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We're blogging about going back to school this round. Esther starts us off with a review of Kate Messner's book on revision, a useful and inspiring book; JoAnnwrites about using repetition and how to Write a Poem Step by Step, and you can win her book of that very title byentering the latest TeachingAuthors' book giveaway(which ends tonight at midnight) Then Carla shows how to approach the familiar How I Spent My Summer Vacation essay as a non-fiction writer, and Mary Ann tells us the story behind her wonderful book, First Grade Stinks! Now it's my turn. I'm here to suggest two very different books for this time of year. One about food, one about forgiveness...and the new year.
This collection,with photographs by Norie Wasserman (wonderful cover!) includes poems about small gardens, free range chickens, bees, farmers' markets, fair trade, food banks, a poem that mentions Dolores Huerta and Cesar Chavez, and more.
Any of these would be a wonderful topic for student poems, stories or a class discussion about food and farming. And the remarkable Renee LaTulippe, at No Water River, has created what she calls "poet-a-palooza" about Dear Tomato. which includes videos of some of the poets reading their poems from this book. Many of the poems are by friends from the Kidlitosphere, including B.J.Lee, Mary Lee Hahn, Charles Waters, Michelle Heidenrich Barnes, Matt Forrest Esenwine, Bridget Magee, Buffy Silverman, Stephen Withrow, J. Patrick Lewis, Elizabeth Steinglass, and I'm sure I've missed some others. This is the book I've been giving my neighborhood gardeners with whom I trade homegrown veggies.
Here's one of my poems from the book:
HOE OBSERVING THE FARMER
by April Halprin Wayland .
He knows a hoe.
Never letting go.
Holds me steady in his grip,
lifts me up to rip against the weight of air.
Then he pulls me back, bearing down,
yielding to the power of the ground.
Holds me steady in his grip,
never letting go.
He knows
a hoe.
poem (c)2015 April Halprin Wayland. All rights reserved.
my father and mother on the farm
The second book, relevant this time of year is:
The Jewish New Year--Rosh Hashanah--is on September 13-15th this year, so now is a good time to read my picture book, New Year at the Pier--a Rosh Hashanah Story illustrated by Stephane Jorisch. Here's Dial Books for Young Readers' summary: Izzy's favorite part of Rosh Hashanah is Tashlich, a joyous ceremony in which people apologize for the mistakes they made in the previous year and thus clean the slate as the new year begins. But there is one mistake on Izzy's I m sorry list that he's finding especially hard to say out loud.
Humor, touching moments between family and friends, and lots of information about the Jewish New Year are all combined in this lovely picture book for holiday sharing.
Winner of the Sydney Taylor Gold Medal for best Jewish picture book of the year Here are four ways to use New Year at the Pier with kids--and adults: 1) Use it to explain to students where absent schoolmates may be during the Jewish New Year. 2) Use it to open discussions about how to apologize and forgive. 3) Use it to show how other cultures celebrate New Year. 4) Give it to someone you’ve wanted to apologize to for a long time
Click here for more activities,and for New Year rituals around the world.
. The post below is refreshed and reprised from September 2013...the book giveaway of Barbara's picture book (about a slice of Golda Meir's childhood--and what an amazing leader she was even then) is NEW and ends September 26, 2014. Howdy, Campers!
It's not Saint Patrick's Day, but we're lucky, lucky, lucky to open our doors and welcome Guest TeachingAuthorBarbara Krasner, who I interviewed last Friday, and who offers us her NEW picture book, Goldie Takes a Stand! A Tale of Young Golda Meir, to give away and a dynamite Wednesday Writing Workout for the New Year.
Feeling lucky? Enter our latest book giveaway! Details on this post.
Here's Barbara...
...and here'sthe Writing Workout she's cooked up for us:
Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, comes early this year and I’m glad. It gives me the opportunity to reflect on the past year and think about the coming year even before the leaves fall. I’m giving you a Rosh Hashanah challenge in three parts. Part One: Rosh Hashanah, literally translated as head of the year, is a perfect time to think about the beginning of your manuscript. How many times do we hear that if we can’t grab the agent/editor/reader within just a few seconds, he or she will just move on to something else? Ask yourself the following questions: • Do you have a compelling title? • Does your first line grab the reader? (My all-time favorites are from M.T. Anderson, “The woods were silent except for the screaming,” and from Kate DiCamillo, “My name is Opal Buloni, and last summer my daddy, the preacher, sent me to the store for a box of macaroni-and-cheese, some white rice, and two tomatoes and I came back with a dog.”) • Have you presented the main character on the first page? • Have you presented the problem within the first page, the first chapter? These questions apply to fiction and nonfiction alike. What are YOUR first lines?
My question to you: What writing sins will you cast off this year?
When I think about this for myself, I think about: • I will cast off my lack of organization – I will organize all those papers into folders with easy-to-read tabs and file the folders • I will cast off watching reality TV (TCM movies only) – I need more time to write • I will cast off working on a gazillion projects at once – I will focus on one genre at a time, and right now, that’s poetry, and okay, picture books • I will cast off reading several books at once – I commit to reading a book fully before moving on to another. You get the idea. What will you cast off?
