Consider Your Heroes

Perhaps now more than ever, it's important to choose role models kids can look up to. Is it because we know more now about our heroes than we ever did? Is it the culture, the ability to read everything anybody does, good and bad?

Not that writers haven't always tried to hold up good examples! 
I started writing THE WAY TO STAY IN DESTINY over ten years ago. The seed of an idea for that book came from a childhood experience --one degree of separation from a baseball hero. But that hero had taken a big fall since my childhood memory. And an editor who read the manuscript (and rejected it with a lot of nice comments) suggested "my" baseball player might not be the best hero for the kids of Destiny, Florida.

I'd lived in Atlanta when I was a young librarian just beginning my career. I knew Hank Aaron was a hero. It was an easy switch.

So choose your heroes carefully, writers. If you're placing a character on a pedestal, be sure he or she deserves it.

There are a lot of interesting stories out there about Hank Aaron. He doesn't mind speaking up about things he believes to be wrong. 
Here's his take on the recent cheating scandals in baseball. 
He started a foundation that has helped so many kids.
He's an all-around good guy. 
A perfect book character. 
Somebody kids should remember.

My buddy Eileen, who still lives in Atlanta and follows the news, shared this resource via her local TV station and a Facebook page., on the occasion of Aaron's 86th February birthday. 
(Photos and a letter from the president via the John F. Kennedy Library.)

This is the kind of sports hero our kids need to know about.

Catching Up on a Monday

 
I love these Monday, IT'S MONDAY WHAT ARE YOU READING posts. Because it makes me actually think about what I've been reading. 
Since I'm no longer a librarian with a host of young readers waiting to share their next great book recommendations and talk about how they love the characters, I mostly read to see how they're written. Does that make sense?



So I did a little re-reading this week. 
How many of your kids have read (and loved?)  HOLES?
Wow. Talk about a fast, fun read. 

(That's a totally awesome cover, isn't it? It's not the one I'm familiar with but it's sufficiently creepy while artistic, and I really like it.
Don't get me started on the importance of cover design!)

My buddy Barbara O'Connor recently shared that HOLES was edited by Frances Foster (now deceased), her long-time FSG editor. Since Frances is basically known as a dream editor and brilliant, I took a closer look, trying my best to "read like a writer."

Speaking of closer. THIRD PERSON CLOSE is the point-of-view and man, does Louis Sachar nail it. I love reading third person close, but I've struggled to write it. In fact, I tried with THE WAY TO STAY IN DESTINY. Started that story in what I "hoped" was a Close Third Person point-of-view.
Nope, wasn't happening. While journaling in first person to get into the head of my main character, Theo, I realized it was working better in first person and I switched. 

If you haven't read HOLES in a while but want to see what I mean and don't have the book handy, check out this preview from the beginning 30 pages. The physical description of Stanley and how "close" you are inside his head. Perfect. I not only felt like I knew him from the get-go, I knew how he was being fooled and yet, there was a tiny niggle of a doubt...

If only I were Louis Sachar.
Though I didn't really like the follow-up to that book, did you? True confessions, I skimmed it so maybe I missed something.

I discovered a book I hadn't read by Kevin Henkes. Now, there's a surprise! I'm a big fan of his novels and his picture books. Publisher's Weekly called this one touching and funny, and I totally agree.
It's a book about mini-golf, sort of, which is what originally led me to it. But it's really about families and friendships and all those things that tug at the hearts of kids, big and little. Henkes really knows how to do that. And okay, while searching for an image for this book, I see he's written a couple of novels I didn't even know about. More to read! 

Can't wait to see what my teacher and librarian friends have been reading as their summers wind down!

Thanks for reading!

 A card from a student, saved from my years as a librarian.
Who would have expected I'd write three books of my own. Not me. Not in a million years.

On Naming a Character Thelonious

October 10th is the birthday of that great jazz pianist, THELONIOUS MONK.

Here's an image of his fabulous portrait, via the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery (which may be my new favorite DC museum):

His music and his name inspired a little backstory in my second middle-grade novel, THE WAY TO STAY IN DESTINY.

Theo was named by his musician parents. But they died when he was quite young and the grandparents who raised him lived on a farm and weren't exactly music or jazz aficionados so he never fully understood the significance of his name. 

