New Hope for Lagging Picture Book Sales--Color Nook!

Nice article on the color Nook. I hope it buoys the picture book market!

Stunning New Book!

My absolute favorite illustrator, Lauren Castillo, has a new book out today! Titled Christmas Is Here, this one is special, and is getting noticed--it's already gone into its second printing, and has received two starred reviews. Read this:

CHRISTMAS IS HERE: WORDS FROM THE KING JAMES BIBLE. illus. by Lauren Castillo. unpaged. S & S. Oct. 2010. RTE $12.99. ISBN 978-1-4424-0822-7. LC 2009045979. PreS-Gr 3

The only text in this book is a few sentences from the King James Bible, and many of the ink and watercolor illustrations, in soothing tones of brown and gray with bold outlines, are wordless. They show a modern family—mom, dad, babe in arms, and dog-walking child—out for a stroll on a snowy evening, when they come across a small, outdoor Christmas pageant. As the child peers into the manger, readers are taken back in time to Bethlehem, with illustrations of sheep grazing over a dry Middle Eastern landscape as the shepherds learn of the birth of Jesus. As light from the star streams down over the holy family and shepherds leaning over the manger, the scene switches with a turn of the page back to the modern family singing carols in the snow in front of the manger. The theme—that the most basic meaning of Christmas has remained the same over the centuries—is conveyed with a warm and captivating simplicity that even the youngest child will understand. -Eva Mitnick, Los Angeles Public Library

Need more inspiration than that? Follow this link to the book trailer. I can't wait to get my hands on a copy of my own!

Brilliant Marketing from Albert Whitman & Co.

From one of my favorite bogs, A Year of Reading, Mary Lee Hahn tells us about a SillyBandz-like marketing tool from Albert Whitman & Co.--"Book Bands" with shapes from some popular kids' books. Anything we can do to help kids connect with books gets a giant thumbs up from me!

Creative Ways to Fund Author Visits

With economic times being as tough as they are, funding programs for schools is harder than ever. Author Alexis O'Neill has a great article posted on her website on how to secure funds for school author visits. She talks in very specific (and helpful!) ways about exactly how to go about partnering with a corporate sponsor for just such an event. Some of the steps are as follows:

Estimate the cost (honorarium, transportation, lodging, food, books)

Write a short letter on school letterhead, bulleted with clear headers, describing:

The need. (What educational objective will this address? Also include a statement from the heart about what you see as the short-term and long-term effect on kids.)

How the school would like to fill that need(i.e. author/illustrator visit).

The specific request. (Money? Time? Promotion?)

What the school will contribute as a partner. (Share expense? Promote the organization? Take photos? Offer volunteer opportunities to the organization’s staff or members?)

The expected outcome? (Include how many or what kind of students will be served by this program.)

Anyone interested in learning more about how local businesses might be of help to schools might want to jump on over to this article. It's well worth reading!

Hot Chocolaty Treat

Some company has made a single-serve microwavable hot brownie mix. You pour the powder in the little dish that it is packaged in, add 2 tablespoons of water, mix and microwave it for 45 seconds. The results are not bad for someone wanting a quick, hot-out-of-the-oven treat. My best buddy used to make these while standing overnight watch of the Goodyear Blimp. Pretty convenient for a time like that! But tonight as I made him one, it struck me that you should be able to do the same thing in a regular, microwavable dish for a whole lot cheaper, at home. I pulled a package of Duncan Hines brownie mix out of the cupboard and began experimenting. For my first try, I added oil and water, since this particular mix called for both. This was an epic fail; the oil sizzled up through the "brownie". I tried cooking it more and more, hoping it would take on a brownie-like appearance, but it did not. Instead, it remained a dark oily blob of dark brown that began to smoke, emitting a distinctive burned chocolate smell, and I admitted defeat.

