Augusta Scattergood's Blog, page 15

Quaker Motto Calendar

Okay, folks. It's that time of year.

These lovely, inspirational little calendars can now be ordered for 2017.

Here's an order form:







CLICK HERE for a bit about the history of the calendars, from a previous blogpost.

Please note the email address if you have questions. Or you can contact me via this blog and I'll forward the email to my sister-in-law, Marion Ballard, calendar maker extraordinaire. 

Thought for the Day

(Totally copied from my friend KIRBY LARSON's wonderful blog, because I'm carrying a lot of books around with me and thinking about gardens and proverbs. Funny how things connect, isn't it?)

"A book is like a garden carried in the pocket."
Chinese proverb

Have a Super Summer!

I am in awe of two teachers who pulled off one of my best ever Skype Q&A sessions on their LAST DAY OF SCHOOL.
(Okay, officially it was Facetime, not Skype, but it worked equally well, if not better than Skype...)

Their students were literally out the door! I mean, who would even attempt this? Two super teachers from Syracuse, that's who.

These same teachers from Jamesville-DeWitt Middle School were the first Skype visit I ever had, way back in spring, 2012. They've shared GLORY BE with their sixth graders and we've Skyped ever since. What a treat.

Today the questions were serious, funny, thoughtful, and challenging. I'm still thinking about the boy who asked if I could change places with one of my characters, what would I do differently. 
Or whether I saw the "times" as the antagonist/ villain. 
And how about that age-old question, asked by every writer: How do you know when your book is finished?  

(See below for more of the questions, just emailed to me.)

I suspect these kids are great readers and I hope they (and their fabulous teachers) and ALL you amazing teachers and librarians out there have a summer filled with books, friends, and maybe even time to write.

(When they asked what I would recommend for their summer reading, I just happened to have these books on the table right next to my computer!)



SUPER QUESTIONS:

After reading Glory Be, I felt that Emma kind of replaced the mom role to Glory.  Did you mean to do that? What gave you the idea to make JT so mean?  What made you decide to bring fact and history into your book instead of having it all fiction? Have you written any other books? How did Frankie's back story come to life or Who inspired Frankie's back story? How do you know when your story is the way you want it?  In the process of making your book how did you give (develop) Glory's personality? Why did you choose July 4th as Glory's birthday? How do you organize yourself for your book? Were you a big fan, like Glory, of the Beatles, Elvis and Nancy Drew?

Margaret and Me

You know when you meet somebody and have an instant connection? That's how I felt when I met Margaret Simon. Yes, we're both Mississippians and writers, two things that drew us together. And we have a bunch of "do-you-know" friends, as do all Southerners. 

But she's also a great reader and an amazing teacher. So when she asked if I'd answer a few questions about writing my new book, I jumped at the chance. 

HERE WE ARE, chatting away! 
(Click that link to read the interview.)

 

MAKING FRIENDS WITH BILLY WONG (Coming August, 2016)

 

Kate Messner and The Seventh Wish

If you haven't tuned in to the book challenge of Kate Messner's new book, CLICK HERE to read what she has to say.

If you'd like to read a short, honest review, recently posted on the Barnes & Noble site, here it is.



 I'd like to add my two-cents worth. First of all, as a former librarian, I know how tricky book selection can be. You have a limited amount of funds. You want to buy books your students and teachers will check out and use, or books they need for many reasons. Books you can in all honesty recommend, either from your personal reading or professional reviews. There are all kinds of reasons not to buy every single book that has a good review, even several starred reviews.

But I have a lot of trouble understanding why this book and Kate's author visit wouldn't be allowed into ANY school.



In the interest of full disclosure, let me say I know Kate Messner.
I've met her in person at events our (shared, but not for this book) publisher has sponsored.
This summer I'm even taking part in her amazing initiative, TEACHERS WRITE.

But long ago I decided never to recommend a book I haven't read. Or at least carefully skimmed and read about. I'll "share" others' opinions/ booklists/tweets and posts with a comment that I'm looking forward to reading this book or I've heard great things. But I'd never review a book or rave about it or even blog about something I haven't actually read. No matter WHO writes it.

So yesterday, I read THE SEVENTH WISH.

If you're still with me, let me say I'm highly recommending this book.
I'm planning to buy it for at least one middle-grade reader I know. I think she'll enjoy it for many reasons, as I did. The story has wonderful layers, from Irish dancing to friendships and a humorous hint of a boy-girl crush which turns into friendship. A magical talking fish.
There's even ice fishing!
But none of those storylines are what got THE SEVENTH WISH banned from a school.
And this is where I have trouble with book selection.

There is absolutely nothing in Charlie and her sister's relationship that didn't ring true.
There is absolutely nothing, as far as I could tell, that wasn't validated by Kate's extensive research on drug addiction.
I know from personal, sad experience how families struggle with these issues. Young readers who need this book will take away a lot of truth. Nothing good comes from not talking about an addiction. If libraries and librarians are the places and people we hope kids come to for information and support and safety, THE SEVENTH WISH--and books like this-- are what they need to find there.

More Letters

As the school year draws to a close, my mailbox fills with wonderful messages, mostly from students who've read GLORY BE as part of their curriculum. Some illustrate their letters, some hope I'll write back, some are obviously part of an assignment.



But mostly what they're saying truly comes from their hearts and funny minds.

Two from today's batch:

"My favorite part of the story was when Glory hid in the back of the car and went with Robbie and Jesslyn. She was sneaky. Like I usually am."

"I think overall that was one of the best books I've read in a while and trust me I have read alot of books."

