tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-48986583871214588012024-03-13T13:11:14.483-07:00Bear Pond Books Resources for Educators (k-12)Welcome to the Bear Pond Books educators' page with information on events, book lists, and articles about local authors. jane knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13567540039512428258noreply@blogger.comBlogger131125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4898658387121458801.post-32266951282459144752017-03-15T15:39:00.001-07:002017-03-15T15:50:05.068-07:00Notes from "Don't Quit Your Day Job" FEB. 18, 2017<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
<a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nR_UUY46dHo/WMnBQkzzNKI/AAAAAAAAACw/CLy_AYR3hR8M6AVKY_ATK14qbBxqxLMtQCLcB/s1600/IMG_0781.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img alt="Attendees at the event" border="0" height="240" src="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-nR_UUY46dHo/WMnBQkzzNKI/AAAAAAAAACw/CLy_AYR3hR8M6AVKY_ATK14qbBxqxLMtQCLcB/s320/IMG_0781.JPG" title="" width="320" /></a></div>
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On February 18, 2017, the Bear Pond Books Educator Series hosted a working writers' workshop led by Ryan Kriger and Christy Mihaly. It was well-attended with about <span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;">25 participants, </span>but in case you missed it, here are some notes:<br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Christy:</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Picture books these days are generally 600 words. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Know what the magazine you’re submitting to is looking for. For example, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><i>Highlights</i></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> doesn’t want any “talking animals.”</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">“Don’t get obsessed with your one great masterpiece”-- Keep writing as you’re waiting to hear back from editors, etc.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ryan:</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Conferences like SCBWI (Society for Children’s Book Writers & Illustrators) can help you find out what is trending and what genres are “passe.”</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">At these conferences it is worthwhile to pay an agent to pitch your ideas to-- they will usually give you feedback. Many agents are not available to submit work to otherwise.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Writing is not an isolated task-- find your people. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">This will motivate you to get to the writing table. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Deadlines are great for motivation.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Writing/critique groups make you a better writer.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Check out the Burlington Writers' Workshops.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Christy:</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">When you’re not writing, do other things related to it, like getting yourself into schools. See what they are reading. Spend time reading aloud to a kid.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Ideas/Goals from the audience:</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Check out Book Stock in Woodstock, VT.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Revise that manuscript in your drawer!</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Find a critique group.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Read 2 books a month in your genre.</span></div>
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<li dir="ltr" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; list-style-type: disc; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 11pt; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Find an accountability partner.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="https://www.scribd.com/document/342014774/Writers-RESOURCES-from-Don-t-Quit-Your-Day-Job" target="_blank">Download a PDF of the resources handout here</a>.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"><br /></span></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial";"><span style="font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Also, Christy wrote about this event in her blog post</span></span> "To be a Writer, You Need a Community,"<span style="font-family: arial; font-size: 14.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;"> published at GROG on March 6th. <a href="https://groggorg.blogspot.com/2017/03/to-be-writer-you-need-community-by.html" target="_blank">Read it here.</a></span><br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11450037102726408913noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4898658387121458801.post-17091751634637425512017-01-18T08:35:00.000-08:002017-01-26T07:29:55.020-08:00Francisca Goldsmith on Multimodal Literacy & The Alex Awards<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">A sneak peek into the books that will be discussed at <a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/event/ready-launch-panel-discussion-ya-lit-alex-awards" target="_blank">Ready to Launch: a Panel of YA Lit and The Alex Awards</a> on January 28, 2017 at Bear Pond Books: </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Seventeenth Summer,</i> by Maureen Daly (originally published 1942, current edition Simon Pulse, 2010)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Imani All Mine</i>, by Connie Rose Porter (Houghton Mifflin, 1999)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Stiff: The curious lives of human cadavers</i>, by Mary Roach (WW Norton, 2003)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>My Jim</i>, by Nancy Rawles (Crown, 2005)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>My Friend Dahmer</i>, by Derf Backderf (Abrams, 2012)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Bellweather Rhapsody</i>, by Kate Racculia (Houghton Mifflin, 2014)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>Those Who Wish Me Dead</i>, by Michael Koryta (Little Brown, 2014)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>The Terrorist's Son: A story of choice</i>, by Zak Ebrahim (TED Books, Simon & Schuster, 2014)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>The Book of Unknown Americans</i>, by Cristina Henriquez (Vintage, 2014)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;"><i>The Unraveling of Mercy Lewis</i>, by Keija Parssinen (Harper, 2015)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Says librarian and panelist Francisca Goldsmith:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">"There are two themes running through here. First, they represent a range of adult high interest for teen on which the Alex Awards are posited. Second, these specific titles speak to the flexibility of enjoying books, as some of these have been recorded as really excellent audiobooks, others have become movies, and there are fiction, nonfiction, and graphic novel (in this case, nonfiction) among the 10. I'll be talking to both these points."</span></div>
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She will also talk about multimodal literacy, and will note two audiobook initiatives, <a href="https://www.audiopub.org/education/sound-learning">SoundLearning APA</a>, and <a href="http://www.audiobooksync.com/">AudiobookSYNC</a>, both of which she is deeply involved in developing and coordinating. <br />
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Goldsmith is the author of half a dozen professional books including, for this audience's possible interest, <a href="http://www.alastore.ala.org/detail.aspx?ID=11831">The Readers' Advisory Guide to Graphic Novels</a>, which is coming out in its second edition next month (ALA Editions).Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11450037102726408913noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4898658387121458801.post-40265260535168124012017-01-16T15:02:00.000-08:002017-01-16T15:05:47.052-08:00What Are The Alex Awards? <div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.2; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 18.666666666666664px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Alex Awards are given annually to ten adult books published in the previous year that have high appeal for readers ages 12-18. They are named in honor of Margaret “Alex” Edwards, who was a champion of what was in her era the new field of young adult library services. Selections are made by a committee of nine librarians who spend the year culling recently published books for possibilities, narrowing those down into nominated titles, and analyzing their merit in group discussions. The ten award books and a list of vetted titles are then chosen by vote. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 18.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Why have an award that highlights this niche? Although Young Adult literature has flourished in recent years, there are plenty of teen readers who for a variety of reasons are more drawn toward books published for adults. There are the readers who read so much that they’ve read practically every YA book so they need more material. Or there are readers who have tired of the YA “problem” novel – the dystopias, the dead or troubled parent -- or teens who don’t want to read (another) 500 page book with a dragon on the cover. They need material that is presented in a different way, even if it might still be full of strife or dragons. And reluctant readers are sometimes drawn toward adult books more than ones written for their age group. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 18.6667px; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Alex Awards are a useful tool for those readers and the parents, teachers, and librarians who help connect them with books. Being an “Alex” means a book has met with hours of critical reading and discussion by librarians who work with youth. Part of the vetting process also often includes asking teen readers to give feedback on the books as a way to ensure that the appeal is not just what adults think teens “should” like. Because Alex books cover a wide spectrum of genres, formats, topics, and styles, readers with diverse taste are likely to find something on the list that piques their interest. Books with appeal for this age group play an important role in cultivating lifelong readers as school gets more demanding and responsibilities and distractions of adult life threaten to overshadow the rewards of recreational reading.</span><br />
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<span style="color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 18.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">The Alex Awards kick off the Youth Media Awards each year at the American Library Association Midwinter conference. Full of suspense and oohs and ahs as the announcements lead up to the big reveal of the Newbery Award winner, this event is a must-see for youth literature geeks. Super fun and live-streamed bright and early January 23</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 11.2px; vertical-align: super; white-space: pre-wrap;">rd</span><span style="color: black; font-family: "cambria"; font-size: 18.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> this year.</span></div>
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<a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-I_UXfuGpnGg/WH1RtniU-6I/AAAAAAAAAAg/6H6ejN5Fnh44o_Gy49IvmomDi-PDzT2ZgCLcB/s1600/Joy.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="190" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-I_UXfuGpnGg/WH1RtniU-6I/AAAAAAAAAAg/6H6ejN5Fnh44o_Gy49IvmomDi-PDzT2ZgCLcB/s200/Joy.jpeg" width="200" /></a></div>
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<b>JANUARY 28, 2017, 11:00 am to 12:00 pm:</b> Join librarians and Alex Awards committee members Joy Worland (Montpelier, Vt.) and Francisca Goldsmith (Portland, Maine), and YA/Middle Grade author Aaron Starmer, for a panel discussion on reviewing books for this award as well as a talk about writing for and expanding the world of literature for teens.<br />
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This Bear Pond Books Educator Series event is free and open to the public. <a href="https://www.eventbrite.com/e/ready-to-launch-panel-discussion-on-ya-lit-and-the-alex-awards-tickets-31131461038?aff=d4a03491c7">Click Here to register</a>.<br />
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Aaron Starmer is the author of numerous novels for young readers, including "The Only Ones" and "The Riverman." His newest novel "Spontaneous" (Dutton Books for Young Readers, 2016) is a TIME magazine Top 10 YA & Children's Book of 2016! He lives in Vermont with his wife and daughter.<br />
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11450037102726408913noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4898658387121458801.post-54191765426588766352016-10-26T12:22:00.000-07:002016-10-26T14:11:29.301-07:00Diversity Panel Highlights and Things To Come<div style="text-align: center;">
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Our diversity panel consisted of two parts: we began with reviews of books for ages Pre-K through teen that were presented by Hannah Peacock and Kelsey Psaute, both librarians at Burnham Memorial Library in Colchester. Hannah introduced the picture book <i>Red</i>, by Michael Hall, noting that there are 1.4 million transgender people in the U.S. and the suicide attempts for them are at 41%. Alas, the call to make all kids feel comfortable in their own skin is tantamount. Hannah finished up her reviews with the YA memoir<i> Being Jazz</i>, by Jazz Jennings. Hannah says Jazz knew she was transgender at age 2, and that Jazz is one of the lucky ones, with a strong family support system that enables her to be a positive spokesperson and ally for other transgender kids.<br />
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Kelsey mostly reviewed young adult fiction, including <i>Shadowshaper</i>, by Daniel Jose Older, in which the ethnically diverse character doesn't have to be "strong all the time" and<i> The Great American Whatever </i>by Tim Federle, a book about "not coping" in which the narrator happens to be gay. Kelsey discussed the value of having both "issues books" and books that "happen to have diverse characters" in them. See the complete list of the books Hannah and Kelsey reviewed <a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ySqYRjDn1O3kpDJrmN3CvshX3A_zgaG7DEfKwaKDAEo/edit#gid=0">here.</a><br />
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Will Alexander, whose most recent book is <i>Nomad</i>, and is currently serving on the National Book Award Committee for Children’s Literature and Kekla Magoon, author of the Dorothy Canfield Fisher nominee <i>Shadows of Sherwood</i> and its just published sequel <i>Rebellion of Thieves</i> joined the conversation for the second hour to discuss their viewpoints on diversity in children’s literature.<br />
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They began by discussing their own approaches to writing, with Will leaning more toward non-realist storytelling. “Kids are all perched on the verge of transformation. Some things we can’t fully express unless we come at it sideways. That’s what non-realist modes of story-telling – magic, fantasy and metaphor - allows. Plus, aliens! Fun! And, hey, let’s talk about immigration!”<br />
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Kekla opts for more realistic storytelling saying many writers have a tendency to write about what is needed by readers (such as the LGBTQ trend) but also what the writer needs to think about herself. She posed this writer’s dilemma: “Do I become a writer who can fill that need or do I just do what I do and hope people come along?” Will countered that a writer shouldn’t write something because he feels a need that a subject be covered. A writer can also be part of the conversation by reading diverse books and being an ally by championing others' work rather than being a megaphone for a cause.<br />
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The conversation quickly turned to the publishing industry after it was pointed out that diverse books are being written, they just aren’t necessarily being published. Will said that we need filters when editing books, but we also need to look at the filters we've been traditionally using. Kekla finds that even if people are well-intentioned they aren’t drawn to what they aren’t connected to: “Publishers say they want diverse content but they don’t connect with diverse stories”. Will agreed, but spoke to the industry’s efforts to bring in more young and diverse people, cautioning “this is a very long game", and that it will take decades for today’s interns to be in powerful positions in publishing. An audience member wondered, almost jokingly, if it would take someone like James Patterson using racially diverse characters to convince publishing that diverse characters sell.<br />
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Days after our diversity panel I was scrolling through Facebook and found this interesting blog post on Literary Hub by Marlon James titled <a href="http://lithub.com/marlon-james-why-im-done-talking-about-diversity/">"Why I'm Done Talking About Diversity"</a>. Some not so radical food for thought, because sometimes even the most well-intentioned white book people have a hard time getting things right.<br />
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Next Up in the Children's Room:<br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 18px;"><b>Friday, November 4, 9:30 - 11:30 am</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 18px;"><b>Words Come Alive!</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">Dive into Red Clover books with activities from the Flynn
Center for the Performing Arts' signature Words Come Alive! program.
Jump into the shoes of characters, travel to exciting settings and
connect literacy learning to kinesthetic creativity. Led by Flynn Center
artist teacher <b>Karen Sharpwolf</b>. This is a special
opportunity to learn more about the multi-disciplinary program that the
Flynn Center offers to Vermont students and educators.</span></div>
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<br />jane knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13567540039512428258noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4898658387121458801.post-28492186067171434442016-09-12T14:08:00.001-07:002016-09-12T14:09:28.607-07:00Louisiana Book Drive Details<table align="left" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="width: 100%px;"><tbody>
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<span style="font-size: 12px;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">“Our
rooms are bare- not even everyone has a while/chalk board. We’re having
to bring in items from home to improvise an environment as normal as
possible. Students don’t have any reading materials for when they finish
their work or when they come into class. We also do not have a library
at this location, so reading books is considered a luxury as of now.” ~<i>Lindsey Kelley, 4th grade teacher at St. Amant Primary School in St. Amant, Louisiana</i></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: maroon;"><span style="font-size: 18px;">Bear
Pond Books, the Kellogg-Hubbard Library and several Central Vermont
area schools are joining efforts to help rebuild the St. Amant Primary
School library and classroom collections after the recent flooding due
to heavy rainstorms around Baton Rouge.</span></span><br />
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<b><span style="font-size: 16px;">Dates</span></b><span style="font-size: 16px;">: <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_753648687" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ">Monday, Sept 19 through Sunday, October 2nd</span></span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: 16px;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>Drop-Off sites</b>: Bear Pond Books in Montpelier, Kellogg-Hubbard Library, East Montpelier Elementary School, River Rock School in Montpelier</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b>What is needed</b>: <b>NEW</b> or<b> LIKE-NEW</b> books for grades Pre-K through 5, both fiction and most especially non-fiction. Hardcovers are preferred. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">Bear Pond Books wants to make it easy for you to donate a NEW book to this effort. We will be offering a <b>20%</b> discount on all books donated to this cause during the book drive when you order on our <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://bearpondbooks.us11.list-manage1.com/track/click?u%3Db37aa11c3136c349ab794124a%26id%3D5e311d1d57%26e%3D0a4a9b3a87&source=gmail&ust=1473800860994000&usg=AFQjCNHAW3hgnPJiw91p119IUQxHufFa6Q" href="http://bearpondbooks.us11.list-manage1.com/track/click?u=b37aa11c3136c349ab794124a&id=5e311d1d57&e=0a4a9b3a87" style="color: #2baadf; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">website</a>. Please note "book drive" in the comments when placing your order and we will adjust your total to reflect the discount.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><b><span style="font-size: 18px;">Educators who would like to get involved:</span></b></span></div>
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<li><span style="font-size: 14px;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">If your school or classroom would like to collect books for this drive, please contact Jane at the email address below.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">To make more connections with Baton Rouge area schools, see author Kate Messner's <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://bearpondbooks.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u%3Db37aa11c3136c349ab794124a%26id%3Dcbe83de707%26e%3D0a4a9b3a87&source=gmail&ust=1473800860995000&usg=AFQjCNEPIAMUR_kKAkAhrqpbgS-koR7gqQ" href="http://bearpondbooks.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b37aa11c3136c349ab794124a&id=cbe83de707&e=0a4a9b3a87" style="color: #2baadf; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">blog </a>for a longer list of schools in need, including their contact info. </span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-size: 14px;">See author Tamara Ellis Smith's <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?hl=en&q=http://bearpondbooks.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u%3Db37aa11c3136c349ab794124a%26id%3Dfd39d2859f%26e%3D0a4a9b3a87&source=gmail&ust=1473800860995000&usg=AFQjCNFrhFj7DERm0fAgQNXYR4GxiNA8Ww" href="http://bearpondbooks.us11.list-manage.com/track/click?u=b37aa11c3136c349ab794124a&id=fd39d2859f&e=0a4a9b3a87" style="color: #2baadf; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">Another Kind Of Hurricane project</a> to explore other ways to connect your classroom to those in need and to "</span>to turn empathy into the power to help".</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">If
this window of time does not work for your school, Phoenix Books in
Essex, Vt. will be hosting a book drive in November. Contact them for
more info.</span></li>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times" , "times new roman" , serif;">For
more information about this book drive, or a more detailed list of
content areas that teachers at St. Amant are seeking replacement books
for, please contact Jane Knight at Bear Pond Books: <a href="mailto:jane@bearpondbooks.com" style="color: #2baadf; font-weight: normal; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank">jane@bearpondbooks.com</a></span></div>
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jane knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13567540039512428258noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4898658387121458801.post-46941137036174320592016-09-07T10:19:00.000-07:002016-09-07T10:45:24.560-07:00Oh, Fall! (sigh)<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<span style="color: #660000; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">It's that time of year when we are busy fitting all the pieces into our fall schedule puzzle, and most of you <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">are attempting to find a steady routine in your busy days</span>. It is a time filled with anticipation, inspiration, exhaustion and inward focus. We in the Children's Room hope we can provide a piece of the inspiration puzzle for you with the announcement of our fall Educator's Events <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">schedule</span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #660000; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">There may be <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">late additions to this line-up, so <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">ch<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">eck back often!</span></span></span></span></span></div>
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<span style="color: #660000; font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">H</span></span></span></span>ere goes:</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 18px;"><b>Friday, October 14, 9:30 - 11:30 am</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 18px;"><b>Materials Review- Diversifying and Representing<br />
(A panel of rock stars)</b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">We welcome <b>Kelsey Psaute</b> and <b>Hannah Peacock</b>
from the Burnham Memorial Library in Colchester to review books that
represent diverse perspectives of ethnicity, race, gender and sexual
orientation. During the second hour authors <a href="http://keklamagoon.com/"><b>Kekla Magoon</b></a> and <a href="http://www.willalex.net/"><b>Will Alexander</b></a>
will speak to their experiences in schools and the publishing world,
and will address the ongoing call to provide more windows for our
predominantly white communities in Vermont.</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11px;">Will Alexander's <b><i>Nomad</i></b>, new in paperback, is the sequel to <i><b>Ambassador</b>, </i>a science fiction adventure<br />
for middle graders</span></div>
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<a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9781619636552" style="-ms-text-size-adjust: 100%; -webkit-text-size-adjust: 100%; color: #2baadf; font-weight: normal; mso-line-height-rule: exactly; text-decoration: underline;" target="_blank"><img align="none" height="259" src="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/b37aa11c3136c349ab794124a/images/1eb0246b-f127-4c9d-a74f-3638aa176d91.jpg" style="-ms-interpolation-mode: bicubic; border: 0; height: auto !important; margin: 0px; outline: none; text-decoration: none;" width="172" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: 11px;">Kekla Magoon's newest installment in the Dorothy Canfield Fisher nominated series <i>Robyn Hoodlum</i><br />
will be published in October.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 18px;"><b>Friday, November 4, 9:30 - 11:30 am</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="font-size: 18px;"><b>Words Come Alive!</b></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;">Dive into Red Clover books with activities from the Flynn
Center for the Performing Arts' signature Words Come Alive! program.
