February is African-American History Month

February is African American History Month

During the month of February, students across the country give special attention to the history of African-Americans.  

One of the best resources I’ve found over the years is Scholastic’s ‘Culture and Change’ page.  It features short features on several African-Americans who created change.  It highlights those who fought for civil rights, broke the color barrier and made the world better through their inventions.

One of the items I highly recommend is the interactive activity on the underground railroad.  It is a very neat and ‘gamified’ way of learning about this time period in American history.  It will introduce Harriet Tubman and uncover myths as well as allow students to interact with primary documents around the time period.  There is also an interview with prominent African-American musician Wynton Marsalis.  I think these resources are a great way to introduce this topic to young children.

Of course, being a librarian, the best way to talk about a topic (in my opinion) is with a book!  Here are a few that I highly recommend:

The Story of Ruby Bridges by Robert Coles

From the publisher:  “Celebrate the 50th anniversary of the first African American child to integrate a New Orleans school with this paperback reissue!

The year is 1960, and six-year-old Ruby Bridges and her family have recently moved from Mississippi to New Orleans in search of a better life. When a judge orders Ruby to attend first grade at William Frantz Elementary, an all-white school, Ruby must face angry mobs of parents who refuse to send their children to school with her. Told with Robert Coles' powerful narrative and dramatically illustrated by George Ford, Ruby's story of courage, faith, and hope is now available in this special 50th anniversary edition with an updated afterword!”

My Brother Martin by Christine King Farris:

From the publisher: "Mother Dear, one day I'm going to turn this world upside down."

Long before he became a world-famous dreamer, Martin Luther King Jr. was a little boy who played jokes and practiced the piano and made friends without considering race. But growing up in the segregated south of the 1930s taught young Martin a bitter lesson -- little white children and little black children were not to play with one another. Martin decided then and there that something had to be done. And so he began the journey that would change the course of American history.

Something to Prove:  The Great Satchel Paige vs. Rookie Joe Dimaggio by Rob Skead:

From the publisher: “ In 1936, the New York Yankees wanted to test a hot prospect named Joe DiMaggio to see if he was ready for the big leagues. They knew just the ballplayer to call Satchel Paige, the best pitcher anywhere, black or white.

For the game, Paige joined a group of amateur African American players, and they faced off against a team of white major leaguers plus young DiMaggio. The odds were stacked against the less-experienced black team. But Paige's skillful batting and amazing pitching with his "trouble ball" and "bat dodger" kept the game close.

Would the rookie DiMaggio prove himself as major league player? Or would Paige once again prove his greatness and the injustice of segregated baseball?”

Free vs. Fee Author/Illustrator Visits

Fee vs. Free Author/Illustrator Visits: What's the Difference and Why It Matters by Todd Burleson

Meeting an author or illustrator can be magical for both kids and adults. The Society of Authors recently released their intensive survey of the impact of author visits.  As a Library Media Specialist for the past five years, I've had the good fortune of welcoming some of the best into our school.  This post is meant to encourage teachers/librarians/parents to explore the multitude of opportunities to connect with authors and illustrators.  We'll look at the difference between a "Free" vs. a "Fee" visit and the benefits/challenges to each.

 

Caldecott winning author/illustrator Jon Klassen visited my school in 2013; the year he won for I Want My Hat Back.

First of all, in my opinion, there is no better way to encourage children to read than to meet an author.  Books still evoke a sense of magic in children.  Meeting the person behind the pictures and/or words is like seeing the magician doing his tricks in slow motion.  It encourages and challenges students to strive to create their own stories/images.  

 Marc Brown: author/illustrator of the Arthur Series.

Whenever an author/illustrator is scheduled to come to our school, it provides a chance to meaningfully explore their work.  We read everything the author/illustrator has done and develop questions we hope to be able to ask at the visit.  

 

David Shannon, author/illustrator of the David books.

The very best way to get 'connected' and find out about author/illustrator visits is to form a positive relationship with your local independent book store.  In Winnetka, we have a phenomenal book store named:  The Book Stall.  

 

Jon Muth, author/illustrator of Zen Shorts and many more titles has visited Winnetka several times over the past three years.

I interviewed Robert McDonald, the Children's Specialist at the store, to get some insight into arranging and facilitating author visits.  All of the author/illustrator visits we have had through The Book Stall have been free.  I wanted some insight on how these are arranged and funded.

