Jean Reidy's Blog, page 36

Books Change Lives: LitWorld Holiday Book Drive

Just one book can change a life. Imagine what a difference that one book would make if it were put in the hands of a little girl or boy who had never before held a picture book, let alone had one for their very own.

You can make that possible through LitWorld's annual Holiday Book Drive (Dec 1 to Dec 31.

LitWorld is a non-profit organization that advocates for global literacy. LitWorld believes stories are life-changing and sharing stories will create connections that have the power to change the world.

LitWorld works closely with teachers all over Liberia, providing professional development around reading and writing. We also provide schools with much needed books, supplies and school materials. Currently the ratio of children to books is 75:1. Our dream is to change that to 1:1!

The International Book Bank is an organization that has been delivering free books and educational materials to developing countries since 1987, with the goal of increasing literacy and advancing education.

As you may know, thousands of people were killed in Liberia's 16-year civil war, leaving the nation in economic ruin. Many places are still without electricity and running water. Unemployment and illiteracy continue to be endemic. The country is attempting to rebuild and recover from this long and arduous war. A large part of this effort is rebuilding the educational system. In order for that to be successful they need an increased supply of books and materials.

Though Sierra Leone is well known for its diamond industry, it was ranked as the poorest country in the world in 1998. The dispute over the control of the diamond mines erupted in an 11-year civil war, which began in 1991 and ended in 2002. Sierra Leone faces the intense challenges of reconstruction, with poverty and unemployment leading the major issues. The Civil War deconstructed 1,270 schools, leaving 67% of children in 2001 without an education. Today, two thirds of the adult population in Sierra Leone are illiterate.

The book drive is simple. Donate children's picture books, sending or bringing them to one of three drop-off points in New York. LitWorld, in partnership with The International Book Bank, will fill a 20ft container with the books (around 3,000 are needed) and ship them to Liberia and Sierra Leone. There, the books will be put straight into the hands of children (see picture above of LitWorld Ambassador Kimmie Weeks reading aloud from book donations). Some of these children will never have seen a picture book before; the majority are used to sharing what they do have: one book is shared among 75 children, on average.

WHERE TO MAIL OR BRING BOOKS

LitWorld and The International Book Bank would like new or gently used favorite books to be mailed to:

LitWorld Holiday Book Drive C/O
Deacon Sharon Brennen
Christian Pre-School
Dobbs Ferry Lutheran Church
43 Ashford Ave
Dobbs Ferry, New York 10522


Or, if you're located in Westchester, NY, choose from these book drop-off points at participating schools:

Hillside Elementary in Hastings-on-Hudson, NY

The Christian Pre-school in Dobbs Ferry, NY

Hommocks Middle School in Larchmont, NY

Bronxville Elementary School in Bronxville, NY

CONNECT WITH LITWORLD!

litworld.org

facebook.com/litworld

twitter.com/litworldsays

So you want to write a novel...

Thank you Jennifer Nielsen for bringing this to my attention:

Perfect School Visits

I recently got back from two school visits in San Antonio, Texas. I spent Friday morning at Keystone School and the afternoon at St. Anthony School, just blocks away. Four presentations and a full day's worth of activities later, I headed back to Denver tired but sad it was over. I found out, on this rewarding trip, that what makes for a perfect school visit has very little to do with me

So what made the visits so special?

1. Passionate, prepared librarians and teachers - who love kids, love reading and love to get kids excited about reading. Who create t-shirts and illustrated books with their classes, not to honor me the author, but to honor the books and find joyful connections to the words on the page. Who hold literary costume parades in which you'll see the likes of Allie Finkle, Bunnicula or Miss Frizzle. Who make kids rabid for reading, book boosters as spirited as any Texas high school football fans. Who enthusiastically welcome everything an author offers - from teacher's guides to bookmarks.

2. Great kids - from the tiny sweetheart who's won 3 - you heard me 3 - regional writing competitions to the 4th grade certified whoopee cushion operator to the young graphic novelist, who was slightly embarrassed to tell me he likes to write "books like comics" and was so proud to hear that his work was part of a hip new genre.

3. Awesome support staff - like the tech teachers who made sure that my Power Point was loaded and ready to go and that the screen was perfectly placed. Or the custodial crew who mopped the cafeteria floor and stowed the cafeteria tables pronto so that the shared space was ready when my audience scampered in shortly after lunch.

4. Parents who care - who arranged a lovely meet and greet continental breakfast on the beautiful front porch - allowing me to meet the kids and their parents as they were dropped off at school. Who penned thoughtful personalizations that I added to my autographs - making their purchased books extra special. Who understand the importance of books in the lives of kids.

So today I'm sending my most heartfelt thank yous to Jeanette Vilagi at the Keystone School and Laurie Packard at St. Anthony School for putting together that perfect visit.

What do you think makes for a great author visit? Let's chat about it.

When You Read This ...

I just finished reading WHEN YOU REACH ME - winner of the 2010 John Newbery Medal and wow! I'm not always the biggest fan of story-within-a-story books, but by weaving bits of A WRINKLE IN TIME into the 1979 setting, Rebecca Stead hints at elements of time-travel without the book slipping fully into science fiction or fantasy. I truly loved this book. And while I didn't see the ending coming - and I'm usually very good at predicting endings - it didn't throw me either. It provided a completely satisfying surprise.

The Wheels on This Bus ...

Ha ha ha. For some strange age-induced, hard-drive-overload, blocked-childhood reason, it never occurred to me that the title of my latest picture book is the repeating stanza of the song I sang to my kids endlessly. YIKES!

