May 31, 2015
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Posted in Blog: Story Stories, Book Reviews, Libraries, libraries, teaching
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By Kristin
Out of My Mind is told by a girl who cannot speak – or even move at all – yet she loves words. Melody is practically trapped in her body. But she feels words. Sees words.
So, how does she tell the story?
That’s the question.
I absolutely loved Out of My Mind by Sharon M Draper and I have yet to find a middle school student who does not also adore the book. I understood Melody, who has cerebral palsy and is unable to speak, yet is highly intelligent. Draper does an exceptional job of getting the reader to feel what Melody feels and to empathize with her. The stakes in the story are high enough to keep you reading yet not falsely trumped up as some middle grades can be. There is no unnecessary death, rather the normal ups and downs of a fifth grader, told through an extraordinary lens: Melody’s.
I would recommend this book to any middle school reader who enjoys complex characters, and a realistic yet unusual story well told. This book will stay with you because it will expand your understanding of the human experience.
For teachers, this book will help with the Common Core Literacy standard to describe how a narrator’s point of view influences how events are described (ELA Literacy RL 5.6). Melody can describe events so accurately yet she is nearly unable to participate in them, verbally at least. Teachers will be able to imagine all sorts of ways to simulate this feeling for students in class. Abled-students have real difficulty with this feeling. Chapters one and two are particularly rich with “concrete words and phrases and sensory details” called for in the ELA Writing standards (ELA Writing 5.3d).
Out of My Mind
Sharon M Draper
2010
978-1-4169-8045-2 (e-book)
Fic
4.3
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May 19, 2014
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Posted in Blog: Story Stories, writing
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By Kristin
Lynn Hazen was the first friend I met when I started writing for children seventeen years ago. We’ve been friends – and readers for each other – ever since. It’s fitting that Lynn Hazen is the one who tagged me for my first ever blog tour. Lynn introduces me to many things that I end up later enjoying. Thanks, Lynn! Here goes…
What am I currently working on?
All my work is fiction. I’m revising a tween novel about a preacher’s daughter, which is completely different from my own family. My husband is a minister, but I have two daughters, the family in my novel has only one, and our real church is three blocks away from where this fictional church is set. My novel is completely different from my real life. Also I’m working on a young reader’s series about a male one-eyed cat. My one-eyed cat is female. I like to write outside of my comfort zone.
And I’m revising a middle grade novel about a leprechaun and a picture book about a little square. These two are, however, entirely factual.
How does my work differ from others in its genre?
Well, my YA is unfinished. My middle grade is unfinished. I have one Early Reader finished in a series, but it’s not published yet. Same goes for my picture books. I would say lack of an ending is the major difference between my work and the work I read. Since I’m a librarian, a good portion of the books I read are completed. Those, naturally, are the most satisfying, and entertaining, stories to read to children. As a writer, however, I do read a number of manuscripts in various states of completion.
Other differences include that I write about religion from an unusual viewpoint: from the inside but also slightly irreverently. I would also say my work is different because the worlds I create all closely resemble the real world, but are just a bit off.
If I could triangulate a place for myself on the literary landscape I would want to exist between Judy Blume, Richard Peck and Norton Juster. That’s a pretty big triangle, so even if I have really bad aim, I may be able to find myself somewhere in there.
Why do I write what I write?
Well, my main goal is to entertain. Only a reader would be able to say whether I’ve attained that goal or not. Someday I dream of inspiring someone to speak up, or to change. I think every writer wants that secretly: to better the world by changing somebody, or to give someone hope. That’s my secret desire: to save the world with a word or two.
How does my individual writing process work?
Horribly. It’s redundant, with many extraneous parts: like a Rube-Goldberg machine of writing. Sometimes I’m drawing (leprechauns and squares), sometimes I’m researching, Sometimes I’m staring at the wall. I call that thinking. Sometimes I’m reading. Lots of times I’m drinking Diet Coke. Sometimes I’m just scrolling up and down the pages really fast to see the blocks of text I’ve created and verifying that they look like a real book. Wowie! That’s when I know it’s time to go and watch TV. At least TV will have a plot.
Who’s next? Tag you are it!
I am tagging my multi-talented friend Susan Taylor Brown.
Susan Taylor Brown: Full-time dreamer, poet, writer, and artist.
Susan is the author of the middle grade verse novel Hugging the Rock, which was named a Notable Children’s Book. Some of her other books include Oliver’s Must-Do List, Can I Pray With My Eyes Open?, Enrique Esparza and the Battle of the Alamo, and Robert Smalls Sails to Freedom in addition to over 50 books for the ESL market.
Susan has been the recipient of several grants from the Arts Council Silicon Valley which allowed her to be Writer-in-Residence for the San Jose Alternative Schools At-Risk program and to teach poetry to incarcerated teens.
