Marcia Thornton Jones's Blog, page 198

“Middleview” Interview with Debut Author Jen Swann Downey

Posted by Tamera Wissinger
Today, Jen Swann Downey is joining Smack Dab In The Middle Blog for a guest “middleview” interview. Jen’s debut middle grade novel, THE NINJA LIBRARIANS, Sourcebooks Jabberwocky , released on 04/15/2014! Congratulations, Jen!
THE NINJA LIBRARIANS
author Jen Swann DowneyHere is a bit about Jen:

Jen Swann Downey’s non-fiction pieces have appeared in New York Magazine, the Washington Post, Women’s Day, and other publications. Her debut novel, The Ninja Librarians, will leap onto bookstore shelves in Spring 2014. Jen has never visited a library in which she didn’t want to spend the night. She lives in Charlottesville, Virginia with her husband and three children and feels very lucky they have not yet fired her.


Here’s a description of THE NINJA LIBRARIANS:
Just a little story about your average sword-swinging, karate-chopping, crime-fighting ninja librarians.
Dorrie Barnes had no idea an overdue library book would change her life. When Dorrie and her brother Marcus chase her pet mongoose into the janitor's closet of their local library, they accidentally fall through a passage into Petrarch's Library -the headquarters of a secret society of ninja librarians who have an important mission: protect those whose words have gotten them into trouble. Anywhere in the world and at any time in history.
Dorrie would love nothing more than to join the society. But when a traitor surfaces, she and her friends are the prime suspects. Can they clear their names before the only passage back to the twenty-first century closes forever?
Here are the links to Jen online: Website, Goodreads, Twitter, Facebook
Now it’s time to hear from our guest:
Smack Dab Middleview with THE NINJA LIBRARIANS author Jen Swann Downey 1. In a nutshell, what does your main character, Dorrie want, and what is in her way?
*clears throat ostentatiously* If I may quote from THE NINJA LIBRARIANS, my own and only published work (Don’t worry, I checked and the quote does fit into a nutshell if you dunk it in a vat of Woolite’s evil twin and then toss it in a high heat dryer for a day or two. The quote not the evil twin. Also it helps to use a shell formerly occupied by a coconut) *Sips water. Adjusts microphone so that it squawks in a mildly ear-splitting way*
Dorrie wants to find a way to oppose the villains of the world with her beloved if fake sword. “…though [Dorrie] wanted to wield a sword against evil, modern evil had no intention of making itself available for spearing. Not in the cooperative way it used to once upon a time, at least according to the books she liked to read. Not in the form of a scar-faced villain in a black cloak with a nicely obvious fiendish laugh that she could corner with a piece of dazzling sword-work.
No, modern evil was…complicated, and its spectacularly vile, wicked villains—the ones who really knew how to brew up trouble, the ones who invisibly lurked in the radio’s news stories about war and hunger and poisoned rivers—were masters of disguise.” --
2. Did you know right away that this was your story, or did you discover it as you wrote? How did the story evolve?
The VERY first inspirational seed for the story came out of a scribbled entry in my journal about an imagined moment between several imaginary characters at the imagined creation of the first ever written alphabet – all of which I realize sounds irritatingly mysterious and oblique – but I have to be cagey because that moment became the imagined pivotal last scene of the last book in the five-book series I hope I’ll have the privilege of completing – the first book of course being, THE NINJA LIBRARIANS.
Soon after that, I knew I wanted the story to physically center on a library with wings that stretched out into various times in history. More slowly into focus came Dorrie, her sword, and her predicament; and finally, the secret book and writer protecting society of warrior lybrarians called the Lybrariad.
3. Was THE NINJA LIBRARIANS always for middle grade readers or not? If so, why did you choose middle grade? If not, what had to change for it to be considered a middle grade novel?
Always and forever and completely and utterly for the any-age enjoyer of middle grade books! Middle grade books have always been my favorites. Well, not every one. Perhaps its more accurate to say: A great many, even most, of my perpetually favorite books are ones with protagonists in the 10-14 year old range, written by authors in such a particular way that you don’t have to be 10-(1)4 to enjoy them. Some of my favorites are Understood Betsy, Mistress Masham’s Repose, A Wrinkle in Time, Which Witch, Maurice and his Educated Rodents, The Penderwicks.
4. What is the best part of writing for middle grade readers?
Hard to say what’s best or worse because I’ve never written any stories for adults. (Or for boulders, or robots for that matter!) I did write one short play for adults. About what happens when an on-the-lam criminal attempts to take the attendees of a PA (Procrastinators Anonymous) meeting hostage. It doesn’t go well for the would-be hostage taker. You wouldn’t believe how long it can take a committed procrastinator to get around to responding to a hostage-taker’s orders. And it’s a miracle the play didn’t go on…and on…and….
But whether its best or worst or just the heart of the matter for me in terms of writing for middle graders. A true middle grade novel must – and I have to thank my father for the metaphor - represent a forward pass. A young person is not standing still. Such a person is in big motion barreling with every blooming disappearing day towards new understandings and experiences, and ultimately towards the adult he or she will become. You have to lead such a receiver, tossing the ball further than the spot the runner has already reached, but in the direction they are most certainly running.
5. Is there one question you wish you could answer about writing, your book, or the author's life, but have never been asked? Here's your chance to Q &A yourself.
Do you ever wish you could thank that one English teacher who taught in the tiny Anchorage Public School, in Anchorage, Kentucky, for maybe one year in 1979 whose idea of teaching writing consisted of one day sitting a gourd on a tabletop and inviting us to describe it, another day dropping the record player arm down on a pop-scratchy Dan MacLean singing “Vincent (Starry Starry Night)”, and inviting us to write whatever came into our heads, and never saying a critical word no matter what you did or didn’t put down, and dealing out a whole bunch of days like that with nary a word said about topic sentences, and three supporting statements?
Why, yes I do.
Thank you for joining us on Smack Dab in the Middle Blog, Jen. Again, congratulations on the release of THE NINJA LIBRARIANS!

