I just saw these beautiful sketches over at Emily Hughes’ Instagram page, and couldn’t resist posting.  Aren’t they great? So curious to see what we end up with, for the final cover?

Recently, someone asked me about alternatives to “Oh, the Places You’ll Go,” as a gift for kids graduating from Kindergarten or Pre-K, and I turned the question over to my friends, who provided a variety of wonderful options.

But then I found myself wanting to write my own version. So here it is.  Rough and dirty.  The meter needs work for sure, and I’ll probably end up slashing and revising it, if I do anything with it at all, but I never post to the blog anymore, so I thought I’d do that.

Enjoy!  (and apologies if this isn’t to your liking).  I don’t mean it for everyone. It’s MY story, rooted in my current moment, which is specific to me.

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Oh, the Things You’ll Become…
A book for your darling child

Oh, sweet darling child,
So winsome, so wild,
I look in your eyes and behold…

All the ways you will grow,
All the things you will know,
You’ll be tall. You’ll be smart. And so bold!

Your soft sleepy gazes,
Adorable phrases,
And generous smiles will please.

Each curious question,
And daring suggestion,
Will help you  dream mountains and seas.

Until… one fine day
You will glance down my way.
And my heart will be filled with such pride.

But you’ll grunt and then moan,
“Mom, just leave me alone!”
As you stomp to your room, where you’ll hide.

Oh, the things you’ll become!
Kinda mean. Kinda dumb.
At the same time standoffish and needy.

Of course I’ll still love you,
But I’ll want to shove you.
Because you’ll be whiny and greedy.

You might also smell.
As your head starts to swell.
You will torture your poor little brother.

When you don’t get a car,
You will tell us we are,
The most horrible father and mother.

Then we’ll sigh and we’ll freak,
We’ll feel worried all week
And we’ll anxiously, nervously pray.

We’ll stay up each night.
We’ll get tipsy and tight.
Though it  won’t take our troubles away.

You’ll move out, and we’ll write,
Now that you’re out of sight.
You’ll ignore us and turn off the phone.

And when we catch you,
You’ll have “things” to go do,
We’ll pretend to have “things” of our own.

But you know what, sweet child,
Though the ride will be wild,
We’ll savor each mile with you.

Because as you grow,
We’ll grow too, dontcha know?
We’ll be better for all we go through.

I refuse to pretend
That you’ll be my best friend
If you hate me sometimes, that’s all right.

Nobody will ever
Mean more to me. Never.
I’ll be here when you need a fight.

Oh the things you’ll become.
Kinda mean, kinda dumb.
Kinda monstrous sometimes, and I’m proud.

That you’re fierce and you’re real.
And you know how to feel.
You’ll be honest, and live life out loud.

For years I’ve been dreaming up a picture book class, and now it’s a reality!  Soooo excited about The Decatur Writers’ Studio.

“Picture books are perhaps the most inventive popular literary form we have, and that’s exciting!  You can do ANYTHING in a picture book, if you do it well enough.  But that makes it hard to know where to begin, and how to proceed.  Picture books aren’t just about telling a story or teaching a lesson. They’re about capturing a voice or character in a few short words, collaborating with visual space, considering the way children truly think, and sculpting words and sounds to leave a deep and lasting impression.  Picture books are poetry, even when they don’t feel like it.”

Join us for The Wild Rumpus!

I haven’t been blogging this year. It’s been a crazy time, with my new JOB (did I mention I have a job now?) and a book to write, and so on and so on.  Also, this winter I’m embarking on a big adventure– a group of friends and I are hosting a refugee family from Somalia.   So there’s a lot to do, always.

But it happens to be THAT weekend. The BIG weekend for kidlit folks.  ALA Midwinter.  So I dashed over here to get my own choices for the big awards on the record.

For Newbery… there’s no question in my mind but that Rebecca Stead deserves the medal again. I didn’t love Goodbye Stranger as much as When You Reach Me, but I thought it was the most unusual and well written middle grade book I read this year.  I’m especially interested in seeing more upper middle grade books in the world, and I felt like this book managed the true voice of that “tween” age deftly.

For Caldecott, my money is on Waiting.  I HATE that this is the case.  I think I’ve made it pretty clear how I feel about the lack of female illustrators being awarded the medal.  But I fell hard for Kevin Henkes’ newest book.  It’s just a perfect quiet picture book.  So, there we are.  I’d be lying if I said otherwise.