Jon Muth and I last year when he visited to promote his newest book, Hi, Koo!

1.  What is the process you and The Book Stall go through to connect with authors and find out that they are coming to your area?

Publishers send us a "grid" or list of what authors they are sending out on book tour. We place our requests based on who is coming and if we feel that we have several good area options for schools to place those authors.  We don't always get every author we request, so we don't know for sure which authors we will be able to work with in a given season until 1-3 months before the event. Generally we get no say in what day or date we have an author. This varies a bit from the usual way a paid school visit  would work, where the school and the author would reach an agreements about timing. Of course the advantage for the school in working with a bookstore is access to nationally recognized authors and illustrators with no honorarium involved.

We do also foster relationships with local authors, and at their request will place them for free into schools when they have new books coming out. 

 

Wendy McClure visited last year to promote her new book, Wanderville.

2.  What two or three points would you say make for a successful author/illustrator visit to a school?

I've been to hundreds of school visits now, and here's what I think really helps make a visit work well:

A. The kids and teachers have been aware of the event well in advance, and are all familiar in some ways with the visiting author's work.  This may include reading the first few chapters of a book aloud, reading several of the picture books to younger grades, and/or showing the book trailer to the classes.  Any way that the staff can figure out ways to work the author's art and writing into curriculum, and emphasize to the students that this visit is a lucky event helps pave the way for the author to have that much more of an impact.  When an author arrives to see welcome signs made by kids, and maybe have artwork based on their book, it's going to make for a happier, more engaged author.

 Author/illustrator Steve Barnes visited our school in 2013

Be aware that these free author visits are free because the publisher wants to get more buzz and attention for an author's work. They also want to sell copies. The bookstore will want the school to promote book sales prior to the visit, so that the author has a good stack of books to sign for kids the day of the event. In general, there's no set number of books that MUST be sold, but in the long-term a bookstore won't be eager to work with you if author visits do not generate any sales. 

B. Kids model what they see, so if I ruled the world I'd insist that staff attending an author presentation be fully engaged, and NOT using the time to grade papers or catch up on email.  If the educator is paying attention, she has that much more insight and material she can use to reinforce and expand on lessons learned.  And the kids will take the visit more seriously.

C. There is almost always a Q and A section of an author visit.  Prep the kids beforehand, and discuss as a class what good questions could be, or even have a class contest to get your question "chosen" to ask the author in front of the large group. The better the questions, the better the visit will be.

Dan Gutman, award winning author, has a page on his site to help prepare for a successful author visit.

 

Arun Gandhi, the grandson of Mahatma Gandhi, visited last spring to promote his book called,Grandfather Gandhi.

3.  What advice would you give a teacher/librarian who would like to begin working with an independent book store to arrange author visits?

Look and see what authors are visiting a local bookstore.  If a store in your area is having in-store children's author events, they are almost certainly placing authors in schools for free. Call and ask to speak with the children's specialist.  Be willing to be flexible--an author out on book tour might not be able to stay at your school all day and see every student in the school, but if you are willing to work with independent bookstores  (or Barnes and Noble for that matter--many of them do arrange free author visits in schools) you may be able to host multiple authors in a school year, a picture book author for K-1 one time, something for the 4th-5th grades another.  I have a lot of schools now that are able to host 2-3 authors a year.

If your local bookstore does not yet arrange free author visits, reach out to them and suggest they start!

Invite a bookstore to help you with a visit you are already arranging and paying for--if you sell books through a bookstore, you'll make your visiting author happy  (They love to see book sales at the schools they visit) and you'll be establishing a relationship with a store--they will think of you the next time they have a big-name author in town.

Not all of our author/illustrator visits are free.  Usually, about once a year we reach out to an author/illustrator to arrange a Fee based visit.  We do this usually because we are hoping to expand on the traditional author/illustrator visit.  Last year we arranged an author visit with Steve Cotler, the author of the Cheesie Mac series.

Because this was a sponsored visit, we were able to arrange several more presentations with him as well as some specific work with our older students on developing 'writer's voice' and writing dialogue. 

