These halloween books, or, perhaps, more aptly labeled as books perfect for Halloween, do an excellent job of evoking the Halloween spirit ... Read the rest of this post
Add a Comment
new posts in all blogs
By: Carmela Martino and 5 other authors,
on 8/24/2015
Blog: Teaching Authors (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Teachers, classroom activities, Guest Teaching Author, Bobbi Miller, Common Core Standards, Rebecca Colby, Add a tag
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!
By: Carmela Martino and 5 other authors,
on 8/19/2015
Blog: Teaching Authors (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: scavenger hunt, Writing Workout, poetry exercise, Bobbi Miller, Rebecca Colby, Wednesday Writing Workout, favorite poem project, Summer, Add a tag
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!
“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
By: Carmela Martino and 5 other authors,
on 5/18/2015
Blog: Teaching Authors (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Inspirational Quotes, Eleanor Roosevelt, Henry Ford, Bobbi Miller, Yvonne Ventresca, Rebecca Colby, Laurie J. Edwards, Marcia Strykowski, Christina Banach, Fred White, Mark Twain, Book Giveaway, Add a tag
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:
“Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eye off the goal.” ~ Henry Ford
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
From 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 of
you 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
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:
“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
“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
By: Carmela Martino and 5 other authors,
on 4/27/2015
Blog: Teaching Authors (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Cynthia Cotten, Marcia Strykowski, animal stories, Monica Kulling, Book Giveaway Winner, Rebecca Colby, Add a tag
Call Me Amy (Paperback, Luminis Books, 2013): Marcia Strykowski’s coming of age story is a wonder. Amy Anderson is the shy protagonist. The quirky Miss Cogshell is dubbed Old Coot by the town’s children. And the mysterious Craig, the most popular boy in class who doesn’t have any real friends. One day, Craig finds a stranded, injured seal pup and asks Amy to help him, and the three come together to save Pup. This book reminds me in many ways of Hoot, the 2003 Newbery Honor by Carl Hiaasen.
Snow Ponies (Paperback, Square Fish Reprint, October 2013): First published in 2001, the book begins “On a cold, gray day, Old Man Winter leads his snow ponies outside. "Are you ready?" he asks. Using her signature quiet, poetic narrative, Cynthia Cotten captures the magic of winter as Old Man Winter takes the snow ponies across the frigid landscape. As the ponies gallop, faster and faster, everything they touch turns white with snow. This is a poetic masterpiece, and a perfect read aloud.
It’s Raining Bats & Frogs! (Feiwel & Friends, August 2015): What’s a witch to do when a rainstorm threatens the Halloween Parade? Rebecca Colby’s book doesn’t come out until August, 2015, but I can’t wait! I loved Rebecca’s previous book, There Was a Wee Lassie Who Swallowed a Midgie (Floris Books, May 2014). Her language in this retelling of the familiar tale of the the old woman who swallowed a fly was so much fun! Rebecca used the Scottish landscape to tell the story about “a wee Lassie who swallowed a midgie, so tiny and squidgy!” I have no doubts this one will be just as entertaining!
“Why did you do all this for me?' he asked. 'I don't deserve it. I've never done anything for you.' 'You have been my friend,' replied Charlotte. 'That in itself is a tremendous thing.” -- Charlotte's Web, E.B. White
What are your favorite animal stories?
Bobbi Miller
By: Candy Gourlay,
on 10/4/2012
Blog: Notes from the Slushpile (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: National Poetry Day, Maureen Lynas, Rebecca Colby, funEverse, Lesley Moss, Alex Craggs, Add a tag
By: Candy Gourlay,
on 4/4/2012
Blog: Notes from the Slushpile (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Malachy Doyle, Cornerstones, Candy Gourlay, Undiscovered Voices, Maureen Lynas, Juliet Clare Bell, The Arvon Foundation, Rebecca Colby, Eve White, Addy Farmer, Julia Goulding, Add a tag
By: Tara,
on 12/9/2011
Blog: Tara Lazar (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Success Story, PiBoIdMo 2011, Amy Dixon, Diana Murray, Rebecca Colby, Picture Books, Add a tag
Viewing: Blog Posts Tagged with: Rebecca Colby, Most Recent at Top [Help]
Results 1 - 9 of 9
By: Bianca Schulze,
on 10/14/2015
Blog: The Children's Book Review (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: HarperCollins, Halloween, Ages 0-3, Ages 4-8, Picture Books, Food and Drink, Cats, Book Lists, Zombies, Gift Books, Halloween Books, Bravery, Animal Books, Ed Vere, Seasonal: Holiday Books, Karin Lefranc, Sky Pony Press, Rebecca Colby, Charles Santoso, Feiwel & Friends books, Harriet Muncaster, Joe McGee, Harry N. Abrams Books, Steven Henry, Add a tag
Blog: The Children's Book Review (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: HarperCollins, Halloween, Ages 0-3, Ages 4-8, Picture Books, Food and Drink, Cats, Book Lists, Zombies, Gift Books, Halloween Books, Bravery, Animal Books, Ed Vere, Seasonal: Holiday Books, Karin Lefranc, Sky Pony Press, Rebecca Colby, Charles Santoso, Feiwel & Friends books, Harriet Muncaster, Joe McGee, Harry N. Abrams Books, Steven Henry, Add a tag
By: Carmela Martino and 5 other authors,
on 8/24/2015
Blog: Teaching Authors (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Teachers, classroom activities, Guest Teaching Author, Bobbi Miller, Common Core Standards, Rebecca Colby, Add a tag
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!