Jump into the shoes of characters, travel to exciting settings and
connect literacy learning to kinesthetic creativity. Led by Flynn Center
artist teacher <b>Karen Sharpwolf</b>. This is a special
opportunity to learn more about the multi-disciplinary program that the
Flynn Center offers to Vermont students and educators.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"><span style="color: #cc0000;">We are also in the planning stages to host a book drive for an Elementary school in St. Amant, Louisiana.</span><span style="color: #cc0000;">Bear Pond
Books, Kellogg-Hubbard Library and Central Vermont area schools will be
accepting book donations of NEW or LIKE NEW books to help them rebuild
their collections.<br />
From Monday, September 19th through Sunday October 2nd, we will be
taking donations of NEW and LIKE-NEW books for grades Pre-K through 5.
Bear Pond will pick-up all donations and take care of getting the books
to Louisiana. I will be sending additional information in the next week.
If you are interested in joining this effort email
jane@bearpondbooks.com. </span> </span></span></div>
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<br />jane knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13567540039512428258noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4898658387121458801.post-34003847593771799212016-04-26T12:34:00.000-07:002016-04-26T12:34:36.490-07:00Poetry with VT Poet Laureate Chard DeNiord<div style="font-family: Helvetica; font-size: 14px; line-height: normal;">
Each April, <a href="https://poemcityvt.wordpress.com/">PoemCity</a>, Montpelier's celebration of National Poetry Month, reminds us how very alive and well poetry is in Vermont. Fittingly, for our April educator event (the last of the spring series) <a href="http://www.charddeniord.com/">Chard deNiord</a>, Poet Laureate of Vermont, joined us in the Children's Room for a presentation focused on getting students engaged with poetry.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-f1v4WJVQZV4/Vx1rK9dQlRI/AAAAAAAAAK8/R3wc_cY9aGIqBJonOWk837KrTqOU1qpNgCLcB/s1600/Chard.deNiord.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://2.bp.blogspot.com/-f1v4WJVQZV4/Vx1rK9dQlRI/AAAAAAAAAK8/R3wc_cY9aGIqBJonOWk837KrTqOU1qpNgCLcB/s400/Chard.deNiord.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chard deNiord answers questions from the audience.</td></tr>
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Chard offered three possible titles for his talk—"Amazing Sense of Disparate Things," "Panning the Unconscious," and "The Rainbow and the Grebe: The Unconscious and the Imagination"—all of which are different ways of thinking about the topic around which the event revolved. Chard guided audience members through a <i><a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/search/site/mad%20libs">Mad-Libs</a></i> style poetry exercise entitled "Testimonial," inspired by and borrowing from former US Poet Laureate <a href="http://www.poetryfoundation.org/poetrymagazine/poems/detail/40129">Rota Dove's poem</a> by the same name. In this exercise, students choose their own words and phrases to fill in the poem's blanks. The poem, which is rooted in natural imagery, is punctuated by headlines that define its stanzas; while Chard provided a handout of headlines plucked from newspapers (included, along with the exercise, as a PDF below), he noted that it was also fine to craft original headlines.<br />
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The exercise "Testimonial" is designed for high school students, however teachers can easily adapt it for middle school and even younger students. Chard read through the poem, asking audience members to fill in their copies with their own word choices as he read, after which several audience members shared their completed poems aloud with the larger group. Attendees' poems contained wonderful and varied opening phrases such as "Back when the world was divided between lava and snow" and "Back when the world was divided between tomato soup and ice cream" and contained lyrics from Bessie Smith and Bob Dylan.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Attendees compose their poems.</td></tr>
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This particular exercise is an excellent vehicle for considering the difference between the unconscious and the imagination, as it asks students to employ both. Citing Alan Ginsburg’s motto "first thought, best thought," Chard encouraged audience members to move through the exercise quickly, and to do so as well when using it in the classroom, as this really allows the unconscious to emerge. "Testimonial" also works well for getting students to think about the act of reading poetry versus the act of writing poetry, as it asks students to be both reader and writer. (And, it occurred to me as I thought more about the exercise after the event, how you approach the act of choosing words to fill in the poem’s blanks—by either reading through the poem and selecting words to fit as you go, or simply filling in each blank before reading through the poem—affects the final product.) </div>
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Some of our favorite poetry for young readers.</td></tr>
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Chard recommended two books by Kenneth Koch for educators who want to introduce poetry writing to young children: <a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9780060955090"><i>Wishes, Lies, and Dreams: Teaching Kids to Write Poetry</i></a> and <a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9780679724711"><i>Rose, Where Did You Get That Red?: Teaching Great Poetry to Children</i></a>. Another exercise he likes that educators can adapt for writers of all ages is Ruth Stone's poetry game, in which preselected words are put in a hat and students create poems by pulling out words and arranging them together. Former Poet Laureate of Vermont <a href="http://www.sydneylea.net/">Sydney Lea</a> was in attendance, and he and Chard discussed the merits of asking students to focus on a poem's language and what it does, rather than what the poem means. Other practical poetry work to use in schools that Chard discussed includes getting involved in the <a href="http://www.poetryoutloud.org/">Poetry Out Loud</a> program, through which students select and read poems aloud in the classroom (librarians can also incorporate this into a library activity), and which sponsors an annual national poetry recitation competition; asking students to identify poems that relate to their experiences; and developing found poetry exercises, in which students choose lines from everyday sources including (but certainly not limited to) advertisements, songs, and television shows. Teachers can encourage students in grades 7-12 to enter their own poems in the <a href="http://www.artandwriting.org/">Scholastic Art & Writing Awards</a>, which offer scholarship and publication opportunities.<br />
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Chard's most recent book of poems, <i><a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9780822963899">Interstate</a></i>, as well as <a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/search/author/%22deNiord%2C%20Chard%22">his previous titles</a>, are available from Bear Pond. </div>
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Further reading and resources on teaching poetry:<br />
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<li>Andrew Simmons's <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2014/04/why-teaching-poetry-is-so-important/360346/?utm_source=SFFB" style="font-family: inherit;">"Why Teaching Poetry Is So Important</a>" on <i>The Atlantic</i></li>
<li><a href="https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/lesson-plans">Lesson plans for teaching poetry</a> from The Academy of American Poets (<a href="http://poets.org/">Poets.org</a>)</li>
<li><a href="https://nerdybookclub.wordpress.com/2015/10/25/top-10-tips-to-get-hs-students-all-students-interested-in-and-excited-about-poetry-or-what-i-learned-from-hanging-with-kwame-by-joellen-mccarthy/">"<span style="font-family: "helvetica";">Top 10 Tips to Get HS Students (</span><i style="font-family: Helvetica;">All Students</i><span style="font-family: "helvetica";">) Interested in AND Excited about Poetry </span><i style="font-family: Helvetica;">OR</i></a><span style="font-family: "helvetica";"><a href="https://nerdybookclub.wordpress.com/2015/10/25/top-10-tips-to-get-hs-students-all-students-interested-in-and-excited-about-poetry-or-what-i-learned-from-hanging-with-kwame-by-joellen-mccarthy/"> What I Learned from Hanging with Kwame"</a> by JoEllen McCarthy on <i>Nerdy Book Club</i></span></li>
<li><a href="http://robertfrostfarm.org/teachers.html" style="font-family: Helvetica;">Teachers' resources</a> <span style="font-family: "helvetica";">from the Robert Frost Farm, both for teaching poetry in general and on Robert Frost specifically </span></li>
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Our Educator Events will return in the fall; stay tuned for the 2016-17 program! If you have an idea for an event—be it a speaker or a topic—please email Jane at jane@bearpondbooks.com.</div>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06658039246060254151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4898658387121458801.post-78837633887221334232016-03-30T11:34:00.000-07:002016-03-30T11:35:16.389-07:00Spring Materials Review Notes<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Trying to impart our love for 37 books in 1 1/2 hours is much, much harder than you'd think. Last Friday veteran Bear Ponder Carrie Fitz, U-32 Librarian Meg Allison and Jane Knight (the latter two are Dorothy Canfield Fisher committee members) burned the adrenaline trying to make sure each book got equal play time. The books that were highlighted were books that did not get chosen for the 2016-2017 Dorothy Canfield Fisher List-- some books weren't eligible because their authors were not from the U.S. or Canada. But many others were eligible and well-liked by the Canfield Fisher committee, yet still did not find their place on the list. </div>
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Often times there are two or more books in contention for a slot on the list that have similar themes and so only one is chosen to represent that theme. Other potential nominees, like <i>Boy In the Black Suit</i> (by Jason Reynolds) or <i>Paper Hearts</i> (by Meg Wiviott) simply feel a touch too old for the list. </div>
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We started off the morning with a round-up of wonderful books by Vermont authors that were published last year. (Those books are noted as such on the book list in the 'notes' section). Both non-fiction and fiction were covered, and instead of killing your eyesight with a tediously long review of each book, we are making the <a href="https://docs.google.com/a/bearpondbooks.com/spreadsheets/d/1dTNWlmSnchW16LiSQhhR-wG6AcNeW2LDvJTjl_XCbkM/edit?usp=sharing">book list</a> available to view with notes. </div>
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A few of our participants shared their memorable titles of 2015-2016, which included <a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9781627791151">Book Scavenger</a> by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman, a middle grade selection for lovers of <i>Mr. Lemoncello</i>. The <a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9780385743570">Epic series</a> by Brandon Sanderson was also highly touted for its high-action appeal to middle school and high school (boys especially) students who love Rick Riordan or The Maze Runner series and are ready for something more complex. </div>
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The new 2016-2017 Canfield Fisher books were also prominently displayed and we lightly touched upon each by genre and specific kid appeal. </div>
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<br />If you missed this Materials Review, we host one each season and they are super fun and (we think) worth your Friday morning. </div>
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For a peek into past Materials Review Sessions:</div>
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<a href="http://Early Chapter Books October 2015">Early Chapter Books October 2015</a></div>
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<a href="http://Fantastic Fiction 2015">Fantastic Fiction 2015</a></div>
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<a href="http://Exciting Non-Fiction that Kids Will Read">Exciting Non-Fiction that Kids Will Read</a></div>
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And a couple handy lists to of notable books being published in 2016:</div>
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<a href="http://Notable Children's Books of 2016">Notable Children's Books of 2016</a> (Publisher's Weekly)</div>
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<a href="http://A Literary Calendar of Children's Books 2016">A Literary Calendar of Children's Books 2016</a> (this one is really fun-- The Guardian)</div>
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We will be hard at work plotting for our Fall Events Schedule over the summer and we'd like to hear from YOU! Got suggestions, ideas or something you want to know more about? Contact Jane at jane@bearpondbooks.com.</div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">And....don't miss our last event of the spring!</span></div>
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<b><span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Poetry with VT Poet Laureate <a href="http://www.sevendaysvt.com/LiveCulture/archives/2015/08/24/chard-deniord-appointed-next-vermont-poet-laureate">Chard DeNiord</a></span></span></span></b></div>
<span style="color: red;"><span style="font-family: Georgia,"Times New Roman",serif;"><span style="background-color: transparent; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Vermont’s new Poet Laureate Chard DeNiord has a goal of getting schools across Vermont involved in poetry. He’s been involved in many poetry organizations, including the Next Stage Speaks initiative that he founded. He’ll speak about his experiences with Vermont students, in Vermont schools, and what opportunities there are for local teachers and librarians to involve kids in poetry.</span></span></span><br />
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jane knighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13567540039512428258noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4898658387121458801.post-55299332213105761872016-03-15T11:46:00.003-07:002016-03-15T12:11:55.792-07:00Exploring the Boundaries of Genre<div style="font-family: Helvetica; line-height: normal;">
Authors <a href="http://todolson.com/">Tod Olson</a> and <a href="http://www.laurawilliamsmccaffrey.com/">Laura Williams McCaffrey</a> joined us in the Children’s Room on Saturday, March 5th to discuss the intersections of fiction and nonfiction, two genres often thought—particularly by students—to be opposites of each other. On the contrary, as Tod and Laura illuminated through an exploration of their writing processes of historical nonfiction and speculative fiction/fantasy, respectively, authors of nonfiction and fiction often use similar tools when crafting their narratives. As a result, works of nonfiction can function like fiction to draw readers into a story, and fantasy can help us better understand the real world.</div>
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<b>The Role of the Nonfiction Writer</b></div>
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As an author and editor of narrative nonfiction for young readers—including the <a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/search/site/Tod%20olson%20how%20to%20get%20rich"><i>How to Get Rich</i> series</a> and <a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9780531205013"><i>Leopold II: Butcher of the Congo</i></a>—Tod noted that there isn’t a proliferation of books in that genre to begin with, and those that do exist are often packaged for parents and teachers. (Take one look at <a href="http://todolson.com/writing/books/">Tod’s books</a> and you’ll see that this isn’t the case.) While readers often expect nonfiction to be a direct reproduction of what happened, Tod stressed that history writers rely on the memories of multiple storytellers—via such things as diaries, letters, and oral histories—sources that are rich but extremely unreliable, as scientific research on memory has shown. Each story changes based on whose point of view it is being told from; thus nonfiction is built on hundreds of thousands of unreliable narrators, and there are still large holes in the historical record. As Tod said, nonfiction writers transform the large ball of clay that is the historical record into a sculpture by carving out pieces and shaping what is left into story. What is important for students to understand, Tod stressed, is that there is a line between the research and the craft of writing, but that it varies from writer to writer.</div>
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<b>Resources for Fantasy Writers</b></div>
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Laura laughingly commented that she feels like she has the easier job as a writer of fantasy because she doesn’t have to decide who is the hero and who is the villain of a story based on conflicting accounts, nor does she have to worry about rightness. While works of historical fantasy/science fiction/speculative fiction—such as those by <a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/search/author/%22Butler%2C%20Octavia%22">Octavia Butler</a> and <a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/search/author/%22Donnelly%2C%20Jennifer%22">Jennifer Donnelly</a>, whose novels are set within and comment on the historical record—have more direct connections to historical nonfiction, writers of fantasy draw on similar sources in their own writing processes. Laura, who also teaches writing, and other fantasy writers often rely on historical archives as resources, which are useful even if a text isn’t historical fiction. When writing <i><a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9780618614899">Water Shaper</a></i>, historical archives helped Laura understand what existed and what interpersonal relationships were like in the medieval period. Real-world sources such as technology help writers understand social order and structure. Imaginative cultural sources like fairy tales and folklore shed light on how we understand ourselves to be—particularly in terms of what we’re scared of. Ultimately, Laura concluded, human beings and their relationship to stories are at the core of fantasy writing. </div>
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Tod and Laura discussed how writers of nonfiction and fiction structure their narratives in order to make them viscerally appealing to readers. Shifting points of view to vary the story and crafting well-shaped chapters in which something important happens are two ways to do this. One of storytellers’ primary functions, as Tod explained, is to manipulate time. Writers of history can and do play fast and loose with time—making it seem as if it expands and contracts—by spending the longest portion of the narrative on the events that occurred within a smaller window of a larger story. This creates the sense for the reader of time slowing down, something we often experience in life even though, of course, time continues at its normal pace. Tod presented survival stories as a particularly appealing genre of nonfiction for younger and older readers alike because of their easily recognizable narrative progression: a catalyzing event followed by several attempts to resolve conflict and a final resolution. Stories that lack this progression, according to Tod, challenge both the writer and the reader. </div>
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Tod is currently working on a book about the Apollo 13 mission, the research for which includes working through hundreds of hours of audio tapes, as well as multiple first-hand narrative accounts from astronauts and controllers. Despite this seeming wealth of sources, Tod noted the absence of unrecorded back-room conversations. <i><a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9780547235561">Marked</a></i>, Laura’s recently released third book, is a dystopian young-adult novel featuring interspersed graphic novel vignettes. For <i>Marked</i>, Laura drew inspiration from a variety of sources, including fairy lore and photographs of enormous mines in <i>National Geographic</i>. </div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">For further reading on process and genre: </span></b></div>
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<li><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Thoughts on the <a href="http://www.yalsa.ala.org/thehub/2012/11/16/blurred-genres-collapsing-boundaries-and-the-changing-landscape-of-young-adult-literature/">blurring of genre boundaries in young-adult literature </a>from the 2012 Young Adult Literature Symposium </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Laura's <a href="http://cynthialeitichsmith.blogspot.com/2006/07/author-feature-laura-williams.html">interview with Cynthia Leitich Smith</a>, in which she discusses her writing process for <i>Water Shaper</i></span></li>
<li><span style="font-family: "helvetica neue" , "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif;">Jo Walton discusses <a href="http://www.tor.com/2009/07/31/what-is-historical-fantasy-anyway/">subgenres of historical fantasy on Tor.com</a> </span></li>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06658039246060254151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4898658387121458801.post-40457448602046755842016-02-14T18:09:00.001-08:002016-02-15T07:52:12.403-08:00Writing About Tough Topics for Kids - Author Panel<div style="color: #232323; line-height: normal;">
<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">On Saturday, February 6th, authors <a href="http://www.katemessner.com/">Kate Messner</a>, <a href="http://www.joknowles.com/Home.html">Jo Knowles</a>, and <a href="http://www.tamaraellissmith.com/">Tamara Ellis Smith</a> participated in a panel discussion focused on writing about tough topics for kids. As Jane, our Children</span><span style="font-family: "\22 georgia\22 " , "\22 times new roman\22 " , serif; font-size: small;">’</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">s Room manager, noted in her introduction, the subject of tough topics and how to talk about them with kids is a fraught one, and the differences between the issues kids and adults think kids are ready to explore are striking. The authors discussed this tension and why books that grapple with topics such as loss, addiction, and abuse are important resources for young readers.</span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><b><span style="color: #232323; font-size: x-small; text-align: start;"><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: medium;">L to R: Kate Messner, Jo Knowles, and Tamara Ellis Smith</span></span></b></td></tr>