Screenplay vs. Novel (by Kristin Levine)

I've never done a book trailer for my novels, however, my first book, The Best Bad Luck I Ever Had, actually started life as a screenplay.  Here's an excerpt:



There is something about telling a story in different formats that seems to capture children's imaginations.  When I do school visits, I often have students read this one page aloud, acting out the different parts.  It's always fun and silly and gets us thinking about how stories change when we tell them different ways.

Another question I often get is, are you going to turn your books into a movie?  My answer is always, Yes, I'd love to!  Do you know anyone in Hollywood?  And then we start talking about how when The Best Bad Luck I Ever Had  was a screenplay, I kept hearing the same criticisms over and over again.  It's a great story, but we don't want to do a movie with kids as the main characters.  Kid actors are too hard to work with.  Or You've got great characters, but it's a period piece.  Unless you're Steven Spielberg or Oprah, period pieces don't make money.

Looking back, the producers that told me these things were on to something.  I think The Best Bad Luck I Ever Had really was better suited to be a book than a movie, and it was when I finally changed that story into a novel that my writing career finally got started.  So I'm grateful to those criticisms for making me consider something I hadn't before.

But the truth is, I'd still love to see one of my books as a movie!  One of these days.  I've got my fingers crossed.

Luddite’s (Last-Ever?) Lament by Claudia Mills (April theme)

          Our Smack Dab theme this month is book trailers. I have never made a book trailer for any of my books. I almost wept the other day when I heard that one librarian told an author friend of mine that the kids at her school no longer want to listen to book talks before they read a book; for them, it’s a book trailer or nothing. “No, no, no, no, no,” I wailed.

