Kate Messner's Blog, page 44

When a book title goes back to the drawing board

If you're not an author, it may surprise you to know that sometimes, the title a writer originally gives a book doesn't always stay the title of that book.  A lot of people chime in along the way, from agents and editors, to the sales reps who will ultimately be making sure that your book is available in stores. THE BRILLIANT FALL OF GIANNA Z. for example, wasn't always THE BRILLIANT FALL OF GIANNA Z.   First it was SWINGER OF BIRCHES.  Then it was MAPLE GIRL.  Then there was a whole lot of b...

Skyping with 6th Graders

Have I mentioned how much I love the way Skype allows me to teach my own 7th grade students all day and still have time for a virtual author visit with kids halfway across the country before I make dinner?



Today's crew of 6th graders, Mrs. Duff's class in Oelwein, Iowa, read The Brilliant Fall of  Gianna Z. this fall and prepared some great questions for our virtual visit.  Here's a quick sampling:

What was the inspiration for GIANNA Z?  My students and their mandatory 7th grade leaf project.

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Many things on a Monday...

1. We spent Saturday skiing with friends at Whiteface Mountain on what I'm convinced was the best ski day of the year so far. It was sunny and beautiful and full of fresh air. Just perfect.

2. My students spent last week brainstorming and pulling together some quick fundraisers for Doctors Without Borders' earthquake relief efforts in Haiti.  On Friday after school, we ate pizza and did a final count...



I am so, so proud of their efforts!

3. I am reading CHARLES AND EMMA: THE DARWINS' LEAP OF FA...

An Invitation for Northern NY Friends

I'm giving a lecture tomorrow night as part of a new series of talks at the Alice T. Miner Museum in Chazy. The concept, which I found irresistible, is to have two half-hour lectures presented on unrelated topics, followed by a joint Q and A session in which the audience can ask whatever they want and perhaps make connections between the two speakers.  Here's the event poster:



One correction: It's not $5 to get in; it's free (yay!), and though it's a relatively small venue, I believe there's s...

Real authors don't plan...or do they? An open letter to Tyler

Dear Tyler,

So I heard a rumor today.  Is it true that you told your teacher that real authors don't use story webs or outlines or plan their writing?  That real authors just write whatever comes into their heads and if they need to outline or do any prep work, they're not real writers?

Hmm.

Your teacher dropped me a note to ask if I might be able to make you reconsider.  She's a friend of mine and knows that I've written eight books for kids -- three that are out now and five that will be publi...

This World We Live In by Susan Beth Pfeffer

I finished reading Susan Beth Pfeffer's THIS WORLD WE LIVE IN tonight.  Now I am in no mood to sleep and will likely be awake in bed plotting ways to store canned goods in my basement.  I should know by now not to read post-apocalyptic fiction on school nights, but no...I'm a sucker for a great story.  And this one is.

If you enjoyed the first two books in this series, LIFE AS WE KNEW IT and THE DEAD AND THE GONE, you'll also love this latest (and final) installment.  Set in a world turned ups...

How They Got Here: 2009 Debut Author Rhonda Stapleton

Rhonda Stapleton's debut YA novel STUPID CUPID is out now...and she's here to join us with some questions about how 2009 came to be her big year!

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From the author's website...

Felicity Walker believes in true love. That's why she applies for a gig at the matchmaking company Cupid's Hollow. But when Felicity gets the job, she learns that she isn't just a matchmaker...she's a cupid! (There's more than one of them, you know.)

Armed with a hot pink, tricked-out PDA infused with the latest in cupid...

Cheers for ALA Youth Media Winners!

There was much cheering in the Messner house this morning, once we finally figured out how to get the live feed of the ALA Youth Media Awards announcements from Boston.  So happy for all of the winners, but particularly some friends whose books we loved...

Tanya Lee Stone's brave and brilliant ALMOST ASTRONAUTS won the Sibert Medal.  If you haven't already read this story of the "Mercury 13" women who secretly went through astronaut testing before NASA was ready to consider women in space, you...

Home from ALA Midwinter

It was so wonderful to see book-loving friends who were there, and my whole family loved ogling all the new books coming out in 2010. So many amazing titles on the way - it's a very good time to be a reader!


The amazing, overwhelmingly large exhibit hall

Not all of my writer-friends could make it to Boston, so my daughter and I thought it would be fun to put together an exhibit hall scavenger hunt to look for friends' books.  We found almost all of them, with the exception of a few that were so...

Lake Champlain: What a difference 15 hours can make

When the sun came up over Lake Champlain yesterday, there was a solid layer of ice from my house to the island about a mile off shore.  This time of year, we watch the lake with great interest because if it freezes the right way -- with no ripples or snow or big chunks of ice sticking up -- then our backyard is suddenly many, many acres larger.  When the ice gets thick enough, we love skating and cross country skiing out on the lake. 

And so we watch.  And wait.  But there are some false star...