In the school library, my favorite part of the new school year was introducing new books to my students. Boxes from orders placed the previous May always greeted me like Christmas presents waiting to be opened.  After a summer of reading from the local public libraries, students would flock into our doors, always hopeful that we had received something that had not yet seen – something they hoped for. The beginning of the school year was always the easiest time to get students excited about books – especially if a child was lucky enough to be the first one to check it out.

Sharp Pencils. Crisp school clothes. New sneakers (okay, nobody calls them sneakers today, but when I was a kid, a new pair of sneakers – specifically new, navy blue Keds – spoke volumes about the possibilities of the new school year – they did, indeed, make you run faster and jump higher). These harbingers of back to school bring optimism and fresh start to students, parents and teachers alike.  But nothing holds more optimism (in this old librarian’s eyes) as a new book. I am anxiously awaiting the fall crop.

There are common themes in YA lit, be it in fantasy, paranormal, or realistic genres. There is usually a romantic scenario, a friendship gone wrong (or one that characters are struggling with), search for identity and/or meaning in one’s life, and the need to break free/understand/connect with the parental units. Some books have all these themes, others have one or two. Either way, they are motifs that adults as well as teens feel close to. I would venture to say, adults may even feel more in touch with these themes.

Like most teens, I had unrequited crushes in high school (and reciprocated ones that went bad). I had friends stop talking to me. My parents and I had trouble getting along. I tried to figure out what I wanted school-wise, life-wise. As an adult, those things don’t go away but you gain a greater insight when approaching these issues that you did not have as a teen.

As a parent, you have a greater appreciation for your own. As an adult you, have the strength and confidence to leave the friends who treat you poorly. The internal struggle? Well, I don’t know if that really goes away. You may have found the career you dreamed of, but there are other factors you are still coming to terms with. Or, maybe, the career you thought you wanted was just a placeholder for what your true passion was. Or, the change could have nothing at all to do with a job but with your personal life. In high school, you may have thought the ideal life was weekend plans, parties, the in crowd, only to realize after experiencing these things that the quieter life was more speed. As an adult, you may have thought you wanted the spouse and picket fence, but been proven wrong. Or, maybe you thought being a career woman was your speed until you met your child and realized you rather stay home with him.

And then (in the words of Quantum Leap’s Sam Beckett) there’s the “To Make Right What Once Went Wrong” factor. Some of my friends and I read and write YA novels to recreate or better understand the past, to examine what an alternate life would have been like, to fantasize about what was or could have been, all the while comforted by what is.

So yes, some YA may be faster paced or easier to read, but others are literary, deep, moving literature that crosses genres and audiences, bridging the age gap and forging connections.

In “The Literary Glutton,” an essay in EX LIBRIS: CONFESSIONS OF A COMMON READER, Anne Fadiman theorizes that food is most appealing in books when the character is hungry. (“The best food writing is associated not with decadent repletion but with hunger.”) Some of the most memorable food scenes I’ve read have been in Laura Ingalls Wilder’s LITTLE HOUSE books. Life on the frontier was tough enough that an orange was considered an exotic gift suitable for Christmas morning. Much of this series focuses on how the family laid in provisions for lean winters, and how they rationed their food during hard times. Food was never taken for granted, and so canned peaches, birthday cake, oyster stew, and popcorn assume the status of royal delicacies.

Similarly, in Marilyn Sachs’s book A POCKET FULL OF SEEDS, the bite of forbidden cheese that Nicole takes has resonated with me for years. It’s one of the classic moments of many childhoods: a food is set aside for a special occasion or a gift, and so it is not for us, but we want it so badly. Just a taste … Ultimately, such a scene is about temptation, the struggle between appetite and rules, between desire and manners.

What books make your mouth water?

To me, editing and revising amounted to the same thing: proofreading. Often I saw that something didn’t work, but I was at a loss at how to fix it. I may have realized certain characters and/or plot themes weren’t gelling, but correcting the issue usually amounted to expanding some chapters, deleting others. That kind of revising is certainly necessary, but there’s more. There’s a bigger picture of nuances (I know that’s a contradiction)–of words that change everything, of first and last sentences that tie everything together, of a timeline that’s just not working no matter how much head pounding you do.