            I still write my books the old-fashioned way: long-hand, with paper and pen, leaning on my extremely worn clipboard that lost its clip some decades ago. I still do my school visits the old-fashioned way: no PowerPoint, no slides, not even a microphone unless the gym is very big. What do I do instead? I stand there and talk to the kids; I tell them stories; I do my famous Ape Dance. I sent exactly one tweet on my now-defunct Twitter account. I don’t know how to text on my (non-smart) phone; I asked my college students once to help me switch the phone from ring to vibrate.
            Sometimes I feel like Edward Arlington Robinson’s “Minniver Cheevy,” born too late. In the poem, Robinson is scathing about poor Minniver and his dreams of medieval romance, Minniver whose failure to engage in the actual world of his own life and times leads him to spend his days in endless thinking and thinking and thinking, and endless drinking, as well.
So I’m vowing here and now: I’m not going to let myself be Claudia Cheevy. 
Once upon a time I vowed I’d never give up typing my manuscripts onto my IBM Selectrix typewriter: “I like having to retype the entire manuscript for every round of revisions; it’s good to be forced to rethink every single word, really it is!” That is one tune I haven’t sung for several decades. I am an email addict, scornful beyond all reckoning of a writer colleague who served on an awards committee with me and refused to conduct committee business by email. I adore Facebook. Heck, I found out that my own son had gotten married by going on Facebook (a story for another day). When social-media-phobic friends complain that they’ve missed out on big news from me, news that I plastered all over Facebook, I think, Get with the 21st century, buster!
So this to say that I’m grateful to my fellow Smack-Dabbers for helping me think that it might be possible for me to make a book trailer sometime. (Not quite yet, but sometime. Soon. Or soon-ish.) Just this week I did my first-ever Skype school visit, thoroughly modern Millsie that I am becoming. I wish it had been an in-person visit; it was so much less satisfying than talking with the kids face-to-face. But it was also so much more satisfying than no visit at all.
I’m still a Luddite at heart. But I’m no longer going to be a loudly complaining Luddite, an annoying geezerette who brandishes her cane as she rails against these darned newfangled gadgets and gizmos. The horseless carriage is here to stay, and so is Skype, Twitter, and book trailers – at least until they’re replaced by the next new thing that I’m notgoing to be complaining about. 
Maybe I’ll go reactivate my Twitter account and tweet about that right now.                       

True Serendipity

I am a definite fan of book trailers.  In our digital media-rich world, it's important to use anything we can to get kids to pick up a book.

The strangest thing happened yesterday.  I was getting to work on this month's Smack Dab blog post, when I saw a tweet from library media specialist, Lori Kirtley, with a link to a book trailer that she and her fourth graders had done for my first book, ALSO KNOWN AS HARPER.  It took serendipity to a whole new level.  Seriously, what are the chances of that happening?




I direct messaged Lori to get permission to post it, so here it is:

Book Trailer for ALSO KNOWN AS HARPER

Thank you, Lori!











In making the video for my second book, A FINDERS-KEEPERS PLACE, I called upon cheap child labor, also known as my daughter, Holly.  She has a cameo in the video, but she may not appreciate my telling everyone.  Also, she may be huffy about her paycheck which is apparently still "in the mail".  Please click below:

Book Trailer for A FINDERS-KEEPERS PLACE by Ann Haywood Leal   

GIVEAWAY + INTERVIEW WITH MICHELE WEBER HURWITZ, AUTHOR OF THE SUMMER I SAVE THE WORLD...IN 65 DAYS

I was lucky enough to get my hands on an ARC of THE SUMMER I SAVE THE WORLD...IN 65 DAYS by Michele Weber Hurwitz...I absolutely fell in love with this read (as my questions for Michele reveal).  I'm a sucker for realistic, contemporary reads, and this one's a gem.  A breath of fresh air in a sea of magical or fantasy-based MG reads...


