This photo is of the castle in Iwakuni. And there are gorgeous views from the castle perspective, high on a mountain overlooking an island-speckled bay.

I am touring schools on American military bases from Sasebo on the southern island of Kyushu to Masawa at the northern tip of Honshu–the main island. It is wonderful and fun! More later.

Shutta

My friend Hope Vestergaard had a wonderful storytime at Nicola’s
Books today. She read her new book, Potty Animals, to the enjoyment of the crowd.

Afterward the kids built a castle with rolls of toilet paper!

Fun!

Shutta

While I don’t have time at the moment to update my site, I thought I’d post some pictures of my granddaughter Chloe—-following, I hope—-in Grandma’s footsteps! The photo in the red (taken about 1 year and a half ago) lets you know that she was an independent reader from a very young age. Don’t let the fact that the book is upside down fool you!

This reading stuff is easy!

Hmm . . . what to write? If Grandma can do it, I can. We’ll start out with a hook . . . It was a dark and stormy night .. .

Grandma, you made a mistake right there!

Enjoy!  Shutta

Once you’ve tickled the water and the ripples radiate out . . .there’s no telling what shore they (or you) will wash up on.

In my near future, that shore happens to be in Japan!  Yes, you heard that right! And I owe it all to the good advice of fellow writer Cynthia Leitich Smith, (Eternal, Jingle Dancer) who said writers should write a couple of articles for magazines every year-to help promote their books and their work-even if those magazines are non-paying professional and educational journals. So I did. And a teacher in that far away place saw the articles, liked them, read my books, and emailed. Eventually, she asked me if I’d consider doing an author tour of American elementary schools on US military bases. Would I? Believe me, I didn’t hesitate to say “YES!”

In April we leave for Japan for a month. I’ll be doing author presentations at eight schools over the course of twelve of those twenty-six days. We’ll be traveling on the bullet trains from the southern island of Kyushu to the northern tip of Honshu. The teachers have all pitched in to make reservations, get my travel between schools worked out, and even to provide guides for my husband while I am at the schools!  They are an organized, energetic, and wonderful bunch-I can tell that already.

And so, I’m here to tell those writers who wonder if it is worth it to write for a non-paying outlet-it is! (Thanks, Cyn.) And besides, I love writing for professional journals as it is one way to share with teachers, librarians and others who love children and their books. It is a way to give back to a community that has given me and my family so much.

Sayonara

Shutta

I will be speaking and signing books at Central Michigan University on Tuesday, February 2nd at 7:00 p.m. at the Park Library Auditorium. Bring your questions, bring your laughter. I’ll speak about the good, the bad, and the just plain silly aspects of publishing for children these days—where we’ve been, and where we’re headed . . .

A reception will follow in the Clarke Historical Library. Admission to this event is free and open to the public.  Information is available here at the CMU site.

See you there!

Shutta

Sometimes we need a little imbalance in our lives to make us think about how to get centered again. Writing a picture book in verse is like that, too.

When writing in poetical stanzas (With all those good things that any picture book needs-characterization, setting and a plot, for goodness sake!) the writer has an additional concern. That is, a sense of balance. Oftentimes we can sense imbalance but we are not quite sure why something doesn’t work. For example, the magical number in most western literature is three. Tasks, bad luck, good luck, etc. come in threes. (Unless you come from a Native American background, then four is usually the special number.) If this is violated, somewhere down deep we readers feel a bit uneasy. Things are not quite what they should be.

Most picture books are thirty-two pages in length. (Some are forty, or twenty-four; all are a number of pages that can be divided by 8.) Working with thirty-two pages, a writer of picture books has to be able to envision action for approximately thirteen double spreads (26 pages), and two single pages (first right-hand page and final left-hand page). The remaining four pages are front and back matter. One of the jobs for the verse writer of picture books is realizing how the stanzas, with or without a chorus, play across these pages in a balanced way so the reader feels, yes! This is right.

Early in my writing career I wrote a book from which my editor wanted me to remove one stanza so we could get it into a twenty-four page format. But which one should I remove?

This manuscript also contained a repeated chorus at precise points in the story. In my mind it was designed like one might a beaded necklace. There was an opening, three strands (stanzas) of a certain rhyme pattern and rhythm, a chorus strand with a different rhyme and rhythm, three more of the basic strand, another chorus, three more of the basic, and then a closing. So the original pattern went: Opening, 3 stanzas, chorus, 3 stanzas, chorus, 3 stanzas, closing.

How could I remove just one and keep the whole thing working in a balanced way? Well . . . obviously, I had to remove the center stanza so the central strand of the basic pattern contained only two stanzas. Now my pattern was Open, 3, C., 2, C., 3, Close.

Now, you might think at this point that I am being just too fussy. But am I? Certainly a reader sometimes is not aware of all the work a writer does behind the scenes to make a story flow as though it were effortless. However, if we jarred the reader rudely at a point in the flow-he/she would certainly feel it, even though the reader might not be exactly sure why it didn’t work for him/her.