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">The panel began with each author discussing her recent works dealing with sensitive and traumatic issues that kids face.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">Kate featured two of her works of middle-grade fiction: <b><i><a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9781619633742">All the Answers</a></i></b>, published in 2015, and <b><i><a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9781619633766">The Seventh Wish</a></i></b>, coming this summer. <i>All the Answers</i>, in which seventh-grader Ava Anderson discovers her pencil can answer almost any question, deals with the reality of anxiety and catastrophic thinking in kids</span><span style="font-family: "\22 georgia\22 " , "\22 times new roman\22 " , serif; font-size: small;">’</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;"> lives, something Kate shared she also experiences. Ultimately, Ava discovers herself asking the pencil questions to which she shouldn’t necessarily know the answer. Kate noted that her work has been criticized for the protagonist having </span><span style="font-family: "\22 georgia\22 " , "\22 times new roman\22 " , serif; font-size: small;">“t</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">oo many issues” when school, family, and friends converge in her novels. Kate argued that it seems adults often want children’s literature to reflect the lives they <i>wish</i> kids had instead of the lives kids <i>actually</i> have. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">One issue Vermont children increasingly deal with is addiction in the family. <i>The Seventh Wish</i>, Kate’s forthcoming middle-grade novel, is a retelling of the Russian folktale about a wish-granting fish. Kate wondered what contemporary kids would ask for, which would let us know what is really on their minds. The book started as a light-hearted story of a girl asking the fish to help with her dance performance. After learning of a close neighbor’s daughter’s struggle with heroin, Kate’s novel continued in a new direction, delving into how a family member’s addiction affects Charlie, the protagonist. <i>The Seventh Wish</i> demonstrates that not everything can be wished away. Older middle-grade students, Kate maintained, can and do deal with issues like drug addiction in their families, and books are a safe place in which to explore them.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">Jo emphasized that she approaches her books from the underside, often focusing on what we don’t see and how it still affects us. For example, in <b><i><a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9780763644857">Lessons from a Dead Girl</a></i></b>, the story is told from the point of view of a friend of a victim of sexual abuse. <b><i><a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9780763663872">Read Between the Lines</a></i></b> is her most recent work of young-adult fiction and a tribute to Robert Cormier, author of <b><i><a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9780375829871">The Chocolate War</a></i></b>. Jo credited <i>The Chocolate War</i> as the first book in which she felt the real world was being shown to her. <i>Read Between the Lines</i>, like <i>The Chocolate War</i>, is a story of bullying told from multiple points of view that exposes life</span><span style="font-family: "\22 georgia\22 " , "\22 times new roman\22 " , serif; font-size: small;">’</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">s complexity. Jo underscored that all of her writing questions how we live with not only what we’re given but also what we observe happening to others, which affects us whether we realize it or not.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">Tamara introduced <b><i><a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9780553511932">Another Kind of Hurricane</a></i></b>, her 2015 work of middle-grade fiction, as a labor of love that she started in 2005 after she took her then 4-year-old son to drop off donations at a Hurricane Katrina food and clothes drive. Her son asked, “Who is going to get my pair of pants, Mom?” Tamara realized that another 4-year-old boy would soon be wearing her son’s pants and imagined what it would be like if he and her son could meet. <i>Another Kind of Hurricane</i> chronicles the intersection of the lives of two ten-year-old boys—Zavion from New Orleans, whose family lost their home in Hurricane Katrina, and Henry from Underhill, Vermont, whose best friend recently died in a tragic accident—who meet after Henry’s blue jeans with his lucky marble still in the pocket make their way to Zavion. In addition to exploring different kinds of loss, the novel asks how and why we connect with other people in places we couldn’t have imagined. <i>Another Kind of Hurricane</i> pulls back the layers society places over us that connect us, creating a map in which kids can identify places of connection.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">The panel opened the conversation to the audience, and Jane began the broader discussion by noting that Jo used the phrase “honest places” rather than “dark places” to describe the situations she explores in her writing. Jo answered that her preference for the phrase honest places has to do with the reality of the kinds of issues children experience. Jo contends that books are the safest places to first experience the topics that adults often say children aren’t ready for. Tamara noted that when adults say that children aren’t ready for certain topics, what the adults really mean is that they don’t know how to talk about those topics with kids. The issues of Hurricane Katrina distilled—loss and fear—are issues all kids have experienced in different ways. Kate posited that adults should allow kids to decide if they’re ready for the issues presented in books: kids can and will put books down if they’re not comfortable, and there’s no harm in reading a few pages. If an adult is concerned a child is not ready for a book, he or she could say to the child, “That’s a little edgy; you may or may not like it, ” but not giving kids these books won’t keep away the issues explored in them.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">Another audience member inquired about how the authors chose content and context when writing about sensitive topics. Kate pointed out that in <i>The Seventh Wish</i>, heroin use happens off camera. The reader sees the consequences of drug abuse, not the abuse itself. Kate noted that she tackled the issue of heroin addiction differently in this novel written for a middle-grade audience differently than Jo likely would have in a novel for high-school students. Kate referenced her <i>Ranger in Time</i> series as another example of exploring tough issues, this time related to American history. <b><i><a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9780545639200">Ranger in Time: Long Road to Freedom</a></i></b> unravels sanitized accounts of the Underground Railroad as a highly organized, lantern-to-lantern journey from the American South to Canada. Writing this text challenged Kate to consider how to address the horrific and shameful reality of slavery in America for kids. At the same time, there are aspects of slavery—particularly sexual violence—that she couldn’t talk about in a book for younger middle-grade readers.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">The question of whether the books “teach lessons” about tough subjects also arose. Tamara maintained that it’s important when writing to leave space for readers to draw their own conclusions, which creates an interesting collaborative dynamic between the writer and individual readers. Kate added that the big questions explored in all three panelists’ books are more complicated than black and white lessons; she offered “just say no” to drugs as an example of a dictum that we know doesn’t work. Jo said that her books don’t contain lessons, but rather they depict what life is like and how one person navigated it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">One audience member asked whether books like Jo’s <i>Read Between the Lines</i>—books that deal with issues current students experience—are being taught in schools. Jo answered that core curriculum standards make it difficult to add new materials, but that teachers often find alternative ways to introduce such books, often via extracurricular reading groups and summer reading programs. Librarians also play an important role in getting middle-grade and young-adult fiction into the hands of students. Tamara stressed the importance of getting literature into classrooms beyond English. For example, social studies classes could use <i>Another Kind of Hurricane</i> as part of a unit on natural disasters and how to fundraise in their wake. Tamara</span><span style="font-family: "\22 georgia\22 " , "\22 times new roman\22 " , serif; font-size: small;">’</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">s </span><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.tamaraellissmith.com/another-kind-of-hurricane-project/" style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif;"><i>Another Kind of Hurricane</i> Project,</a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">launching <span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">this month</span>, aims to do just this while connecting schools in one part of the country with others in disaster areas in a </span><span style="font-family: "\22 georgia\22 " , "\22 times new roman\22 " , serif; font-size: small;">“</span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">reciprocal learning experience.</span><span style="font-family: "\22 georgia\22 " , "\22 times new roman\22 " , serif; font-size: small;">”</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">At the end of the discussion, Kate asked the panelists to suggest favorite books written by other authors that cover tough topics. Her own nominations were <a href="http://keklamagoon.com/">Kekla Magoon</a>’s <i><b><a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9781250068231">How It Went Down</a></b></i> and <b><i><a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9781481463331">All American Boys</a></i></b> by <a href="http://www.jasonwritesbooks.com/">Jason Reynolds</a> and <a href="http://www.brendankiely.com/">Brendan Kiely</a>, both works of young-adult fiction that deal with issues of race and justice. For younger middle-grade readers, Kate recommended <a href="http://lindaurbanbooks.com/">Linda Urban</a>’s forthcoming <b><i><a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9780544598171">Weekends with Max and His Dad</a></i></b>, illustrated by <a href="http://www.ktkath.com/">Katie Kath</a> (available April 5th), about divorce and the transition to two houses. Jo recommended two memoirs for older middle-grade readers: <a href="https://cecebell.wordpress.com/">Cece Bell</a>’s <b><i><a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9781419712173">El Deafo</a></i></b>, because she’s “a fan of the grit,” and <a href="http://www.jacquelinewoodson.com/">Jacqueline Woodson</a>’s <b><i><a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9780399252518">Brown Girl Dreaming</a></i></b>, which Jo finds to be a great introduction to free verse poetry. Tamara suggested the recently released <b><i><a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9780062377012">Pax</a></i></b>, written by <a href="http://www.sarapennypacker.com/">Sara Pennypacker</a> and illustrated by <a href="http://jonklassen.tumblr.com/">Jon Klassen</a>, which is a work of middle-grade fiction that deals with war.</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;"><b>Some links with more information on our panelists, their texts, and author classroom visits:</b></span><br />
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<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;"><a href="http://joknowles.com/READ_BETWEEN_THE_LINES_files/ReadBetweenTheLines_DiscussionGuide_1.pdf">Candlewick’s discussion guide</a> to <i>Read Between the Lines</i></span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;"><a href="https://nerdybookclub.wordpress.com/2015/03/11/reading-between-the-lines-with-jo-knowles-by-gary-anderson/">Jo’s <i>Nerdy Book Club</i> interview</a> about <i>Read Between the Lines</i></span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;"><a href="https://nerdybookclub.wordpress.com/2015/01/27/how-a-bad-case-of-the-what-ifs-turned-into-a-book-by-kate-messner/">Kate’s <i>Nerdy Book Club</i> author post</a> about <i>All the Answers </i></span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;"><a href="http://montpelierbearpond.blogspot.com/2014/03/writing-with-kate-messner-jo-knowles.html">Our post</a> about Kate & Jo’s 2014 writing workshop</span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;"><a href="http://info.vcfa.edu/vcfa-launch-pad/tamara-ellis-smith-and-another-kind-of-hurricane">Tamara’s interview with VCFA’s <i>The Launch Pad</i></a></span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.novelenthusiasts.com/interviews/tamaraellissmithinterview">Tamara’s interview on <i>Novel Enthusiasts</i></a> </span></li>
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<li><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="http://www.slj.com/2014/11/technology/the-skyping-renaissance/" style="font-family: georgia, 'times new roman', serif;">Kate<span style="font-family: "\22 georgia\22 " , "\22 times new roman\22 " , serif;">’</span>s <i>School Library Journal</i> post</a><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;"> </span></span><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;">on using Skype in the classroom </span></li>
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<li><span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif; font-size: small;"><a href="http://montpelierbearpond.blogspot.com/2013/10/checklist-for-author-visits-to-your.html">J&P Volkel’s advice on author classroom visits</a> (both virtual and in-person) </span></li>
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Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06658039246060254151noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4898658387121458801.post-55444117629326873612016-01-26T18:46:00.000-08:002016-01-28T17:17:03.413-08:00Cooking for the Classroom<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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Last Saturday Helen Labun (<a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/discovering-flavor">Discovering Flavor</a>) reviewed some new (and newish) cookbooks for kids that are also useful for teaching subjects beyond cooking. Here's a run down of what we discussed with notes and links to additional information:<br />
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<b>Laboratory Science</b></div>
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<b><a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9781616288006" target="_blank">Exploring Kitchen Science</a> </b>published by the San Francisco-based Exploratorium. This book focuses on scientific principles you can demonstrate via things in your kitchen. . . the experiments may be technically edible, but not all stuff you <i>want </i>to eat. It has lots of classics - the cornstarch solution that's solid under pressure and liquid otherwise, food coloring moved through celery capillaries, Mentos in Coke bottles - and short simple explanations of what's going on. Some experiments do require special equip, but mostly easy to order, inexpensive items. The Exploratorium also maintains a kitchen science section on its website, <a href="http://www.exploratorium.edu/cooking/" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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<b><a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9780064460026" target="_blank">Science Experiments You Can Eat </a></b>by Vicki Cobb. This book has many of the same concepts at Exploring Kitchen Science, but with slightly longer explanations of what's going on and chapter-by-chapter groupings that lend themselves to lesson plans. It has more edible experiments than Exploring Kitchen Science but, again, they may not be things you <i>want </i>to eat (for example, cabbage water used in a Ph test). An old version of this book is out right now - an updated version with a more modern look is coming out this summer.<br />
<br />
<b> </b><br />
<u>The Lemon Fizz:</u><br />
(Experiment from Saturday)<br />
<br />
Put 4 Tb confectioner's sugar, 2 Tb citric acid powder (available at Hunger Mtn Coop) and 1 Tb baking soda in a food processor and whirr to a fine, uniform powder. This is the British candy sherbet powder - like a Pixie Stick but with fizz (Wikipedia gives a nice run down of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sherbet_%28powder%29" target="_blank">all the ways it's used</a>). Added to lemonade or cider it makes a pleasant fizzy drink. It's a more fun version of adding baking soda to vinegar to watch it fizz up. You can take the experiment even further by making a Ph test using red cabbage juice to test for the base (baking soda) and acid (citric acid) and also the Ph resulting from the full reaction of the two. Just grate a red cabbage, let it soak in warm water until the water is well dyed, and pour through a sieve to remove the cabbage. The juice will turn color to indicate acid levels.<br />
<br />
The fizzy sherbet powder also has historical tie ins. The search for fizzy water (and there are lots of ways to make water fizz) turns out to be an ancient one, as detailed in this <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b063yqpy" target="_blank">BBC Food Programme episode</a>. <br />
<br />
<u>Related Resources:</u> <br />
<ul>
<li>Harold McGee's<a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9789868597921" target="_blank"> </a><b><a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9789868597921" target="_blank">On Food and Cooking</a> </b>is the definitive science in the kitchen tome and would be an excellent reference for any adults working with kitchen science. </li>
<li><a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9780393081084" target="_blank"><b>The Food Lab</b></a> by J. Kenji Lopez-Alt is a new cookbook that reads like a textbook (that's a compliment), and also goes into the science behind the food. Lopez-Alt focuses on detailing experiments conducted to get a better outcome from his recipes. If you've ever read Cook's Illustrated and thought "I wish they went into even more detail on how they developed the recipe" then Food Lab is for you.</li>
</ul>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<b>Social Science</b></div>
<a href="http://shop.nationalgeographic.com/ngs/product/books/kids-books/activities--games-and-guides/project-books/national-geographic-kids-cookbook?npd&npd&" target="_blank"><br /></a>
<b><a href="http://shop.nationalgeographic.com/ngs/product/books/kids-books/activities--games-and-guides/project-books/national-geographic-kids-cookbook?npd&npd&" target="_blank">National Geographic Kids Cookbook</a> </b>This book is full of little factoids on cooking and culture along with the recipes, arranged by year. The drawback is that it's primarily scattered factoids and difficult to use as an organized reference book, it's more of a skim-through book.<br />
<br />
<b><a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9781566567510" target="_blank">Fairy Tale Feasts</a> </b>by Jane Yolen. This book does a nice job of finding a diversity of fairy tales, some that are familiar and some that aren't, and retelling the story with a recipe to follow. More options than simply baking the gingerbread man. Another resource on using fairy tales in the classroom is our 2014 Author-Educator workshop by Meg Allison "<a href="http://montpelierbearpond.blogspot.com/2014/04/why-fairy-tales-still-matter-meg-allison.html" target="_blank">Why Fairy Tales Still Matter</a>"<br />
<br />
<b><a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9781592539536" target="_blank">Kids Cook French</a> / Kids Cook Italian </b>Dual language cookbooks for kids. Recipes are a good starting point for translation, since they're mostly a list of vocabulary words (aka "ingredients") plus simple sentences using a known universe of verbs. Learn culture, language, and cooking skills at once. <br />
<br />
<u>Related Resources:</u><br />
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9781620400272" target="_blank"><u>International Night</u></a> by Mark Kurlansky - If you're looking for sample recipes and menus from around the world, this book shares menus (with recipes) that he prepared with his daughter - each country chosen by spinning the globe and cooking from the country her finger lands on. The book is for adults, but the recipes are designed to lend themselves to cooking with children's assistance. </li>
<li><a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9780767906722" target="_blank">The Best Recipes in the World</a> by Mark Bittman - This book offers a large collection of recipes from around the world, with sample menus. Designed for cooks of all skill levels. It's currently out of print but I believe they're reissuing it (and of course you can order it used). </li>
</ul>
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<b>Art and Nutrition</b><br />
An unusual pairing, but it will make sense. . . </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<b><a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9781419718861" target="_blank">The Forest Feast for Kids</a> </b>by Erin Gleeson. Erin Gleeson is known for her striking food photography and particularly the use of strong color. This artistic sensibility (you can see examples at her website <a href="http://forestfeast.com/">forestfeast.com</a>) lends itself both to arts instruction for kids <i>and </i>to embracing the nutritional advice "eat the rainbow." Gleeson makes the connection to nutrition clear in her introduction, and this book really does make eating a variety of healthy food look enticing. The<a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9781419718861" target="_blank"> <b>Forest Feast for Kids</b></a> comes out this spring and you can preorder it; the longer adult version<a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9781617690815" target="_blank"> </a><b><a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9781617690815" target="_blank">Forest Feast</a> </b>is available now.<br />
<br />
<u>Cooking Experiments:</u> One aspect of Gleeson's recipe style of highlighting one (sometimes two) high-flavor ingredient is that it makes it easy to try out variations on her foods. <a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9780316118408" target="_blank">The Flavor Bible</a> and <a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9780316244183" target="_blank">The Vegetarian Flavor Bible</a> make experimenting with recipes like Gleeson's <i>particularly </i>easy. These books' authors have interviewed well known chefs to find out what flavors they combine together, then they distill these into lists of amenable flavors. So, for example, if you look up "apricots" you'll get a list of ingredients that taste good with apricots and examples of menu items that use apricots in interesting ways. In the workshop we tried Gleeson's Rosemary Shortbread with the addition of powdered bay leaves. It tasted good. If I were to buy one Flavor Bible or the other, I'd choose the vegetarian version (everything goes with bacon! We know that already!)<br />
<u><br /></u>
<u>Related Resources:</u><br />
<ul>
<li>I don't think there's anything out there right now that makes the case for "eating the rainbow" more enticingly than Gleeson's books. However, some nutrition education resources:</li>
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.nutrition.gov/">Nutrition.gov </a>- Central government nutrition website</li>