Where did the idea come from?
I wove many thoughts together for this story. First, we hear so much about paying it forward and random acts of kindness, but sometimes the amount of problems in our world overwhelms me, and I wondered -- does doing good really do any good? Is it making a difference? Second, I wondered how people truly react when random good comes their way. Is it always positive? I also worried about how technology has altered family life and neighborhoods, and how we live in this era of a sort of "disconnected connection." Lastly, I read about a class at the University of Iowa where the professor had students write down each day three positive events or experiences -- no matter how big or small -- and how this changed their perspectives. I started doing that too. We tend to focus on the negative, or what goes wrong, instead of recognizing small, good things that go right every day.

Did your own grandmother have a set of STs (simple truths)?
While Nina's grandmother isn't based on anyone in particular, my grandmother was a very no-nonsense type of woman. She never wore makeup or had her hair done. She lost her husband very young and worked in a factory, then later, as a bank teller. She certainly had a number of beliefs that she felt strongly about. Most had to do with not wasting money and living a sensible life. And keeping a very clean home :)

In this era of iPhones, iPads, etc, we’ve become more isolated.  Is that true of your own neighborhood?  Would your own neighbors call the police at the sight of a good deed?  Is the neighborhood of your adult years different from the neighborhood where you grew up?  Do you still have any girlhood friends from your old neighborhood?
I actually do live in a cul-de-sac, but it's only four houses, as opposed to the eight houses in the book. There definitely has been a shift as the kids in my neighborhood have gotten older. You see people outside less, but I do think that also has to do with our i-world. It's really strange, when you think about it, that I will email my neighbor who lives two houses away, instead of walking over. I do have a nostalgic fondness for the neighborhood I grew up in, as many people do. I remember kids and parents being around more, and just knowing each other more. One of my best friends lived on the block behind mine, and we're still close, although we don't live near each other now. The idea for the book about one panicky neighbor calling the police after a few of Nina's good deeds actually did come from real life! There was an item in my local paper's police blotter about a woman calling the police when a girl she didn't recognize was distributing homemade cookies in her neighborhood. So it definitely can happen!

Nina describes her family as being “separated” but also living in the same house.  Do you think this is typical today?  Do you think this also makes for a greater desire for kids to find someone who “gets me,” as Nina says?
There are some things going on with Nina's family that result in the separateness that Nina describes, but yes, I think families can easily slip into that type of pattern, especially as kids reach their teen years. I have actually texted my younger daughter to come downstairs for dinner! (She had her headphones on, okay?) With the Internet, people answer emails around the clock, and kids are online at night. Because of this, there probably isn't the same family time of years ago. As for friendship, I think that's such a universal desire -- to connect with someone who "gets" you. Don't we all long for that kind of friend?

Where did the Kumiho, or nine-tailed fox idea come from?
My writing desk looks out on my backyard, and a few years ago, two red foxes ran into my yard. I live in a regular suburban neighborhood so this was pretty unusual. I remember just stopping what I was doing and staring out the window. I was transfixed by their beauty and wildness. The idea for the fox in the story came from that encounter, even though I wasn't even writing TSISTW back then.

Nina is called an “old soul”—a phrase I haven’t heard in a long time.  People have said as much of me.  Who in your life has been referred to as an “old soul”?
Well, me. An astrologer once told me that. I'm not sure if I believe in those kinds of things, but I do think there are certain people with a deeper sense, a heightened understanding. I'm glad to meet another old soul :)

The suspicious Mrs. Millman is quite a character.  Is she based on anyone?
I have to admit there was a neighbor on my block growing up that all the kids were scared of. It seemed she was always peeking out her window, waiting for us to do something wrong. My little brother wrote his name in chalk all the way down the sidewalk to her house, and she called my mom about it! My mom always joked that she wanted to pretend it wasn't him, but there wasn't anyone else in the neighborhood named Joey, especially one who wrote his name with a backward J.

