Kate Messner's Blog, page 35

SUGAR AND ICE Updates!

It's been a little while since I've blogged about my upcoming figure skating novel, SUGAR AND ICE (due out from Walker/Bloomsbury December 7, 2010!) and there's some very cool news to share!

My editor recently sent me the first of the journal reviews from  Booklist, and it was a great one!

"Messner is awfully good at individualizing what might otherwise be stock characters, especially Claire, whose eagerness and apprehension come in equal measure. Of course, the (sometimes) glamorous world of...

Oklahoma, where the wind comes sweepin' down the plain

I took a very quick research trip to Oklahoma this week, to take photographs and talk with an expert on tornadic storms as I revise my upcoming dystopian novel, currently titled EYE OF THE STORM.

When I say quick trip, I mean quick.  My 14-year-old son came along, and we were in Oklahoma for all of 18 hours before flying back home.  But it was long enough to see some pretty amazing things at the University of Oklahoma in Norman.



This building houses not only the University's meteorology depart...

Volcanoes, Bridges, and Waterfalls: More from Costa Rica

I'm leaving tomorrow morning for a quick research trip to Oklahoma for my dystopian storm book.  (No, I don't know what I was thinking scheduling two research trip so close together. My hiking boots aren't even dry yet.)  But thought I'd share a few more Costa Rica photos before I go.


Morning spider web at Selva Verde Lodge

A few people have asked where we stayed. In the Sarapiqui region, it was a place called Selva Verde Lodge.  The rooms are in buildings, raised up on stilts in the rain fore...

Morning Wake-Up Call: The Birds of Costa Rica

The Sarapiqui region of Costa Rica is incredibly quiet and incredibly loud, all at once. At Selva Verde Lodge, where we stayed, the buildings are on stilts in the middle of the forest, and there are no windows -- only screens -- so all night long, frogs chirp, insects buzz, and critters rustle in the underbrush below.  There was no sleeping in, for a couple reasons. First, the rains came each afternoon at around three or four, so we didn't want to miss any  of the dry daylight hours. And even...

Home from Costa Rica: Thoughts and a whole lot of wildlife photos

My blog has been mighty quiet this past week or so because I've been in Costa Rica, researching one (and possibly two!) future books set in part in the rain forest.  This is an ecosystem that's fascinated me since I was in third grade, so getting the chance to spend a few days in the Sarapiqui River area of Costa Rica was just amazing.  I spent most of my days hiking in the forest and staring either up into the trees or down at the ground. Here's some of what came into focus through the camer...

GIANNA Z. in the September Scholastic Book Clubs!

I just got the coolest note from my talented and kind friend, cynthialord   -  "Did you see that one of the Scholastic Book Clubs has your book is in for September?"

No!!!  I hadn't seen that!  I knew that Scholastic had picked up The Brilliant Fall of Gianna Z. as a book clubs & book fairs selection for this fall, but I didn't realize that it was actually out.  So I raced over to the Scholastic site and found the Arrow flyer for September.  And then I got a little bit teary.

I've always been a ...

Five things on a Friday

1. Beautiful weather makes it hard to get work done. Has anyone else noticed that?  Last night, the kids had friends over for swimming and a campfire and s'mores, so my writing  had to wait until well after dark.  So, so worth it.

2. I am still not very good at golf.  I discovered this on yesterday's all-four-of-us family golf outing.  On the plus side, though, my nine-year-old discovered she is very good at driving golf carts and enjoys this immensely. Plus we saw a great blue heron eat a fro...

Middle School, Gang Violence, and Revolution (but not in the same book)

I finished one book and read two more this week. I enjoyed them all for different reasons and will be sharing them with my 7h graders once school starts. I especially love how these three really meet the needs of three different kinds of readers. 



First up is REVOLUTION by Jennifer Donnelly, due out in October from Delacorte.  I had high expectations for this novel because I loved Donnelly's A NORTHERN LIGHT so much. I wasn't disappointed with REVOLUTION, and in fact, I think I might have lik...

Friday Five

1. Now that my latest novel is back with my editor, I've been working on the teacher resource book I'm writing for Stenhouse, about teaching the revision process, and I'm loving it, even more than I thought I would. It's been exciting to pull together all the author quotes and strategies to share with teachers.I'm pretty sure I squealed when I clicked on the very first interview response and found that it was from Jane Yolen. (Jane Yolen!!!) Also, putting my own revision process under the mic...

Revision is like...

As many of you know, I'm writing a book about revision for teachers for Stenhouse Publishers.  It's going to talk about the process, strategies that authors use, and ways to use those same kinds of strategies in the classroom.  And I thought it would be fun to include some quotes about revision from writers of all kinds, young and old, published and unpublished.  So if you write and are okay with maybe being quoted, I'd love it if you'd fill in the blanks in this sentence:

Revision is like ___...