<li><a href="http://choosemyplate.gov/">ChooseMyPlate.gov</a> - Particularly <a href="http://www.choosemyplate.gov/variety" target="_blank">this section on variety in diet</a>.</li>
<li>Let's Move! - <a href="http://www.letsmove.gov/eat-healthy">Nutrition section</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.fns.usda.gov/tn/team-nutrition">Team Nutrition Resource Library</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.cdc.gov/nutrition/index.html">Nutrition Topics</a> from the CDC</li>
</ul>
<li>And for those of you looking for books related to food and gardening:</li>
<ul>
<li>Here is a <a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1CQswsw1bvrKh80muCFR8p1grr6PSfRYbO11A66vSxY4/edit#gid=0">link</a> to a list of books Jane made for home or classroom use-- you'll see it is tacked on to the cookbook list that was handed out at the event </li>
</ul>
</ul>
<div>
Other posts on this website related to food and cooking in the classroom:</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li>"<a href="http://montpelierbearpond.blogspot.com/2016/01/cooking-experiments-on-january-23rd.html">Cooking Experiments Preview</a>"</li>
<li>"<a href="http://montpelierbearpond.blogspot.com/2013/11/agricultural-literacy-in-classroom.html">Agriculture in the Classroom</a>"</li>
</ul>
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<b>Addendum on Explorers: </b></div>
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We promised the folks who were there on Saturday that we'd include these two explorer-related links:</div>
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<ul>
<li>"<a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9780393320947">Lobscouse & Spotted Dog</a>" - Food that members of the British navy in the 18th & early 19th centuries might have enjoyed. </li>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vC8gJ0_9o4M">The Norwegian explorer in Antarctica who is very excited about Cheese Doodles</a></li>
</ul>
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<span style="font-family: "trebuchet ms" , sans-serif;">Now that you've read this far, it's time to change writerly hats-- this is Jane. And I'd like to give a HUGE shout out to the mastermind of these educator blogs, the woman of many hats, Helen Labun, who is moving on (and less quickly than she'd like to as we are so reluctant to let her go!) to make experimenting with food an actual job description. If you haven't yet heard about her new endeavor, be sure to check out <a href="http://helskitchenvt.com/">Hel's Kitchen</a> on Barre Street in Montpelier. Delicious international food for take-out and unique eat-in dinners with special menus each week. After last week's Indian feast we're hoping Helen will linger on Indian cuisine for a bit. We'll miss you, Helen! (but Jane will most of all!)</span><br />
<ul><ul>
</ul>
</ul>
Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4898658387121458801.post-18343207018921056372016-01-13T10:02:00.000-08:002016-01-13T10:02:46.946-08:00Cooking Experiments on January 23rdJanuary 23rd, at 11:00 am in the Children's Room, Helen Labun kicks off the 2016 Author-Educator workshops with Cooking Experiments - a look at recent cookbooks for kids, the range of topics classes can explore with those cookbooks, and some interesting food for us all to taste.<br />
<br />
Yes, it is the same Helen Labun writing this blog, but we're pretending it's an outside presenter, and talking in the third person.<br />
<br />
Helen's book on how flavor works was published this fall by 99: The Press - <a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/discovering-flavor" target="_blank">Discovering Flavor</a>. It contains many interesting food facts and experiments. Unfortunately, the experiments feature wine, whiskey and black coffee, so aren't a great match for the elementary school classroom, which is why we're featuring other cookbooks, not her own.<br />
<br />
We've previously tackled the topic of food and <i>agriculture </i>in the classroom in a 2013 workshop with Gail Gibbons and Abbey Nelson, the notes from that workshop are linked <a href="http://montpelierbearpond.blogspot.com/2013/11/agricultural-literacy-in-classroom.html" target="_blank">here</a>. Helen also wrote a related post on the Nerdy Book Club Blog - <a href="https://nerdybookclub.wordpress.com/2014/11/29/top-10-books-for-making-lunch-or-dinner-or-breakfast-by-helen-labun-jordan/" target="_blank">Top 10 Books for Making Lunch</a>.<br />
<br />
This time the focus is on cooking, which offers plenty of opportunities for learning about a range of topics. There's science, math (measuring), culture, history. . . even, as we'll see, art. Plus, food and cooking engages all of our senses (literally all of our senses - another thing that we'll talk about on the 23rd) making it a great vehicle for remembering information learned.<br />
<br />
Because this is an online preview, we can't hand out actual food samples, so instead here's a sampling of some interesting articles about food, cooking, and creative learning we can do in the kitchen. The articles are primarily for an adult audience, but you'll quickly get a sense of the different insights into the world beyond the kitchen that food can provide to cooks of any age:<br />
<ul>
<li>Local author Rebecca Rupp (<a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9781603429689" target="_blank">How Carrots Won the Trojan War</a>; <a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9780763676742" target="_blank">After Eli</a>) has a regular column on the National Geographic blog The Plate exploring little known facts in food, primarily tied to world history. You can read her columns <a href="http://theplate.nationalgeographic.com/blog/rebecca-rupp/" target="_blank">here</a>. You can read notes from her 2013 Author-Educator talk at Bear Pond "Nonfiction with Personality" <a href="http://montpelierbearpond.blogspot.com/2013_02_01_archive.html" target="_blank">here</a>.</li>
<li>Other interesting articles on food and social history: <a href="http://www.seriouseats.com/2015/08/history-of-jell-o-salad.html" target="_blank">The Social History of Jell-O Salad</a> (from Serious Eats); <a href="http://www.wired.com/2015/08/us-military-helped-invent-cheetos/" target="_blank">How the U.S. Military Helped Invent Cheetos</a> (from Wired); <a href="http://gastropod.com/the-united-states-of-chinese-food/" target="_blank">The United States of Chinese Food</a> (from Gastropod).We're also writing our own chapter in social history right now with the rise of a "foodie kid" generation, as explored in this article on MasterChef Junior "<a href="http://www.buzzfeed.com/emofly/behind-the-scenes-of-the-cutest-cooking-show-on-television#.wxqNWK2Rg2" target="_blank">Behind the Scenes at the Cutest Cooking Show on Television</a>". Vermont has its own version - <a href="http://vtfeed.org/jrironchefvt" target="_blank">Junior Iron Chef </a>, a yearly culinary competition.</li>
<li>Kenji Lopez-Alt, author of the new cookbook <a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9780393081084" target="_blank">Food Lab</a>, is known for applying the scientific method and controlled experiments to developing recipes for the home kitchen. He began studying science at MIT before deciding that his future was in cooking. Here's one example of his approach to kitchen experiments: <a href="http://sweets.seriouseats.com/2013/12/the-food-lab-the-best-chocolate-chip-cookies.html" target="_blank">The Science of the Best Chocolate Chip Cookies</a>. Kenji talks about his approach to food and science in "<a href="http://freakonomics.com/2015/11/05/food-science-victory-a-new-freakonomics-radio-episode/" target="_blank">Food + Science = Victory!</a>" from Freakonomics and in <a href="http://seriouseats.libsyn.com/a-conversation-with-j-kenji-lpez-alt" target="_blank">this interview with Ed Levine</a>. On the 23rd we'll look at some scientific method-based cookbooks designed specifically for children.</li>
<li>One subset of science that's obviously a part of food is nutrition. Here are some kids cookbooks focused on that topic (note that we aren't reviewing these for the 23rd so they are simply FYI links): <a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9781449471873" target="_blank">The Help Yourself Cookbook for Kids</a>, <a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9780064451741" target="_blank">Good Enough to Eat</a>, <a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9781943451203" target="_blank">Kid Chef </a></li>
<li>There's also a lot to be said about food as a way to look at art. The blog Edible Geography often features avant garde projects where art and food meet, like "<a href="http://www.ediblegeography.com/ghost-food/" target="_blank">Ghost Food</a>". A particularly interesting discussion of capturing the spirit of a food through art is in this Edible Geography article "<a href="http://www.ediblegeography.com/of-sisters-and-clones-an-interview-with-jessica-rath/" target="_blank">Of Sisters and Clones</a>." On the 23rd we'll look at the work of photographer and cookbook author Erin Gleeson. You can see her work on her website <a href="http://theforestfeast.com/" target="_blank">Forest Feast</a>, and her <a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9781617690815" target="_blank">cookbook of the same name</a>. She's coming out with a cookbook for kids this spring, and we'll have an advance copy on hand to look at.</li>
<li>You can find some interesting links to articles on how flavor works at Helen's website <a href="http://discoveringflavor.com/">DiscoveringFlavor.com</a> in the "Extras" section, which provides additional information on topics found in her book. Including videos of people eating rotted shark. Who doesn't want to see those?</li>
</ul>
<div>
<br />
To learn more about cooking and learning in the classroom, be sure to join us on Saturday, January 23rd, at 11:00 am for "Cooking Experiments". This event is free and open to the public. Certificates of attendance are available for educators who can use this workshop towards continuing education credit. Our full schedule of Winter / Spring 2016 Author-Educator events is found at<a href="http://montpelierbearpond.blogspot.com/p/2015-2016-educator-events.html" target="_blank"> this link. </a></div>
Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4898658387121458801.post-7250840447352371842016-01-04T11:17:00.000-08:002016-01-04T11:17:00.387-08:00Gareth Hinds & Graphic Novels in the ClassroomFormer Vermonter Gareth Hinds is best known for his retelling of classic stories (really classic, like <a href="http://www.garethhinds.com/odyssey.php" target="_blank">Odyssey</a> classic) in graphic novel form. His latest work, a retelling of <u><a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9780763678029" target="_blank">Macbeth</a></u>, was highlighted in the New York Times in<a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/18/books/review/macbeth-adapted-by-gareth-hinds.html" target="_blank"> this review from February of 2015</a>.<br />
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Macbeth will be a focus for Gareth this week, as he visits from his current D.C. home to meet with students at his alma mater, U-32, as well as Montpelier Middle School and High School. Increasingly, educators are looking to Gareth and other graphic novelists as sources of engaging material for classrooms. Once you see Gareth's books, it's easy to imagine how classic stories can come alive on the pages of a graphic novel.<br />
<br />
Gareth's next project turns to Edgar Allen Poe, and he notes ". . . I've adapted four short stories and three poems, selected from Poe's
most popular works. Each piece is drawn is a slightly different style
and time period, and they range from just faintly macabre (Annabel Lee)
to downright terrifying (The Tell-Tale Heart)."<br />
<br />
Gareth talks about his work and how he thinks about it fitting into the classroom in this Teach.Com interview "<a href="http://teach.com/comics-in-the-classroom/gareth-hinds-interview" target="_blank">The Art of Creating Classics</a>." He'll also be a keynote speaker at the Dorothy Canfield Fisher Conference this May, in Fairlee.<br />
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Between now and the Poe publication, you can see Gareth's illustrations in the book <a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9781580895842" target="_blank">Samurai Rising</a> - scheduled to be published February 2nd. <br />
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Our Children's Room manager, Jane, anticipates graphic novels and (more broadly) comics increasing in popularity in the classroom. <span style="background-color: white; color: #222222;"><span style="font-family: Times, Times New Roman, serif;">She says: ". . . with visual technology becoming more prevalent in children's lives at younger ages, I think this medium will be more heavily relied upon as a gateway to reading. . . we're also witnessing graphic novels win major literary awards from organizations like the ALA [American Library Association] in categories that include traditional text . . .I think we'll continue to see the bookshelves fill with new offerings from this publishing phenomenon."</span></span><br />
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Some of these books will come from authors and illustrators educated right here in Vermont at the Center for Cartoon Studies (CCS). Last year, CCS graduate Katherine Roy talked at Bear Pond about using the visual techniques learned in cartoon studies to craft her first picture book, <u>Neighborhood Sharks</u>, which was a finalist for the Sibert Award. The notes on her talk are <a href="http://montpelierbearpond.blogspot.com/2015/02/learning-about-neighborhood-sharks.html" target="_blank">here</a>. In 2014, CCS announced a new track called "applied cartooning" which focuses on the communications side of cartooning, with skills for conveying information through visual designs. Vermont Public Radio reported on this track and a workshop the Center held for educators in the piece "<a href="http://digital.vpr.net/post/cartooning-gets-practical-white-river-junction#stream/0" target="_blank">Cartooning Gets Practical</a>."<br />
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We can expect even more national discussion of graphic novels in the new year as graphic novelist Gene Luen Yang takes on the role of Ambassador for Young People's Literature. He follows the previous ambassador Kate DiCamillo. Gene Luen Yang is well known for his graphic novels "<a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9780312384487" target="_blank">American Born Chinese</a>" and "<a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9781596439245" target="_blank">Boxers and Saints</a>", as well as the Avatar series. His newest series "<a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9781626722767" target="_blank">Secret Coders</a>" intertwines mysteries at a strange school and information about computer programming. You can read a new interview with him posted by the Children's Book Council on the Mr. Schu Reads blog at this<a href="http://mrschureads.blogspot.com/2016/01/meet-gene-luen-yang-5th-national.html" target="_blank"> link</a>.<br />
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Publishing, teaching, and book review media outlets also see graphic novels/ books and comics as an important trend in classroom teaching. Some recent articles on the subject: <br />
<ul>
<li>"<a href="http://www.slj.com/2014/09/feature-articles/the-graphic-advantage-teaching-with-graphic-novels/#_" target="_blank">Teaching With Graphic Novels</a>" - School Library Journal</li>
<li>"<a href="http://www.multiversitycomics.com/longform/gene-yang-teaching-comics-1/" target="_blank">Teaching Comics, Learning Comics: Conversation with Gene Luen Yang</a>" - Multiversity Comics </li>
<li>"<a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/education/archive/2014/09/how-comic-books-are-creating-super-classrooms/380236/" target="_blank">New Teachers' Aides: Superman and Iron Man</a>" - The Atlantic</li>
<li>"<a href="http://www.theguardian.com/teacher-network/2012/aug/26/teaching-with-comic-books" target="_blank">Comics in the Classroom</a>" - links and resources from The Guardian </li>
</ul>
Plus, some teachers' guides to teaching comics, found via <a href="http://mrschureads.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">Mr. Schu Reads</a>:<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.scholastic.com/graphix_teacher/pdf/Graphix%20Teachers%20guide.pdf" target="_blank">Scholastic Guide</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.randomhousekids.com/media/activities/GraphicNovels_EducatorGd_15_WEB.pdf" target="_blank">Random House Kids Guide</a></li>
<li>"<a href="http://cbldf.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/2015-CBLDF-Raising-a-Reader-ComicBook-FINAL-PRINT-sm.pdf" target="_blank">Raising a Reader</a>" - Comic Book Legal Defense Fund</li>
</ul>
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Unfortunately, we weren't able to bring Gareth to our author-educators workshop series (scheduling conflicts), but hopefully in the near future we'll have an opportunity to look more at graphic novels and comics used in the classroom! And don't forget that he's back in town in May for the Dorothy Canfield Fisher Conference - we'll mention it again closer to the time.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4898658387121458801.post-85133746900358771692015-12-21T10:45:00.000-08:002016-01-28T08:37:10.790-08:00Spring 2016 ScheduleThe 2015 workshops have concluded, but we've got lots of great things planned for the spring:<br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: medium;"><span style="line-height: 33.12px;">Spring - 2016</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Saturday, January 23rd, 11:00am - Noon</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Cooking Experiments with Helen Labun</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Cooking isn’t just about following a recipe and having it turn out “right.” There’s lots to explore with sensory perception, science, culture, history. . . in this workshop Helen Labun (author of </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/discovering-flavor" style="color: #a17c82; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">Discovering Flavor</a></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/discovering-flavor" style="color: #a17c82; text-decoration: none;" target="_blank">)</a> uses recently published cookbooks for kids to show possible learning activities involving food. Snacks will, of course, be provided. Very few items will be set on fire. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Saturday, February 6th, 11 am - Noon</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: medium;"><span style="line-height: 20.24px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Writing About Tough Topics for Kids - Author Panel</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Panel with Kate Messner, Jo Knowles and Tamara Ellis Smith</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Books and stories can be an important tool in helping kids cope with difficult situations. In this moderated panel, four authors speak about their experience </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">writing </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">about these tough topics - from natural disasters to the loss of loved ones - and the response from young readers. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Saturday, March 5th, 11am - Noon</span><br />
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: medium;"><span style="line-height: 20.24px; white-space: pre-wrap;">Exploring the Boundaries of Genre</span></span></span><br />
<span id="docs-internal-guid-15c38dc4-8918-06e8-5ede-ea977e852f2c" style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Students, and many adult readers as well, tend to think of non-fiction as objective truth and fantastical fiction as pure invention. In fact, the two have a lot in common. Exploring the boundaries between nonfiction and fiction can enrich Social Studies and Language Arts classrooms, as well as inspire great writing projects. Children’s writer and teacher <b>Laura Williams McCaffrey</b> and author/editor <b>Tod Olson</b> will talk about the ways in which non-fiction borrows from the tool kit of fiction and fantasy comments on the world we live in. </span><br />
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"> Friday, March 25th, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">9:30 - 11:30 am</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: medium;"><span style="line-height: 20.24px; white-space: pre-wrap;">The "You Don't Need To Win a Prize to be Great" Materials Review</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">In our </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; font-style: italic; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">fourth </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Materials Review, Meg Allison (U-32 Librarian & DCF Committee Member), Carrie Fitz & Jane Knight (DCF Committee Member) will take a break from talking about Dorothy Canfield Fisher books and talk instead about great books that didn’t make the list. Sometimes the perfect book for a young reader simply isn’t one that’s going to win a prize - so how do you find those overlooked books? The panelists will cover fiction and non-fiction titles for the middle grades, and also touch on how DCF books are selected. Event includes light refreshments, displays of new and upcoming books, and giveaways.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: "arial"; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Poetry with VT Poet Laureate Chard DeNiord</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial"; font-size: 14.6667px; vertical-align: baseline; white-space: pre-wrap;">Vermont’s new Poet Laureate Chard DeNiord has a goal of getting schools across Vermont engaged in poetry. He’s been involved in many poetry organizations, including the Next Stage Speaks initiative that he founded. He’ll speak about his experiences with Vermont students, in Vermont schools, and what opportunities there are for local teachers and librarians to bring poetry into their students' learning lives. </span></div>
Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4898658387121458801.post-12524951677025401352015-11-24T08:43:00.003-08:002015-11-24T08:43:57.840-08:00Heroes - With Will Alexander & Kekla Magoon<i>On Saturday, November 14th, Will Alexander (<a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9781442497672" target="_blank">Nomad</a>,<a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9781442427273" target="_blank"> Goblin Secrets</a>) & Kekla Magoon (<a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9781619636347" target="_blank">Shadows of Sherwood</a>, <a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9780763669676" target="_blank">X: A Novel</a>, <a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9780805098693" target="_blank">How It Went Down</a>) came to our Author-Educator Series to talk about Creating Heroes. You can read more about the authors in<a href="http://montpelierbearpond.blogspot.com/2015/11/kekla-magoon-will-alexander-saturday.html" target="_blank"> this earlier post</a>. </i><br />
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Okay, we knew that "creating heroes" was a big topic, a topic that undoubtedly has underpinned dozens (hundreds) of careers in sociology, anthropology, folkloric studies, modern literature, and psychology. We'll call this recounting of the workshop with Will Alexander and Kekla Magoon: "Heroes: Discuss" because it brought up many interesting ways to frame thinking about a "hero" for classroom discussion.<br />