In this era of “princessification” of young girls, I really loved the fact that  you depicted a girl who was more concerned with her actions than her looks.  Was that a conscious choice as you built Nina, or just part of creating a fully fleshed-out character?
It was a conscious choice, but also, I happen to love girl characters who are interested in things other than clothes and makeup. I'm happy to see girls and women speaking out now about how photo-shopped images of models can undermine self-esteem and send a damaging message, and how strength and leadership should be encouraged in girls. I hope we continue to see more dynamic, intelligent girl characters in middle grade novels.  
The story builds beautifully—the ending becomes a page-turner.  Are there more Nina stories to come? 
I'd love to write another Nina story! It's hard to say goodbye to a character after you turn in that last draft. We'll see...

You masterfully weave your 65 deeds into Nina’s extraordinary summer.  What’s 66?
I guess we'll have to find out number 66 if there's a sequel :)

How would Grandma have summed up Nina’s summer?
Grandma would be so proud of her, no doubt about that. And I think Grandma was right there with her the whole time. If she summed it up in a Simple Truth, it probably would have been: You get back what you put in, so make it count.

One of my favorite scenes is Nina planting the forget-me-not seeds.  It seems that in writing this book, you’re also planting a few seeds in your readers’ minds.  What do you hope readers take away from this story?
I hope readers will realize that small good things are much bigger than they seem. And, that doing good doesn't have to be about raising tons of money or spending a Saturday cleaning up a park (although those efforts are certainly wonderful). But more just about being a good person. Cliché, I know, but ask kids or teens what they like best about their teachers. Invariably, they'll say: "she's nice." Ask yourself what stuck with you from your day. Maybe someone held a door open for you when your arms were full of grocery bags, or shared tomatoes from their garden, or made you laugh. That's what is important in the long run. We all know it. We just have to do it more.
---
Michele Weber Hurwitz is also the author of Calli Be Gold (Wendy Lamb Books 2011), which was named a Best Book by the Bank Street College of Education and was nominated for a 2014 Bluestem Readers' Choice Award. She lives in a suburb of Chicago with her husband and three children, and loves to walk and eat chocolate (not at the same time). Find her at micheleweberhurwitz.com and on Twitter @MicheleWHurwitz.

Michele has also provided a signed copy of her fantastic book for our readers.  US / Canadian residents are encouraged to fill out the form below; the contest runs through Monday, April 28.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

