Kirby Larson's Blog, page 32

Thursday's Thought

Love doesn't grow at a steady rate but advances in surges, bolts and wild leaps.
Ian McEwan

Teacher Tuesday

For some, the school year was wrapped up weeks ago. For the kids in our district, school ends June 19th. So today marks the last Teacher Tuesday until September.

As you know, the spark for this feature was (is!) my 6th grade teacher, Mr. Craig, a wonderful man who convinced 30 some-odd 11- and 12-year-olds that we were capable of great things. And who would want to disappoint Mr. Craig? Not me! I worked very hard in his class. I wish I could say he turned me into a completely dedicated student, who always gave 110%. Sadly, I am cursed with these procrastination genes that take over my body at times, like some kind of alien parasite. But Mr. Craig did expand my concept of myself as a person and contributing member of society and if you average out what I've accomplished in the years since 6th grade, I believe he would still be proud of me. (Actually, I happen to know he is because we remain in touch.)

Me at the Hattie Ever After book launch with Mr. Craig and two of my 6th grade classmates
I have been gobsmacked, to borrow a phrase from my friend Karen Cushman, by the 74 (and counting!) teachers and librarians and reading coaches and other caring professionals who signed up to be guest bloggers here at Kirby's Lane for the 2013-2014 school year. (It's not too late: visit the Nerdy Book Club blog.)

When I start the feature up again in September, it will definitely be with a new name and a new slant. And you might even find the spotlight shining on this country's (world's!) teachers on a more frequent basis. As my folks would say when we begged to go to Disneyland: we'll see. Check back come September 4th; if you care about connecting kids and books, these guest posts will be something you won't want to miss.

As for how I will spend the next several weeks, I intend to finish some revisions, finish writing a book that came out of nowhere and spend a lot of time with the most adorable grandchild I know.
Princess Esme
See you in the fall!

I Want You!

Last summer, I took a hiatus from blogging (planning to do the same this summer). Before starting up again in the fall, I gave careful thought as to what my blog might add to the already rich and informative blogosphere.

It came to me that one thing I could do was shine a spotlight on this country's amazing teachers and librarians. Thus was born the Teacher Tuesday feature.

If you pop over to the Nerdy Book Club right now, you can read a more in-depth essay about this project (posted yesterday). The bottom line is that I need 40+ willing guest bloggers to continue into the 2013-2014 school year; 40+ teachers and librarians who are willing to share how they connect kids and books.

The first ten folks to sign up (over at the Nerdy Book Club) will get a free copy of the audio version of my newest book, Hattie Ever After.


What are you waiting for? Go. Sign up!

Friend Friday

Allyson Valentine Schrier has the best laugh of anyone I know. And she laughs a lot! Which is why I love hanging around her. And nothing makes me happier than turning my blog over to her today while she talks a bit about her new novel and about writing!   How (Not) to Find a Boyfriend and the Four Phases of Dialogue Tag Evolutionby Allyson Valentine
When I work with middle and high school aged kids in the classroom I see a trend in the use of dialogue tags reminiscent of my own early attempts to produce compelling prose. Loud dialogue tags. The kind that draw more attention to the tag itself than to the dialogue it describes.
“Get away from my dog!” Janna shrieked.
“He was going to bite me!” Aidan blustered.
“He only wanted to say ‘Hi,’” Janna reprimanded.


I call this the Look at me I’m a dialogue tag! phase.
By the time they’ve gone to their first SCBWI meeting or read their first book on craft, most burgeoning writers have already entered the second phase of dialogue tag evolution: He said, she said. By this point they understand that it’s rarely necessary to use any dialogue tag beyond the tried and true standard, said.
“I don’t understand any of the stuff Mr. Peterson talked about in math today,” Stacia said.
“What? It was easy,” said Kirsten.
“That’s because you’re a math genius,” said Stacia.
“No, it’s because I stayed awake,” said Kirsten.


Better, but eventually all of those ‘he said, she said’ tags clutter up the works. The evolving writer comes to understand that a reader’s time is precious and our job is to not waste it with unnecessary words. To that end, writers enter phase three: Look ma! No tags!
The above example simply becomes this:
“I don’t understand any of the stuff Mr. Peterson talked about in math today,” Stacia said.
“What? It was easy,” said Kirsten.
“That’s because you’re a math genius.”
“No, it’s because I stayed awake.”


