Sarah Sullivan's Blog, page 7

READING FOR GIFT GIVING

One of my favorite parts of holiday shopping is buying books for kids.  For a couple of weeks in December, I let housework slide in order to catch up on reading -- I  need to finish this book so I can decide whether to buy it for . . . .  I've had the pleasure of reading some terrific books over the past two weeks.  Here's a list of some of my favorites for middle grade readers:
A MONSTER CALLS by Patrick Ness. Inspired by an idea from Siobhan Dowd.  Illustrated by Jim Kay.  - Older middle grade
and maybe YA- An amazing
book!
    


OKAY FOR NOW by Gary Schmidt- ages 10-14ish?  - LOVED IT!   


THE APOTHECARY by Maile Meloy-A page-turning adventure by a wonderful writer!  And what a cover!    
BREADCRUMBS by Anne Ursu
MY NAME IS MINA by David Almond-maybe more YA
THE TROUBLE WITH MAY AMELIA by Jennifer Holm-I've loved Holm's work since OUR ONLY MAY AMELIA.
     THE PENDERWICKS AT POINT MOUETTE by Jeanne Birdsall
    
LIESL AND PO by Lauren Oliver
     THE UNFORGOTTEN COAT by Frank Cottrell Boyce

SOMETHING THAT MAKES ME HAPPY

Here's something makes me happy - my little book, DEAR BABY: LETTERS FROM YOUR BIG BROTHER -- in the company of some of my faves in the picture book genre.  These are books that have been selected to use as read-alouds in the classroom to accompany lessons on BEING A WRITER.  (Developmental Studies Center.)  As a kid who once dreamed of being a writer herself, it is almost impossible for me to believe that my book is being offered to students who share the same dream.  Coupled with that is the fact that I nearly lost this book.  The manuscript was in mini-storage for years.  When my husband and I could finally afford a house big enough to take my desk out of our storage unit, I found the manuscript for DEAR BABY. 
          Rick said, "Send it out!"  So I did.
          And, look what happened!  How unlikely was that!

Berea College Grad Jake Krack to Play at Book Signing

I'll be signing books at Barnes and Noble in Morgantown on Saturday, December 10th, but here's the best part.  Jake Krack will be there too.  Jake will play fiddle tunes and I'll read PASSING THE MUSIC DOWN , which is actually Jake's story.  He's the young musician I wrote about in the book. 
As you might guess from the picture on the right, Jake is a graduate of Berea College where, in addition to his studies, he catalogued recordings of traditional musicians for the Berea College library.  He also did an internship with the Smithsonian's music archives and has since compiled, arranged, & co-produced the Smithsonian Folkways recording, Classic Old-time Fiddle.
As you see, Jake has continued to play, winning first place in old-time fiddle competitions at Galax, Virginia and in Mount Airy, North Carolina. 
For more information check out Jake's website.  http://www.jakekrack.com/jake_bio.htm
And join us on Saturday, December 10th at Barnes & Noble in Morgantown, WV from 11 to 2.  http://store-locator.barnesandnoble.com/store/2189
For more info check out the Facebook page here:  http://www.facebook.com/#!/events/136834836422526/

Public Radio Interview

Here's an audio clip of my interview with WV Public Radio.  http://www.wvpubcast.org/newsarticle.aspx?id=22841 Thanks to Beth Vorhees for inviting me to appear on her programs WV Morning and Inside Appalachia.

And here's a great photo of the young musician who, along with his mentor Melvin Wine, inspired the book.

TRAVEL, TRAVEL, TRAVEL

It's been a busy fall.  I've stored up lots of great memories --
   In September there was the National Book Festival in Washington, D.C.  where 200,000 people gathered to celebrate books and reading.  Aside from a lunchtime stroll through Julia Child's kitchen in the National Museum of American History, I spent the day at the West Virginia Table in the Pavilion of States where people thronged all day long.  Can I tell you how it warmed my heart to see that many people excited about books?  It was glorious!        A few weeks later, I drove to Nashville for the Southern Festival of Books.  Thank you, Helen and Neil Hemphill for taking such good care of me and providing a place to stay, even on their anniversary!  Again, there were crowds of people excited about books.  Laura Murray and I presented a panel on Lyric and Rhyme in Picture Books in the same room where

Helen Hemphill
Helen and I had heard Michael Sims talk about his book The Story of Charlotte's Web: E.B. White's Eccentric Life in Nature and the Birth of an American Classic the day before.  Many thanks to Lacey Cook and Serenity Gerbman and the people at Tennessee Humanities who put on this amazing Festival.  A special thank-you also to Victoria Ross for moderating our panel.  You kept us going Tori.  Thank you!  Thank you also to Lea Bartch at the McFadden School of Excellence in Murfreesboro, TN for planning such an excellent school visit and writing workshop.  Lea, your students are so lucky!  Do they have any idea what a wonderful teacher you are?
Home on Sunday night and off Monday morning for a week as a writer-in-residence at Daniels Elementary along with Anna Smucker and Cheryl Ware. Love these classroom doors.

photo by Cindy Martin
 photo by Cindy Martin

 Photo by Cindy Martin





Thank you, Mr. James and Ruth Baker and the Raleigh County School Board and all the faculty, staff, students, parents, volunteers and community and state organizations who made Author Week possible.  And a special thank you goes to Melanie Hicks at Coffee Beans & Books for making us feel so welcome in your lovely shop.  And, by the way, the homemade vegetable soup and cornbread were delicious!  Up at 4 AM on Saturday morning for a flight to Philadelphia to attend a high school reunion -- my first one ever. It's impossible to say how wonderful it was to see old friends for the first time in umpty-ump years.