“Middleview” Interview with Debut Author Ryan Gebhart

Posted by Tamera Wissinger
Today, Ryan Gebhart is joining Smack Dab In The Middle Blog for a guest “middleview” interview. Ryan’s debut middle grade novel THERE WILL BE BEARS, Candlewick Press, releases on 04/22/2014! Congratulations, Ryan!
Here is a bit about Ryan:
Ryan Gebhart was born and raised in Maumee, Ohio, and graduated from Ohio University with a master's degree in Spanish. Having held twenty-one jobs in his life, he can do lots of unexpected things, from wiring a house to painting portraits to quartering large game to making a fierce smoothie. There Will Be Bearswas inspired by a gig working at a hunting ranch in western Wyoming. Ryan Gebhart lives in Ohio.
Here’s a description of THERE WILL BE BEARS:
Tyson is determined to hunt an elk — even if it means sneaking his grandpa out of a nursing home — in a debut novel sparked with dry wit and wilderness adventure.
Thirteen-year-old Tyson loves hanging out with his roughneck Grandpa Gene, who’s a lot more fun than Tyson’s ex–best friend, Brighton. These days, Bright just wants to be seen with the cool jocks who make fun of Tyson’s Taylor Swift obsession and dorky ways. So when Grandpa Gene has to move to a nursing home that can manage his kidney disease, Tyson feels like he’s losing his only friend. Not only that, but Tyson was counting on Grandpa Gene to take him on his first big hunt. So in defiance of Mom and Dad’s strict orders, and despite reports of a scary, stalking, man-eating grizzly named Sandy, the two sneak off to the Grand Tetons. Yes, there will be action, like shooting and dressing a six-hundred-pound elk. Is Tyson tough enough? There will be heart-pounding suspense: is Grandpa Gene too sick to handle the hunt, miles away from help? And, oh yes, there will be bears. . . .
Here are the links to Ryan online: Twitter, Goodreads Note: There is a 5-copy giveaway currently underway on Goodreads – hurry, though, just two days remain.
Now it’s time to hear from our guest:
Smack Dab Middleview with THERE WILL BE BEARS author Ryan Gebhart 1. In a nutshell, what does your main character, Tyson want?
Tyson wants nothing more than to go elk hunting with his grandfather in the Bridger-Teton National Park in Wyoming.
2. What is in his way?
His grandfather has been hiding a sickness from him, and his parents don't want them going because of the recent spate of bear attacks in the park. 
3. Did you know right away that this was your story, or did you discover it as you wrote? How did the story evolve?
The original draft was actually a fantasy about an imaginative kid playing along with his grandfather's dementia, and he pretended they were trying to escape from a dungeon, but in real life that dungeon was a nursing home. But the story had no meat to it, so it got shelved, along with a hundred other random, awful ideas. I found a way to bring this concept back to life after returning from a season working at an elk hunting ranch. I really think that combining two ideas that, at first glance, don't seem to play well with each other, I think that's an effective way to develop a unique and compelling plot.
4. Was There Will Be Bearsalways for middle grade readers or not? If so, why did you choose middle grade? If not, what had to change for it to be considered a middle grade novel?
I had attempted to get an agent with five YA novels, all with zero success. My YA "voice" just wasn't there. But one of my beta readers pointed out how natural my MG voice sounded in the flashback sequences, and she suggested I try to write for a younger crowd. So when I returned home from the hunting ranch, I knew my escape-from-a-nursing-home-to-go-elk-hunting story was destined to be MG.
5. What is the best part of writing for middle grade readers?
For many MG readers, the middle school years will be the worst time of their lives. But also the most memorable. Middle school kids are awkward and bizarre from an adult perspective, but they're just desperate to fit into their own skin, to fit in with their friends, and to discover their own identity. This whole "growing up" thing is completely new to them, and it gets thrown at them from nowhere. It's like, dude, I was just playing with toy trucks in the sandbox three minutes ago and now you want me to have responsibilities and date girls??? Being able to speak to MG'ers and to represent them in this coming-of-age time is a complete honor, because I remember just how much the things I loved stuck with me at that age.
6. Is there any downside?
Having not completed and published a novel in other genres, I'm still 100% certain that pulling off an effective and not-condescending MG is the hardest thing to do. In the world. Since the dawn of time. Because on page, it seems so, so easy. But to effectively write in the voice of a thirteen-year old, and to capture his fears, wants, insecurities and make it all honest... it's like, dude. You have no idea. My book has been called a "slim volume" and a "quick, easy read" and it took me THREE YEARS to pull it off.
7. Is there one question you wish you could answer about writing, your book, or the author's life, but have never been asked? Here's your chance to Q &A yourself.
Q: Did you rip off the title for your book from the movie There Will Be Blood?
A: Absolutely.
Thanks for joining us at Smack Dab in the Middle Blog, Ryan. Again, congratulations on the release of THERE WILL BE BEARS![image error]

Side Benefits from Book Trailers (April theme)

by Tracy Barrett

I don’t think it’s possible to quantify the benefit of a book trailer (and by “benefit,” of course I mean “increased sales”!) but there are still reasons to make one.
Trailers are a great way to introduce readers to your work before you make a school visit, for example. No matter how much we stress the importance of our audience’s familiarity with what we’ve written, teachers are strapped for time and resources and they can’t always make sure that their students have read our work. They can show a two-minute video, though, and that’s a lot better than nothing.
Teachers also use trailers as inspiration for student-created trailers. Search your book title on YouTube—you might be surprised to find student-created trailersthat you can then link to on your web site. It’s free publicity and always fun to see what the kids have done!
My nephew created a live-action trailer for my novel King of Ithaka . It was good experience for him (he’s now writing scores for student work at Columbia Film School), and of course he earned a little money (important for aspiring composers!). A win-win for both of us.
So even if I don’t see increased sales from these trailers—the student-created efforts and the film created by my nephew—I’m pleased they were made and I plan to make more for future books.