For example lets look closely at this title from a friend of mine’s manuscript (Hope Vestergaard) that will be out with Greenwillow in the next year or two: Digger, Dozer, Dumper. Obviously, this is a book of large machines for little readers. And the title is perfect. Why is that?

First, we have the very descriptive words that tell exactly what each machine does. Second, we have the wonderful alliteration so beloved in children’s books that helps the title just roll off our tongues. But there is more . . . a third thing. This is something an author would think about and deliberately design, something that just feels right.

Notice the vowels? Each one progresses down in tone and where they said in the mouth. The “i” is higher, said using the tongue up near the roof of the mouth. The “o” is said in the round chamber of the middle of one’s mouth, while the “u” is said more in the lower back of the mouth near the throat. It feels good in our mouths to say it. It’s memorable, it’s musical. It’s perfect!

Now you know a little about why I fume when someone comments, “Oh it must be so easy to write those books. They’re so short.” When t

I just got the word that THUNDER-BOOMER! was named a notable book by ALA! Wonderful news.

To see the whole list of children’s notables for this year go here. Enjoy.

Shutta

There are a lot of end of the year lists going around now. Some of these are best of the year, some are just good gift lists. (See below.) I’m proud to announce that THUNDER-BOOMER! is making some of those lists, including School Library Journal’s Best of the Year, and the Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, Guide to Gifts, 2009.

You’ll find a comprehensive list of national, and some international, end of the year lists at CHICKEN SPAGHETTI. 

BEST LISTS FOR CHILDREN AND YOUNG ADULT:

ALA YALSA
Teens’ Top Ten Best Books (2009)
http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/yalsa/teenreading/teenstopten/ttt09.cfm

American Book Sellers Association Kids’ Next (Winter, 2009)
http://news.bookweb.org/features/7162.html

Graphic Novel/Reporter 
Graphic Novels: A Survey of Comics Readers(2009)
http://www.graphicnovelreporter.com/content/best-2009-survey-comics-readers-seasonal-features

ALAN’s Picks: (October 2009)
http://www.alan-ya.org/2009/10/alans-picks-october-2009/

New York Times Best Illustrated Books (2009)
“Best Illustrated Books.”  (New York Times Book Review November 8, 2009: p. 28)
http://www.nytimes.com/gift-guide/holiday-2009/20091108_best-illustrated_gg/list.html?ref=artsspecial

Booklist Top 10 Arts Books for Youth (2009)
http://www.booklistonline.com/default.aspx?page=show_product&pid=382407

Booklist Top 10 Books in Religion & Spirituality for
Youth (2009)
http://www.booklistonline.com/default.aspx?page=show_product&pid=3856801

Publishers Weekly Best Children’s Books (2009)
http://www.publishersweekly.com/article/CA6704596.html
(Best Children’s Books of 2009.” Publishers Weekly November 2, 2009: pp. 30-31.)

Library Journal VOYA Best YA for Adults (2009)
http://www.libraryjournal.com/index.asp?layout=articlePrint&articleID=CA6707666

School Library Journal, 2009, Best Books http://www.schoollibraryjournal.com/article/CA6708210.html

Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, 2009, Guide to Gifts http://bccb.lis.illinois.edu/GBGB2009.pdf

Happy gift buying!

As a teacher, librarian, and a children’s book writer, I truly believe my life has encompassed the best of all worlds. My day job for more than 26 years meant going into a library and being surrounded with beautiful books containing inspiring words. Since retiring from the public library in 2004, I no longer go “in” to my day job. I write from home.

However, once a librarian always a librarian! I still reap the benefits of all that. I maintain my ALA and Michigan Library Assoc. memberships, and friendships. And I get wonderful newsletters and journals that help to keep me up to date on the latest technology, research, and reading habits of kids. I want to share some goodies from recent library news that will be of help to writers.

Best websites for kids. You’ll find a listing of these on my sidebar and here from ALA’s Library Association for Services to Children.

Check out Writer’s Digest annual listing: 101 Best Websites for Writers.

Below are a list of research sites that were recently reported upon by the American Library Association, the Reference and User Services Div.

Title: BBC Country Profiles (free)
URL: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/country_profiles/default.stm
This site supplies information on the history, economy, and politics of countries and territories.

Title: Blue Letter Bible (free)
URL: http://www.blueletterbible.org/
Containing 14 searchable versions of the Holy Bible. Passages can be compared between versions and there are lots of tools (an encyclopedia, a dictionary, 23 text commentaries, and 30 audio/video commentaries).

Title: BookFinder.com (free)
URL: http://www.bookfinder.com/
BookFinder.com indexes over 150 million books for sale from the catalogs of over 150 million sellers in 50 countries. Included are new, used, rare and out-of-print titles.