Part Three: Here’s a prompt you can write to: Recall a Rosh Hashanah (or New Year) scene from your childhood and write about it. Who was there? Where were you? What action and dialogue took place?
Thank you so much for your three-part Rosh Hashanah writing challenge, Barbara, and for mentioning my book (blush)... shana tovah!
posted by April Halprin Wayland
0 Comments on Book Giveaway & Writing Workout for Rosh Hashanah--What Writing Sins Will YOU Cast Away? as of 9/17/2014 6:44:00 AM
We have a brand new Book Giveaway for your very own autographed copy of a picture book biography (well, a real-life slice of life) of Golda Meir--just published! Details at the bottom of this post.
Happy Poetry Friday! Thank you, Renee, of No Water River, for hosting today! The link to Barbara Krasner's poem, "The Circle of Life," on a site which invites contributions of poetry and prose, is below ~
Today, we welcome author, teacher, blogger, historian, poet and conference organizer Barbara Krasner into our cozy cabin for a cuppa java.
Barbara Krasner
I first met Barbara online, as she was single-handedly organizing the Conference on Jewish Story, held this May in New York. She invited me to be on the children's panel; it was an adventure and an honor to participate.
Barbara’s interests, accomplishments and energies are unending. She began writing short stories when she should have been paying attention in SAT prep classes! She majored in German and spent her junior year in Germany. Then she spent 30 years in corporate America...but the writing bug never left her. (Can anyone relate? Me, me!)
Barbara publishes the popular blog, The Whole Megillah ~ The Writer's Resource for Jewish Story, she's the recipient of the first-ever Groner-Wikler Scholarship for dedication to Jewish children's literature, and is a member of the prestigious Sydney Taylor Book Award Committee of the Association of Jewish Libraries.
"Even at the age of nine, little Golda Meir was known for being a leader. As the president of the American Young Sisters Society, she organizes her friends to raise money to buy textbooks for immigrant classmates. It’s not easy, and when her initial plan doesn’t work, she’s forced to dream even bigger to find a way to help her community. A glimpse at the early life of Israel’s first female Prime Minister, this story is based on a true episode in the early life of Golda Meir."
Welcome, Barbara! What's a common problem your students have and how do you address it? A common problem my students have is the fear of digging deep. To compensate, they produce redundant narrative that only skims the surface. I challenge them, as my mentors have challenged me, to take a deep breath and dive in.
Thank you--just reading that made me take a deep breath. Would you share a favorite writing exercise with our readers?
I am a certified Amherst Writers & Artists workshop leader and I really believe in the power of writing to timed prompts. A classic prompt is to recall a photograph and begin your writing session with, "In this one..."
Another favorite is to write about something hanging on the wall in a room of your childhood family home.
I want to try those! What one piece of advice do you have for teachers?
Look for the strength of each student and build on that.
Barbara Krasner ~ teaching, speaking, inspiring ~
What's on the horizon for you?
I'm working on some Holocaust-related short stories and a couple of picture book biographies. In my master's program (Barbara's currently a candidate for an MA in Applied Historical Studies), I am looking for ways to take my academic requirements and turn them into literary projects. A new history book about my hometown of Kearny, New Jersey is an example of this. I am promoting my picture books this fall, such as my "What Would Goldie Do?" program at Jewish community centers (JCCs) and synagogues. I also hope to be teaching Writing Your Family History at my local JCC.
WOW, Barbara! And since it's Poetry Friday in the Kidlitosphere, do you have a poem you'd like to share with our readers?
Here's a link to my poem, The Circle of Life on The Jewish Writing Project site, which invites contributions of poems and more.
We'll close with a preview of Goldie Takes a Stand! (enter for a chance to win it below):
Thank you so much for coming by today, Barbara!
Book Giveaway Enter for a chance to win an autographed copy of Goldie Takes a Stand! This giveaway ends on September 26.
Use the Rafflecopter widget below to enter via 1, 2, or all 3 options specified. If you choose the "comment" option, share a comment to today's blog post about your experience with writing or teaching historical fiction. And please include your name in your comment, if it's not obvious from your comment "identity." (If you prefer, you may submit your comment via email to: teachingauthors [at] gmail [dot] com.)
"Trust yourself. Create the kind of self that you will be happy to live with all your life. Make the most of yourself by fanning the tiny, inner sparks of possibility into flames of achievement." ~ Golda Meir
It's not Saint Patrick's Day, but we're lucky, lucky, lucky to open our doors and welcome Guest TeachingAuthorBarbara Krasner, who offers us a dynamite Wednesday Writing Workout for the New Year.
As long as we're feeling lucky, enter our latest book giveaway! Details at the end...
You see what I mean when I say we're lucky to have her come by today? WOWZA!
And now, here's Barbara with the Writing Workout she's cooked up for us!
Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, comes early this year and I’m glad. It gives me the opportunity to reflect on the past year and think about the coming year even before the leaves fall. I’m giving you a Rosh Hashanah challenge in three parts. Part One: Rosh Hashanah, literally translated as head of the year, is a perfect time to think about the beginning of your manuscript. How many times do we hear that if we can’t grab the agent/editor/reader within just a few seconds, he or she will just move on to something else? Ask yourself the following questions: • Do you have a compelling title? • Does your first line grab the reader? (My all-time favorites are from M.T. Anderson, “The woods were silent except for the screaming,” and from Kate DiCamillo, “My name is Opal Buloni, and last summer my daddy, the preacher, sent me to the store for a box of macaroni-and-cheese, some white rice, and two tomatoes and I came back with a dog.”) • Have you presented the main character on the first page? • Have you presented the problem within the first page, the first chapter? These questions apply to fiction and nonfiction alike. What are your first lines?
Part Two: The Rosh Hashanah holiday includes a practice called Tashlich, casting off our sins. The practice is exemplified in April Halprin Wayland’s New Year at the Pier (Dial, 2009) and the mother-daughter team of Susan Schnur and Anna Schnur-Fishman’s Tashlich at Turtle Rock (Kar-Ben, 2010). My question to you: What writing sins will you cast off this year? When I think about this for myself, I think about: • I will cast off my lack of organization – I will organize all those papers into folders with easy-to-read tabs and file the folders • I will cast off watching reality TV (TCM movies only) – I need more time to write • I will cast off working on a gazillion projects at once – I will focus on one genre at a time, and right now, that’s poetry, and okay, picture books • I will cast off reading several books at once – I commit to reading a book fully before moving on to another. You get the idea. What will you cast off?
Part Three: Here’s a prompt you can write to: Recall a Rosh Hashanah (or New Year) scene from your childhood and write about it. Who was there? Where were you? What action and dialogue took place?
Thank you so much for your three-part Rosh Hashanah writing challenge, Barbara, and shana tovah!
3 Comments on Happy New Year! Guest Teaching Author Barbara Krasner offers a Wednesday Writing Workout (actually THREE workouts)!, last added: 9/13/2013
It came from my website and the subject header was, “Question for You”…as in Blessed One, How much money can you send to my cancer-ridden mother in Nigeria?
But I opened it:
Hi April,
Please give me a call when you get a chance. I wanted to ask you a question about your book.
Thank you,
Kathe Pinchuck, Chair
Sydney Taylor Book Award Committee
Association of Jewish Libraries
It included her phone number.
The Sydney Taylor Book Award is for the best Jewish children’s book of the year in three categories (Younger Readers, Older Readers, and Teen Readers) given by the Association of Jewish Libraries. I’d savored the chicken at the STB Awards dinner at the AJL Convention in Chicago last year. The conventioneers were smart and welcoming--I'm so glad I attended.
What question could she have about New Year at the Pier? Did she want to know if my wonderful illustrator, Stéphane Jorisch, was from the United States? Would they disqualify our book from consideration if they discovered he is a Canadian? (Not to worry. The Association of Jewish Libraries is an international organization; the award is an international award.) What else could she want to know?
So...the question she asked me? “April, where on the cover of New Year at the Pier do you think the gold Sydney Taylor medal should go?”
And here’s the hardest part of all: I could only tell my husband. Okay...I told my son, too. (I mean, really.) Then we hunkered down and did a lot of NOT TELLING for a week. (Remember Show, Don't Tell? This was Don't Show, Don't Tell...)
In July, they will fly me and my husband to the AJL Convention where I will finally meet
12 Comments on And the Winner is…or How I Learned I’d Won!, last added: 1/18/2010
Sooo, I take it you was excited. hahaha Try on of your moves in the pictures, I think I hurt myself. Just kidding. As we say in Alabama, you go girlfriend.
Mazel tov, April, Sydney Taylor Book Award Winner! I'm kvelling for you, pat-pat-patting my chest as I smile, then sigh. Your story's heart knows no boundaries, which is why the book deserved and earned this wondrous award. Savor this Moment. Your Fan Esther
Congratulations - and lovely drawings by the way. I'm delighted I got to meet you at the 2008 SCBWI conference - you critiqued one of my picture books. I must look for New Year at the Pier.
Jeanne Marie Grunwell Ford said, on 1/17/2010 6:56:00 PM
Wowee, indeed! I will need to buy some new copies with the pretty gold medals. Where, pray tell, did you decide they should go?
Oh April, you are so adorable. We need to get our Mutual Appreciation Society membership cards printed up already, don't we? Mazel tov on a job well done! Glad you'll be at the AJL convention 2 years running!
I'm the last TeachingAuthor to announce my resolution for this New Year. (I hope you're not sick of the topic by now.) My fellow bloggers have already shared five wonderful resolutions, and many of our readers have contributed their own inspiring six-word goals. (If you haven't shared your resolution yet, be sure to read to the end of this post to see how you could qualify to win an extra-special prize!) I want to do just about everything that has been suggested: evict my inner heckler; have more fun; start the day with my stories; take time to read, rest, and relax, etc.