My revising deficiency is not entirely my fault as I was only doing what I’ve been taught for years. Think back to the term papers, oral reports, and essays you did in public school or college. My teachers and professors always gave classes checklists that corresponded to a formula provided at the beginning of the writing assignment. Facts in order? Check. Sources cited? Check. Subject-verb agreement? Check. Coherence? Check. If we were stuck on where a point should go, we need only go back to numbered index cards and voila, problem solved.

When I taught English, I taught in the same way my professors did. When we were not doing creative writing (which was often as standardized test prep ruled the roost), out came the essay format and checklist. There was a concrete plan to follow, a formula of main idea+supporting sentences+closing sentence=paragraph. If I were to teach again, I would take all this one step further–test prep or not. I would have the students see their essays as more abstract items, try to find what’s missing beyond the checklist.

The following activities have helped me find the missing links in my writing and take the revision process to a new level, and I think they would work great in a classroom setting as well–especially since they utilize auditory, tactile, and visual cues.

1. Rip it up: When all else failed, I spread the pages of my novel in front of me and cut and pasted sections so that I could better visualize which paragraphs went together.

2. Use your voice: I read my pages aloud. This made awkward words/phrases really stand out. I was also able to find grammatical errors that eluded me before. An added tip–recording your text onto a tape recorder and then playing it back helps in finding a working cadence and seeing if the words come out in the tone you intended.

3. Pick a date: Timeline issues always seem to plague my writing. I now sit with a calender and mark off important dates in my novels. This way I can visually see how much time has elapsed from scene to scene, and if the story centers around holidays, by plotting on my real calender, I can make sure the scenes are progressing on a correct timeline.

4. Take notes: Totally back to basics here. If a character has a favorite outfit or shade of lipstick or uses a specific phrase, I jot down the details (including page numbers) on an index card or in a notebook. If I think I’m being repetitive or not sure of little details, I check back in my notes to save me the trouble of scrolling back and doing searches. This is also a great way to keep track of important scenes or clues relevant to the novel. In non-fiction, while this wouldn’t be very helpful in a short essay, I can see it working for a term paper, especially for students who like to write flowery sentences that they end up repeating.

5. Outline: I don’t outline before I write my novels, but it’s a must for revising. I go through each chapter and write a 1-2 sentence summary of each. Because I have always been a visual learner, this method works best for me when first identifying plot holes or stories that need to be cut or beefed up.

As readers and writers, one question to ask ourselves is: When is a relationship attractively peppery, and when does it veer into abusiveness? If the relationship is abusive, what stand does the story take–is the relationship glorified, or does it have negative consequences?

As with just about any subject, everyone will probably not agree on where the line is drawn, but for the sake of example, here’s where I draw it:

If the guy is just outspoken and tactless, or if he’s covering up insecurities with false bravado, I find him more appealing and forgivable as a love interest. If he seems seriously threatening, belittling, arrogant or abusive toward the girl–then not so much.

If the guy listens whenever the girl says no to him, and any renewal of contact comes from her or is accidental, it works for me. If he just ignores her “no” and persists in pursuit, it creeps me out.

If her attraction is ultimately because she finds his honesty refreshing, because she can challenge him on an equal basis, because she sees through his facade, or because he changes, it works for me. If she’s attracted to his meanest qualities, or if she puts herself in harm’s way, I cringe.

This isn’t to say a book can’t cover an abusive relationship, or that we can’t explore in fiction things that we’d never want to explore in real life. (One could argue that’s a purpose of fiction.) And my purpose here is not to start calling out specific books, to prescribe or proscribe what others should read or write, but to raise the question as a point of awareness. It’s good for readers to discuss this issue in book clubs and classrooms; good for authors to ask themselves these questions of each book or manuscript.

I will venture this much, however, in returning to the example of PRIDE & PREJUDICE: Darcy ultimately regrets his offensive attitude and proves to have rather more sterling qualities than we first suspect. Elizabeth refuses to tolerate his haughtiness, refuses to humble herself to it. However, she appreciates the more generous person we ultimately find beneath Darcy’s off-putting exterior, and their getting together results from a combination of their overcoming their own flaws and being attracted to each other’s strengths of character.

But lately, as my uninterrupted reading time has become so preciously compressed, I’ve taken to listening to books while I walk my dogs every morning. This gives me a good 45 minutes worth of time with little distraction – save from picking up their occasional “business”.  I find listening to novels a wholly unique experience. I don’t know if it’s age, or overwork, but I often find myself falling asleep while reading the written word – even when its a riveting story. It might just be that the comfort of my easy chair hypnotizes these old bones and overcomes my senses. In any case, since I’m listening and walking at the same time, I can’t very well fall asleep. And a particularly good narration, such as Brendon Fraser’s rendition of Dragon Rider by Cornelia Funke that I just finished, adds a great deal of pleasure to the story.