 |
| Illustration by Steven Henry |
Thank you for stopping by, Rebecca!
Bobbi Miller
0 Comments on It's Raining Bats and Frogs!! as of 8/24/2015 8:52:00 AM
Add a Comment
By: Carmela Martino and 5 other authors,
on 8/19/2015
Blog: Teaching Authors (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: scavenger hunt, Writing Workout, poetry exercise, Bobbi Miller, Rebecca Colby, Wednesday Writing Workout, favorite poem project, Summer, Add a tag
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!
Bobbi Miller
0 Comments on Wednesday Writing Workout Summer Fun! as of 8/19/2015 7:28:00 AM
Add a Comment
By: Bianca Schulze,
on 8/15/2015
Blog: The Children's Book Review (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Ages 0-3, Ages 4-8, Maurice Sendak, Frogs, Bats, Tony DiTerlizzi, Mary Howitt, Books About Witches, Debi Gliori, Rebecca Colby, Family Favorites, Emer Stamp, Add a tag
Blog: The Children's Book Review (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Ages 0-3, Ages 4-8, Maurice Sendak, Frogs, Bats, Tony DiTerlizzi, Mary Howitt, Books About Witches, Debi Gliori, Rebecca Colby, Family Favorites, Emer Stamp, Add a tag
Whenever one person grabs a book and curls up in bed or on the sofa, the rest of the family inevitably follow. ... So we chose our favorites individually and then agreed on one shared family favorite.
Add a Comment
By: Carmela Martino and 5 other authors,
on 5/18/2015
Blog: Teaching Authors (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Inspirational Quotes, Eleanor Roosevelt, Henry Ford, Bobbi Miller, Yvonne Ventresca, Rebecca Colby, Laurie J. Edwards, Marcia Strykowski, Christina Banach, Fred White, Mark Twain, Book Giveaway, Add a tag
 |
| Thomas Edison, 1921. |
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. |
 |
| Bamboo Gardens, China, 1900. |
"The person who says it cannot be done should not interrupt the person doing it." ~ Chinese Proverb
 |
| Martha Graham, Age 67, 1961. |
"There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of
you 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. |
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.
“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. |
What inspires you?
Bobbi Miller
0 Comments on Inspirations and Geniuses as of 5/18/2015 8:47:00 AM
Add a Comment
By: Carmela Martino and 5 other authors,
on 4/27/2015
Blog: Teaching Authors (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Cynthia Cotten, Marcia Strykowski, animal stories, Monica Kulling, Book Giveaway Winner, Rebecca Colby, Add a tag
Congratulations, Rosi H! You won THE DEATH OF A HAT by Paul B. Janeczko!
Animal stories have always been popular. Ancient peoples told stories of mythic animals depicting universal truths about humanity. Over two thousand years ago, Aesop told the story of the fox that coveted a bunch of juicy grapes, of the frog who wanted to be king, and of the proud town mouse who visited his country mouse cousin.
Animal stories have always been some of my favorites reads, including Anne Sewell’s Black Beauty (1877), Robert C. O’Brien’s Mrs. Frisby and the Rats of NIMH (1971), Walter Farley’s The Black Stallion (1941), and the quintessential animal story, E.B. White’s Charlotte’s Web (1952).
And this year, I’ve found more to add to my collection!
