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By Nina Schuyler, The Children’s Book Review
Published: August 9, 2012

June shrugged off school’s schedule—the drop offs and pick-ups and the packing of lunch. Summer seemed to stretch out like a wide open lawn. But the acreage quickly filled with the schedule of camps—with drop offs and pick-ups and the packing of lunch.

Right about now, there’s something in the air. Maybe it’s the lighting or a new scent. But you begin to feel that summer is nearing its end. Before the scaffolding of the school schedule is fitted again, there is another attempt to get rid of routine. This, I think, is the real heart of summer. An earnest attempt to be schedule-less, to open up to unpredictability, maybe even to lose the concept of time. How? Travel. People pack their bags and go. Somewhere. Anywhere. Stay-over-night camp, relatives in another state, another city, anywhere other than where you are, it really doesn’t matter, just as long as rhythms and routines are set aside.

In honor of the real heart of summer, here’s a list of books that send their main characters on a journey, a trip, somewhere new. (And if you and your family didn’t pack your bags this summer, here is the beauty of a book—the vicarious experience of travel.)

Dangerous Waters: An Adventure on the Titanic

by Gregory Mone

In Dangerous Waters: An Adventure on the Titanic, by Gregory Mone, twelve-year-old Patrick Waters sneaks onboard the Titanic. Also on the ship are a book collector and a thief who plans to steal one of the collector’s prize editions. And, of course, the ship is going to sink. Mone has written a real page turner, but not at the sacrifice of language. His narrative world is rich with specific details, making it easy for the reader to imagine. “At Queen’s Road he spotted her looming in the distance. She was a mountain! A self-contained city of iron and steel: eight hundred and eighty feet long. Nearly two hundred feet tall. More than four hundred thousand rivets. How could she even float?”

Ages 9-12 | Publisher: Roaring Book Press | March 13, 2012

The Chronicles of Egg: Deadweather and Sunrise

By Geoff Rodkey

Travel to a place where pirates are your neighbors with The Chronicles of Egg: Deadweather and Sunrise by Geoff Rodkey. Thirteen-year

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By Bianca Schulze, The Children’s Book Review
Published: March 31, 2012

Piggy Bunny

By Rachel Vail; Illustrated by Jeremy Tankard

Ever had aspirations to be someone or something other than who or what you are? The piggy in this book, Liam, wants to be a bunny—the Easter bunny, to be exact. He’s willing to put in the hard work, even if it means eating salad. Nobody in his family, except for his grandma, believes he can become the Easter bunny, but Liam remains focused and with his can-do-attitude and support from grandma he makes his dream come true. Jeremy Tankard’s ink and digital media artwork are the icing on the cake (or the foil wrapper on the Easter egg, if I may) adding emotion to the story through little piggy faces and bodies. Liam is adorable and so is this story. (Ages 4-6. Publisher: Feiwel and Friends)

The Easter Bunny’s Assistant

By Jan Thomas

Jan Thomas is one funny author. In her latest book the Easter bunny is doing his best to teach readers how to dye Easter eggs, however, his assistant Skunk keeps getting over-excited and … well, let’s just say he has trouble containing himself. The combination of the bright illustrations and well-timed text create a laugh-out-loud picture book perfect for an Easter story time session. (Ages 2-5. Publisher: HarperCollins)

Peepsqueak!

By Leslie Ann Clark

From the moment Peepsqueak, a chicken, hatches from his egg he is raring and ready to fly. Even though everyone tells him he is not ready, Peepsqueak remains determined and filled with self-belief—the perfect recipe for reaching goals. Leslie Ann Clark uses rhythmic and repetitive text that begs to be read aloud; and her sweet cartoon illustrations give Peepsqueak a delightful amount of bounce. Great for spring and Easter, but definitely an all-year read that is sure to be a request over and over again. (Ages 2-5. Publisher: HarperCollins)

10 Hungry Rabbits: Counting and Color Concepts

By Anita Lobel

Anita Lobel, a Caldecott Honor Book illustrator, has created a charming little number with 10 Hungry Rabbits. 10 very hungry rabbits set out to find 10 vegetables from the garden for Mama Rabbit’s soup pot. Using gouache and watercolors, Lobel’s illustrations prime readers well with an exploration of color as each rabbit collects their chosen vegetable

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Instead of “Let Kids Read Comic Books,” I almost titled this entry, “Don’t Be an Idiot.” Because I can’t believe this needs to be discussed anymore.