B

Or Pamela Zagarenski’s The Whisper.

Or Sophie Blackall’s Finding Winnie.

And for Printz?  I don’t read a ton of YA, so I’m limited in my ability to evaluate, but the YA book I loved most this year was X, by Ilyasah Shabazz and Kekla Magoon.  There was a special sort of magic to this book– it walked a line, including “edgy” material in a way that I almost felt my third and fourth grade boys could handle.  The tone is amazing, a sort of headlong dash.  I loved it.

So there we are.  I won’t make predictions, because the ALA evaluation process is so mysterious and bewildering, and  I’m ALWAYS WRONG.  But these are the books I’d be arguing for, if I sat on those committees.

And hats off to the people who do!

Now, what about YOU? What are your favorites of 2015??  Tell me why I’m wrong.

I’ve been sick the last week, but I’m nursing myself with ginger and lemon and cayenne and meds, because I MUST get on that plane to Minneapolis.  I’d love to see you there!  Either at my signing at the Chronicle book, on 11/20 from 2-3, or at my panel that morning…

The Power of Passion Driven Research
Deb Perryman, Jennifer Vincent, Kate Messner, Laura Purdie Salas,  LeUyen Pham, and ME!
FRIDAY 9:30 AM – 10:45 AM in Minneapolis Convention Center, L100E

Is it that time of year already? September!  When the kids head back to school, the pools close, and LAUREL SNYDER REMINDS YOU ABOUT ALL THE AMAZING PICTURE BOOKS  ILLUSTRATED BY WOMEN!

As you may know, this has become a tradition for me.   Inspired by the historical gender bias of the Caldecott award, I first complied my list (with YOUR help) in 2013. Molly Idle was on it (HUZZAH!), but though she took home an honor at ALA, she was the only woman on the 5 name list.    Hrm.

Then, last year, my list looked like this, but the Caldecott was a shocker!  SO MANY WOMEN!  Morales!  Castillo!  AMAZING.

It really feels like things are shifting in many ways, changing for real.  But that doesn’t mean we don’t need to keep thinking about the issue.  And that doesn’t mean many wonderful titles won’t still fall through the cracks.

So help me out!  What are the women-illustrated books you love best this year?  I’ll start off with a few of my own favorites.  The only limits are that the book must be published in 2015, and it must be illustrated by a woman.  (Oh, and no self-nominating, please. If your book is awesome, rest assured someone else will think so too. Spread the love! Okay?)

GO!

(For starters, my son Mose nominates  NIMONA.)

NIMONA, by Noelle Stevenson

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As for me, I like so many things. For instance…

MUMMY CAT, by Marcus Ewert, illustrations by Lisa Brown

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HOME, by Carson Ellis

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THE LITTLE GARDENER, by Emily Hughes

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ONE WORD FROM SOPHIA, by Jim Averbeck, illustrations by Yasmeen Ismail

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THE WHISPER, by Pamela Zagarenski

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THE TEA PARTY IN THE WOODS, by Akiko Miyakoshi

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FINDING WINNIE, by Lindsay Mattick, illustrations by Sophie Blackall

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THIS IS SADIE, by Sara O’Leary, illustrations by Julie Morstad

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THE MOON IS GOING TO ADDY’S HOUSE, by Ida Pearle

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BY MOUSE AND FROG, by Deborah Freedman

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YARD SALE, by Eve Bunting, illustrations by Lauren Castillo

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INTERSTELLAR CINDERELLA, by Deborah Underwood, illustrations by Meg Hunt

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TREE OF WONDER, by Kate Messner, illustrations by Simona Mulazzani

Honestly, I’m not even sure how to recap this week.

See, I had to fly to New York for a conference, but since SWAN  was pubbing on Tuesday, I decided to stay for a few extra days, to hang out with my best friend (since second grade, to whom the book is dedicated), and  celebrate/lunch with my truly fantastic agent (who also happens to be one of my best friends at this point too).  I’ve never been able to do anything like that before.

And oh, it was wonderful!

We popped by Books of Wonder, to see the book in the wild.  A total thrill!  I’ve never done an event there, and always wanted to visit.

After that, I signed copies…

Then we had a ridiculous lunch and sipped a little bubbly, because WHY NOT?  Ooh la la!

We scooted a few subway stops, to catch up with my friend Kate Milford, at McNally Jackson, where she works (though you may know her better  for her amazing award-winning books or her adorable son, Griffin).

