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| morguefile.com |
These past few months have been defined by an anger born of despair, and by a loss of kindness born from want of hope. It seems this season of light and joy is in dire need of healing.
Hope comes from many places: your family, your friends, your heart, your faith.
Where I find hope is in stories. Every writer and poet, every teacher and parent – everyone who has lived a life – knows that life isn’t always easy. Life isn’t without its fears and despairs. In fact, dare I say, it is impossible to experience life without experiencing pain. Complete freedom from pain, says Daniel Taylor (
The Healing Power of Stories, 1996), means separating yourself from life.
Stories remind us what it means to be human. Not perfect, by any means. But certainly Human. As Taylor suggests, we are the product of all the stories we have heard and lived. Our stories are interwoven, and we cannot live our stories separate from each other because we are characters in each other’s story. Stories fill us with the courage to face life’s possibilities. They show us the way to be more than what we are now. They remind us of what we are capable of doing, if only we work together.
While there were many great and inspiring stories published, I offer the following stories -- and by coincidence, all animal stories -- that reminded me of this hope, demonstrating what can happen when the best of humanity comes together.
And they make me smile. Grant and Tillie Go Walking, by Monica Kulling (July 2015), is a gently wise picturebook on the power of friendship. Grant Wood struggles to find his artistic voice and runs off to Paris to find himself. However, he soon discovers there is no place like home. He learns to be true to himself by painting what makes his heart sing. And in this case, it's beautiful and peaceful Tillie.
Call Me Amy, by Marcia Strykowski (May, 2013), is a wonderful coming-of-age tale about friendship, teamwork and community responsibility. The three protagonists – shy Amy, quirky Miss Cogshell, and the mysterious Craig – come together to save a stranded, injured seal pup.
And speaking of animal rescues, what a powerful story of human achievement and connection is Robert Burleigh’s
Trapped! A Whale Rescue, illustrated by the incomparable Wendell Minor (April, 2015). Burleigh tells the true story of an adult female humpback whale tangled in fishermen’s nets. Despite the dangers, a team of rescuers and divers fight the odds to save her life. At first, the terrified whale struggles against her rescuers. But in the end, as she is freed from her prison, she circles the divers in recognition and appreciation before she returns to the sea.
And finally, Lee Wardlaw offers a charming tale told in haiku,
Won Ton and Chopsticks (March, 2015). Irascible cat Won Ton needs to learn how to get along with the new “baby”, Chopstick the puppy. It’s a struggle, to be sure, but finally the two discover they have more in common than not, and finally make peace.
Isn’t that the story of the day? What are your stories of hope?
Bobbi MillerDon't forget to check out the other Teaching Authors' series of unforgettable books
. JoAnn adds her favorites, with some wonderful reads. Esther highlighted one that carried her heart in its heart. April offered her poetry favorite of the year and Mary Ann listed three memorable YA novels. 
For the last three weeks, Teaching Authors has celebrated the season of gratitude by writing Thanks-Giving Thank U Haiku. And with each offering,
Carmela,
Esther,
April,
Mary Ann, and
JoAnn offer hauntingly beautiful poetry that, as JoAnn stated so eloquently, asks us to add our light to the sum of light.
Now it’s my turn. Alas, I am not a poet. After hours of trying to compose a Thank U Haiku, I concede that I cannot do it. It’s worrisome.
There are many things that I cannot do, of course.
I cannot drive a truck. I’m not talking about the little SUVs, complete with manual five-speed stick shift. I’m talking about those eighteen-wheeler, semi-trailer big rigs. Complete with forward engine, steering axle, two drive axles. Ten forward drive gears and two reverse gears. And a bed.
Vroom, vroom! Wouldn’t it be fun to drive across country, to see this vast and changing landscape? To see those very steps where Martin Luther King said he had a dream? Where on Christmas Day George Washington crossed the river for his own country’s honor? Where Abraham Lincoln spoke about a new birth of freedom? What about to walk the ruins of the Alamo or march across the fields of Gettysburg? Or the hills of San Francisco, where Harvey Milk imagined a righteous world?
Well, true enough I have seen many places. And you don’t really need a truck. As a working writer, I visit the landscape where my characters once walked. I do that to make them more alive. But it’s more than that, too. It’s why I write historical fiction. History is important. As
Penelope J. Corfield said, “All people and peoples are living histories,” and studying those stories that link “past and present is absolutely basic for a good understanding of the condition of being human.” That’s true now more than ever, given recent events. Still, wouldn’t it be fun to be a truck driver?
Vroom, vroom! There are many things I cannot be, of course. I cannot be a worm. How important are worms! Big worms! Small worms! Rain worms! Dew worms! And everyone’s favorite, angleworms! They burrow beneath our feet, sight unseen, churning the inorganic into the organic. Even their poop – I mean, worm casts – are invaluable in enriching soils. Which grows gardens. Which feeds the world.
I am not near as important as a worm. Still, I am a writer, and if I do my job as well as a worm does his, perhaps I might enrich at least one mind.
Speaking of important, I suppose I cannot be a rose either. Even the most imperfect rose is perfect compared to other flowers. Or, so a rose thinks. They are an old, old flower. Maybe that’s why they feel so entitled. Sacred to their Goddess Venus, Romans covered their sofas with roses. Cleopatra covered her floor with roses whenever Marc Antony was about to visit. Roses even have their own language: red rose for love, yellow rose for joy, purple rose for royalty, and white rose for innocence and peace. “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet,” wrote William Shakespeare. In a story that has lasted hundreds of years.
I have wild roses growing like brambles in my back yard. They certainly share the same hoity toity attitude as their hybrid cousins, despite having the nastiest thorns around. Still, bees love them. And in their thorny tangle hide rabbits and wild turkeys with their fledglings. And skunks. There’s nothing sweet smelling about them.
All the same, I prefer the dandelions that blanket my acres every spring. When they bloom, they look like a thousand bright yellow suns, shooing away the last memory of winter. When the blooms turn into puff balls, they look like a thousand moons. And when the puff balls explode, dispersing their seeds, they look like a thousand shooting stars. My galaxy is growing!
Of course, the result of all those shooting stars is a yard full of weeds. But I like weeds. “And, constant stars, in them I read such art as truth and beauty shall together thrive,” as Shakespeare also wrote.
But the question remains, how can I write a haiku? I'll try once more...
My Broken Haiku
Discover your world
Honor what lies beneath
Expand your galaxy Thank U for being a part of my universe.Bobbi Miller (PS: All photos courtesy of morguefile.com)
By:
Carmela Martino and 5 other authors,
on 11/2/2015
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Remember the Egyptian Revolution of 2011? For two weeks and three days, the whole world watched as millions of protestors across Tunisia and Egypt demanded reform, ultimately toppling two powerful regimes. While other regional issues certainly followed, it doesn't minimize the enormous change that the internet helped bring about. The people had connected, and used the internet to show the world a new wave of revolution, ending a 31-year state of emergency.