My second try went much better. 5 tablespoons of brownie mix, a scant 2 tablespoons of water, and no oil. I zapped it at full power for 60 seconds, and took it out exclaiming with joy "This might be a brownie!"

Sure enough, as it sat for a couple minutes, it took on a fresh-out-of-the-oven-brownie consistency, which is, of course, much softer, and gooier than a fully cooled brownie. (Love the goo!) This hot, steamy chocolatiness got topped with some vanilla ice cream, providing me with a quick, yummy, bedtime treat. I wasn't really hungry, and I certainly didn't need the calories, but I couldn't let this success go...well...uneaten!

Nice Article by Christine Pollock

I wanted to share this nice article done by journalist and fellow children's writer Christine Pollock. Thanks Christine!

Article in Highlights

I found an online version of a Highlights for Children magazine article I wrote a couple years ago. It's about an amazing experience I had with my son, Elliott--flying in a blimp! It was fun to see the article out there for everyone to read!

Beco makes the Dispatch!

The Columbus Dispatch ran a nice article about the Columbus Zoo's new publishing program. It was great to see the Beco book, and John Becker's Frenemies books mentioned!

Nice Review of Beco

My thanks to Mary Lee at A Year of Reading for the great review on my Beco book as well as John Becker's Frenemies book. It's so great to hear that people are enjoying them! Hold onto your hats, friends, because Nancy Roe Pimm is the next Columbus Zoo author. Her book about Colo, the first gorilla born in captivity, will be out this fall.

Publisher's Weekly Covers Beco!

Great news here in my neck of the woods--Publisher's Weekly covers the Columbus Zoo's new publishing program. They include a mention of my book Beco's Big Year: A Baby Elephant Turns One, along with a shot of its cover.

You can read their article here.

Random House's Fall List

One of the reasons children's authors attend conferences is to keep their fingers on the pulse of the publishing houses--who's publishing what and why. Random House is presenting an online discussion on their fall list. Now this is part of their marketing to schools and libraries, but it could also be a great way for authors to get an inside look at what they are doing and why.

Listen to our Editors discuss highlights from their upcoming

Fall 2010 list.

See the covers, hear about the books, and find out why the editors decided to publish them!

Francoise Bui Executive Editor, Delacorte Press

Robin Corey VP & Publishing Director, Robin Corey Books

Michelle FreyExecutive Editor, Knopf Books For Young Readers

Schuyler Hooke Senior Editor, Random House Books for Young Readers

Kate Klimo VP, Publisher, Random House/Golden Books for Young Readers

Wendy Lamb V.P., Publishing Director, Wendy Lamb Books

Wendy Loggia Executive Editor, Delacorte Press

Laura Mancuso Marketing & Publicity Manager, Tricycle Press

Anne Schwartz V.P. & Publisher, Schwartz & Wade Books

Allison Wortche Associate Editor, Knopf Books for Young Readers / David Fickling Books

When: Tuesday, August 10, 2010

Where: AT YOUR DESK, ON YOUR COMPUTER

Time: 4:00 – 5:00 p.m. E.S.T.

(and please feel free to share this information with your colleagues!)

Please RSVP to schoolandlibrarymarketing@randomhouse.com

by Tuesday, August 3, 2010

You will receive easy instructions for accessing Webex from any computer before the preview.

Science Cafes

Maybe I'm way behind the curve here, but I've only just learned about a cool event called Science Cafes.

Science cafés are live events that involve a face-to-face conversation with a scientist about current science topics. They are open to everyone, and take place in casual settings like pubs and coffeehouses.A science café's casual meeting place, plain language, and inclusive conversation create a welcoming and comfortable atmosphere for people with no science background.

Each meeting is organized around an interesting topic of conversation. A scientist gives a brief presentation and sometimes shows a short video clip to kick off the discussion. You can leave a café meeting when you want, but you'll miss out if you show up late.

There are many variations on the basic science café. One café might have a trivia quiz. Another might include a panel of scientists. Topics range across all sciences, and some cafés even explore connections between science and other disciplines, like the arts.