Title: Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers (free)
URL: http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/
Part of the National Digital Newspaper Program, this site provides select digital access to American newspapers from 1880 to 1910. Also there is access to a directory of newspapers published in the United States from 1690 to the present.

Title: Lexicool (free)
URL: http://www.lexicool.com/
A directory to over 6000 freely available online bilingual and multilingual dictionaries and glossaries. Searches may be entered by language(s), subject, or title/keyword. Search results provide the number of entries and links to the online dictionaries.

Title: OnlineConversion.com (free)
URL: http://onlineconversion.com/
“Convert just about anything to anything else,” with 50,000 conversions and 5,000 units. Has popular conversions: length, temperature, speed, volume, weight, cooking, area, currency. Also contains measurements for women’s clothing sizes between countries, light-years, density, torque, horse height, meeting room size needed for attendees, even a “Fun Stuff” category where users can find their age in dog years, convert their names into Morse code, determine their weight on Mars, etc.

Title: Purdue Online Writing Lab (OWL) (free)
URL: http://owl.english.purdue.edu/
The Writing Lab at Purdue houses 200 free writing resources and instructional materials for students, teachers, and trainers. Included are formatting and style guides, grammar and mechanics, internet literacy, ESL, job search and technical writing, and research.

And check this out . . . in case you are wondering what are the best adult fiction books published thus far in the millennium. (By a panel of experts.)  I wonder what we would say is the best children fiction thus far? Perhaps we should survey? I’ll put the word out soon! Watch for it.

Happy researching (and writing)!

Shutta

I’m highlighting Andrea Beaty’s FIREFIGHTER TED book (see sidebar). What a hoot! When the principal’s pants catch on fire we see exactly why a caring bear has to do his best. Lots of heart and humor in this one! Way to go, Andrea.

A wonderful NY Times article about Jan Brett and the chickens she raises at her summer home can be found here.

And, after getting to meet editor Harold Underdown this past weekend at the Michigan SCBWI fall conference, I just want to remind folks what a wealth of information is at his website: The Purple Crayon. This is a great spot for beginning writers of children’s books to start. He covers all the basics of publishing and writing for children.

Enjoy!

Shutta

It’s the time of year when I feel a bit like Leo Lionni’s grasshopper. Fall has well and truly come upon us in Michigan. The soy fields are dry and golden, the Virginia creeper wound round our trees is scarlet and we’ve had our first frost. Yesterday I heard sand hill cranes and assumed I’d see them in the neighbor’s field as I walked by. Nope. Twenty-two of them were forming a flying wedge and heading south.

It’s the time of year to be sure your larders are stocked. I’ve made my jellies and juices. And now, I have to collect as many bright and shiny words as I can and store them up against the day deep winter decides to accost us. To do this, I read and write (especially poetry). Sometimes it’s enough just to find a line I like. I keep those jotted down in my journal.

I keep my eyes and ears open. And, oddly enough, my sense of smell is truly alive at this time of year. Yesterday, in addition to the sand hill cranes and the soy fields I was particularly attuned to that tang–that smell–that is always in Michigan’s air in October. You know the one; overripe grapes small, dark, and pungently grapey smelling, and apples that have fallen on the dirt road to be smashed by cars and eaten by deer producing that sweet, sharp “appley” smell.

Well . . . you can see that I’m having a problem here. Just how does an author describe a smell? How do you get that into a poem or story? In fact, my book MY MOUNTAIN SONG (Clarion) deals, in part, with this issue when the main character wants to get the smell of the green dampness of the mountain holler into her song. I initially wrote that book more than twenty years ago . . . and I still wonder how it’s done. I do my best . . . but it never seems quite enough.

It’s easy to describe things you see, touch, hear, and to some degree taste (salty, bitter, etc.). But smell? And the funny thing is, I’ve read that the sense of smell can trigger our strongest and most emotional responses. And we humans have powerful reactions to pheromones.

Perhaps it’s just that smell is so personal. Does the smell of ripe grapes smell the same to me as to you? Juicy apples? Hot chocolate and cinnamon? Wet dog? And what about that other smell for people of my generation? The one that said, yep, school is back in for the season. It was a combined smell of wet galoshes lined up along the walls, and that red rubbery stuff that the custodians used to sprinkle down before they swept the hallways. (What is that stuff called?). That smell has had such a hold on me for all these years that it is easy to bring a sense of it back to the foreground of my memory–but how, as a writer do I write about it?

In the Torrey Pines park in California there is a path for blind walkers. It stops at spots along the way where the smells are particularly strong. I LOVED it! I loved the sage smells, the salt from the ocean, the pine smells. What a wonderful idea for sighted walkers, as well.

I don’t have any answers here for you. (If you have one for me, please let me know!) But I do have a thought for you: while you are squirreling away all those golden summer words and stories for the deep winter, store away some of those smells that have been important to you. Perhaps, one day, you can find a way to share them with others in your writing.