I signed MORE copies, but mostly I played “Rabbits” with Griffin, because I HAVE MY PRIORITIES STRAIGHT!

But I also bought a stack of books, of COURSE, because it was THAT kind of store, and I couldn’t resist the graphic novels shelf.

After a bit, I noticed that  my feet hurt (I don’t often dress up in heels), so we headed home to eat pizza, read comics, and watch TV in pajama pants, AS ONE DOES ON PUB DAY.  Oh, the glamour!

Now I’m home again, in Atlanta, cuddling with my kids, but I have to say, this has been an amazing week. I’m so grateful to everyone who has made it possible. Everyone at Chronicle, most of all. They’ve been truly incredible in their support and creativity and excitement for this book.  But I’m also so grateful to all the friends, librarians, booksellers, teachers, neighbors, bloggers, everyone everyone everyone who has written to say MAZEL TOV.

THANK YOU TO YOU. Seriously.  Nothing has ever felt quite like this before.  It’s been pretty special.  Like having an extra birthday.
I’m a lucky girl.

Eeeep! Copies of SWAN are fluttering out into the world. Mr. Schu made this lovely vine when he got his copy.

“…Lord of the Flies meets The Giver…”

HUH! WHUT? No big deal or anything…

As you may recall, I’ve been working on this book for a while now. I didn’t know, as I worked on it, whether it would find a home.  That was a feeling I hadn’t had in a long time– that sense of risk, the fear of wasting time. I wondered if I was nuts.

But I’m OVER THE MOON.  And I was able to head into summer vacation with a huge sense of relief and joy.

(which is probably why I entirely forgot to post about it here)

Sometimes, it’s just life.  There’s nothing to report worth reporting, or it feels like that, anyway.

Sometimes, the things worth reporting are hard things.  And you don’t feel like sharing.

I’m okay, we’re okay, everything is okay. But… it feels a little hard.

I choose to believe this is what we call, “Refilling the well.”

My friend Rachel laughed at me recently, when I whined about how I’m not writing well and I’m cranking, and watching too much TV.  She said, “Laurel, this is part of your process. You do this a lot.”

I’d like to believe that’s so.

But for now, it’s about to be summer.  The boys are finishing school, and I’m about to do a few last school visits before the end of the year.  So we’re all heading north.  In our new car, which is a 97 Volvo wagon.

I will eat snowballs in Baltimore. I will stare at the harbor.  I will wander around, and take the two lanes.  And laugh and  reset my brain.

As is my process.  I guess.

Happy summer, everyone!

Well, Anna is here!  She’s in a book!  And you can meet her.

THIS  BOOK.  I’m not even sure I can explain about this book, and what it means.  I’ll write more later, about how this book came to be. Honestly, I still can’t believe it’s happening!

But the short version is that the text is a collaboration, between myself and my childhood-self.  Because as a little girl I was obsessed with Anna Pavlova.  I scribbled about her, decades ago. And now?

I guess I still am obsessed.

SWAN will be coming from the fabulous  folks at Chronicle (my first book with them!), in August.  If you’re at TLA this week, you should swing by the booth and meet Anna in person.  Some very exciting things (that I’m not at liberty to discuss) are already happening to her!  But I’ll tell you about them later, I promise.

Meanwhile, check out Anna’s pinterest page of stunning photos and ephemera, “like” her Facebook page, for book news and Pavlova-tidbits, add her to your Goodreads list, or preorder the book from one of several handy places.

I can’t wait to show you more!

Hey there!

So, it’s 2015,  and one of my resolutions for the year is to VISIT YOU!

That is to say, I want to visit more schools this year.  Talk with kids, connect with teachers, discuss how WE ARE ALL WRITERS.

Of course, I’m always willing to book a traditional school visit, but in addition to that, I’m doing what Deborah Wiles calls a “shoestring tour” this spring– hitting the road to share Seven Stories Up with kids, since it’s got a snappy new paperback cover, and I didn’t tour when it came out in hardcover.

This means that I’ll be doing some FREE one-session school visits, in the Southeast and Midatlantic.  Ideally in places with bookstores  that can help coordinate a few schools a day.  I’ve already got some things lined up in Georgia, the Carolinas, Pennsylvania, and Maryland, and that’s plenty, but while I’m on the road I might as well  pop in and say hello to YOU.

So if you think you might be interested, drop me an email, and we’ll see if we can’t make it work!

