Previous guests include:
Our featured blogger for July 2011 was author VIVIAN VANDE VELDE.
Yes, Vivian Vande Velde is my real name. To hear me pronounce it, you can go to the Author Name Pronunciation Guide at TeachingBooks.net by clicking here.
I became a writer because I love stories--all kinds of stories, but especially fantasy. I can't remember a time before I wanted to be a writer. My parents did a great job of convincing me I could do whatever I set my mind to.
I was born in 1951 and have lived almost my entire life in Rochester, New York. I married Jim Vande Velde. When our daughter Beth was born, I quit my job as a secretary. Since I was home all day, I had to either take housework more seriously or come up with a good excuse why I couldn't. So this was the point where I had to stop saying "Someday I'm going to be a writer," and do something about it.
The first book I wrote was A HIDDEN MAGIC.
Writing turned out to be harder work than I thought it would be. (To read more about writing, go to my Writing Advice page.)
But, once I finished writing the book, getting it published was even harder. I sent it out to 32 different publishers over a two-year period, before number 33 said yes.
So, if you're interested in seeing your stories become books, keep in mind that lots of people heard "no" from publishers before they heard "yes"--including:
Writing can be easier if you have the support of other writers. Luckily for me, there are a lot of children's writers in the Rochester area. I belong to two groups, each with wonderful people who help each other by asking gentle questions (What is it, exactly, dear, that you're trying to say here?) and who offer encouragement and advice to each other. And besides that, they're a lot of fun.
Some aspiring writers seem to think that secrets are being kept from them. That if only a helpful editor would explain what she's looking for, or if an already-published writer would share The Rules--then they, too, could get published.
Such writers complain when an editor, asked at a conference what she wants in a manuscript, answers, “Good writing.”
“Well, duh!“ the aspiring author sighs. “It's not like I was planning on sending her bad writing.”
But turn the tables around. If I asked you, “What do you look for in a story?” what would you answer? You can tell me what you've liked in the past and what you traditionally haven't enjoyed, but there are always exceptions. Perhaps you love convoluted mysteries with idiosyncratic characters, or maybe stories of adventure and magic, or how about something heartwarming and with gentle humor? Even without knowing you, I know that sometimes you've started reading a book--maybe even by your favorite author--that sounded exactly right, but then it just didn't capture your attention. And--on the other hand--you've sometimes had zero expectation for a book or movie, and suddenly found yourself unavoidably charmed by it.
So editors are not being cagey when they seem to be avoiding giving a straight answer.
And neither are authors who can't give you the secret formula to success.
Why? Because there are no rules in writing. In math, yes: If you understand the rules in math, you can come up with the right answer. But there aren't right answers in writing. There are only certain things that are commonly done: The main character usually is about the age (or maybe a year or two older) than the intended audience, and most often (because it's generally more interesting this way) it's the main character who solves the central problem of the story. There are other things that are, traditionally, harder to pull off: A story meant for 10- to 14-year-old boys probably will not have as its main character a girl who is mostly concerned about hair and makeup; and very few readers at all will be interested in a story whose theme can be summed up with an Aesop-type moral such as, “Good little children appreciate their parents.”
But there is no rule that someone won't disagree with, often pointing a finger at a published exception and saying, “See? Here's a story with…(fill in the blank: an unlikable main character, unresolved loose ends, a very strong element of moralizing). What do you mean I shouldn't…(switch viewpoints, have the parents come to the rescue, stop the story to give background information)…when this author has done it?”
As authors (or, for that matter, as readers), we have to decide for ourselves what makes a good story, keeping in mind that we each have our own ideas about what makes a story good. That's why we can have radically different books aimed at the same audience, such as Patricia MacLachlan's SARAH, PLAIN AND TALL (67 pages of crisp lyricism) and J.K. Rowling's HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER'S STONE (309 pages of action and well-thought-out surprises)--both right for 9-to-12-year-olds.
So, in the absence of engraved-in-tablets-of-stone rules about what always works and what can absolutely never be done in writing, all anyone can do is give opinion.
Here is my opinion: I don't like coincidence.
“What do you mean?” I've had people ask me. “Coincidence happens all the time in real life.”
I can't argue with that.
Do you remember hearing the set of coincidences that linked the assassinations of John F. Kennedy and Abraham Lincoln? There were a lot, including:
What do those coincidences add up to?
Nothing.
And that's the difference between reality and fiction. In fiction, we want the story to mean something, not to be a random set of happenings.
So, my threefold opinion regarding coincidences in fiction:
1. They should be used sparingly.
Let's say we're reading a story about a poor girl with nothing to eat, she's barefoot and her clothes are rags, her parents' house is about to be repossessed by the bank, and her dog will go blind without an operation. We want the book to end with something good happening for the unfortunate child. But if that good is someone handing her the winning lottery ticket, I think the majority of us would be tempted to fling the book at the wall.
On the other hand, if the story starts with the character holding the winning lottery ticket, and she's rushing to turn it in, delighted at the thought of no more money worries ever, then a gust of wind tears it out of her hand and sends it skittering down the street, into traffic, and--before she can catch up--into the river, through the rapids, and over the waterfall, at which point a passing alligator snaps it up and swallows, that's coincidence we want to believe. Now, we're eager to see how far she'll go to try to retrieve the ticket, or how she'll cope with the loss.
Here's another opinion I have, related to the first: I don't care if it really happened.
People will frequently bring up that it-really-happened argument when someone says about a character's actions or a plot twist, “I don't know about this...”
“Yes,” the criticized author will assure us, “but there she was, my next-door neighbor's mother, about to have her house taken away for back taxes, when a stranger walked up to her, handed her a scratch-off lottery ticket, and--after she scratched it off with her fingernail because she didn't even have a dime--she saw she was holding the winning number.”
Well, if you absolutely assure me it happened to your next-door neighbor's mother, I guess I'll believe you. But if you write it in your piece of fiction, I won't. Unless, of course, you make me believe it. And I don't mean by having an author's note where you swear to the veracity of the incident. I mean by setting up believability within the story. I might buy into the scenario if the stranger is a fairy godmother. Or a time-traveling employee of the organization that runs the lottery, a person whose plan is to trick or blackmail that main character out of her winnings. Or if the lottery ticket turns out to be invalid because all the tickets were misprinted, every single one with the same number. Or if...
Just keep in mind that--as long as you're writing fiction, not nonfiction--making up details or motivations, or adding people who weren't really there is not only allowed, it's necessary.
Another opinion, something else I've already mentioned in passing: The story has to add up to something. (Unless, of course, it's a New Yorker story, which is a category all by itself.)
Sticking with that lottery ticket theme, let's say our character cracks open a Chinese fortune cookie and reads that she's going to win the lottery. Where can the story go from there?
1. The cookie is right, and she wins the lottery.
If you choose to write the first, she wins, the story can go off in all sorts of directions, including but not limited to: it can be about how she loses the ticket or has it stolen from her; how winning changes her, or how it changes the people around her; how the money solves all her problems, or how it causes new ones. (Or, going for that ironic O. Henry-style ending: She wins the lottery, but meanwhile she chokes on the fortune cookie and dies.)
If, on the other hand, the prediction doesn't come true, we can still have an interesting story--but only so long as our character entirely believes the fortune and acts accordingly. Perhaps she cashes in all her savings to buy a multitude of tickets to increase her chances of winning. Maybe she tells off her boss, since she figures she won't need a job next week because she'll be a millionaire by then. Maybe she chooses now to sever her relationship with friends or relatives in order to avoid their coming to her for money once she's hit the jackpot.
But what won't work is what actually happens most often in real life: She reads the fortune, does nothing to ensure or prevent it, and the prediction doesn't come true.
(Yawn)
What I'm saying is that when things are mentioned in a story, they should not be there simply to beef up the word count or to get your character from one scene to another.
Which means you don't need to start your story the way you start the majority of your days, by having the character wake up in his bed at home at his normal hour, nice and calm and normal. (Translation: boring.) You shouldn't have him eat his cereal, brush his teeth, pet the dog, and have a routine morning conversation with his family--unless, of course, your character is about to be poisoned, have his teeth fall out, get bitten by the dog, or learn that his parents and siblings have been replaced by aliens.
Choose your details carefully, and make them relevant. Make them be about things you would want to read even if you hadn't written them.
Which brings us to the one opinion which I believe qualifies as a rule: You should write the story you want to read. If you try to write to a trend, or about a topic someone has told you is hot, or in a genre that you think is marketable but that you don't care for, you won't be happy, and that means your readers most likely won't be happy either.
So be happy.
And good reading--and good writing--to you.
BY COINCIDENCE, HERE ARE THE RULES
VIVIAN VANDE VELDE
2. They're better at the beginning of a story than at the end.
3. They are more believable if they complicate things for the main character rather than help him.
2. The cookie is wrong, and she doesn't win.
Our featured blogger for June 2011 was editor CHRISTINE FRENCH CULLY.
Christine French Cully is editor in chief of HIGHLIGHTS magazine and HIGHLIGHTS HIGH FIVE magazine; editor of the interactive website at http://www.HighlightsKids.com; a member of the board of directors of Highlights for Children, Inc.; and a trustee of the Highlights Foundation, Inc., a national not-for-profit organization dedicated to excellence in writing and art for children.
Cully, who has more than 28 years of experience in educational publishing for children, began her career as an associate editor of preschool curricula. She edited other children's publications for 13 years prior to joining the HIGHLIGHTS staff in 1994.
A frequent speaker at national writers' and professional educators' conferences, Cully's professional memberships include the American Society of Magazine Editors, the Association of Educational Publishers, the Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators, the International Reading Association, and the National Association for the Education of Young Children.
Cully earned her bachelor's degree in Communication Arts from Judson College in Elgin, Illinois. She lives in Honesdale, Pennsylvania and has two children.
Describe your job and what you like best about it.
I've been with HIGHLIGHTS for almost 18 years, but I certainly haven't been doing the same thing all this time! My job has changed over the years and continues to change as both our company grows and the industry responds to the changing world.
Currently I serve as editor in chief, so I'm focusing more on editorial strategy, vision, editorial management, and product development that includes but goes beyond the magazines.
I also wear the hat of editor of HIGHLIGHTS magazine. In that capacity, I lead the planning of each issue and give final approval when each issue is finished. I am less involved in the day-to-day work of creating an issue, but I do also read and approve all manuscripts before purchase and lead all redesign work.
Tell us what you look for in a new story.
Writing for HIGHLIGHTS continues to be very competitive; we receive between 800 and 1,000 manuscript submissions monthly. From these, we seriously consider only the best and buy very few, so a story has to be extremely well crafted to be accepted.
We also want our stories to be fresh—to include an interesting twist or show the reader a different way of looking at something familiar. Sometimes it seems as if everything has been done, and maybe it has. But there are still original ways to make a familiar theme feel fresh and new.
Our stories must also support our corporate mission to help kids become their best selves—curious, confident, caring, and creative. We often say that a good story for HIGHLIGHTS is a story that leaves something positive with the reader—long after the details of the story are forgotten. But that's not the same thing as saying a story should be moralistic or preachy. We definitely don't want that. A story has to be a good read, first and foremost. But we also want it to leave the reader feeling hopeful, inspired, more confident, more tolerant, more self-aware—or just, in some general way, a little bit wiser about the world. And this take-away must be organic to the story—not tacked on or forced.
I think you were asking about fiction—but most of this applies to nonfiction articles, as well. Additionally, for nonfiction, we want the reader to use original sources when possible—and to avoid “dumping the whole load” on a reader. The nonfiction writer needs to use a zoom lens and focus on one aspect of his or her subject. A writer just can't do birth-to-death biographies and the everything-you-need-to-know articles in 800 words or less. A common mistake nonfiction writers make is sounding too scholarly or encyclopedic. We think kids respond best to nonfiction that has a story-telling quality to it.
Has children's publishing changed since you became an editor?
I've been in children's publishing my whole career—thirty years now. (Yikes. Let's keep that number our little secret, shall we?) No doubt, the biggest changes are related to publishing technology. I remember the days when the art directors were using Rubylyth and Xacto knives and the entire office smelled of rubber cement. This was before desktop publishing.
Today, we have to think more about how our work will accessed by or delivered to readers. Publishing is not just about ink on paper anymore, and we can't afford to think of ourselves as simply “magazine editors.” I am not especially fond of the word “content,” but for lack of a better descriptor, editors are becoming “content creators” who are platform agnostic. Or, as Dr. Samir Husni, also known as "Mr. Magazine," says: We have to think of ourselves as "experience makers." Today we talk a lot about reaching kids where they are—and they are as likely to be in front of a screen of some sort as they are to be curled up in a chair with a book or magazine. But whatever the platform, a published story still has to be a really good, immersive story with a clear theme, plot, conflict and tension, memorable characters, writing that sparkles—all those good things.
How and why did you become an editor?
Many people in this field have fallen into it, after first having careers as teachers or other kinds of journalists, for example. I'm an anomaly because all I've ever done professionally is edit children's periodicals. I loved magazines as a kid and was fortunate to have parents who happily supplied me with several subscriptions. When you're a kid, it's such a thrill to pull a magazine out of the mailbox with your name on it! It was like a visit from a dear friend. I usually read my magazines from cover to cover in the first day or so—and then kept them for rereading.
