Kirby Larson's Blog, page 3

Throwback Thursday

I'm just back from New York, where I was the guest of the New York Historical Society for their Historical Fiction book club.  Me with fellow  historical fiction lovers at the NYC Historical Soeiety

I had a grand time with the young people and their families and a grand time re-visiting the Historical Society, where I spent many hours researching for an earlier book of mine, The Friendship Doll.


That book centers on the Ambassador Dolls, or Friendship Dolls, sent by the children of Japan to the children of this country in 1927, in hopes of improving relations between our two nations.  
The book opens in New York city, with the presentation of five of the dolls at City Hall, an event presided over by then-Mayor Jimmy Walker. Research revealed that Miss Belle Wyatt Roosevelt—granddaughter of Teddy-- was selected to accept one of the dolls on behalf of the children of America. Another snippet of research uncovered the fact that Belle was quite nervous and wobbled upon receiving the treasured token of friendship.
That detail was all it took for my writer’s mind to wonder “what if?” If you want to see how I spun that fact into fiction, check out The Friendship Doll for yourself. And be sure to do a little homework here to find out if your state was one of the lucky ones to have been gifted with a Friendship Doll way back when. Miss Miyazaki, presumed lost but uncovered after an intrepid librarian read
The Friendship Doll and was moved to search for her
Miss Tokushima, Washington state's Friendship Doll

Wednesday Wisdom

Mistakes are the portals of discovery.
James Joyce

Teacher Tuesday

Please welcome today's guest, Tara Smith, a 6th grade teacher from New Jersey. We're dying to know how you would answer the Teacher Tuesday quiz, Tara. So let's get started!

Please fill in the blank: You should never read and blank at the same time.

You should never read and try to do anything else at the same time.  Reading requires all of you  to step into another world.
If you were invited to be on Oprah, what book would you bring for her to read?
Margaret Wild's Fox - to show her that children's book authors are on to something powerful - children can be deep thinkers given the invitation and the respect to do so.
What is the funniest book you’ve read?
I guess I am a grouch - I don't read funny books (but I guess I should start to!)
What is the saddest?
The Bluest Eye  by Toni Morrison.  Pecola Breedlove's story is one that I will never forget.
Favorite reading snack/beverage?
Starbuck's venti skim chai - hot in the winter, iced in the summer. It goes so perfectly with reading...plus I love crunching on the ice on a hot summer day.
What’s next on your TBR list?

An alumna of my sixth grade classroom, now a junior in college, sent me a collection of her short stories - I'll be reading these with much love and pride.
Teachers, librarians, reading coaches, principals, custodians, lunch ladies, anyone with school connections: Please play along! Email me here and I'll get you the questions so you, too, can be featured on Teacher Tuesday. 

Friend Friday

What I love most about cyberspace is that it has allowed me to form warm friendships with folks I've never even met, except through their books. That's the case with today's guest, Lynda Mullaly Hunt, whose debut novel One For the Murphys captured my heart. Her newest novel is just out and I'm delighted that she's agreed to visit with us today to talk about it.  Lynda Mullaly Hunt