Each year I do a resolution-post.  This was last years.

But for the first time this year, I don’t have any clear resolutions.

I DID do the things I meant to do this year. I DID start working out again. I DID write my novel.

And now I find myself sitting here, feeling a strange sense of contentment.

Of course there are resolutions to make. There always are. I want to be more patient, keep a cleaner house, etc.

But I also think there’s value in recognizing when you’re in a calm moment.  And appreciating that.  I don’t want to be moving faster/forward all the time.

So maybe 2015 is the year I settle in, continue, enjoy my life as it is.

Is that a resolution?

I can’t BELIEVE I sold this book.  It feels impossible, a book like this. And yet there it is, on Publisher’s Marketplace…

Author of BAXTER, THE PIG WHO WANTED TO BE KOSHER Laurel Snyder’s HUNGRY JIM, about a kid who wakes up feeling ravenously hungry and gobbles up his mom, instead of the pancakes she’s lovingly made for him, to Melissa Manlove at Chronicle Children’s, by Tina Wexler at ICM (World).

It feels funny, that my next 6 books will be picture books.  I’m still at slow work on The Orphan Island.  But I’m not rushing it.   I’ve gotten used to doing novels now, but picture books feel like poems to me, when I’m working on them. And poetry is where this all began, for me…

I’ve never had a paperback cover that was different from the hardcover before, but for Seven Stories Up, we decided to freshen things up.

What do you think???

I seem to be locked out of my hotmail account, which I’ve used in the past for corresponding through the site. If you’re having trouble getting in touch, or you haven’t received a reply, please email [email protected]

Today, Lew and I had an hour to kill, before we needed to pick Mose up from school. I decided to run some errands, and stopped home to pick up a big bag of clothes for the thrift shop, as well as a laundry basket full of books…

Lew did NOT like my idea of donating the basket of books.

But then we drove by a Little Free Library, situated right at Lew’s old preschool, and he said he thought it might be okay to donate a few books to the Ormewood School.   So we did that.

Then we drove a little further down Woodland, and found…. THIS!

Wow, Lew was really impressed with the metalworking!  He rewarded the library with a few books.

We continued to head to the thrift shop, but guess what we ran into, right on that same street?

After that we dropped off the big bag of clothes, and it was time to head back to the school to get Mose.  But on our way we got a little sidetracked…

And then, at the elementary school itself, we simply couldn’t resist…

By now we only had about half the books left!  And when Mose heard what we’d be doing, he wanted in on the fun.  So we drive the 2 miles home verrrry slowly home, and we found…

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&

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All on our drive home from school!

Now we were down to four books (which someone insisted we could NOT give away). So we decided to go home for a snack.

But not without doubling back to one of our previous stops first.  Because, as Lew explained, “Mose, you have GOT to see the faucet.”

Faucet? What faucet?

Umm…

Man, I love my neighborhood.

Every year, about this time, we start to see lots of posts and comments online about the upcoming ALA awards.  It’s one of my favorite seasons for this very reason. I love following the blogs, engaging in discussions about the frontrunners, learning from what other people have to say.  I like to read prediction posts, and to hear about the mock Caldecott clubs around the country. I like to discover new books.

But every year I’m a little dismayed by how overwhelmingly women illustrators seem to get overlooked in early Caldecott conversations.

To be clear– I LOVE the books that win.  I love the men who (mostly) make the books that win. Many of these men are my friends, and I believe that they are talented and creative and brilliant and worthy of awards. ABSOLUTELY.  Last year, despite all my ranting about gender-bias, my own top pick for the medal was illustrated by  a man.

BUT.

I also believe women are worthy. Yet, somehow, when we start to generate buzz within our own little community, we PREDICT success for men.  Which creates a certain sense of inevitability.

How does it begin? I don’t know. Maybe there are more marketing dollars for dudes.  Maybe men are more inclined to illustrate.  Maybe we, the women who buy most of the books, simply adore dudes.  Maybe men are more inclined to make “Caldecott-style” illustrations. Or maybe MEN ARE SIMPLY BETTER AT ART THAN WOMEN AND I AM WRONG ABOUT EVERYTHING I HAVE EVER SAID ON THE MATTER.

In any case, it happens.  Statistically.

So…

Last year I made this list of AMAZING PICTURE BOOKS CREATED BY WOMEN. It was great fun, and I heard from a lot of folks that they were introduced to books they hadn’t seen before. I know some folks even sold a few books via the list.