I have a vivid childhood memory of reading a favorite magazine, CALLING ALL GIRLS, and discovering the masthead. I remember the editor's name was Ruby Something—and I knew at that moment that when I grew up, I wanted a job like Ruby's, choosing and editing great stuff for kids to read. I well know how unusual it is for an early-childhood career aspiration to come to fruition, and I often marvel at my good fortune. I am doing the only thing I've ever wanted to do.
What's particularly gratifying about my job at HIGHLIGHTS is receiving mail from kids who are having the same kinds of intimate relationships with their magazines as I did with mine. They write and tell me that they devour their new issues right away. They stumble upon my name on the masthead and write to me personally and tell me how lucky I am to have this great job creating magazines. I tell them, "Yes, I know exactly what you mean!"
What are the main differences between a magazine story and a book?
Here are just a few differences we talk about with writers. Although a good magazine story should deserve a second read or more, a picture book really must stand up to repeated readings. A magazine story usually takes place in a short time frame, requires a certain pacing, and is usually sufficiently illustrated with just a few illustrations. A picture book tends to be more episodic and must lend itself to varied illustrations. A magazine story usually has to fit within specified word counts; picture books are usually created with a 32-page template in mind.
Sometimes a magazine story can be expanded into a fine picture book. But it is unlikely that a story written for magazines can also serve as a picture book without significant revision. And vice versa.
What can writers do to improve their chances of being accepted?
Rewrite, rewrite, rewrite. Don't send your first draft. Put your first draft in a drawer for a few days or even weeks. Then look at it with a fresh eye, revise, and repeat this process. Good writing is rewriting.
Aspiring story writers should also study the magazine market and make sure they're sending the right story to the right publication. The best way to study a magazine is to read at least a year's worth of back issues.
Having said that, I do think that a writer can overdo the research. Some writers mistakenly think that they need to write exactly the kind of story we've already published. We're always looking for something fresh and different—and if you understand our mission (stated on page 4 of every issue of HIGHLIGHTS) and if your story is aligned with our mission—it's okay if it's different. In fact, your story may very well be that “something different” we're always looking for.
We urge writers to write what they feel passionate about. To write well, you have to write from the heart. Research is important—but you don't want to be formulaic or imitative.
Should authors copyright their material before submitting it?
It's not necessary to copyright your material before sending it in. As the creator, you already own the copyright, according to law. If we purchase your story, we buy all rights, including the copyright from you.
How do you feel about simultaneous submissions?
At HIGHLIGHTS, we don't mind simultaneous submissions—but we do like for you to tell us you've submitted the story simultaneously in your cover letter.
I am the child of two librarians! I didn't really ever think I'd be an author, but I always loved books. Some of my favorite authors as a kid were C. S. Lewis and Lloyd Alexander. In high school I discovered Kurt Vonnegut who remains one of my favorites. Later I became fascinated with authors like Jack Kerouac, Hunter S. Thompson, Charles Bukowski, and Tom Robbins. I didn't study literature in school, but I did (of course) take a job as a librarian after college. I then went to grad school and studied young adult literature at the University of Pittsburgh. I got really excited about all the fantastic things going on in YA and started writing my own.
A few years of blood, sweat, and tears later, I now am able to see these books on the shelves! I have also published poems and written for newspapers, but I love fiction best of all! Making stuff up is clearly what I was born to do.
Yes, this is really my prom photo. Hair has not been Photoshopped. I am married to Kelly Berk, the fine lady whose pictures you can see here. She went to prom with me even though I had that insane Jewfro.
Later, she fronted a punk band I was in. These days we have two little kids. I love being a Dad. We live in a cornfield outside of Allentown, PA. We have two dogs who are more or less completely insane. Yup.
What originally attracted you to writing?
What drew me to writing initially was being a reader. I come from a very literary family and there were always tons of books around the house. Reading was a highly encouraged, actually required, activity in the Berk home. I'm not going to lie – when I was a boy, I did go through an "uck, I hate reading" phase. But my parents didn't give up and by the time I was ten or so I found books I loved. I was hooked.
My favorites at that age were fantasy series – things like C.S. Lewis and Lloyd Alexander. And they were just so much fun to read that I had the thought: "I want to do that." I started writing my own stories, basically rip-offs of Narnia (but hey, I was ten!) and found that I had a bit of talent at it. I loved the feeling that writing gave me and that has always stuck with me.
When I got older, I found that writing was a good way to deal with the otherwise inexpressible feelings (not always happy ones) we all feel in adolescence. So it became a catharsis, a relief to get things down on paper. But originally it was just that thrill of reading a great book and thinking "Hey, why don't I give that a shot?"
What keeps you writing now?
Eventually writing just became a habit – something I couldn't not do. I constantly have story ideas, character ideas, and lines of dialogue in my head that I feel like I need to get down on paper. And some of these characters really tug at me. It's like they're these people living in my head, dying to get out, dying to have their stories told. Yes, I realize this makes me sound like a crazy person!
Do you keep a journal? If so, when did you start? What sort of material do you write in your journal?
I kept a diary (password-protected!) on the family computer starting from when I was about ten years old. I wish I could read those files now! But alas, they are on giant floppy disks (the type that actually flopped) and the old Apple IIc is long gone. This journal was largely about girls I liked and my (always thwarted) plans to get them to like me. I no longer keep anything like a formal journal, but I do always have a little notebook in my pocket to scribble in. If I see an interesting person, or overhear a bit of dialogue, or something funny pops into my head, I like to write it down.
How do you decide on a new project?
Whichever one of those guys in my head yells the loudest gets to have his story told next. OK, also I run it by my agent. I always have a large running list of "potential book ideas" – usually just a title and a few sentence blurbs. When it's time to start a new project, I show this list to him and he'll gently guide me towards what he thinks might be a wise next choice to pursue. And then I have to go back to the other guys in my head and tell them to be patient – their time will come.
Who is your audience? Who is reading over your shoulder while you write?
My wife is almost always my first reader. She's very supportive yet pretty blunt when something doesn't work and I feel very lucky to have that. I also have those fictional people in my head who hold me to a pretty high standard. They're always looking over my shoulder to make sure I'm telling their story correctly. Yes, I know! Totally crazy.
How do you write? At the keyboard? Longhand? In an office? At regular times?
I used to be in a good routine where I'd go to the computer in the basement pretty much every morning, but now that I have two little kids at home, nothing is done at regular times! I just squeeze writing in around the craziness of life. Lately I've been taking a laptop to the super-quiet-only-if-you-even-sneeze-we'll-stab-you zone of the local university library. I like it there. So peaceful.
What do you see happening in the world of children's book publishing these days?
It's interesting because my first thought is that children's publishing seems to be more blockbuster-driven lately. You'll have a book like TWILIGHT or DIARY OF A WIMPY KID and these books sell soooooo many copies that all anyone can think about is jumping on those bandwagons or becoming the Next Big Thing. I'm not sure what drives that – the business, the audience, the retail scene, or just the nature of the economy we live in. But I don't worry about it too much. Because, despite that first thought, my next thought is that we're living in a great and exciting time of diversity in children's books. Just below that blockbuster surface is a hugely rich variety of books. There's a great deal of cultural diversity and genre diversity as well. Every time I try to pin down the trends in publishing, something will spring to mind that shoots a hole in the theory, but I think that's a good thing. It's an exciting time. Every type of story imaginable is finding its way into print and finding a readership.
Do you have advice for emerging children's authors?
The first thing I'd say is to read like crazy. When I started, I read hundreds (slight exaggeration, actually probably not) of young-adult books before I got serious about writing one of my own. I'm always a bit baffled by people who want to write in a genre they don't seem to enjoy reading in. Secondly, I think it is so great to find someone who can be supportive yet blunt about your writing. My wife does that and I have some writer-friends (and my agent) who do it too. You don't want someone who only tells you who great you are – you want someone who will help make your writing better. And then I'd say to not worry about the trends too much. As I mentioned above, the market is big enough for all sorts of stories. Listen to your heart, and yes, to the crazy people in your head. What's the story you are meant to tell? Now go tell it.
After graduation, Brad began illustrating his first picture book. Nearly two years crept by before the UPS driver delivered a box of brand-new copies of GRANDPA'S SONG. It was official…he was now a REAL Picture Book Illustrator! Twenty-plus years later, his heart still flutters when the UPS driver shows up at his door with a big box of books from the publisher!
Brad Sneed has illustrated more than twenty picture books. Titles include SMOKY MOUNTAIN ROSE, WHEN WISHES WERE HORSES, THE BOY WHO WAS RAISED BY LIBRARIANS, BIG BAD WOLVES AT SCHOOL, and MR. PRESIDENT GOES TO SCHOOL. He authored LUCKY RUSSELL and DEPUTY HARVEY AND THE ANT COW CAPER, and retold THUMBELINA and a collection of AESOP'S FABLES. In 2007, Brad joined two others to form MarbleSpark, a company specializing in publishing personalized picture books. Their first title, FOLLOWING FEATHERBOTTOM, is now available from the company's website.
Brad lives in Prairie Village, Kansas with his wife and daughter. He can't imagine a better job than illustrating and writing and picture books... although sometimes he still daydreams of being a cowboy or a football player!
How does an artist prepare for becoming a book illustrator?
The best way to prepare is to learn from someone who has experience illustrating books. I learned the finer points of illustrating a book from Thomas B. Allen, who taught a picture book illustration class at Kansas University.
How closely do you usually work with the author?
The short answer is that I don't work with the author at all. I know that's a surprise to most folks. It's important to understand that when I get a picture book job, it comes from the publisher rather than the author. So, when I illustrate that book I work with the editor and art director. I'm not opposed to working with the author, but from the publisher's perspective, I guess this arrangement works best.
How long do you usually need to do a complete book project?
It takes me seven to nine months to illustrate a book.
What steps do you take from idea to finished work?
I read the manuscript many times, making notes as various notions occur to me. Then I begin to scratch out little, very rough drawings while I consider the size and shape of the book. Next comes the storyboard phase where I plan the layout. I think about how to separate the text, text placement, and where the illustrations are going to go. When I'm reasonably satisfied with the layout and pacing, it's time to refine the sketches. It's at this point that I begin to collect visual reference material. I build a mock-up of the book (called a “dummy”) filled with comprehensive drawings. When the dummy is complete, I send it to the editor who passes it around the office so various people have an opportunity to comment. Some editors will show the dummy to the author as well. Eventually, the dummy is returned with helpful suggestions attached. I talk about the proposed changes with the editor and/or art director. Some changes require redrawing partial or entire pages. When the sketches are approved and everyone is happy, I begin the final art.
How much do you revise your work?
Revisions are numerous and easy to make in the early stages, and fewer and more difficult as the art progresses. For example…the image begins in my imagination. Revisions are a piece of cake at this stage! As I move the image to paper, it becomes real, which means it's now more difficult to alter. But at this point the sketch is small and lacks detail, so it's no big deal to draw the subject several times, adjusting the composition and/or content with each new version. When I'm pleased with the rough sketch, I enlarge and refine it for the dummy book. Now I'm ready to paint, but am prepared to revise again if the editor has concerns. Once I have approval on the sketches, I begin painting the final illustrations. I don't expect further revisions, but there may be a few minor adjustments before the art goes to the printer.
How do you use the computer as a tool for your art?
You may consider me an “old-fashioned” (I prefer “traditional”) illustrator, because I don't use the computer in any way to create the art. Watercolor is my favorite medium, but I also enjoy working in acrylic, oil, and graphite.
What advise would you give authors that would help an artist make a better book?
Don't be afraid to let the illustrations do some of the heavy lifting. The words and pictures should work in tandem to effectively tell the story. Be selective with when and how to describe characters, settings, and other elements. Remember, the illustrations can show the reader quite a lot.
Which usually comes first, the words or the art?
For books I've worked on, the words have always come first. That's true even for those books I've both illustrated and written.
How did you get into this business?
I went to college knowing I wanted to be an illustrator. As a senior, and soon-to-be graduate, I had a portfolio I was proud of and was ready to move on to the next step – employment. The problem is there aren't many places to find a “real” job as an illustrator. You know…a place to go…put in a day's work…collect a paycheck with benefits…Anyway, with the encouragement of one of my teachers, I traveled to New York to show my work to picture-book editors and art directors. Shortly after my return, one of the editors I met called to say he had a manuscript he would like me to read, and that if I liked the story, perhaps I would consider illustrating it! I've been illustrating books ever since!
What have I not asked that you would like to tell your readers?
I would like to mention a book that is quite different than the others I've worked on. Following FEATHERBOTTOM is a print-on-demand book, which means it can be customized for every customer. To learn more, please visit www.marblespark.com.
I'm having a great time illustrating COCK-A-DOODLE-DOO, CREAK, POP-POP, MOO by Jim Aylesworth. Check out my blog to keep up with my progress. Visit me at www.bradsneed.com and click on “What's Up.”
Barbara Robinson is the author of some forty to fifty short stories and eight books for children, including THE BEST CHRISTMAS PAGEANT EVER.
Born in Portsmouth, Ohio, she attended Allegheny College, and has lived in Pittsburgh and Boston and presently lives in Berwyn, Pennsylvania. She has two daughters, Carolyn and Marjorie, and three grandsons, Tomas, Marcos, and Lucas, and all these people read books like crazy!