What a fun idea! Of course, with my background in education and children's writing, my thoughts always turn to "How can we do something as cool as this for kids?"

Perhaps there could be Science Cafes inside schools--maybe a monthly presentation done by older students to younger ones. Maybe an occasional visiting scientist could come into a school to present a "cafe" to students. This could become a springboard for students to further the learning experience through research of their own. To engage parent involvement, perhaps a science cafe focusing on a topic that would interest parents and students alike could be hosted by a school during the evening hours. There are so many possibilities.

I am lucky enough to have a Science Cafe right in my own backyard (well...sort of) at The Ohio State University. I can't wait to attend an event there!

Nestle works to lower deforestation of rainforests

From the Cleveland Metroparks Zoo's blog, Nestlé will work with the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) and The Forest Trust (TFT) to build responsible supply chains, starting with palm oil, and focusing on the systematic identification and exclusion of companies owning or managing high-risk plantations or farms linked to deforestation.

This conservation effort is worth getting behind! Nestle's chocolate all around!

Sobering Statistic: 61% of low-income families own no age appropriate books

Read about the sobering reality of “America’s Early Childhood Literacy Gap,” and how librarians worry about the gap widening.

Animal Cam Site

I'm not totally sure how I feel about this--in other words, I hope these animal cams were set up humanely, and with the welfare of the animals in mind. It strikes me that this kind of video would be a great resource for students doing reports on these animals. The videos could also be used as springboards for writing. The animal cams that are *on* the animals could give kids the chance to write in first person in the animal's POV, which could be fun too.

Incredible cat-attracting cologne!

From my friend Robin at the Black and Orange Cat Foundation, the rescue group I've fostered for (then adopted from) posted a link about this crazy fact. Researchers in Guatemala are using Calvin Klein's cologne Obsession for Men to help lure and study jaguars. Oddly enough, this was discovered at the Bronx Zoo, in an experiment with Cheetahs. Now I'll have to get to the mall, spritz a little on, and come home to see if my domestic cats react to it!

Home Again, Home Again

I have been terribly absent from this blog. Among other things, I have been helping my best buddy Ken move from his place, two and a half hours away, to a new place, three minutes away. Much of his stuff is at his new place, waiting to be set up and unpacked, and some of it is at my house, including his kayak, which is sitting, upside down, in my living room. My cats have discovered that an upside down kayak can be a lot of fun! They run across the room, leap onto it, and slide along the length of it. Remember being a kid and running then sliding across packed down snow or ice? Yeah...it's something like that!

Bookmarks to Aid Reading Comprehension

I've been offline waaaay too long. A couple weeks ago I headed out for a series of school visits (which I love!) and promptly became ill. On Tuesday, when I was sick enough I couldn't remember what had happened the day before, I saw a doctor and was put on an antibiotic. Miracle drugs! I'm so much better already.

While surfing the net, I found an interesting blog post by teacher/author Patti Gill that I want to share. While she doesn't give quite enough information for me to fully understand her system (though you apparently can learn more from her book) I love her idea of using BOOKMARKS to help kids keep track of what they have read. She asks kids how many pages they can read before they start to forget what they've read. Once they determine what that page count is, she has them use a bookmark every time they reach that many pages. On the bookmark they jot the pages in that section, then put notes onto the bookmark to help them remember that section of the book. I love this idea, and think it could be tweeked for the needs of individual teachers and students.

New Polar Bear Exhibit

The Columbus Zoo has just opened a new polar bear exhibit. Check out this video from the Columbus Dispatch. How much do you think I want to write a polar bear book now?!

Chicago Sports News in Haiku

Hey teachers, here's a poetry site with great boy-appeal! Chicago Sports in Haiku. Founder Ed Nickow says

Chicago Sports In Haiku began in May, 2008 as The Cubs In Haiku. I combined my passion for the Cubs with a somewhat less passionate interest in haiku to create a simple blog. Instead of detailed analysis or fan rants, I'd post a game summary or highlight in the style of the Japanese haiku - 17 syllables for each Cubs game.