I love creating backstories like his. Even if my readers never know them, they deepen and complicate a character. There may not be a lot of middle-grade readers familiar with Monk's music. Perhaps after reading my book, they'll be curious to listen. But that's not why I chose the name. It's part of my Theo's story. And when I happened upon the reason to give Theo that name, it opened a part of the plot that I hadn't figured out yet.

Here's a little more about CHOOSING CHARACTER NAMES.

From Writer's Digest. Great "rules" which of course can be broken.

This one has a thought or two about the ethnicity of names.

And a name generator!
"Aim to have the name suggest something about the character. Think of the book Little Women by Louisa May Alcott, and that family of girls. Beth was the quiet, gentle daughter; Jo the strong, boisterous one; and Amy the baby of the family." 

(I'm about to name a character after a great guy I worked with. Doesn't Mr. King sound like somebody you'd trust?)


So Happy Birthday to Thelonious Monk. Here's a little music for you, your students, or to save for later:

Happy Birthday, Hank Aaron!

When I first considered a baseball player to add to my story, one my readers could emulate and admire, Henry Louis Aaron didn't immediately come to mind. 

There was a reason for this.
Mickey Mantle is known for his presence in the part of Florida where the book would be set. Books have been written about his escapades here. There are postcards of Mantle, waving from convertibles to legends of adoring fans, back in the day.

I began THE WAY TO STAY IN DESTINY with Mickey as Theo's hero.
Then a wise editor who asked to read an early draft mentioned I might look into a different baseball player. (Thanks, Joy. You probably don't even remember the workshop and the manuscript, but I well remember your editorial comments.)

Hammerin' Hank entered the story after that and he was perfect. I'd lived in Atlanta when he played for the Braves and admired him. He would be a role model for the kids who'd eventually read THE WAY TO STAY IN DESTINY.

So Happy Birthday, today, to HANK AARON, a great man and a perfect fellow to add his story to my book.

Yippee!

I am thrilled to know that THE WAY TO STAY IN DESTINY has been nominated to the Tennessee Volunteer State Book Award's new list.  

Here's a link to all the books.
(Wow, my book is in great company!)

By last count, that makes four kids' book lists for my second book. 

Whenever I speak to kids, they invariably ask, "Which of your books is your favorite?"
I usually give them the stock answer: I love them all equally, just like parents love all their children the same.
But then, sometimes, I confess that one makes me happy one day, another a different day.

So if you ask me that question this week, DESTINY it is!

Thank you, Tennessee librarians. Having lived the first part of my life 111 miles south of Memphis on the Blues Highway, I am truly honored.

THE WAY TO STAY IN DESTINY

I'm having a Destiny Day.

First, my wonderful agent and editor shared the news that my book was nominated -> for this nice award.  
The other books on the list make me swoon. I'm very proud!

And then the mail came.

Really, there isn't much better to reward writers for all the hard work than getting a note from a reader who really connected with your book. 
I answered it right away. But I'm still smiling.
Since he, like Theo, is a baseball fan and a music lover, I used one of my Elvis stamps.

My favorite line:
"It made me cry when Uncle Raymond had the talk with Theo. I'm glad that I have caring parents that love me."

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.

Thank you, Wauchula Elementary School!

I had so many great school visits this year. Thank you to all the librarians and teachers who invited me, who read my books aloud, who inspired such great discussions and projects.

My last school visit of 2015 was memorable. It was the first time I'd spoken to so many students who'd all read THE WAY TO STAY IN DESTINY.

From the drive across the state through Florida's strawberry and citrus fields, I made my way to the little town with a lot of enthusiastic readers, Wauchula, Florida. Enthusiastic readers, great teachers, and one really fantastic librarian.

Here's my day, in pictures.

Even before I arrived, the kids had been reading, thinking, imagining and dreaming.

I loved these giant keyboards that filled the walls!

Each student wrote a dream on a key.
Dreaming big, just like Theo.

In the run-up to my visit, not only had the students and their teachers read my book, Mary Idsardi, super librarian, produced a piano recital!

Check out "Theo's" baseball bat.

Doesn't he look just like the Book Fair/ club edition's fabulous cover?

Now this was no ordinary recital.

The program.

The playlist. Be still my heart.
















A Vietnam veteran spoke to the classes. 
And they raised money for the Wounded Warriors.

Truly a special day. Thanks, Wauchula Elementary!

 (The bookshelves, right next to me.)

(I love that t-shirt.)

All the way home, I thought about those kids, 

my home state, Theo and Miss Sister. 

About how difficult and challenging it is to move to a new place.