Nevertheless, it's my favorite form, and it's served me well, as several stories turned into books or large parts of books…most notably, a short story published in McCall's in 1967—“The Christmas Pageant”—which became The Best Christmas Pageant Ever—book, play, TV movie, short reading version which was performed in Symphony Space in New York, and, as of Christmas 2011, a picture book. This is a scenario I wish for every writer who wants the work to stay around a while...but it is not a process free of angst.
Adapting the book as a play was the easiest, only because I had studied theatre in college and knew most of the rules about playwriting...and broke one of them right away. You're not supposed to use a narrator in a play—“Show it, don't tell it”—but I couldn't bridge that gap, maybe because the book itself is in the first person. I had to be sparing, though, in the narration—a play just has greater forward momentum than narration (or should have) and really needs to move along.
Then, too, what reads well doesn't necessarily speak well, so you have to try out the lines. One example—Beverly Slocum whistling the carol “What Child Is This,” and passing out on the altar, is funny to read and to picture, but messy to say. And, of course, there were practical concerns—you can't burn things down onstage or, to my regret, have a crazy cat destroy a schoolroom. I tried to get that in, but the movie people assured me that cats are lousy actors.
No special concerns in the reading version, which was designed for two actors—Anne Jackson and her actor daughter Roberta Wallach. My job here was largely editorial, cutting out whatever parts of the story or whatever language didn't serve the actors. They were very much on their own in a static situation—sitting onstage in two comfy armchairs, living-room set, no bells and whistles. I also had to assign, with their input, who would read what.
Neither were there practical concerns in the movie—we could have a fire, and the Vancouver Fire Department, and even a crazy cat. But a movie is not a book, and I soon realized that there was not a reader on the other end of my story, but a camera. I had to learn to “see with the eye of the camera” and then write that. This was the strongest advice of all the movie people. Best example—I had written four good crisp lines of dialogue, and the director said, "Yes, they're really good, but one camera shot will do the job of all four lines, and do it better," and he was right. It's tempting to think that the words don't matter, but they matter very much to the actors, who have to create and hang onto a character through the disjointed, out-of-order filming sequences. The actors all told me that whenever I moaned about the loss of some precious words or phrases. You have to murder a lot of darlings in the movies!
The picture book is brand new to me, and both intriguing and scary. I had the notion that the text must serve the artist—must set up the picture, so to speak—but was told by editors and authors that I had it wrong way to—that the artist would find the picture in the text. I found it hard, though, not to think...Oh, I'll use this little bit of story instead of that one because it will make a better picture. The trouble with this is that I'm not an artist, don't have an artist's eye, and can't really know what will make the best picture for a particular story moment.
Many fewer words in a picture book, and I found that it was rarely the juiciest word or words that proved to be the right ones...which took me right back to my early writing days—fewer words and no vivid writing. Full circle, I guess.
I haven't yet seen Laura Cornell's pictures—and isn't it a blessing on this project to have her take on the Herdmans again!—but when I talked a little bit about this book during a school visit, one little boy said, "I can't wait to see that book!"
Me, too!
Rebecca is a poet and picture book author of such titles as WHAT IS SCIENCE? a 2006 Subaru SB&F prize finalist, and LEMONADE SUN, an American Booksellers "Pick of the Lists." Her work is featured widely in poetry anthologies and textbooks. She has been a poetry advisor and contributing columnist for CREATIVE CLASSROOM Magazine and TEACHING K-8. Rebecca served on the IRA 2008-2009 Poetry & Prose Award Committee, and has recently been appointed to both the NCTE Excellence in Poetry Award committee and the 2010 LBH Poetry Award committee sponsored by Penn State and The Pennsylvania Center for the Book.
Her latest book, BELLA & BEAN (Simon & Schuster) has been hailed by reviewers and bloggers as the picture book every elementary teacher should have this year. PUBLISHERS WEEKLY writes, “A splendidly accessible exploration of the poetic process.” Rebecca has been a poetry consultant, workshop leader, and visiting speaker in classrooms, colleges, and at conferences across the country, including the UK Bluegrass Writing Project, Columbia Teachers College, Midwest Writers Workshop, United Way Early Readers, NYC's Manhattan New School, Ball State University, Purdue University, IRA, NCTE, and ALA, has taught as an adjunct professor at IUPUI in Indianapolis, and volunteers as a committee member of Second Story, a nonprofit writing project serving kids, schools and community organizations in Indianapolis, IN.
Her books have been chosen as a Junior Library Guild selection, 10 Best Books for Babies, IRA Children's Choice, the Gold Oppenheim Toy Portfolio Award, a Subaru SB&F finalist, and the Garden State Book Award Nominee, among others. Her work has been featured on PBS Kids "Reading Rainbow" and "Between the Lions." Rebecca attended Indiana University. She lives in Indiana. Visit Rebecca at rebeccakaidotlich.com.
Q: Diane Roberts When you begin to write a poem, do you always know how it's going to end?
A: Not always, Diane. After the first line, idea, or emotion, I usually try and let the words lead me. Sometimes I have a pretty good idea how I want the poem to end, but it isn't rare for me to let the poem surprise me. I start, I try things, I pay attention, but still there are times the words take me in a different direction than I had planned.
Endings are not easy, and I think it's partly because there are so many choices for those last lines, depending on decisions of voice or direction or emotion. If it is a rhyming poem, of course rhyme helps dictate the ending. And a poem is part mystery, so no way explaining how it goes, how it ends.
Sometimes a poem fits together and flows out like it's meant to be. Sometimes the making of a poem is sheer luck. And most times it is like anything we set our minds and hearts to; it is work.
So back to your question. I either know the ending and write each and every word and line to "get there." Or I have no idea and it's as much a mystery to me as how a conversation with a friend might end; at some point, the words and the emotions just bring you to that last goodbye.
And Diane, I love it that you read Lemonade Sun to your granddaughter!
And I was the fortunate one, getting to know you at the workshop. You kept me laughing. And laughing some more.
Q: April Bedford I'm looking forward to seeing you at IRA! I know you have collaborated with other poets like J. Patrick Lewis in the past, and I wonder how collaborating changes your writing process from creating poems individually?
A: Thanks for your great questions, April. Let's see. Collaborating is a very different way to work. Pat and I worked well together on CASTLES because we're both perfectionists and had the same vision. (Although I'm sure many if not most writers might be perfectionists.) For the most part, we made a list of all the castles we wanted to write about and split them up. So besides the splitting up, that is what I would do if I were writing a collection alone. Make a list of the poems I wanted to write.
But then after we wrote each poem, we'd email it to the other and we'd each make suggestions for revision. I can't think of an instance where we didn't agree with the other, so we made the changes and the poem was completed. I guess the real difference is that instead of writing to please just yourself and your readers (and editor) you know you have another person to please, too, because the book is part theirs. So you want to make sure they really like each poem.
We also shared research. If one of us needed to know a fact about a castle or a time period and had any confusion, the other would pitch in and do some research, too. Pat works faster than I do (an understatement) and so he completed his poems long before I did. He probably had a level of frustration at that, but never said it. He is a gem and a gentleman.
I have also collaborated with Jane Yolen on two collections and we work very similar and had more back and forth during the poem writing process. (Where Pat and I shared poems and suggested revisions more after a poem was finished.) We suggested revisions freely and for the most part took each other's advice. I think once or twice we each said, "Well, you're right, I'll change x, but I'm keeping z." Or something similar.
It was loads of fun. Jane is very straight out. She tells you when something doesn't work (Cut that part!) but she also has loads of delightful praise. Both times went very smoothly for me. I'm also discussing the possibility of collaborating with two other poets in the near future. If we come up with a project we love.
Q: April Bedford I would like to know which of your picture books you've been particularly pleased with in terms of the illustrations and why.
A: Of course it is hard to choose a favorite book with regards to illustrations. There are many things I admire about each one. But I have to say I am particularly pleased with and attached to the illustrations for BELLA & BEAN by Aileen Leijten. Her work is so whimsical, so magical. Tender yet playful. I love the colors and the movement. I adore the pages with words and stars just free-flying in space. From the plum-colored canopy of flowers on the beginning page, to the expressions on their faces, to the silhouette of Bella & Bean writing under the moon on the last page I was, and am, captivated.
Q: April Bedford What are you working on now?
A: Right now I am working on a few things. I recently finished revisions for a rhyming picture book that will be coming out in 2011. I am working on a few poetry collections, a few picture books, and a beginning chapter book. I never seem to work on one thing at a time. (I can just hear my grandmother saying, "What's new, honey.")
Q: Liz Korba Just finished my stack of books from the library. It was a wonderful read. LEMONADE SUN brought back a lot of great memories. I love the imagery captured in these poems. I'm wondering if that sort of thing comes naturally to Rebecca or if it is as much work as getting the meter and rhyme correct.
A: Thanks so much for writing, Liz. Wow, great question. Does the imagery come as naturally as getting the meter and rhyme right? For me, the imagery is probably more natural and the easiest, if you will, part of writing a poem. The meter comes fairly natural to me, too. I'd say the hardest part is the rhyme, because I like the rhyme to either seem flawless or be unexpected. I don't always succeed. Not at all. But I try. Like most poets, I try on and try out a million rhymes or rhyming words before the one that fits pops out at me.
Q: Liz Korba I'm wondering how the Harper Growing Tree books were initiated. Was the series the publisher's idea or yours? MAMA LOVES and A FAMILY LIKE YOURS are wonderful creations. I enjoyed the balance of the text, the repetition and the message.
A: My "series" with Harper's Growing Tree line started as one book. So it wasn't my idea or the editor's idea. To be honest, my agent Elizabeth Harding deserves all the credit on this one. I wrote a poem called "What is Round" and it was rejected by two magazines. So I sent it to Elizabeth and asked her to send it out for me to a third magazine. She looked at it and said (basically), "Magazine? This is a Growing Tree book."
She sent it to Simone Kaplan, and Simone bought it, I believe, that day or the next. Wow, I thought, if she likes it that much she might like the same book on squares. So I wrote "What is Square?", sent it to Elizabeth and it turned into a two-book contract. After that, a few months later I wrote the triangle book. (So at that point I guess you could say I was thinking series, yes!) Then I looked in my files and found a poem about transportation that I had written and thought it might fit the series and we sent it in, too. Again, it was bought. Now I was on a roll.
And then they discontinued the Growing Tree line. Such is life. It was great while it lasted!
Q: Liz Korba I'm wondering if Rebecca hears the sound of a line first or does she start with an idea and then try to find the sound. (I'm thinking it can work either way and maybe other ways too! Come to think of it, I should probably reread BELLA & BEAN for this answer.)
A: You are right Liz, it can be either way. But I would say for the most part I hear the sound of a line in my head first, like the first line of a song. I remember specifically hearing that first line for MAMA LOVES: "Mama loves dancing in slippers." Then the rest followed. Sometimes I just start with a word. I either overhear something, or I hear a word that I love the sound of and I'm off. And of course a healthy dose of imagination always plays a big part in the making of each poem. And you're right, BELLA & BEAN pretty much answers this better than I can.
Thank you everyone for writing questions and being curious, and thank you David for inviting me on as a guest on your wonderful blog. Hello to every reader out there. I love it that you love poetry, whoever and wherever you are.
QUESTIONS FROM READERS
Rebecca Kai Dotlich
Our featured blogger for January 2011 was poet GEORGIA HEARD.
Georgia Heard is a founding member of the Teachers College Reading and Writing Project where she worked as senior staff developer in the New York City schools for seven years. She is currently a frequent keynote speaker at conferences, and a consultant and visiting author in school districts throughout the U.S, Canada, and around the world.
She is the author of numerous professional books on teaching writing including her most recent A PLACE FOR WONDER: READING AND WRITING NONFICTION IN THE PRIMARY GRADES (Stenhouse, 2009) and AWAKENING THE HEART: EXPLORING POETRY IN ELEMENTARY AND MIDDLE SCHOOL (Heinemann), which was cited by INSTRUCTOR magazine as “One of the Ten Best Books Every Teacher Should Read.” She has also authored many children's books including her most recent FALLING DOWN THE PAGE: A BOOK OF LIST POEMS (Roaring Brook Press, 2009).
What originally attracted you to poetry?
Every year I wrote a poem for my father, mother, and sisters on their birthdays, and read them aloud during birthday parties. I remember one birthday, my grandmother and mother started to cry. It was then that I realized that words had the gift to make people feel. It was a powerful moment for me—that my feelings could be translated into words, and other people could feel how I felt. I decided then that I wanted to keep writing poems.
Do you keep a journal? If so, when did you start? What sort of material do you write in your journal?
When I was a teenager and my father went to Vietnam to fly helicopters in the war my diary became an essential place for me to write down what I felt. I still keep a journal. A journal for me is a way to gather the seeds of new ideas. Now, my journals are usually project based. In other words, whatever book or poem I'm working on it's a place for me to write and revise, and it helps me think more clearly and deeply about whatever I'm working on at the moment.
You are a highly respected poet, teacher, and speaker. How do these activities connect and support one another?
Thank you, for those kind words. I find writing poetry a solitary experience that takes a lot of intense focus. When I'm writing, I find that hours can go by without me noticing time. It's like I'm in a kind of trance. Teaching keeps me connected to the world. It forces me to snap out of myself. Writing, teaching, and speaking are all connected. I couldn't teach or speak about writing if I weren't a writer. I would feel like a fraud. But it is difficult sometimes to keep a balance between writing and teaching because that solitary writing life is always beckoning. I am so lucky to teach children because they are so open to life, and they remind me to keep my heart open too.