So I invite you to help me make a 2014 edition, by leaving a comment below, with your very favorite woman-illustrated picture book of the year.  Please don’t self-nominate or self-promote in this space.  If you’ve truly created something awesome, no doubt someone else will mention it for you!  Just link to your favorite book in a comment, and I’ll pull an image of the cover, and add it below.

And if you’re a list-maker yourself, a blogger or journalist or librarian who runs a mock Caldecott… and you find yourself with a dude-heavy list, consider adding a few women  to the mix. If women-illustrated titles don’t jump immediately to mind, you might want to ask yourself why that is…

I’ll kick things off myself, with a few favorites of my own:

A BOY AND A JAGUAR, by Alan Rabinowitz, illustrations by Catia Chien

LIFE, LIBERTY, and the PURSUIT of EVERYTHING, by Maira Kalman

TELEPHONE, by Mac Barnett, illustrations by Jen Corace

NANA IN THE CITY, by Lauren Castillo

FIREFLY JULY, by Paul B. Janeczko, illustrations by Melissa Sweet

EXTRAORDINARY JANE, by Hannah E Harrison

AVIARY WONDERS, INC, by Kate Samworth

FLIGHT SCHOOL, by Lita Judge

VIVA FRIDAY, by Yuyi MOrales

FLASHLIGHT, by Lizi Boyd

A PIECE OF CAKE, by LeUyen Pham

I finished my novel.  And author visits for the year.

Also, school ended for Mose and Lew.

So… now… VACATION IS HERE.

We’re hanging around, eating noodles and stuff.

See you in the fall!

The lovely and brilliant Melissa Wiley recently tagged me for this, and though I almost never blog, it seemed like a fun thing to do, in part because I’ve just finished a manuscript, and am thinking a lot about process, in retrospect.

But before I answer the tour questions, you should know that Melissa’s book, The Prairie Thief, would make a wonderful summer read for anyone who likes my books. (Melissa and I share a lot of the same literary loves).  SLJ called it : “A charming, inventive tale that reads like a delightful mash-up of Little House on the Prairie and The Spiderwick Chronicles…Mystery and suspense keep the pages turning. [A] top-notch story.”  Also, look how cute it is!

Okay, so, here are the questions, and my answers…

WHAT ARE YOU WORKING ON?

I always have a slew of open files on my laptop.  So much so that it’s a little embarrassing. I also work on certain picture book manuscripts in hard copy, longhand– things I need to see laid out across the page.  Currently I’m fiddling with  a Choose-your-own-adventure book called Oh, Snap! as well as a followup book for Charlie and Mouse (2016, Chronicle), a little chapter book attempt called Tula Bloom Runs Away, (about a snarky fairy and an elderly unicorn named Bob), a collection of songs for neglected holidays, and some poems.

That said, I generally have one main project I’m focused on.  This year it’s been a novel called The Orphan Island, which I just finished up a draft of.  It’s a weird one.  A story about 9 kids who live alone on a well-stocked (and slightly magical) island.  Every year a boat arrives at the island, and carries away the oldest child, leaving a new toddler in his/her place…

HOW DOES YOUR WORK DIFFER FROM OTHERS IN ITS GENRE?

Oh, wow. I don’t know.  My books are all in dialogue with classics, I think.  My books are all stand-alones.  My books are all just a little bit magical.  My books rarely have villains in them. I don’t believe in villains, I don’t think.

WHY DO YOU WRITE WHAT YOU DO?

I don’t know how to answer that question.

I write what interests me.  I write until I make myself cry, or laugh, or until I get stuck and confused.

Maybe I try write the books my child-self would have wanted to read? I write books that help me learn things about human nature, that teach me something about the world, that let me think about and wrestle with questions I find worthwhile.

I write a lot of books that can never be published.  I also write a lot of adult poems nobody will ever see.

In a lot of ways, I’m very selfish. I don’t want to please the largest number of kids possible. I don’t think about reluctant readers.  I don’t think about sales or the market, really.  At least not when I’m drafting.  I think about language and ideas.  Writing is a puzzle for me.  When the result is a book, that’s great! When it isn’t, that’s also pretty great.

HOW DOES YOUR WRITING PROCESS WORK?

I scribble.  I write down ideas in a little notebook I carry with me, or a box of post-its I keep beside my bed. I often open up a blank document, type one sentence in it, and then forget I did that.