(My car's GPS, guiding me all the way, 

so I could think about something other than what road to take...)

Writers appreciate how hard it is to organize a school visit so well. 

And how important it is. 

We really and truly appreciate all the work that goes into making these days special for your students. 

Have a great holiday break, librarian and teacher friends!

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.

  

Listen Up! and a Giveaway!

True confessions.
It's very strange hearing your own book read by somebody else.

But I'm excited about the new audio versions of GLORY BE and THE WAY TO STAY IN DESTINY.

Glory's narration is read by Cassandra Morris whose CD of A SNICKER OF MAGIC won an Odyssey Honorable Mention for the best recorded book from the American Library Association.

CLICK HERE for a little sample of her reading my own book.

If you buy the entire audio version, at the end you'll hear ME reading my Author Note and Acknowledgements. Thanks to my friend, Kirby Larson, and my editor Andrea Davis Pinkney, I was brave enough to ask if I could do that. 
(Because they did it on their own awesome audiobooks and I loved it.) 

And the Scholastic audio guy, the fantastic Paul Gagne, said yes.

THE WAY TO STAY IN DESTINY is available as a real 4-disc CD.
Michael Crouch is reading. A sample is here.
A quite nice School Library Journal review is HERE.

(I love what it says on the front cover. I'm a BONUS!)


Thanks, Scholastic audio and your great actors. Thanks Paul for your super work.

I gave away a handful of the CDs last week via Twitter. But I have at least one more I can share. I'll pick the winner soon. In a few days. When I think I can get to the post office! Sorry to be so random but it is almost July 4th.
:)

Leave me a comment and let's see what happens.

The Value of a Dollar

Or to be more precise, the value of $5.00.

That was the question I got today while chatting with the entire class of Ms. Emann's fourth graders who'd just finished THE WAY TO STAY IN DESTINY.

Literally finished the last sentence this morning. How cool is that.

And were their questions excellent!

When I explained how carefully copyeditors eye manuscripts, I used a financial transaction for my example.

Theo goes into the laundromat. 
He stuffs two quarters into the machine. 
The copyeditor thinks that's too much. 

After all, it was the dark ages of 1974.

I polled my friends.

Most agreed that it should be a quarter.

But just in case, off I went to the county library, checking the Cost of Living index. And promptly changed the sentence to a quarter (p. 23).


While sharing this story today, a student raised his hand. I'd told them about a poetry prize from Captain Jerry's Kids Page in the Memphis Commercial Appeal newspaper when I was much younger than they are. 

 My prize was $5.00. 

He asked what does that mean in today's dollars? 
(Okay, I told you these kids were bright, right? And resourceful.)

I promised I'd look it up. 

Though I don't really remember what exact year it was, I picked a decade. 

$43.97 is quite a lot of money for a second-grader to win for a really terrible poem.

I challenged them to write a much better poem tonight.


It was fun chatting, kids at Kings Road School! 
And a special thank you to my friend Sheila who invited me to my local, easy-to-find, nearby school -where she taught for a few happy years. 

(And kudos to sharp copyeditors.) 

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.

The Page 69 Test

I've often (always) appreciated this tricky way to decide whether I'd like to invest a whole lot of time reading a book, haven't you?

Go see if you'd like to read p. 69 in THE WAY TO STAY IN DESTINY. 
And hear what I think about whether it's a good indication of the entire book.

I'd actually written about this test before I knew Marshall had an entire website devoted to books and their page 69s. 

(CLICK HERE to see some of my own tests.)

Wow. Laura Lippman's new book is right near mine on Marshal Zeringue's site!

Check it out and have fun reading.

Love these schools!

Still thinking about what a great visit I had to Ponte Vedra and Clay County, FL last week.
I'll share my pictures of some truly fun schools. Even when you have just a brief time to stay, it's amazing what talented and committed media specialists can make happen!

My first stop was pretty special. 

A very long time ago, I was a brand new librarian at a new school in Orange Park, Florida. The facility was state of the art. The principal was innovative. Open space, year-round school, LRC (we called the library the Learning Resource Center then!) at the middle of everything.
I had a lot to learn, but I loved working there.

 I got to sign the library's books right above the stamp I remembered using way back when!

 Going back to S. Bryan Jennings Elementary truly felt like I'd stepped back in time.

Thank you, Susan Ford-Hudson, for inviting me.