Friends.
My new book, FISH IN A TREE, is a lot about the kinds of friends who know the ins and outs of you. Who forgive you when you say something dumb because they know your heart. The kinds of friends who, when you say you’re fine, will raise an eyebrow and pull the truth out of you. These are the people who help you figure out who you are. They serve as both mirrors and windows.
In Fish in a Tree, Ally Nickerson confesses to her best friends that she can’t read. She finds out that they already know and is horrified but then realizes they don’t see her any differently because of it. Then the three friends discuss “being yourself” like their teacher tells them. Being a cerebral type, Albert has even Googled “being yourself” searching for an answer on how to actually do it. He knows who he wants to be when he grows up but he has trouble picking out who he is now. After all, there are many opinions he hears at school about who is – nerd, loser. etc. However, it is Ally and Keisha who mirror back to him who he reallyis—intelligent. Observant. Kind. Fiercely loyal. 
These friendships we have as children are like no others later in life, I think. When we are young, friendship is just about the love—the pure joy of camaraderie and having found a kindred spirit. Remember those days when, after one recess period, you had a very best friend ever? The joy? And sometimes the relief?
As authors, we teach children a lot of things. We don’t set out to do that necessarily, but children “become” our characters as they read—and thus experience what our main characters do. (Studies on readers’ brains have proven this.) So, kids are learning and feeling what friendships should be—and shouldn’t be—while reading.
When my daughter was in elementary school she commented to me one day that she was nervous around a particular friend and we talked about how a true friend is someone you can let your guard down with. When you do, you trust them to care for your feelings and when they do that, the connection is deepened. Friendships are made that way. One kindness upon another. A trusting gesture upon another. And acceptance of who we are. Really are.
Ally gives these bits of herself to Keisha and Albert—and they do the same with her. These friends care for each other. Cheer each other on. Hold each other up. Step forward in defense. They are loyal.  And as they each give this affection and receive it, they each learn what true friendship is. Hopefully, their readers will as well.
Lynda Mullaly Hunt is the author of middle-grade novel, ONE FOR THE MURPHYS (Nancy Paulsen Books/Penguin), winner of The Tassy Walden Award: New Voices in Children’s Literature, an ABA New Voices Pick, A Nerdy Book Award Winner, and an Editor’s Choice Book with Scholastic Book Clubs. It also appears on 22 state lists. Lynda has directed the SCBWI-NE Whispering Pines Retreat for eight years and is a former teacher and Scenario Writing coach. Her second novel, FISH IN A TREE, was released on Thursday. Lynda lives with her husband, two kids, impetuous beagle and beagle-loathing cat.

Throwback Thursday

I love this scrapbook that Scholastic created for my character, Piper, in The Fences Between Us, the title that kicked off the relaunch of the Dear America series. Young readers can try their hands at 40s wartime vocabulary, food and fashion. The site also has great images from WWII to help kids understand rationing and other homefront experiences.


Check it out!

Wednesday Wisdom

"If you think adventure is dangerous, try routine."
from a TED talk by Daniele Quercia

Teacher Tuesday

Laura Cooper, a teacher at Queen Anne Elementary in Seattle, is today's guest and one of my favorites so far because she forwarded the Teacher Tuesday quiz to several friends of hers and got them to play, too. Feel free to do the same!
Laura, please fill in the blank: You should never read and blank at the same time.

You should never read and cook at the same time.  (Speaking from experience, it could result in a small fire.)
If you were invited to be on Oprah, what book would you bring her? 
I would bring her both Brown Girl Dreaming, by Jacqueline Woodson, and Deborah Wiles' Revolution.  It's a great pairing.  
What's the funniest book you've read?
The funniest book I've read (recently) Battle Bunny by Jon Sciezka/Mac Barnett. 
The saddest?
The saddest book I've read is Sadako and the Thousand Paper Cranes (First book I ever cried over)  
Favorite reading snack/beverage?
Tea  (specifically Vanilla Apricot white tea by Tazo)
What's next on your TBR list?  

Stella by Starlight by Sharon Draper followed by All the Bright Places, by Jennifer Niven.
Teachers, librarians, reading coaches, principals, custodians, lunch ladies, anyone with school connections: Please play along! Email me here and I'll get you the questions so you, too, can be featured on Teacher Tuesday. 

You win some and you lose some. . .

So, Seattle in general is feeling a bit down in the dumps right now because the Seahawks did not pull off another miracle.


But there is good news to share: Laura Simeon is the lucky, lucky winner of the autographed copy of Laurie Thompson's new picture book, Emmanuel's Dream. Yay, Laura!

Friend Friday

I met Stephanie Kammeraad at the Michigan Reading Association Conference on Mackinac Island this past summer. She was there with her talented husband and adorable children. We got to chatting during the reception/book signing and she shared her passion for multicultural literature. I thought that would make a great blog post and, even though she's a crazy-busy lady, Stephanie agree to write a piece. So excited to share her thoughts here!


