Specializes in Children's Manuscripts.
Margot Finke
If your writing is not ready for an in-depth critique,
I will tell you up-front, and suggest ways for you to overcome this problem.
Does your plot need FOCUS?
Is your main POV without a distinctive VOICE?
Do your chapters wander down side tracks,
and offer more "waffles" than a breakfast bar?
* I CAN HELP *<><><><><><>
Mid-grade and Young Adult:
By considering my helpful comments, suggestions and clear
examples, you will be able to tweak and rework your chapters
into a tight and terrific book.
Picture Books: Tight writing, great illustration opportunities, and lots of kid appeal
are a must. Keep it simple! Learn the value of
powerful verbs,
the
rule of "three," and a lot more.
These days, busy children's editors don't have the time to mentor
up-and-coming writers. If you need your hand held while you learn
the secrets of a well polished manuscript,
e-mail me @
[email protected] and we can chat about your writing concerns.
Personal Guidance is my way of helping you reach your writing goals.
Secrets of Writing for Children is a helpful
Pre-critique
Primmer. Use the
Powerful Writing Tips and the
Self-editing
Tip Sheet to help you zap many common problems.
Further details can be found on my
Manuscript Critique Service page.
links to a lot more writing help.
"MUSINGS" Column
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The Cool Nguni
Writer: Maryanne Bester
Illustrator: Shayle Bester
Publisher: Jacana Media
Published: 2007
ISBN: 1-77009-264-1978
Availability:Kalahari.net
Cover price: R79.95
The Cool Nguni is a 20-page, well-written, richly illustrated story dealing with issues of identity, self-esteem and self-appreciation. The main character, the Little Nguni Calf, is a uniquely South African cow, but the
One child one seed
Writer: Kathryn Cave
Photographer: Gisele Wulfsohn
Publisher: Giraffe Books, Pan Macmillan South Africa in Association with Oxfam
Published: 2002
ISBN: 9780620280884
Availability:Kalahari.net
Soft cover price: R54.86
It took us a while to get into “One Child One Seed,” mostly because the book has many layers and wasn’t meant to be entertaining.
The book is oldish, published in 2002, but it’s still worth reading today. It’s billed as a South African counting book, teaching children to count from one to ten through the story of Nothando. One child, one seed; two hands to plant the seed, three ways to help it grow and so on…..
The beautiful, vivid photographs show Nothando’s home life, and provide a good picture of how poor, rural South African communities live.
I was especially impressed with the accuracy with which the family unit is shown. It’s no traditional Ma, Pa and kids “ideal” picture of a family unit, but something that many South Africans would easily recognize.
“Nontando lives with her Aunt Nomusa (in red) and her Grandmother Betty (in blue). Her big sister and her mother are on the right of the picture, and her brother on the left. They live nearby and spend a lot of time with Nontando.”
The book also give a step by step guide on how to grow and nurture a pumpkin until it’s ripe, which you can use if you’re a keen gardener and would like to help your child something independently.
This book is a must-have.
On Mother’s Day Baby brought me tea and biscuits to bed, with a beautiful card and a flower on the tray. It was such a beautiful gesture!
Friends came over, so we just lazed about the house. It was a nice contrast from the busy schedule we set on Saturday.
On that day, two of Baby’s friends, aged 5 and 9 spent the day with us, and it was exhausting! They ran around the house, played some computer games, read a book, and then it was off to the mall to shop for shoes for Baby, eat lunch, browse bookshops and toy stores. The shopping went well, except the girls were so energetic and curious it was hard work keeping up with them.
Lunch was stressful – they insisted we go to McDonald’s and the place was packed. I hate waiting, so I dragged them off to a number of restaurants in the food court, and which were also packed.
Restaurants where they had open seats were not suited to entertaining kids and while Baby would have been just fine ordering a green salad, I wasn’t sure about her companions. So I had to suck it in and go back to McDonald’s.
“I’m going to work,” I said to the girls when we got home around four. Baby’s friends were due to be picked up around six, and all I wanted to do was sit down.
Writing, and responding to emails didn’t protect me from constant interruptions, having to mediate arguments and the girls’ loud music but it provided a good excuse to stay seated.
I was also asked to watch the girls do handstands and to judge who screams the loudest (a necessary skill, that!)
For me, days like this are rare, and I have to take my hat off for mothers who have two or more children under the age of ten and for whom juggling the needs of different kids is the norm.
I hope you had a wonderful Mother’s Day and your children showed you how much they appreciate who and what you are to them.
RHYMING RUSSEL BY PAT THOMSON AND CAROLINE CROSSLAND
Published by Collins, an imprint of Harper Collins
Baby and I thoroughly enjoyed Rhyming Russell by Pat Thomson and Caroline Crossland, which she brought from the school library. It’s an old book, published in 1990 and it’s about a boy who couldn’t stop speaking in rhyme.
The humour had us in stitches and I appreciated the fact that the characters were not stereotypes of people’s roles.
Mum and Dad flip a coin to decide who’ll fix the fence, grandpa is fantastically good at knitting and sells his work through some expensive shops, and the sister tinkers with car engines. This is the kind of book that makes kids want to read, and I wish I’d written it.
