Debbie Levy's Blog, page 12

PFAMS Is Here

And by PFAMS, I mean the Poetry Friday Anthology for Middle School, of course.  Same great format as the original Poetry Friday Anthology, published last year for grades K through 5 (see this):  a poem, plus activities or read-aloud tips for each poem, for every week of the school year, but this time for grades 6 through 8.  Same great editors, Sylvia Vardell and Janet Wong.  Lots of the same great poets, plus new ones.  I have a poem in here, too!

This volume of poetry is so good.  I can’t single out a favorite poem.  However, I was surprised by how weirdly affected I was by Robyn Hood Black’s “Locker Ness Monster,” and then a moment’s reflection made me understand.  You know how some people have that recurring dream about oversleeping for their final exams?  My version of that is needing, desperately needing, to get into my school locker for something and finding myself unable to remember the lock combination.  Over and over again.  And that is what this poem conjures up.  Gaahh!

As I calm myself, maybe you’d like to read more at the PFAMS blog.

Out And About

I’m so happy to be sharing this photo of me, my mother, and a special soul named Sister Patricia Gamgort of Saint Martin’s Ministries of Maryland’s Eastern Shore.

I’m happy because it shows my mom out and about despite serious health issues she’s been dealing with for the past year.  What’s even better, she was out and about doing one of her favorite things, which is helping share the story of The Year of Goodbyes.

I’m happy because the photo is a memento of an outstanding book event in which I participated yesterday, the 16th Annual Authors’ Luncheon benefiting Saint Martin’s.  Held at the Chesapeake Bay Beach Club overlooking the bay, it was a splendid affair, thanks to a group of volunteers who really know what they’re doing.  I shared authorial honors with novelist Christopher Tilghman, who talked about his latest novel, The Right-Hand Shore, and journalist Jefferson Morley, who introduced us to Snow-Storm in August, about the forgotten Washington, D.C. race riot of 1835.  I spoke about (and signed and signed and signed!) The Year of Goodbyes.

And I’m happy because now I get to introduce you to St. Martin’s Ministries, of which Sister Patricia is executive director.  Located in Ridgely, Maryland, St. Martin’s provides direct services–food and clothing, as well as money to prevent evictions and electricity cutoffs–to those in need.  It also has a transitional residence that allows homeless  women and their children to get back on their feet, often after physical or substance abuse.

Maryland’s Eastern Shore, a place of abundant natural beauty, offers less abundance for individuals who face chronic poverty.  Sister Patricia and her colleagues and volunteers spend their days and nights addressing the root problems of poverty and offering assistance in ways that affirm individual dignity.  St. Martin’s was founded by the Benedictine Sisters of Ridgely, but they provide services without regard for religious affiliation or lack of affiliation; the governing board, and the volunteers, are a delightfully ecumenical bunch.  I’m so glad I could be a tiny part of their efforts this weekend.

A Perfect Late-Winter Read

Is it possible that I have gotten through all these years of life up to now without reading The Wind in the Willows?  Hard to believe, but I think somehow I missed this book in my childhood.  I’ve just now finished it and am basking in its glow.  Really, basking.  Because for a river-lover like me, it’s the perfect late-winter read.  Sure, the kayak may still be cold in its shed, harboring stinkbugs, but this gorgeous story offers the satisfaction and prospects of this wonderful, justly famous passage:

“Believe me, my young friend, there is NOTHING–absolutely nothing–half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.”  [The Water Rat to the Mole]

Sigh.  So true.

There’s more to say about this book’s other delights, but I’m going to just bask here for a while.

Proof Of Proofs!

That’s an uncorrected proof of my new book that Toby is posing with in the photo–an ARC, or advanced reading copy, of Imperfect Spiral.  It’s my first novel for young adults (and for adults who are no longer young) and it’s about–let’s see, do I have the one-sentence thing down yet?–a teenage girl, the young boy she babysits one summer, and the aftermath of a tragic accident that takes the boy’s life.  The book will be published by Walker/Bloomsbury in July.

Those yellow Post-its you see sticking out are all the places where I’ve found things to correct.  If I gave you a side view of the book you’d see even more dog-eared (pun intended only a little bit) pages, evidence of still more stuff that will be changed before the book goes out into the great world.  Typos, mostly, and small refinements of language.

Then there’s the Author’s Note at the end.  The book is mostly woven around themes of friendship and fear and loss and forgiveness, but there’s also a thread relating to the topic of immigration.  In particular, this aspect of the story concerns how communities respond to undocumented immigrants.  And in this year of possibly great changes in U.S. immigration law and policy, I want readers to understand where the goings-on in Imperfect Spiral fit in this evolving landscape.  So there’s a great big Post-it note on that page. . . .