Over at Imagination Soup, they ran a good piece with a solid message: “8 Reasons to Let Your Kids Read Comics.“ Check it out, there’s a lot of worthwhile links attached to the article.

Here’s their list of “8 reasons” in brief.

1. Comics are fun to read.

2. Comics contain the same story elements and literary devices as narrative stories.

3. Comics provide built-in context clues.

4. Reading a comic is a different process of reading using a lot of inference.

5. Readers need variety in their reading diet.

6. We’re a visual culture and the visual sequence makes sense to kids.

7. Reading comics may lead to drawing and writing comics.

8. The selection of graphic novels is bigger, better, and reaches a wider age-range than before.

Yeah, feh, okay. I get that. We have to establish that comics are credible resources, that it’s valid in the classroom, and there’s a perceived need to throw in a lot of pedagogical goobledygook. But I don’t care. Because one thing I know in my bones is that many (many!) professional authors began their childhood love of reading with comic books. Those authors are almost always men (read: ex-boys).

They read what they wanted to. They read what they liked. They read, period.

One of the critically important aspect of this issue of “boys reading junk” is that well-meaning adults — and in particular, women — need to become sensitized to our bias against certain types of reading. We have to become aware of the messages we send to boy readers, the disapproving, dismissive way we view personal choices.

We must trust in the process.

When I was working on my belly-up blog, Fathers Read, I received written contributions from several children’s book authors, including Matthew Cordell, Lewis Buzbee, Michael Northrop, Eric Velasquez, and Jordan Sonnenblick. One recurring strain in their reflections on their lives as young readers was the love

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JUSTIN CASE: SCHOOL, DROOL, AND OTHER DAILY DISASTERS, by Rachel Vail (Feiwel and Friends 2010)(ages 7-10). Justin, about to enter third grade, is nervous, and has much to be nervous about. His sister is starting kindergarten, he didn't get the teacher he wanted, his best friend is in another class, his favorite stuffed animal has gone missing, and there's a monster in the basement. Which may have taken the stuffed animal (which he still cares about even though he's too old for stuffed animals). How will he survive the year?

Told in a diary format that brings the reader along with Justin on his third-grade travails, JUSTIN CASE is funny, charming, and heartwarming. Drawings by Matthew Cordell evoke Justin's angst and are a perfect complement to the text.

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Rachel is speaking of how the great thrill of being a writer is the chance to live more than one life. How do we do that? How do we become someone else?

It's not write what you know. (Tolkien didn't know many hobbits.)

It should be START with what you know.

Start with yourself. Your memories can make what you write feel real.

The room is super-focused on what Rachel is saying - bursting out with laughter, choked up with emotion and held-back tears, scribbling furious notes, even tweeting so many wonderful insights!

"Humor and heart, pain and hope - they are so intertwined."

Rachel Vail totally rocked it!

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Rachel Vail has written over 30 books for kids through teens. She has one of the best opening 2 lines ever in her book "Gorgeous:"

"I sold my cell phone to the devil. In my own defense, it had been a really crappy day."


She's also the author of "Justin Case: School, Drool and Other Daily Disasters!"




That starts out like this:

September 1, Tuesday
Okay, yes. I'm worried
Already.
I can't help it.

As Lin Oliver is saying in her introduction, Rachel is

"Queen of the novel for kids"



Rachel thinks a good book is more than just a story well told, at it's best, for middle graders, it should be suffused with humor and heart.

If I want a character to feel head exploding jealousy... she remembers how she felt when she was a child. The mix of emotions.

She challeneged the room to remember a book that really moved you when you read it as a child.

She shared the story of reading "Of Mice and Men," and how deeply it affected her - and how later it became a theme of her own books - What does love require of us?

What an interesting challenge to see if the books of our childhoods that split our heads apart had themes that still resonate for us, through time and into our own narrative flows.


Adolescence is so fraut: We are faced with adult feelings and no adult perspective. As an adult, we see someone hot and go - he's hot. As a 7th grader, we see someone hot and the brand new feeling knocks you down.

Unlike some other luckier species, we have no cocoon to hide in - we're going through these changes of adolescence in what feels like full view of the entire world!

"Life or death moments are a dime a dozen in seventh grade."

