Cynthia Lord's Blog, page 104

Five Things on an Almost-Friday

[image error]  

1.  Today, I'm driving up to Mt. Desert Island, Maine so I can catch the first ferry to Frenchboro on Friday morning.  Frenchboro is one of the three islands that inspired Touch Blue, so it will be a big deal to step off the ferry.

Here is what the island looks like.

And a  photo of the one-room schoolhouse I'll be visiting.  


2.  And here's a great photo of my "Other Hamster Half," Derek Anderson, doing a school visit in Minnesota.   What a nice person I get to work with, huh?  And I love how animated that little girl is in the photo. That's what makes it all worth it, right there.  

3.  Speaking of Minnesota, I'm working out a school visit there next spring!  I've never been to Minnesota, and not only does Derek Anderson live there, I had a pen-pal from Minnesota when I was young. So I have lots of good feelings for that state. 

4.  We have a very nice electrician working on our house right now.  Our house is nearly 100 years old, so the electrical system needs updating. 

But at my house:

A son with autism + a little yappy dog + a worker going in and out = aaaaaaaaaah!

   5.   I'm almost two-thirds through my Cybils reading now.  I had a funny moment last night when I picked up one of the books that had come in through inter-library loan.  The library worker asked me what the title was.

"I think it was 'Packing Heat?'" I said.

And she brought me:



Well, I got the "heat" part right. :-)  Packing Heat would be a very diffferent story. . . !
 

Wordless Wednesday

New Harbor, Maine. Photo by my husband, John

.

Heading Down East

 


Mount Desert Island, Maine

Today I'm preparing for my next Maine island trip. On Friday, I'm taking the early morning ferry to the community of Frenchboro. The island is a 30-minute ferry ride from Mt. Desert Island (where Bar Harbor and Acadia National Park are located).

Frenchboro Island School has 13 children, and here is their delightful school blog.   The five older students have read Touch Blue, and they've all done projects about their island that they will be sharing with me.  I'm really looking forward to this visit! 

The Island Institute and Island Readers and Writers have arranged that five more small Maine island schools will be able to participate that day through a fancy video system the Island Institute has installed in the smaller island schools.  So I'll have the kids from Cliff Island, Matinicus, Monhegan, Isle au Haut, and Islesford participating by video with me, too. 

Monhegan and Cliff Island schools also have fun blogs! I have really enjoyed reading about the students I will be meeting, either in person or on TV.

Since these schools are truly one-room or two-room schoolhouses, I offered  to do a little program on Hot Rod Hamster with the younger students, so they can be part of the day, too. 

Now, if the weather will just cooperate! 

For Lydia

 
I spent a fun hour yesterday with a young Hot Rod Hamster reader and her mom. Lydia gave me this wonderful Hot Rod Hamster that she made herself. His car comes separate so I can play with him!


"I'm ready to ROLL!"

Lydia, here is Hamster in his new home.



Getting acquainted with my ducky collection.



The Touch Blue seagull says he picks the shiny painted blue car.



And the other hamsters are singing and dancing with happiness that he's here!  Hip-Hip-Hamster-Hooray!


After I signed Lydia's book, I decided I would take advantage of the beautiful weather and drive down to one of my favorite little beaches. I had it completely to myself--just me and the seagulls.  I picked up a few new mussel shells for my school visits. And I came home with a pocket full of seaglass, including this little white heart and this beautiful piece of blue. 



And yes, of course. I wished on it.

From my mail

by a student from Vermont 

On the Touch Blue cover, why is touch blue written as a compound word? --Mike

The fifth grade is reading Rules, but I want to read Touch Blue. --Casey

I go to a small school, too. There are only 36 students in my whole middle and high school. --Jo-Ann 

I loved your book, Rules. It was intriguing! --Anna

Do autistic children know what they want to say, but it does not always come out? --Allie

Rules really makes you stop and think twice about how you can treat people better and how you can care. --Charlie

I hope to be either a writer (like you) or a teacher. --Sophie

Let's go to work!

My little assistant has so much enthusiasm for going to work that he makes it fun for me, too. :-)

One Thing On a Friday

Never whistle on a boat. The wind will think you are challenging her. 

 
Georgetown, Maine. Photo by my husband, John

1.  My first island trip was postponed today, due to this:

A RAPIDLY INTENSIFYING LOW PRESSURE SYSTEM WILL MOVE ACROSS THE CAPE COD EARLY THIS MORNING... THEN STALL OVER THE COAST OF MAINE THIS AFTERNOON. STRONG WINDS WILL GUST TO STORM FORCE OVER THE WATERS THROUGH EARLY AFTERNOON. SEAS WILL CONTINUE TO RAPIDLY BUILD AND BECOME VERY ROUGH.