On a much, much, much smaller scale, though just as fervent, the internet has certainly changed my world. I’m a Luddite by nature. I write manuscripts in longhand, use postnotes to organize everything, and write grocery lists on the back of envelopes. I prefer real books to ebooks. And yea, I still use snail mail. Only recently have I let go of my beloved stickshift, a relationship that lasted 200,000 miles. In its place is an automatic complete with all the computerized bells and whistles of modern convenience. This is me, rolling my eyes as I turn on the radio to listen to tried-and-true NPR. Not even the Tardis is this decked out. And this new car isn’t even high end!
Still, once upon a time I had spent hours in the university’s basement archives. Now, all of history is just a click away because of the internet. Remember my discussion on the
Library of Congress?
Of course, the most powerful connections have been about people.
It's always about the people. And these connections I’ve made by way of the internet have been at the very least life affirming, and at its best, life-saving.
In the two and some decades since I entered the business of writing for children, I’ve met some phenomenal people. Some had been my heroes and have now become close friends. (
I’m talking about youuu, Eric Guru!) Some had begun as friends and have now become my heroes. (
Thinking of you, Monica!)
And through all the good and the bad, and sometimes the very bad, that comes with the writing business, these connections have made the journey more than just bearable. They’ve made the journey worthwhile. (
Always ever grateful, dear Karen!)
I’ve included below some of my favorite connections and favorite people I’ve gathered along the way. This is by no means a complete list. But, in celebrating Internet Day, it's always nice to remember the people on the other end of the wire.
The amazing
Emma Dryden, otherwise known as Dumbledore, is a legend in the business, sharing her wisdom on life and writing in her blog,
Our Stories, Ourselves.
Award-winning writer and teacher,
Marion Dane Bauer is a national treasure. She shares her insights on life and writing on her blog, which includes a special section for educator’s at
Educator’s Endnotes.
A mainstay in the business is editor
Harold Underdown and his website,
Purple Crayon.
Yvonne Ventresca, author of the amazing young adult novel
Pandemic, always offers some interesting research and tidbits about a variety of topics.
Joanna Marple, long known for her wonderful explorations of children’s literature at
Miss Marple’s Musings, recently went on an inspirational life-affirming cross-country journey, and shared her adventures on her
blog.
Brainpickings is a wondrous exploration into all things art and human!
Bruce Black’s blog
Wordswimmer meditates on the art of life and writing, using the metaphor of swimming. Calming, serene, wise and inspirational.
Recently I chanced upon
Elaine Kiely Kearns and
Sylvia Liu at
KidLit411, and discovered a treasure trove of all of my favorite writing sources.
A group of ten writers after my own heart share their love of historical fiction, their insights and experiences about the genre on their group blog,
Mad about MG History.
Another favorite group blog is
From the Mixed Up Files, in which thirty authors write about all things middle-grade. A great resource for teachers, librarians, parents and everyone with a passion for children’s literature.
I could go on, but I don't want to hog the conversation. Who or what are some of your favorite connections that you've made because of the internet? Feel free to share them in the comments!Of course, the worse thing about the internet is the ever-so-easy access to online bookstores. New books just a click away!
O no!!
~ Bobbi Miller
(p.s. All photos courtesy of morguefile!)
I’ve so enjoyed reading this current Teaching Author series on how to make a living doing what you love. And, of course, JoAnn’s timely
wisdom about taking a break during the busybusybusy making is especially important.
The internet has changed the nature of business, especially publishing. It has made this business so much more complex. Like it or not, writers now need to take charge of their own promotion. And for some of us Luddites who use pen and paper to write drafts, use notecards to make outlines, and stick purple postnotes on a manuscript to highlight changes, the task of internet promotion is a daunting, downright squirrelly endeavor.
Now I have to cross-platform? What? Do I have to twit now? Jane Friedman defines cross-platforming as creating visibility, establishing authority and reaching your audience. The strategy involves presenting content across new and different media.
I joined Facebook. But apparently Facebook barely scratches the surface. In fact, as Michael Alvear suggests
here, Facebook won’t necessarily help you sell books, at least not directly.
That’s just nuts. What’s a Luddite to do? I so admire
Roxie Munro. She’s the author and illustrator of more than 40 books, including the wonderful Inside/Outside picturebooks. She is also an all-around gizmo-wizard, creating a slew of interactive apps and speaking about how artists can use the internet to their advantage. And, according to Roxie (
here) most of us are already disseminating content across media formats, and we don’t even know it!
Really? Really? Even me?
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Every writer has (or should have) a website these days, even those who have yet to find the perfect publisher. What a cracked catch-22: You want to build a presence in order to convince your publisher that you can build a presence, even before your book comes out! Likewise, most every writer is connected to a blog, sometimes an individual blog, a group blog (like Teaching Authors), or several group blogs. Roxie also highlights several online projects that use videoconferencing, connecting authors and illustrators with librarians and schools to talk about their work.
While Facebook may not directly sell books, it does reinforce and can sustain important relationships. And these connections can lead to further opportunities, all of which can influence sales.
Other social media sites include Goodreads, an amazon company with a base of 20 million members. There’s also Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, LibraryThing, Youtube, Tumblr, LinkedIn, and so many more. It’s enough to drive one nutty trying to figure out which site is the best. Natalie Sisson breaks down the demographics (
here) to the different social media sites, so you can see which one might suit your needs. However, as she warns, focus only on your top three choices, and create a plan that will help you maintain these connections. If you tackle everything at once, it becomes overwhelming, and then you're up a tree.
From these connections, writers join teachers, librarians, parents and reviewers (and children's literature enthusiasts in general) to engage in blog tours and scavenger hunts and book giveaways. They share information, classroom activities, resources and ideas, all the while making even more connections. Some enterprising and clever sorts pool together their internet resources to create marketing co-ops, unfettered by geography. Such co-ops help members build their online presence even as they also help market books.
Sylvia Liu and Elaine Kiely Kearns highlight
here ten top signs that you are building a successful platform.
And look! Look! You're doing it, too!It seems that you are limited only by your imagination. And writers, as we all know, have great imaginations.
What do you think?
Bobbi Miller
P.S. No squirrels were harmed in the making of this post. All squirrels courtesy of morguefile.com.
One of the most important punctuation marks goes about quietly, doing its job without any notice or fanfare. It’s also the oldest of all punctuation marks, dating back to ancient Greece. It’s used a thousand times in every book. As Noah Lukeman (
A Dash of Style: The Art and Mastery of Punctuation, 2006) suggests, “…it alone can make or break a work.”
What is it? The paragraph break! Once upon a time, reading was hard work. There was no punctuation, no white-space, no lower case letters. There was nothing to indicate when one thought ended and the next one began.
The pilcrow was the first punctuation mark. The word originated from the Greek paragraphos, (para=beside and graphos=to write). This led to the Old French, paragraph. This evolved into pelagraphe, and then to pelegreffe. Middle English transformed it into pylcrafte, and finally to pilcrow.