However, I already came up with my six-word resolution before reading all these terrific ideas. Here it is:
"Match my activities to my priorities."
This resolution came from being frustrated with my own behavior. I've been working on two projects for a LONG time: a historical novel set in 18th-century Europe and a nonfiction biography of one of the women who inspired the novel. Despite the fact that I'd really like to finish these projects, I would often find myself spending my designated writing time checking email, surfing the Net, and reading my friends' Facebook posts. With the start of the New Year, I was ready for a change.
I like this resolution because it's general enough to apply to my personal life as well as my career as a teacher and a writer. However, it is rather vague, which could make it hard to carry out (and measure). Lucky for me, an article in the January 3, 2010 issue of Parade magazineprovided specific suggestions for how to turn vague resolutions into lasting changes. The article's number one tip: Give yourself crystal-clear directions.
So I translated my general resolution, "Match my activities to my priorites," into three steps:
Create a daily plan or to-do list
On that plan, block out the first two hours for writing/revising. (This means NO blogging, email, Internet surfing, or Facebook until AFTER I've put in my two hours.)
Also use the plan to set aside specific, limited, times for email, Facebook, etc.
Well, one advantage to announcing my resolution almost halfway through the month is that I can report on my progress to date. So far, I've stuck with my first-two-hours-for-writing commitment. [That's why this post is up much later than my usual 7 a.m. publication time. :-) ] In fact, my dedicated writing time has stretched to close to three hours on several occasions. Hurray!
I wish I could say I've been as consistent with limiting my email/Facebook time. But I'm definitely doing better, and I hope to keep improving.
I'll share another suggestion from the Parade article in today's Writing Workout. If you'd like additional tips on how to turn your resolutions and goals into lasting changes, I encourage you to read "Make Changes That Last" by Chip and Dan Heath for yourself.
Hi Carmela-- Your resolution really resounded with me--matching up activities with priorities is a critical aspect of reaching goals. Otherwise, they're just dreams, aren't there? Today, I set specific writing time aside for specific projects... and didn't get online until now, 7:30 pm PST. I think this could work!
That's terrific that you resisted going online, Heather. I did, too, and it was especially hard knowing it meant I'd get my blog post up really late today. Hurray for both of us!
Your not the last I have not yet thought or made a resolution of sorts yet. Now you have me thinking about it.
I love your resolution and I can say I have been making my lists and trying to complete them each day for myself. It is not a resolution per say, but again it's a day by day goal.
What a great resolution. I'm going to try the destination postcards and leave it next to my computor. It just might be the kind of motivation I need to write first, then play...Pam M
Love the idea of the postcards! Just as I read this post, I could see the cover of the book I am working on...and I usually don't "see" a book cover, not being an artist. Great idea!
This is a gentle reminder about those goals you set for the New Year in conjunction with the contest to win my book, NEW YEAR AT THE PIER. Remember that post? Remember your goals?
We’re expecting you to report back to us during the first two weeks in January. If you didn't win the book last time, you'll have another chance in January when you report on your progress. How did you do? Who or what helped you? Who or what hindered you?
And now back to our regularly scheduled program.
I asked my nephew Josh, who’s a high school science teacher, how I could introduce this week’s topic of food and fiction.
“Well, you could have them write a poem in ketchup,” he said. That’s Josh for you. (Wouldn’t you love to be in one of his science classes?)
Message written in ketchup
And actually, that was a very good place to begin, because I’m quite comfortable writing in food.
The night before anyone in our family has a birthday, I sneak down to the kitchen and write “Happy Birthday” in raisins. It’s tradition. I mean, who wouldn’t want to wake up to a raisin birthday card, really?
You guessed it...raisins!
I told Josh this. He said, “Then you could write a poem about what happens to it when the birds come.”
Wow.
I thought about my best friend, author Bruce Balan who’s sailing around the world on a catamaran. (To be specific, he just left the Minerva Reef - a ring of coral less than 3 miles across, 250 miles southwest of Tonga – heading 800 miles to New Zealand.)
And I wrote this poem:
BIRD DAY CARD
by April Halprin Wayland
You’re at sea.
I’m on land.
6 Comments on Adding Flavor . . .Food Into Fiction, last added: 12/3/2009
Did Josh write "I love you" in ketchup or was that you?! Great idea. At the farmers market Wed. I got 2 lamb chops from lambs raised in Dixon, about 8 miles from us. I hadn't intended to buy lamb from the very nice guy who raised them, Martin Emigh, but we got to talking.... My first local lamb cooking is happening right now. At first I was going to make plain lamb stew, but I remembered that Indian lamb dishes can taste mighty good. So I'm doing an easy version of lamb with onions. It's on the stove right now; cumin, hot green peppers & garam marsala make it nicely Indian. And the whole thing is a love note to my husband. (Maybe a raisin note, too.) He loves my cooking & tells me all the time. This is for you, AJ. No leftovers tonight!