Do you have a preference between verse and free verse?
Free verse is an oxymoron—despite what Robert Frost said about free verse that it's like playing tennis with the net down. I find that free verse does have a structure, and when I write free verse I'm still using poetic tools. I also love writing verse but sometimes my poem feels stilted and forced if I try too hard to make them rhyme. I admire poets who write in poetic forms like Elizabeth Bishop and Robert Frost. They make it seem so easy.
What do you see happening to children's poetry in the United States?
There are many wonderful poets writing for children now. I just hope that teachers and parents keep buying poetry books. I'm intrigued how poetry has morphed into novels—yet I'm not sure that every novel in verse is really verse—but I like the way poetry is expanding its boundaries. I hope children's poets write more poems for children that express their feelings.
What makes poetry for children relevant?
Children love poetry naturally. They love the rhythm, the rhyme, and the music of poetry. Children see the world in new ways just like many poems do. Poetry is as relevant to children as it ever was.
Do you have advice for emerging children's poets?
Write about what you're passionate about; what about you love in the world; write from your truest feelings—and children will love your poems.
I have been illustrating and writing books for children since 1985. After attending the Maryland Institute of Art briefly in 1973-74, I tried various trades including veterinary assistant, activities director for a nursing home, and production/advertising artist. In 1984 I quit my last paying job and began a career as a full-time starving artist, creating mostly spot illustrations, greeting cards, and logo designs and otherwise taking on freelance print production jobs. I carted my portfolio to New York in 1985 and landed my first picture book project with Dodd, Mead and Company. My editors there moved to Putnam, and then to Cobblehill Books, an imprint of E.P. Dutton, and until August of 1997 when the imprint was squashed, I published all of my trade books with them. I also created activity book illustrations, flash cards and posters for School Zone and McGraw Hill.
These days I write and/or illustrate a variety of subjects. Currently I have about a dozen projects circulating and am busy working on two contracted series: one fiction and one nonfiction. I am also writing and designing a book we plan to self-publish about our small cable suspension bridge that Marvin built on our property. Marvin and I were delighted that in November 2010, his cable locking system that he designed for the bridge was accepted for a U.S. Patent. That was a grueling writing experience we accomplished without an attorney that we'll share sometime if you buy us dinner.
New books are the Furlock and Muttson early reader mystery series (Abdo, 2010) along with several titles by Picture Window Books and Rosen/Powerkids. Coming out in late 2011 or early 2012 is the Amazing Animal Skills series, which is being published by Cavendish/Benchmark. I'm really excited about all of these books, and really enjoyed working on them. It's great to finally see them in print!
I am the (volunteer) Regional Advisor, Newsletter Editor, Website Manager, Conference Co-Chair and Retreat Chairperson for the SCBWI Oregon Chapter. Check out our web page for information about our talented members and our Oregon events.
Marvin and I live in a house on a hill in western Oregon. We also have a farm across the road from us, which we call The Funny Farm. I work in a very old mobile home that is slowly falling down, but we're currently going for broke and building another house there. Eventually we'll rent our house on the hill to a nurse.
We share our lives with a border collie rescue named Jeep who joined the clan in 2008. We are owned by Kallie the cat whom we acquired at a garage sale. I spend spare time gardening and growing plants and trees in our greenhouse, and also am in charge of walkin' path maintenance. We have about three miles of trails throughout our property, which we walk every day, rain or showers (sunshine? what's that?). In the evenings I like to couch it with my 5-string banjo in front of the television and try to learn frailing, which as Steve Martin points out, is not even in the stupid dictionary. Favorite TV? Whatever isn't annoying.
I don't often tell my story, but if it might encourage an aspiring children's book writer or illustrator out there who is having a bit of a hard time with all the lousy news about the industry these days, I'm happy to share.
So, more about me. After being determined all my life to become an artist someday, I left art school in 1974 with just one year and two weeks of formal art education. Let's just say that I didn't have a good career plan and I didn't think the curriculum cared much about artists making a living. Whether that was true or not, I was broke and discouraged.
I eventually landed a job at a small newspaper with 0 experience other than I could type a little. They were happy to publish cartoons that I donated but otherwise I was a production grunt: doing typesetting, layout, paste-up, camera-work and whatever else was needed to produce a few weekly newspapers and ad circulars. It was tough work with ridiculous hours, but valuable in the long run.
After moving to Oregon, I went to work for a small printing company and started self-publishing greeting cards and gift tags featuring my cartoon animal characters. I marketed them myself, which was also valuable in the long run. Being shy or sensitive to criticism was not helpful if you peddled your own art.
I met a children's book librarian who suggested that I look into illustrating children's books. At the time, the early 1980s, it was a booming business! In 1985 I spent a few months creating a portfolio of what I figured were appropriate images and carted it to New York City. I pre-arranged 17 interviews and panicked at the thought of following through with the appointments. I was brave thanks to those early marketing efforts, but admittedly more than a wee bit intimidated by that city and those scary editors and art directors I had pictured in my head.
While it turned out that all the people I met with were kind and very encouraging, my big break was meeting JoAnn Daly, the children's book editorial director for Dodd, Mead and Co. She was brutal and kind at the same time. “I love your cats and your humor,” she said. “Do a funny book about cats, and we'll probably buy it. Now, go!”
I came up with a collection of Mother Goose Rhymes about cats, and my first picture book was soon published. Pussycat Ate the Dumplings was well received, thanks mostly to the personal attention my editors, Daly and Rosanne Lauer, gave it. They bought my next three picture books including my interpretation of This Old Man, published three collaborative efforts including one with that children's book librarian, and later published a series of early readers called Chicago and the Cat.
This Old Man, published in 1988
I also illustrated dozens of activity books and related products for School Zone Publishing and other educational companies. I had hustled hard to make these valuable connections and life was good. I was making a decent living at something I loved to do. It seemed I that had a real career going.
Did I keep feelers out for other jobs? Nope. I was too busy to take on anything else and was comfortable and confident working with my book editors and with my art director at School Zone. But the late 1990s hit hard. Dodd, Mead had already been swallowed up by Putnam, then Putnam joined Viking, more big fish gobbled up the small imprints, and my early reader series went kaput. School Zone also decided to just start reusing the art they had bought over the years and the work dried up there at about the same time. The other educational companies I had worked for went out of business or just stopped hiring illustrators, turning instead to stock illustration.
Oops. Note to self too late: do not put all your eggs into one or two baskets.
Luckily, there was inspiration around me. My husband and I live in the Coast Range Mountains of Oregon and share our space with a lot of nature. Marvin built dozens of bird boxes and bat houses and we grew a garden that also attracted a lot of fauna, such as deer, elk, and squirrels. In spite of the frustrations of sharing the garden space with natural invaders, I was inspired (and had time) to write my first nonfiction book, called Going Wild! I eventually sold it to McGraw Hill and it was subsequently titled The Complete Backyard Nature Activity Book for Kids, admittedly a better title for teachers, parents and librarians. I created the watercolor illustrations for the 1998 title, in a bit more of a realistic style, and my production art skills came in handy as I delivered the entire book camera ready. I learned how to use Quark, and later InDesign, for projects such as this one.
As for illustrating picture books, my old “cartoony” style was well-received back when Pussycat was published, but that changed as trends changed. I was advised by editor Emma Dryden that my style was more suited to early concept books (ABC, Alphabet, Shapes, etc.). She introduced me to her colleague, Erin Molta, who at the time was an editor at Little Simon. I created two pop-up books for her using Adobe Illustrator. I enjoyed computer art: while it was tough to learn, it was much easier to make changes!
I also began submitting manuscripts without illustration samples. I was hired by several publishers to write nonfiction books and early readers. I enjoyed seeing what other illustrators came up with and was amazed at how much talent was out there. A recent title, What's the Difference Between a Butterfly and a Moth? is a 2010 IRA Teacher's Choice (Picture Window). I think the illustrations are what earned the award. They're not mine.
Meanwhile I peddled a new early reader series and eventually sold it to Abdo Publishing. They were delighted that I would also provide the illustrations for The Furlock and Muttson Mysteries, which were released in spring 2010. For these books, I created watercolor and ink paintings much like my old style, but this time using a computer program and tablet. The real watercolor paints had dried up in a case under my desk. But I was once again working as both an illustrator and writer!
So it wasn't a happy day last spring when another illustrator was chosen to create the spot illustrations for Amazing Animal Skills, my upcoming series about cool things animals do to survive in the world (Cavendish/Benchmark). I thought this time my style would work and had submitted lots of samples, but someone else got the job! That was a wake-up call: I was missing out on some fun, and money. It was time to do something to get back into the illustration business. The problem was, no matter how hard I tried, my paintings looked like the same old style that almost nobody wanted. So, I decided to try collage, something I hadn't done since 2nd grade, and a method that would not allow me to get into the same rut, I hoped.
I watched Eric Carle's online tutorials about how he creates his art, studied Lois Ehlert's amazing books, and got to work. I found some paints that hadn't dried up and started coloring scraps of drafting vellum. I solicited scraps of craft paper from a fellow paper-artist and pored through the box of goodies she sent. I cut out shapes based on loose designs from some concept book ideas I had. I hung a clothesline in my writing studio for the painted papers to dry, set up a work table, and made a heck of a mess. It honestly felt like I was home again.
While I continue to write, now I have my art to turn to again, away from the computer for the most part. As I play with real paints and paper, messing with colors, shapes and textures, I recall how my mom was always trying different creative endeavors for as long as she lived. I think trying new things and staying busy and inspired is what kept her young. The need to be productive is probably inherent in all of us. Staying inspired is the tough part.
This was my first attempt at collage. It's from a concept book about opposites called Bats Inside, Bats Outside!
These are my most recent collages -- illustrations from a concept book called My Dog Counts!
I have a lot of nonfiction projects making the rounds, as well as these and other concept books and picture books in various stages of progress. I watch the market, pay attention to the buzz, and continue to be proactive in trying to stay published as well as inspired. I have one adult book project that I might self-publish, I'm not sure yet. I'm sort of looking for an agent; maybe after 23 years, it's time. I'm learning about book apps. I'm designing book covers for friends who are self-publishing. And I've been a longtime active volunteer for the SCBWI Oregon as newsletter editor, events coordinator, webmaster, and since 1994 as Regional Advisor. I enjoy networking with aspiring writers and illustrators in every stage of their careers in children's book publishing. We encourage, commiserate, and celebrate. I highly recommend joining the SCBWI and getting involved with your region.
So, in closing, what I've learned in a little over twenty years and a lot of changes in the industry is that we all have to keep on keepin' on no matter what the doomsayers say. We're all in the same boat, so why not enjoy the ride? As long as we stay excited, are encouraged by each other and are inspired to grow and learn, all the other stuff doesn't matter so much. www.robinkoontz.com
Jan Greenberg combines her passion for art, literature, and writing to build a distinguished career as an award-winning author and teacher. In addition to 20 books of fiction and nonfiction for young readers, Ms. Greenberg has published numerous short stories, articles, and book reviews for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch and theNew York Times. A partial list of her books includes ANDY WARHOL, PRINCE OF POP; ACTION JACKSON; JUST THE TWO OF US; THE PIG-OUT BLUES; and THE ARTIST LOUISE BOURGEOIS. Her most recent books are SIDE BY SIDE: NEW POEMS INSPIRED BY ART FROM AROUND THE WORLD; CHRISTO AND JEANNE-CLAUDE: THROUGH THE GATES AND BEYOND (with Sandra Jordan), and BALLET FOR MARTHA: MAKING APPALACHIAN SPRING (with Sandra Jordan; illustrated by Brian Floca). Her book awards include the American Library Association Notable Book Award, the International Reading Association Teachers' Choice Award, the Boston Globe Horn Book Honor Award, the Seibert Honor Award, Printz Honor Award, New York Times Book of the Year, and many others. Visit Jan at mowrites4kids.drury.edu/authors/greenberg and JanGreenbergSandraJordan.com.
As a child, I always was reading. My mother would say, “Jan, it's too nice outside to stick your nose in a book all day.” My taste in literature was eclectic, although novels were my favorite. I did go through a stage where I read what we referred to as “those orange books,” biographies of notable Americans, one of the first nonfiction series in school libraries. My favorite was SACAGAWEA, INDIAN GUIDE. But it never occurred to me when I made up stories to entertain my little brother that I would become a writer. I was a curious kid and noticed everything about everybody. I could mimic the way people talked, their facial expressions, tone of voice, what they wore, what we talked about…the white rabbit fur coat that my friend Sherry wore to school in second grade, a nursery-school aide who made me keep my eyes closed all through rest period, the smell of ink at my mother's easel, the lump in my throat when she left every morning for work. Always outspoken, I had such a fine sense of the ridiculous that my Uncle Rudy called me “Miss Wiseguy.” All of this has helped shape me as a writer. I can reach back into my memories and use them for characters and situations in my books.