Temporary blemishes aside, I can’t wait to get this book into readers’ hands.  I want you to get to know my characters–Danielle, Humphrey, Becca, Justin, Adrian, and Marissa–as I know them.  So booksellers, book bloggers, reviewers–head on over to the “Contact” page here to let me know if you’d like to receive an ARC.  I’ll let my publisher know and then hopefully one will show up in your mailbox.

But it won’t have Post-its plastered all over it.

I Heart Spencer, Part 2

My mother and I have talked to a lot of groups about The Year of Goodbyes since the book came out in 2010, and earlier this week we were reminded of the rewards that each encounter brings.  This time, the occasion was the culminating event for the 2013 All-Spencer (Iowa) Reads program.  Mom and I Skyped Tuesday night for more than an hour with folks who, undeterred by typical upper Midwest winter conditions, came to the Spencer Public Library to talk about the book.  It was a serious conversation; questions and comments from the participants steered us all toward  the hard truths and imponderables at the heart of what happened 75 years ago in Germany and Europe.

I’ve said before that I’m aware of a certain exhaustion, at least in some quarters, with stories that relate to the Holocaust.  I don’t have a lot of sympathy for this point of view.  And it wasn’t in evidence on Tuesday night in Spencer, where adults and students alike drank in my mother’s recollections as if her perspectives could illuminate their lives today–which, of course, they can.

“All the stories are important,” my mother said.  ”We survivors have to speak and have to tell people what happened.  Once we’re gone, there are no more witnesses.”

Jewish School for Girls, Hamburg, Germany, attended by Jutta and girls who wrote in the poesiealbum in The Year of Goodbyes

 

After seeing the movie LINCOLN, I couldn’t help but wonde...

After seeing the movie LINCOLN, I couldn’t help but wonder about the character of “Mrs. Keckley,” played by Gloria Reuben.  She was the African American woman we see with Mrs. Lincoln from time to time; in the movie, their relationship isn’t all that clear.  After the movie, my husband and I went to the Lincoln Memorial to pay homage and in the bookstore there I acquired MRS. LINCOLN AND MRS. KECKLY by Jennifer Fleischner.  Elizabeth Keckly (sometimes ”Keckley”) was a well-known Washington, D.C. seamstress who became Mary Todd Lincoln’s dressmaker during the latter’s White House years–not only her dressmaker, but also her close confidante.  I learned of Keckly’s remarkable journey from slavery (she bought herself out of slavery) to successful businesswoman to First Lady intimate.   It’s a story that could be a movie in its own right.  It certainly makes for a very good book.

In the category of Things That Are Long Overdue. . . . Re...

In the category of Things That Are Long Overdue. . . . Reading Rebecca Stead’s exquisitely executed novel, When You Reach Me, the 2010 Newbery winner.  I finally read it as 2012 was turning over into 2013, which is appropriate, given the book’s time travel theme (one of several satisfying themes, so if you think you don’t want to read about time travel, don’t let that be a reason not to read this novel).  I will read it again, trying to learn what I can about how this talented writer put this story together.

On my to-read list: Herman Wouk’s new novel, The Lawgive...

On my to-read list:  Herman Wouk’s new novel, The Lawgiver.  Wouk is 97 years old and he’s written a book that’s received starred reviews.  And here’s what the Washington Post’s reviewer concluded:  “[I]n some essential way, this book about a movie about a book is also about the very act of writing books.  Wouk reminds us of the eternal value of storytelling while he shows 30- and 50- and 80-year-old whippersnappers how it’s done.”

I Heart Spencer, Iowa

There are probably many reasons to love Spencer, Iowa, but here is the one I’m talking about:  This small city in the northwest corner of the state has named The Year of Goodbyes its selection for the 2013 “All Spencer Reads” reading program.

“I wanted an intergenerational read,” Spencer librarian Robin Munson told the local newspaper, The Daily Reporter.  “Having a common subject, I’m hoping, will help to bridge a gap in conversation between children and older adults. . . . I would love if this book prompted conversations among families.”

I would love that, too!  In January I will be honored to participate in some of those conversations as part of the programming around All Spencer Reads.

Many thanks to Spencer, Iowa, for this honor.

The Better Battle In Chicago

With school back in session in the Windy City, the Chicago Public School system’s Battle of the Books 2013 is gearing up–and The Year of Goodbyes is one of the “battle” books!  The program, in the words of the CPS website, “encourages ongoing reading, teamwork and partnership throughout the course of a year.”  Starting this fall, schools throughout the city field teams that read, study, and discuss a list of 20 books, preparing for quiz-show-like competitions next spring.

I was interested to learn that in the semi-final round students will earn bonus point “for giving the full name of the author.” 

So. . . .

Might they get super-bonus points for identifying me as “Deborah Marian Levy”?  Not that that, my full name, is on this book or any of my other books.  Or would that answer get them no points at all?

Whatever name they call me, I’m grateful to the Chicago Public Schools for including The Year of Goodbyes in this year’s Battle of the Books.