Do you remember in kindergarten when we made special food for a Thanksgiving meal to be shared by the two classes? We dressed up as pilgrims and Indians too. Half of us were pilgrims, and churned butter, the others were Indians and crayoned on their Dad's old shirts to make buckskin clothes. I think they made popcorn. I remember us all sitting down to share this wonderful feast, and of course, we were learning to write in food by making a meal with special foods that carried a meaning, like words.
Many years later I went to a wonderful meal made by a Spanish artist who created a feast that looked like a well cared for garden on the table, but the flowerpots were loaves of bread and the dirt was chocolate and the flowers were carved fruits and vegetables. We ate from the flowerpots with tiny trowels and drank from small watering cans. Her message was written in food and a little harder to understand, but we had so much fun!
April, you never made macaroni pictures? Where on earth did you grow up? Couldn't have been the U.S. I didn't think ANY of us escaped without making multitudes of macaroni pix. Ha!
Love your poem. I think the whole change in tone is actually what makes it! Thanks for the laugh on the start of a stressful day. I needed it.
Hooray--it’s Poetry Friday! Today’s poem and lesson plan are at the end of this post.
I’ve always felt that that if nothing else, I’m good at being a portal.A conduit between what someone wants and how they can get it.That's what has given me the to courage to teach Writing Picture Books for Children through UCLA Extension’s Writer’s Program for over a decade.This class is for newbie children’s book writers--not for those who have read a lot, taken classes, submitted stories, or joined organizations.
To these toe-in-the-water beginners I assign two books. The first is
This is a comprehensive, down-to-earth guide—worth reading cover-to-cover and easy to dip into as a reference. It presents a broad overview of the field but also gives specifics. As with all Idiot Guides, it's easy to browse and packed with extras like "Vocabulary Lists," which explain terms in the children's publishing industry; "Class Rules," which detail warnings and cautions; "Can You Keep a Secret?" which include tips and resources to help a children's writer or illustrator present him or herself as a pro; and my favorite, "Playground Stories," which are anecdotes from and profiles of children's authors and publishers, giving an insiders view of the children's publishing world.
Teaching AuthorsJeanne Marie and Mary Ann have both talked about Bird by Bird...and I’m going to talk about again.Because yes, it’s that good.
My favorite chapter is the one on jealousy, which changed my life. I read it at least once a year to quell my burning heart.
Though I happily celebrate most friends' successes, some colleagues' successes cause me great agony and confusion. Several years ago, someone gently suggested that perhaps I shouldn't read the book review section right before I went to sleep. She was right. When I'd see certain names, I'd toss and turn all night, feeling like I'd lost a race I didn't even know I was in.
I am a mean and tiny person with tight fists and a black heart.
This is really embarrassing to admit.
I've been more loving to myself about this in the last few years, and Anne Lamott's BIrd by Bird is a big reason why. She writes: “But if you continue to write, you are probably going to have to deal with [jealousy], because some wonderful dazzling successes are going to happen for some of the most awful, angry undeserving writers you know—people who are, in other words, not you."
and later,
"It can wreak just the tiniest bit of havoc with your self-esteem to find that you are hoping for small bad things to happen to this friend--for, say, her head to blow up."
Who, me?
She writes about seeing a documentary on AIDS:
"You could see the amazing fortitude of people going through horror with grace...seeing that this is what you've got, this disease, or maybe even this jealousy. So you do as well as you can with it. And this ravaged body or wounded psyche...should...be cared for as softly and tenderly as possble."
Lamott has shown me that yes, I have this tendency to be jealous, yes, I have this green spot on my heart…and though I try each year to make it smaller, I may have to live with that little green spot, be amused by that part of me and love myself anyway.
I’m human.What a surprise.
Writing Workout / Lesson Plan— Metaphor—Getting a Handle on a Really Uncomfortable Feeling
For ages 7 through adult (or younger, with individual help.) Objective: This lesson reminds us how writing can help us when we feel awful.(And if the feeling doesn’t go away, at least we’ve got a poem out of it!) Instructions:
1. Think of someone or something that fills you with envy (or another awful feeling).
2. Close your eyes. Take a deep breath.
3. Feel this feeling in your stomach, in your bloodstream, filling every bone in your body.
4. Or instead, think about what helps drive this emotion from your body. Feel the relief as itleaves through the top of your head, through your finger tips, through the bottoms of your feet.
5. Brainstorm at least five metaphors for jealousy or for what makes jealousy go away.Are you a leaf and is your jealousy a worm chewing on you? Is your jealousy a ring in the bathtub being scrubbed clean with Ajax cleanser?
6. Write a poem using one of your metaphors.
7. Write honestly—even if it embarrasses you.
ANYTHING I CAN DO YOU CAN DO BETTER
or
CAN OF WORMS
by April Halprin Wayland
Varda once told us
that we were all cans on a shelf.
Cans of chili, kidney beans, split pea soup.
I decided that I was a can of apricot halves.
She said that the shelf was only one can deep
but that it stretched out forever
so there’s always room
for one more.
“You don’t have to be afraid that adding another can means there isn’t enough room for you,”she said.