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As Will noted in his introduction ". . 'hero' - we all know what it means and none of us agree."<br />
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<b>Types of Heroes</b> <br />
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Will divides the hero world into three basic flavors - the trickster (a hero with agency but no power), the badass (a destructive hero, they break things, they're cathartic entertainment - like most comic book heroes) and the superhero (who builds things, renews, is a culture hero).<br />
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You can think of these types of heroes in terms of rites of passage as well. Tricksters have little to no externally derived power or respect and they're not physically powerful either, similar to children. They rely primarily on their wits. The badass is more or less an adolescent fantasy (as a side note, I looked up a more-classroom-friendly synonym for badass and the online thesaurus included "Vladimir Putin"). And a superhero would be the "best kind of grown up."<br />
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Will writes about trickster heroes and observes that middle grade fiction is primarily focused on this type of character.<br />
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Hobbits are an example of the trickster hero - they're middle aged and frumpy, and lacked heroic tendencies until they found themselves in the middle of a hero story, learning to navigate a world they didn't understand. Children identify with these power dynamics and the need to learn to navigate the world (although perhaps not so much with being middle aged and frumpy). The trickster stories also tell an important flip side of the coin - how to best handle power when you <i>do </i>have it. . . a lesson sometimes taught by counterexample as the heroes encounter powerful villains. As children grow older they're navigating not only the dynamics of possessing limited power, but of changing amounts of power - culturally, intellectually, and also physically.<br />
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In Will's books, Rowny in <a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9781442427273" target="_blank">Goblin Secrets</a> is a young, powerless child who doesn't have possess the direct power of casting spells like a Harry Potter character, but rather exercises an indirect magic conjured through masks, performances, and influencing others in that way.<br />
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In <a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9781442497658" target="_blank">Ambassador</a>, the protagonists are (as the title suggests) ambassadors, but they reside relatively low in the power structure. They don't have authority to break rules, they can only move around them. <i>But </i>it is very important that children be Ambassadors between worlds in this science fiction novel. As one can observe in ever-popular Unlikely Friendships series, interspecies friendships always begin between juveniles. This structure gives the children important responsibility even if they don't have a large amount of power.<br />
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<b>Almost Heroes</b><br />
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There are some murky hero waters. For example, is a hero defined by the situation or by inherent talents? Superheroes in comic books have inherent powers used for good. Hobbits don't have inherent powers, but are heroes due to situations they were forced to navigate. Katniss in The Hunger Games eventually emerges as a hero, but in the first book most of her actions after stepping forward to save her sister were focused on saving herself - she had the goal of surviving the games, not of challenging the power structure. She wasn't out to Do Good in a broader sense, but her actions and what other people made of her actions led to greater good. <br />
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Antiheroes and reluctant heroes don't start off with the expected hero qualities of wanting to bravely fight for an important cause, but they may find themselves in that situation over the course of the book. The protagonists' characters usually develop along with their actions to assume more heroic qualities. What if they didn't? Would the actions be enough to qualify?<br />
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<b>Heroes Who Develop Across a Series</b><br />
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Reluctant heroes like Katniss can develop across books in a series. The first book of Kekla's<a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9781619636347" target="_blank"> Robin Hood retelling</a>, featuring Robyn Hoodlum, just came out this fall and in it the protagonist doesn't yet own her identity as a hero, even though some hero-like actions have come about from her adventures in Book 1. One way of looking at the arc of Robyn Hoodlum and other heroes who develop over the course of several stories is 1. they develop their hero qualities 2. they take ownership of their role as hero and 3. they fully enact their heroism and achieve a major victory for the cause of Good (whatever Good happens to be). </div>
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<b>Heroes Aren't Always Great Role Models </b><br />
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Hero and role model aren't synonymous. As Will puts it "Is Batman a good person or even remotely on an even keel?" Not really. Destructive, bad ass type heroes offer a smash-things-up sort of catharsis without representing great life choices. They let readers play out in their imaginations all kinds of possible, and also impossible, actions and their consequences. They're faced with larger than life dilemmas, up to and beyond threats like the entire Earth being exploded by alien invaders. Will would argue in favor of readers of all ages letting these scenarios play out in their minds via the written word.<br />
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<b>Are Protagonists Always Heroes?</b><br />
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Lots of protagonists aren't heroes, but in books where Stuff Happens and there's a fair amount of action and overcoming of obstacles, it's hard not to apply some hero framework to the characters. Many children's or YA books have storylines that lend themselves to heroic protagonists.<br />
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Kekla tries <i>not </i>to write about heroes. Her early books set during the Civil Rights movements of the last generation focused on average citizens, not the big name heroes like Martin Luther King Jr. who we learn about in school. It's the people who showed up to listen to the I Have a Dream speech, not the person who delivered it. That begs the question whether these characters still count as heroes? We have a cultural understanding now of "everyday heroes" and popular culture highlights the concept of aggregating lots of very small actions from thousands of people for large impact.<br />
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In Kekla's book <a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9780805098693" target="_blank">How It Went Down</a> she tells one story from 19 perspectives, which takes away even the structure of a single main character to navigate the story. But each of those people has their own story, with its own arc, and actions and consequences.<br />
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In another book, <a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9780763669676" target="_blank">X: A Novel</a>, Kekla writes about Malcolm X before he was a popular hero. He made a lot of bad choices - it's a hero origin story when the hero comes from a somewhat dubious origin. She wanted to strip away hindsight and show a time when Malcolm X had no way of knowing how his life would turn out, and hero status seemed very unlikely. It makes it clear that he wasn't born into his role, like Superman was born to be Superman, but rather arrived there through a complicated life path.<br />
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<b>Heroes in the Classroom:</b><br />
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Will and Kekla's talk offered several ways to examine fictional characters in classroom books. Here are some of the points they brought up, in question form:<br />
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<li>Is this main character a hero? </li>
<li>Where does the main character's power come from? Compared with other characters in the story?</li>
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<li>Does this character begin with an inherent heroic quality? (Like secretly being a wizard)</li>
<li>Does this character acquire heroic personal qualities across the course of the story?</li>
<li>Is this character's heroism defined by actions? What actions and what choice led to those actions?</li>
<li>If you think this character <i>isn't </i>a hero, what changes would make them a hero? How would that change the story? (Not necessarily for the better, since presumably the author wrote it this way for a reason)</li>
<li>What about the characters who aren't the main character in the story, what if they became the main character? Would they become heroes? (In the new book <a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9780062403162" target="_blank">The Rest of Us Just Live Here</a> Patrick Ness does this with characters who would otherwise be "extras" in a Chosen One style story about battling supernatural evil)</li>
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<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4898658387121458801.post-17773941811666527612015-11-13T16:28:00.000-08:002015-11-15T05:52:00.178-08:00(Re)vision - Linda Urban and Melissa Guerrette<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-F7hxBLpZfh4/VkZhzozWbcI/AAAAAAAAATI/SNTko0LDObU/s1600/Linda%2B%2526%2BMelissa.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-F7hxBLpZfh4/VkZhzozWbcI/AAAAAAAAATI/SNTko0LDObU/s320/Linda%2B%2526%2BMelissa.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Linda Urban (left) & Melissa Guerrette (right)</td></tr>
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We love picking up a brand new book, with a seemingly perfect story inside waiting to be read. Of course, we also know in the back of our minds that a lot of work - hard work - went into creating that final story. That story likely spent a long time very far from what the author wanted it to be. Young students rarely observe that difficult process behind their books, much less participate in it. Nonetheless, knowing the work that goes into a final book helps students understand writing and improve their own writing. It also helps them realize that if their work begins in a state they don't like, it doesn't mean they're terrible writers - it only means they need to revise, just like professional authors do (and do <i>a lot</i>).<br />
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When author Linda Urban began her latest book <a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9780544419513" target="_blank">Milo Speck, Accidental Agent</a>, she knew she was at the start of a difficult process. For one thing, writing books is just hard. For another, this story would be a departure from her previous novels (<a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9780544340695" target="_blank">Center of Everything</a>;<a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9780152066086" target="_blank"> Crooked Kind of Perfect</a>; <a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9780547850832" target="_blank">Hound Dog True</a>). Linda explains that she knew her books had "lots of character and dialogue, without a lot of plot." They were quiet books, with well developed voices in the main characters and, as her son pointed out, an absence of HAM. Humor, Action, Mystery. He wanted a HAM book because that's the type of book <i>he </i>likes to read. Linda promised she'd write something for him.<br />
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Creating a different style of book required Linda to find a whole new way to write. Her earlier books she wrote taking her cues from sound (for example, dialogue) and based on feeling, not visuals and action. The common writing advice of "see the story like a movie" didn't apply. Now it did. The early drafts, Linda says, read like a list of set directions. Even the stuff that always worked well for her, the dialogue and the characters' own voices, didn't work well in this new context. Simply getting her main character Milo across the room took heroic effort. (To be fair, Milo spends a lot of the book moving across rooms populated by ogres in the made up world of Ogregon, reached through a malfunctioning clothes dryer, so she wasn't moving him across any old living room. It was nevertheless frustrating).<br />
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At the same time that Linda was working on Milo, she was also in communication with Maine-based teacher Melissa Guerrette. Melissa's fourth grade class had won a Skype visit and doughnut party with Linda as part of the promotions for her earlier book The Center of Everything. Linda had been impressed with how engaged Melissa's students were. The students were full of enthusiasm for their own reading lives, and full of advice for books Linda should read to inform her next writing project. An author-classroom learning partnership seemed like a good idea.<br />
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Linda sent 5 chapters of Milo to Melissa's class for feedback. These weren't the early super, super messy attempts, but they were also several steps away from what the final product would be. The students loved getting a look at these drafts; they wanted more.<br />
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"I know we were just talking to you, but now we just can't stop thinking about Milo, like we want more, we want more. Some books are like that. Some books are that good - people just say please make a book about the same thing, the first one was so good. I feel like those people about this book Milo Speck," one student explained.<br />
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The students sent Linda a stack of cards with the general theme "You Can Do It". As one student counseled "I agree it's hard to revise but in my opinion it feels good when you finish."<br />
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Linda naturally enjoyed a pep talk. She also honestly valued feedback these students, her future readers, might have. And she knew a close look at a writer's process could change how the students approached their own writing. Melissa, from the teacher's role, didn't correct the letters, but she did read them. . . and learned about many things students hadn't necessarily shared with her directly, their hang ups, concerns, frustrations about writing.<br />
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The attitudes students carried towards writing had previously raised concerns for Melissa. Many students arrived in 4th grade with negative feelings, convinced they weren't writers and resisting regular practice in the classroom. She worried about a classroom emphasis on deadlines, and mechanics, and not on creating a writerly practice. Students didn't appreciate writing's potential to let them share the ideas in their heads with the rest of the world.<br />
<br />
Melissa's students' attitudes changed over the course of the two years she worked with Linda. <br />
<br />
One major point of change in students' approach to writing came with their writing notebooks. Linda keeps multiple notebooks for each project: messy notebooks, more task-oriented project notebooks, and during the Milo project she even began a progress notebook (reflecting on the day's work) based on the recommendation of business writer David Allen.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-PKKKKKT7a7E/VkZlhIM9BdI/AAAAAAAAATo/z5Z1_hbO_XU/s1600/Notebook%2B1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-PKKKKKT7a7E/VkZlhIM9BdI/AAAAAAAAATo/z5Z1_hbO_XU/s640/Notebook%2B1.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Page from Linda's notebook</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Melissa's students had kept notebooks for class assignments, but they'd viewed them as simply that - a place to complete assignments. Even the way they took care of the books physically reflected disinterest (and sometimes resentment). But, Melissa says, the classroom time dedicated to working in the notebooks soon became a chance to develop their writing practice, with ". . . authentic conditions for writing, not just moving through a check list" and the notebooks themselves were seen as "a place that took care of their ideas."<br />
<br />
Linda explains it this way: "A writing notebook is supposed to be a playground. . . a safe place for yourself and others, and within that you can do whatever you want."<br />
<br />
And the half ideas, doodles, story boards, random thoughts in notebooks did evolve into polished pieces of writing. Melissa's students were okay with the idea of very messy starts followed by a lot of hard work to get to a final product. As one student described, all the arrows connecting his different ideas were "showing the roads to victory."<br />
<br />
Linda and Melissa worked together on ways to help students navigate those roads to victory from what can be rocky beginnings. Below are slides from Melissa showing examples of two exercises:<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lI3dBekF89E/VkZl8EUE0lI/AAAAAAAAATw/68r89zG8WOA/s1600/Changing%2BExercise.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-lI3dBekF89E/VkZl8EUE0lI/AAAAAAAAATw/68r89zG8WOA/s640/Changing%2BExercise.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Exercise comparing two passages (pre-and post-revision) from Milo and discussing what changed, and speculating on why it might have changed. Melissa notes that this exercise was part of thinking about how "writers act deliberately" and their revision goes beyond a spell check.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-EHgZydG2qq8/VkZmWjJ8YYI/AAAAAAAAAT4/brumQdASlOI/s1600/Description%2BExercise.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-EHgZydG2qq8/VkZmWjJ8YYI/AAAAAAAAAT4/brumQdASlOI/s400/Description%2BExercise.png" width="373" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Exercise in description and action - page from student notebook.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Melissa and Linda both feel that their project can be replicated in other classrooms. Finding classroom time for the work proved challenging, especially since it had many phases of exploration -- with all the expected dead ends and backtracking inherent in exploration. Melissa notes, though, that curriculum standards emphasize quality of writing and that, ultimately, this process produced high quality writing, so it fit into those priorities. She also adjusted her own attitude towards notebooks and early drafts, letting go of any expectations she had of what students would produce. Another challenge is finding those author-educator partnerships. Linda notes that it's a rewarding form of community service, and the author role could be filled from any genre or style, since the need for thoughtful, deliberate revision holds true at the
heart of most writing.<br />
<br />
At the end of the Milo-based partnership, Linda traveled to Maine for a surprise visit to Melissa's classroom, where she met with students in person and had writing conferences with students who wanted to share their work with her. Now, Melissa reports, her students feel a great pride of ownership in Milo Speck: Accidental Agent, and she herself has returned to doing more of her own writing.<br />
<br />
If you're interested in more thoughts on writers' notebooks check out:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://melissaguerrette.blogspot.com/search/label/writers%20notebooks" target="_blank">This Collection of Blog Posts by Melissa</a><br />
This Collection of Blog Posts by Linda<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="http://lindaurbanbooks.com/2014/07/22/writers-notebooks/" target="_blank">Writers' Notebooks</a></li>
<li><a href="http://lindaurbanbooks.com/2014/07/25/starting-my-writers-notebook/" target="_blank">The Best Thing in my Writer's Notebook is a Mistake</a></li>
<li><a href="http://lindaurbanbooks.com/2014/07/29/what-messing-up-made-possible/" target="_blank">What Messing Up Made Possible</a></li>
<li><a href="http://lindaurbanbooks.com/2014/08/04/beginnings-another-notebook-post/" target="_blank">Beginnings </a></li>
<li><a href="http://lindaurbanbooks.com/2014/08/08/finding-voice-and-other-bits-another-notebook-post/" target="_blank">Finding Voice and Other Bits</a></li>
</ul>
If you're interested in other examples of authors working with students on writing skills, check out these earlier Author-Educator workshop notes:<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="http://montpelierbearpond.blogspot.com/2014/03/writing-with-kate-messner-jo-knowles.html" target="_blank">Kate Messner & Jo Knowles </a></li>
<li><a href="http://montpelierbearpond.blogspot.com/2014/10/writing-with-s-s-taylor.html" target="_blank">S.S. Taylor</a></li>
<li><a href="http://montpelierbearpond.blogspot.com/2015/02/crafting-classroom-writing-prompts-gary.html" target="_blank">Gary Miller & Deb Fleischman</a></li>
</ul>
<div>
And, finally, we hope you join us for our final fall Author-Educator Workshop on Saturday, November 14th, at 11:00 am with Kekla Magoon and Will Alexander as they discuss "Creating Heroes." As usual, it is free, open to the public, and comes with refreshments. </div>
Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4898658387121458801.post-91522230979684698362015-11-09T08:05:00.000-08:002015-11-09T08:05:05.797-08:00Kekla Magoon & Will Alexander - Saturday, November 14thVermont College of Fine Arts draws many talented authors into the Montpelier community - many of whom are writing important, entertaining, fantastic, humorous, serious, and generally wonderful books for children and young adults. Two of those are VCFA faculty members Kekla Magoon and Will Alexander. Lucky for all of us, they are also generous with their time and coming to speak at Bear Pond Books this upcoming Saturday, November 14th, at 11:00 am.<br />
<br />
The topic of Saturday's workshop is creating fictional heroes for young readers. Kekla and Will will be speaking about how they create these characters, and what impact these characters can have on the perspective of readers.<br />
<br />
You don't have to take our word for it that Kekla and Will have interesting opinions to share, here's a sample of interviews, reviews, essays, and conversations about their work:<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/23/books/review/shadows-of-sherwood-a-robyn-hoodlum-adventure-by-kekla-magoon.html?_r=0" target="_blank">Rick Riordan Reviews Kekla Magoon's Robyn Hoodlum in the New York Times </a></li>
<li>Cynsations - <a href="http://cynthialeitichsmith.blogspot.com/2011/10/guest-post-kekla-magoon-on-truth.html" target="_blank">Guest Post by Kekla on Inspiration </a></li>
<li><a href="http://authorturf.com/interview-with-kekla-magoon/authorinterviews" target="_blank">Author Turf Interview</a></li>