What began as a Cubs-only site has now been expanded to cover two baseball teams, football, hockey and basketball. I love it!

Creating Creatives--Part 5

Next up on Bloom’s model is Synthesis. This is where the ability to arrange, collect, compose, design, develop, organize, and plan takes place. (It’s also the place where writing takes place—important to me as a children’s author and someone who teaches writing in schools.) This is where creativity really takes hold. Now a student can create his or her own designs, or alter one to suit his or her own needs. And, as these higher-order thinking skills are put to use, there is also a higher likelihood of a poor outcome. After all, creativity means trying something new—it means being uncertain of the outcome. It’s an inspiration, or a hunch, but it’s not tried and true. There isn’t a rote right and wrong in this realm, and that scares many students. (It scares a lot of adults too!) This is where you expose yourself to being not-so-good—maybe even bad at something.
Instead of viewing a poor outcome as a bad thing, we need to encourage students to see every non-success as a learning experience. Creatives have the confidence do it their way. We need to encourage students to bravely persist, knowing that this try is not their last shot at something—they can always go back and do it over again, differently, or scrap it entirely for a new and better project. We need to strip the shame from our unsuccesses and celebrate the attempts. It is in attempting something new—something untested and unknown, that we are Creatives.
Can you remember a time when you tried something new and it was a disaster? Maybe you changed the color scheme on a stitching pattern, or used a different fiber. Or was it a new twist on an old recipe you were cooking? What were those experiences like? How did you feel about them? How did you handle them?

Child Advocate for her Librarian--"Dear the government"

As reported by children's author Elsa Marston on a librarian's listserv, this letter appeared recently in the Bloomington, Indiana newspaper.

Dear the government,

I don't like that you're firing our school librarians. I am a first-grader at Childs school, and I think that Ms. Williams is a great librarian. She reads wonderful stories, and her voice goes up when it is supposed to and down when it is supposed to.

She helps me find books and makes me interested in reading and makes books
exciting for me. Ms. Williams makes us feel special. She knows each kid's name.

Childs school will never be the same without Ms. Williams in the library.

Why are you firing our school librarians?

Anna W.

If that doesn't say it all, I don't know what does!

Creating Creatives Part 4

Next up on Bloom’s Taxonomy is the first of the “higher-order thinking” tiers—Analysis. Here, students can finally appraise, compare, contrast, and here’s what’s really important—criticize and question their work. Which gets us back to creativity and how we as a society deal with it.

Pablo Picasso reportedly said “Everyone is born an artist. The trouble is remaining one as we become an adult.” We all know what he’s referring to. Many of us have come to see work, practice and learning as black and white—an answer is right. Or it is wrong.

Julia Cameron , author of The Artist’s Way, says: In order to become an artist, you must first be willing to do art badly. I would add, you must also be willing to try over and over again.

Indeed, if every painter were to judge his ability after his first painting, we would have no more painters. So while this skill and analysis, is important to the creative process—to creating Creatives—we need to temper it with affirmation, and patience. And we must remember (and remind students) that life allows do-overs. In fact, it is in the do-overs, and the willingness to keep trying, that real creativity gains ground.

Let’s imagine the future again—the world that today’s kindergarteners will be working in. It will be those who can try new things, perhaps unsuccessfully, adjust, and try again in a different way, who will be the innovators and achievers. Learning to try, not be satisfied with the result, and try again is key to future success.

Creating Creatives Part 3--Bloom's Taxonomy--moving up

Written as a series for Jen Funk Weber's Stitching for Literacy Program--

The second tier on Bloom’s Taxonomy, that hierarchy of learning, is Understanding. Here, students begin to be able to classify, describe, discuss, explain, and identify the things they are learning about. In stitching, we would see students recognizing the different stitches and having an idea of how they are formed.