Lamott's idea that writing is like driving with the headlights on(you only can see ten feet ahead, but you can arrive at your destination) has gotten me through many a firt draft.
Thank you for posting honestly about jealousy. There is always room for one more - sometimes you just want it to be yours! Just love you for that generosity.
Find out about our Teaching Author Book Give-Away Contest running all this week! Click here for details.
Happy New Year! This week we’re celebrating the new school year and our very own April Halprin Wayland’s book, New Year at the Pier—A Rosh Hashanah Story, which is about another kind of new year—the Jewish New Year.
JoAnn: Give us a feel for the time line of this book—from the first inkling of an idea to Book On the Shelf.
April: I’ll tell you, but if you’re an aspiring children’s author, it might be best to cover your ears and sing “La, la, la” through today’s post…especially the very end.
So—here’s how it started. An editor asked me if I had any Jewish stories in me. I had a few…but one ritual was the standout for me: tashlich.
I began by writing down everything I knew about tashlich—how it feels to walk up the pier, singing, with two hundred of my friends, the sun, the waves, the butterflies in my tummy, the feeling I have when I give my “sins” to the winds.
Next, I read books about tashlich, starting with children’s books, though there weren’t many. The most recent children’s book I found in which tashlich is the main subject is Carol Levin’s A Rosh Hashanah Walk (Kar-Ben, 1987).
Then I interviewed my friend, Rabbi Neil Comess-Daniels of Beth Shir Sholom Temple in Santa Monica, California. Rabbi Neil is very tuned into kids; he’s written many albums of children’s songs.
I just re-read my notes from that afternoon and realize how much of what he taught me infuses the book. Look over my shoulder at a few of my notes:
• Rabbi Neil doesn’t like using the word “mistake,” as mistake means not on purpose, and sometimes you do some of these things on purpose.
• There’s a famous story of a man who goes to his rabbi and says that he gossiped about someone in town and he is now sorry and wants the rabbi to help him make it right. The rabbi said no, he can’t help this man. What? What do you mean, says the man. I really am sorry. I want to make it right. No can do, says the rabbi. But why? Asks the man. Go get me a knife and a feather pillow, says the rabbi. The man does. The rabbi stabs the feather pillow and takes out all the feathers and throws them to the winds. The idea is that you can’t always fix a situation. A situation can be changed through apology, but not undone.
• His example, regarding how you can’t fix something completely, was of a child stealing a doll and bringing it back. She might say, “I know I can bring the doll back, but I can’t make you trust me again.”
• Not: “It’s okay.” (Because maybe it’s not okay.) But: “I accept your apology.”
• Neil suggests that instead of burning her list, she uses it as a checklist.
After the manuscript was written and accepted, my editor, Lauri Hornik, guided me through the rewrites with her clear vision. I growled at her under my breath. She sent edits. I stomped around my computer. She sent more edits. Back and forth, back and forth.
But ask her now how many “Thank you, my dear darling editor!” notes I’ve sent her since the book came out! (Lauri’s since been promoted to President and Publisher of Dutton Children's Books, in addition to her previous title of President and Publisher of Dial. My new fabulous editor at Dial is Jessica Garrison.)
So here, finally, is the spoiler…the actual time line of New Year at the Pier:
• April 2002: interviewed rabbi
• October 2004: accepted by Dial
• many, many, many edits, changes, drafts…
• May 2007: projected publication date is 2008
• September 2007: book delayed until 2009
• April 2008: tiny edit—five small word changes
• June 2009: book is on bookstore shelves—YAY!
SEVEN YEARS?!?!?! Well, yes. Would you believe me if I told you it was worth the wait? Look at the harvest—a starred review in Publishers Weekly and lots of other wonderful reviews!
image credits: photo of people walking up the pier by Rachel Gilman
I really enjoyed visiting your website. I have a fun website that revolves around the topics of children's books, reading and literature yet is focused on the lovable characters from my children's book series Danny the Dragon. It's always a pleasure to connect up with like-minded individuals and websites that share similar interests, and with that in mind I'd love to connect up. I review other child-related issues and books at my blog as well as have radio interviews posted at: http://DannyTheDragon.com/blog and http://DannyTheDragon.com Also, if we agree, would you be interested in reciprocating links on our sites? The ideas are limitless when it comes to connecting up. Thanks Tina http://TinaTurbin.com
Find out about our Teaching Authors Book GiveAway Contest running all this week! Click here for details.
Happy New Year! This week we’re celebrating the new school year and our very own April Halprin Wayland’s book, New Year at the Pier--A Rosh Hashanah Story, which is about another kind of new year--the Jewish New Year.
Esther: April, how did being a Teaching Author influence/impact/inform your book?
April: More than in any other of my books, I teach in this story—about forgiveness, about how to apologize, about friendship, about community.
All of my books have been fiction. My first book was about a child who turns into a rabbit. My second was a flying horse. My third was about a made-up Southern family and their wild grandma. My fourth was a fictionalized novel of my teen years. My fifth (published by a teensy weensy press in Canada) was about a fictional child moving to a new house.