Whether I'm writing fiction or nonfiction, I love to write. Sometimes I begin at dawn, wakened by my poodles Henri and Thiebaud, who whine to go out. Then in my sweat clothes, I hurry up to my study with a huge cup of coffee and a bowl of oatmeal and turn on the computer. I have trained myself not to check my emails until after I've done some writing and taken a long walk. If I wait for an inspiring thought, I'll never get started. So I go straight to the project I've been working on and plunge right in. I always end my day with an idea about what I want to write the next morning. But first I revise what I've already written. Aside from the clicks in my head when I read sentences that don't work, revising puts me back into the rhythm of the language, takes me inside the skin of the main character. All around me in piles are personal interviews, research books, a bulletin board filled with photographs and drawings of my subject, and reproductions of their artworks, buildings, stage sets…whatever it is that the artist creates. Photos of Frank Gehry buildings, posters of Chuck Close paintings, a multiple by Louise Bourgeois, a print by Andy Warhol, Xeroxes of drawings of The Gates in Central Park by Christo and Jeanne-Claude. I surround myself, immerse myself in the world of the person whose story I am telling. My husband wanders in before he goes to his office. He looks around and shakes his head. “What a mess,” I can almost hear him say to himself. But he knows that eventually I will emerge from the rubble, the debris of someone else's life, with a book.
Of course, the first draft is just the beginning of a long process. I enjoy all the stages from first inspiration to final product. One of my favorite stages is called “Feedback.” Visiting schools to read parts of my new manuscript and getting responses from students gets me out of my study and back into the real world, the world of my readers. It also helps me to know what works and what doesn't, what's interesting and what's not. But my favorite part of the process takes place when I'm alone in the room, writing. When I'm finished, I seldom start a new project right away. I rarely read books other than research material when I'm working. One reason is that I really don't have a strong urge to read. Another explanation might be that I don't want someone else's use of language to somehow slip into my own. So there's always a stack of the latest mystery or biography waiting for me…on the couch, next to my bed, on the nightstand, on the floor of my car. I look forward to spending the day with the Lincolns or Darwin. My mother's repeated words come back to me. I know, Mom. It's a nice day and here I am with my nose stuck in a book. Thanks for understanding all those years ago.
Here is a question that comes up every now and then in my writers' workshops with adults. How does aging affect your writing, especially your ability to connect with kids? I usually answer jokingly. “Who, me? Age?” or something to that effect. Recently, when I was invited to be on a panel, sponsored by Washington University Medical School, entitled “In the Words of the Artist: The Influence of Age on Creativity and Expression,” I was forced to give this subject more thought. I mentioned to my daughter that I actually had agreed to participate on such a panel, and she remarked, “Perhaps you've decided finally to act your age.” It occurs to me that our children expect us to age gracefully, to age with dignity. What popped into my head was a line from Dylan Thomas' poem “Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night”: “Rage, rage, rage against the dying of the light.” Well, forget the rage. I prefer to age creatively.
In preparation for the panel, I began to consider how my writing had changed over the years. I began my first novel for young readers when I was thirty-five. It was motivated by the challenges of raising three daughters. I wrote every day, five days a week, while they were in school, and the books focused on domestic issues, having to do with peer pressure, illness in the family, or sibling rivalry. Editors called this genre “the problem novel.”
But when the girls grew up and went off to college, those teenage stories didn't interest me as much anymore. I knew I had to stretch my brain in a new direction. Letting go of that stage in my life was difficult for several reasons. I no longer had a prescribed schedule to my days. And I needed to find a new subject. My husband and I began to travel more, and through the places we went and the people we met, my worldview changed, broadened. Working on a novel, I used to immerse myself in the characters, the voice, and the rhythm of language. I had to stay in the room. But when I started my first book on contemporary art, THE PAINTER'S EYE, with Sandra Jordan, I found myself visiting artists' studios, museum exhibitions, and art educators all over the country. In other words, I definitely left the room!!
What I found as we wrote books about artists Chuck Close, Louise Bourgeois, and Christo and Jeanne-Claude was that their most ambitious artworks were done past the age of sixty. The architect Frank Gehry's iconic museum in Bilbao, Spain opened just before his seventieth birthday. What drives them, I think, is the need to be remembered, to get it better, to do one more great work. Their art-making stimulates and challenges them. Problem solving energizes them. They're not stepping aside. Several weeks ago there was an intriguing article in the New York Times, entitled “The Artful Codger,” which talked about aging writers and the fact that improvements in health care allow us to work longer and more productively. “Shakespeare didn't have Blue Cross,” the writer quipped. Writers such as Saul Bellow, John Updike, and Philip Roth have written novels full of ardor and energy way into their seventies. According to the article, “late style” tends to be provocative, energetic. Instead of rocking their way to old age, these authors write of “romantic yearnings” and “memories of the flesh.” As for me, I'm still in my “middle style.” I'll wait until I'm much older to start writing my “late style” lusty novel. In answer to my students' questions about relating to young readers as I grow older, I can say that my grandchildren supply me with endless material. In fact, my next two books are geared toward younger children, inspired by Alexander, age 9, and Coco, age 6. And as I age, I'm celebrating my creativity, instead of worrying about losing it.
I am pleased to announce the publication of my new picture book BALLET FOR MARTHA: MAKING APPALACHIAN SPRING (with Sandra Jordan, Illustrated by Brian Floca). It tells the story of Martha Graham's collaboration with Isamu Noguchi and Aaron Copland on her celebrated dance APPALACHIAN SPRING.
Barbara Seuling is the author and/or illustrator of more than sixty books for children. In addition to the chapter book OH NO, IT'S ROBERT and several sequels, illustrated by Paul Brewer, she has written many picture books, including WHOSE HOUSE? (illustrated by Kay Chorao), SPRING SONG and WINTER LULLABY (illustrated by Greg Newbold), DRIP! DROP! and FLICK A SWITCH! (illustrated by Nancy Tobin), FROM HEAD TO TOE: The Amazing Human Body and How It Works (illustrated by Ed Miller), and THE TEENY TINY WOMAN, which she illustrated herself. She is also the author of an adult book on writing for children, HOW TO WRITE A CHILDREN'S BOOK AND GET IT PUBLISHED.
Barbara was a children's book editor with Delacorte Press and Yearling Books, and with J. B. Lippincott Co., but is now a full-time writer. For five months of the year, she lives in a cottage in Landgrove, Vermont, while the rest are spent in the city of her birth and heart, New York City. In addition to writing and illustrating, she directs the Manuscript Workshop in Vermont during the summer. In 2001, Barbara was called on by the philanthropic Soros Foundation to conduct children's book writing workshops in Moscow and Budapest for writers in countries of the former Soviet Union.
EVERYONE STARTS OUT AS A BEGINNER
The first children's book I ever worked on was a friend's story. I did the illustrations. It was before I read any books on the subject, or took any courses, or knew this was what I wanted to do with my life.
We were both recently out of college, trying to figure out what to do with our lives. She was a writer and I was an artist. We got to be great friends. When she came up with a children's story, it seemed a natural for me to draw pictures for it, which I did. We were excited over our work and were ripe for every possibility.
The manuscript was 64 pages long, about a bookworm who wants to tell all the stories he's read during his life among the great books, and leaves his comfortable life in a volume of Shakespeare to find a way to do it. His adventures along the way, I recall, involve several colorful characters, including a termite who works at the post office. My friend, an unpublished author at the time, had written adult stories, but this was her first attempt at a children's book.
I had done some greeting cards for friends and relatives, but had nothing published professionally. My drawing style at the time bordered on cartoony. I had grown up on Disney animation and comic books, and although my tastes had expanded, that had not yet come through in my drawings.
When a relative heard about our book, she told us she knew someone who was an agent, and would ask her if she'd help us. This person said she'd show our book to some people. We were impressed, gladly thanked her, and went home to put the package together.
I hurriedly did more pictures for the presentation. Little characters with big bug-eyes were on every page. I did them in color. We got a book with plastic see-through pages and cut the manuscript up to display it with the illustrations in place. It looked great.
Now, as you've read through this, you probably picked up a few glaring no-no's. Let's see how close you came to finding them all.
1. No picture book should be 64 manuscript pages long. If we had read even one book on writing and publishing books for children, we would have known that the subject matter and plot made it a picture book idea in the format of a novel. And we would have known that the standard picture book text was approximately four to six manuscript pages long, except on rare occasions.
2. Illustrations are not submitted with a picture book text. We had no idea that we were impinging on the editor's territory in providing illustrations for the text. It seemed the natural thing to do. To us, having illustrations with the text just made it more appealing. In reality, the editor judges text alone---the prime factor in choosing a manuscript. If she buys the story, then she chooses the illustrator. Sending someone's illustrations with the text presumes to know better than the editor how to handle the illustrations for the book.
3. Illustrations should be in a style that is acceptable to publishers. At that time cartoons were sort of frowned on, except for Dr. Seuss. If I were an established or more confident artist, perhaps I could have made a case for using cartoons, if that's what the text called for. However, this would only happen if the editor had called on me to do the illustrations, and then I showed her what I proposed. And my use of color was way out of whack with the standards of the time, when color had to be separated---a costly procedure, and something I knew nothing about.
4. A manuscript must be submitted in standard format. In our innocent attempt to make our presentation more attractive, we overlooked the fact that manuscripts should be submitted in standard formatting, typed on 8-1/2" x 11" bond paper with ample margins all around. No illustrations. No protective plastic sheets. And definitely no binding. If art is involved, as in the case of a professional illustrator submitting a story, a dummy book may be submitted along with the manuscript, but never in place of it.
5. An agent should not be hired without some proof of professional credentials. We accepted representation on the basis of a minor acquaintance. We heard nothing for a while, and after repeated inquiries, the agent returned the manuscript to us saying she had no luck with it. She disappeared from our lives, and we had no idea to whom she had sent it, or what they had to say, or even if she had shown it to anyone at all. An agent should be able to give you information about herself, her agency, and a list of other clients. She would most likely be listed in the Society of Authors' Representatives, or in various trade directories like LITERARY MARKET PLACE.
We did everything wrong that we possibly could. You name it, we found exactly the right thing to do that was wrong. My author friend is now a many-published writer, as I am, and every now and then we take out that first hopeful effort and look at it the way you look at baby pictures after a child has grown up. How far we've come! We laugh, of course, at the innocence and futility of those early efforts.
I don't think either of us would change that experience now. We had our initiation, and it was difficult, but we learned. Every step we took after that had more study and purpose to it, and we learned professional tips along the way. We studied, we read, we wrote and illustrated more, and eventually, we both got through that very scary door to the publishing world, each on her own two feet and prepared for whatever we met along the way.
Everyone starts out as a beginner. We do our best to be prepared, but sometimes in our enthusiasm we may step naively into a world that has teeth and claws. That's okay. We're fast learners. If we missed something the first time around, we'll learn, and never do it that way again. The good news is that now there are books and even courses and workshops to help us on the road to becoming a writer for children. Our store of knowledge grows as we mature as writers, and we will perfect our routine, submitting only our finest work, and in a professional manner, and each day another of us will go through that door to the publishing world.
Adapted from a 1998 column for ONCE UPON A TIME...
April is a farmer turned folk musician turned author. Her work has been called “dazzling,” “honest, heartfelt, poignant,” and “utterly fresh and winning.” Her critically acclaimed novel in poems, GIRL COMING IN FOR A LANDING, her picture books, and her poetry have garnered numerous awards including the Lee Bennett Hopkins Honor Award for Children's Poetry, the Myra Cohn Livingston Award for Poetry, and MommyCare's Book of the Year.
She's been an instructor in UCLA Extension's Writers Program for over a decade and teaches workshops in schools all over the world. She lives near Manhattan Beach, California.
For photos of New Year on the Manhattan Beach pier and more information about Tashlich and related activities, visit April's website (click on New Year at the Pier).
April has teamed with five other children's authors who also teach writing to create the blog Teaching Authors. Check it out for poetry, writing prompts, lesson plans, interviews and more.
When did you start writing poetry?
In the womb. I was comfortable and the lighting was good. I started seriously when I was about twelve on my father's old portable typewriter, writing under the pen name W. Sancington.
So…how did you know you were a poet?
My 14-year-old sister had already taken the journalist spot. The obvious opposite spot was to write dreamy fiction and poetry. I typed pages and pages of poems on that old typewriter late at night about boys, war, my deepest fears and feelings…and more about those boys. I kept the poems in my bottom left desk drawer and never let anyone see them.
Then one day, my sister outed me. She found them, loved them, and was reading them aloud to my mother when I got home from school. I was mortified—as if she had gone into my underwear drawer. That's when I first saw that the poems might be interesting to more than the dust mites in my bottom left desk drawer. And the rest is history…
What was your first poem published?
My mentor, Myra Cohn Livingston, was looking for poems for an anthology about mothers. I submitted this poem about my mother, who had been the pianist of the Cleveland Orchestra. Mom was always practicing for one concert or another and often played four-hand piano music with a man named Sidney:
WHEN MOM PLAYS JUST FOR ME
My mom is playing piano with Sidney,
I like making my bed to the music
that bubbles under my bedroom door.
Mom and Sidney are still playing piano.
I like pouring milk over my cornflakes
trying to match the tinklings that spill into the kitchen.
Now Sidney's gone home. Mom plays just for me
and I run around in circles in the living room
and collapse on the lambskin under the piano.
I look up. I see the hardwood and pedals
of the moving hammers and strings—
the piano's heart—when Mom plays just for me.
© by April Halprin Wayland—all rights reserved.