Just above the second tier, is the third, Application. Here, knowledge and skill begin to take hold. Now students not only know what the stitches are and how they are formed, but they can also apply them—doing the actual stitching. Here, the fine motor skills come into play even more, as stitches move from the simplest to more complex. Math skills come into play as students need to space their stitches, or read a chart and place their stitches in the right place. At this stage of the game, creativity is just beginning to take root.

Reflect on your own past for a moment. What did you think of yourself when you were first learning to stitch? Did you consider yourself to be creative? Has that changed? Do you consider yourself to be creative now?

Arterial Dissection

A year ago, I sustained an injury, the result of a freak accident, which caused the dissection of two arteries in my neck—the right carotid and the left vertebral arteries. In the subsequent 48 hours, this undiagnosed injury brought with it a frightening chance of stroke and death.

It all started when I bought a new bed and mattress. I thought I’d save some money by setting it up myself. My friend, Ken, had warned me to be careful. “They’re heavy,” he said, but I laughed and said “They aren’t even pointy. How could I hurt myself?” But when I dropped the mattress on my head, twisting my neck in the process, I had no idea I had caused the internal injury. At first I didn’t feel too bad. In fact, it wasn’t until 48 hours later that the headache began. That headache lasted a full month, getting progressively worse until I thought I had triggered a migraine. Unable to get in to see my Internist, I drove myself to the Urgent Care one night, desperate for relief. They diagnosed me with a migraine—after all I had a history—but it had been 10 years since I had had a full-blown migraine. That was the first heads up.

They treated me as though it was a migraine, and I went home and collapsed on my bed. My good kitty Frankie, lay on the bed next to me, and as I dozed and woke through the night, my head still pounding, I was briefly aware that he was there. By the morning the pain was even worse and I had begun vomiting. The pain had become so unbearable, I was having suicidal thoughts. I needed to escape the pain. I could not bear it. I lay on my back on the living room floor twisting in pain when I wasn’t hanging over the toilet retching. My father came and took me to the ER. I told them that I was hearing a strange noise with each throb of my head. A high-pitched squeal. Heads-up number two.

They treated me for a migraine again—this time with a cocktail of drugs. When the headache had gone from being off the charts to a “2” (on a scale from one to ten) they sent me home. I lay on the bed, again with Frankie beside me, half awake, if not asleep, for the next 48 hours. If Frankie left me, I never knew it. When I started to wake up, I found the headache still with me, only now it was bearable—still teeth-gritting bad, especially if I moved—but I could take it. It was a month before it fully resolved. But I still could hear the noise in my head. Tinnitus, it is called—a sound that no one else can hear. And while that is often a normal condition, especially as people age, the pulsatile nature of this was not. It required a medical work-up.

I went first to the hearing doctor. I described to him the high pitched squeal that I would sometimes mistake as a bird chirping outside the window--only then I would realize that it had been chirping too consistently and too long. I would laugh at myself, thinking, “oh, it’s that sound.” He tested my hearing. Normal, and he was concerned. He ordered an MRI of my brain.

Then, days later, I got the call. The doctor told me I had a dissected carotid artery, a condition which he described as a tear in my artery. He told me to remain calm, do nothing strenuous, and not to eat or drink until he could a neurologist on the case to do further assessment. A torn carotid artery? That sounded like a death sentence to me. I called my best friend Ken. I needed him to be with me. I hoped he could get there in time. I called my ex-husband who was on his way out of town. I tearfully begged him to return home to my two boys, telling him of my condition, and saying “they might need you.” If I died, I wanted their father to be with them. And I drove to the house where my boys lived. I was afraid to turn my head for fear of bleeding to death, but I needed to get to them—to tell them myself—to see them again. In the driveway, I called my parents. They needed to know, and my boys would need them too, if things went badly.