<li><a href="http://thebrownbookshelf.com/2010/02/03/kekla-magoon/" target="_blank">Interview on The Brown Bookshelf</a><br /></li>
<li>Will Alexander accepts award for <a href="http://www.nationalbook.org/nba2012_ypl_alexander.html#.VkAOEhCrT-Y" target="_blank">"Goblin Secrets" on the National Book Award site</a></li>
<li>Will Alexander's <a href="http://maryrobinettekowal.com/journal/my-favorite-bit-william-alexander-talks-about-nomad/" style="color: #1155cc; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;" target="_blank">NOMAD: My Favorite Bit on Mary Robinette Kowal's blog</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.tor.com/2015/09/17/midnight-in-karachi-episode-29-william-alexander/" style="color: #1155cc; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12.8px;" target="_blank">Interview with Will <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_758553451" style="border: none !important; cursor: inherit !important; position: static !important; top: -2px; z-index: auto !important;"><span class="aQJ" style="border: none !important; cursor: inherit !important; position: static !important; top: 2px; z-index: auto !important;">Midnight</span></span> in Karachi podcast on Tor.com</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.willalex.net/blog/" target="_blank">Will Alexander has a blog</a> - important because he recently posted about St. Crispin's Day (and as the aunt of an adorable baby named Crispin, Helen considers that an important holiday)</li>
</ul>
<div>
Come hear Kekla and Will this Saturday, November 14th, in the Children's Room at 11:00 am - there will be coffee and snacks, and the event is free and open to the public.</div>
Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4898658387121458801.post-2717986941936815112015-11-03T03:17:00.000-08:002015-11-27T11:35:32.294-08:00Problem Solving in Stories with Nicole GriffinN. (or Nicole) Griffin is the author of the new young reader series featuring Smashie McPerter and her friend Dontel. In the first book, Smashie McPerter and the Mystery of Room 11, the two search for who stole the class hamster after it goes missing under the reign of a vain substitute teacher at a time when the class is already miffed that Smashie considers hamsters creepy.<br />
<br />
Nicole is also a math education consultant and so it shouldn't surprise us that she started her workshops on problem solving in stories with a math problem. Take a few minutes to consider it:<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qWfK5UzJT1I/VjiXds5vrgI/AAAAAAAAASs/zEPxwUN26NM/s1600/Smashie%2BMath.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-qWfK5UzJT1I/VjiXds5vrgI/AAAAAAAAASs/zEPxwUN26NM/s640/Smashie%2BMath.jpg" width="628" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
Now, a few more minutes to consider how did you go about solving this problem?<br />
<br />
<b>1. Deal with your feelings.</b><br />
<br />
Some choice comments from the audience on their first reaction to the assignment "Flash backs of horror"; "sweaty palms"; "Relief at not having to share the answers out loud"; "happy because I used to really love math and never do it any more" (followed almost instantly by the discovery that you can forget <i>a lot </i>of math in a few short decades).<br />
<br />
The dealing with your feelings phase often gets forgotten in teaching kids about problem solving. Nonetheless, if you're feeling anxious, discouraged, cocky, etc. that impedes your problem solving. Sometimes the feelings part gets forgotten with fictional problem solvers too (particularly odd since emotions usually make stories interesting). Think of Sherlock Holmes who rarely had to deal with his feelings. <br />
<br />
<b>2. Make sense of the problem</b><br />
<br />
Making sense of the problem means not just reading it, but using tools like drawing visuals (shapes to represent the paintings for example) or identifying key parts to grasp what you're reading. In mysteries, it's common for investigators to talk over the problems confronting them as ways of making sense. In Smashie McPerter, Smashie and her friend Dontel fill notebooks with their outlines of trying to understand the key parts of the missing hamster problem.<br />
<br />
<b>3. Solve the problem</b><br />
<br />
Workshop participants all went about solving the paintings problems in different ways - the blunt instrument of arithmetic (adding prices until you reached the set amount); trying to find an equation from the dim recesses of memory; etc. Often this solving involves false steps that send you back to #1. In Smashie, for example, the kids run through possible suspects and need to return to their notebooks each time they find evidence that one of their suspects can't have taken the hamster.<br />
<br />
<b>4. Explain your thinking.</b><br />
<br />
In the math problem handed out at the workshop the test writer specifically requested "show your work." In the world of mysteries, the climactic speech by the sleuth explaining how she deduced what happened (I picture Angela Lansbury here) and caught the perpetrator is a nearly unavoidable plot point.<br />
<br />
<b>5. Check your work.</b><br />
<br />
Double checking is, of course, a constant part of the problem solving process and Jane points out that when the kids in Smashie make a false accusation there are real consequences. This is not a problem solving duo who can point fingers until they happen upon the guilty party.<br />
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
~ ~ ~</div>
<br />
When we lay out basic problem solving structure and look at it through the lens of writing for kids, mysteries are an obvious choice for illustrating this skill. They're engaging stories built around a problem to be solved. They're a more fun way of understanding curriculum goals like CCSS.Math.Practice.MP1 - which Nicole shared at the workshop:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq" style="box-sizing: border-box; color: #202020; font-family: 'Lato Light'; font-size: 16.8px; line-height: 25.2px;">
<a class="identifier" href="http://www.corestandards.org/Math/Practice/MP1/" name="CCSS.Math.Practice.MP1" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-image: initial; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial; background-repeat: initial; background-size: initial; box-sizing: border-box; color: #373737; font-size: 11.76px; text-decoration: none; text-transform: uppercase;">CCSS.MATH.PRACTICE.MP1</a> Make sense of problems and persevere in solving them.<br />
Mathematically proficient students start by explaining to themselves the meaning of a problem and looking for entry points to its solution. They analyze givens, constraints, relationships, and goals. They make conjectures about the form and meaning of the solution and plan a solution pathway rather than simply jumping into a solution attempt. They consider analogous problems, and try special cases and simpler forms of the original problem in order to gain insight into its solution. They monitor and evaluate their progress and change course if necessary. Older students might, depending on the context of the problem, transform algebraic expressions or change the viewing window on their graphing calculator to get the information they need. Mathematically proficient students can explain correspondences between equations, verbal descriptions, tables, and graphs or draw diagrams of important features and relationships, graph data, and search for regularity or trends. Younger students might rely on using concrete objects or pictures to help conceptualize and solve a problem. Mathematically proficient students check their answers to problems using a different method, and they continually ask themselves, "Does this make sense?" They can understand the approaches of others to solving complex problems and identify correspondences between different approaches.</blockquote>
Not all children's mysteries are created equal and hit the balance of entertaining storytelling and strong problem solving, like what we find in Smashie McPerter. Jane suggests this list to get started:<br />
<br />
<table border="1" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" dir="ltr" style="border-collapse: collapse; border: 1px solid #ccc; font-family: arial,sans,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; table-layout: fixed;"><colgroup><col width="214"></col><col width="173"></col><col width="121"></col><col width="100"></col><col width="100"></col><col width="100"></col><col width="100"></col></colgroup><tbody>
<tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="[null,2,"TITLE"]" style="font-weight: bold; padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">TITLE</td><td data-sheets-value="[null,2,"AUTHOR"]" style="font-weight: bold; padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">AUTHOR</td><td data-sheets-value="[null,2,"ISBN"]" style="font-weight: bold; padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">ISBN</td><td data-sheets-value="[null,2,"PUBLISHER"]" style="font-weight: bold; padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">PUBLISHER</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="[null,1]" data-sheets-value="[null,2,"PUB DATE"]" style="font-weight: bold; padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">PUB DATE</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="[null,1]" data-sheets-value="[null,2,"GRADE LEVEL"]" style="font-weight: bold; padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">GRADE LEVEL</td><td style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;"></td></tr>
<tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="[null,2,"Julian, Secret Agent"]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Julian, Secret Agent</td><td data-sheets-value="[null,2,"Cameron, Ann"]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Cameron, Ann</td><td data-sheets-value="[null,3,null,9780394819495]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">9780394819495</td><td data-sheets-value="[null,2,"Random House"]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Random House</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="[null,1]" data-sheets-value="[null,2,"Oct 2008"]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Oct 2008</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="[null,1]" data-sheets-value="[null,2,"2-4"]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">2-4</td><td></td></tr>
<tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="[null,2,"The Book Scavenger"]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">The Book Scavenger</td><td data-sheets-value="[null,2,"Chambliss Bertman, Jennifer"]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Chambliss Bertman, Jennifer</td><td data-sheets-value="[null,3,null,9781627791151]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">9781627791151</td><td data-sheets-value="[null,2,"Henry Holt"]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Henry Holt</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="[null,1]" data-sheets-value="[null,2,"June 2015"]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">June 2015</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="[null,1]" data-sheets-value="[null,2,"4-6"]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">4-6</td><td></td></tr>
<tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="[null,2,"The Clubhouse Mysteries "]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">The Clubhouse Mysteries </td><td data-sheets-value="[null,2,"Draper, Sharon"]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Draper, Sharon</td><td data-sheets-value="[null,3,null,9781442427099]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">9781442427099</td><td data-sheets-value="[null,2,"Alladin"]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Alladin</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="[null,1]" data-sheets-value="[null,2,"July 2011"]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">July 2011</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="[null,1]" data-sheets-value="[null,2,"2-4"]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">2-4</td><td data-sheets-value="[null,2,"series"]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">series</td></tr>
<tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="[null,2,"Operation Bunny"]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Operation Bunny</td><td data-sheets-value="[null,2,"Gardner, Sally"]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Gardner, Sally</td><td data-sheets-value="[null,3,null,9781250050533]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">9781250050533</td><td data-sheets-value="[null,2,"Square Fish"]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Square Fish</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="[null,1]" data-sheets-value="[null,2,"Sept 2014"]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Sept 2014</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="[null,1]" data-sheets-value="[null,2,"2-4"]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">2-4</td><td data-sheets-value="[null,2,"series"]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">series</td></tr>
<tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="[null,2,"Smashie McPerter"]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Smashie McPerter</td><td data-sheets-value="[null,2,"Griffin, N"]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Griffin, N</td><td data-sheets-value="[null,3,null,9780763661458]" style="background-color: white; font-size: 100%; padding: 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">9780763661458</td><td data-sheets-value="[null,2,"Candlewick"]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Candlewick</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="[null,1]" data-sheets-value="[null,2,"Feb 2015"]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Feb 2015</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="[null,1]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;"></td><td data-sheets-value="[null,2,"series"]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">series</td></tr>
<tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="[null,2,"Adventures of Arnie the Donut"]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Adventures of Arnie the Donut</td><td data-sheets-value="[null,2,"Keller, Laurie"]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Keller, Laurie</td><td data-sheets-value="[null,3,null,9781250072498]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">9781250072498</td><td data-sheets-value="[null,2,"Square Fish"]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Square Fish</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="[null,1]" data-sheets-value="[null,2,"May 2015"]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">May 2015</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="[null,1]" data-sheets-value="[null,2,"2-4"]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">2-4</td><td data-sheets-value="[null,2,"series"]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">series</td></tr>
<tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="[null,2,"Nancy Clancy Super Sleuth"]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Nancy Clancy Super Sleuth</td><td data-sheets-value="[null,2,"O'Connor, Jane"]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">O'Connor, Jane</td><td data-sheets-value="[null,3,null,9780062084194]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">9780062084194</td><td data-sheets-value="[null,2,"Harper"]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Harper</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="[null,1]" data-sheets-value="[null,2,"April 2013"]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">April 2013</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="[null,1]" data-sheets-value="[null,2,"2-4"]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">2-4</td><td data-sheets-value="[null,2,"series"]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">series</td></tr>
<tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="[null,2,"Greetings From Somewhere"]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Greetings From Somewhere</td><td data-sheets-value="[null,2,"Paris, Harper"]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Paris, Harper</td><td data-sheets-value="[null,3,null,9781442497184]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">9781442497184</td><td data-sheets-value="[null,2,"Simon"]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Simon</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="[null,1]" data-sheets-value="[null,2,"Jan 2014"]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Jan 2014</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="[null,1]" data-sheets-value="[null,2,"1-3"]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">1-3</td><td data-sheets-value="[null,2,"series"]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">series</td></tr>
<tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="[null,2,"The Case of the Missing Moonstone"]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">The Case of the Missing Moonstone</td><td data-sheets-value="[null,2,"Stratford, Jordan"]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Stratford, Jordan</td><td data-sheets-value="[null,3,null,9780385754408]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">9780385754408</td><td data-sheets-value="[null,2,"Knopf"]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Knopf</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="[null,1]" data-sheets-value="[null,2,"Jan 2015"]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Jan 2015</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="[null,1]" data-sheets-value="[null,2,"3-6"]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">3-6</td><td data-sheets-value="[null,2,"series"]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">series</td></tr>
<tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="[null,2,"Secrets of Selkie Bay"]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Secrets of Selkie Bay</td><td data-sheets-value="[null,2,"Thomas, Shelley Moore"]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Thomas, Shelley Moore</td><td data-sheets-value="[null,3,null,9780374367497]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">9780374367497</td><td data-sheets-value="[null,2,"Farrar, Strauss Giroux"]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Farrar, Strauss Giroux</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="[null,1]" data-sheets-value="[null,2,"July 2015"]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">July 2015</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="[null,1]" data-sheets-value="[null,2,"3-6"]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">3-6</td><td></td></tr>
<tr style="height: 21px;"><td data-sheets-value="[null,2,"Whodunit Detective Agency"]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Whodunit Detective Agency</td><td data-sheets-value="[null,2,"Widmark, Martin"]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Widmark, Martin</td><td data-sheets-value="[null,3,null,9780448480664]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; text-align: right; vertical-align: bottom;">9780448480664</td><td data-sheets-value="[null,2,"Grosset & Dunlap"]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Grosset & Dunlap</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="[null,1]" data-sheets-value="[null,2,"Oct 2014"]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">Oct 2014</td><td data-sheets-numberformat="[null,1]" data-sheets-value="[null,2,"1-3"]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">1-3</td><td data-sheets-value="[null,2,"series"]" style="padding: 2px 3px 2px 3px; vertical-align: bottom;">series</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
~ ~ ~ </div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div style="text-align: left;">
<i>Don't forget on Saturday, November 7th, we've got another educators workshop coming up with Linda Urban and Melissa Guerrette - learn about their unique collaboration around teaching writing and revision in the classroom as Linda worked on her fun new children's book <u>Milo Speck: Accidental Agent.</u></i></div>
Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4898658387121458801.post-37774109800313291212015-10-20T09:17:00.001-07:002015-11-27T11:35:41.724-08:00Microshelters Event with Derek "Deek" DiedricksenSo, the real strength of the Microshelters discussion is the pictures of the <i>super cool </i>tiny houses, offices, tree houses, and play forts (and under "play forts" we're including one tiny house designed entirely for reading and sipping wine in the backyard in peace and quiet. . . not school appropriate, perhaps, but clearly a basic necessity). We've discovered that snapping pictures of Deek talking in front of a screen with images projected on it doesn't really do justice to the inspiration. Here are links to resources that do:<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEvYT3CMtQI" target="_blank">Tiny Yellow House </a>-Series on YouTube</li>
<li><a href="http://www.hgtv.com/shows/tiny-house-builders" target="_blank">HGTV Tiny House Builders</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=128109273" target="_blank">"Do It Yourself Downsize" - NPR</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02/24/garden/24tiny.html" target="_blank">The $200 Microhouse</a> - New York Times</li>
<li><a href="http://www.builderonline.com/design/consumer-trends/tiny-home-q-a-microshelters-author-derek-diedricksen_o" target="_blank">Q & A with Deek in Builder Magazine</a></li>
<li><a href="http://stoughton.wickedlocal.com/article/20151008/NEWS/151006232/?Start=1" target="_blank">Microshelters Article in Snyder's Stoughton</a></li>
</ul>
<br />
We may now have come full circle from the <a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9781250026927" target="_blank">39 Story Treehouse</a> book from our Early Chapter Books review a few weeks ago. The 13+ story treehouses were a little too over the top the review panel. But the classy tiny house treehouses, those work just fine. . .<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Sm4xXU4G1yI/ViZoy0SGZYI/AAAAAAAAASI/i8H_OkyuuJM/s1600/workshop-treehouse-by-derek-diedricksen.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="400" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Sm4xXU4G1yI/ViZoy0SGZYI/AAAAAAAAASI/i8H_OkyuuJM/s400/workshop-treehouse-by-derek-diedricksen.jpg" width="307" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">From Deek's Blog: https://relaxshax.wordpress.com/</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4898658387121458801.post-21407166461861918502015-10-11T17:30:00.002-07:002015-10-13T05:34:59.054-07:00Materials Review: Early Chapter BooksAt the end of last spring's middle grade materials review session we had a request for Early Chapter Books as the next topic. . . and started to get ready then and there with:<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="https://www.pinterest.com/bearpondbooks/early-reader-chapter-books/" target="_blank">Pinterest Board of Jane's Favorite Early Chapter Books Series</a></li>
</ul>
Last Friday, we took a closer look at both series and stand alone books in this category and also invited in early chapter book author Dough Wilhelm to share his perspective on creating these books. Here is a list of the books we read (not all were reviewed on the panel):<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/12fj9yIvEhHHJhCPrpuiNVCsd3UAks5hpbhDsBPkDRCc/edit?usp=sharing" target="_blank">Early Chapter Books Sorted by Author</a></li>