Eventually, if that scribble sticks in my brain enough that I remember it exists, I go back to it. I stare at it. I try to figure out if it might be worth keeping. Sometimes the scribble gets fit into a WIP, and sometimes the scribble becomes a first line or a title.   Often with picture books, I sit down with the scribble, and the words tumble out, and in an hour I have a book.  Usually, that book isn’t worth showing to anyone or revising. I have hundreds of “failed” projects like that.

With novels, I usually begin with a question.  For Bread Box the question was, “What if a kid could wish for anything they wanted, but then they discovered they were stealing?”  For Seven Stories Up, the question was, “Can one person ever really change another person?”

The hardest part with the novels, for me, is sitting down to start. Believing that the question I’m asking is worth spending a year on.  I think about the question, develop the characters, sketch out an outline. And eventually there’s a day when I take a deep breath, and start typing.  That’s the hardest part for me. The first paragraph can take weeks.  And then, ALWAYS, I end up slicing the first page off the manuscript.  After all that, it never sticks.

But I write. And I write. And eventually, I have a draft. I use an outline, but it always shifts and changes, as the book grows.  As I write, I get to know the characters better, and I come to realize my outline was wrong.  The characters are NOT people who can make the choices I wanted them to.  The end is almost always entirely different from the end I had planned.

And then I rewrite the book 2 or 5 or 7 times.  And then, maybe, if I’m lucky, it’s a book.

With my current manuscript, THE ORPHAN ISLAND, I actually did something new. I painted the island, and the characters. I found I was having trouble seeing the people and the place, and an artist friend suggested I try accessing the story in a visual way. It was amazing.

For this one I also began in longhand, on legal pads. I gave up after about 50 pages, because it hurt my hands (I have arthritis).  But that was really important for me, I think.  I felt like I was a kid again, scribbling, generating ideas, having fun thoughts.  I needed to get away from the seriousness of writing as a job. I needed not to think about publishing.

I think that may be the most important part of my process.  Remembering what it feels like to play.  To be a kid alone with new ideas.  To be excited by invention, engaged fully with my own imagination. To let the book be MINE.

Like I said, I’m selfish…

UP NEXT:

I feel totally uncomfortable tagging people for something like this.  So I tag YOU! If you want to share your process, let me know, and I’ll post a bit about you and your books in the space below. How’s that?

It’s that time of year, when an author’s thoughts turn to…

NEXT YEAR!

ANd while I’ve tried to keep my travel down the last few years, this fall I don’t have a new book out, that I have to do promotional events for, which frees me up to visit more schools.

If you’ve never seen an author visit in action, I’m here to say that (whether or not the author is me) it’s something kids never forget.

My author visits fall into three basic types:

1. TRADITIONAL AUTHOR TALK(which to be honest, remains my favorite):  DUring which I tell kids about how I started writing when I was 8 years old.  I focus on how THOSE books were my true first books, even if they were made of wallpaper scraps. I show them artifacts from my writing life, and explain how I made my own childhood dreams come true. I stress things like THE IMPORTANCE OF BOREDOM AND FAILURE.  I give them explicit instructions on HOW TO GET BORED.  Seriously!  And I promise, they love it!

2.  WRITING WORKSHOP: usually for older kids, and smaller groups, I offer a workshop in how character and plot are interwoven. We create our own character, set them loose in a story, and see what paths they choose.  We talk about precision of language, narrative structure, “going deep,”  and all sorts of other awesome things.  This is a ton of fun, and I always suggest that the class pick up where we leave off, and turn the story into a longer illustrated class project.

3. HISTORY ISN’T BORING: my most recent book, Seven Stories Up, is set in 1937 Baltimore, and it’s a lot of fun to walk the kids through the process of learning how to do historical research.  I show them slides of images (from gross old fashioned candy to vintage underpants), and snippets of songs and films.  I explain how we need to submerge ourselves not just in the facts, but in the feelings.  We discuss the things THEY might like to research (ninjas, princesses, video games) if they were writing a book.

I’m also always willing to put together special events to meet the needs of any given school, and have developed programs about everything from Jewish picture books  to poetry, both in-class and via skype.  Let me know what you need!

SCHOOL VISITS ARE GREAT!  But  you don’t have to take my word for it.  Here are a few of the teachers I’ve worked with!