Next stop was the Charles E. Bennett Elementary School in Green Cove Springs, Florida.
When I first communicated with the media specialist there, I knew I'd like her.
Her email signature says a lot.

"Once you learn to read, you will be forever free."  

(Frederick Douglas)

The former principal, Evelyn Chastain, came to meet me. She'd loved Glory Be so much, last year during Literacy Week, they'd decorated her door in honor of my book!

The media specialist, Janie Lloyd, arranged for her Morning News Team to interview me!

SO much fun!

THE NEXT DAY I got to spend time with some super students at PV/PV Rawlings School in Ponte Vedra, Florida. A truly memorable school visit. So many great questions from those readers!
Thank you to Kathleen Furness, one of the best principal's I've ever met-- and I've met quite a few!-- for buying books for her students, for introducing me with such aplomb, for reading my book herself! The teacher, Melanie Wall, the librarian, Vance Edeker- and all those smart readers. Wow. What a day.


I made two presentations to groups of kids who had read books on Florida's SUNSHINE STATE READERS list. Here I am sharing my inspiration for writing Glory Be.
(That's my Junk Poker box on the screen!)

The school bought several copies of THE WAY TO STAY IN DESTINY for the classrooms, the library, AND they gave them to a few lucky winners.

Can you tell I'm delighted to chat with these bright kids?

Oh, and the moms treated Ms. Wall's class to this for lunch! 

 Cake! 

Among other delish things.

 A baseball and a piano for Theo. Be still my heart.

Book Party in Pictures

Last night we had a party!

Any excuse to celebrate books, right?

Thank you to all the great people who came. I especially loved seeing the teachers and media specialist on the front row who trekked in from Plant City and made a Girls Night Out of the evening. And bought my books to take back to their school. And to Joan, my friend from last year's school visit to her library.

For those of you who don't know this store,  
INKWOOD BOOKS has been transformed by the amazing owner, Stephanie.

I missed her last night because she was at Winter Institute (a pretty good excuse, right?).
Her daughter, a voracious reader and member of their kids' Book Club, came and told me she loved my book.
Sigh.

Amanda and her helpers ran the show, made the introductions, sold a lot of books.
Thanks, guys!

Somehow I missed a photo of the card catalog display but I did capture the typewriter!














I was surrounded by critique group members, past and present. And fun food and drink.

There were a lot of writerly questions.
After everyone left, I thought of some better answers.
Of course.
Doesn't that always happen?

One question still rattles around in my head.

"Was it harder writing a boy narrating this than having a girl narrate GLORY BE?"

I gave what I thought was an adequate answer.
But here's another thing. I did have to pay attention to what Theo actually sees and notes in both dialog and interior monolog, which is the same thing, kind of, when you're writing in first person. And when I stepped over the line into girlie talk that didn't fit Theo's personality, my writer friends pulled me back.

A boy like Theo might not notice Miss Sister's hair or dress or tap shoes the same way a girl would. He might describe things a bit differently from Glory. But I don't think I can only narrate stories told by girls like me. That's when research and careful reading and writing kick in. So there's a longer answer to that question.

To the person who asked about outlining in advance v. jumping right in, so to speak.

Here are the links I mentioned.

PRE-WRITING WORKOUT by Wendy Mass.
Both my friend Shannon and I can attest to this helpful kickstarter for your plot.
Here's a post I wrote about it. I still love the quote, by the way.

NANOWRIMO= National Novel Writing Month.
November. For all ages. It's fun. But prepare to re-write.   😄

My kind of tongue-in-cheek (but not really) post on TEN THINGS I'VE LEARNED FROM KIDS ABOUT WRITING lists #1 as Put a Dog in Your Book. 

I forgot to say that last night.
I didn't know about that research--really, I heard it on the news-- when I wrote THE WAY TO STAY IN DESTINY, but I did include a bit part for a dog named Ginger Rogers, owned by Miss Sister, the dance teacher.

A truly lovely moment came when Gay, a grandmother who clearly supports her granddaughter's love of reading, came with a large photograph of me and Isabella from my event at the Dunedin library. She asked me to sign it. I was so touched.

At dinner after, my fortune cookie said it all:

Thanks to Jay, for driving us over the bridge to Tampa, and to my friend Kay for manning the refreshments. Here we are at the end of the evening.

Thankfully, Kay made sure we came home with 3 delicious Chocolate Guinness cupcakes.

Who knew beer and chocolate could taste so good together...