<li><a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1O-w1-B8nS6NH9cOlpf30z6yBLJXQ_MaZeDm1e7inli0/edit?usp=sharing" target="_blank">Early Chapter Books Sorted by Title</a></li>
</ul>
<div>
And here are the reviews:<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="http://montpelierbearpond.blogspot.com/2015/10/early-chapter-books-panel-reviews.html" target="_blank">Reviewed on the Panel</a></li>
<li><a href="http://montpelierbearpond.blogspot.com/2015/09/pre-review-early-chapter-books.html" target="_blank">Three Additional Reviews</a></li>
</ul>
<div>
Plus, a list of recommended leveled readers - requested at the event:</div>
<div>
<ul>
<li><a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1WDztz0JsmiHL-DOURXsmed9CbN9zkVZKdOM8IUvVj9Q/edit?usp=sharing" target="_blank">Leveled Readers</a></li>
</ul>
</div>
And notes from the discussion with Doug:<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="http://montpelierbearpond.blogspot.com/2015/10/doug-wilhelm-treasure-town.html" target="_blank">Doug Wilhelm: Treasure Town</a></li>
</ul>
<div>
We're keeping track of all our Materials Reviews in the <a href="http://montpelierbearpond.blogspot.com/p/speakers-in-our-author-educator-series.html" target="_blank">Author-Educator Series speakers list</a>, under Bear Pond Staff (ie. the end of the list). </div>
</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<i>Next up for the Author-Educator Series: Sunday, October 18th, 11:30 am: A short workshop on creating creative reading space, forts, and "Microshelters" with national small building expert Deek Diedricksen. Details <a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/event/deek-diedricksen-workshop" target="_blank">here</a>. </i></div>
Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4898658387121458801.post-55323099591892846612015-10-11T17:29:00.001-07:002015-10-12T07:48:28.046-07:00Doug Wilhelm: Treasure Town<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KlHzTGKQrkA/Vhr9Fv4y1mI/AAAAAAAAAQ4/GXmML4J2dp0/s1600/Doug%2BWilhelm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-KlHzTGKQrkA/Vhr9Fv4y1mI/AAAAAAAAAQ4/GXmML4J2dp0/s320/Doug%2BWilhelm.jpg" width="180" /></a></div>
<br />
Author Doug Wilhelm has written a variety of books for kids. He has contributed to the Choose Your Own Adventure series. He wrote the acclaimed middle grade novel <i>The Revealers</i>. Now, he and his sister, Sarah-Lee Terrat, have started a new series of "bridge into reading" books beginning with <a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9780985783648" target="_blank">Treasure Town</a>. Doug spoke on our Early Chapter Book panel about developing a book that would draw kids into reading.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NbglchTB-bU/Vhr9zaosvpI/AAAAAAAAARA/2ssH4Upp6RE/s1600/Treasure%2BTown%2BCover.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NbglchTB-bU/Vhr9zaosvpI/AAAAAAAAARA/2ssH4Upp6RE/s320/Treasure%2BTown%2BCover.jpg" width="207" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
Several children's authors who have spoken here before have given ideas for playing games of "What If?" to generate the ideas that become stories (see for example these workshops from <a href="http://montpelierbearpond.blogspot.com/2015/02/new-ideas-creative-jumpstarts-that-work.html" target="_blank">Kate Messner</a>, <a href="http://montpelierbearpond.blogspot.com/2014/10/writing-with-s-s-taylor.html" target="_blank">S.S. Taylor</a>, and <a href="http://montpelierbearpond.blogspot.com/2015/02/crafting-classroom-writing-prompts-gary.html" target="_blank">Gary Miller and Deb Fleischman</a>). Doug followed a similar process. The specific idea for Treasure Town began with Sarah-Lee keeping a notebook of the odd questions her young son would ask. When her son started noting funny names, one thing led to another, and Doug and Sarah dreamed up a story of characters worthy of the names Yuke and Bug (changed from Butt) Luck.<br />
<br />
Yuke and Bug Luck are gold prospectors who hop a freight train with the intent of heading to Alaska, but go the wrong direction and end up in Florida instead.<br />
<br />
From that starting premise, Doug needed to add protagonists closer in age to the intended readers. He ended up with three kids living in the fictional town of Sandy Feet, Florida, who are looking for buried treasure and team up with Yuke and Bug. It was important to have kids who felt relatable to young readers to carry the story. It also took some time to get that right. For example, several early cover ideas got scrapped because they focused on the grown Yuke and Bug. Sarah-Lee worked a long time figuring out how to draw children with a lot of character and expressions - the goofy adults of Yuke and Bug were much easier to draw.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oTb-rmZf41Q/Vhr-nAdgq-I/AAAAAAAAARQ/Rcpc1rhfdnI/s1600/Characters%2BTreasure%2BTown.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-oTb-rmZf41Q/Vhr-nAdgq-I/AAAAAAAAARQ/Rcpc1rhfdnI/s320/Characters%2BTreasure%2BTown.jpg" width="237" /></a></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<br />
In <a href="http://www.the-revealers.com/images/Treasure%20Town%20Classroom%20Guide.pdf" target="_blank">his teacher's guide materials </a>Doug notes where the child-adult relationship in the book works especially well:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
[My favorite part of the book is] the conversation between Luis and Bug when they’re
walking, talking and dreaming about the pirate’s treasure. I like
how Bug, a grownup, sort of listens to Luis, a kid, but not really. I
bet a lot of kids will make a personal connection with that.</blockquote>
These fictional children are part of what draws kids into the page, but Doug wanted to be sure that a strong narrative did as well. The narrative of the story emphasizes action, and specifically humorous action, that's reinforced by the drawings. The final cover, for example, shows an action scene of one person digging, another looking expectantly into the hole, and two others coming running with expressions of, if not alarm, at least surprise. Or, when the kids meet the two gold prospectors, they don't simply cross paths in the street, they cross paths after Yuke has dug his way into a water main in downtown and lifted the police car up on a geyser he unleashed.<br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QRGII3oUJac/VhrkBLeLrOI/AAAAAAAAAQk/oot61CAr0IM/s1600/Geyser%2BPic.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-QRGII3oUJac/VhrkBLeLrOI/AAAAAAAAAQk/oot61CAr0IM/s320/Geyser%2BPic.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
While some of the narrative pull for young readers comes from the ridiculous, a lot of it also comes from real life. The kids in the book aren't searching for any old generic buried treasure, they're looking for the treasure of real-life pirate Jean Lafitte. The nonfiction book <i>Florida Pirates</i> (quoted in Treasure Town's introduction) explains<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
"Unlike most people who attempt to hide their wealth, Jean Lafitte. . . once state that, along the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, he had buried enough gold to build a solid gold bridge across the Mississippi." </blockquote>
So, there's no telling what you might find on a treasure hunt.<br />
<br />
A last component for a successful early chapter book is how its produced. First there's the immediate hurdle of finding a publisher. Doug and Sarah-Lee looked for a traditional publisher before choosing instead to use their own publishing house Long Stride Books. A Kickstarter campaign to raised the funds for publication. They have since found an outside publisher, Pelican Press, to pick up the series.<br />
<br />
The additional publishing component that audience members added was not only whether books appear in print, but <i>how</i> they appear in print. This issue came up with books in the panel review as well - since many were in galley form it was difficult to judge their final appearance. Participants noted that kids starting in early reader books often want their books to look like "real" books older children read. Jane observed that some books like the Tashi series collect individual early reader stories into one volume that has the heft of a book for an older audience.<br />
<br />
Doug and Sarah-Lee have planned a series of adventure books featuring fictional searches for real lost treasures. . . we look forward to seeing them on shelves soon!<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4898658387121458801.post-19954130649088580652015-10-09T18:38:00.000-07:002015-10-12T08:03:19.300-07:00Early Chapter Books: Panel ReviewsThank you for everyone who joined us last Friday for the Early Chapter Books Materials Review. We're posting the notes in a few installments . . starting with short reviews for all the books discussed that are below. Next up we'll add notes from Doug Wilhelm's discussion of writing <u>Treasure Town.</u><br />
<b><br /></b>
<b>Goofy Humor: </b><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9781250070654" target="_blank">The 13 Story Treehouse </a>by Andy Griffiths (series): We needed to defer to some younger readers for parts of this review. . . "It's exactly what it looks like" according to Carrie - and her kids love it while she does not. It's about brothers who live in a treehouse and write books. As you might imagine from being 13 stories high, the treehouse has many elaborate features like a bowling alley, a marshmallow machine and dangerous "burp gas-bubblegum bubbles." It works well for reluctant readers, is funny, and does inspire readers to imagine their own fantastic treehouses and books to write.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9780545556170" target="_blank">The Yeti Files - Meet the Bigfeet </a>by Kevin Sherry (Series): Along the same lines as the Treehouse series, the Yeti series is a funny book for reluctant readers. The premise for the first book in the series is that the Yeti is going to a family reunion with the cryptids - creatures that live alone and have sworn that they can never be seen by humans. It's heavy on illustrations, in a very simple cartooning style. Like the Treehouse series, these books have the potential to inspire otherwise reluctant readers / writers to start both reading and thinking up their own stories.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9781250072498" target="_blank">Bowling Alley Bandit: Adventures of Arnie the Doughnut </a>by Laurie Keller (Series): Arnie is a doughnut, bought from the best bakery in town, not realizing that doughnuts are for eating. But he convinces the man who bought him to keep him as a pet instead. He happily goes bowling with his new owner. When something is amiss at the bowling alley, Arnie enlists Peezo, his best buddy (who happens to be a slice of pizza) to help him investigate. Illustrations play a big role in telling this story. It's most similar to Bad Kitty in style. It may be goofball comedy, but it's also smart, as Keller is known for her clever use of wordplay.<br />
<br />
<b>Quirky Humor</b>:<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9780544419513" target="_blank">Milo Speck: Accidental Agent </a>by Linda Urban: One day, Milo is grabbed by his clothes dryer and sucked into the land of Ogregon filled with ogres that eat children. Milo discovers that his father, who he thought was a fence salesman, is really a secret agent in Ogregon. Now Milo has to foil the ogres' plot against children and he isn't sure he's the hero for the job. Jane describes this as zany, Roald Dahl-esque humor. Linda Urban is coming to Bear Pond Books with Melissa Guerrette on November 7th at 11:00 am to teach a workshop on revision - details are found <a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9780544022638" target="_blank">here</a>. Also, Linda has an upcoming series of early chapter books called "Weekends with Max and his Dad" that will be published in spring of 2016.<br />
<a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9780803739833" target="_blank"><br /></a>
<a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9780803739833" target="_blank">Harriet the Invincible </a>by Ursula Vernon (Series): Harriet is a princess (also, a hamster) who finds palace life rather dull. She is also under a curse --at age 12 she will prick her finger and fall into a deep sleep. . . except what happens is that she pricks her finger and everyone <i>else </i>falls into a deep sleep and now she needs to find a Prince who will kiss a whole palace to wake them up. There are some big vocabulary words, but the story is funny enough that they're worth it, or skippable. Jane describes this hamster princess book as having a "sophisticated wit." If she was allowed to say she loved two books the best, this would the best (but as things stood, she only got one and it's Dory).<br />
<a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9780147510679" target="_blank"><br /></a>
<a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9780147510679" target="_blank">Dory Fantasmagory</a> by Abby Hanlon: Another in the quirky, spunky kid category, but Jane says this book really does rise above the rest. Dory is a kid who has populated her world with elaborate imaginary friends. She drives everyone around her crazy. Her older siblings think she's too much of a baby to play with and they invent the story of Mrs. Gobblegracker who will come for her if she doesn't leave them alone - and so of course this new imaginary being joins Dory's world. Very clever and funny. If Jane is going to choose one book as her favorite, this one was it.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9781442453401" target="_blank">Extraordinary Warren: A Super Chicken</a> by Sarah Dillard (Series): Warren, a little chick, is learning how to fly and he's searching for his inner super chicken. The author uses a graphic novel style in her chapter book, making it a good picture book / chapter book crossover. Jane says the medium works very well. There are two Extraordinary Warren books out in the series. The author and illustrator lives in Waitsfield.<br />
<br />
<b>Charming Books:</b> <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9781481444866" target="_blank">The Kingdom of Wrenly</a> by Jordan Quinn (Series): A book that is easy to read, light, good for sensitive children as "nothing alarming happens and it wraps up neatly in a bow." The stories follow the Prince and a seamstress' daughter as they explore the Kingdom of Wrenly. Carrie says that it's "innocent and sweet and not very well written." But, she notes, the writing is not so far off the mark that kids are likely to care.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9780553499261" target="_blank">Piper Green and the Fairy Tree</a> by Ellen Potter (Series) A "lovely" (per Carrie) book in the tradition of the Clementine series. Piper Green lives on an island in Maine. She is struggling because she misses her brother, who left for boarding school, and she doesn't get along with her new teacher. It's a funny book but also deals with real issue. Well written. There are two books in the series so far.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9780763658571" target="_blank">Cody and the Fountain of Happiness</a> by Tricia Springstubb (Series): It's the first day of summer vacation and while not much is happening in Cody's house, she's enthusiastic about inventing her own entertainment. The story is very Ramona Quimby-like. Cody's mother is feeling stress about a new job, her father is gone for long stretches as a truck driver, her teenage brother is moping over a girl, and there's a new kid in town staying with his grandmother and missing his parents. It's not wildly inventive but it's also perfectly enjoyable, which is just fine.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9780544022638" target="_blank">The Year of the Book</a> by Andrea Cheng (Series): It's a "quiet, book lover's book" according to Jane. The protagonist, Anna, is the child of Chinese immigrants. She's having trouble navigating her social life. She's embarrassed by her mother's efforts to introduce Chinese culture into her daughter's American life. Anna decides that it's easier to find her friends in books, not people. She slowly learns to deal with friendships.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9781927485699" target="_blank">Princess Pistachio</a> by Marie-Louse Gay (Series): Pistachio believes she is a princess, and when a mysterious crown arrives for her birthday she becomes truly convinced. Ramping up the spolied princess act isn't exactly popular with everyone around her. Jane found that, unlike other books where the main character drives the people around her crazy while being entertaining on the page, Pistachio was not. The words "sassy and entitled" were used, and not in a complimentary way. Jane recommends the author's picture books instead. <br />
<br />
<b>Mystery Books:</b><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9780448480664" target="_blank">The Diamond Mystery</a> by Martin Widmark (Series): Two kids open a detective agency and this is their first case, of diamonds missing from a jewelry store. It's a classic whodunit structure: a client presents a mystery, there is a defined set of suspects each with reasons why they might have been the ones, and after a brief investigation of each person the real thief is revealed. Helen wonders if something was lost in the translation from the original Swedish - the language can read a bit like a vocabulary lesson. Also, she is disappointed that the publisher didn't work with the author and illustrator to convey more of Sweden in the book. The only geographical reference implies that the book is taking place in an American suburban town. <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9780763661458" target="_blank">Smashie McPerter and the Mystery of Room 11</a> by N. Griffin (Series): When the classroom hamster goes missing, Smashie (who didn't really like the hamster in the first place) decides to solve the mystery. This is a good book for problem solving and vocabulary building. It's also a good reading aloud book. The author is coming to Bear Pond Books on October 24th at 11:00 am to do a workshop on teaching problem solving skills. The workshop details are <a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/event/nicole-griffin-educators-workshop" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
<br />
<b>Books with Clear Teaching Tie Ins </b>(History, Science)<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9781481426244" target="_blank">Tales from Maple Ridge: Logan Pryce Makes a Mess</a> by Grace Gilmore and Petra Brown (Series): This series tells the story of a farm in 1892. The father needs to take a job off the farm because it is struggling, and the young son, Logan, is looking for ways help keep the farm going. It's very relatable and would appeal to Little House on the Prairie fans. There are two books in the series currently available, with two more slated for publication.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9780545639149" target="_blank">Ranger in Time</a> by Kate Messner (Series): This series follows a search and rescue dog who failed his exam by chasing a squirrel. Through a little magic Ranger is transported back in time to the Oregon trail where a young girl has gone missing. The writing is solid and the conceit of the series lets history lessons be folded into the narrative. The author is local and has led workshops at Bear Pond before. We wrote an article on writing exercises based on Kate's workshops "<a href="http://montpelierbearpond.blogspot.com/2015/02/new-ideas-creative-jumpstarts-that-work.html" target="_blank">New Ideas - Creative Jumpstarts that Work in the Classroom</a>"<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9781419712180" target="_blank">Frank Einstein</a> by Jon Scieszka (Series): The first in a series, this book follows a familiar plot line of a genius scientist with a brilliant creation (an antimatter motor), stolen by a bad guy, and in need of being re-acquired. This book builds from ideas in science that are entryways to pretty sophisticated stuff (self-teaching artificial intelligence or the large hadron collider for example) but are presented in the context of madcap adventure and goofy humor. The book hits the gold standard of conveying that reading is A. fun and B. full of big ideas that change your understanding of the world. It wasn't Helen's sort of storyline, but that's personal preference, and her one "I love this book" went to Frank Einstein. <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9780553522785" target="_blank">Totally True Adventures: The Race Around the World </a>by Nancy Castaldo (Series): This book tells the story of reporter and adventurer Nellie Bly in simple language suitable for a classroom with children at different reading levels. It's neither creative nor fun, but it's probably useful - combining history, biography, and reading skills. The book promises additional materials online that connect to the classroom and common core but Helen gave up on finding them after a fair amount of searching. When she finally tracks down these promised materials, they'll appear here. For now we're giving up. This book is part of a series of Totally True Adventures. <br />
<br />
<b>Strong Read Alouds:</b><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9780385375412" target="_blank">Emma and the Blue Genie</a> by Cornelia Funke: Emma frees a very small blue genie who needs help getting his nose ring back so he can have his powers restored. It's a stand alone book. The reading level is on the challenging end of early chapter books. This author has many solid books, including <a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9780439709101" target="_blank">Inkheart</a>, <a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9780385375443" target="_blank">The Pirate Pig</a> and the soon-to-be-published <a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9780385375481" target="_blank">Ruffleclaw</a>. <b> </b><br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9780803741331" target="_blank">Appleblossom the Possum</a> by Holly Goldberg Sloan: A book by the author of the DCF-nominated <u>Counting by 7's</u>. Carries summarizes this book as "delightful imaginings of what possum family culture would look like." Appleblossom goes out into the world and falls down a chimney into a human home, and her brothers launch a rescue mission. The story is enjoyable for both kids and grown ups.<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9781442423367" target="_blank">Firefly Hollow</a> by Alison McGhee: Carrie was allowed only one book to say she "loved" and this was it. The book chronicles the firefly who dreams of flying to the moon, cricket who dreams of being Yogi Berra, Vole who is the last of his kind and dreams of sailing his father's ship (but there is no one to teach him) and Peter who is a Miniature Giant who will grow up to be a Big Giant. The book plates are beautiful. It's a good read aloud for any age.<br />
<a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9781484722848" target="_blank"><br /></a>
<a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9781484722848" target="_blank">Diva and Flea</a> by Mo Willems & Tony DiTerlizzi: A Lady and the Tramp-esque story of a dog and cat in Paris. Diva is a dog who has never ventured into the big world of Paris, but who meets Flea, a streetwise cat "flaneuring" about the alleys of Paris. This book has a lovely classic feel and tremendously vibrant line drawings. <br />