“Ask your kids about Laurel Snyder!! This children’s book author visited SSA this week to speak to our grades 2-6 students about growing up with an imagination and a strong love for writing.  Her unexpected tales and exceptional story telling skills captivated her audience and captured their hearts.  The grade 6 students even broke out into a spontaneous standing ovation!”  (Solomon Schechter Academy, Montreal)

“Today was an incredible day, and the energy that the kids had about Laurel’s books and writing was electric.  They had so many ideas stirring in their minds.  I can’t wait to see the stories that students create after this inspiring day.  Thank you, Laurel!” (David C Barrow Elementary, Athens, GA)

“Intimacy, humor, tenderness and inspiration: you can’t do better than that with a visiting author.” (Paideia Elementary, Atlanta, GA)

If you’re interested in booking a school visit, drop me a line, and we can discuss the arrangements!

Almost exactly a year ago, after finishing four books I’d sold on proposal, I decided I needed to go back to writing alone. I needed to work at my own pace, however slow that was. I needed to write weird, if that was what came. I needed to get back to feeling like I felt as a kid, and a poet– just a girl playing with words. Flying blind.

I promised myself I wouldn’t even show my agent.

And then I spent 6 months outlining, and staring at the ceiling. I watercolored characters and setting. I wrote the first few chapters with a mechanical pencil, on a yellow legal pad. I played. And eventually, I hit my stride.

Well… last week I typed the words THE END, and took a week away. Then, today I read my rough draft of The Orphan Island, and I LIKE IT. A LOT!

Weird it is!   It’s too short, and it straddles the MG/YA line in a funny way. It’s got a kind of slight magic that people may be bored by. It’s full of fish guts and fig-drying and bee hives and sand. It ends with a kind of cliffhanger, to an equally weird sequel, a book that may or may not be called The Wordless World.

But I’m proud of the work I’ve done. And I’m proud that I did it without a net. It’s good to know I can still write just for me, alone.

So there’s that.

When I was a kid, I lived at the library. Both our school library at Roland Park Public Elementary/Middle School and also the Enoch Pratt Library– Govans, Hampden, and especially Roland Park branches.

I really can’t imagine who I’d be without those places– calm and happy and full of ideas and readers, when my life was not always so calm.

My own kids have an amazing school library, for which I’m beyond grateful. But I see budget cuts happening in the Atlanta-Fulton Public Library Systemand my heart sinks.

What can you say about a culture that doesn’t value its libraries? Some things MUST be valued in non-monetary terms. There HAVE to be entities that survive beyond the ruthless nature of the “free market.”

Libraries are islands of culture and intellect, in a world that often moves too fast to ponder, investigate, or dream. I wish some billionaire would step up and endow the libraries.

They may not generate their own revenue in the short-term, but I truly believe our country will suffer greatly for the loss of them.

In 2010 I published a middle grade novel called Penny Dreadful. It was a fun book. Some people liked it. It went on to become an EB White Readaloud HONOR book. Huzzah!

But I get a lot of emails about it.  Because in the book there is a very minor character, a boy named Twent, who happens to have two mommies.

Last night I received one such email, and because I was having a very hard week, I ignored the email.  Typically I respond to these emails. I try to explain.  Because maybe (just maybe) the author of the letter is not only writing me a mean letter. MAYBE they are open to a response.  I don’t want to miss that chance, if it’s real. But last night I didn’t.

S0 I thought I could respond here, today. ANd then, in the future, when I get these emails, I can direct readers here…

***

Anastasia writes of Twent (among other things):

“How do you explain that? OUR FAMILY IS VERY AGAINST THAT.”

And I will answer her:

Ahhh, Anastasia, good question!  How do I explain it?  It’s really very simple.

The world is very full of people.  No two people are alike. They live many different kinds of lives. Some of them are nuns. Some of them are corporate lawyers. Some of them are the owners of magical chocolate factories.  But we cannot all be nuns, or magical chocolatiers.  For this reason, we have many different kinds of books. To reflect the many kinds of lives people live. In some cases, we expect people to SEE THEMSELVES in the pages of books. In other cases, we expect books to expand the way people see the world.  Maybe YOU have never met a magical chocolatier, but thanks to Roald Dahl, you can!

When someone writes a book, they cannot ask, “Who will I offend with this particular book?”  Because every book will offend someone.  A writer can only tell a story, and if they are fortunate enough to find a publisher, hope some people want to read it.