I spent some time with my boys, then left for my house. Ken arrived, and by that night I was having more MRIs and was admitted to University Hospital. I spent a sleepless night with more imaging studies, and hourly checks on my neurological symptoms, and IVs of medicine to thin my blood with the hope of preventing a stroke. Finally, they explained to me, that a dissection is the inner layer of an artery that pulls away from the middle layer. That sounded better than what I had been imaging, but they cautioned me that the chance of death from it are significant due to the possibility of clots forming at the tear site and breaking away, and entering the brain. In the next days, they discovered a second dissected artery—this one the left vertebral.

What was happening to me? I was popping arteries right and left. As I lay in the hospital bed that night, I thought and thought—one was on the left, the other on the right. It must have been a twisting accident. The mattress, I realized.

In the coming days I was on IV drugs to thin my blood. Then I learned to give myself Lovenox injections in my belly. Intimidating at first, but I could do it. They sent me home and I had blood tests twice weekly to check my blood. Finally, I was switched to an oral medication. Six weeks later, at my follow-up visit with the neurologist, I learned several things. First, very little is actually known about arterial dissections. They happen most often in high impact accidents such as car wrecks. But some people have had them after something as gentle as yoga. Little is documented about the recovery process of these dissections. The injury in the vertebral artery appeared in the MRIs to be further healed than the carotid. But the doctor admitted that is was entirely possible that the vertebral artery heals at a faster rate than the carotid too. Often, these arteries heal, closing back together, but at six months out, mine have not and likely will not. So for the rest of my life I will likely be on blood thinners—just as a precaution.

I have also decided that I should avoid any high impact activities when I can. With my arteries remaining dissected, I would not want them to dissect further upon impact. So I avoid ladders when I can, and learning to ice skate is probably not in the cards for me. But I feel good, the pulsitile tinnitus has gone away (it was caused by obstructed blood flow), and other than taking Plavix, life is as it used to be.

My take-away? If you 1) suffer a headache that is by far the worst you have ever had, 2) is worse than you have had in years, or 3) if it is in some way different than any other severe headaches you have had, you should probably see a doctor. My injury went undiagnosed through the most critical period, and I know I am lucky to be here.

Creating Creatives part 2--Blooms Taxonomy

The second post in a series for Jen Funk Weber's Stitching for Literacy program.

In the 1950s, educator and psychologist, Benjamin Bloom, created a triangular chart of cognitive thinking/learning behaviors, moving from the most common and basic, at the bottom of the triangle, to the highest, most complex, at the tip of the triangle. This was dubbed “Blooms Taxonomy”. At the time, Bloom determined that 95% of what children were asked to do on tests required them to work at the most basic level—recalling information.

While this series is meant to focus primarily on the upper levels of Bloom’s model, I’ll briefly cover how stitching falls into all levels of Blooms Taxonomy. At the lowest level of thinking/learning, we have the category of knowledge. Teaching stitching certainly offers knowledge—how different stitches are made, where to place them, even simple things like how to thread a needle and make a knot.

Setting Bloom aside for a moment, let’s look at another basic skill that is supported by stitching. Think back to when you were young. Did you ever play with lacing toys—those cardboard shapes with holes punched in them with laces to “stitch” through the holes? For me, those were favorites. They were designed to teach small motor skills (as opposed to gross motor skills, such as running)—how to thread the lace through consecutive holes. Real stitching teaches those same skills, though on a finer, more skilled basis.

What about you? Did you play with lacing toys as a child? Can you remember any of your first sewing or stitching lessons? What were some of the first things you ever stitched, and who taught you?

The Importance of Creating Creatives--Part 1

“She’s a Creative,” someone said with a shrug. That explained it all--her hair, her makeup, even the odd little boots she wore. Why does our society want to separate those who are creative from those who are not? It’s as if we believe that the gift of creativity is something only some of us have. (I beg to differ.) And while creativity may be esteemed in highly successful artists in society, it is often dismissed in those who are not.

