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Taking Kristi Mraz‘s chart-making course at the July Writing Institute was so helpful to me.  Kristi really got me thinking about having a take away item (made with a post-it note) that you can hand to kids if they need a reminder to do something.  In addition, she encouraged the use of illustrations on charts.  [...]

We’ve just returned from the IRA conference in sunny Orlando!  We’re still getting our feet back under us and assure you that we’ll get back to our regularly scheduled programming soon.  In the meantime, though, here are a couple of highlights from our booth at the conference:

Happy 15th Birthday to the adorable Biscuit!

Attendees received a free My Weird School book when they signed up for Dan Gutman’s My Weird Classroom Club.

Thanks to all the teachers, librarians, and media specialists who made the IRA conference such a great time!

More pictures coming soon…

Next week (May 8-11) we’re off to another conference: the International Reading Association Annual Convention in sunny Orlando!  We have a stellar line-up of authors and illustrators – for a complete list of authors and signing times, click here.

One such author is Gail Carson Levine, author of some of the best-known books in children’s literature, such as ELLA ENCHANTED and WRITING MAGIC.  She’ll be featured on a panel called “Engaging Readers K-5″ with Kristin Clark Venuti, Laurie Friedman, and Ethan Long.  The fabulous Kate Messner will be moderating.  If you’ll be at the conference, this panel will be on Tuesday, May 10 from 11:00am-12:00pm.

Gail will also be signing her new book, A TALE OF TWO CASTLES, from 12:30-1:30 after her panel.  In its starred review, Kirkus said that this is a “thoroughly delicious romp” and we couldn’t agree more.  Stop by booth #1220 and say hi to Gail!

We hope to see you in sunny Orlando!

Additional resources:
ELLA ENCHANTED discussion guide
A TALE OF TWO CASTLES book trailer
WRITING MAGIC discussion guide

My name is Dan Gutman, and I love teachers and librarians!

Hey, the most amazing thing in the history of the world just happened.  But I’m not going to tell you what it is.   So nah nah nah boo boo on you.

Okay, okay, I’ll tell you.

I had to wait a million hundred years, but HarperCollins just started the My Weird Classroom Club!  It’s a club for classrooms, and it’s about My Weird School, so it has the perfect name.

My Weird Classroom Club is full of teaching guides, activity sheets, puzzles, games, comics, checklists, cards, Mad Libs, and other awesome stuff you can use in your classroom to get your kids excited about reading.*

“WOW!” (that’s “MOM” upside down)  This is the greatest day of my life.  If you ask me, HarperCollins should get the No Bell Prize.  That’s a prize they give out to people who don’t have bells.

The My Weird Classroom Club is cool.  So don’t be a dumbhead.  Go to www.myweirdclassroomclub.com today and  see it live and in person.

If you don’t, I’ll be so upset that I’ll have to go to Antarctica and live with the penguins.

*It’s gonna sell a lot of books too!  What a scam!

Richard English was born in 1963 in Belfast, where he is Professor of Politics at Queen’s University. He is a frequent media commentator on Irish politics and history, and on terrorism, including work for the BBC, ITN, Sky News, NPR, Newsweek and the Financial Times. His latest book is Terrorism: How to Respond, which draws on over twenty years of conversations with terrorists themselves, and on analysis of a wide range of campaigns - Algeria, Bader Meinhof, The Red Brigade, ETA, Hezbollah, the IRA, and al-Qaeda - to offer both an authoritative, accessible analysis of the problem of terrorism, and a practical approach to solving it. In the original post below, Professor English lays out what he sees as the seven key elements in responding to terrorist violence.

This summer’s fatal terrorist attacks in Afghanistan, Spain and Iraq in their various ways reflect a paradoxical reality: despite the unprecedented efforts made since 9/11 to combat terrorist violence, the terrorist problem remains at least as prevalent as it was before the commencement of the ‘War on Terror’.

Indeed, the situation has in some ways grown worse. The number of terrorist incidents recorded globally in 2001 was 1732. By 2006 – five years into the War on Terror – the figure had risen to 6659. The monthly fatality rate from terrorism in the years immediately preceding 9/11 was 109; in the five years after 9/11, the monthly death-toll from terrorism rose to 167 (and this excluded deaths from attacks in Afghanistan and Iraq – with those included, the monthly death-toll rose to 447).

Of course, there are no easy solutions to the terrorist problem. The longevity of this form of violence is a testament to that. But this long history of terror is, perversely, a tremendous resource as we seek to deal with this global, murderous challenge. For we do, in fact, have a huge body of experience to draw on as we consider how best to deal with the terrorist threat. There are – or should be – a long list of ‘known knowns’ in terms of what we should and should not do about terrorism.

The difficulty tends to be this: each state faces each its own new terrorist crisis in effectively amnesiac fashion. Depressingly for those of us who research the history of terrorism, the same mistakes tend to be made each time, as though the lessons required re-learning. I remember a conversation with a scholar in Washington DC in 2006, in which I suggested that the US might have learned far more than it apparently had about how to deal with terrorism, from historically-informed scrutiny of what other states had been through. ‘Ah, but we have to see our own crisis as exceptional,’ I was told. This is, perhaps, true enough as a depiction of prevalent opinion. But it is no less depressing, and damaging, for that.