Lumpito and the Painter from Spain (Pajama Press, April 2013): Monica Kulling’s poetic narrative retells the story of a special friendship with sparse eloquence. Dean Griffith’s rich, vivid watercolors capture the luscious landscape, the bold personality of the painter, the soulful expression of Lumpito as he dodges Big Dog, and Lump’s sheer delight as he finds his new home. A gorgeous and rewarding tale of love, and a perfect read-aloud for a rainy – or any -- day!
When Emily Carr Met Woo (Pajama Press, August 2014): Monica Kulling is the master of biography. Her series depicting little known inventors, Great Ideas, remains one of my favorites on the topic. However, it is when her biography showcases the iconic relationships between human and animal that her poetic narrative truly shines. This book follows eccentric Canadian artist Emily Coo, who lives in a camper she calls Elephant. She takes her puppies for walks using a baby carriage.
Folks called the painter a strange bird! One day Emily Carr adopts a small lonely monkey, whom she calls Woo. And the fun begins!
Snow Ponies (Paperback, Square Fish Reprint, October 2013): First published in 2001, the book begins “On a cold, gray day, Old Man Winter leads his snow ponies outside. "Are you ready?" he asks. Using her signature quiet, poetic narrative, Cynthia Cotten captures the magic of winter as Old Man Winter takes the snow ponies across the frigid landscape. As the ponies gallop, faster and faster, everything they touch turns white with snow. This is a poetic masterpiece, and a perfect read aloud. It’s Raining Bats & Frogs! (Feiwel & Friends, August 2015): What’s a witch to do when a rainstorm threatens the Halloween Parade? Rebecca Colby’s book doesn’t come out until August, 2015, but I can’t wait! I loved Rebecca’s previous book, There Was a Wee Lassie Who Swallowed a Midgie (Floris Books, May 2014). Her language in this retelling of the familiar tale of the the old woman who swallowed a fly was so much fun! Rebecca used the Scottish landscape to tell the story about “a wee Lassie who swallowed a midgie, so tiny and squidgy!” I have no doubts this one will be just as entertaining!“Why did you do all this for me?' he asked. 'I don't deserve it. I've never done anything for you.' 'You have been my friend,' replied Charlotte. 'That in itself is a tremendous thing.” -- Charlotte's Web, E.B. White
What are your favorite animal stories?
Bobbi Miller
0 Comments on Favorite and Fabulous Animal Stories as of 4/27/2015 9:03:00 AM
Add a Comment
By: Candy Gourlay,
on 10/4/2012
Blog: Notes from the Slushpile (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: National Poetry Day, Maureen Lynas, Rebecca Colby, funEverse, Lesley Moss, Alex Craggs, Add a tag
By Maureen lynas Say hi to more funEverse poets I'm so lucky to be working with these people. They're funny, they're talented, and they care deeply about kids and want to make them laugh. And where else would I have discussions on whether it's appropriate to have a character trapped in a sumo wrestler's bum crack! (That was not one of my poems!) Introducing: Rebecca Colby I
12 Comments on Rhymes From The funEverse, last added: 10/6/2012
Display Comments
Add a Comment
By: Candy Gourlay,
on 4/4/2012
Blog: Notes from the Slushpile (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Malachy Doyle, Cornerstones, Candy Gourlay, Undiscovered Voices, Maureen Lynas, Juliet Clare Bell, The Arvon Foundation, Rebecca Colby, Eve White, Addy Farmer, Julia Goulding, Add a tag
By Maureen Lynas Are you embarrassed by the size of your slushpile? Do you hide it, ignore it, lie about it? DON'T! Be PROUD of it! SHOUT about it. I'm telling you now - MINE IS HUGE! Why am I telling you now? Well, after reading Candy's latest blog post on the trauma of completing her second book, and seeing ex-lurker Tamsin's comments about writing for six years and not giving up, I was
34 Comments on How Big Is Your Slushpile?, last added: 4/8/2012
Display Comments
Add a Comment
By: Tara,
on 12/9/2011
Blog: Tara Lazar (Login to Add to MyJacketFlap)
JacketFlap tags: Success Story, PiBoIdMo 2011, Amy Dixon, Diana Murray, Rebecca Colby, Picture Books, Add a tag
More PiBoIdMo success stories! Many thanks to Mindy Alyse Weiss for pulling these stories together.
