Augusta Scattergood's Blog, page 53

Time for a Poem

When a whole bunch of people tell you You Need to Read This, I've learned to listen.

That's why I put my librarian skills to work to find Kathi Appelt's poem,
ODE TO MY SOUTHERN DRAWL.

It's in a book, POETRY AFTER LUNCH, that I borrowed from the library.
I've now renewed it the maximum time. It needs to go back.

I'll share just a little bit of the Southern Drawl poem here. I love it.

Here in the south
we treat words like wine
letting them rest in our mouths
until they are ripe and
have soaked into the sides of our cheeks.
And sometimes they get so warm,
we have to cool them
off with iced tea
or Coca Cola

You can find other poems by Kathi on the Poetry Starter page on her website. Like this one about tomato sandwiches and FIGS. (You never saw that coming, did you. But you know I'm going to love a poem that even mentions figs.)
Here's the link to Tomato Sandwich, and some great ideas about teaching and using poetry in the classroom:
http://www.kathiappelt.com/poetry/ps1.html


PS: I have a really terrible, but readable, scan of the entire ODE TO MY SOUTHERN DRAWL poem which I'll send anybody who leaves me a comment and lets me know where to send it.

Another Thing I Love

It's a grey day in Florida.
No, I don't especially love that. But I love hunkering down with a pot of tea and a great book.




 Such a good book- PINNED by Sharon Flake. I'm rereading it today and loving it all over again.
Fast-paced story, female wrestler, two strong character voices. 

And my tea?
I discovered a box of  Mariage Frères Earl Grey, hiding in the back of my cupboard. I am in heaven.
Thanks, Julie, for sending me to the Mariage Frères teashop in Paris for their yummy Marco Polo tea.
Thank you, Kate, for finding the tea in your Dean and Deluca!

Thank you, Sharon Flake, for writing such a fabulous book.

All's right with the world.
Happy weekend, everybody.

Glory Be!

My book has been named to Amazon's Top Middle Grade Books of the Year list.
Woo, boy! Holy Moly mashed potatoes!
(as somebody I had a big crush on used to say, back in Glory's day)

I'm so proud of my book. And amazed and surprised!



Here's the link:
http://www.amazon.com/b/ref=sr_aj?node=6129717011&ajr=0

And here's the living proof!






(Well, the blurry living proof. Tricky screenshot... You'll just have to trust me on this one.)

Calling all Parents

Wow!
What a great honor to receive this award. And check out the other books,
including THE FALSE PRINCE, by my fellow Scholastic debut year author, Jennifer Nielsen.



Here's the link to my book. Click around and see what else they recommend.

http://nappaawards.parenthood.com/listing/-692.html

From their website:
The National Parenting Publications Awards (NAPPA) is one of the oldest and most respected awards programs in the country. With over 20 years of experience in the industry, we have been continuously celebrated as the “go-to” source for parents and professionals seeking the best products for their children and families.

KIDLIT CARES

On so many levels, this storm has been remarkable. The stories coming from friends in New Jersey and New York continue to astound me. It's already snowing in my little town in NJ.
Just what they need.

No. That's not what they need! They need this:


This fund-raising effort is pretty amazing.

This writing cottage in Austin is speaking to me.
How about the rest of my fellow writers?

And teachers and librarians? School visits! Class sets!
Check out the link. Round 2 starts next week.

But there's still time to get something amazing in ROUND ONE.

Here's the link again. Go ahead, click away.
http://www.katemessner.com/kid-lit-cares-superstorm-sandy-relief-effort/

(All proceeds going to the Red Cross.)

POV, à la Betsy Byars

 I blame it on Anita Silvey and Mr. Schu, librarian.

I'd spent some recent time pondering Point of View, the vantage point for telling the story.
Just for fun.

Then those two brought up Betsy Byars. A favorite from my early days of librarianing. (Hey, everybody's inventing verbs, why can't I?)