Happy autumn!

Happy writing (and smelling)!           Shutta

Deb Diesen is a wonderful writer, good friend, and perhaps(?) an alien abductee. You may not know that her first book, THE POUT POUT FISH, was named by Time Magazine as one of the top ten children’s books of 2008. Check it out–you can’t help but smile.  Enjoy this lighthearted interview with Deb, and check out her website at Jumping the Candlestick.   Shutta

**********************************************************************************

1. Let’s start out with something kids often wonder. How old were you when you first started seriously writing?

My first period of “serious” writing came in elementary school.  When I was in third or fourth grade, I decided to try writing a poem about a butterfly.  I put a lot of work into the poem, then typed it up on my Mom’s typewriter (this was WAY before computers).  I went downstairs with my carefully typed poem, and showed it to my Mom.  She told me it was great.  Then she said, “But put a date on it.  Writers always date their work.”

My mom had no idea the significance of those words to me.  Not only did she instill in me an excellent habit (I still always date my drafts and revisions), but more importantly she gave me belief in myself as a Real Writer.  I took that belief and immediately poured it into a very productive writing period, penning poem after poem, and even a “novel” (a thinly veiled rip-off of Laura Ingalls Wilder’s books, but I was earnest about it).  All through elementary school, I knew with certainty that I was a writer, and write I did.

Unfortunately, my belief in my writing slowly faded over the years.  By the time I reached the age of thirty, I’d pretty much set aside my writerly dreams.  But then I became a parent; and the experience of reading and re-reading and re-re-reading wonderful children’s books to my kids reawakened my own desire to write.  About a decade ago, I once again picked up my pen. I haven’t set it down since.

2. How many book rejections did you get before you got your first acceptance?

Spread across the various manuscripts I was submitting, I had had exactly 99 rejections before I got the wonderful phone call telling me that Farrar, Straus & Giroux would publish my story The Pout-Pout Fish.

I now have two other books on the way, and though I stopped counting rejections after the first acceptance, and I don’t think I had a full 99 more before either of the other contracts, I do continue to receive plenty of rejections.  They go with the territory!

3. How do you make up names for your characters?

I must have used up all my naming energy in picking names for my two kids, because my characters have some pretty unimaginative names!  The main character in The Pout-Pout Fish is, um, “Mr.. Fish,” and his pals are, er, Ms. Clam (a clam); Mr.. Jelly (a jellyfish); Mrs.. Squid (a squid); and Mr.. Eight (an octopus).  I guess you could say I use the Captain Obvious technique for character names.

(Either that, or no technique at all…  None of the babies in The Barefooted, Bad-Tempered Baby Brigade (Tricycle Press, 2010) have names!)

4. When you write do you like quiet, music, or lots of activity around you?

I definitely need quiet to do my writing.  Most of my writing is done either late at night or very early in the morning, when no one else in the household is stirring.

Fortunately, ideas for my writing show up in all sorts of circumstances.  Good thing, because it’s usually pretty chaotic around my house!

5. What’s the earliest childhood memory you can think back to? Does it appear in any of your writing?

That’s a great question which I unfortunately don’t have a very good answer for!  For whatever reason, I don’t have a lot of strong memories of my childhood.  Those things that I do recall tend to be snap shot sensations that come back to me here and there, mostly out of the blue.  They feel almost like poems, rather than like memories, if that makes any sense at all.

6. What age child do you have in your head? Is there more than one child up there?

It’s standing room only up in my head!  I’ve got kids of every age and disposition.  Luckily, most of them are fairly well-behaved, with a tendency to be sweet and silly.  But there are a few pranksters amongst the bunch, and they’re all of them rather LOUD!

7. Why do you like to write for young readers?

Books and reading played a hugely significant role in my own childhood.  Writing for kids is a way for me to circle back to that — to acknowledge and celebrate the lifelong impact of books on kids, and to hopefully touch the life of a child or two in the process.

8. What do you have hidden in a dresser drawer? (We won’t tell, will we everyone?)

A shorter answer might be to list what I don’t have in my dresser drawer (I’m a bit of a clutter prone packrat, I must admit).  But I went just now to look, and found a set of three tiny pinecones on a small twig.  Wow! I’d forgotten they were in there. Perhaps they’re magical!  At the very least, they’re beautiful.  Maybe I should liberate them from the drawer and set them on my desk.  In fact, I think I will!  Ah. Much better.  (And more room for my socks that way…)

9. What do your favorite pair of socks look like?

Oddly enough, they look just like pine cones!  Just kidding.  No, my favorite socks are bright red and patterned with yellow and blue diamonds and sunbursts and other designs.  They’re completely different than the other 99.99% of my sock collection, which is based entirely on the traditional concept of Solid Colors.