Here's the PM announcement:

Author of TOO PURPLEY! and TOO PICKLEY! Jean Reidy's ALL THROUGH THE TOWN, with WHO IS DRIVING? illustrator Leo Timmers illustrating, giving a child's-eye-view of community with a soothing rhythmic verse, again to Michelle Nagler at Bloomsbury Children's, by Erin Murphy of Erin Murphy Literary Agency (world).

I'm so excited to be working with Michelle again. And while I know you're all crazy busy - especially you NANOWRIMONITES - I'd love for you to check out the illustrator Leo Timmers at http://www.leotimmers.com/. Oh man, his driving critters crack me up.

So happy to be celebrating this latest sale with all of you!!

Jean

Picture Book Peek: Critique and Copies for a Cause!!!

Bridget Zinn's family and friends are stepping up again with another auction to help Bridget in her battle with cancer.

My Thanksgiving Picture Book Peek Week will be a part of this auction. I'll be donating one fiction picture book (up to 1000 words) manuscript critique as well as signed copies of TOO PURPLEY! and TOO PICKLEY!

Here are the details:

Season of Love and Hope Starts: November 22, 2010 08:00 AM CST Ends: December 04, 2010 09:00 PM CST Description:

All proceeds from this auction will go to Bridget Zinn and Barrett Dowell. Bridget was diagnosed with stage 4 colon cancer in February 2009. After receiving treatment in Portland for 18 months, Bridget and her husband Barrett are now traveling to Phoenix for one week every month for innovative treatment at the Cancer Treatment Centers of America. Not all of their costs for this promising treatment are covered by insurance. Bridget & Barrett's friends and family are rallying to help them pay the bills so that they can focus on Bridget's health and kick cancer. Artists, authors, and other friends and acquaintances have donated items in the spirit of love and hope.

Check out all the auction items and bid at THE SEASON OF LOVE AND HOPE.

2010 National Book Award Finalists

FINALISTS FOR 2010 NATIONAL BOOK AWARDS

Fiction

Peter Carey, Parrot and Olivier in America (Alfred A. Knopf)

Jaimy Gordon, Lord of Misrule (McPherson & Co.)

Nicole Krauss, Great House (W.W. Norton & Co.)

Lionel Shriver, So Much for That (Harper, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers)

Karen Tei Yamashita, I Hotel (Coffee House Press)

Nonfiction

Barbara Demick, Nothing to Envy: Ordinary Lives in North Korea
(Spiegel & Grau, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group)

John W. Dower, Cultures of War: Pearl Harbor, Hiroshima, 9-11, Iraq

(W.W. Norton & Co.)

Patti Smith, Just Kids (Ecco, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers)

Justin Spring, Secret Historian: The Life and Times of Samuel Steward (Farrar, Straus & Giroux)

Megan K. Stack, Every Man in This Village Is a Liar: An Education in War (Doubleday)

Poetry

Kathleen Graber, The Eternal City (Princeton University Press)

Terrance Hayes, Lighthead (Viking Penguin)

James Richardson, By the Numbers (Copper Canyon Press)

C.D. Wright, One with Others (Copper Canyon Press)

Monica Youn, Ignatz (Four Way Books)

Young People's Literature

Paolo Bacigalupi, Ship Breaker (Little, Brown & Co.)

Kathryn Erskine, Mockingbird (Philomel Books, a division of Penguin Young Readers Group)

Laura McNeal, Dark Water (Alfred A. Knopf)

Walter Dean Myers, Lockdown (Amistad, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers)

Rita Williams-Garcia, One Crazy Summer (Amistad, an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers)

My Thoughts and Actions After Manuscript Submissions

Perfect.
(Hit send)
(Immediately check inbox)
Editor is reading it right now.
Editor is pumping her fist mouthing "You nailed it, Jean."
(Check inbox)
Editor is calling Caldecott Honor illustrator and saying, "Your other projects will have to wait."
(Check inbox)
Editor is reading it to her staff and they're toasting me.
(Check inbox)
Editor is waiting to read it over her lunch break.
(Check inbox)
Editor is thinking it's sweet.
Editor is thinking it's good.
Editor is thinking it's okay.
(Check inbox)
Editor is thinking blah, blah, blah.
She's wondering, "What was Jean thinking?"
She's wondering, "What was Jean drinking?"
(Check inbox)
Editor is losing her lunch.
(Check inbox)
Editor is telling her staff, "Those were 2 minutes of my life I'll never get back."
She is telling her mom, "I just saved the world from another awful picture book."
(Check inbox)
She's asking for matches.
She's taking up smoking.
She's holding a match to my manuscript.
(Curse inbox)
(Ping)
I've got mail.
"Dear Jean,"
(to be continued...)

The Temptation to Teach a Lesson

I recently autographed dozens of bookplates for TOO PICKLEY! with personalizations for children requested primarily by adults. In many of the requests, I was instructed to inscribe mini-warnings like "Remember to eat your veggies" or "Fruits come first." I find it interesting that, as adults, we can't seem to let go of those "teachable moments."

It can be difficult write picture books and forget that we are responsible, mature adults. But in fact, this is what we're called to do. We need to t...

Pay it Forward Friday: Getting Over Your Perspective

I got a chance to share one of my favorite writing exercises on My Word Playground. If you haven't visited Lynne Marie's blog yet, check it out. It's full of thoughtful prompts, exercises and general advice for children's writers.

While our lives and experiences provide inspiration for a playground full of stories, our perspective can get us into trouble when writing for children. We have to clearly understand our perspective before we can rein it in. This fun exercise will help you do just th...