In schools, we push out children toward the academic. We are prepared to cut the arts if budgets get too tight. College professors complain about students who had four-point-plus high school GPAs, stellar ACT scores, but have limited higher-level thinking skills—the very skills they will need to be productive in college and this rapidly changing world. Many of these students were “taught to the test,” a necessity brought on by pressures on school systems to “prove” their competence in teaching. And these students worked hard, learning those quantifiable things that would be on their tests. Their parents, their school systems and they themselves were proud—as they should be. It was a job well done. But are they adequately prepared for the future? Think about this: the children who enter kindergarten today will be a part of the work force in 2070. Who knows what the world will look like then? How do we prepare them? One thing we must do, I believe, is to help them be thinkers, experimenters, questioners who are willing to try something different. To adjust to all the changes that will invariably shape the coming decades, they will need to be Creatives.

Creativity is much less quantifiable than math, science or language skills. But in the coming days, we will examine what creativity is (hint: it’s more than being artistic), how it is tightly linked to higher-order thinking skills, and how it positively impacts all aspects of learning. And, we’ll take a look at how stitching can be a part of creating Creatives.

Reflect on your own experiences. How do you define creativity? Where do you encounter it in your life?

Reading and Brain Activity

A fascinating study was done using MRI imaging to determine what happens in our brains when we read.

there are several different neuron clusters involved in story comprehension. For example, a particular area of the brain ramped up when readers were thinking about intent and goal-directed action, but not meaningless motion. Motor neurons flashed when characters were grasping objects, and neurons involved in eye movement activated when characters were navigating their world.

In other words,our brains fire, during reading, as if we are doing what is read about.

These findings, reported on-line in the journal Psychological Science, strongly suggest that readers are far from passive consumers of words and stories. Indeed, it appears that we dynamically activate real-world scripts that help us to comprehend a narrative—and those active scripts in turn enrich the story beyond its mere words and sentences. In this way, reading is much like remembering or imagining a vivid event.

83% of students get books for their independent reading from the school library

I'll say again what I've been saying for years: librarians are the unsung heros of our schools. They fly under the radar as support staff, but their impact on learning can be huge. In response to a recent decision in Los Angeles to eliminate all the certified school librarians from the district, Dr. Camia Alire, President of the Library Asscociation has issued a powerful open letter to the superintendent of the schools, highlighting just how important libraries and librarians are to students.

School libraries play a significant role in the lives of our children,
but this move will have an even greater negative impact on students who live in poverty. According to a recent survey for the Scholastic Corporation, 83% of students get books for their independent reading through the school library. For many students, school libraries are the only source of free access to computers and the Internet, but without the expertise and guidance of a certified school librarian, students will be left to fend for themselves and struggle to avoid the misinformation pitfalls of the Internet.

Saving teens from sudden cardiac arrest

I am inspired by, and honored to call Mary Beth Schewitz my friend and writing partner of more than 6 years. After losing her 20-year old son, Max, to sudden cardiac arrest (caused by an undiagnosed heart problem) she set out to help other families who might have at risk teens and not know it. Here's her story:

Incredible shrinking manuscript revision technique

A different way to get an overview of your novel and find ways to make it stronger. Good stuff!

The Future of Museums and Libraries

There’s an interesting discussion going on regarding the future of museums and libraries. Referred by some as “memory institutions”, these “LAMs” (Libraries, Archives, and Museums) are looking at ways to collaborate to better provide quality resources for people in the digital age. OCLC produced a report in 2008 that explores how memory institutions can collaborate best. In addition to the institutions collaborating, they envision a world where

“users add their knowledge to information resources through mechanisms such as social tagging or community annotation. These social systems enhance the utility of the materials presented while enriching and supporting the institutional descriptive effort by ‘absorbing community knowledge.’ Innovative and evocative means of user engagement enables the capture of the associative response to collections, not just the facts about them.”