10. If you woke up in the morning and found someone else’s shoes in your refrigerator, what would you think?

Initially, I’d simply move them aside to get to the creamer for my coffee.

But once the caffeine kicked in, I’d immediately figure my kids were up to something…

11. Have you ever been abducted by aliens? If so, did they wear socks? What did they have hidden in their zormorpholaters? And were they missing any shoes?

If I were to tell you that the shoeless aliens wore ankle socks with little puff balls (as were popular in the 1980s) and hid dark chocolate in their zormorpholaters, this should not be construed as an admission of a brief but enlightening alien abduction that occurred exactly three years and twenty-two days ago.

12. Will you name a character in your next book after me?

Shutta, every book should have a character named after you!

A friend informed me of the non-profit organization, The National Society of Arts and Letters. It seems they are hosting a contest for 2010 for young (18-33 yrs) unpublished writers. Maybe that is you! Head on over to their site for specifics. http://arts-nsal.org .  

Happy Writing!

Shutta

I just finished posting a blog entry for BIG UNIVERSE, about the imaginative play of my grandchildren titled: Coffee Shop Theater. If you are interested in peeking at a bit of the imaginative life of children take a trip to Big U.

In the meantime, enjoy the children in your life and these final days of summer. I can smell autumn in the air already!

(Sam and Abby)

Ciao!

Shutta

The schmooze this year was a lot of fun with some old familiar faces showing up as well as a lot of new ones. We had every chair filled in a circle—28 of us! There was lots of good food as well as good conversation. I saw groups standing in the shade by the food tables chatting away, as well as in little huddles in the playhouse.

We did a round robin intro and later spent a little time writing. See below!

All in all, it was a wonderful day spent with people excited about writing for children! Can’t ask for better than that.

Keep writing!

Shutta

1. Let’s start out with something kids often wonder. How old were you when you first started seriously writing?

I was a grownup with a child of my own. (Now I have two very large sons!) I enjoyed writing as a child, and always received praise from my teachers, but somehow ended up a graphic artist for years before trying writing again.

2. How many rejections did you get before you got your first acceptance?

Oh dear, I’m not sure I can count. About a dozen per book for… maybe 3 or 4 books. The funny thing is, when I finally sold a book, I found a rejection letter for the book from the publisher who eventually bought it. The rejection was for a query, not the full manuscript. The sale came about because an editor read my story at a conference. It’s a good thing I’m not very organized. If I had remembered her company had already rejected it, I would never have submitted it for review at the conference!

3. How do you make up names for your characters?

Some of them are borrowed names, like naming a cat-owning family after a friend of mine who fosters stray kittens. And some are variations on names I’ve heard. Just today I noticed the name of the salesman written on a box of vacuum cleaner bags I had bought. "Burlie Napier." Isn’t that a great name? I think I’ll have to use some variation of that name in a story.

4. When you write do you like quiet, music, or lots of activity around you?

I like to listen to "new age" instrumental music if I’m doing art, but I like silence when I’m writing. I especially love sitting out in my front yard, under the pecan and magnolia trees when I’m writing. When my neighbor starts playing his radio loudly, it makes me very grumpy!

5. What age child do you have in your head? Is there more than one child there?

I’d say — about 7 or 8. That’s also my favorite age to teach/interact with.

6. Do you wake up in the middle of the night with fantastic ideas for books? Or are ideas hard to come by for you?

I’ve had a couple of ideas come to me in dreams. In one dream, I even remember writing down the idea — in the dream! — because even in the dream it seemed like a great idea. More often, I think of things early in the morning, when I first wake up. If possible, I try to lie there for a while, in a dreamy state, and think about my projects. The idea for "Wee Piggy" a book that’s coming out from Dutton next year, came to me that way, during an early morning rumination.

7. Are crocodiles good fathers?

Well, at least my Crocodaddy is. Haha!

8. Do you have any superstitions about writing?

Ooo, great question! I don’t think I’d call it superstition so much as… fear. (Sometimes.) When I’m working on longer works where I feel a little lost. It gives me very real anxiety; the same kind of anxiety I feel when I’m lost in an airport, say.

9. Who would you rather have a date with (given you weren’t married/attached), Strider from THE LORD OF THE RINGS, Dr. Watson, Wolverine, Susan Boyle, or Homer Simpson?

Oh that’s easy — Wolverine — but without his make-up and dressed as Hugh Jackman, instead. I have great admiration for actors who are also talented Broadway performers. I’m not at all drawn to brooding bad boys like Wolverine. I have a weakness for brainy Jewish actors, but I didn’t see one of those on your list.

10. If you woke up in the morning and found a bottle of champagne, a top hat, and a dozen Twinkies in your refrigerator, what would you think?

That Hugh Jackman had finally showed up for our date!!

11. Have you ever been abducted by aliens? Did they tell you the titles of any of their favorite books? Were they wearing T-shirts?