‘Invisible tags’ as they are sometimes called work well when only two characters are engaged in the conversation. Throw in a third character and pretty quickly the reader loses track of who is who. Also, long runs of tag-free dialogue can get pretty dull. Aside from any emotion the words between the quote marks convey, there is little happening, which causes the pace of the writing to drop three notches on the snooze meter.
Enter phase four: Speaking with action. When I was in grad school at Vermont College I began to truly understand the importance of reading excellent writing to get a sense of how to improve my own work. One of the things I took away from all of that reading was that the most steadily-paced, captivating runs of dialogue involved action instead of tags to show who is speaking. Let me show you what I mean with an example from my own work.



In this scene from How (Not) to Find a Boyfriend, Nora, the protagonist, has just returned home from cheer practice where she is greeted by her little brother, Joshie and the family dog, Copernicus. Joshie is reporting that Nora’s love interest, Adam, stopped by while she was out:
“That guy was biking by and he stopped to play soccer with me again,” Joshie reports.
My breath catches. “Adam?”
Joshie nods like he’s trying to shake something loose. “He’s nice. You should marry him.”
“First I’d need to go out with him.”
Joshie shrugs. Copernicus scratches. Apparently he has no four-legged wisdom to share today. Joshie switches gears. “Want to play with me?”
I’m wiped out, but maybe a little soccer wouldn’t be such a bad idea. Maybe a certain bedimpled guy would happen by twice in one day and I’d have a chance to redeem myself here, where I’d have the home field advantage.
“Okay.” I look around the yard, the centerpiece of which is a little blow-up pool littered with Popsicle sticks and dog hair. “Where’s the ball?”


Compare that with:


“That guy was biking by and he stopped to play soccer with me again,” Joshie says.
“Adam?”
“He’s nice. You should marry him.”
“First I’d need to go out with him.”
“Want to play with me?” Joshie asks.
I’m wiped out, but maybe a little soccer wouldn’t be such a bad idea. Maybe a certain bedimpled guy would happen by twice in one day and I’d have a chance to redeem myself here, where I’d have the home field advantage.
“Okay, where’s the ball?”


My writerly advice is this: Strip tags out of those long runs of dialogue and explore how you can enrich the writing by using action to demonstrate how your characters are relating to one another and to their world. I will go back to my evolutionary roots and close with a final thought:


“If I figure out a fifth phase of dialogue tag evolution I will ask Kirby to allow me to post an update,” Allyson promised earnestly.


 "Thank you for stopping by, Allyson," Kirby replied gratefully. "I wish I could stay longer," she said apologetically, "but I am running out to my local indie bookstore to buy a copy of your new book which just came out today."

Thursday's Thought

There is no failure except in no longer trying.
Elbert Hubbard

Teacher Tuesday

I "met" Jannie Des Rosiers-Berman when she wrote a very sweet and complimentary email about my book, The Friendship Doll. We immediately found several connections, including discovering we're both from the northwest.

Jannie is a teacher librarian in the small town of Portland, Connecticut, working at two schools: one is an elementary (grades three/four) and one is an intermediate school (grades five/six.) Portland is known for its brownstone quarries and shipbuilding past. Jannie uses "manipulatives" to entice her students to read. Before we learn more, let's take a peek at her past:


Favorite school lunch: The “hot lunch” that my mother let me buy one a week. (I loved all of the choices!) The rest of the week I had bologna or tuna fish sandwiches on Wonder bread.Best friend in school: Books were my best friends in grade school! However, in seventh grade I met Ronna Plowman, and we are still good friends!Times you were the new kid: Only once – in fourth grade. We moved from Seattle to a prosperous suburb when my divorced mother remarried. The students were brutal about my lank hair, protruding teeth and pimples.  (Photo above shows how orthodontia, shampoo, and dermatology work wonders!)Teacher who made you stretch: A teacher who made a huge impression on me was Mrs. Heiman, my social studies/language arts teacher in seventh grade. She was a strict, no-nonsense teacher who told me I needed to enunciate and speak more slowly. (I am great now at the enunciate part – but I still speak too quickly!) Mrs. Heiman had lived through World War II and was a widow with one son. She was there to teach us, not to be hip or popular. (Later when I became a widow with young children I felt like perhaps I better understood Mrs. Heiman. I gave my son the same name as her son…coincidence?)
Okay, Jannie. Let's talk about connecting kids and books through. . .toys! How did this come to be part of your teaching process?
When I began working in a middle school library, I looked for “toys” I could put out with book displays. (These toys often included action figures, Beanie Babies, and Beanie kids.) The toys allowed students to play and relax a bit while they were in the library. I also hoped that students would notice the displays and check out more books!  When the middle school became an intermediate school, I added even more toys and other objects to displays. I turned part of my small desk into a mini toy and interesting objects museum. 