In addition to writing, Susan is a mixed-media artist, nature photographer, and a gardener obsessed with California Native plants. When she’s not doing something creative, she’s probably deep in conversation with Zoey, her white German Shepherd.
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Writing: http://www.susantaylorbrown.com
Etsy: https://poppiness.etsy.com
Visit some of these other authors on the blog tour:
Lynn Hazen
Sharry Wright
Ann Jacobus
Frances Lee Hall
Emily Jiang
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November 17, 2013
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Posted in Blog: Story Stories
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By Kristin
CoverGirl has come out with a new line. Watch the promo here.
And, no, its not a joke. There are plenty of how-to videos to go along with it. When I saw the full page ads on the inside and back covers of Entertainment Weekly, I was stunned.
To me, the criticism of the over-consumption in the Capitol in the novels was clear. The Capitol’s insatiable thirst (hunger) for more of everything drove the cruelty of the Hunger Games. In the book, it was grotesque, not something to be emulated.
In the movie the make-up and costuming was accordingly over-the-top.
Now that the movie has come out, CoverGirl (and Ms. Collins?) are capitalizing on the make-up artistry? Have we forgotten the point of the book?
I asked teens what they thought of the CoverGirl campaign. The answers I got were mostly about the beauty of the models, especially the woman who appears to be Kenyan. I cannot deny her striking beauty. And I wouldn’t want to. It was a good reminder to me that I see things differently than my kids do.
Start watching this interview with Hunger Games author , Suzanne Collins at 2:13 to see what she hopes readers will take away from her books.
I like what she has to say because she wants readers to question their society, their government.
But, then, we have this thing where her books are being used to sell make-up. Which, to me, blurs the lines, a little bit. Not really the lines between reality and fiction. Those lines are pretty clear to me: the fictional world created in The Hunger Games is being used to sell make-up in our real world.
I’m thinking of a line between two different words. And here’s a great video with a definition of word one: irony.
What’s word two? I would say hypocrisy, but no one is fighting to the death over this. That I’m aware of. Though I could kind of kill for that blue lipstick.
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November 4, 2013
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Posted in Blog: Story Stories, Book Reviews
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By Kristin
I absolutely loved this book. In my opinion, it belongs next to Charlotte’s Web on your bookshelf. Read it. Give it to any middle graders in your life. They will thank you.
Here’s my video review. Penny helped.
Oh yes, I have a free story sheet for 3rd through 5th graders here if you’re interested. It’s free. That’s why there are so many post-its on my book.
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September 23, 2013
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Posted in Blog: Story Stories, Book Reviews
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By Kristin
Recently I ate dinner with e.E. Charlton-Trujillo, who is brave. I say that not simply because she wrote Fat Angie, but because she came to San Francisco to meet a bunch of writers she didn’t know for dinner. Over the Bay Bridge. At six p.m.
Clearly, she’s not from The Bay Area.
But yet, Eunice set up a dinner – over the internet – with strangers, and drove up from LA – from the morning commute – to meet us. We brought the food. She ate it.
Not only is she brave. She’s trusting.
This dinner was one stop on Eunice’s “At Risk” summer. Rather than do a typical sign-the-title-page book tour, she is touring the country, actually meeting and interacting with her readers. She is taking some serious risks.
Although, I don’t think that’s what she had in mind by the term “at – risk.” I believe she meant working with kids who are “at – risk.” But her summer has put her in some high risk situations: driving rental cars in Bay Area traffic, meeting strangers in private homes, eating surprise food, and above-all-else, telling the truth about herself, to anyone who will listen. She puts herself at risk everyday.
To me, that’s the beauty in Eunice and her work. Her bravery encourages us.
That evening, Eunice did two things to make me braver. First of all: she spoke up. She simply sat at the table with us and told us about herself. Even though we’d never met. That was risky. Maybe we would have a different opinion or attitude. But she made herself vulnerable immediately, easily and with a laugh. Several laughs, actually.
Her honesty enabled me to speak up.
The second thing she did to make me brave was she listened. She paid attention to each and every person at the table. Listening is risky because you might not like what you hear. Or you might change. Or you might feel you have to respond. Eunice did respond. She asked questions after every story.
Eunice’s book, Fat Angie, may be a powerful force, but I believe its because Eunice is so gentle. She knows people so well because she can interact with us honestly. She can risk a conversation, risk her time, risk a change, risk a bad dinner, a different opinion, or a wrong turn. And laugh.
I hope you read Fat Angie. It’s about a girl who takes risks. She’s hurt, bullied and ostracized. But, ultimately, Angie’s efforts pay off. Angie is brave because she puts herself at-risk again, even though she’s been hurt in the past.
The book is a quick read because the characters enter your heart quickly, as if they simply sat down at your table and started asking you questions.
If you are a high school teacher, I’ve got a story sheet for your students on narrative structure (part of the common core). It’s free to download. Help yourself.
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