<br />
<b>Books You Might Have Missed:</b><br />
<b><br /></b>
Some great series have been around for a while, but are still being newly discovered. Here are a few:<br />
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9781935279730" target="_blank">Anna Hibiscus</a> by Atinuke - Anna lives in Africa and these books are a good introduction to new cultures. Jane (who is a big fan) describes them as "sweet as the day is long". They can be hard to find but call the Children's Room and Jane will track them down. </li>
<li>Matter of Fact Magic by Ruth Chew - These books are now being reprinted. They're a collection of stand alone stories about kids and magic. You can read the books' summaries on<a href="http://ruthchew.com/about-the-books/new-books.htm" target="_blank"> ruthchew.com</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9781741149654" target="_blank">Tashi</a> by Anna and Barbara Fienberg - An Australian series, filled with the tall tales of a gnome-like imaginary friend named Tashi. Always popular during the holidays. </li>
</ul>
<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4898658387121458801.post-67766502750049464712015-10-08T08:15:00.002-07:002015-10-08T08:15:59.342-07:00Hold This! - Q&A with Carolyn Scoppettone<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Wy_L68mvpiU/VhaITw-Bu8I/AAAAAAAAAQI/jmWQam-7W_g/s1600/Hold%2BThis%2521.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-Wy_L68mvpiU/VhaITw-Bu8I/AAAAAAAAAQI/jmWQam-7W_g/s320/Hold%2BThis%2521.png" width="255" /></a></div>
<br />
<i>Last Friday while we were reviewing early chapter books (more on those tomorrow), Kellogg-Hubbard Library was hosting a launch event for the publication of <a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9781939017680" target="_blank"><u>Hold This!</u></a> a debut picture book by Montpelier author Carolyn Scoppettone. <u>Hold This! </u>recounts a walk through the woods with a daughter discovering many treasures - or "treasures" - to share with her father. </i><br />
<i><br /></i>
<i>Earlier this month, Islandport Press published a short written Q&A with Carolyn about the origin of the book, linked <a href="http://islandportpress.typepad.com/dispatches_islandport/2015/09/-a-qa-with-hold-this-author-carolyn-cory-scoppetone.html" target="_blank">here</a>. Now, she has nicely taken the time to do another round for our educators blog. </i><br />
<br />
<span class="im"></span><br />
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<b><span style="color: black; font-family: HelveticaNeue;">This is a playful book describing exploring the outdoors, how did
you approach finding the right text to prompt the feeling of
"playfulness", which we usually think of as an impromptu emotion?</span></b></div>
<br />
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: HelveticaNeue;">The inspiration for “Hold
This!” came directly from my own children. When they were little, we walked in
Hubbard Park frequently. I loved their irrepressible desire to explore the
outdoors through their senses. They wanted to look at nature, of course, but
they also wanted to hear it, smell it and touch it. So, I knew that I would
need sensory language to capture the story I wanted to tell. From the earliest
drafts, fun, sensory words like “splash gurgling” and “swissshing” appeared. </span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: HelveticaNeue;">In addition to those
Hubbard Park walks with my own children, I had plenty of experience exploring
nature with other young kids. As a volunteer educator for the Four Winds program
at Union Elementary School, I led outdoor nature lessons for many years. It struck
me that the children were most deeply engaged when they were having fun. The
experience of playing opened the door to forming a connection with the natural
world. I wanted my main character to find joy in the woods. That joy bubbled up
into playful language.</span></div>
<span class="im"><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<b><span style="color: black; font-family: HelveticaNeue;">We've had authors in our educators series before speak about the
sense of play and wonder as an important part of engaging kids in learning -
looking a little beyond the text on the page, do you have thoughts for
inspiring the feeling of play in planned activities, like you would find in a
school setting?</span></b></div>
</span><div style="background: white; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: HelveticaNeue;">At the end of “Hold This!,”
Mika builds a fairy house. For young children, building small structures like
these engages the imagination as well as the senses. Handling bark, leaves,
stones, and other natural materials gives a child a chance to notice shape,
texture, and fragrance, among other things. </span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: HelveticaNeue;">While you might not build a
fairy house in a classroom, natural materials can come into school to be used
in crafts and art activities. I especially like art activities that highlight
the complexity and beauty found in nature. Leaf rubbings, natural collages,
shoe box dioramas, and many other activities allow children to create something
beautiful out of things they find in nature. </span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: HelveticaNeue;">There are also many crafts
that highlight certain properties of natural objects. For example, when
studying snowflakes in Four Winds, we would have the children cut out paper
snowflakes. This is a simple but beautiful craft that reinforces the concept that
the shape of each snowflake is unique. </span></div>
<div style="background: white; margin-bottom: 12.0pt;">
<span style="color: black; font-family: HelveticaNeue;"><span> </span>Puppet shows and felt board activities are
always great, as well. In the Four Winds program, we would start each lesson
with a puppet show that introduced the learning objectives. For a unit on
camouflage, for example, the puppet characters blended in with the background. When
I do an author visit with a preschool audience, I bring along a felt board
version of “Hold This!” Children love helping me find the various natural
treasures that Mika asks her father to hold. There are a wide variety of games,
as well. Memory games, for example, work particularly well with a nature theme.
</span></div>
<span class="im"><div style="background: white;">
<b><span style="color: black; font-family: HelveticaNeue;">- Do you have any examples
of school-based play and learning from your own time as a student? </span></b></div>
<div>
<b> </b></div>
</span><div>
I grew up in San Diego where it was easy to be outside all
year. My mother was a preschool teacher who loved nature.<span> </span>So, from an early age I was encouraged to
approach any excursion into the outdoors as a chance to truly observe the
natural world. I don’t recall specific school-based play and learning from that
time, but I’ll never forget how Mom would plop down on the ground to show me
tiny flowers, “belly flowers” she called them, or how she would point out a
swallow’s nest tucked in the eaves or a sparrow’s distinctive song.</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
When I was a kid, I loved scavenger hunts. There was an
undeveloped canyon right near my house and I spent every afternoon playing
imaginative games or combing the canyon for treasures. The shark’s teeth I
found told me that the desert landscape I was exploring used to be an ocean.
The horned toads, rocks and chaparral spoke to the changes the landscape had
undergone over eons.</div>
<div>
</div>
<div>
</div>
<div dir="ltr">
Despite the difficulty of getting children outside during
the school day, I think it is crucial to do so on a regular basis. Just the
experience of being outside is valuable. Any game that is played in nature
allows a child to form a connection to the natural world. In a time when so
much of our learning is indoors or on the computer, getting outside is even
more important.</div>
<div dir="ltr">
</div>
<div dir="ltr">
<i>Interested in reading more about the theme of discovery, nature, and learning? Check out this earlier set of articles about author / illustrators Dierdre Gill and Jason Chin "<a href="http://montpelierbearpond.blogspot.com/2014/11/deirdre-gill-jason-chin-creating.html" target="_blank">Picture Books that Explore Nature</a>"</i> </div>
Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4898658387121458801.post-73287749081139054082015-09-25T09:39:00.003-07:002015-09-25T09:39:57.809-07:00Pre-Review - Early Chapter Books<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">It's a pre-review, not a preview, because these are some books that aren't on our list to for the Early Chapter Book materials review next Friday - so we reviewed them early. </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Check out the pre-review books below and then join us on October 2nd at 9:30 am for an Early Chapter Books materials review with reviews, updates on popular series, refreshments, giveaways, and a bit of the author's perspective from panelist Doug Wilhelm (<a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/event/early-chapter-books-educators-workshop" target="_blank">Treasure Town</a>, Choose Your Own Adventure). Event details are<a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/event/early-chapter-books-educators-workshop" target="_blank"> here</a>. These are always a fun event, lots of time for conversation and to check out new and upcoming books. We hope you can join us upstairs in the Children's room next Friday!</span><br />
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<br />
<div style="text-align: center;">
<span style="font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;">~~~~~~</span></div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
<br /></div>
<div dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-32a58162-0555-45a4-46ea-a888a70fc218" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9780147514851" target="_blank"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Humphrey’s Really Wheely Racing Day</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> by Betty G. Birney</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">published by Puffin, paperback series, $4.99</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Friday is always an exciting day for Humphrey, the class hamster. That's when he finds out where he will spend the weekend away from his usual home at Longfellow School. This time it will be Mandy's house, and her own hamster, Winky, has his very own hamster-size car. Humphrey falls in love with driving the first time he's behind the wheel --with a familiar nod to some of our favorite literary characters-- and wishes he had his own car to race Winky. Lucky for him, the teacher in Room 26 is able to make his dream a reality. Humphrey is a sweet protagonist who makes amusing observations about the students. This title has the same characters, humorous action, and gentle tone of the original Humphrey books for older kids, but the large print, short chapters, and numerous cartoon-style illustrations make this series perfect for readers brand new to chapter books. </span></div>
<a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9780763680121" target="_blank"><br /></a>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9780763680121" target="_blank"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Leroy Ninker Saddles Up</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> by Kate DiCamillo</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">published by Candlewick, paperback series, $5.99</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">DiCamillo has incorporated characters from her popular Mercy Watson series into this slightly lengthier spin-off. Leroy Ninker is a concession stand worker at the local drive-in movie theater with dreams of being a real-life cowboy. (“Yippee-i-oh, that is the life for me! A cowboy is who I was meant to be.”) One day he discovers a horse for sale-- Maybelline, a horse who responds to generous and poetic praise. Part cowboy story and part pet love story, this multi-layered tale beautifully balances comically exaggerated details and true spirit. DiCamillo is a master of creating fully developed characters and plotline while retaining accessibility for emerging readers. Yee-haw!-- we give it a definite thumbs up.</span></div>
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<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9780763678883" target="_blank"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The Princess In Black</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> by Shannon Hale</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">published by Candlewick, paperback series, $6.99</span></div>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">The authors of "<a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9781599902883" target="_blank">Rapunzel’s Revenge</a>" and "<a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9781599903736" target="_blank">Calamity Jack</a>," writing here for a slightly younger audience, successfully turn the typical princess genre on its ear, offering beginning readers a clever, adventurous, and self-reliant heroine who is equally at home in black or pink. Princess Magnolia’s superhero identity is top secret; Duchess Wigtower must not find out. The Duchess snoops around her castle, always looking for evidence of the princesses' imperfections. Short sentences, a simple vocabulary with the occasional challenge, a manageable length, and a near picture-book level of illustrations give this chapter book immense accessibility-- for boys and girls both.</span></div>
<a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9780316243209" target="_blank"><br /></a>
<div dir="ltr" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9780316243209" target="_blank"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 700; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Space Taxi-- Archie Takes Flight</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9780316243209" target="_blank"> </a>by Wendy Mass & Michael Brawer</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">published by Little Brown, paperback series $5.99</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.666666666666666px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">This sci-fi adventure introduces an engaging character, Archie Morningstar, who can’t yet appreciate his last name, even though ‘Morning Star’ is the nickname for the planet Venus. When the action begins, it is Take Your Kid To Work Day and Archie doesn’t know about his father’s secret identity as an intergalactic voyager who pilots a space taxi. Soon Archie himself is being tested as a navigator who can expertly spot wormholes, with the help of a furry deputy named Pockets. A zippy plot propels the reader through a galactic adventure that never overdoes it-- the surprises are gentle, and the humor is always on target for a young demographic.</span></div>
Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4898658387121458801.post-14071059748560921362015-09-09T07:53:00.002-07:002015-09-09T07:55:46.037-07:00Fall 2015 Author-Educator Events Schedule!<b style="font-weight: normal;"></b><div dir="ltr" id="docs-internal-guid-a8bc6992-b293-5c96-1cdb-08ee09b51cc9" style="line-height: 1.38; margin-bottom: 0pt; margin-top: 0pt;">
<b style="font-weight: normal;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.66px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">All of the following events are free and open to the public. They take place in our upstairs Children's Room and light refreshments are included. We provide certificates of attendance for teachers who can use these workshops for continuing education credits. To receive event announcements, and related resources, consider subscribing to our Educators Newsletter<a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/newsletters" target="_blank"> here</a>. </span></b></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.66px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong>F</strong></span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.66px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong>RIDAY, OCTOBER 2nd at 9:30am</strong></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.66px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: large;">Early Chapter Book Materials Review Session</span> <br /><strong>With Bear Pond Staff & Author Doug Wilhelm</strong> </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.66px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Learn about new books and series that will engage readers launching into chapter books that will appeal to a range of ages and appetites. Doug Wilhem (</span><a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9780985783648" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.66px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Treasure Town</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.66px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">, </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.66px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Choose Your Own Adventure) will give a short talk from the author’s perspective on creating engaging early chapter books. This two hour presentation includes light refreshments, displays of new and upcoming books, and giveaways. These are becoming our most popular events of the year. You can see notes from previous sessions: <a href="http://montpelierbearpond.blogspot.com/2014/10/notes-from-october-3rd-materials-review.html" target="_blank">Nonfiction Grades PreK-8</a> (Fall, 2014); <a href="http://montpelierbearpond.blogspot.com/2015/04/young-adult-middle-grade-fiction.html" target="_blank">Middle Grade & YA Novels</a> (Spring, 2015). </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.66px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong>SUNDAY, OCTOBER 18th at 11:30am</strong></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: large;">Reading Forts and Creative Microshelters with Deek Diedricksen</span> </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.66px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Deek Diedricksen is an expert on small homes and microshelters. His new book of photographs and designs, </span><a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9781612123530" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.66px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Microshelters</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.66px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">, covers everything from garden structures to backyard toolsheds-turned-offices to play forts. In this short presentation he will focus on structures for kids, and particularly on reading forts and spaces to inspire creativity for children. A book signing will follow. A good event for librarians, teachers, and parents. </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.66px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.66px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.66px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong>SATURDAY, OCTOBER 24th at 11:00am</strong></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: large;">Problem Solving in Stories with Nicole Griffin</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.66px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Smashie McPerter is a problem solving third grader and star of Nicole Griffin’s new series from Candlewick Press, which debuted this year with</span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.66px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9780763661458" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.66px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Smashie McPerter & The Mystery of Room 11</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.66px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">. In this workshop author, teacher and math consultant, Nicole Griffin talks about Smashie and using stories to teach problem solving skills. This workshop will focus on middle grade classrooms.</span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.66px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong>SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 7th at 11:00am</strong></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: large;">(Re)Vision with Linda Urban and Melissa Guerrette</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.66px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">Local writer Linda Urban uses her newly published middle grade novel </span><a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9780544419513" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.66px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Milo Speck, Accidental Agent</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.66px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"> </span><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.66px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">as a starting point for a workshop on classroom revision. Maine-based educator Melissa Guerrette joins Linda in this presentation and adds the perspective of a teacher working with authors in the classroom. This presentation is based on a workshop developed for the International Literacy Conference. </span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.66px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><strong>SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 14th at 11:00am</strong></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;"><span style="font-size: large;">Creating Heroes with Kekla Magoon & Will Alexander</span></span></div>
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<span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.66px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">How do you create a hero? And how do these fictional heroes affect the perspective of young readers? Vermont College of Fine Arts faculty members and award winning authors Kekla Magoon (most recently the revivor of Robin Hood through the </span><a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9781619636347" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.66px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">new Robyn Hoodlum series</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.66px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">) and Will Alexander (a 2012 National Book Award winner for </span><a href="http://www.bearpondbooks.com/book/9781442427273" style="text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #1155cc; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.66px; font-style: italic; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: underline; vertical-align: baseline;">Goblin Secrets</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent; color: black; font-family: Arial; font-size: 14.66px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: 400; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: baseline;">) present a workshop on creating heroes and how that can inform and inspire the young reader and writer. This workshop is targeted to educators working with middle grade and high school age students. </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial;">We're currently finalizing our winter & spring 2016 schedule - look for those event dates coming soon!</span></div>
</b><br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com0