Way to make my day, kids!


When they illustrate scenes that make me think I have possibly written my descriptions well enough to show what's really happening, this reminds me always to add the details.

Five senses, fellow writers! And don't forget the sunshine!


 






Speaking of scenes:  http://www.writersdigest.com/whats-new/10-ways-to-launch-strong-scenes 
Good info for writers, including a new (to me- don't you love learning new editing words?) term: 
Soft Hiatus... Though I find fewer books use any kind of asterisk in the finished book, right?

"Visually, in a manuscript a new scene is usually signified by the start of a chapter, by a break of four lines (called a soft hiatus) between the last paragraph of one scene and the first paragraph of the next one, or sometimes by a symbol such as an asterisk, to let the reader know that time has passed."

Katherine Paterson

I think I could devote many posts to Katherine Paterson quotes.
In fact I have. (Type her name into my blog's search box, and you'll see what I mean.)

I was reminded of this just now when I saw Caroline Starr Rose's beautiful blog with another inspirational quote.

I'll wait while you click over there because it's not only inspirational to read, it's lovely to look at.

 This is one of my personal favorites:
"I think you tell your story and then the reader gets to decide what he or she will learn from your story. And if they don't want to learn anything from it, that's their choice."

- Katherine Paterson
from an NPR interview

And this:  Before the gates of excellence, the gods have placed sweat. –


She's always been a writing hero to me and to many others.
I have so many scribbled notes from things I've read and heard her say.

Now I need a beautiful picture to inspire us this weekend.
How about these- sunset on the Mississippi river- from my last visit "home."

Studying a Book

I'll admit to worrying when young readers are asked to over-analyze literature. 
When I was a school librarian, I loved book discussions and exuberant exchanges of ideas between students. But as far as delving too deeply into theme or word meanings, I admit to being a little on poet Billy Collins's side here.

CLICK HERE if you're not sure what he has to say about that.

But then something happened. Several schools in Washington state adopted the "Read Side by Side" curriculum, which includes my middle-grade novel, GLORY BE. Other places and classes used my books for read-alouds, book groups, and all sorts of discussions.

And I started getting letters from readers. Many asked thoughtful questions. Some were downright funny, in a very good way.








These two are about food.
If they only knew how many references I edited out over the years. 
The writer of the second letter would have really been hungry!

But there are a lot of serious questions, which make me realize my book is helping these young readers navigate new territory. 
This makes me very proud.


Some send illustrations.




And then you get a photo from a class that's read your book. 
Santa could not have brought a better gift.


And another from the letter-writers. (I sent them bookmarks along with my answer.)

 

In case anybody's still reading (and I know it's a long post), I'm going to quote an email from one teacher who'd used Read Side-by-Side, and my book:


The books that we read throughout the year as part of this curriculum all revolve around the issue of power.  We started the year reading Poppy by Avi, then read The War with Grandpa written by David Kimmel Smith, Martin Luther King, Jr. by Rob Lloyd Jones, your book Glory Be and finally Maniac Magee by Jerry Spinelli.  All of the books are slightly above grade level which is why they are read alouds, but the kids all have their own copies.  During reading time, we stop and take notes about characters and character traits based on evidence from the text and inferences from the text, we make predictions based on evidence, talk about the problems the characters encounter in the book, the setting, and relate the story to outside readings. 


The jump from “learning to read” to “reading to learn” between 2nd and 3rd grades is a big one.  I’ve loved how through this curriculum and fabulous books like yours, my students have learned to love reading and the beautiful subtleties of weaving a wonderful story like Glory Be.  When we read the part about Laura’s sock being found at the public pool, some of the students naturally thought she trashed the locker room.  We went back to our character lists and character traits lists and asked ourselves, “Does what we know about Laura so far support that thought that she trashed the locker room?  If not, how would someone have gotten her sock?”  When we looked back to the kickball scene and reread the part about J.T. nodding to Frankie, it was electric in the classroom!  We all had goosebumps realizing the beauty of that subtle hint and the depth of your writing.
This is why we keep writing, isn't it. 
For that moment one student or a whole classroom might get goosebumps. 
I know the feeling. It's very hard to write those moments. 

I would love to hear your thoughts on writing goosebump moments. 
Or reading them with your students.

Thank you, Skype!

One of the fun things I've done this year is to Skype with more classrooms than ever. Perhaps it all started with World Read Aloud Day. Scholastic also supported some of my Skype sessions. But somehow, this school year, I connected with more smart kids and their teachers and librarians than ever before.

Check out the trailers these fifth graders at Pioneer Middle School in Yorkshire, NY, made. It's an amazing class project, and I thank Mrs. Rice and her smart kids for all their hard work. They'd read GLORY BE as a class, and you can tell they spent a lot of time, energy, and love on this.






I'm so proud of them!
One of my favorite comments? "Charming like Jesslyn's charm bracelet."
And such strong verbs- I suspect there are more than a few budding writers in Mrs. Rice's class. Not to mention film makers!




Finding images that fit perfectly with their words = what a super learning experience.

Here's the link, again,  to watch their trailers:  http://www.pioneerschools.org/Page/7545

Here we are, Skyping!


Thank you, Mrs. Rice, her fifth graders, and Maria Muhlbauer their super librarian who set it all up.

Words of Wisdom

"Sometimes the glittering lights is nothing but show. The real things in life aren't always fancy, and the true path just might be that winding country road."

Super Chikan, Delta bluesman,         
as quoted in DELTA MAGAZINE.


Listen to him play here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cug4jSz0Xgw