Originally published in POEMS FOR MOTHERS
selected by Myra Cohn Livingston (Holiday House, 1988)
Which is easier to write, verse or free verse?
Both and neither! As much as I love the freedom of free verse, I love the order and challenge of creating scaffolding, too. (“The story is little more than scaffolding on which the poet hangs his music”—Christopher Merrill)
Which people or events have influenced your poetry most strongly?
Not in order:
• Studying with my mentor, poet Myra Cohn Livingston for twelve years
• Joni Mitchell's poetry
• Listening to my father read Sherlock Holmes to us
• Listening to my mother read Mark Twain, Ogden Nash, and Dorothy Parker to us
• My thirteenth birthday present: Lawrence Ferlinghetti's A CONEY ISLAND OF THE MIND
• Roget's Thesaurus and the Capricorn Rhyming Dictionary (These days I use RhymeZone)
• My mother playing piano solos, sonatas, trios and quartets throughout my childhood
• Music gatherings of the Santa Monica Traditional Folk Music Club…and all the songs I've heard and sung with them over many, many years
• Cricket magazine continuing to publish my work when no one else was interested. I've published dozens of poems with Cricket and was commissioned to write a poem for their twenty-fifth anniversary issue.
If we open your computer, what's new?
I took the Poem-A-Day Challenge and wrote (and posted—ack!) a poem each day for the month of April. (Read them here.) That was so energizing that I have continued to write a poem a day since then. I didn't want to post them, but unless I'm held accountable, my rock-solid-shiny-gold-absolutely-sure commitment would probably slowly sink into the mud. So I send a poem every day to one of my best friends, author Bruce Balan, who sails around the world in his trimaran.
Three most amazing things that have happened because of my poem-a-day commitment are:
• Writing has become an absolute priority every single day, no days off for good behavior, no stockpiling poems, no excuses.
• I am present…I notice more things during the day…as I search for the subject of that day's poem, I am forced to be aware, to be conscious, to be present.
• I have become cyber-friends with Kim Stafford, the son of poet William Stafford, who told me that his father wrote a poem a day all his life. Kim sent me his beautiful, award-winning memoir of his father, EARLY MORNING, which I highly recommend.
Tell us about your newest picture book!
It's called NEW YEAR AT THE PIER—a Rosh Hashanah Story, beautifully illustrated by the most highly awarded illustrator in Canada, Stéphane Jorisch. Stéphane and I have been blown away by the response our book has gotten. It won the Association of Jewish Libraries' Sydney Taylor Book Award Gold Medal, got a starred review in Publishers Weekly, was named Tablet magazine Best Book of the Year and more.
It's about a young boy named Izzy whose favorite part of Rosh Hashanah is Tashlich, a joyous waterside ceremony in which people apologize for their mistakes of the previous year, cleaning the slate for the new year. But there's one mistake on Izzy's “I'm sorry” list he's finding especially hard to say out loud.
Tashlich (celebrated on September 9th this year) is one of my favorite traditions. We walk to a body of water, sing psalms, and toss pieces of stale bread into the water. Each piece of bread represents something we regret doing in the past year. Because I live near the sea, I get to toss my “mistakes” into the ocean. It's a way of letting go, of creating a clean slate for the coming year.
The thing I love most about Tashlich is that I'm outside, where I feel especially spiritual. Though it involves community and singing, it's also a very private time—just me and the end of the pier and the wind, thinking about what I've done wrong and how I can do better in the New Year, before I toss each piece of bread out to sea. I've dragged numerous friends to our pier so they can taste the poetry of this ritual, feel the wind, hear the gulls, experience moments of relief when they toss each piece of bread. These moments changed me. How could I not share this in a picture book?
In writing this book, I wanted to say that Tashlich happens in the fall…without saying it directly. So this is how the book opens: "Izzy loves this changing time of year. Some days sunglasses, some days sweaters."
Rob was born in 1957, growing up in Louisiana and Arkansas. After graduating with a BFA from the Kansas City Art Institute, he moved to New York City, where his artwork was included in gallery shows. His illustration career was launched when the New York Times published an illustration in 1983. Rob has also drawn for The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, and Newsweek, and contributed work to magazines and an online editorial art site (INXart.com). He has done books for Farrar, Straus, and Giroux; Scholastic; HarperCollins; Front Street Books; and Boyds Mills Press, among others. Recent books Rob has illustrated include THE MEMORY BANK by Carolyn Coman and Rob Shepperson (2010), LILLY AND THE PIRATES by Phyllis Root (2010), VACATION by David L. Harrison (2009), SNEAKING SUSPICIONS by Carolyn Coman (2007), UNDER THE KISSLETOE: CHRISTMASTIME POEMS by J. Patrick Lewis (2007), BUGS: POEMS ABOUT CREEPING THINGS by David L. Harrison (2007) (New York Public Library 100 Titles for Reading and Sharing 2007), THUNDERBOOM! POEMS FOR EVERYONE by Charlotte Pomerantz (2006), THE BIG HOUSE by Carolyn Coman (2004) (Bluebonnet Award list), and WILDFIRE! by Elizabeth Starr Hill (2004) (Bluebonnet Award list). He lives in Croton-on-Hudson, New York with his wife, two daughters, and himself.
How does on artist prepare for becoming a book illustrator?
Someone once said that the difference between an artist and an illustrator is that an illustrator makes art for publication. In other words, art with a story. An artist planning to become an illustrator might want to look into that---does the art have something to say? And who's listening?
How closely do you usually work with the author?
In the case of BUGS and VACATION, David e-mailed poems that looked pretty darn finished. I e-mailed back sketches that looked pretty darn finished. How close was that? We inspired each other, but didn't tell each other what to do. Have you seen David's drawings?
How long do you usually need to do a complete book project?
Sometimes the editor is having lunch, or is reading the wrong manuscript, and boy, things grind to a halt. But generally, it takes six to eight weeks to draw a book, if you don't count naps.
What steps do you take from idea to finished work?
I think I'm finished as soon as the idea occurs. No one else does, so I have to put the idea on paper. First, pencil sketches. Once the sketches are approved, or disapproved and redrawn, I use pen and ink to make the same drawings in a printable style. At this point, I'm finished again. Oh, and the artwork has to fit the page. For instance, if I'm drawing a snake on a "vertical" page, the snake has to stand on its back tail to fit in the book. Sometimes, I forget, and terrible things happen, like to that giraffe in BUGS.
How much do you revise your work?
With David, revisions are few, and painless. He writes clearly, and knows his subject. On the other hand, I just finished a job for someone else. Oh, there were many many revisions because new characters were introduced every time I sent in finished artwork. Sort of like if this question were changed after I answered it. What?
How do you use the computer as a tool for your art?
I use the computer to scan and send my inky drawings. Once they are scanned, they can be e-mailed anywhere, even to the White House. Or Antarctica. Or Mr. Harrison's.
What advice would you give authors that would help an artist make a better book?
As an illustrator, I believe authors should write stories without clobbering the narrative with descriptions that can be shown more efficiently visually. Unless the illustrator is dim-witted. It happens.
Which usually comes first, the words or the art?
The WORDS come first! Did I say that?
How did you get into this business?
I got into the business by pestering editors, back in the day when editors could be pestered in person. That means I took drawing samples to publishing houses, and received jobs. It wasn't as easy as that, 'cause I've forgotten all the jobs I didn't receive.
Describe your work as a political cartoonist.
Political, or editorial art, is done on a short deadline. In fact, the art must be finished before the manuscript is read, and often before it is written. It's no wonder that grownups are confused.
Visit Rob at www.robshepperson.com
Beginning with his first book for children, THE BOY WITH A DRUM (1969), and his Christopher Award winner, THE BOOK OF GIANT STORIES (1972), David has published seventy-seven original titles that have earned numerous honors. He has been anthologized in more than one hundred books and appeared in dozens of magazines and professional journals. His work has been translated into twelve languages and presented on television, radio, cassette, and CD-ROM. His poetry inspired Sandy Asher's school play, SOMEBODY CATCH MY HOMEWORK, which has been produced in the United States and abroad. JESSE AND GRACE, a fourth-grade best friends' play in poetry, has been praised for its “honesty of characters and use of art and music.” David's professional books include titles about poetry, reading fluency, and phonemic awareness. He wrote the poetry chapter, “Yes, Poetry Can,” for Children's Literature in the Reading Program (3rd Edition, 7/09, IRA). In the last fifteen years David has been a speaker or presenter at more than eighty state, regional, and national conferences. David holds science degrees from Drury and Emory universities and honorary doctorate of letters degrees from Missouri State University and Drury University. He has an elementary school named for him and is poet laureate of Drury. He lives in Springfield, Missouri with his wife Sandy, a business owner and retired guidance counselor.
You are in the shower. You realize with sudden, intense clarity that the strange bug you found in your garden yesterday is a great idea for a book starring an insect that has never been discovered by science and therefore has no name. You tell yourself that this is a novel idea, kids will love it, and adults will stand in line for you to sign it. You hurry from the shower, towel off, and get to the desk.
If you're like most of us writers, the first thing you do is try out a few sentences to see how this thing is going to feel.
Little bug was sad. He had no name. Lady Bug had a name. It was Lady Bug. Stink Bug had a name, too, even though it wasn't a very good name. Click Beetle had a name. So did Lightning Bug, May Fly, and Centipede. Little bug sighed. If everyone else could have a name, then why didn't he?
Hey, that's pretty good! You are on your way to fame and fortune. But you might need a map before you set out whistling down that road. Managing the twists and turns and avoiding potholes along the way may be harder than you think. Here are a few tips.
Write with Your Audiences in Mind
Your first audience is not that young reader. Believe it or not, he or she is your last audience. Before your story can reach those eager young hands, you have many other steps to take.
Your first reader will probably be an intern, an associate editor, or the editor herself. The first reader sees hundreds, maybe thousands of manuscripts every year. She reads in her office before the day officially starts. She reads on her lunch hour (if pushed). She stays after work to read. She reads coming to work and going home at night. During the day, when she wishes she had time to read, she's in one meeting after another or preparing to attend a conference or talking on the phone or working on a manuscript that is already under contract.
Prepare with Your Readers in Mind
So think about your editor as you prepare your manuscript. If you are writing a picture book, the usual format is 32 pages. Subtract 4 pages for credits, title page, and end papers. That leaves roughly 28 pages. Most publishers like full 2-page illustrations so that gives you about 14 spreads in which to tell your story. That means you'll have copy on somewhere between 14 to 28 pages. Divide your telling accordingly.
My rule of thumb is to rarely if ever exceed 50 words on a page (100 on a 2-page spread). At the maximum, 50 words times 28 pages (1,400 words) would be far too long for a typical story although there are good ones out there that take 1,000 words or so. I usually shoot for 700 tops and prefer to stay under 500.
Give the Artist Something to Illustrate
Think of the artist. He's another member of your audience and he has to paint pictures of the images your words create. He can't illustrate the same scene over and over so you have to change something important on every spread. Think like a stage director. Break down your story into potential scenes. Do you have enough? If not, you need more action.
Little bug was sad.
He had no name.
*
Lady Bug had a name.
It was Lady Bug.
*
Stink Bug had a name, too,
even though it wasn't a very good name.
*
Click Beetle had a name.
So did Lightning Bug, May Fly, and Centipede.
*
Little bug sighed.
If everyone else could have a name,
then why didn't he?
That quick beginning, when broken down into potential illustratable scenes, weighs in at probably five pages (2 ½ spreads). See what I mean? The first page has 8 words. Page two has 9, page three has 14, page four has 13, and page five has 14. Those are good numbers. At that rate you'll wind up with 350 words or so. Your story will be crisp. The scenes change routinely. The editor likes what she sees. The artist smiles.
Preparation, Preparation, Preparation!
Bear in mind, your story has to be fresh, your telling imaginative, your manuscript polished until you can see your face in it. I'm talking mechanics here. I'm talking presentation. Don't let a lousy first impression spoil your chances of grabbing that editor's attention. This business is tough enough without penalizing yourself with a poorly conceived manuscript. And in many ways, that properly presented manuscript helps you write the story by deciding where to trim verbiage and where to add action.
Then There's Poetry
Most of the advice above also applies to how you prepare a poetry manuscript. Most poems will live comfortably on one page so you may have room for 24 – 28 poems in a 32-page format. In poetry, the industry stresses themes. If you like school, write a book of poems about school. If you get a terrific idea about camping, save it for the book about camping.
Poetry is difficult to sell as a book. The population of poetry lovers/readers is far smaller than the audience for stories. Only a small percentage of boys admit to liking poetry to read on their own and both genders prefer a wide range of other activities over reading or writing poems. Publishers know this of course and it makes them quite conservative in how many poetry titles they acquire.
So the lesson here is to get good; get better; get best. Your work must meet or surpass that of the most successful poets in the marketplace. Poems without a clear reason to exist won't make it. Poems that fail to produce strong images won't make it. Verse poems that don't scan well (meaning they establish a rhyme or meter pattern but don't stick to them) won't make it.
The Query
If you're ready to submit your story or book of poems, write that query letter. Depending on the publisher, you can e-mail or land mail your letter. WRITERS MARKET and other guides for authors provide such information. At this point you are a salesman with two products: yourself and your story. Don't sell yourself if you don't have anything to sell. Do not say, “This is my first story but I read it to my three-year-old granddaughter and she just loved it.” Do say, “I taught third grade for thirty-one years. Do I have stories? I can't wait to tell you!”