Around 200 AD, paragraphs were very loosely understood as a change in topic, speaker, or stanza. But there was no consistency in these markings. Initially, some used the letter
K, for
Kaput, which is Latin for head. By the 12th century, scribes began using
C, for
Capitulum, Latin for little head or chapter. This
C evolved because of inconsistencies in handwriting. By late medieval time, the pilcrow was a very elaborate decoration in bright red ink inserted in between shapeless paragraphs.
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| Villanova, Rudimenta Grammaticæ. Published 1500 in Valencia (Spain).. Licensed under Public Domain |
As printing technology improved, and whitespace was deemed valuable in the reading process, pilcrows were dropped down to indicate a new line. Eventually the pilcrows were abandoned, and the paragraph indent was born. It wasn’t until the mid-1800s that a standard method was devised to help organize paragraphs. Alexander Bain introduced the modern paragraph in 1866, defining it as a single unit of thought, and stressing the importance of an explicit topic sentence.
Just as a period divides sentences, a paragraph divides groups of sentences. But as the period is often hailed as the backbone of punctuation, the paragraph break is largely ignored.
The primary purpose of a paragraph is to define a theme, but there are no standard rules that dictate how that process plays out. Paragraphs tend to be organic, subject to the writer’s idiosyncrasies.
Some of us have quite a few idiosyncrasies. <See what I did there?
In a perfect world, a paragraph has a beginning, the main point stated in an explicit topic sentence. It has a middle, in which the writer elaborates on this one main point. And it has an ending, which wraps the entire package in a neat bow.
But the world isn’t perfect. Sometimes the writer places the topic sentence as the last line of a paragraph, playing “gotcha” like a punchline of a joke. Sometimes the topic sentence is a mere whisper, implied in the action. And then there’s the prankster, who places the topic sentence in the middle of a paragraph. Blink and you miss it.
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| morguefile.com |
Further complicating the process, there is no designated length that defines a paragraph. I have some students who insist that a paragraph be five sentences, even when the concept is so complex, it demands more explanation. They call this being succinct, but when I ask them for clarification, it takes them several minutes to explain one sentence. I remind them, succinct does not mean short. Succinct means precise. Meanwhile, some students go to the opposite extreme. They turn in five-page essays that are three – and sometimes less -- very long paragraphs. Their ideas trample over each other, undistinguished from each another, in one stampeding brain dump. Both of these writer types reflect a common issue: they don’t understand, and therefore are not connected to, their own ideas. As Lukeman states, messy breaks reveal messy thinking.
The long and short of it (and all puns intended), paragraphs affect pacing, showing the reader how to approach the text. This is especially true in fiction. Short paragraphs tend to be action-oriented, focusing on moving the plot forward. Long paragraphs slow the action down, and tend to be reflective, either setting the stage for the next chase or revealing character. Too many short paragraphs strung together can wear the reader out. Too many long paragraphs put him to sleep.
So what do I do?
I begin with the basics. I tell my students, first, do your thinking. While everyone is entitled to an opinion, not every opinion is equally weighted. In fact, some are distorted, misinformed, and downright wrong. Next, organize your thinking. Only then can you write it down. I provide a fixed pattern that the beginning writer can easily manage: 1. Write an explicit topic sentence; 2. Elaborate, in which you explain what you mean by this point, and why is it important; 3. Validate, in which you use evidence to prove that your observations are valid; 4. Illustrate, in which you demonstrate with examples how your observations can be applied in real world time. I compare beginning writers to beginning musicians. Musicians need to learn the notes and play the scales -- over and over and over -- in order to master them. Once they master these notes, only then can they play around, making their own music, and writing their own symphony.
But first, they have to learn the basics.
What do you think?
We continue our discussion with word wizard
Rebecca Colby as she travels around the world, celebrating her book,
It’s Raining Bats & Frogs! Enter to win the overall giveaway for a $50 USD Amazon voucher (or £30 GBP Amazon voucher) at the end of the tour. You’ll find details about the tour
here!
And who doesn’t love a scavenger hunt! Follow Rebecca’s tour to find out which blogs contain the clues and then collect all the answers. There are eight answers to find and submit in total.
So what should you be looking for? Witch names, of course! Each post will mention a fictitious witch somewhere in the discussion. To be in with a chance of winning, leave a comment on the blog where you found the name (but please DON’T reveal the name) , including Teacher Authors! At the end of the tour, send Rebecca (at website address
here) a list of all eight names via her website contact page, and enter the Rafflecopter entry form on her page. You have until 11.59pm EST on 5 September to enter the scavenger hunt giveaway!
Today, Rebecca talks about her process how a writer (and a teacher) can create a teacher’s guide that teachers can use! Thank you, Rebecca!
When I began teaching, I was gobsmacked to learn how much the profession had changed from when I attended school. Gone were the handy, school-supplied textbooks that provided teachers with lesson plans and worksheets. Instead, I found myself spending all of my free time creating my own lesson plans and worksheets, or researching teacher websites for appropriate resources. My full-time teaching job quickly became two full-time jobs.
After publishing my first book, I was determined to make my book as accessible and as desirable as possible to teachers. Teachers are the busiest people I know! If I wanted teachers to use my book in the classroom, I knew I needed to both create the resources AND bring them to the teachers.
By the way, here’s a scavenger hunt answer for you--today’s witch name is Ethel. Pinpoint your book’s USP One of the first things you need to do is pinpoint what your book’s unique selling point (USP) is in respect of teachers using it in the classroom. How does it fit in with what is taught?
My first book was about a wee lassie who swallows all manner of Scottish birds and animals. The USP was obvious: I placed my primary focus for the activity guide on Scottish wildlife and their habitats. However, with my second book, which is about a witch parade, the USP wasn’t as clear. I focused on several aspects of the book—after all, witches aren’t a typical classroom topic. So while the main English activity asked children to create their own rhyming spells, math found them comparing and ordering the size of frogs, science had them playing a game of bat and moth to learn about echolocation, and art saw them creating musical rainsticks.
Research relevant curriculums Find out what is being taught at what grade level. The best way to do that is to research both The
Common Core Standards and state curriculums. While researching your own state’s curriculum is a good place to start, keep in mind that unless your book releases with a regional publisher, then you also need to look at other states’ curriculums—particularly curriculums for the larger (and often bellweather) states. Two good examples are
California and
Texas.
Make teachers happy Just producing an activity guide is sure to make a teacher happy, but if you want to go that extra mile, think about two things: 1) How can I make the activities cross-curricular? and 2) How can I extend children’s learning?
While my guide is cross-curricular and covers most subjects taught in school, some of the individual activities are also cross-curricular. For example, the art activity involves making a witch puppet, which can later be used in English to act out and retell the book. In this way, one activity allows for learning in two areas of the curriculum.
Teachers are also always looking for ways to extend children’s learning. In one of my science activities, children are asked to measure rainfall over the course of a week. This can be done simply by marking water levels on the side of the rain collection container with colored felt-tip pens and comparing levels. But if a teacher wishes to extend children’s learning and introduce standard units of measure (or the teacher wants a differentiated activity for more able students), he or she could ask the children to measure the rainfall in inches or centimeters with a ruler.