In 2003 I published a history of the IRA. At that time, the IRA was in the process of leaving history’s stage just as the post-9/11 crisis meant that terrorism itself was becoming a global preoccupation as never before. So it seemed worthwhile to try to set out the lessons of history – Irish, but also drawn from other settings – in a systematic and accessible way, to try to address the problem of what we should do when the next terrorist crisis strikes.

My argument as a result of that process is that we can only effectively respond to terrorism if we learn the lessons of terrorism’s long history, but that we can only learn those lessons if we adopt a proper means of explaining terrorism, and that we can only explain it if we are honest and precise about exactly what terrorism is in the first place. So, what is terrorism? Why do people resort to terror? What can we learn from terrorism past? How should we respond?

The seven key elements in a response to terrorist violence, as I see them, are:

First, learn to live with it. Politicians have all too often tried to give the impression of a resolve to uproot terrorism altogether, which is self-defeating and unrealistic. Individual terrorist campaigns will come to an end, terrorism itself will not, and our best approach is to minimize and contain it.

Second, where possible, address the root causes and problems which generate awful terrorist violence. This will not always be possible (neither the goals of the Baader-Meinhof group nor of Osama bin Laden could be delivered). But there are moments in history when effective compromise can be reached, normally after terrorist groups themselves recognize that their violence is not bringing anticipated victory, and that a turn to more conventional politics makes sense.

Third, avoid an over-militarization of response. There is an understandable temptation after terrorist atrocities to respond with military muscle, and this can have beneficial effects. It has also, on very many historical occasions, back-fired, with rough-handed military action and occupation stimulating that very terrorism which it was intended to stifle.

Fourth, recognize that high-grade intelligence is the most effective resource in combating terrorist groups. From 1970s Germany to 1990s Northern Ireland there have been many cases where intelligence has decisively aided the constraining of terrorist campaigns.

Fifth, adhere to orthodox legal frameworks and remain wedded to the democratically produced framework of law. All too often the Abu Ghraib pattern has been evident, with the state transgressing the line which distinguishes its own legal activity from illegal brutality: such transgressions tend to strengthen rather than undermine terrorist violence.

Sixth, ensure the coordination of security, financial, technological and other counter-terrorist efforts, both between different agencies of the same state, and between different states allied in the fight against terrorist violence.

Seventh, maintain strong credibility of public response. Any resort to implausible caricatures of one’s enemies will prove counter-productive among that constituency which is potentially supportive of terrorist violence but likely – if presented with credible alternatives – to recognize the futility as well as the appalling bloodiness of terrorist action.

All of the above points were ignored during the post-9/11 response of the War on Terror, and each of these errors has made our current position more difficult.

Richard English is Professor of Politics at Queen’s University, Belfast, and author of the award-winning books Armed Struggle: The History of the IRA and Irish Freedom: The History of Nationalism in Ireland. He is also a frequent media commentator on terrorism and political violence. His latest book, for OUP, is Terrorism: How to Respond, in which he argues that the post 9/11 War on Terror has been a spectacular failure because politicians have ignored the lessons of the past. Drawing on over twenty years of conversations with terrorists themselves, he offers a practical approach to solving the problem of terrorism.

After the jump is a video of Richard English talking about the book, filmed by Meet the Author.

Click here to view the embedded video.

9. Words, words, words
Being a logophile and lover of books since elementary school, I enjoy being around words and those who like words – readers, writers, critics, fans. And I get jazzed whenever I’m with a group of people who are as concerned and connected with literacy as the IRA crowd. Sitting at one of the convention cafes with a hot chocolate or walking through the exhibit hall, overhearing bytes of conversations about kids and reading and “reading assessment” and “instructional strategies” made me realize at once that I had found my people.

8. Sign Time
On the third day of the conference I had the opportunity to autograph books at the Red Brick Learning booth. Red Brick is the classroom division of Capstone Publishers, so it was a natural fit for me to sign there and meet with those teachers who actually use my books in the classroom. What a thrill to hear about kids getting excited about the Library of Doom, or one of my Superman stories, or even the book I wrote for Picture Window, If You Were A Palindrome. (I always wished I had one of those names that was a palindrome, like Bob or Otto!)



7. The Red Brick booth
The booth looked great! Colorful book covers, eye-popping posters hanging against the black backdrop, and cool videos playing on a monitor.



6. Jon Scieszka
Yes! I was able to meet him – the Ambassador of Books for Boys. He is one of my all-time heroes. A funny, humble, and creative guy who never stops inspiring people to read and to write. And I like his hairstylist. In fact, I think he and I have the same one.


5. The Food.
Just kidding. Although I did share a lunch outdoors with Joan Berge, the president of Capstone Fiction, on one of those glorious spring Minnesota afternoons. Azure sky, puffy clouds, bright sunshine, and a humidity-free 70 degrees. Like a day at the lake, right?