So, I’m curious. Do you love the listening experience? More or less than the reading experience? What differences do you find between the two?

Happy Summer Reading – and Listening – to you all.

Donna

This isn’t news. There have been various studies about boys excelling in math and sciences and girls in literature and writing. However, I don’t think this is something that has to remain constant. One thing I noticed was that boys perked up when I gave them free reign to create metaphors and similes. If they wanted to compare a character’s smile to a beaver’s, that was fine by me. If they wanted to write about a town with noxious smells–as long as they described the surroundings and were creative–I went with it. When we studied onomatopoeia, I even let them write sentences with vomit and gas sounds. The result? The same boys whose shoulders sagged at the mention of writing activities became enthused to compose their own stories–illustrations and all.

Persuasive essays were another area that got boys writing. They loved that they could argue. They loved that they could choose topics to argue about. It didn’t phase them that there was a format to follow, that there was a “correct” way to present their points. They embraced all of it–even the students who were the most reluctant writers in the class. They were eager to look up facts to support their points, didn’t moan when they had to revise and find additional information. Students, who in the past, saw me for extra help to string three sentences together, were composing paragraphs with only an outline to guide them.

Too often, boys are told to verbalize their thoughts, but when they do, we balk at the way they do it. We assume they’re trying to be crude or rude or inappropriate (yes, sometimes they are), rather than just taking the words for what they are: an expression of themselves and their creativity. If we loosened the reigns and changed what we consider “appropriate”, embraced the silly, the next time a writing lesson is assigned, more boys will sit up straighter.

There are also some recent books I read once and enjoyed and admired.  I’m looking forward to going back and seeing what else is in their pages that I didn’t catch the first time around. These include Lessons from a Dead Girl (Jo Knowles), Struts & Frets (Jon Skovron), In the Break (Jack Lopez), The Order of the Poison Oak (Brent Hartinger), Saving Francesca (Melina Marchetta), and Sweethearts (Sara Zarr). Among others. Who knows if I’ll actually get to all these books this summer, but it’s nice to have a goal.

What book(s) do you reread frequently, or what book(s) have you read only once that you’d like to dip into again?

The first link was to an article that discussed research showing that simply providing books to read over the summer to students from low-income families made a major difference in the children’s reading levels. Studies have shown that the lack of access to books over the summer causes a slide in reading ability. Provide them with books and surprise, surprise, they read and achieve! (#mce_temp_url#)

This also made me think about how much money has been taken from our schools in recent years. I live in California, where the public schools have lost huge HUGE amounts of funding over the last few years. And then there’s the whole No Child Left Behind fail. I’m not in expert in the law. But I know that the idea of “sanctions” for failing schools are missing the point. When a school fails to achieve its goals (read: get good scores on standardized testing), they lose money. O-kay, how is that supposed to help?

Schools also lose funding every day that a child is absent. So for example, if a child’s parent were to die and that child were to miss school for a week while his/her life was dismantled and reassembled, the school would lose approximately $250. I’m not sure what the basis is for this plan. It’s not like a student’s absence decreases what the school has to spend for the day. There are no fewer teachers, no fewer support staff, no less electricity used, etc. Maybe I’m missing something. But I just don’t get it.

Okay, on to the inspiring part of this post. Cynthea Liu posted a link this week to a massive book drive being led by one young girl. (#mce_temp_url#) This child, Lexie, is collecting thousand of books to be donated to children’s homes through the Kyle Busch Foundation. What do you know! An eleven-year-old providing exactly what is needed to keep underprivileged kids reading and achieving! Why can’t the government be this smart? How about if we take all the money the government has withheld from schools as “sanctions” and spend it on books for kids to read over the summer?

Can I pay my taxes to Lexie and other organizations like hers instead of Uncle Sam, cause she seems a whole lot smarter.