Where to share Now that you have your guide, what do you do with it? I always make mine available as a download from my website. But teachers are incredibly busy, remember? Bring the guide to them. Post it on websites like
Teachers Pay Teachers and
Share My Lesson. Forward it to your publisher. They often hold a database full of educational contacts. Bring hard copies of the guide to library, festival, and bookstore event. And if you have some spare time, you could email teachers and let them know about your guide. After all, you’re probably going to email a few teachers anyway to see if they’d like to set up author visits with you. Mention the guide and where to find the download in the email.
Speaking of which, if you’re interested in downloading the free teacher’s activity guide to
It’s Raining Bats & Frogs, you can find it
here.
I want to say thank Teaching Authors for hosting me again today, and to all of you for reading this post! If you have any tips of your own, or if you decide to produce a guide for your book, I’d love to hear about it!
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| Illustration by Steven Henry |
Thank you for stopping by, Rebecca!
Bobbi Miller
Summer isn't done quite yet, and what a great way to celebrate these last days of summer magic! The wonderful word wizard Rebecca Colby, author of
It's Raining Bats & Frogs, shares a magical writing exercise for your students. While it’s geared towards Grade 1 students, it could be adapted for older children.
Magic Rhyming Spells Delia’s spells in
It’s Raining Bats & Frogs are written in rhyme. Share some of the following spells with your students. Ask them to identify the words that rhyme.
·
Hubble, bubble, toil and trouble.
· Hocus pocus, magic crocus. Students will create rhyming spells of their own by filling in the blanks below.
·
Zero, one, two, I’ll wave my wand at ______________.
· One, two, three, turn into a ____________.
· Eight nine, ten, turn into a _____________. Working in pairs, students will create rhyming spells using the following starting lines. Ask students to create rhymes that are not used in the book. Extension activity: Students can create spells on their own without benefit of starting lines.
·
Stir the brew in the vat, . . .
· Eye of newt, tongue of snake, . . .
· Wave your wand over the box, . . .
· One more wave, here I go, . . . Now it’s your turn!I challenge each one of you visiting the blog today to create your own magic spell. If you do, feel free to post it in the comments below. I’d love to read your results!
More Summer Fun! Join Rebecca as she celebrates
It’s Raining Bats and Frogs! Who doesn’t love a scavenger hunt! Follow Rebecca’s
tour to collect the clues. There will be eight answers to find and submit in total to the link below.
You can enter the overall giveaway for a $50 USD Amazon voucher (or £30 GBP Amazon voucher) at the end of the tour. Submit your answers
here!
So what should you be looking for? Witch names, of course! Each post will mention a fictitious witch somewhere in the discussion. To be in with a chance of winning, leave a comment on the blog where you found the name (but please DON’T reveal the name) , including here at Teacher Authors! At the end of the tour, send Rebecca (at website address above) a list of all eight names via her website contact page, and enter the Rafflecopter entry form on her page. You have until 11.59pm EST on 5 September to enter the scavenger hunt giveaway!
Join me on August 24 as I talk with Rebecca about her book, the scavenger hunt and about creating teacher guides that teachers can use!
“And above all, watch with glittering eyes the whole world around you because the greatest secrets are always hidden in the most unlikely places. Those who don't believe in magic will never find it.” ~ Roald Dahl
Bobbi Miller
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| morguefile.com |
“We are like islands in the sea, separate on the surface but connected in the deep.” ~ William JamesI have so enjoyed this unit on summer experiences presented by the Teaching Authors. At the core of these discussions is the importance of making connections.
JoAnn connects to nature, offering interesting experiments with monarch butterflies.
Esther ,
Carla and
April explore the important connections to be made at writing conferences that go above and beyond the business of writing.
Mary Ann connects to the next generation of writers in her discussion of summer camp,
“We cannot live only for ourselves. A thousand fibers connect us with our fellow men; and among those fibers, as sympathetic threads, our actions run as causes, and they come back to us as effects.” ~ Herman MelvilleWe know stories are old. Humans have been telling stories for over 100,000 years. Not every culture had developed codified laws, or even a written language, but every culture in the history of the world has had stories. Some research suggests stories predate language, that language came about in order to express story concepts.
And those first stories are found in paintings buried in prehistoric caves. An ancient man reaches out and across 40,000 years to his descendents, connecting past to present. It is the essence of humankind to connect. As Eric Booth states, in The Everyday Work of Art,
“Art is not apart. It is a continuum within which all participate; we all function in art, use the skills of art, and engage in the action of artists every day.”
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| Kinza Riza/Courtesy of Nature.com. |
“It really boils down to this: that all life is interrelated. We are all caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tired into a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one destiny, affects all indirectly.” ~ Martin Luther King, Jr.Thank you for connecting with me and the Teaching Authors!Bobbi MillerAbout the photograph: A stencil of an early human's hand in an Indonesian cave is estimated to be about 39,000 years old. Kinza Riza/Courtesy of Nature.com.
See More about the Cave Art here: Rock (Art) of Ages: Indonesian Cave Paintings Are 40,000 Years Old. Cave paintings of animals and hand stencils in Sulawesi, Indonesia, seem to be as old as similar cave art in Europe. Read more:
http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/rockart-ages-indonesian-cave-paintings-are-40000-years-old-180952970/#8DR5O3DYTByKccpx.99.
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My kitty, Comma.
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“What is one man’s colon is another man’s comma.” ~
Mark TwainAs a writing teacher, and a working writer, I found the greatest challenge is learning the fine art of punctuation. The secret, I discovered, is writing for the reader's eye.
Understanding how the reader approaches text offers you key insight into how to write with clarity and grace.
Readers approach the text by moving left to right. Readers interpret information by this forward projection. Readers expect subject-verb-object structures in sentences. They tend to focus on the verb that resolves the sentence's syntax, and in so doing, tend to resist information until after the verb is identified. This is why concrete subjects and action-oriented verbs carry the weight of the sentence. If the subject is vague or nonexistent, or the verb is passive, the sentence often falls apart.
Because readers project forward, they intuitively search for the subject, skimming over qualifying clauses or phrases that precede the subject. This becomes important in longer sentences, when the subject does not debut until mid-way or beyond. This is why subjects placed as close to the opening of the sentence as possible make for stronger sentences.
Active voice maintains this forward process. It originates with the grammatical subject, flows through the verb, and results in an outcome. Some research suggests that readers understand and remember information more readily when structure corresponds to this cause-effect sequence. Passive structure forces this action in reverse: a subject is either implied or supplied in a subordinate phrase, and the outcome becomes the grammatical subject.
The rhythm of a narrative is found in its punctuation. As sentences crash and fall “like the waves of the sea,” punctuation becomes the music of the language, says Noah Lukeman, in one of my favorite reads,
A Dash of Style (2006).
Periods are the stop signs, says Lukeman, and hold the most power in the punctuation universe.