4. Standing Room Only
I co-presented a workshop on graphic novels in the classroom with Dr. Stephen Sargent from Northeastern State University in Oklahoma. Stephan is a brilliant professor of reading and literacy and was a great partner to work with (and had some excellent hand-outs, btw). The two of us had been told to expect between 25 and 30 participants. We had 72! The graphic wave continues to roll!
And I received great feedback on some of our Graphic Revolve retellings, like Swiss Family Robinson. It’s amazing how a even single illustration can provoke so much thought and delight and discussion!
3. Swag
Lots of free posters, banners, books, bookmarks, and giveaways. I had fun handing out our Stone Arch DC Superhero poster and the one on the Power of Reading. The graphic of the four Recon Academy teen heroes looks appropriately high-tech and tough.

2. Invisible Creatures
The one major element of the crowd that you couldn’t see, but definitely made their presence known each day – the kids! That’s why we were all there. To get kids reading better, reading more, and reading for pleasure. There was enough energy and creativity at the Minneapolis IRA conference to explode in a cloud of literacy that would cover the country. I think it’s begun.

1. Blast off!

--Michael Dahl
Editorial Director

I'm still processing all my notes and such from IRA! Here are a few gems from the author sessions I went to.

Megan McDonald: Her dad threatened to rip out the very last page of any book brought to the dinner table! [As a fellow reader-at-the-table, I admired the seriousness of that threat!]

Elise Broach: The main challenge of Masterpiece was how to make the two characters, a boy and a beetle, communicate and have an equal relationship.

Tracie Vaughn Zimmer: In poetry, "Content should be master over form!"

The art in Steady Hands has some of her belongings photographed in it. Her dad’s welding gloves, lace from her [I think] wedding dress, a key from her grandparents’ home, etc.

On forcing students to revise poetry: "Poetry is short, so revision isn't tragic."

Paul Janeczko (on A Foot in the Mouth: Poems to Speak, Sing and Shout): The editor first suggested a book of poems for kids to memorize. Janeczko said, “I don’t think so.” Ended up with these poems that are fun to say and MAYBE memorize, if you read them enough.

Chris Raschka (at the end of summarizing his artistic method): “And if it doesn’t work, I throw it away and try again.”

Teacher Nicola Turner and poet Joyce Sidman (who both said so many wonderful, useful things about teaching poetry, but I'm no longer sure who said what!): “Poets bring opposites together in a way that makes perfect sense.”

Jordan Sonnenblick: “What boy readers are most looking for is authenticity and story.”

Annie Barrows (on creating realistic chapter book characters): “My 7-year-old daughter wanted a mirror rather than a window.”

That's the International Reading Association, by the way, not the Irish Republican Army nor an Individual Retirement Account, both of which Google thinks I'm interested in. As if I'm part of a violent activist group (I'm a reading fanatic, but not violent) or have the money for retirement. Ha!

Anyway, the big convention was just here in Minneapolis, and I went. Tomorrow I hope to post about what authors can accomplish by attending this huge event, but today, I'll just share pix of the event and some of the authors I heard speak or went to signings.

Here's me and Joyce Sidman:



Click here to see the full album (19 pix).

Tomorrow morning in Reading Workshop, I’ll be teaching a lesson with the following teaching point: Readers keep track of who is speaking in a text, regardless of whether or not there are dialogue tags. The reason they do this is so they always know who is speaking. I’m going to be using two passages from The [...]

I'm off to the airport to go HOME!!! And this time I get to STAY home for two months!!

::dances around hotel room:::

Here are the final pics from the IRA conference.

Ambassador Scieszka was in the house.

So was Ashley Bryan.

And Sharon Draper!

Who can resist a photo with Skippyjonjones?

Penguin publicity people in Skippyjonjones regalia.

And the highlight of the day for me.... drum roll

Katherine Paterson!

I've spent the last two full days walking around IRA Minneapolis (with about 9,000 teachers). I've gone to quite a few sessions, gotten some books signed, and explored the enormous exhibit hall. I'm tired. It's wonderful! But I'm tired.

I didn't go expecting to pick up books. But when you're surrounded by books, well...you know what a writer does! So after two days, I have about 4 bags full of catalogs, freebie books and ARCs, and books I bought. Not to mention promo items, like posters and buttons (except for the cool Name Your Rock Band wheel poster craft--for the fabulous Blue Lipstick--that I had to abandon--it was thicker stock and just wouldn't stay rolled up).

My feet, back, and shoulders feel like I've been tossed into a rock tumbler and left there for a few days.

So, here's my public vow. When I go to ALA in July, I will not pick up any of the hundreds of exhibitor bags to fill with goodies. I will not. I will not.

Probably.

(Recap of IRA coming next week once I have time to recover!)

Here are a couple of quick photos from yesterday before I dash out the door.

The world-renowned Minneapolis Sisters of the Book Shirt showed up in Wintergirls shirts and brought one for me!

Then Jordan Sonnenblick stopped by to say hello.

I signed books with Jane Yolen and her son Adam Stemple, and Steve van der Ark.

And was on an awesome panel with John Green, David Yoo, Adam Sanchez, and Sean Beaudoin.