A Post-It Problem and My Talent Show Solution

These lobsterboats in the entryway of the Vinalhaven Island School turn in the wind!

I'm preparing some new slides for my island school visits. Until now, my school presentations on Touch Blue have been to kids who have not read the book yet.

But my island schools have read and discussed the book. In fact, they're in the process of doing some amazing projects. They've researched their own islands, taken field trips, talked about sustainability and inclusion. One group even made a Monopoly board featuring places on their own island.

So for these visits, I wanted to create some slides giving behind-the-scenes peeks at the process and decision-making of the book. For example, here's one my editor's suggestions that related to the Talent Show in Touch Blue:

  When I get a suggestion like this in an editorial letter, I write the suggestion on a Post-It and then look for a place in the manuscript where it might feel organic to address it.  I stick the Post-It note on that page, and then when I'm revising that chapter, I deal with it. That way I don't have to hold the entire editorial letter in my head as I'm revising.

I'm going to show that Post-It and ask the kids, "If you were given this suggestion and you couldn't think of an idea right away, what could you use to help you?"  I bet they'll have great ideas. 

After they've thought about different ways to get information. I'll show them what I did. I looked at descriptions and photos of events on island websites, and I typed "kids talent show" into Google and Google Images to see what came up. 

  Here's my talent show folder, full of photos and ideas about real community and school talent shows.   



I looked beyond ideas for Tess and Amy. I noticed details about how a room was set up at a community talent show (folding chairs in rows), how little kids hold the microphone right up to their bottom lip like it's an ice cream cone, how people stand when they're nervous, who in a community gets asked to be the Master of Ceremonies, etc.

At one school, a child mentioned doing a fake newscast, complete with a kid weatherman.  And that idea felt perfect to me for Tess and Amy. It was funny and felt in keeping with Tess' character (I didn't create a character who would want to do a dance, for example). I thought about how newscast people banter and go back and forth ("Now to Tess on the scene!"). It shows teamwork--a trait that friends have.  And a newscast has to do with communities, which fit my themes in Touch Blue.

I always tell kids that every book is really just a series of choices that the author made.  I hope these two slides of a Post-It problem and a series of talent-show choices will show that, too.