I was once abducted by a trio of Big Band saxophonists with bad come-overs. They WERE wearing T-shirts. How did you know?! But their bellies spilled over their cummerbunds rather unattractively.

12. Will you name a character in your next book after me?

I like that idea! How about Burley Crum? I love it!

13. Finally, let’s end up looking toward the future. What’s up next for you? Anything you want to tell us about?

Two books coming out next year, "the good Lord willin’ and the crick’ don’t rise"… I KNOW A WEE PIGGY WHO WALLOWED IN BROWN, from Dutton, illustrated by Henry Cole. And TEN ON THE SLED, from Sterling, illustrated by Liza Woodruff, whose first sketches I have already seen for the book, and they’re MARVELOUS!!

I have resolved to spend the summer back at work on a novel I’ve been dodging. (It’s that same lost-in-the-airport problem, but I’m trying to overcome it.) And I’d like to dabble in some art again. I was rearranging a room and found all these delicious art supplies I bought a while back, which I have hardly touched.

Enjoy Kim’s books!  And remember, there’s not much time left this summer to get under a tree and read. So just do it!

Ciao!

Shutta

Wow! When it rains, it pours. I just got word that the Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books will be giving THUNDER-BOOMER! an “R*” in its September issue. (Recommended, and an asterisk for “exceptional.”)

A writer friend asked if I knew that this book (my tenth) would be exceptional? And how did it feel writing it? Hmmm . . .

Good questions! I remember I felt good writing it. I live on a farm now and I love how  “the air smells sweet as butter” after a storm. And I LOVED the editorial process with my editor at Clarion, Marcia Leonard.  But of course, I had no idea it would generate such good reviews. I truly believe that with a picture book, a good portion, if not MOST, of the weight of the book is carried by the illustrations. And Clarion had the great good sense to hook THUNDER-BOOMER! up with Carol Thompson-a truly talented and knowledgeable illustrator.

Carol’s use of drippy gray watercolors, collage, and pencil over textures brings the storm to life. And the pale pale green of the after-math—my favorite spread—is picture perfect. In fact, most of the reviews speak to Carol’s inspired illustrations. Thanks, Carol!!!

Enjoy,

Shutta

Several friends have sent links to this wonderful video of the song AFRICA. It starts with creating the sound effects of a rain storm. Click here or on the sidebar. I can just see doing this with a whole group of kids! Music teachers?

The rock band Toto scored their biggest hit with this song in 1982. 

But it has been reinvented. Perpetuum Jazzile is an a cappella jazz choir from Slovenia. Group members simulate an African thunderstorm with their hands.

Turn up the volume to high …. and close your eyes!  Be patient as it starts softly before the vol really picks up. Enjoy!

Ciao!

Shutta

Click here for some great thunder sound effects!

(*Clip art by: http://www.designedtoat.com)

I have a wonderful little thunder stick I take with me when I visit schools. Many teachers and families have asked about where to get one. Below are some links and photos. I like getting a nice array of instruments together to make storm sounds and then read THUNDER-BOOMER! I point to each child to indicate when he/she is to play his/her instrument. I’m sure an upturned bucket would also suffice for thunder. But the thunder tube is so much more unexpected and exciting. They come in various sizes and are fairly inexpensive. And the frogs are fun, too. Enjoy!

For the rain: rainsticks. Available at:

amazon.com

musiciansfriend.com

For the thunder: thunder tubes/sticks. Available at:

amazon.com 

teachersource.com

For the hail: clappers, jingles, tambourines, shakers, gourd rattles. Make your own, or many inexpensive ones are available at:

musiciansfriend.com

For the frog/toad sounds after the rain: percussive frogs. Available at:

amazon.com

teachersource.com

Enjoy your classroom thunder storms!!

Shutta

Lots of things are happening, and I haven’t updated this site in a while. So . . .

First, THUNDER-BOOMER! has garnered three starred reviews so far. (Kirkus Reviews, School Library Journal, and Horn Book Magazine) YAY! The reviewers are blown away by Carol Thompson’s amazing art-and so am I. (Pun intended.)

Second, A FAMILY FOR OLD MILL FARM (Clarion, 2007) was chosen to represent my native state of Kentucky at the National Book Festival in Washington, D. C. this fall. Each state picks one title to represent it at the festival, and I am so pleased that a book of mine will have that honor. Yay, Kentucky!

Third, I’ve been busy working on edits for THOMAS AND THE DRAGON QUEEN, which will be out next summer. (Knopf) Here is an early peek at the cover done by artist Lee Wildish . . . don’t ya just love it? I am always so awestruck by the talent of the wonderful illustrators working in children’s books today. 