It makes me sad to hear you were offended by my book. I didn’t mean to do that. I wasn’t writing it for YOU. But I’m not sorry for Twent’s moms either.   I won’t apologize for them.

I wrote Penny Dreadful to reflect the world I live in. A world populated by many kinds of people, not just nuns and corporate lawyers and magical chocolatiers.  My neighborhood has many gay families in it, in addition to people who aren’t white, and Jews like me.  There are also some folks who have hearing loss, or are blind. My neighborhood has musicians in it, and artists, and world travelers, and gardeners, and women with very long hair, and people who like to make their own jam.  All of these people climbed into my book when I wrote it, because I wanted the book to reflect the world I inhabit.

Honestly the book has received criticism for being “unbelievably diverse.” People find this difficult to accept, especially since the book is set in the south.  I would argue that the people who make these complaints are not comparing my book to the actual world of humans, but to the very whitewashed landscape of traditional nuclear families in which most children’s books have been set. I would further argue that the people who argue that THE SOUTH is not diverse in this way should try visiting the actual south.  That is just another stereotype.

In any case, this is how I “EXPLAIN” Twent’s two moms.  Twent has two moms because many kids I know have two moms.  Twent is a minor character, a friend Penny meets along the way.  The same way that I, a girl with a mom and a dad, have friends with two moms or two dads. Should I not have written the world I love and inhabit?

I’m guessing what upset you most about the book was that you got no WARNING. There is no backmatter to inform readers that they might encounter diversity in this book.  You may feel that your daughter should have had a chance to choose for herself that she was about to encounter a few lines of text in which there were gay people.  I don’t know how this would work.  Should I have also included a warning label: WARNING: THIS BOOK HAS SOME JEWS IN IT?

Books are the best way I know for kids to encounter the world beyond their own experience. Books build empathy and understanding.  They get kids ready for what they’re going to stumble into when they take their first job, or open a copy of the New York Times (yeah, I know that’s unlikely, but I still get the paper myself, so play along).

I don’t expect your kid to turn gay. I don’t actually want your kid to turn gay, or Jewish, or into a magical chocolatier.  I’d just like to think that when she encounters magical chocolatiers in books, you won’t scare her away from them. I’d like to think that you, as her mother, will engage with her question. That you’ll explain that you understand her surprise, since she’s never met a chocolatier before. You can explain that YOUR family doesn’t make chocolate, personally. But yes, the world has chocolate in it, made by magical chocolatiers, and isn’t it nice that the world is such an amazing place, full of surprises and mysteries…

Okay, I’ll admit, so when I signed up for World Read Aloud Day again this year, it was with a sense of “doing something nice for the kids” and “giving back a little.”  I was patting myself on the back.  Taking time from my busy week to read to children (besides Mose and Lew).

But here’s the thing… WRAD isn’t just for them. It’s for us too.

I remember, a few years back at AWP, my amazing sister was on a panel with Richard Ford, about writers in the schools, and how wonderful it is to work with kids.  And my sister made a point I’d never heard someone make. She said.  ”People see it as service. But they should be begging to volunteer their time in a school. If they knew how wonderful it was, they would.”  (or something like that. I didn’t write down exactly what she said.)

Her point was that writers work alone, and they use up a lot of their energy writing. They get drained. They tap out.  They forget why they began writing in the first place. They focus on the work of it. They lose their joy.

But kids? Kids are FULL of joy and eagerness and energy. They  fill you back up! They might tire you in other ways, but you can’t spend an hour with a bunch of excited kids, full of awesome questions, and awe and admiration for the fact that you MAKE BOOKS, and not come away reinvigorated.  You can’t work with kids and writing, and not remember why you started writing.

So today I skyped with eleven schools.  Eleven!  Oh, the wonders of technology.  Schools from all over the country. I read the kids picture books (my next book, Charlie & Mouse, as well as my old favorite, Rain Makes Applesauce, by Julian Scheer) and novels (both Seven Stories Up and my WIP, The Orphan Island). I answered questions, and I told them about my day. I introduced them to Lucy (my assistant, who works for carrot-bits and chew toys).

And now? I feel so ready to write. I feel so IN LOVE with The Orphan Island. I feel so… connected. Re-dedicated.

So now, while I have that boost,  I need to take a little time away,  to crank out a draft.  (I’m shooting for April).  I’m putting a moratorium on new skypes for the spring.  But I’ll be back in the fall. I promise.

And I will always always always do WRAD.

You should too.