Simple Saturday

Color me grateful. I have had the great honor of creating a Teacher Craft Guide for Nancy Bo Flood's incredible non-fiction picture book entitled From Sand to Stone and Back Again. Working on this project brought me back to the wonderful days in my Montessori classroom sorting through biome nomenclature cards with a wee one by my side. You can relate to the wee one, I imagine. Not the cards. Let me explain.

Nancy's prose guides the reader through a vivid, colorful, dramatic, dynamic, transformational journey depicting the life-cycle of sand. Paired with Tony Kuyper's incredible photographs, this book is lively beyond words. Sand? Stone? Lively? Flood pulls it off. Really.

While reading, I could hear boulders crashing, arroyos swishing full of water after a rain, and feel the eerie awesomeness of slot canyons and hoo doos and goblins. With the child and the biome cards, I would dramatize each concept. No additional drama is needed with From Sand to Stone and Back Again in hand. The book is just that good.

Throughout Sand to Stone, Nancy skillfully brings the reader into the story. She reminds the child that they, too, are changing. That even the smallest grain of sand has monumental transformational power! Flood found a way to both inspire the child reader while presenting a non-fictional world with passionate perfection. Bravo!

My quest was to write a Teacher Guide that would celebrate the splendor of Nancy's and Tony's fine work. To do so, I fell back upon my Montessori roots by featuring Kruper's photos in a manipulative vocabulary game. Because I, too, desire to give the child the physical, tactile, transformational experience of changing sand to stone and back again, I lead the teacher through a sequential series of wonderfully messy craft activities. (And I had  BLAST doing this!) Lastly, to give the child an opportunity to express themselves through writing, a poetic creative writing lesson serves as a wrap up.

To learn more about From Sand to Stone and Back Again, read this fabulous Cynsations blog post about Nancy. To review my Teacher Guide you may click here.

When my pal, Jennifer Ziegler, asked me if I would interested in writing a discussion guide for her hot, hot, hot YA  How Not to be Popular I agreed to do it as a fellow writer and as a friend. She told me that librarians and teachers have been begging for one. And now, after completing the discussion guide,  I see why.

This book is more than a lively read; a clever, quirky tale; a fun weekend literary romp. This book is IMPORTANT! This book can make a difference in a kid's life. How Not to be Popular is a 'must read' for any teen struggling to make sense of the complicated social hierarchy so prevalent on today's high school campuses. Can you think of a teenager who isn't?

How Not to be Popular is a story about a girl who has to move often. After attending ten different high schools, she has decided it simply hurts too much to go through the effort of developing friendships only to ultimately have to leave. She's emotionally damaged. Her solution is to become unpopular. When she moves to Austin during her senior year, instead of seeking her usual status relationships with the cheerleader/dance teams types known as the 'Bippies', she sinks the the lowest level on the social food chain; the 'bottom feeders', the losers, the 'Helping Hands'.

There is tremendous depth to this novel...layers upon layers of metaphors, symbolism, paradoxical contradition, and plenty of oxymorons! Who can refuse a tasty oxymoron? How Not to be Popular is a study of the critical aspects required to live an authentic life, one that is free, honest, truthful, and all-out fun!

This book is one that, as a teacher, I would cherish and have the students read year after year after year. Oh...the things we could discuss. Things close to their hearts. I've been privileged to witness the positive, transformative affect a book can have on a kid.  How Not to be Popular is just that kind of book!

One very important aspect of writing for children is to do so in such a way that the child feels that they are part of the story. A writer attempts to craft phrases that stem from the private place within a child's budding persona. A few good writers have achieved this delicate and difficult task and Liz Scanlon is one of them. In her latest picture book (which, in my humble opinion, will stand the test of time) Liz does more than make a child feel part of a story, she's caressed their spirit. And I will tell you why I know this to be true.

Saturday I attended her launch at BookPeople along with a ba-zillion other excited folks. During which Liz sat down on a small stool in the  middle of a pool of at least 75 wiggly, chatty little ones. And, when she began to read a true hush fell over the rug-rat crowd. She spoke slowly and smiled often, engaging in eye contact as she turned the pages. Even the adults crowded on the periphery were wide-eyed, leaning in to catch Liz's every word.

Then the magic happened!

She read, "All the world can hold quite still," then carefully turned the page to read, "Nanas, papas, cousins, kin..." and a little boy, who could contain himself no longer shouted out, "I have a Nana!" While a quiet chuckle wave rippled through the crowd, Liz found that boy's eyes, smiled and said, "You do...and she's in the book!" That boy simply beamed! From his three-year-old-ish perspective, Liz had written that book for him, about him, to him. He was central to the moment the minute she began to read, a moment made magical because of Liz's All the World, so lovingly written and delightful to behold.

One of the many traditions enjoyed/endured as a MFA student at Vermont College of Fine Arts is deciding upon a name for one's particular class. My group, as eclectically diverse as any group could ever be, decided upon naming ourselves The Cliffhangers. I have come to love the Cliffhangers as they were my own brothers and sisters. That being so, when someone in our group does something amazing, such as publishing her first picture, my pride meter registers off the chart! Such is the case for my friend Carol Brender who is currently promoting her latest publication, Winnie Finn, Worm Farmer. She graciously took the time to break away from the paparazzi to chat about her new found celebrity! Go, Carol!

Tell me about Winnie Finn.

Winnie is a girl who loves worms like crazy. She wants to win a prize for her worms at the county fair, but there's no prize for worms. Instead, she uses her worm compost to help her neighbors win prizes.

How is the book promotion going?

Winnie’s story was fun to write, and it has been well received so far by parents, teachers and reviewers alike. Yay! Before Winnie Finn, Worm Farmer came out, I dreaded the thought of a book launch and book signings. But actually, it's been kind of fun. Wherever I go, worm lovers are crawling out of the woodwork . . . so to speak. I'm amazed by how many people either have a worm farm or know someone who does.

Tell me about the inspiration for your new blog. How will this blog be structured?

Graphic design and the creative process involved with children's book covers has always interested me, and I knew that Vermont College of Fine Arts faculty member, poet and children's book author Julie Larios was interested, too. So, when Betsy Bird of the School Library Journal blog “Fuse #8” suggested having another blog exclusively about children’s book covers, I immediately contacted Julie. The result is "Jacket Knack." http://jacketknack.blogspot.com/ We alternate posting on Mondays, so every week there's something new.

What are your working on now? What are some of your other plans for the future?

I have finished several new picture books, and a YA novel about the golden age of radio. Now I'm working on a middle grade novel set in a traveling circus. Next, I think I'll tackle a sort of a steampunk story for young adults that's steeping in the back of my mind. Can't wait to get started!

Carol is a 2008 cliffhanging graduate of the MFA Program in Writing for Children and Young Adults at the Vermont College of Fine Arts. Her picture book Winnie Finn, Worm Farmer, illustrated by Ard Hoyt, was released in August, 2009. Check out her new website at http://www.carolbrendler.com/.