Like publishers, these institutions are scrambling to figure out how to best serve the community/consumer in this time of rapid change.

Transliteracy--an author's view

Transliteracy, the ability to read, write and interact across a range of platforms, tools and media… is a hot topic among educators and and librarians alike. Already librarians are charging themselves with the responsibility to close the gap in the digital divide that exists between the haves and the have nots.

Schools have computers, but with the continuing pressures placed on them by high stakes tests, how can they incorporate more time toward making their students more transliterate? Yet everyone seems to agree that this needs to be done.

The question I ask myself is, how do authors and children’s publishers (who have had a long and enduring love affair with the printed word) work toward the transliteracy of children? For authors, websites, blogs and vlogs, social networking sites such as Facebook and even Twitter can help with this, if we aim them at our younger readers. This media may be utilized by children in schools as they do author studies, book reports and more. Publishers can provide book trailers, online reading clubs, and other interactive activities. As much as I love the printed page—and I do!—the digital age is upon us, and we must now do more than provide ways to contribute to children becoming literate. We need to provide them with quality transliteracy experiences, as well.

RIF funding eliminated

From the National Children's Book and Literacy Alliance: OBAMA ELIMINATES RIF FUNDING IN NATIONAL BUDGET!

CEO of Reading is Fundamental, Carol Rasco says:

"Unless Congress reinstates $25 million in funding for this program, RIF will not be able to distribute 15 million books annually to the nation’s children at greatest risk for academic failure. RIF programs in schools, community centers, hospitals, military bases, and other locations serving children from low-income families, children with disabilities, homeless children, and children without adequate access to libraries. The Inexpensive Book Distribution program is authorized under the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (SEC.5451 Inexpensive Book Distribution Program for Reading Motivation) and is not funded through earmarks. It has been funded by Congress and six Administrations without interruption since 1975."

When I studied education at The Ohio State University(okay, I know it was eons ago) research showed that the single best thing a parent could do to ensure his or her child's success in school, was to read to them from an early age. (Educators, if the research on that has changed, please let me know.) I agree that the president needs to reign in spending--in a serious way!--but not by cutting books to at risk children. Want to help? Follow either link to NCBLA or RIF above.

Dublin Literacy Conference 2010

On Saturday I spent the day at the Dublin Coffman High School in Ohio. It’s a yearly trip I have been making for more than 10 years. There, at the Dublin Literacy Conference, I get a sense of what teachers and librarians are concerned and excited about, and I get to recharge my inspiration-batteries by listening to the brilliant and creative authors and illustrators who present. It’s always a day well-spent.

This year I found inspiration in an unexpected place—a breakout session that dealt with teaching children storytelling techniques. Third grade teacher, Becky Carta gives her students stories to tell. (Actually, they choose from a large pool of stories; they don’t write their own.) They make visual “outlines”—storyboards of their story. They are encouraged to tell their story in their own words. Then they are taught to use physical gestures (body language) for emphasis, and a dramatic voice in telling it. They practice, practice, practice, telling their story to an increasingly larger group.

The results? What I noticed most was the expressive dialog the children were able to come up with. It was impressive, and I found myself imagining how great it would be if students could harness this kind of dialog to put it down in their own writing.

So my thanks to Becky Carta from Deer Run Elementary school, and the third grade students who came to help her present. It was a learning experience for many of us. Hats off to you!

Get to Writing

Why the title "Get to Writing"? A good friend of mine has a son who loves to write. And he takes it seriously. He posted a sign above his bed--a friendly reminder, you might say. It reads, "Get to Writing". With all the distractions life offers, this is great advice. So while I'm here, that's just what I'll do. I'll write about the children's lit world--or the small corner of it that I'm associated with. I'll write about the changes I see in the educational system, and the things I'd like to see (drawing upon my education background for perspective). And I'll write about this writer's life--the ups, the downs and all the stuff in between.