Finally, thinking about illustrators, etc. I do have news that David Catrow will be illustrating an upcoming book of mine for Clarion (HMH). I don’t have a pub date yet. The tentative title is: DOZENS OF COUSINS: A  Beastie Holler Reunion.  You can tell by the subtitle that there will be lots of mayhem present–just like there always was when my siblings and I got together with my cousins at our family reunions in Kentucky. YAY! (again) for the sheer pleasure of it, and for the joy of getting to work with some of the  best illustrators in the business. Could there ever be a better job?

Here are some of my favorite books illustrated by David Catrow.

I hope all of your news will be happy news! Enjoy the summer, a good time to spend curled up with a favorite book, or two, or three . . .

Ciao!

Shutta

I was reminded that the 2009 Bulwer-Lytton winners had recently been announced. I always enjoy these each year. This is the annual contest for the worst opening line (Since 1983). It is named after Edward George Bulwer-Lytton who wrote the famous opening phrase that Snoopy used so often: “It was a dark and stormy night . . .”  [Paul Clifford, 1830].

If you get a chance check out the winners for this year at http://bulwer-Lytton.com .

One of my favs was the romance winner:

Melinda woke up suddenly to the sound of her trailer being pounded with wind and hail, and she couldn’t help thinking that if she had only put her prized hog up for adoption last May, none of this would be happening, no one would have gotten hurt, and she wouldn’t be left with only nine toes, or be living in a mobile home park in Nebraska with a second-rate trapeze artist named Fred.  (by Ada Marie Finkel. Boston, MA)

HAH! (But it does make you want to keep reading, doesn’t it?)

Entries are taken all year long for the next batch of winners, so why not contribute if you’ve got a sentence that just isn’t working? Make it as awful as you can . . . who knows, you might be one of next year’s winners. And teachers, have your students–just for a fun respite from studying good writing—try writing the worst sentence they can. Have some samples of purple prose around, or first lines from genre fiction for them to imitate.

Have fun!

                                 Ciao,

Shutta

Congratulations to my friend Jacqui Robbins who was feted and cheered by an audience of cupcake smeared admirers. (The cupcakes were good!) But her second book, TWO OF A KIND (Illustrated by Matt Phelan. Published by Atheneum/Richard Jackson Books, 2009), is even better than bright blue and green cupcakes! It has just taken its first steps out into the world, and what a sensitive and honest book it is!

Jacqui has just the right touch and is in tune with the tragedies of life in early elementary school. Join me in welcoming this new book. (Click on the photo in the sidebar, to be taken to an independent bookstore where you may order Jacqui’s book.) In addition, check out her funny blog at: http://jacquirobbins.blogspot.com . 

And in case you missed it . . . here is Jacqui’s first book, THE NEW GIRL . . . AND ME.  You teachers, listen up!  Jacqui’s books are spot-on for use in the early elementary classroom. She handles the problems of bullies, and new students with a knowing touch.

Enjoy!

Shutta

I kept this link to pass on to others. It’s Writer’s Digest annual listing of the 101 best websites for writers. Check it out! This listing/edition of the magazine is always one of my favorites.

I often find handy sites and apps to use, including Windows Live Writer–the software I am using at the moment. I use it to write and edit my blog entries. It’s free, and easier to use than the blogging editor that came with my site.

So check out the new listing at: http://writersdigest.com/article/101-websites-2009. 

Enjoy,

Shutta

A couple of weeks ago I had lunch with my friend Alex Flinn at a Greek restaurant in Detroit. We talked about her book, BEASTLY, being optioned for a movie. Well, work has begun. (See my interview with Alex, below.) And just to tantalize you a bit, here’s a link to lead actor Alex Pettyfer’s transformation into the beast.

The movie is due to be released next summer. In the meantime, enjoy the book or Alex’s latest, A KISS IN TIME. (See my sidebar.)

Ciao!

Shutta

Alexandra Flinn, AKA Alex Flinn, has a lot going on in her writing life. Her newest book, A KISS IN TIME, is getting great reviews, and her book BEASTLY is being made into a movie starring Vanessa Hudgens, Alex Pettyfer and  Mary Kate Olsen.   How cool is that?

I recently read A KISS IN TIME and found that its fascinating premise nestled within the comforting framework of the Sleeping Beauty fairy tale made for a read that kept me intrigued. The premise is: what would happen if Sleeping Beauty was kissed by her true love 300 years later, and that true love turned out to be a teenager from modern-day Florida? How would their two worlds collide? How would it end? After all, according to the fairy tale they’re supposed to marry and live happily ever after.  But Jack’s still in high school and not about to be married yet. Now what?

How old were you when you first started seriously writing?

Depends what you mean by “seriously.”  I knew I wanted to be a writer when I was five.  I wrote plays for the kids in the neighborhood to perform when I was 9 or 10.  I started writing a diary and trying to write my novel at 12.  I wrote most of a manuscript for a novel (then lost it) at 19.  I started writing with a real eye toward publication, researching the market, etc., at 29.  My first book was accepted when I was 32.

  What age child do you have in your head?