Stephanie Kammeraad

Multicultural Books: Why Do They Matter? 
When our son was about three years old, we went to a folk music concert that was held at our library.  We had seen many of the musicians before and enjoyed listening to their music as a family.  We were in the back of a very large and crowded room, and about half way through the show, our son became agitated and said that he wanted to leave.  He pleaded with me to take him out of the room, so we did.   Upon entering the hallway, our son turned to me with tears in his eyes and said he was sorry but that he had to leave.  Thinking he was referring to leaving the show, I told him it was okay but asked him why.  Didn’t he like the music?  He said no, that he had to leave here, leave Michigan, and go back to Guatemala.  He was really sorry but said he had to go back, to go where people looked like him. 
Oh my heart.  I felt a punch in my stomach and a wave of guilt and sadness as I looked at our beautiful little boy.  I told him that if he had to leave, we were going with him.  We would be together wherever we needed to be.  It was then our turn to apologize, for our not seeing what he saw so clearly and felt so deeply: He had been the only person of color in that room. 
Thus began a series of changes in our family, a new intentionality that brought race and culture to the forefront of our minds instead of them sitting in the back.  We began looking at all aspects of our life, and we realized how little we had done to help our child feel comfortable in his own skin.  Our son longed to see a reflection of himself throughout the pages of his life, and we were slowly learning how to find that for him. 
So why do multicultural books matter?  They matter because children are able to see reflections of themselves in the pages of a book.  Their reflection tells children that they are significant, that they have value, that they belong.  Regardless of whether a child is growing up with or around people of their same race or not, regardless of which race a child is categorized as being, every child is affected by the presence or absence of others of their race and ethnicity.  They are affected by who is shown (or not shown) in the books they are exposed to, whether consciously or subconsciously. 
Books can be mirrors, but they can also be windows, “offering views of worlds that may be real or imagined, familiar or strange.” (*Find this citation here.) Windows allow us to see beyond ourselves, and when we do that, we grow in empathy, in compassion, and in understanding.  I believe every child deserves to have their world opened up to the world of others, to experience seeing beyond themselves.  Wouldn’t our world be a better place if we could all move beyond ourselves, move beyond our fears, our ignorance, move past tolerance, and move into understanding and appreciation?
Everyone needs mirrors and windows in their life, and what a safe place in books to be able to see more of yourself and learn more about others.  Multicultural books are beneficial for everyone.



 Stephanie Kammeraad is a children's bookseller and educator, specializing in multicultural children's books. As the founder of Mama-Lady Books  she creates and facilitates multicultural story times at elementary schools, presents professional development workshops for teachers regarding racism in the classroom and on multicultural books, and facilitates school fundraising book fairs.  She shares information about books, reading, and parenting and teaching multiculturally through her blog, monthly newsletter, and through social media outlets, such as Facebook. 
 Stephanie is also a home educating mama of two and along with her husband is the co-owner of Cooperfly Creative Arts.  She and her family live in Grand Rapids, MI.

Throwback Thursday

Believe it or not, on this day in 1921, Washington state experienced a hurricane! According to one of my favorite sites, History Link, "a hurricane-force windstorm with gusts of more than 100 miles per hour strikes the Washington coast. Mill stacks are toppled along with power and telephone lines. Water surges over riverbanks and ships and barges break moorings."

Courtesy Washington Forest Protection AssociationOne man, an engineer for one of the Olympic Peninsula mills, was killed, along with an entire herd of 200 elk. Sixteen Native American homes were destroyed and the logging industry suffered the devastating loss of billions of board feet of timber.

I can't help but think of another, more recent hurricane, Katrina. I was so moved by the news reports of that terrible event that I signed on with teams at two different times to go to the Gulf Coast to help with clean up and rebuilding. 



It was my experience there -- meeting incredibly brave and resilient residents, as well as dedicated and generous rescue volunteers -- that ultimately led to the writing (with my dear friend Mary Nethery) of Two Bobbies: A True Story of Hurricane Katrina, Friendship and Survival. 


Mary and I are so in awe of the work done by pet rescue groups like Best Friends Animal Society (the organization that took in the two Bobs) that we donate 10% of our author royalties to that organization.