Do not say, “I never took a course in writing but all my friends tell me I'm extremely good.” Do say, “I've read the books on writing, attended the conferences and workshops, joined the local writers groups, and worked on manuscripts for years. I'm ready.”
Now tell the nice editor why she should read your story. Pretend you hear her moaning in anguish, “Oh gag! Don't tell me it's another dog story. Not another cat story. Or rabbit story. Or bashful story. Or ugly story.”
That's approximately what she's saying. So avoid that pothole in your road to success. Present her with a new approach that will fill a niche that you perceive in the market.
“Sure, this is another bug story – but this bug has no name! It hasn't been discovered yet. Scientists have identified and named more than one million kinds of insects in the world. How would you feel if everyone else in your garden had a name but you? The answer lies in my story.”
Consult the writers' guides to see which editors want a query letter before inviting you to submit your manuscript. In short pieces like picture books and poetry, some editors prefer to see the manuscript and don't require a query letter. Pay attention to the descriptions listed in the guides and follow the rules.
The day you get the idea is a good day. The day you finish writing the story is better. But the best day? You know it: “We love your story and we want to publish it.”
Good luck, and keep writing.
Lee Bennett Hopkins has written and edited numerous award-winning books for children and young adults, as well as professional texts and curriculum materials. He has taught elementary school and served as a consultant to school systems throughout the country. Born in Scranton, Pennsylvania, Hopkins graduated Kean University, Bank Street College of Education, and holds a Professional Diploma in Educational Supervision and Administration from Hunter College. In 1980 he was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from Kean University.
In 1989 he received the University of Southern Mississippi Medallion for "outstanding contributions to the field of children's literature" in recognition of his work; 2009 brought him the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) Excellence in Poetry for Children award recognizing his aggregate body of work. Among his original collections are BEEN TO YESTERDAYS: POEMS OF A LIFE (Boyds Mills Press), an autobiographical book of poetry that received the prestigious Christopher Medal and a Society of Children's Book Writers and Illustrators (SCBWI) Golden Kite Honor Award; ALPHATHOUGHTS: ALPHABET POEMS, and CITY I LOVE (Abrams, 2009), illustrated by jazz musician Marcellus Hall, with starred reviews in both Publishers Weekly and School Library Journal.
His award-winning American history series for children and young adults includes HAND IN HAND: AN AMERICAN HISTORY THROUGH POETRY, illustrated by Peter Fiore; and two books illustrated by Stephen Alcorn, MY AMERICA: A POETRY ATLAS OF THE UNITED STATES and AMERICA AT WAR (all Simon & Schuster/McElderry Books).
His recent SKY MAGIC (Dutton, 2009) received a starred review in The Horn Book calling the anthology "mesmerizing...a hypnotic, otherworldly feel.”
His creativity is the result of his passion for poetry and his unflagging belief that poetry is a necessity for children, at home and in the classroom. At the heart of all his writing is a dedication to bringing children and books together. "You must teach children to love books," he insists. “We spend too much time teaching children to read and not enough time teaching them to love to read."
To encourage the recognition of poetry, he has established two major awards: the Lee Bennett Hopkins Poetry Award, presented annually by Penn State University for a single volume of poetry; and the Lee Bennett Hopkins/International Reading Association Promising Poet Award, presented every three years by IRA.
One of the nation's most sought-after speakers on the subject of children's literature, Mr. Hopkins lives in Cape Coral, Florida.
How did you get started writing poetry?
Do you have a favorite among all the poems/poetry books you have written?
I still marvel at my creating BEEN TO YESTERDAYS: POEMS OF A LIFE (Boyds Mills Press) published over fourteen years ago…so long I almost forget writing it. The book received great national attention including being an SCBWI Golden Kite Honor Book and winning the Christopher Medal, which was presented to me by James Earl Jones! But—I couldn't attend the affair in NYC due to a prior commitment to a friend who had asked me a long time prior to speak at a dinner meeting in South Carolina! As I was eating spaghetti all I could think of was Mr. Jones. My agent, the late, great Marilyn E. Marlow, accepted the award for me…and never let me forget the moment! YESTERDAYS continues to be read and read and used in all kinds of programs from youth groups to Al-Anon groups. The small book has touched so many; I never knew the power of the words could have gone on so long. And of course, my latest, CITY I LOVE (Abrams), compiles many poems I wrote about city life and living. To capture sights and sounds of urban life and put them into poems was a great challenge. Ah: “In the city/I live in—/city I love—": Ironically I now live in a suburb of Florida but often yearn for my city digs.
Would you like to share the details of any new poetry project(s) that you're working on?
Come spring 2010, I have two collections that will appear. One is SHARING THE SEASONS (McElderry Books), illustrated by David Diaz. David and I wanted to work together even before he won the Caldecott Medal for SMOKY NIGHT, by Eve Bunting (Harcourt). His work on SHARING THE SEASONS is truly spectacular. And each poem resonates with new looks at each season of the year…many written exclusively for this collection by some of our top children's poets—Rebecca Kai Dotlich, Joan Bransfield Graham, Marilyn Singer. The second is AMAZING FACES (Lee & Low), illustrated by the multitalented Chris
Soentipiet. FACES shows the diversity of multi-ethnicity among a wide array of people.
Why poetry?
I have been asked this question so many countless times that years ago I decided to write a poem to answer it:
WHY POETRY?
by Lee Bennett Hopkins
(Reprinted by permission of Curtis-Brown, Ltd.)
Why poetry?
Why?
Why sunsets?
Why trees?
Why birds?
Why seas?
Why you?
Why me?
Why friends?
Why families?
Why laugh?
Why cry?
Why hello?
Why good-bye?
Why poetry?
That's why!
In closing:
Poetry should be used every day throughout the curriculum for nothing—no thing—can ring and rage through hearts and minds as does this genre of literature. I've written it, I've shouted it, I've said it, I'll say it over and over and over again—PASS THE POETRY, PLEASE!
My education as an artist began very early in life, spending countless hours at my father's easel. Watching him paint fostered what would become a natural progression to my career as an illustrator of the world I love so much.
I was raised in the mountains of Northern Utah, spending time with my family camping and fishing all around the western US. I learned at an early age to love the out of doors and wild places found there.
In 1984 I married Patti. She encouraged me to start my formal training at a university. In 1989 I finished my Bachelor of Fine Arts Degree at Utah State University. Patti and I moved to Connecticut where I would go on to pursue my career as an illustrator in New York City. After five years in the "Big City," the lure of home moved us back to the West.
I love to paint and draw. Making a picture for me is magical, whether I'm painting a fisherman in his favorite stream or a small child reading about pirates digging for treasure. It doesn't matter to me, it's all about telling a story with imagery. Painting is what I do, it comes as natural to me as walking. I suppose that's because it's been part of my life for as long as I can remember.
Patti and I live in Tetonia, Idaho with our two great kids. I continue to work as an illustrator for a variety of clients and publishers and plan to do so unless I get tired of painting. I don't think that will happen.
In 2005 I earned my Master's Degree in illustration from Syracuse University. I am presently working on a variety of children's book projects and I teach illustration classes part time at BYU-Idaho. This is my 21st year in the business of illustration and I continue to be inspired and excited about new possibilities for paintings that will turn into good books.
Visit Dan Burr at http://www.danburr.com.
How does an artist prepare for becoming a book illustrator?
That is a great question. I think being an artist/illustrator has to come to you naturally, it's not something you can force on a person. Kids that draw all the time turn into adults that draw all the time and eventually do something with their talent, or find a career doing something else that pays the bills. My preparation as an illustrator didn't start until I hit college. I was fortunate to have a professor who was an illustrator and knew about the world of illustration. He introduced me to the world in which I now live. An education or introduction of some sort is important to enter any serious profession (not that art is serious). As a professional illustrator, you better have some idea what will be expected of you. Hopefully you get that from someone who cares and knows a bit about it.
How closely do you usually work with the author?
Sometimes not at all, sometimes a bunch. I don't know which I prefer either. Authors can bring insights to my work that I may never have thought of, or they can be so stifling that you want to tell them to illustrate the thing. I always wonder what the author thinks about the work I do for their book, and sometimes worry that I missed the mark, but so far have been lucky in that regard. I really enjoyed working with David Harrison on our book PIRATES, we are kindred spirits (pirates) and we think very much alike, and that made for a great book.
How long do you usually need to do a complete book project?
I can illustrate a 32-pager in 13 weeks (painting time). I prefer more time but deadlines are deadlines. It usually takes me a while to get everything ready for a project. The sketches and all the research take a fair amount of time and then I have to line up models and costumes, etc, etc. I usually hear about the project at least a year in advance and then, like always, I procrastinate until I have 13 or so weeks to really dig in and get it done.
What steps do you take from idea to finished work?
I usually start with some of my really crummy thumbnail sketches that start my mind working. I hopefully can turn them into a little better version of a sketch that will eventually lead me to research and collecting the information that I need to make the paintings believable and the environments complete. Sometimes this can be a painfully slow process and sometimes if I'm familiar enough with the subject it goes quickly. The sketches then get revised a few times to solve design issues or anything else that looks wrong. When the sketches are finished, off I go to the finished painting.
How much do you revise your work?
If I get lucky and pull it off the first time, not much. If I can't seem to visualize the image and start with a poor sketch or concept, it plagues me through the whole process until I revise and fix what is bugging me. This can mean repainting that image or sometimes several of the images that just don't seem to be working. I try to work it out while in the sketch stage but sometimes problems slip by unnoticed until my 12-year-old comes to the studio and says, ahh … Is that a dog or a small horse pulling that wagon? Kids these days…
How do you use the computer as a tool for your art?
I was educated in a very traditional school of art. Drawing and painting were taught with traditional media. I spent the last15 years of my career painting with oils on traditional surfaces to complete my illustration projects. In 2004 I took a Photoshop class to see if it would be a viable tool to help accomplish my work. I really learned a lot and realized that I could paint in a way that mimicked my traditional work. It took a while to make the complete transition from traditional to digital, but I finally decided that in order to stay competitive I would have to keep up with technology and make the switch. Today I do all my work on the computer, using Photoshop to paint digitally in a way that my clients have come to expect over the span of my career.
What advice would you give authors that would help an artist make a better book?
Write good books. If the words are great, the images come easy and the process for me is less complicated. I like working with authors. It's nice to get their insight and understand some of their expectations. Sometimes I struggle coming up with or starting a project. A talk with the author can make all the difference and get the juices flowing. As an illustrator it's always nice to be given the freedom to do what we do and create images that do justice to the words. Authors have to trust us to take their words and make the books come to life. As the writer of the book, don't be afraid to offer an insight or two to help the process along, but don't try to control the process too much or the illustrator can't do what he/she has been hired to do.
Which usually comes first, the words or the art?
When I am working on a picture book, I usually need the words to help see the images. Having said that, sometimes it works the other way around and the pictures come first. In the book PIRATES, the process evolved back and forth, starting with some images I had swimming around in my head. Then the author (David Harrison) shared ideas that he thought would make good poems and pictures. PIRATES was the ideal situation, author and illustrator working together on the same page to make a book. I always have paintings in my head just waiting to come out. Some belong to stories and some don't. The trick is to make sure they find a home in a great story.
June Rae Wood grew up with seven siblings in Versailles, MO, reading every chance she got. However, writing didn't interest her—not even when she went to college.
Many years passed before she got bitten by the writing bug. She honed her skills by studying "how to" books and listening to her work on a tape recorder. Her first novel, THE MAN WHO LOVED CLOWNS, won the 1995 Mark Twain Award in Missouri and the 1995 William Allen White Award in Kansas. She has written four other novels for young adults—A SHARE OF FREEDOM, WHEN PIGS FLY, TURTLE ON A FENCE POST, and ABOUT FACE—and she contributed to two anthologies edited by Sandy Asher: WRITING IT RIGHT! and ON HER WAY: STORIES AND POEMS ABOUT GROWING UP GIRL. Mrs. Wood's work has appeared in Family Circle, Reader's Digest, School & Community, The Lookout, New Ways, the Sedalia Democrat, and other publications.
She is still happily married to William Wood, the man she met on a blind date years ago. They have a daughter and two granddaughters and live near Windsor, MO.
I'll never forget the day in first grade when my teacher praised me for reading that big word, "chickens." It was a lucky guess. I had peeked ahead and seen the picture of baby chicks, but oh, what joy in getting that word right. I've been hooked on reading ever since.
Shirley and I, being the oldest of eight children, had plenty of chores, but we nevertheless found time to read. We'd walk to the library a couple of times a week, check out our limit of books, and walk home feeling rich. We'd climb the tree in the backyard, drop onto the flat roof of the porch where the other kids couldn't reach us, and lose ourselves in another world through books.
Although I loved reading, I didn't particularly like writing. In elementary and high school, I wrote only what was required of me to get good grades. In college, I studied business education and didn't stay long enough to earn a degree. However, I was a natural at grammar, punctuation, and spelling—the basics that help writers succeed.
My life changed when our family moved to the country, away from close neighbors and all the busy-ness of town. With my husband at work all day and our daughter in school, I needed something to do besides clean house and watch soap operas, so I tried my hand at writing. I could compose grammatically correct sentences, but I didn't have a clue about how to develop character, dialogue, and plot. I learned from reading "how-to" books and, of course, by writing.