That is the age I picture myself reading my books.

How do you make up names for your characters?

I love names!  It’s one of my favorite parts of writing.

Sometimes, the characters just tell me their names, which is what happened with Jack in A Kiss in Time.  Other times, I think about it more.  Like with Talia the Sleeping Beauty of A Kiss in Time, I found that Talia was one of the names given to Sleeping Beauty in old stories.   She has a whole slew of middle names, which I got from a list of royal names and also, from other names for Sleeping Beauty (Aurora and Rose).

I often consider the meaning of the name.  For example, Kyle (the Beast in Beastly) is named Kyle because it means “handsome,” and after he becomes a beast, he changes it to Adrian which means dark.  The girl in the story is Linda, which means “pretty.”  Kendra, the name of the witch in that story, means magical. 

I consider impressions that names give me, and if I know anyone with that name.  Charlie Good in my book, Breaking Point, was named Charlie because I knew someone who looked just like him in middle school, and his name was Charlie, and I knew a boy named Alex Good in high school.  He used to say his name was spelled, “No E, just plain good,” which I thought was funny.  I have a book called Baby Name Personality Survey, which tells me what impressions the name gives other people. 

I had a really hard time naming my own kids, so it’s fun to get to name more people.

What’s the earliest childhood memory you can think back to? Does it appear in any of your writing?

I can remember REALLY far back, and I remember a lot.  I remember standing in my crib, biting the sides, waiting for my mother to come in.  But my first vivid memory was from when I was three years old.  I remember my mother coming in and telling me we were going to meet the little boy and girl who had moved in next-door.  I was wearing a white dress with red polka dots.  We went over to their house and sat on their back step.  The boy’s name was Peter, and the girl’s name was Wendy (No, I did not make this up after watching Peter Pan), and they were two and five respectively.  I never used it in my writing, but I’ve used other stuff.

Do you wake up in the night with fantastic ideas for books?

Not in the night.  I usually think up story ideas when I’m supposed to be doing something else.  Like, once, I wrote a short story in my head while watching Piglet’s Big Movie with my kids.

Why write a take off on a fairy tale?

Initially, because part of the story wasn’t fleshed out enough for my liking.  I wanted to know more about the Beast, or it bothered me that Sleeping Beauty just got plunked down in another century.  Now, because kids don’t read fairy tales anymore.   They watch the DVD, and if there is no DVD, if Disney hasn’t done it, it’s dead.  You have no idea how many emails I get, asking who the bear in Beastly was supposed to be.  He’s from Snow White and Rose Red, but none of them have heard of that story.  I’m working on a novel now that is all fairy tales that haven’t been done by Disney.  Some of them, even I hadn’t heard of until I started researching.

What is your favorite fairy tale?

Sleeping Beauty was my favorite as a child.  Now, I sort of like adventure stories like The Brave Little Tailor, Lazy Jack, or The Golden Bird, where the hero has to surmount obstacles to gain the hand of the princess.

What do you have hidden in a dresser drawer? (We won’t tell, will we, everyone?)

Nothing.  It’s not that I’m so organized (I’m not), or that I don’t have hiding places (I do).  That’s just not one of them.  And I’m not going to tell you my hiding places because my kids are old enough to go online.

What do your favorite jammies look like?

Grey short gown with an embroidered pink kitty-cat on it that says, “It’s all about me-ow.”

Who would you rather have a date with (given you weren’t married), Strider from THE LORD OF THE RINGS, Dr. Watson, Wolverine, or Simon Cowell? Why?

Simon.  I was a music major in college, and I pretty much agree with everything he says (except when he ridicules the disabled, but I would try to cure him of that).

Have you ever been abducted by aliens? If so, what color were their jammies? And did they tell you the titles of any of their favorite books?

Well, if they abducted me, they must like my books, right?  And they weren’t wearing jammies.  In fact, they all looked exactly like Simon Cowell and were wearing black Tee-shirts and jeans.

Will you name a character in your next book after me?

Um, maybe.  Do you want me to?  How many other people have you asked to do this?

Thanks, Alex! 

(Who knows, maybe we’ll have a spate of characters named Shutta soon.)

Ciao!

Shutta

* Many of Alex Flinn’s books have made the American Library Association’s Best Books for Young Adults lists, as well as Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers. They have also received such teen-selected honors as the International Reading Association Young Adult Choices list (Breathing Underwater, Nothing to Lose, and Fade to Black). Flinn’s books seem to appeal to teens who might otherwise prefer not to read, which is the charge of the Quick Picks for Reluctant Young Adult Readers list. Her books have also been nominated for numerous state awards. Breathing Underwater won the Maryland Black-Eyed Susan Award in 2004. Beastly is nominated for the 2009 Lone Star State (Texas) Award.  (Wikipedia entry: Alex Flinn.)

(Alex Flinn author Portrait by J.A. Cabrera.)