Here are just a few of many children’s picture books that feature interesting and valuable back matter:

The Lion & The Mouse by Jerry Pinkney (Little, Brown & Company, 2009)

Milly and The Macy’s Parade by Shana Corey (Scholastic, 2006)

The Day-Glo Brothers by Chris Barton (Charlesbridge Publishing, 2009)

Mailing May by Michael O. Tunnell (Greenwillow Books, 2000)

What’s The Weather Inside by Karma Wilson (Margaret K. McElderry, 2009)

Amelia and Eleanor Go For A Ride by Pam Munoz Ryan (Scholastic, 1999)

The Dog Who Sang at the Opera by Marshall Izen (Harry N. Abrams, 2004)

Henry’s Freedom Box: A True Story from the Underground Railroad by Ellen Levine (Scholastic, 2007)

Zen Shorts by Jon J. Muth (Scholastic Press, 2008)

Yo, Vikings by Judith Byron Schachner (Dutton, 2002)

The House in the Night by Susan Marie Swanson (Houghton Mifflin, 2008)

Moon Bear by Brenda Guiberson (Henry Holt and Co., 2010)

Wabi Sabi by Mark Reibstein (Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2008)

She’ll Be Coming ‘Round the Mountain by Jonathan Emmett (Atheneum, 2007)

Two Bobbies: A True Story of Hurricane Katrina, Friendship, and Survival by Kirby Larson and Mary Nethery (Walker Books for Young Readers, 2008)

So, when I read about the challenge, I thought what a great way to start summer reading! Then I looked at the dates, first weekend in June, my household will be down to one child – husband and two other children will be otherwise engaged. The luscious possibility of spending an entire weekend reading has given me goosebumps. I’m in, definitely. It doesn’t matter how much I actually get done, just devoting the whole weekend to reading will make me feel like a winner.

Thanks, Mother Reader, for coming up with this. It might be the fifth year but it’s new to me – and I’m pumped!

Before I had my son, I would have continued reading. But not anymore. There is only so much time in the day, and if I have some “me time”, I just can’t spend it reading something that will get better by chapter three. I know I may miss out on some good literature because of this, but it is what it is, and it got me to thinking about my favorite books and their first lines.

I compiled a list below of YA and MG books I loved (both pre and post kid), along with their first sentence(s). To be fair, I do give a book at least a page, so if the following sentences don’t speak to you, maybe reading the first page is in order. I’d also like to add that there are so many more books I wanted to include, ones I loved just as much, but due to availability, these are the ones that made the list first.

1. THE YEAR OF SECRET ASSIGNMENTS* by Jaclyn Moriarty: “QUICK! Before you read another word, write your own FULL name in every box on this page!”

2. SPEAK by Laurie Halse Anderson: “It is my first morning of high school. I have seven new notebooks, a skirt I hate, and a stomachache.”

3. DREAMLAND by Sarah Dessen: “My sister Cass ran away the morning of my sixteenth birthday.”

4. IF YOU COME SOFTLY by Jacqueline Woodson: “My mother calls to me from the bottom of the stairs, and I pull myself slowly from a deep sleep.”

5. THE BOOK THIEF by Markus Zusak: “HERE IS A SMALL FACT. You are going to die.”

6. JUST AS LONG AS WE’RE TOGETHER by Judy Blume: “’Stephanie is into hunks,’ my mother said to my aunt on Sunday afternoon.”

7. AFTER THE RAIN by Norma Fox-Mazer: “’Look down on this scene,’ Rachel writes in her notebook. ‘Three people in a kitchen, sitting around a table. A man. A woman. And a girl.’”

8. ANNE OF GREEN GABLES by L.M. Montgomery: “MRS. RACHEL LYNDE lived just where the Avonlea road dipped down into a little hollow, fringed with alders and ladies’ eardrops and traversed by a brook that had its source away back in the woods of the old Cuthbert place….”

9. THE SECRET GARDEN by Frances Hodgson Burnett: “When Mary Lennox was sent to Misselthwaite Manor to live with her uncle everybody said she was the most disagreeable-looking child ever seen.”

10. BLUBBER by Judy Blume: “My best friend, Tracy Wu, says I’m really tough on people.”

]]> http://www.authorsnow.com/connect-with-margie-gelbwasser-getting-hooked/feed/ 0 http://www.authorsnow.com/connect-with-jennifer-r-hubbard-starting-a-student-book-club/ http://www.authorsnow.com/connect-with-jennifer-r-hubbard-starting-a-student-book-club/#comments Mon, 10 May 2010 14:00:47 +0000 writerjenn http://www.authorsnow.com/?p=5743 One of the best days I’ve had since my book came out was a visit with a student book club at a local high school. The students hashed out the topics and themes in the book, debated several issues, critiqued the writing, and drew parallels from the book to their own lives.