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"Funny, like the devil, is in the details."

awesome advice.

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Amazing author Rachel Vail is having a fantastic workshop on Seeing Your Characters: Creating Adolescent Characters from the Inside Out. And when I walked up, I couldn't believe the crowd! All the seats were taken and people even spilled out into the hall. I was so glad I got there early! What an amazing session! Make sure if you get a chance to hear Rachel speak, you take it!

She offered some great techniques on how to "get into character" and how to develop a strong unique voice. She even offered tips that she learned in theater training. (I've totally used them before!)

Here are some of Rachel's books and she'll be signing here on Monday!

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Author and blogger Suzanne Young brings us the latest SCBWI TEAM BLOG Annual Summer Conference faculty interview. Suzanne had a chat with author  Rachel Vail, who will present a keynote speech ON SCHOOL, DROOL, AND OTHER DAILY DISASTERS: FINDING THE HUMOR AND HEART IN MIDDLE GRADE NOVELS as well as a breakout session called SEEING YOUR CHARACTERS: ADOLESCENT CHARACTERS FROM THE INSIDE OUT.  Here's a bit from Suzanne's post:

As part of TEAM BLOG, covering this year's SCBWI Annual Summer Conference in LA, I got a chance to chat with the AMAZING Rachel Vail!! She will be one of the Keynote Speakers and she'll also be offereng workshops throughout the conference.

Rachel Vail has written over 30 books, for kids through teens. Her most recent include her trilogy for teens: LUCKY, GORGEOUS and BRILLIANT; and her novel for kids, JUSTIN CASE: SCHOOL, DROOL, AND OTHER DAILY DISATERS.

Click here to register for the Annual Summer Conference to hear from Rachel as well as our other amazing presenters.

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NYC Teen Author Festival--My First Day...

I arrived in New York on rainy Thursday to catch the last few days of the Teen Author Festival. That afternoon I met my friend Aaron Hartzler (who is the Director, Communications & Design for SCBWI) for a 4 o'clock reading at the 67th branch library featuring Rachel Vail, Courtney Sheinmel, Martin Wilson, Lisa Ann Sandell, and Cecily Von Ziegesar (pictured below in my rather dark photo, L to R, holding up their books).


Oh...I really adore listening to authors reading their own work. There's something sort of magical about it. I'd love to have a continuous bedtime rotation of YA authors reading me a few chapters every night before I fall asleep. Courtney Sheinmel told us she got the idea for her book My So-Called Family, featuring a girl whose father was a sperm donor, from a "The Today Show" story. Cecily Von Ziegesar read a scene from an early Gossip Girl title showing us the book version of why Blair Waldorf didn't get into Harvard (no cocktail parties or text messages involved). Rachel Vail's reading from her upcoming book Lucky offered humor and a great character. Lisa Ann Sandell's writing was lyrical and beautiful and I wasn't surprised to hear that her book A Map of the Known World is her first first prose work, her previous books written in verse. As for Llambda Literary Awards finalist Martin Wilson--after the reading teens were fighting over who got to read his book What They Always Tell Us first as he gave his copy to the library.

And that was another wonderful thing about this reading: teens. There were a bunch of them. And they (pretty much all) paid attention and they asked thoughtful questions and they seemed to have a relationship with the YA librarian which was wonderful to see.

After the reading we were off to Books of Wonder for the debut of Tiger Beat, the first-ever all-YA-author band including Libba Bray, Daniel Ehrenhaft, Barney Miller, and Natalie Standiford. Tiger Beat's opening act was David Levithan and Rachel Cohn (rockin a flannel shirt and eye liner) offering readings from their book Naomi and Eli's No Kiss List (in both English and German!) and a reenacted scene from the movie version of Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist.


Then Tiger Beat seriously rocked (they were, like, good) and everyone cheered.


And waved foam Tiger Beat rock'n'roll hands.


Oh--and attached to Books of Wonder: a cupcake place! Aren't they pretty. (The chocolate icing was fantastic.)


Last, here's a reenactment of part of Aaron's conversation with the girl who sold us cupcakes. (I forget her name. I will call her Kara.)

Aaron: Hi Kara. Are you excited about the authors here in the store?

Kara: Oh. I'm not really into young adult books.

Pause.

I'm sixteen.

Aaron: What do you read?

Kara: Neil Gaiman.

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