    Stayed over Sunday night to visit my alma mater on Monday morning.  I had a wonderful time sharing Passing The Music Down with students in the Lower School,
but the best part, honestly, was hearing Strings teacher Christina von Duyke play traditional fiddle tunes she had located for the occasion and then hearing a very young violinist named Grace play "Liza Jane," demonstrating that, in fact, music IS being passed down.  Thank you, Grace and Christina!  And special thanks to Anita Marcial and Heather Brooks for planning my visit!

Then on to the Kentucky Reading Association Conference in Lexington last weekend.  Thank you, Laura Crafton for the invitation!  And finally, this upcoming weekend, a one-day workshop on "Writing for Younger Readers: Finding Your Voice" at the Writer's Center in Bethesda, MD.
   Starting next week, I will be home for the winter to write.  Aside from a trip to Morgantown for a very special book signing with a guest appearance by West Virginia fiddle maestro Jake Krack on December 10th and a school visit to a local school later this month, I'll be finishing a revision of my novel.  It IS time!









CURRICULUM GUIDE

  The Teacher's Guide for PASSING THE MUSIC DOWN is now available on my website.  You'll find it here . [scroll down through quotes from reviews to the link for the Guide.] It is aligned with the Virginia Standards of Learning.  A huge thank you goes out to Natalie Lorenzi, teacher and writer extraordinaire who prepared it.  (Truly.  She's amazing!) There are activities for students ranging in age from as young as 5 to 12 or older.  Additionally, the activities cover a broad range of topics from reading comprehension to writing skills to musical history to actually making music yourself!  Natalie has provided links to audio and video materials on-line, including links to the documentary about the Appalachian String Band Festival at Clifftop, West Virginia.  The Clifftop documentary includes footage of Jake Krack playing his fiddle and talking about the old-time fiddle players who shared their tunes and traditions with him.  And, by the way, to see Jake playing at Clifftop with the Bing Brothers in 2010, look here.   

INTERVIEW ON LIBRARY TV

A few weeks ago, I sat down with Gordon Simmons, host of the program WEST VIRGINIA AUTHOR, for an interview about PASSING THE MUSIC DOWN.  That video interview is now archived on the Library Television Network page. You can watch it  here . 
This weekend I'll be at the West Virginia table in the Pavilion of States at the National Book Festival  in Washington, D.C.  If you're there, stop by and say hi!

WHERE TO FIND THE MUSIC AND CONGRATS!

Lately several people have asked me where to find samples of old-time fiddle music.  There'a link on my website to an audio clip of Jake Krack playing YEW PINEY MOUNTAIN.  http://www.sarahsullivanbooks.com/passingthemusicdown.html
You can also go to the Smithsonian Folkways website and find the CD pictured above -- "CLASSIC OLD-TIME FIDDLE." http://www.folkways.si.edu/albumdetails.aspx?itemid=3166
"CLASSIC OLD-TIME FIDDLE" was compiled and annotated by Jake Krack and Jeff Place.   It contains archival recordings of old-time fiddle music from the Southern Appalachian Mountains, (including a recording of Melvin Wine playing YEW PINEY MOUNTAIN).  The artwork on the cover is by Alan Lomax.  You can read the complete liner notes here:http://media.smithsonianfolkways.org/liner_notes/smithsonian_folkways/SFW40193.pdf
Breaking news:
Once again this year, Jake Krack has won first place in the Old-time fiddle contest at the 76th Galax Old Time Fiddlers Convention in Galax VA. Jake was also presented the Performer of the festival award. Jake and the Whoopin Hollar String Band also won first place in the old-time band competition at Galax 2011. This is the second time Jake has won Mt. Airy, Sparta, and Galax in the same year. (2009, 2011)
Now THAT'S something to sing about!!  Way to go, Jake and Whoopin Hollar Band members - Jake Krack-fiddle, Mike Bing-mandolin, Tim Bing-banjo, Bob Leiving-bass, Eric Hill-guitar.
C O N G R A T U L A T I O N S !

STUDENT LETTERS

Here is one of the thank-you notes I received from students in Mrs. Tuckwiller's second grade class at Chamberlain Elementary at the end of the 2010-2011 school year.  Mrs. Tuckwiller's students are my first "official" listeners.  I read aloud to them each week for half an hour.  Usually, I read books written by other children's writers.  But, since I had a new book out last spring, I read it to them during our final read aloud session in May.   I even brought along my dulcimer and played a few simple (VERY SIMPLE!) tunes to demonstrate some of the music that the old-time musicians mentioned in the book -- Melvin Wine and Jake Krack -- would play.  If you are going to play a musical instrument in public, it is a gift to be able to play for second graders.  Their enthusiasm is pure and boundless and radiates into your soul.  
So, Thank YOU, Sophia, for being such a kind and generous listener.  I can't think of a better FIRST AUDIENCE for PASSING THE MUSIC DOWN and I'm so very grateful that you enjoyed it.   

A LITTLE MUSICAL TASTE OF THE "FOURTH"

[image error] Among the unforeseen perks of having a new book out about music are the venues in which I find myself signing books.  Festivals and fairs abound this time of year and I've had the good fortune to do book signings at three of them.

[image error] Most recently, I signed books at Mike Poe's booth at the State Arts and Crafts Fair in Ripley.  During breaks, I strolled the grounds, admiring the hand-crafted items

and taking in some of the live music.
Here's a snippet of "Sweet Georgia Brown," composed by Ben Bernie and West Virginia's own Caseo Pinkard (a composer of the Harlem Renaissance) with lyrics by Kenneth Casey.