P.S. This is my last post at Smack Dab in the Middle. I'm writing less MG and more YA these days, so I'm transferring over to the other group blog that Holly Schindler put together and administers: YA Outside the Lines. I'll be posting there on the 11th of every month. See you there!
 

GOING ON AN ADVENTURE WITH GARY PAULSEN

Today’s post comes from Marriah K. Nissen, who wrote this for my blog.  Here’s Marriah:
Every night at bedtime, my daughter and husband crack open a book and wander through a story someone else has dreamed up. My daughter is more of the fairytale fanatic, enjoying journeys that take place in a realm that I read about as a child. Her most recent personal read has been the original story of The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Anderson. My husband, on the other hand, tends to be more of a realist. The middle ground they both decide on means that the book they choose has to have adventure. Lately, the type of adventure they’ve both been seeking has centered on the works of one author in particular – Gary Paulsen.
The fact that my husband enjoys Paulsen’s work comes as no surprise. I never read any of Paulsen’s books while I was growing up, and when I saw the tomes lining my shelves after I got married, I wasn’t surprised to see why I hadn’t. Paulsen has a flair for writing more from the young boy perspective, which sadly enough, I feel is lacking in MG and YA literature today. That’s not to say that works aren’t being written for boys, but the most popular ones tend to hinge on fantastical elements and far-fetched storylines, like Percy Jackson and Harry Potter, both of which still hit the tops of most MG and YA lists. What’s missing in these books is real-life adventure, something a boy can go out and experience on his own.
You might be asking then why my daughterloves Paulsen’s books so much. Mainly because the stories hinge on that big “S” word we all like to find in our novels – Suspense. In Paulsen’s stories, like Dogsong, The Voyage of the Frog, and Hatchet, the main characters are boys, but these are kids around her age, kids going through real-life conflicts and hardships. They find themselves in uncertain, often times harrowing circumstances, and she’s just hoping that they survive in the end. She loves anything that will take her on a great adventure as seen through the eyes of a child around her age.
In Dogsong, young Russel Suskitt leaves the modern world with nothing more than a dog sled and a chance to find his own “song” inside himself. In The Voyage of the Frog, David Alspeth sets out to fulfill his uncle’s final wish and sets sail in the Frog. And in Hatchet, Brian Robeson finds himself stranded in the wilderness of Canada and must somehow stay alive. In all of these stories, unknown adventures await the main characters, adventures they never knew they’d encounter. What makes these stories so wonderful to read is that the characters come out better for it on the other end:
Russel finds his “song” and helps a young girl along the way.
David, even after being lost at sea, knows he’s fulfilled his uncle’s last request.
Brian not only survives the wilderness, but teaches others how to as well in The River, the sequel to Hatchet.
In all, Paulsen writes stories about survival, something for which children today still hold a keen interest. Not only do they get to read a story that puts them on the edge of their seat, but they also absorb a learning experience about how to hack your way out of the wilds of Canada or survive a storm at sea in a tiny sailboat. If we are to believe as writers the old saying, “Write what you know,” much like Paulsen did, then we should also take it one step further. Add a little excitement and suspense into the mix. After running away from home at the age of 14, Gary Paulsen used his experiences in his writing when he embarked on a life filled with odd jobs, such as traveling with a carnival, being a sailor, and entering the Iditarod. When he decided to write about his journeys in life, he managed to do it with a suspenseful flair. To this day he remains a mainstay in the young adult market and continues to show his “intense desire to tap deeply into the human spirit and to encourage readers to observe and care about the world around them.”*
If you’ve never taken the opportunity to read one of Paulsen’s many stories, then I encourage you to do so. You just might glean a little insight into your own life.
*According to http://www.randomhouse.com/features/garypaulsen/about.html
Marriah K. Nissenis an adult historical author and co-author of the award-winning blog The Writing Sisterhood. Her previous work has won both regional and national competitions, including the Soul-Making Keats Literary Awards, the Southwest Writers Literary Contest, and the Pacific Northwest Writers Association Literary Contest. For the third straight year, she has recently received the New Mexico Press Women’s Award for best informational blog. She has her M.A. in French language, literature and culture and is an active member of SouthWest Writers in Albuquerque, New Mexico. She is currently working on her latest novel, which centers on the building of the first atomic bomb in Los Alamos, New Mexico.