Reading is a solitary pleasure, but it doesn’t have to stay solitary. Seeing those teens engage with my book made me wish that more students could have this opportunity–to discuss a book from many angles, to go beyond classroom lessons.

Here are some things to think about if you’d like to start a student book club:

Who chooses the books? What will the selection criteria and the selection process be? The books could be chosen by adults: the school librarian, a committee of English teachers, a teacher-parent committee. Or they could be chosen by students: the club president, a committee, any student who cares to nominate a book, or a vote of the students. Or they could be selected by a combined committee of students and adults.

How will you get the books? It may be possible for the school or library to order copies for the students, but then again, it may not, depending on budget constraints. Local bookstores will often offer discounts to schools that purchase books in bulk; this is something to look into. Students may also decide to work out a book-sharing program where the club purchases a certain number of books, and students pass them around.

Who will lead/facilitate the group? It’s a good idea to have someone start the discussion, pose a few questions, keep an eye on the time, and make sure that no single person dominates the discussion. The leader may be an adult or a student; it may be the same person each time, or a rotating responsibility.

What are the group’s ground rules? Some decisions for groups to make: Whether to go around and give everyone a chance to speak, or whether to solicit comments on a volunteer basis. What the leader or facilitator’s role is. How to introduce new members to the group. How to ensure mutual respect in discussions, and how to handle disagreements. Whether attendance is required or optional. Whether to serve refreshments and, if so, who is responsible for getting them. Also: Logistical decisions of how often to meet, where, and when.

Do you want to have special activities? Field trips, guest speakers (e.g., authors, whether in person or via online contact), parties, theme discussions (e.g., multicultural books, historical fiction, verse novels, dystopias, etc.), and special projects (e.g., design your own book cover, dress as your favorite character) are all possibilities. At the club I visited, several students came up with a game in which they named the literary character they would most like to have as a friend.

Happy reading!

My novel, Forget-Her-Nots, is considered YA, but it’s for ages 12 & up, which puts it into the younger YA category. And I can’t tell you how many people — especially parents, booksellers, and librarians — have told me they’re grateful for that!

There seems to be a gulf between MG novels for ages 9 to 12 and most YA novels, which are for ages 14 and up.  Many YA readers these days are in their twenties even. So what about those 12 to 14 year olds (and many 11 year olds) who are voracious readers? Many read up with mixed results. They may be reading content that isn’t quite appropriate for their maturity level. As I told my own 11-year-old daughter when she wanted to read Twilight, “You’re just not going to get it.” With two older brothers around, she thinks boys are large, loud, smelly, and eat all the good food in the house. A novel, such as Twilight, which is about romantic longing and lust, is lost on her at this point. And lots of YA novels deal with sex, alcohol, and language a little too realistically for her. (And me, as mom.)

Interesting enough, some of the most amazing and enthusiastic fan letters for Forget-Her-Nots have come from 11-year-old girls who are strong readers and long to be reading up. In my main character, Laurel, they find a heroine they can relate to, who is exploring her world and testing the boundaries without getting in too far over her head or too distant from her family and mentors.

I was happy to see a few recent releases – Mistwood by Leah Cypess, Brightly Woven by Alex Bracken, and Princess for Hire by Lindsey Leavitt, to name a few – fit so nicely into the YA 12 and up category. Older YA readers will definitely enjoy all these books, but it’s wonderful to be have lots of fun, new books to recommend to my daughter and all those fabulous tween readers.

So, fellow kidlit writers, think about it. Could a tween YA novel fit into your future plans?

And librarians and teachers, what else would you recommend for tween readers?

Aside from the fantastic opportunity to participate in the  American publishing world’s biggest trade show, I’ve never been to NYC. I am excited. I mean I AM EXCITED!!!

So, for anyone who’s experienced BEA and the Big Apple in all its glory, help me out. I need to make two lists.

1. Top Ten things to do at the BEA

2. Top Ten things to see in New York

What to do? What to do? I’m the kind of person who makes a plan when visiting DisneyWorld. Enter gate, run to Dumbo’s ride and get it done before the line gets too long. Check – rush to Space Mountain next.

Send your fav picks my way. This southern girl is going to New York City!!

Donna