 This year, our school is sponsoring an author visit from Kristy Dempsey.  She is the author of several children's picture books, an educator and a Library Media Specialist who currently lives and works in Brazil.  I was curious as to her take on the difference between a Free vs. Fee author/illustrator visit.  Coming from the dual perspective of both author and librarian, I knew that her insight would prove very valuable.

 

Kristy Dempsey (photo courtesy of the author's website)

How do you feel about free vs. fee author/illustrator visits?

When free visits are possible, I absolutely believe in them. I think there are a couple of kinds.  There are visits that the author is willing to do completely for free. I have done some of these visits at Title 1 schools that have no PTA and few resources. ( I have also done paid visits at Title 1 schools that have received grants for visits.) I know other authors who sometimes donate their time like this and when it's possible, I think it's great. Because of travel and schedules and such, it's often not possible, or perhaps it's cost-prohibitive for the author. Mid-list authors don't make a ton of money from royalties, so they would be paying out of their own pockets for this. Or often, the school (or in conjunction with a bookstore) will use the profit from doing book sales to pay for an author visit, which seems to me a way to do a "free" visit that still supports the author. 

I do have concerns, as well, about free visits. I don't view author visits as just entertainment or even simply cheerleading about reading and writing. And my fear is that unestablished authors (self-published or otherwise) that do free visits, without truly understanding how to make the visit valuable for teachers (connecting to standards, etc) as well as inspiring students, are misleading schools about how valuable a school author visit can be. (Whew. Be careful if you quote me on that. I don't want to bash anyone. In fact, some self-published and unestablished authors are VERY good at this.)

So ultimately I believe that the difference is that a paid visit (especially with established authors and illustrators) is held to a higher quality control. Authors and illustrators who are making part of their living off of school visits are literally in the same business as teachers. They are designing their instruction to benefit student learning. And if they're not, they won't be invited back (or "keep" their jobs!) 

There are many other ways to bring authors/illustrators to schools as well.  With technology, many author/illustrators are willing to do Skype visits, or Google Hangouts.

There are thousands of resources online to help connect author/illustrators with schools/libraries.  One of my favorite is the listing on the Scholastic web page for children and young adults. 

I hope that this post has been helpful in helping you think about the power of author/illustrator visits.  You never know the impact of one of these visits on the young minds of writers.  Someday they may be in the position to be a visiting author/illustrator themselves!

10 + Questions for Author Barb Rosenstock

 

Today's post is an interview I recently conducted with Barb Rosenstock.  Barb has written some of the most interesting non-fiction for children in the world!  She graciously shared her answers to the GROG members terrific questions:

 

1. What resources--online, museum, library, etc. have you found most helpful for your projects? 

Although I start online and pretty often wind up at museums or libraries, I’ve got to pick PEOPLE as the most helpful resource for my projects. There are literally millions of people who are experts and interested in historical topics WAY beyond my knowledge base, find the right one for the right book and that’s the best resource.

2. Do you work on one book at a time? Or more than one? 

One at a time with a running list of reading for the next one or two…sometimes I’m not working on anything, I’m learning to roll with it. I know the advice, but I DO NOT write every day.

3. What books did you devour as a kiddo? 

The Betsy Tacy series by Maud Hart Lovelace is my absolute favorite. I loved reading historical fiction even very young, if it was set in another time, I read it…Little House on the Prairie, Ballet Shoes/Theatre Shoes, The All of a Kind Family, the Five Little Peppers. Obviously, I am very, very old. I do remember liking Judy Blume and whoever wrote Harriet the Spy, too.

4. Do you share your research with the illustrator, or does the illustrator just start from scratch? 

They start from scratch but every once in a while questions go back and forth about a detail or two (or twenty!) between the editor, author and illustrator. 

5. How long had you been writing until you became published? How long did it take to get an agent/editor?  

 Be sure to check out my post about a recent field trip to the Kandinsky exhibit at the Milwaukee Art Museum from earlier this summer

I started noodling around writing for children in 2005 or 6, sold my first picture book in mid-2007. The editor of my first picture book recommended a short list of agents to me, I emailed them and the wonderful Rosemary Stimola picked me up. My first three picture books were slush pile babies, no agent.  I never really thought of being a writer until I fell in love with picture books, but I spent a lot of years working in marketing/advertising creative departments, learning to edit, change, rework with a tough skin and tight deadlines…that helped the process to published author go faster than is typical I think.