In each of these, I had the freedom to invent anything I wanted in order to serve the story.
But New Year at the Pier is based on an actual event that I wanted to explain.
I sent drafts to religious Jews, I read them to synagogue classes (a Jewish librarian and Hebrew school teacher both suggested that I add someone apologizing to my main character, so we could learn not only how to apologize, but how it feels to receive an apology), and every New Year I watched myself and others celebrate on the pier as if I were a journalist, taking notes and taking photos—all to make sure I was telling the truth of this celebration.
So, I teach in this book more than in any of my others. I tried not to hit people over the head with the lessons!
The other way teaching influenced my writing in this book was this: I wanted to show that in real life, not everything is neatly resolved, tied up in a neat package. I fought to keep this element in the story and am so glad I did.
Now that I’m doing performances, presentations and workshops based on this book, I am talking about forgiveness and apologizing, and I offer tips on these topics on my website.
It’s been a fascinating journey for me to examine my own life and how I have or have not forgiven and how I do or don’t apologize…and how to turn all that humanness into poetry.
Set in today’s day and time, Me and My Best Friend is about a young boy, his faithful companion and their exciting adventures.
Henry and Liam are the best of friends and they do everything together. They can run and play all day long. But when Henry the puppy gets tired and tries to take a nap, three-year-old Liam keeps waking him, wanting him to play some more. Will Henry get any rest?
Get your children involved with this beautifully illustrated book. Your child will love to match up words and pictures, and find Liam, who keeps hiding in his bedroom. Perfect for the young reader!
About the Author
J.S. Huntlands is the author of Nick Twisted Minds and is currently working on more books in this series, as well as 23 more books in the Me and My Best Friend series. Huntlands is a full-time writer, as well as a mom to a wonderful four-year-old boy. This book is dedicated to her son in hopes that he never forgets his best friend.
April Halprin Wayland is a farmer turned folk musician turned author. Her novel in poems, picture books, and poetry have garnered numerous awards including the Lee Bennett Hopkins Honor Award for Children’s Poetry, the Myra Cohn Livingston Award for Poetry, and MommyCare's Book of the Year. Her work has been called “dazzling”, “honest, heartfelt, poignant”, and “utterly fresh and winning”. She’s been an instructor in UCLA Extension’s Writers Program for over a decade and teaches workshops in schools all over the world. She lives near the beach in Southern California where she tosses bread off a pier each New Year.
I’m excited to welcome April and learn about the creation of NEW YEAR AT THE PIER.
NEW YEAR AT THE PIER is clearly inspired by your own celebration of Tashlich. Did you have an "aha" moment when you had the idea of turning the experience into a book?
One of my editors asked me if I had any Jewish stories in me. When I thought about what Jewish story I wanted to tell, Tashlich popped up because it’s my favorite Jewish celebration. I’ve dragged many friends to the pier so they could taste the poetry of this ritual. I wanted them to feel the wind, hear the gulls, experience the relief of tossing each piece of bread. How could I not share this in a picture book?
Was it a challenge to find a home for a book about a lesser known Jewish holiday?
Yes and no. The editor who originally coaxed me to write it rejected the manuscript. *Sigh*…all in the life of an author! But when I called my other editor and asked if she’d be interested, she just happened to have come out of a meeting in which they asked the editors to look for Jewish-themed picture books. It was amazing synchronicity—or luck. Or the universe really wanted this book out! I like the saying, “Coincidence is a long way of spelling God.”
What was your response when you first saw the illustrations?
From the first time I saw the cover, I was smitten. It didn’t surprise me to learn that Stéphane grew up on the water. I can feel the roll of the waves in his pictures—they’re that real. I also love the fact that some of his Jewish characters appear to be Asian. I haven’t asked him if this was intentional, but it’s a true snapshot of many congregations today.
The best thing about his illustrations is the amount of emotion with which he imbues each character. I fell in love with him for his illustrations of Pat Brisson’s I REMEMBER MISS PERRY, the story of a beloved elementary school teacher who dies mid-year. His ability to show the full range of emotions in this book is stunning.
I didn’t know that Stéphane had received the highest award for a children’s illustrator in Canada (Governor General's Literary Award winner)—four times. He also received the 2008 TD Canadian Children's Literature Award for the most distinguished French-language book of the year, which includes one of the largest cash prizes for children's literature. Heavens - my book has been illustrated by royalty!
Stéphane’s a very nice guy.
What did you learn from writing NEW YEAR AT THE PEIR?
How much an illustrator can add to the emotional heft of a story. How to sincerely apologize without expecting anything in return. More about Tashlich…and my own spirituality. How exciting it is to be swimming in this stream of Jewish books. It makes me want to write more! One more thing I’ve learned:About Mazon http://www.mazon.org/ , the Jewish response to hunger, to which I’m donating a portion of the profits of this book. What a wonderful organization!
Will you be at the pier this year?
You betcha.
What are some fun facts about you?