Hands Down, My Favorite Reason for Book Trailers

by Jody Feldman Here’s what I like about book trailers. Once you get past the pipedream that yours will receive as much attention as a Super Bowl commercial or at least a John Green video, there’s really something quite valuable to these things.

Certainly, a trailer can lead to the sale of a couple books here and there. Sure, one friend might send a book trailer link to another, causing a brief discussion. (“You wanna read it?” "Yeah. You wanna read it?”) Yes, some school media specialists do assemble trailers from newly released books and run them on a loop in their libraries. And I strongly believe I can speak for all authors and say how much we truly appreciate that.





(Trailer for The Gollywhopper Games)

I also love having trailers available for school visits. Showing them during my presentations helps give the kids a better sense of the books I write. And they also works to break up the time. (Kind of like I’m breaking up this blog.) I can get a good drink of water. The kids get recharged from having a change of pace (and face). It just works.

(Trailer for The Seventh Level)

But hands down, my favorite reason for having trailers is this: It helps spark the readers' imaginations. I’m not talking about an “oh, that’s so cool; I need to read the book” reaction, but more along the lines of response to reading. Maybe kids don’t seek out book trailers online, but when an assignment comes and one of their choices is to create a book trailer, guess what? These students have our trailers on YouTube, TeacherTube, or on our websites for reference, resource, and inspiration.

Every time I becomes aware of a new student-made (or teacher-/librarian-made) trailer for one of my books, I can’t help but smile. My creation, either the book or the trailer, has sparked their creativity ... often with results that go beyond what I could imagine.

If Jody Feldman had timed this right, she would have debuted her newest trailer – for The Gollywhopper Games: The New Champion -- here and now. The book comes out May 27. She’s hoping the trailer will precede it.

BEST BOOK TRAILERS EVERBy Marcia Thornton JonesFrom the a...

BEST BOOK TRAILERS EVERBy Marcia Thornton Jones
From the author’s point of view, trailers are promotional tools used to advertise books with the ultimate goal of selling copies. From the reader’s point of view, they entertain. From a teacher’s perspective, trailers provide a tool for encouraging reading—either in conjunction with an author visit or to supplement core content.
All good things.
There are countless whiz-bang ones out there, with trailers getting more and more sophisticated—they have to in order to snag the attention of a media-savvy world. But something that bothers me about book trailers is that watching them is a removed and passive experience by the audience; rather like watching a basketball game on television. Fleetingly entertaining and with no personal connection (unless, of course, you’re from Kentucky and the basketball Wildcats make it to the NCAA tournament finals…but that’s another story).
It’s nice when event organizers tell me my book trailers have been viewed prior to an author appearance, but to me it’s AWESOME when kids practically mob me at the door because they can’t wait for me to see trailers THEY made. Trailers that celebrate the joyful experience of reading and story—and more importantly—that show an authentic connection between actively engaged readers and the story I wrote for them.
So all you readers—kids, media specialists, bookstore owners, teachers, and parents—why not start a media reading club where kids read and then produce their own book trailers? For me, those would be the best book trailers ever because authentic beats whiz-bang any day! And I have a sneaking suspicion that these reader-produced trailers will be remembered far longer than the professionally produced ones that required nothing more from readers than to sit and stare at images flashing across a screen.
(Visit my Web site to see trailers for a few of my books: http://www.marciatjones.com/newsletter.htm )