I hope when YOU have a success to share, you’ll contact me. I love to hear how your ideas went from pencil-scribble to published! And I don’t define “success” just as being pubbed. Win a grant, a contest, secure an agent–anything goes. So here goes…
1. Amy Dixon
Being married to a relentless distance runner means that every November, there is a marathon on the schedule. Lucky for me, November is also Picture Book Idea Month, and I had long been lamenting the lack of picture books about running. Looking back at my spreadsheet for 2010, the entry for November 5th says, “Marathon Mouse. Story of a mouse who lives in NYC right under the start line (Verrazano bridge) and decides that it is his life’s dream to particpate in the NYC marathon.” That’s it. The beginnings of a story. Flash forward to August 2011, where I received one of the best e-mails of my life. A lovely editor at Sky Pony Press likes Marathon Mouse and wants to publish it! The story could end there, and would still be a dream-come-true. But I decided to contact an agent I had recently queried with a different story and tell her of my offer. After a flurry of e-mails and phone calls, I signed with Karen Grencik of Red Fox Literary. In the course of one day, I had gone from struggling picture book writer, to agented and soon-to-be-published! So keep your eyes peeled in Fall 2012 for a picture book titled, MARATHON MOUSE. It’s by me. And it happened in part because I took on the challenge of coming up with 30 ideas in 30 days!
I also have a longer version of the story on my blog, but it doesn’t mention PiBoIdMo:
http://writingamillion.tumblr.com/post/10441985218/on-editors-agents-and-contracts-oh-my
2. Diana Murray
Diana Murray was thrilled to receive the 2010 SCBWI Barbara Karlin Grant for her rhyming picture book manuscript about a witch. She came up with a few different versions of the idea during the first PiBoIdMo. You can read more about her experience here:http://taralazar.wordpress.com/2010/07/06/piboidmo-success-story/. Diana will always be grateful to Tara for starting an event that helped her streamline her writing process. And now, she’s ready for another month of fun and inspiration!
Diana’s website: http://www.dianamurray.com
3. Rebecca Colby
This year, Rebecca participated in her third PiBoIdMo. Following a picture book workshop last year that challenged her to alter a well-known fairytale, she decided to generate a few ideas for fractured fairy tales. She found the inspiration she needed from Sudipta Bardhan-Quallen’s guest post on Day 29 that recommended participants do just that–transform “something old into something new.”
The result was an idea for a Cinderella story with monsters entitled MONSTERELLA.
Rebecca says, “I fell in love with the idea of a fairy godmonster who magics a spider into a monster truck.” Rebecca wrote the manuscript soon after and it went on to win the 2011 SCBWI Barbara Karlin grant.
Before writing for children, Rebecca inspected pantyhose,worked for a Russian comedian, taught English in Taiwan, and traveled the world as a tour director. She currently works as a librarian. Born in America, Rebecca now lives in England with her husband and two daughters. More information about Rebecca and her writing can be found at her website: www.
12 Comments on Post-PiBoIdMo Day 9: Three Success Stories, last added: 12/9/2011
Display Comments
Add a Comment
There once was a poet called Kathryn<br />Who was practically dying of flu<br />But she stoically reached for the aspirin<br />And dropped in to say How d'you do.<br /> <br />Hello poets! Since the day I wrote 'I am a volcanoe' I've known I was destined to be a poet. Indeed, since that edition of 'St Judes Primary School Project On Italy' went out of print some years ago,
I would love to read that! <br /><br />Sorry to hear you have the flu,<br />Am sending lots of hugs to you.
I've said in once, and I'll say it again, it's ALWAYS appropriate for your main character to get stuck in a sumo's bum crack. Wouldn't you agree Rebecca?
Three cheers for our poor stricken Kathryn<br />In bed with the worst dreaded flu<br />She is truly a poetic trooper,<br />Writing poems between her Ah-chooooooos!<br /><br />Hope you feel better soon. <br />Hi to you all. <br />Very excited to see all the poems going up on the blog. <br />: )
Thanks guys. Really looking forward to following the website and let me know how our school can get involved. Sounds great. Really enjoyed reading your poems! And Rebecca, I blame Robert Frost and Dr Seuss for my love of rhymes, too (and a few others). I've got 'Stopping By Woods on a Snowy Evening' typed out and up in my office next to my desk so I can read it whenever I like.
I'll get in touch after our first school has appeared Clare because I'll have a better idea of how things should go by then. The first one's a bit of an experiment.
I now live in fear that we may encourage each other into an excess of daftness.
Well, that should make her feel better Mo. <br />I'm finding it exciting too, can't wait until we go 'properly public!'
Hurrah for the FunEverse!
Definitely, George! Like minds! I'm surprised more writers haven't thought of using a scene like this in their work.
You're a writer after my own heart, Clare--love that poem!
So impressed, rhyming is haaaard. I think i must have missed Funeverse 1 so off to check it out.