6. How do you know when you've done enough research? What back matter is most important to you as a writer? 

When I’m bored, when I know the story and I’m just procrastinating writing it down or working on it…and back matter is always a problem for me, my first drafts of them tend to be WAY too long…at some point (sometimes after I have a contract) I kind of try to pick a theme for the back matter and stick with it, people can read on the internet if they really need a bunch of general biographical details. Back matter should be "now that I’ve told you this one tiny story, what else do you REALLY need to know." When the back matter is longer than the book, it means trouble. Sometimes mine is...

7. How long do you devote to researching a book? Do you research it all first, and then write? Or do you do a bit of both all along?  

It’s a giant spiral of research and writing, always a lot of research up front, choosing or finding a direction and then going back and filling in detail research while the story takes shape. As for how long? The shortest I’ve ever written and researched a picture book is less than a week, the longest is the better part of a year. Depends.

8. What draws you to write about a subject, and how do you choose your focus?

I wish I had an answer…I don’t know, I run into things, usually a fact I didn’t know or find interesting, but unless that fact leads to a story (not a topic, like“I  know, I’ll write about George Washington!")  it doesn’t work out. Many, many ideas don’t work out. Focus is something I look for from the beginning, if I can’t find some small part to focus on, I don’t do it. As an example,  just because Helen Keller had a bunch of dogs (which is a super cool thing, look it up!) doesn’t mean it really changed what she did, who she became or how she affected the world. At least, I couldn’t work it out right…maybe someone else can.

9. Have you ever started to write a book and given it up -- and if so, what made you decide to stop the project? 

See above!  I would bet I have 5 to 10 ideas or half baked/worked on subjects for every one book that works out. For me, an idea/project is always stopped if I get to a point where I can’t answer the question, “So What?” As in so what’s so important? why did this change the world? why would a kid need to know this? If the story is just cute or isn’t important or is a bunch of biographical details or I can’t find a way to tell it that will connect with an elementary aged child, I stop. Also, even when you’re published, not every book you finish gets sold, so there’s that too.

10. You seem to be a master at coming up with new ‘angles’ on topics that have been explored many different ways; how do you come up with these new avenues to explore? (For example: your phenomenal book about Thomas Jefferson and his library.) 

I’ll tell you the specific Thomas Jefferson Builds A Library story. I have gone to libraries my entire life, my sister is a librarian and while researching a completely different book on the city of Washington, D.C. (which didn’t work out!) I ran into the fact that after the war of 1812, Jefferson sent HIS OWN BOOKS to recreate the Library of Congress that the British burned. I was stunned…the Library of Congress we have today was founded on Thomas Jefferson’s ACTUAL BOOKS! I mean, I just could not believe I never heard that before!  I started reading about TJ and learned that books may have been the most important things in his life. I was really astonished when I searched for a kids book on Jefferson and his books and there wasn’t one! (P.S. THAT’S the first step before researching a thing, make sure it doesn’t already exist!) You can’t fake curiosity…I wanted to know more and that drove the book. Sometimes I think the ideas choose a writer.

11. What should we have asked you?

I guess you should have asked whether writing gets easier or harder once you’re published.  Writers think of publication as the big goal (I did too!) and expect to be free of struggle from that point. It’s not. I would say after a few books that it's easier to know when it’s right and harder to find stories that really “make the grade.” I’m less easily impressed with my own writing than I was in the beginning, and honestly, even though there are days that’s frustrating, in the end it’s all just part of a growth process. I love having a job where I can learn about whatever I want, read all the history I love and with great illustrators and great editors, help create a small piece of readable art for children.

Thanks for asking!

Barb has a phenomenal website:  http://barbrosenstock.com/

Follow her on Facebook and Twitter

She also has rich resources which can be found on her Pintrest board; I highly recommend following her there! 

Thank YOU Barb for taking time to share your thoughts with all of us!  We can't wait to hear about what's next!

"No matter what anybody tells you, words and ideas can change the world." -Mr. Keating

It's been less than 24 hours since I read the news of Robin Williams' passing.  I never met him; I don't know anyone who has; and yet I mourn him like a friend.  

Why is it that I and so many others feel such a connection to a solitary human being?  Why is it that his loss impacts me more than the death of the 12 year old boy shot and killed in Palestine yesterday?  Is his life worth any less than Williams?  Of course not.  