WINDS OF 48 TO 63 KNOTS ARE IMMINENT OR OCCURRING. RECREATIONAL BOATERS SHOULD REMAIN IN PORT... OR TAKE SHELTER UNTIL WINDS AND WAVES SUBSIDE. COMMERCIAL VESSELS SHOULD PREPARE FOR VERY STRONG WINDS AND DANGEROUS SEA CONDITIONS... AND CONSIDER REMAINING IN PORT OR TAKING SHELTER IN PORT UNTIL WINDS AND WAVES SUBSIDE.

So my phone rang last night.  I'm disappointed, because I was really looking forward to this trip--and I'd already ironed!  :-) 

But it reminds me so much of being an island teacher--everything depends on the ferry.  It's going to be a challenge to reschedule this visit, because I have eight complicated trips to work around in the next five weeks.  I'm sure we can work something out, though.   

In the meantime, I'll listen to the wind and rain battling each other and enjoy my rapidly-intensifying storm day--inside.
 
 

Five Things on an Almost-Friday

1.  It's only Thursday, but I'm spending tomorrow with the wonderful seventh and eighth graders at the Islesboro Central School.

 
Islesboro. See the little blue dotted line?  That's the 20 minute ferry ride from Lincolnville. 

Here's what I'll see as the ferry comes into Islesboro  I've never been to Islesboro, so I'm extra excited to see the island and meet the kids!

2.  I smiled over some fan letters yesterday, including this from Haley:

My favorite part was when Catherine ran in the parking lot with Jason at the O.T. I predicted they were going to get hit by a car, but they didn't. That was a relief!

:-)  Yikes, Haley!  That would've been a very different story!

3.  Thank you to Becky's Book Reviews for this lovely review of Touch Blue.

4.  I had a funny moment at a wedding last weekend.  A friend grabbed me and said she wanted to introduce me to a teacher who loves my book.  I took a deep breath and got ready to have a heartfelt conversation about autism.  But when she started talking. . .the book was Hot Rod Hamster! 

I had to explain why I burst out laughing.

5.  Tomorrow is the deadline to nominate books for the Cybils Awards.  It's your last chance to add to my pile!!! 


My "already read" pile

I've read 19 Easy Readers and Early Chapter Books so far.  Four more came in yesterday, though! 

A Post-It Problem and My Talent Show Solution

These lobsterboats in the entryway of the Vinalhaven Island School turn in the wind!

I'm preparing some new slides for my island school visits. Until now, my school presentations on Touch Blue have been to kids who have not read the book yet.

But my island schools have read and discussed the book. In fact, they're in the process of doing some amazing projects. They've researched their own islands, taken field trips, talked about sustainability and inclusion. One group even made a Monopoly board featuring places on their own island.

So for these visits, I wanted to create some slides giving behind-the-scenes peeks at the process and decision-making of the book. For example, here's one my editor's suggestions that related to the Talent Show in Touch Blue:

  When I get a suggestion like this in an editorial letter, I write the suggestion on a Post-It and then look for a place in the manuscript where it might feel organic to address it.  I stick the Post-It note on that page, and then when I'm revising that chapter, I deal with it. That way I don't have to hold the entire editorial letter in my head as I'm revising.

I'm going to show that Post-It and ask the kids, "If you were given this suggestion and you couldn't think of an idea right away, what could you use to help you?"  I bet they'll have great ideas. 

After they've thought about different ways to get information. I'll show them what I did. I looked at descriptions and photos of events on island websites, and I typed "kids talent show" into Google and Google Images to see what came up. 

  Here's my talent show folder, full of photos and ideas about real community and school talent shows.   



I looked beyond ideas for Tess and Amy. I noticed details about how a room was set up at a community talent show (folding chairs in rows), how little kids hold the microphone right up to their bottom lip like it's an ice cream cone, how people stand when they're nervous, who in a community gets asked to be the Master of Ceremonies, etc.

At one school, a child mentioned doing a fake newscast, complete with a kid weatherman.  And that idea felt perfect to me for Tess and Amy. It was funny and felt in keeping with Tess' character (I didn't create a character who would want to do a dance, for example). I thought about how newscast people banter and go back and forth ("Now to Tess on the scene!"). It shows teamwork--a trait that friends have.  And a newscast has to do with communities, which fit my themes in Touch Blue.

I always tell kids that every book is really just a series of choices that the author made.  I hope these two slides of a Post-It problem and a series of talent-show choices will show that, too. 

It's a Book Baby!

 
 Congratulations! It's a bouncing book-baby!

Name: Truth With a Capital T.

Date of Birth: October 12, 2010

Weight: 272 pages

Proud Parent: Bethany Hegedus( bethanyhegedus )

Godparents: Delacorte Press Books for Young Readers g