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| morguefile.com |
All other marks – the comma, the dash, the colon and semi-colon, and so on – serve only to modify what lies between the periods. Sometimes a usurper, like the exclamation point or the question mark, intervenes, but its control is temporary. Imagine a book without periods, or a book that has periods after every word, and you begin to understand its supreme power.
A well-placed period, especially in battle with one of its usurpers, helps pacing and adds emphasis. It speeds the narrative up in an action-sequence, heightening the drama. For example, can you hear the drum beat in this passage from my book,
Girls of Gettysburg (Holiday House, 2014)?
Bayonets glistening in the hot sun, the wall of men stepped off the rise in perfect order. The cannoneers cheered as the soldiers moved through the artillery line, into the open fields.
The line had advanced less than two hundred yards when the Federals sent shell after shall howling into their midst.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
The shells exploded, leaving holes where the earth had been. Shells pummeled the marching men. As one man fell in the front of the line, another stepped up to take his place. Smoke billowed into a curtain of white, thick and heavy as fog, stalking them across the field.
Still they marched on. They held their fire, waiting for the order.
Boom! A riderless horse, wide-eyed and bloodied, emerged from the cloud of smoke. It screamed in panic as another shell exploded.
Boom! All around lay the dead and dying. There seemed more dead than living now. Men fell legless, headless, armless, black with burns and red with blood.
Boom! They very earth shook with the terrible hellfire.
Still they marched on.
Long sentences can be very effective to heighten emotional drama even as it slows the action down. In another example from
Girls of Gettysburg: “
Dawn broke still as pond water, and the army was already on the march, moving east along the Pike. As the bloody sun broke free of the horizon, the mist rose, too. The air heated steadily, another hellfire day.”
But, as the cliché reminds us, there can be too much of a good thing (except chocolate, of course). A string of short sentences can become a choppy ride.
Like riding in a Model T Ford. Stuck in the wrong gear. Chug! Chug! Chug! Going over a rutted road. It bounces. And bounces. And bounces. My head hurts. Ouch! Ouch! Ouch! Stop. This. Car. And. Let. Me. Out. And no one wants to read a sentence that never ends, one that goes on and on and on and on, in some stream-of-consciousness rambling of fanciful swooping and looping and drooping that serves no purpose other than to satisfy the writer’s ego.If the period is the stop sign, then the comma is the speed bump, says Lukeman. It controls the ebb and flow of the sentence’s rhythm. A comma connects and divides. In fact, as Lukeman warns, it’s downright schizophrenic. It divides the sentences into parts, clarifying its meaning, or in some cases, changing its meaning. Consider this favorite Facebook meme:
A woman, without her man, is nothing. But, with a wave of the magic punctuation wand, it changes to this: A woman: without her, man is nothing.A comma connects smaller ideas to create a more powerful idea:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the pursuit of Happiness.Everyone has heard the saying, placing a comma is like taking a breath in a sentence. But a sentence with too many commas sends the reader into hyperventilation. And one with not enough commas forces the reader to hold her breath unto she turns
blue. So, where do you place your comma?
There are a thousand handbooks on punctuation, each offering a thousand rules on where and when to place a comma, and each rule has a thousand exceptions.
Perhaps the better question is: what is your purpose in using the comma? As a stylistic devise, I offer that it’s one of the most emotive punctuation marks because it mimics the character’s state of mind. For example, from my
Girls of Gettysburg, you know this poor character is frightened: “
Weezy sang, quiet as a cricket’s whisper. But in the tiny room, in the dark, it seemed loud enough.”
Somewhere between the period and the comma is the semi-colon. This is the mediator, says Lukeman, and “
a bridge between the two worlds.” With a style all its own, the semi-colon connects two thematically-related ideas while maintaining the independence of both.
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| morguefile.com |
It can be used to smooth out the choppy ride found in a string of short sentences, or give a breath of air in a long-winded sentence.
However, the semi-colon doesn’t always play well with others. It competes for attention with the comma. Because a semi-colon slows the action down, the effect of a comma and, most especially the period, is minimized.
And then there are colons. Colons are just plain bossy. They don't like to share. They especially don’t like semi-colons, despite the similar names. With a flair for the dramatic, colons are the master magicians: they reveal. (<
See what I did there?) Colons hold the audience in suspense, says Lukeman. Then, at the right moment, the writer pulls the curtain back to reveal some fundamental truth of the narrative. Remember the Facebook meme example?
A woman: without her, man is nothing.
But too often misunderstood and underappreciated, the colon tends to be reduced to mundane tasks, like signaling lists and offering summaries.
Then, of course, there are the dashes, ellipses, slashes and myriad of other punctuation marks. Alas, I’ve run out of space. In the end, as Noah Lukeman says, punctuation is organic, a complex universe subject to the writer’s purpose and personal tastes. What works in one narrative doesn’t work in every narrative. And for every rule, there is an exception. At its core, however, punctuation is a journey of self-awareness and reveals as much about the writer as it does about the writing.
For more information, you might find these useful:
Boyle, Toni and K.D. Sullivan. The Gremlins of Grammar. NY: McGraw-Hill, 2006.
Lukeman, Noah. A Dash of Style. NY: WW Norton, 2006.
Bobbi Miller “Punctuation in skilled hands is a remarkably subtle system of signals, signs, symbols and winks that keep readers on the smoothest road. Too subtle, perhaps: Has any critic or reviewer ever praised an author for being a master of punctuation, a virtuoso of commas? Has anyone every won a Pulitzer, much less a Nobel, for elegant distinctions between dash and colon, semi-colon and comma? ~ Rene J. Cappon, Associated Press Guide to Punctuation
By:
Carmela Martino and 5 other authors,
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| Thomas Edison, 1921. |
Title adapted from Laurie J. Edwards’ discussion on inspiration. Thank you!
And don’t forget to enter to win a copy of Stefanie Lyon’s YA novel in verse, DATING DOWN. You can enter here between now and midnight, May 15, 2015.Fred White blogged in 2010 that “Being inspired smacks of amateurish, daydreamy passivity, the notion that some supernatural presence must appear before us before the words can flow. And we’re reminded to death of Thomas Edison’s overquoted words about invention demanding 99 percent perspiration and 1 percent inspiration, perhaps not realizing that without that primal 1 percent jolt from the gods, Edison might not have been driven to sweat out the hard work or to cope with a zillion things going wrong.”
Inspiration is important for any creative activity. In fact, some argue that art made the world (See Nigel Spivey’s
How Art Made the World, 2005). When early humans produced art over 77,000 years ago, they crafted tools and embellished it with color, but
the defining element that made it stand above their Homo habilis ancestors using tools is found the singular capacity of using the imagination. From these humble beginnings, civilizations were born.
And inspiration fires the imagination. I’ve asked some of my favorite people about their favorite inspirations, and include them below.
