making waves

Tomorrow’s the big day! I hate clutter and disorder, so moving isn’t fun for me…but it IS exciting to be starting a new chapter of my Pennsylvania life, and I’m thankfully less anxious at 46 than I was at 26. I tried to paint the new apartment but after three hours of using a roller without air conditioning yesterday, I gave up and came back to Philly. Today I got up early and got some boxes; almost all of my closets have been emptied and it looks like I might even have a few boxes left over. I’ve done this move in shifts; hopefully moving smaller things on my own will make it easier for the movers tomorrow. We’re in yet another heatwave and I can’t WAIT for fall to begin—cooler temps, leaves changing color, and a new book coming out the week before my birthday! It was lovely to see THE DRAGON THIEF included in CBC Books’ list of Canadian MG and YA books to look for this fall. Some of my older indie titles have also been getting a little love this summer—Scholastic wants to reprint DAYSHAUN’S GIFT and Pearson just asked for permission to use I LOVE SNOW in their classroom material. Then today, author/blogger Kara Stewart posted an amazing review of A WAVE CAME THROUGH OUR WINDOW. Kara’s also a teacher and she’s dedicated her blog From Here to Writernity to reviews that show educators how to use inclusive kid lit in the classroom. I sometimes provide discussion guides at the back of my books, but I couldn’t do what Kara has done—do check out her blog and the way she incorporates very specific learning objectives. Here’s an example:

Just off the top of my head, I’m thinking Strategy 6.13: Show, Don’t Tell: Using Senses to Describe Places from the Serravallo Writing Strategies book, as well as 6.14: Show, Don’t Tell: Emotions. You can also definitely find a mentor sentence here to suit your students’ needs, as in 6.38: Mentor Sentences.

For Goal 7: Word Choice, 7.4: Bring Objects to Life, 7.5 Verbs That Match the Meaning, and definitely 7.8: Sneaky Sounds: Alliteration, Consonance and Assonance.

The more you return to a particular mentor text, the more students (and you!) will understand how that text works and how you can edit your writing by using the mentor text example.

And A Wave Came Through Our Window is just plain darn beautiful descriptive writing you and your kids will love.

What a gift to have a teacher take the time to apply her expertise to my book! It’s humbling—not just to have my book chosen, but to realize how many things educators have to consider when helping students learn how to write.

Okay, I might try to nap if my whirling mind will slow down and give me some peace. Next time I blog, I’ll be in my new home in Lancaster!