I honed my skills by listening to my work on a tape recorder. This helped me to catch overused words and the sentences that looked fine on paper but weren't pleasing to the ear. My first venture was a children's novel that I wrote at least six times. That was my "practice set," with each rewrite being a little better than the last. Though each version came back with an editor's rejection slip, my time was not wasted. I was learning how to develop characters and plot, how to prepare a manuscript, how to write a query letter to publishers, and how to market my work.
My first sale was such a shock that I lost my appetite for three months—and shed 11 pounds. It was a short story about my brother, Richard, who was born with Down's syndrome. For 36 years, my family had catered to Richard, spoiled him, and loved him; and after he died, I wrote the story to cope with my grief. "The Boy Who Taught Love" was published in Family Circle magazine and was later reprinted in Reader's Digest with a new title, "My Brother Who Brought Sunshine."
Readers all over the United States sent letters telling me how much they appreciated the story. Eventually, it occurred to me that if I could touch adults with Richard's story, perhaps I could touch children, too. After all, it was children who had laughed at my brother, been cruel to him, and been afraid of him. That's when the idea for my young-adult novel, THE MAN WHO LOVED CLOWNS, was born. The main character is 35-year-old Punky, a man with Down's syndrome, a comical and lovable personality, and some very unusual habits—such as telling people they're fat, pouring shampoo down the toilet, and flinging chicken bones behind the TV. My brother Richard did all those things, and he was my pattern for Punky.
Nowadays, the letters I receive are from kids—kids who say they will never again make fun of or be afraid of someone who is different. Because this story was written from my heart, young readers have taken it to heart. My advice to fledgling writers is this: If you write about things you care deeply about, your readers will care, too.
Vicki Grove lives in a little yellow house on Cole Camp Creek in the Missouri Ozarks with her seven cats, her dog Imogene, and her husband, Mike. She has written twelve novels for young readers, all of them published by Penguin Putnam. She's also written about 300 articles, short stories, and essays for magazines like American Girl, Reader's Digest, and Country Living. When she isn't writing she's usually sitting under a sycamore tree watching the eagles and reading a good book. Visit Vicki's web page here.
I'm late with this article, which should have been done a week ago. My editor wanted to go over revisions for my new book this past week, too, but I dodged her calls and possibly by doing so lost my spot on Putnam's 2011 list. I think instead of apologizing for either thing I'll just call this blog entry "Writing in the Real World" and tell you about last week, since it's a story I've wished for a long time someone else would post so that I could take comfort from knowing I'm not alone.
AARP just came out with a survey finding that 30 percent of American middle-aged adults are caregivers of either a spouse, a grandchild, or an elderly parent. My parents are 88 and 89 and my saintly husband and I have been their sole caregivers for nine years, since my father turned 80, officially put on his robe and slippers, and declared himself "through." Mom's health shortly thereafter began to break down, and nine years on, Daddy is blind, neither of them can walk without a struggle, and they are completely housebound. They live twelve miles from us, and usually if I get up before dawn I have two or three hours to write before I need to start cooking for them, then I go over to their home before noon. More often than not this past couple of years, this system has broken down at some point during the week and my computer has gone neglected completely. When I was raising my own children, I had triple the writing time. It was much easier.
This past week was an especially bad week for Mom, who is now experiencing dementia, and so the time (and, yes, mental energy) I had delegated to writing my article for this blog and to going over tough revisions with an editor failed to materialize. In fact, my Christmas presents have gone unshopped for, my cards remain unsent, my house uncleaned and undecorated. Let's don't even talk about my grooming (smile).
In case you're starting to think this is a personal pity party, let me tell you about the book I'm working on now. It's a Young Adult novel about a seventeen-year-old boy who is the sole survivor of a drunk driving accident and is struggling to regain his own balance and forward momentum. Suddenly last spring, as I was in the midst of this book, my father experienced a bout with depression and pain that turned both our households upside down for several months. I was completely away from my computer during that time, and when I could get back to my story the boy in my book shocked me by having developed a live-in step-grandfather while I was gone, an 89-year-old man who has just failed his driver's license test because of macular degeneration. This leads the grandfather to a depression, which might possibly be lifted a bit if the boy can find the nerve to get behind the wheel again and drive this new grandfather to a Chiefs game.
If you have never felt the exhilaration that comes when a book takes its own life like this, then you haven't felt the true joy of this job, the thing that makes all the rejection, all the long hours, all the various frustrations of working in such a crazy and competitive profession worthwhile. Is this new Chiefs-loving grandfather autobiographical, based on my father? Are you kidding? The boy will learn from him what I myself am struggling to remember I am constantly learning from my own dad. Hopefully, both Willem and I are finding what to concentrate on while we're alive, what not to regret leaving undone.
Life feeds writing, and writing is a way to work out the things in our lives that are seemingly beyond our ken, sometimes almost beyond our capability. Cope-ability? Now, as I face turning 61 on Christmas Eve, I'm finally ready to state, uncategorically, that writing gives me self-understanding, period. All the rest comes and goes, or is icing on that great celestial birthday cake in the sky. But truly, what more could you ask?
Gay Fawcett is a former teacher, principal, curriculum director, and director of Kent State University's Research Center for Educational Technology. She now teaches online and face-to-face university courses, consults with schools, and writes (of course!). She has authored or coauthored over 100 educational articles, book chapters, and books. She collaborated with David Harrison and Tim Rasinski on the recently published PARTNER POEMS FOR BUILDING FLUENCY: GRADES 4-6.
Always
I love poetry,
always have.
I read poetry,
always have.
I teach poetry,
always have.
I write poetry,
haven't always…always will.
There. That little poem sums up the extent of my qualifications to blog my thoughts on poetry. I've only published one poem. (If this one counts, that would make two.) My poems are conversations with me, and that's the way I like it. But in my 36 years of working with teachers and children I have come to the conclusion that if we would just tend to three simple principles, teachers and students would love and write poetry—always.
Principle 1: Bring poetry into your life.
What poetry anthologies do you have on your bookshelf? No, not your classroom bookshelf—your personal bookshelf. Do Maya Angelou and Theordore Roethke reside next to your Dan Brown novels and Oprah magazines? How about some e.e. cummings? Nikki Giovanni? A little book of Shakespeare's sonnets? You don't need to analyze the complex language of Pablo Neruda or the metaphors of Robert Frost. It's OK if you don't always understand what the poet meant; you're not in high-school English anymore. Just read it and enjoy the cadence and sounds of language. Your adult poet's soul cannot be nurtured by Shel Silverstein, with all due respect to the talented poet. The first step to bringing poetry into your students' lives is to bring adult poetry into your own life.
Principle 2: Take a balanced look at poetry.
Do your students love the raucous poetry of Jack Prelutsky? That's great! But do they know that in addition to making them laugh, poetry can help them cry, calm their fears, and make them think? Do they know the contemplative poetry of Jeff Moss and Charlotte Zolotow, and the quiet poetry of Elizabeth Coatsworth and Christina Rossetti? Do they love the rhymes of Mother Goose as well as the free verse of Byrd Baylor? Children need to hear the many sounds of poetry, consider the many experiences poems can reflect, and see the many shapes poems can take. Make sure they get a balanced view.
Principle 3: Keep a 5 to 1 ratio.
Do you use poetry to teach rhyming words, sight words, phonics, fluency? That's fine. Are your students starting to think poetry is a way to learn reading skills? Not fine. For every one poem you use for teaching a reading skill, use five poems just for the love of poetry. Read them, sing them, act them out, recite them. Don't skill-drill them. Students need to know that poetry is not something you “do at school.” Poetry is something you enjoy for life.
Bring poetry into your own life, take a balanced view of poetry, and keep a 5 to 1 ratio. Then sit back and see what happens. Most likely, you and your students will get hooked on poetry—for always.
Sandy Asher has written 25 books for young readers, including the award-winning TOO MANY FROGS! and its companion books WHAT A PARTY! and HERE COMES GOSLING! She's also edited five books of fiction, among them WITH ALL MY HEART, WITH ALL MY MIND (winner of the National Jewish Book Award in children's literature) and her latest, WRITING IT RIGHT! HOW SUCCESSFUL CHILDREN'S AUTHORS REVISE AND SELL THEIR STORIES. Her plays, written as Sandra Fenichel Asher, have been produced across the country and in various foreign countries. Visit Sandy's website here.
Stories are not just written.
Many experts talk about the mechanics of reading and writing. But mechanics have little to do with the love of reading – the impetus for our learning to read and write at all. To my mind, what makes reading lovable is the sharing of stories between human beings. We began doing that back in our cave-dwelling days, and we're still at it. We must really love to do it. We must really need to do it.
And, indeed, shared stories are essential to our survival, as individuals and as a species.
So I like to emphasize—in my books, school visits, and workshops—that basic, vital, human sharing of stories. (Although sometimes the human beings look like rabbits and frogs.)
In TOO MANY FROGS!, Rabbit is a lone reader who discovers the pleasures of shared stories when his home is invaded by the exuberant Froggie, who loves to listen. Teachers have read this book to their students and then divided them into "Rabbits" and "Frogs" to take turns sharing favorite stories with one another.
The story-sharing continues in the Rabbit and Froggie companion books WHAT A PARTY! and HERE COMES GOSLING! In WHAT A PARTY!, Froggie gives his grandfather the gift of an original song. Students might like to find a musical way to share their own stories with one another, their families, and other classes.
In HERE COMES GOSLING!, Froggie spends the first third of the book eagerly awaiting baby Gosling's arrival and the next third not-so-eagerly waiting for baby Gosling to stop crying. When, where, and why do we all have to wait? What can we do to make the time pass more pleasantly? (Hint: Waiting time and reading time fit together nicely.)
WRITING IT RIGHT! HOW SUCCESSFUL CHILDREN'S AUTHORS REVISE AND SELL THEIR STORIES was inspired by teachers who told me they despaired of ever getting their students to revise. Well, of course, I thought, when have those students ever seen authors revise? We know actors, musicians, and athletes practice and rehearse, but with books, all we ever see is a perfect, machine-made object.
So I asked authors to submit their published work – picture books, magazine stories, first readers, chapter books, and young adult novels – along with early drafts. I interviewed each author about how and why they made their revision choices. The anthology turned out to be an amazing sharing of the stories behind the stories, and evidence of the human beings behind stories as well.
AMERICA WRITES FOR KIDS, which David and I cofounded, links to about four hundred websites for children's authors and playwrights. Visitors can find favorites by alphabet or click on a state and see who lives nearby. Proof once again that stories are created by real, live human beings who love and need to share them with young people who love and need to read them.
Stories aren't just written.
Stories are not just read.
Stories are shared.
Stories aren't just read.
Stories are shared.
Wendy opened Wendy Schmalz Agency in 2002. Before that she was a principal at Harold Ober Associates. She represents a small, eclectic group of writers, including National Endowment for the Arts Medal winner Albert Marrin, National Book Award finalist and Lambda Award winner Julie Anne Peters, Edgar winner Robin MacCready, Lambda Award winner Bonnie Shimko, NAACP Award winner Sue Stauffacher, National Jewish Book Award winner Sandy Asher, renowned children's science writer Seymour Simon, and best-selling novelists April Henry and Myla Goldberg. On projects with Sandy Asher, Wendy also represents Christopher Award winner David L. Harrison.
I love books. I love everything about them—how they smell, how they feel, how they look on a shelf. I love the words. I'm infatuated with my Sony Reader. It smells like pleather, it's stiff in my hands, and it won't stand on a shelf. But it's got all the words.
I first got my Reader so I could download manuscripts and not have to schlep heavy paper manuscripts with me wherever I went. It wasn't long before I was downloading published books. To my utter astonishment, it's become my preferred way of reading. It's more than just the portability. It's my personal movable library.
For my entire career in publishing, people have been predicting the death of books. First it was CD-ROMs—boy, was everyone wrong about that one! Now people predict eBooks as the beginning of the end. I think it's the beginning of an expansion of reading, especially for older middle grade and young adult (YA) novels. Kids prefer reading on screen. The more eBooks we offer them the more they'll read. I also think it will result in more sales. I might lend friends a copy of a book, but I'm not going to lend my reader. They'll have to get their own download.
What I am concerned about is the fate of literary fiction for children. While "quiet" books have been difficult to place for a while now, it's been much, much harder during this recession. In the last several months, I've seen a spike in queries from authors who have had several books published (often to starred reviews and awards), but have been cut loose by their publishers because of mid-list sales. More often than not, I have to tell them that I can't do anything to help them. High concept is what sells. I by no means think that high concept equals dreck. Many, many commercial books are extremely well written. Publishing is a business and I'm part of that business. It's how I make my living and I want my business to be prosperous. I do, though, think there's a beauty in literary fiction that children are going to miss out on if the current trend doesn't change.
As an agent, I look for books that are well written and that appeal to my personal taste. I've never been a fan of traditional fantasy or science fiction, so I'm not a good judge of those genres. I focus on older middle grade and YA fiction. I'm not taking on any new picture book writers.
People often ask me if vampire books and urban fantasy are on their way out. Clones of TWILIGHT and other huge sellers are out, but an original take on vampires or urban fantasy or any other genre will always sell. Anyone can copy; a good writer finds a way to be innovative.
Visit David L. Harrison and Sandy Asher online