that.

There's been a lot of discussion recently about Boy Books v. Girl Books.
And judging a book by its cover.

What does the cover say to a reader about to choose a book?

Is that old adage about boys not reading books about girls while girls will always be okay with reading boy main characters hold?
 I doubt it. I've had tons of boys who love GLORY BE.

At a recent Book Fair, a student told me he'd read DESTINY five times already. He wasn't a baseball fan and he can't play the piano. 
Had some wise librarian or teacher had handed him that book because she knew his reading taste?

Do we need to stop pigeonholing books and kids' book choices?
Will all young readers eventually find those HeartPrint books for their own hearts?

Are kids' books just for kids anymore?

Based on this guy who has discovered and loved a few middle-grade novels, I'd say no.

I'm still thinking of a good answer to the question that sparked this blogpost. Who WOULD I recommend my own books to?

Writers- Have you been asked that question? 
Do you have a perfect answer?

I used to think I was pretty good at Readers Advisory. 
But when it's your own book, something feels different.


You might also like these posts about Skype:

Fun Skype in Georgia

Skype 101: the View from Here

And these about some of my own Heartprint books:

Kwame Alexander's Crossover

An Abundance of BOOKS

Hound Dog True

Kids Write...

I've had a lot of fun Skyping this school year. 
I don't always get a packet of thank-you notes, but when I do, they make me smile.

The class I Skyped with in Vermont recently sent me a Dorothy Canfield Fisher Children's Book Award bookmark. I'm so proud to be on that list. 

Another group in State College, PA, asked some great questions. Including "Are you wearing shorts?"
(I showed them the palm trees outside my window.)

A few excerpts from my new friends:

 "You are very nice and kind! I love the story behind the story of Glory Be." 

"I was really looking forward to your answers. I really liked your answers."
(and there's a HUGE Thank You! in his signature.)

"I was very curious about the book so now I am not curious."
(also followed by a big Thank You!)

"I was not there to Skype with you but from what I have heard it was very nice and interesting. I heard there was a technology problem...But for the people who got to Skype with you, it was a good experience...because you just do not walk into the store and see your favorite author."

(For the record, the technology problem was minimal and involved about 2 minutes of changing things around so they could both hear and see me on their big screen, and Bingo! we were live. Skype is very user-friendly, for those of you who haven't taken the plunge yet.)

Seriously, don't you just love kids' letters?

And the illustrations that accompany them...

A previous post about Skyping is here, with a link to Kate Messner's list of Authors Who Skype:
http://ascattergood.blogspot.com/2013/02/skype-101-from-other-side-of-computer.html

What Fun!

Skype. I love it.
And I especially love it when the kids are well prepared, bright, articulate.
Like this group of third graders from Gwin Oaks Elementary School in Gwinnett County, GA.

Ms. Sharon Amolo always takes pictures of the Skype screen 

and a select group of kids. That's me back there holding up GLORY BE.

Kind of like being there!

They asked some very challenging questions.

For example:
What part of the book changed after it was sent to the publisher and before it became a book?
Is there anything you'd write differently if you had to do it all over again?
Besides being a librarian and writer, what other jobs did you have?

They asked questions for the entire period. 
There were over 100 of these smart cookies!
I had to really pay attention and think hard.

Thank you, amazing teachers and librarians, for all the work you do to prepare kids to Meet The Author!



Here's a link to the school's blog. Check out those kids stepping up to the microphone. Such poise. I'm impressed!
http://gwinoaksmediacenter.weebly.com/2/post/2013/12/skype-visit-with-augusta-scattergood.html

Here's my earlier post about Skyping, with pictures of my flipflops, as well as a link to a good post by author Kate Messner about Authors Who Skype for free:
http://ascattergood.blogspot.com/2013/02/skype-101-from-other-side-of-computer.html

Skype 101 from the other side of the computer

What I've learned from a year's worth of Skype chats.

The best Skyping, like the best Author Visits, happens when the kids know something about the book. The very best ones happen when they've actually read the book.

It's easier to hear the questions when students approach the computer, one at a time, and give you their names, then ask. Or at least when they have a microphone. (I learned this from a wise Skyper I know. Thanks, Barbara!)

Having just Skyped with a great class in the faraway northeast, here's a quick video run-down of our 20-minute session.  This is my second year with these fabulous teachers, and I'll come back any time they ask.




This is what they see behind me...
Looks fairly organized, no?




















This is what they don't see under my desk. (Shorts and old flipflops usually.)

They also don't see the other side of my desk. Not always like this.
Messy today because I was working on revisions until about five minutes before the call.
Note the glass of water, the tissues, the book. Ready for anything they bring!

I tidied up the other side of my office/ guest room. 

I couldn't put it all away. This is my To Do stack.

 Another tip- You need light, lots of light. But I usually make sure the computer is turned away from this window. Especially if the class is "calling" from a cold, snowy place.

Today the kids and their teachers had on sweaters. I'm not telling what I was wearing.
(See picture 2, above.)

I especially loved today's questions, showing how deeply they understood my book. Now I'm off to think more about Liam's inquiry. "Besides the Beatles and Elvis, what other culture from the Sixties did you put in GLORY BE?"

Teachers, Book Clubs, Readers- Click for Kate Messner's list of AUTHORS WHO SKYPE FOR FREE. Please note: These free visits have restrictions.

Related post: Skyping: What a treat!

Mother Daughter Book Club

 I'm delighted, excited, and proud to announce that Scholastic has chosen GLORY BE as its first Mother Daughter Book Club selection. AND they are giving away a free Skype visit with the author.

(That would be me!)

                           Just in time for Mother's Day. Spread the word, please.

CLICK HERE to go to Scholastic's website
and see the discussion guide and a recipe for Emma's lemon cookies.

                              Perfect for your Book Group? I hope so!