All photographs are from the Library of Congress, used with permission. From Laurie J. Edwards, YA author extraordinaire:
 |
Henry Ford, 1924. His first car and his ten millionth car.
|
“Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eye off the goal.” ~ Henry Ford
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| Bamboo Gardens, China, 1900. |
From Rebecca Colby, author of It’s Raining Bats and Frogs and other picturebooks:"The person who says it cannot be done should not interrupt the person doing it." ~ Chinese Proverb
 |
| Martha Graham, Age 67, 1961. |
F
rom Marcia Strykowski, author of Call Me Amy:
"There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one ofyou in all time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and will be lost." ~ Martha Graham
 |
| Eleanor Roosevelt, 1946. |
From Yvonne Ventresca, author of Pandemic:“You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. . . .You must do the thing you think you cannot do.” ~ Eleanor Roosevelt
And because it's Mark Twain:
 |
| Mark Twain, 1903. |
“
Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” ~ Mark Twain
From Christina Banach, author of Minty and other YA fiction: “I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It's when you know you're licked before you begin, but you begin anyway and see it through no matter what.” ~ Harper Lee, To Kill A Mockingbird.
 |
| Historic mural depicting the Harper Lee novel, "To Kill a Mockingbird" located in Monroeville, Alabama. 1961. |
“
Inspiration matters because it prods us to traverse the full spectrum of human experience. An important part of what it means to be a writer is to become so turned on to the business of being alive, to be so completely inspired by life, that you will harvest ideas for writing everywhere—from books, from people, from music and other art forms, from the natural world, and most of all from your own inner resources.” ~
Fred White, 2010
What inspires you?Bobbi Miller
Every writer – fiction and nonfiction -- understands that the library is an essential tool to her craft. It’s more than a repository of information, or a quiet place to gather one's thoughts. A library is a place where ideas are born, and where the impossible becomes possible.
Recently, I read Yvonne Ventresca’s wonderful book, Pandemic.
After surviving a horrific act of betrayal, teenager Lilianna suffers from post-traumatic stress. As Lil struggles to find her way “back to life,” imminent danger presses upon her home and neighborhood. An outbreak of a strange new flu is spreading quickly with deadly results. Her parents out of town on business, she finds herself alone as tragedy strikes. The plot is fast-paced and thoroughly engrossing as Lil struggles to find hope and trust amidst a terrifying life and death ordeal. It so happens that the Ebola outbreak was striking its own terror as I was reading this book. The realism depicted in this dystopian tale hit strikingly close to home. I had to ask Yvonne how she achieved this:
“Reading nonfiction books. Conducting interviews. Checking government websites. These might sound like typical tasks for a nonfiction writer, but they were actually all part of the research I conducted for my young adult book, Pandemic, which is a work of fiction.” – Yvonne Ventresca
Yvonne read books about contemporary and historical diseases: “For several months I had a rotating pile of disease-related books on my nightstand. Since Pandemic is about a contemporary illness (fictionalized bird flu), I read a lot about emerging infectious diseases, and I learned that because of airplane travel, germs can be transmitted almost anywhere in the world within 48 hours. I also researched the Spanish Influenza of 1918, which served as a model illness for my story. I discovered that the sanitation measures almost a century ago included blow-torching water fountains, hosing down streets, and locking public phone booths. Despite these measures, the Spanish flu killed more Americans than all of World War I.”
Like Yvonne, I write fiction but I depend upon research to bring it depth. My favorite library is the U.S. Library of Congress. It is the nation’s oldest federal cultural institution. While it serves the U.S. Congress, it is also the national library, and the world’s largest library. James Madison proposed the idea of a Library in 1783. But it wasn’t until April 24, 1800, that the library was established. This library brings to life the American story. And it proved unequivocally fundamental in bringing my story, Girls of Gettysburg, to life.
As I was researching another book, I came across a small newspaper article dated from 1863. It told of a Union soldier on burial duty, following the Battle at Gettysburg, coming upon a shocking find: the body of a female Confederate soldier. It was shocking because she was disguised as a boy. At the time, everyone believed that girls were not strong enough to do any soldiering; they were too weak, too pure, too pious to be around roughhousing boys. It was against the law for girls to enlist. This girl carried no papers, so he could not identify her. She was buried in an unmarked grave. A Union general noted her presence at the bottom of his report, stating “one female (private) in rebel uniform.” The note became her epitaph. I decided I was going to write her story.
The Library of Congress archives original photographs and newspaper artwork taken of the battle of Gettysburg. Truly, a picture is worth a thousand words!
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| Library of Congress |
This includes a photograph of the Unidentified Soldier wearing a confederate uniform. Doesn’t this look like Annie?
 |
| Library of Congress |
The home of the real Abraham Bryan, where my protagonist Grace Bryan lived.
 |
| Library of Congress |
“A library is … a place where history comes to life!” – Norman Cousins
Yvonne is happy to send free bookmarks to public and school libraries in the US. Librarians can email her at Yvonne @ YvonneVentresca.com (remove spaces) with the librarian’s name, library, and address where the bookmarks should be sent.
Bobbi Miller
For more information on the fascinating history of the Library of Congress, see Jefferson's Legacy: A Brief History of the Library of Congress.
By:
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on 3/9/2015
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These last few days, fellow Teaching Authors
Mary Ann,
April,
JoAnn,
Esther and wonderful new TA
Carla have discussed the blending of fiction and nonfiction. In the end, as I noted in
my post, I offered that
we are story animals, as Kendall Haven (
Story Proof: The Science Behind the Startling Power of Story, 2007) suggests. We have told our stories for over 100,000 years. Not every culture has developed codified laws or written language, but every culture in the history of the world has created myths, legends, fables, and folk tales.
Stories are so old, so intimately connected with language, some researchers suggest that language was created to express stories. Researchers have found that telling stories at an early age helps develop math abilities and language literacy. And teachers know that understanding the story process helps young readers understand the organization of language.
A simple definition of a folktale would be that it is a traditional story, usually dressed in metaphor and symbol, told by a people—of a particular community, group, or nation—to help explain how and why things happen, how one meets the challenges of life, or how one might become a better, or wiser, person. But such a simple definition negates a bigger truth embedded in these tales.
Traditional tales are like icebergs; we see only the tip. Jung would call this tip the “personal unconscious,” the aspect of story derived from personal experience and acquisition. But the greater meaning of the tale lies beneath this surface of consciousness. Carl Jung calls this deeper layer the collective unconscious, an inherited “psychic system of a collective, universal, and impersonal nature which is defined in all individuals.” (
Man and His Symbols, 1968).
As Rafe Martin tells us, traditional tales belong to the world of the imagined, to the portals of dreams. “They are the eternal literature of humanity.”
Remember the child’s game, “
Telephone”? Everyone sits in a circle, and then the teacher whispers a joke or a story to the student next to her. That student whispers the same story to the one sitting next to her. That student whispers the same story to the one next to her until the story makes its way around the circle. The last student recites the story to the group. Of course, with each retelling, the child puts her own spin on the tale, sometimes reordering the events, recasting it in personal symbols, and reinventing characters as she understands them. That’s the folklore process in action. Someone tells a story. That story is told and retold, and with every telling, the story changes as the teller makes it her own. Despite the many changes the story underwent, there remains intact certain kernels of emotional truth. An old Ibo (Africa) proverb states, “
all stories are true.” Not necessarily factual, but certainly true to what it means to be human. Europeans left behind their own ancient histories to seek a new life in an unknown land. Upon arrival, they found that they needed to redefine themselves as a people. If the new land was a sanctuary in which they could pursue “life, liberty, and prosperity,” it also proved an overwhelmingly strange and alien place. These new immigrants dealt with their insecurities when faced with forces greater than themselves by overwhelming these forces through the “magnification” of the self, epitomized in the unrestrained exploits of Davy Crockett, Paul Bunyan, Pecos Bill, and many others.