For me, I found his improvisational comedy, especially while being interviewed, difficult to enjoy.  I always felt sympathy for the person who was just trying to get him to talk about whatever new movie he was there to promote.  He was notorious for hijacking interviews and doing wild and zany things.  This same comic genius that I could watch for hours and hours on stage always made me cringe just a bit when I watched him interviewed.
 

In contrast to the videos above, his most recent round of interviews for The Crazy Ones, seemed tame:


He was at his best in his roles.  I'll never forget him in Mrs. Doubtfire.  I loved watching him explain how the character evolved and probably my favorite scenes in that movie were when he would 'slip' out of the lovely old lady voice into the gruff middle age man in order to scare someone into submission; like the unexpecting purse snatcher in the scene below:

 
Personally, his role in The Dead Poets Society, changed my life.  Seeing the movie, while home on break from college, cemented my desire to be an educator.  Not just any educator, but an educator that helped students '...Suck the marrow out of life.'  'To make their lives extraordinary.'



I actually have a small movie poster of The Dead Poets Society that is on the bulletin board in my office.  For years it was laminated and placed on the front of my school planning book.  I've thought about that movie and the character of Mr. Keating at the beginning of every school year for nearly a quarter of a century.  I usually watch the film about this time every summer to remind myself why I go back to elementary school every August.

I know that Robin Williams was not Mr. Keating, but in my mind, he captured something I wanted to emote.  It was a vivacity.  A zest.  A desire to be more.  

I've tried in my teaching to always find that sweet spot of looking at things from new perspectives; honoring the student voice; being 'real' with students and families.  I credit Mr. Keating with much of that.  He's probably why I was and still am an advocate of using poetry in the classroom.

And so, I come back to my original question:  Why is it that I and so many others feel such a connection to a solitary human being?  It's the stories he brought to life.  It's the characters he played.  Sitting in those darkened movie theaters, for a little while anyway, I both saw myself and others in those roles.  I often let myself down, but for a while, I was a better person.  That's what his work did for me.  It helped me be a better person while at the same time giving others the chance to be that better person too.

I read today that he for sure took his own life.  His loss is even more painful knowing that he chose to end his life.  Of course it would have been tragic as well if he died due to overdose or a car crash, etc.  But to know he 'chose' to die makes it ever more sad.  He has battled depression for a long time along with his other demons.  

It makes me infinitely more sad to know that he was in such a dark place that even the lives of his three kids and loving wife did not offer a spark or a nudge to reach out for more help.  I've read the words of those who have criticized him for taking his life; calling him selfish and narcissistic.  I disagree.  He was hurting and like most people who fight depression, he was doing it in the private, lonely space of his mind.  Depression is real.  It is crushing and it is debilitating.  I've seen it.  I've experienced it.  Thankfully, I've always been able to get beyond it.  I've been lucky enough to have a support system that has helped me 'sleep on it.'  For me, it's almost always better after a good night's sleep. 

If anything good can come of this tragic loss, I hope it is an awareness of the need for support for depression.  I hope that others will reach out to family, friends, or organizations like Lifeline.

For now, I will rest.  There will be an outpouring of grief and loss from Hollywood and in a few months most of us will have forgotten about him.  I, however, hope that folks will continue to discover and treasure him in the roles he has played.  It is of some comfort, albeit bittersweet, that he still has four movies that are going to be coming out.  I know I'll see them and I know that I'll find something lovely in them.  I hope that you do too.

My Journey: So Far...

When I started the journey toward becoming an author, I had the same dreams that most authors have.  I wanted to be published.  I wanted to tell my stories and I wanted those stories to resonate with readers around the world.

I knew, from my years as a classroom teacher and school librarian, the power of books.   I knew that picture books, in particular, can have a significant impact on students of all ages.  As an educator, I've always 'taught' writing, but I never really considered myself an author.  I had written two self published books: one about my travels in Iceland and another about my year-long journey as a photographer, but I still did not consider myself an author.   

It wasn't until I had a conversation with an author, Steve Barnes, who came to visit my school that I began to think that I might be able to truly become a 'traditional' author.  Steve has a child in our school and over the course of a year, he and I discussed his journey.  I began to imagine what 'could be.'

