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Originally published at Through the Tollbooth. Please leave any comments there.

As we continue our discussion about self-marketing, I want to talk a bit (well, more than a bit) about discussion, activity, and teaching guides. Should you have one? And how can a guide help you market your book? To give us a bit of insight, I welcome to the Tollbooth today Debbie Gonzales. Debbie is the author of eight “transitional” readers for New Zealand publisher, Giltedge. A Montessori teacher, former school administrator, and curriculum consultant specializing in academic standards annotation, Debbie now devotes her time to various freelance projects as well as serving the Austin SCBWI community as Regional Advisor. She earned her MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults from the Vermont College of Fine Arts.

First, Debbie, welcome to the Tollbooth! Can you tell us a little about the business you run creating discussion and teachers’ guides for authors?

You’re familiar with the adage “Write what you know,” right? Well, that’s what I’m doing. I pull from my years and years of teaching and curriculum development experience and pour it all into these cross-curricular book guides. I make guides like the ones I wish I would’ve had when teaching. Science, math, crafts, creative writing, analysis, games – you name it, I put it in. They’re becoming so popular; I’m having a hard time keeping up with the demand. That’s a good problem, right?

When did you decide to start cross-curricular book guides?

I got started making these when a friend and YA author was told by a librarian that she needed a book guide made to compliment her latest book, one that met the Texas educational standards. She and I got to chatting about it and I told her I’d be glad to make one for her. Soon after, her book found its way to be listed by the International Reading Association. (I’m not saying that my guide got her on the list, but it sure didn’t hurt anything.) The rest is history.

What types of guides do you create?

Picture books, chapter, middle grade and YA, you name it. I’ll do it. I create three basic types of guides for any and all genres. One is an Activity Guide, which is packed with lots of manipulative learning games applicable to all areas of the curriculum. I just finished a really cool Research Activity Guide for two non-fiction books about dogs and horses that were such fun to make! The guide features activities focusing on anatomy, map skills, research skills, poetry writing and a bunch of other things.

Another type of guide is the basic Discussion Guide. This one works quite well for YA novels. I document quotes that, I think, resonate with meaning, and then imagine kids thumbing through the pages to find the selected phrases, reading them aloud over and over again. I like to not only create questions that are inspired by the text, but those that cause the reader to consider their own emotional response to the story.

Lastly, I make longer, more in-depth guides that are a combination activities and discussion that typically end with a special art project or a Reader’s Theatre script. These guides are designed to provide discussion and activities that will span over a 6 week period of time – a teacher’s gold mine!

A collection of guides I’ve created are posted on my

Originally published at Through the Tollbooth. You can comment here or there.

Mo Wren lives on Fox Street with her father and her little sister, the Wild Child, in a house smack-dab in the middle, right where the heart would be if the street were a person. Fox Street has everything anyone could ever want or need, and it’s the one place in the world that contains all Mo’s memories of her mother. The idea of anything changing on Fox Street is unimaginable—until it isn’t.

What Happened on Fox Street by Tricia Springstubb is a remarkable middle-grade debut, one that I read, then read again, savoring each and every word. And it seems I’m not the only one who had this experience: Tricia’s novel has garnered itself a trio of stars, from the Horn Book, Kirkus, and Booklist.

Today, Tricia stopped by the Tollbooth for a chat.

How did you come up with the idea for What Happened on Fox Street?

The spark for the novel came from a situation here in one of Cleveland’s suburbs.  A group of developers, supported by the city, made a bid to raze a small neighborhood on the edge of the metropark and replace it with high-end condos and retail.  The homeowners fought back and won. It got national attention and was a great David and Goliath story.  It reminded me of when I was small and a wild, beautiful field in my neighborhood, a place where we kids played all our best make-believe, was sold and turned into a housing development.  I well remember our helpless outrage!

Mo is so full of spirit, courage, strength, and at times, doubt. What was your inspiration for her character?

The inspiration for her comes from all the kids I’ve known who take on responsibilities bigger than their years–kids who help to raise siblings and run households. Kids who do this with all the courage and love and ingenuity at their disposal–Mo is one of them.

What came first for you when writing this novel: character or plot? And speaking of plot, yours is woven together so expertly. How do you as an author make sure every thread is wound together tightly? Do you storyboard? Outline?

Plot! That four-letter word! I am terrible at it. My first versions of Fox Street were big, bloated extravaganzas with way too many characters. It’s a sad fact that I need to write terrible drafts before I find the heart of my story.  Outlines have never worked for me. I’m more with Libba Bray, who says you jump off the cliff and sprout wings (or else). My stories always take shape in the actual process of writing. For this book, it was understanding, at last, that Mo’s evolving relationship with her father is the key to the story. That he loves her fiercely, yet will never be as perfect as she once thought he was—that’s what most moved and compelled me.

You’ve written across genres. You’ve even written for adults. However, as someone who loved your novel, I really hope you prefer middle-grade. Do you?

Writers are as reluctant to choose their best-loved books as they are their favorite children–for me the same is true of genres.  I can say that writing for middle grade combines all the things I love best no matter who the audience–a compelling story, the most meaning and emotion in the fewest, most well chosen words, a memorable voice.  And I love trying to make people laugh, always a plus with MG.

Your descriptions of nature infused your novel with a sort of magic. How do you think you became, well, such a natural at evoking images of the natural world?

As a gardener and a walker, I’m always storing away natural images.  I love to be outside much more than in.

Many authors struggle