From the beginnings of the westward movement, the near incomprehensible vastness of the landscape, the extraordinary fertility of the land, and the variety of natural “peculiarities” inspired a humor of extravagance and exaggeration. The immigrant’s need to affirm the value of a culture independent of European refinements, constraints, and mores created a humor that became exclusive. The immigrants purged their terror of the overwhelming trials of life by minimizing it, and the storyteller as narrator became superior to circumstance with wit and humor.
In true rough-and-tumble fashion, the hero and heroine of the tall tale mocks and defies convention. The tall-talk of the tall tale, like the hero who inhabits these tales, is as wild and unabashed as the frontier that created it. The language defies the tidy and restrictive, even uptight, structure of formal grammar. It mocks it, in fact, using pseudo-Latinate prefixes and suffixes to expand on the root. The result is a
teetotaliciously,
splendiferous reflection of a frontier too expansive for mere words to capture. By creating such a grand language, the frontier storyteller found a means to make an unknown frontier less scary.
The grander language captured the bigger ideas of frontier life. In reading such tales, a young reader develops an appreciation for language itself, for language is more than mere words: the rhythms and patterns, the musicality and the poetry of language. Studies suggest that language acquisition is keyed to youth, and we can infer that language appreciation is similarly keyed.
As Mary and Herbert Knapp suggest, the traditional tale plays a vital role in holding together
“the frayed, factory-made fabric of our lives.” Such tales connect us to the past and to each other, exist when people share an identity, “and since all of us once belonged to that group of human beings we call children, the folklore of childhood brings together all of us.” (One Potato, Two Potato: The Secret Education of American Children, 1976).What are your favorite traditional tales?
Thank you! A version of this article was published by Children’s Literature Network (2012). Thank you to Vicki Palmquist and everyone at Winding Oaks Children’s Literature for all their support for the children’s education and literature field. Bobbi Miller
Long, long time ago and in a galaxy far, far away, it was the time before computers. Even typewriters were not a common household item. At least, not in my childhood home on the front range of Colorado. Colorado Springs was small then, full of open spaces. The public library was way, way on the other side of town. There were no bookstores. The only library available to me was my school library. I checked out every book I could read. By fourth grade, my favorite authors were already Mark Twain, Jack London, Charles Dickens, James Fennimore Cooper, Tolkien’s The Hobbit, and many more. And if I wanted to have my very own copy of a book, so I didn’t have to return it, I copied the book.
By hand.
So is it a wonder that I became a writer when I grew up?
Even now, after all these decades, with the onslaught of computers, iPads and fancy programs that write text for you, I still write everything by hand. Even this article was first written by hand.
It turns out to be a good thing, to write by hand. Scientists now know that cursive writing is an important tool for cognitive development. It teaches the brain to be efficient, helps to develop critical thinking skills and refines motor control. In fact, children who learn cursive tend to learn how to read faster, generate more ideas and retain more information.
When I was copying my books in the fourth grade, I paid more attention to the details of the story. I experienced the characters on a deeper level because the very act of writing them out engaged all my senses. I had to pay attention to the words, how they were ordered, and how they were used. And, of course, I experienced the linear logic of the plot.
When I grew up, I began writing stories that featured the landscape and characters that were larger than life. A student of American history and folklore, my first books were picturebooks. If you want to know more about my picturebooks, check out JoAnn’s interview with me here!
I continued exploring the American landscape, blending folklore and history in my first middle grade novel,
Big River’s Daughter (Holiday House, 2013). The book comes recommended by the International Reading Association, and was nominated for the Amelia Bloomer Project (American Library Association, 2013). The book is listed on A Mighty Girl’s Top 2013 Mighty Girl Books for Tweens and Teens. My second middle grade historical fiction is
Girls of Gettysburg (Holiday House 2014) and takes on the daunting challenge of researching the Battle of Gettysburg. For this story, I walked the battlefields four times, experiencing the very landscape where my characters lived and breathed, and died. If you are interesting in my research process for this book, you might enjoy this interview by Laurie J. Edwards,
here. The book comes recommended by Booklist as “a unique, exciting work.” School Library Journal calls the book a “riveting historical fiction.” The book is listed as a Hot Pick on Children’s Book Council for September 2014.
Of course, writers have to pay the bills. While I never planned to be a teacher, it seemed a natural fit. I teach college freshman and older students. Of course, now all the students use computers to read texts and compose their essays. And iPads, and even their phones. Most of them are proud to proclaim they have never used a pen or pencil. I make them print out the research and drafts, and have them write out their annotations and corrections on the paper. I make them experience the words and the organization in order to determine how everything fits together. They don’t always appreciate the experience. But their essays are usually better for it.
As Julia Cameron once said, “When we write by hand, we connect to ourselves. We may get speed and distance when we type, but we get a truer connection – to ourselves and our deepest thoughts – when we actually put pen to page.”
You might be interested to see more:
“
Why Writing by Hand Could Make You Smarter”, by William Klemm. Psychology Today. March 14, 2013.
Julia Cameron Live, "
Morning Pages: why by hand?. The Artist’s Way." October 4, 2012
Bobbi Miller
 |
| Image from Morguefile |
Happy October, everyone!
A few weeks ago, I posted about this being a time of transitions here on TeachingAuthors as we said farewell to the wonderful Jill Esbaum and Laura Purdie Salas, and welcomed back Mary Ann Rodman, one of the original TeachingAuthors. Today, I'm happy to announce the name of the newest member of our team (drumroll please):
 |
| Bobbi at the wheel of the Lewis R French, an 1871 windjammer schooner and a National Historic Landmark. |
JoAnn and I met Bobbi while we were attending Vermont College, and we were struck by her vibrant personality as well as her writing talent. If you're a longtime
TeachingAuthors reader, you may recall that JoAnn shared a guest
TeachingAuthor interview with Bobbi
back in 2010. But Bobbi's been
VERY busy since then, as you can see from her official bio posted on our
About Us page. (If you haven't visited the
About Us page lately, I encourage you to check it out--I've updated the bios for several
TeachingAuthors.) Here's an excerpt from Bobbi's bio:
Bobbi Miller earned her MFA in Writing for Children from Vermont College, and was awarded honors with distinction for her Master of Arts in Children’s Literature degree from Simmons College in Boston. Her fifth book, a middle grade novel, Girls of Gettysburg (Holiday House) is recommended by Booklist as “a unique, exciting work.” School Library Journal calls the book a “riveting historical fiction.” The book is listed as a Hot Pick on Children’s Book Council for September 2014. Her first middle grade novel, Big River’s Daughter (Holiday House) comes recommended by the International Reading Association and was nominated for the Amelia Bloomer Project (American Library Association, 2013). The book is listed on A Mighty Girl’s Top 2013 Mighty Girl Books for Tweens and Teens. Bobbi has also written three picture books. Miss Sally Ann and the Panther (Holiday House) was selected to the Notable Social Studies Trade Books for Young People 2013 list, a cooperative project of the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS) and the Children's Book Council. Her other two picture books, Davy Crockett Gets Hitched and One Fine Trade, also published by Holiday House, were listed on the Bank Street College of Education Best Books of 2010. When she isn't writing or researching, Bobbi teaches College Reading and Writing, Writing for Children, and Rhetoric and Professional Writing for local universities as well as online college courses.