What have been some of your students’ favorite displays?

Students have enjoyed “playing” with Harry Potter figures and figures from The Lord of the Rings movies. Students love to visit my desk and see what I’ve picked up on my shopping trips. They love anything with water. Science museums are a great place to pick up toys.

Can you share a specific anecdote or two about a wonderful connection between a kid and a book display?  

I’ve attached a photograph of our display for The One and Only Ivan. The display has an elephant, cute small dog, gorilla, and a Polly Pocket doll. These came straight from my basement and are my children’s former toys. My students love to move the animals around and surprise the library staff with interesting tableaus. 


What kinds of outside resources, if any, do you employ (Skype, author websites, guest speakers) to further generate interest in books/reading?  

I have author visits and often students visit author websites and view book trailers.
Are there other resources you’ve found that might be helpful to other teachers/librarians wanting to use display items to perk up students’ interest in books?

Go shopping – and have fun! Don’t put out breakables, and don’t get upset if things disappear or break. We are still looking for items from five years ago! Kids are always asking me where I find all my “cool stuff.”
  Thanks for sharing this sweet but easy-to-do idea with us, Jannie! I love this notion of creating "tableaus" to bring books to life, especially when kids are allowed to add their own special touches. This reminds me of Tom Angleberger and all the origami creations kids send him, inspired by his Origami Yoda books; he posts them all on his blog. Using manipulatives, aka toys, is a great way to honor and celebrate the connections kids make with books!

Friend Friday

Tanya Stone
I don't [yet] know Sibert Medalist Tanya Stone, but I believe we would be good friends. I can tell from her carefully researched books that we both like to poke around in places that others overlook. 



Courage Has No Color has garnered four starred reviews, including one from Kirkus, which called it An exceptionally well-researched, lovingly crafted and important tribute to unsung American heroes.

Want to know more? Tanya was sweet enough to provide a link to a wonderful book trailer; click here to view. She also let me know about a free reading guide which you can download here.

I've read that it took her seven years to research this book, and that she worked hard to track down archival photos. It would be a great addition to your local school library so be sure to buy two copies from your favorite independent bookstore.

Thursday's Thought

True eloquence consists in saying all that is fit to be said and leaving out all that is not fit.
La Rochefoucauld

BEA, Bitty Baby and Me

About a year ago, I was invited to audition for a brand new line of picture books that American Girl was producing. I was intrigued -- though I am best known as a novel writer, I started my career writing picture books (and I have the drawerful of rejected manuscripts to prove it). I guess I was ready for a challenge and, coincidentally, I was also going to be a grandma for the first time. It seemed like a good time to take one of those crazy leaps I sometimes take.

To my surprise and delight, the powers that be at American Girl liked my audition piece and offered me the job. And had me sign a super-duper "keep the secret" clause. So I couldn't tell anyone -- not even my mother! -- what I was up to. And, what I was up to was writing seven picture books, in the span of about seven months. Whew. There's one more yet to write, but my editor decided I needed a tiny bit of a break. On top of other projects I was working on, it got a bit zooey around here at times. But I did it and had a blast channeling my inner four year old while working so collaboratively with my American Girl editor, Jennifer Hirsch. 

American Girl brought the extremely talented illustrator Sue Cornelison on board and I've been in awe watching her bring my words to pink and glittery-girly life.

Today, maybe at the very moment you are reading this post, I am signing the first Bitty Baby book in the School Library Journal lounge at BEA. After all the secrecy and waiting, it's so much fun to be able announce this new venture. Several of the books will be packaged with adorable plush animals. And all of them explore the joys and challenges of a 4-year-old girl and her best friend, Bitty Baby.

I can't wait to read these books to little Esme. 

BEA!

My bag is packed for the Big Apple (well, almost) and Book Expo America, BEA. I've never attended before and am thrilled to be part of this year's activities. Yes, it will be fun to sign in the School Library Journal lounge, and at the Scholastic booth -- and I even get to squeeze in a dinner with Deborah Heiligman, Judy Blundell and Rebecca Stead!

But I may be most excited about BEA because it means I can FINALLY tell the world about the top-secret project I've been working on for the last year.

Check back tomorrow and I will tell all.