Like most things I do now, I started by researching online.  I very quickly learned about SCBWI.  I immediately joined and began to lurk on the various writing websites and forums.  I connected with my local chapter of SCBWI and found out about and signed up for upcoming events and programs.  I started reaching out and exploring different author's individual websites.  Soon I dug into the online profiles on such sites as Twitter and Facebook.  I started joining a variety of writing groups and forums online.  The one that really opened my eyes was Tara Lazar's: Picture Book Idea Month, and her blog:  http://taralazar.com  I started reading about the year before and fell into the rabbit hole of guest author's blogs and websites.  However, I knew it was something I wanted to be a part of when I learned that my favorite author of all time, Jane Yolen, was going to be a guest author this year!  I also joined the WOW (Week of Writing Nonfiction Group).  I did a lot of lurking.

And so it began.  I became a member of the PiBoId Month.  I signed the 'commitment form' and vowed to try to come up with at least one new idea for a picture book each day.  In retrospect, I came up with way more; nearly 60 ideas.  Many of those ideas stunk, but several have lead to full blown projects that I am in the middle of right now.

Now that I had all of these ideas, I needed to find a place where I could bounce them around in a safe environment.  That's where my critique groups have come in.  I joined a couple of online critique groups; one through SCBWI and one through the WOW Facebook Group.  Learning to give constructive feedback helped me think about my own writing.  It also helped me grow in confidence.  I sought professional guidance and editing.  I worked with Kristen Fulton and Lisa Mathews of Edit With a Pro, to make one of my pieces the best that I could. 

From there, I started learning about different contests that are available for writers.  I applied to several of them.  In addition to applying to contests, I started researching and sharing my work with various agents.  While I didn't win any of them, the process helped me refine my work and taught me to become my own advocate.  I used The Book, a resource for learning about different authors/agents, to find a dozen agents to explore.  I started by making a 'dream list.'  I found out who represented Jane Yolen, Jon Muth, Jon Klassen, etc.  I crafted the very best query letter I could, then sent it to my top three and waited.  (I learned that you should only do a few at a time.  The reason is that you might get some feedback from one of the agents about what you could do to make your work better and you don't want to have 'already' submitted without making those possible changes.)  I made an elaborate spreadsheet of agents I wished to submit to and waited and waited.  I received several rejection letters and then I sent out more. I waited and waited and waited.

In the meantime, I kept writing, editing, sharing and critiquing.  One of my projects, a story about a fire, had a very sad ending.  I wanted to toss around a few different ways to deal with the sad ending in a picture book geared toward kids ages 6-10 in a way that was 'sad' but not depressing.  So I posted a fairly loose set of options and asked the members of the WOW Nonfiction group to help me think about them.  One of the members of the group (of over 300 writers) was an agent, Jo Sadler.  She was curious about how I was going to solve this conundrum.  We ended up trading a few emails and a draft or two of the story.  She said she would be interested in reading more of my work.  Of course I was appropriately flattered and elated.

I sent her a couple of more pieces and then I waited.

In the meantime, I decided that I wanted to find a way to work with 'like-minded' people.  So, I put out a call to all the folks I knew on Facebook.  I wanted to form a group blog.  There was a lot of interest.  Together, we came up with the name GROG or Group Blog.  We are sixteen writers at all different stages of the journey.  We've been writing weekly blog posts about different aspects of authorship.  This group has become my core support group.  In addition to the blog, we keep in touch via our Facebook Group and 'Group Chats' on Google Hangout. 

After some more waiting, I politely followed up again with Jo. I sent her her another piece of work, one I thought was my very best piece of work. She was very interested in the piece. We had a terrific conversation about my work and about where she saw me fitting into the market.  By the week's end, I had an agent!

So, what do I hope you will take away from this? I guess the biggest lesson I learned is that you never know where your connections will lead you: make as many of them as you can.  Second: be genuinely nice to everyone. You never know how one path will connect to another further on down the road. 


Thirdly, because all good stories have the magical number three in them, Ask for help.  Showing a willingness to think about my ending, I believe, showed that I was open to suggestions and feedback. We often think that we have to know all the answers, or at least look like we do.  Find a group, or if you can't find one that fits your needs, make your own! I think that the world is a pretty wonderful place full of people who want to connect and grow together.  Find them!