1) We have a cat named Snot. 2) Although writing is my solace and gives me a natural high, sometimes writing terrifies me. Can anyone relate to this? 3) When I was six-years-old I learned to drive. I was so small you couldn’t see me, so it looked as if the truck was bumping down the farm road by itself. 4) One day I’m going to build a trout stream in our backyard. 5) I admire: my husband, people who take a stand, people who tell jokes well, Christopher Reeve, folk singers, songwriters, my friend “singer—songfighter” Ross Altman http://www.rossaltman.net/, anyone who can plot a story, world peacemakers, local troublemakers, and people whose hair always looks nice (can someone please teach me how?) 6) All of my favorite people are generous—they truly work to repair the world. They are also kind. And funny. 7) My best friend (besides my husband) is author Bruce Balan http://www.brucebalan.com/ who lives on a boat, sailing around the world. 8) When life really gets you down, get a kitten. Works every time. See # 1, above.
April, thank you for sharing your thought so generously. NEW YEAR AT THE PIER is destined to be a classic in Jewish communities everywhere! To learn more about April and her books, please visithttp://www.aprilwayland.com/
0 Comments on April Halprin Wayland's New Year at the Pier! as of 8/31/2009 5:03:00 PM
Happy New Year! This week we’re celebrating the new school year and our very own April Halprin Wayland’s book, New Year at the Pier--A Rosh Hashanah Story, which is about another kind of new year--the Jewish New Year.
Stay tuned for a series of Q&As from the TAs (say that five times fast) about the gestation of this touching story.
Jeanne Marie: April, can you tell us a little about your religious identity and why you wrote this book?
April: Although this book is about the Jewish New Year, it’s really about universal themes of forgiveness and apologizing, friendship and multi-cultural ways to celebrate new year.
Growing up, my Jewishness was all about big hugs from Uncle Raphael, Uncle Izzy, Uncle Avrum, Uncle Chucky, Uncle Davie, Uncle Moish, Uncle Max, Uncle Art, Aunt Fanny, Aunt Cissy, Aunt Sue, Aunt Frances, Aunt Polly, sitting at the “cousins table,” the smells of matzo ball soup, the bright magenta color and hot sting of horseradish, the dark shadow of the holocaust, overlapping layers of talking, laughter, holiday songs, and Yiddish words seasoning conversations, of flickering candles.
Above all, being Jewish meant that part of my job on earth was tikkun olam—to repair the world. My relatives modeled tikkun olam every day.
I’m married to Gary, a non-Jew who embodies tikkun olam in every action, in every breath. We are both political activists in an effort to repair the world, and we weave Judaism into the fabric of our family throughout the year in other ways, too:
On Friday nights, our family goes to our favorite hole-in-the-wall Mexican restaurant. I’m not sure how Jewish tacos are, but it’s our way of marking the start of the Sabbath, a time of rest and renewal.
In December, we have an annual latke party, inviting neighbors to bring electric skillets, spatulas and aprons. Hanukah latkes are yummy hot-from-the-frying-pan potato pancakes, served with apple sauce or sour cream. We set up latke-making stations, cook, gab, sing, bless the candles, play the dreidle game and eat!
Gary’s a CPA and his busiest time of the year is near Passover. For many years, my son and I traveled overseas during his spring break, where I taught writing and poetry workshops. I’ve taught in schools in Germany, France, England, Italy, Switzerland and Poland, and every year we celebrated Passover with new friends. (One memorable year we ate Passover dinner on the floor of our Berlin hotel room…ask me about it sometime!)
Tashlich is a ritual during Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. The exact date of Rosh Hashanah varies—in 2009, it’s Sept. 18-20th. When synagogue is over, nearly two hundred of us will walk to the pier, sing songs, and fling pieces of bread into the ocean.
Each piece of bread represents something we wish we hadn’t done in the past year. Tossing the bread (tashlich means “to throw”) is a way of letting go of the past. It represents the footwork we’ve done to sincerely apologize and compensate for any wrongs we’ve done, cleaning the slate for the New Year.
Tashlich is outdoors, in a beautiful setting. Tashlich is community, a huge component of the juiciness of Judaism.
Tashlich is about healing the world, beginning with me.
Tashlich my favorite Jewish celebration. I’ve dragged many friends to the pier so they could taste its poetry. I wanted them to feel the wind, hear the gulls, experience the relief of tossing each piece of bread.
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I sent drafts to religious Jews, I read them to synagogue classes (a Jewish librarian and Hebrew school teacher both suggested that I add someone apologizing to my main character, so we could learn not only how to apologize, but how it feels to receive an apology), and every New Year I watched myself and others celebrate on the pier as if I were a journalist, taking notes and taking photos—all to make sure I was telling the truth of this celebration.
Wow, Barbara, thanks so much for giving us not one, but THREE!, writing workouts. I want to try all 3!
Happy New Year to you!
This is just what I needed. How fortunate I get to celebrate two New Year's and try this twice! Thanks for sharing.
Thank you, Barbara, for gifting our readers - and me (!) - with such delicious and clever ways to start anew, literally and figuratively.
Happy 5774!