So, as you can see, Bobbi comes to us with impressive credentials! We're thrilled to have her join our team.
You can read more about Bobbi and her work
at her website. Meanwhile, I hope you'll give her a hearty welcome when she posts here for the first time on Monday.
Happy Writing!
Carmela
By: JOANNA MARPLE,
on 9/8/2014
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Title: The Girls of Gettysburg Written by: Bobbi Miller Published by: Holiday House, September 2014 Themes: Mighty girls, The Battle of Gettysburg, Civil war Ages: 8-12+ Historical Fiction Opening Lines: Annie sank lower in the water, like a frog in … Continue reading →
The Teaching Authors are tickled to present a book giveaway and interview with our dear friend, Guest Teaching Author Bobbi Miller! Bobbi is the author of the picture books One Fine Trade and Davy Crockett Gets Hitched. She lives in a log cabin, loves the outdoors, and spins tall tales. Of course, she also teaches.
To celebrate Bobbi’s appearance on our blog, we're giving away an autographed copy of Davy Crockett Gets Hitched. To enter the drawing, see the instructions at the end of this post.
How did you become a Teaching Author?
I am one of those nerds who knew how to read and write by kindergarten. I have always read and written stories. I studied hard to hone my craft, too. As an undergraduate, I studied writing and anthropology. I went to Simmons College, the Masters of Children’s Literature Program, where I studied the folklore process in children’s literature. I investigated voice and perspective, and most of all, the language of the storytelling process! I also went to the Vermont College (now the Vermont College of Fine Arts) MFA in Writing for Children & Young Adults Program. To tell you the truth, I think everything I learned up to that moment was preparing me for this experience at VCFA.
But the real surprise in this journey is that after graduation, I became a writer who teaches writing. While I was a student, I worked as an editor, a bookseller, and just about anything to pay the bills. Once I became a teacher, however, I discovered that I really enjoyed the connection to the students, to my colleagues, to the process of teaching. This teaching of writing keeps me connected to language itself. I find that in the teaching of writing, I engage more in understanding and expanding my knowledge of writing.
What's a common problem or question that your students have, and how do you address it?
I teach composition and advanced composition as well as all levels of writing for children. In all of my classes, the primary question becomes the use of language. It’s more involved than simply using a thesaurus. Language is more than mere words; it’s not only the rhythms and patterns, the musicality and the poetry of language, it’s a character in its own right. Writers talk of voice, but it’s a metaphorical application, because writing has no voice! Voice is grounded in the organic nature of language.
In my tall tale retellings, for example, the tall-talk of the tall tale is as wild and unabashed as the frontier. The language, like the characters that inhabit these tales, is rambunctious and bodacious. The language of the tall tale defies the tidy and restrictive, even uptight structure of formal grammar. It mocks it, in fact, using pseudo-Latinate prefixes and suffixes to expand on the root. The result is a teetotaciously, splendiferous reflection of a frontier too expansive for mere words to capture. By creating such a grand language, the frontier storyteller found a means to make an unknown frontier less scary. More than this, the grander language captured the bigger ideas.
In this day of truncated text-talk and quick fixes, we take read
Welcome, Bobbi! Great to "see" you again. I didn't know you lived in a log cabin. :-)
Your books sound terrific. I look forward to reading them. (Too bad I'm not eligible to enter the drawing.)
I think folktales are really interesting. And am amazed at the amount that are out there. Some of the scarely stories that we hear as children are actually folktales, like The hook and Bloody Mary. so many have been made into or added to movies. But one of my favorites has to be Three Billy Goats Gruff.
bc428(at)juno(dot)com
Hi Bobbi, nice to meet you. My favorite tale is The Emporer's New Clothes.
I, too, am a new teaching author. I have a teaching tips blog and two books coming out this year. Thanks for this great post.
My email is dancekam1 (at) yahoo (dot) com
No need to enter me, ladies. I'm dropping in to say thanks for the e-mail. I've got this posted at Win a Book for you.
I love the Norwegian folktale of Buttercup.
urchiken at gmail dot com
I really enjoyed your discussion of tall tale language. I have published one folktale, holy Mole! and have a second coming out this fall, Brave Donatella and the Jasmine Thief. I also teach composition. Lately editors have been telling me that folktales are a hard sell in this economy. Is there a particular kind of folktale that you think sells better than others or that is very current? What do you think is the future of the folktale?
Caroline McAlister
[email protected]
www.carolinemcalister.com
I never really thought about my favorite folktale before (by the way this book looks super cute--I would LOVE to win it). But I guess I'm a pretty big fan of Paul Bunyan and his blue ox, Babe.
Margo Dill
http://margodill.com/blog/
margodll (at) aol.com
Cool giveaway and interview! My favorite folktale is Brer Rabbit--he gets into so much trouble!
june_spirit2628 at hotmail dot com
My daughter LOVES The Ugly Duckling...
janemaritz at yahoo dot com
We posted about this giveaway at Winning Readings: http://winningreadings.blogspot.com/2010/02/davy-crockett-gets-hitched.html
My sons and I really enjoyed A Coney Tale by Paul Ratz de Tagyos.
I loved what you said about language. Lots to think about when writing and teaching.
O thank you for dropping by, everyone! And for your kind words. Caroline, regarding your question on the fate of the folktale, I addressed this very thing in a forthcoming SCBWI Bulletin article, and in a discussion on my website. Drop by! Bobbi
I always loved the Paul Bunyan tales. I especially enjoyed the one about the huge skillet with the giant pancakes sizzling. Yum.
Pual Bunyan is a good one. Nice giveaway.
ABreading4fun [at] gmail [dot] com
Dear Bobbi,
I read the comments about folktales on your site. Very sobering, but also affirming to find out I'm not alone in my struggle to write and publish traditional tales. Thank you for your work on this topic. I will keep my eyes open for your piece in the SCBWI bulletin, and I will check out your blog and your books. I think I will also get started on writing a middle grade novel.
In Peace,
Caroline McAlister
Author of Holy Mole! and Brave Donatella and the Jasmine Thief
Hi, I loved your article and tips. I like Paul Bunyan and Stone Soup. Would love to win the book.
wvsmarties(at)yahoo (.)com
I like Goldilocks and the 3 bears
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