I took to the shelves, so to speak, in search of Summer of the Swans and The Pinballs.
(What a great voice, that Carlie. )

Alas, I was confounded. Newbery-winning Byars is all over the place with Point of View. Do we call this omniscient? Not really. The protagonist in each book is a strong voice. But the author slips into the heads of the other players. And you know what? It works. I loved rereading them both.

But what about new books? Just published Middle-grade novels.
Does the all-knowing single narrator still rule?

I took count, and hmmmm- what's that you say?
Several of my absolute favorite really new books didn't stick to "first" or "third," in a single character's head. They branched out, spread their narrator wings, so to speak.

ON THE ROAD TO MR. MINEO'S. 8 different characters, woven into one fabulous story.

PINNED. Two classmates, different voices. Phenomenal writing, lovely book.

WONDER. What more can be said of this that hasn't been said? Not much. Superlative.

THE GREAT UNEXPECTED. Those funny, mysterious old ladies in Ireland keep sneaking in!

See what I mean? There's more to Middle Grade than one viewpoint.

For an in-depth discussion about Point of View in kids' books, check out Nathan Bransford's blog, linked HERE.


Since I'm on a Betsy Byars kick this week, here's her writing advice. Timeless.
Even if the word processor and the trip to the mailbox aren't...

Picture Books!

[image error] Source: Uploaded by user via Jon on Pinterest


And with that thought, I'm off to INKWOOD BOOKS today to welcome Rob Sanders' Cowboy Christmas to the book world.

COWBOY CHRISTMAS book launch at Inkwood Books (Armenia Ave., Tampa, FL)
2:00-4:00 p.m.
TODAY!

I just saw Rob's Facebook picture. There will be cookies. Yippee!

 Click here to go to Rob's very helpful Picture Book blog.

CLICK HERE for a terrific interview with Rob. A really terrific interview, in fact. With the illustrator of his new picture book series, RUBY ROSE, first book out in 2014.

Love this line: I’m trying to work smarter, not harder these days.
 
And isn't that what we all should be doing, Rob!

Save some cookies for me! See you at Inkwood, Tampa book people.

Ghosts and Goblins

Whether you're celebrating Halloween today, later (like my town in NJ), or never,  here are two books I've shared with some of the ghouls I know this season.


I adore this little vampire.
I believe even very young children can enjoy VAMPIRINA BALLERINA and not even know she's a vampire, or get some of the subtle, funny, smart references.
They will love the story and the fabulous illustrations.

Kathryn Erskine said it perfectly in her blog interview with the author. CLICK HERE to go there.

Advice that's good for life, not just Halloween, for all ages. For story times, for sharing:




 Michael Rex has a new board book version of GOODNIGHT GOON.
Fun for grownups and the SuperHeroes in our lives.
(Michael's mom shared this book with me--Thanks, Kathy! He grew up in our little NJ borough.)

Here's the video:




 And here's my reading Superhero. Scary, no?



Other Halloween Posts:  Tabletops and Cookies!

A Poem and a Book

Texas!

The Texas Bluebonnet Award Master List was revealed yesterday in Austin. (My friend Lee tells me the big Texas Book Festival is the place to be this weekend.)



Batman and Robin made the announcement!
That would be Batman (Jon Scieszka) and Robin (Adam Rex).

(Photos courtesy of the Texas Library Association's website: http://www.txla.org/TBA-release-TBF)

GLORY BE was named to the list of twenty books for grades 3-6.

Here's the link. An excellent reading list, lots of variety.  I'm honored and awed.

Thank you, Texas!

It's official-

If you read it in Publisher's Weekly, it must be true.
 My next book has officially been announced:

Andrea Pinkney at Scholastic has acquired the tentatively titled The Way to Stay in Destiny by Augusta Scattergood, author of Glory Be. In her new story, 12-year-old Theo comes to a small Florida town in 1974 with Uncle Chester, his new guardian whom he doesn't really know, to take up residence in Miss Sister Grandersoles's Rest Easy Rooming House and Dance Academy; there he discovers piano, baseball lore, friendship and a renewed sense of family. Publication is scheduled for 2014. Linda Pratt at Wernick & Pratt Agency did the deal for North American rights.

SO EXCITED!