Great Presentations

Last Saturday, I attended a terrific conference put on by the Foundation of Children’s Books (FCB) at Lesley University.  It’s a regular event and this year it concentrated upon nonfiction.  The speakers were nonfiction all-stars including Michael Tougias talking about adapting to write for middle grade after being an adult nonfiction author, Kathy Lasky reflecting upon the evolution of the nonfiction part of her career, Jason Chin finding the narrative arc of science through words and illustrations, and Steve Sheinkin being wildly entertaining while discussing books about very serious subjects.

I was especially pleased, however, to listen to fellow I.N.K. contributor Melissa Stewart.  She appeared in the middle of the lineup, and that’s when you could hear pens scratching on notebooks.  Melissa was there to discuss “Nonfiction Books You’ll Love” from 2013 and 2014.

The way that she presented them would do any nonfiction writer proud.  She organized her info into topics that provided context to her audience.  She gave just enough description about each book to inform and create the desire for further research.  Her enthusiasm for her subject/s was infectious.  She even supplied back matter: a takeaway list of 30 books arranged in alphabetical order by title and by year.

I guess what impressed me most besides Melissa’s careful curation was the generosity of her presentation--praise, yes, but also ways we could appreciate and use the books she mentioned.  That’s why authors in the audience were writing down titles as potential mentor texts while teachers and librarians were listing books to add to their collections.  

I remember a post Melissa did a while ago, saying that Common Core is here to stay and one of the best things writers can do (if they have the time and interest) is to give teachers easy ways to use their books to teach these standards.  Then she helped us further by providing 10 ways to help educators, complete with with examples of these ideas.

During her presentation at the FCB, Melissa showed us a new idea she is using, a multimedia revision timeline that chronicles the very long road she took to finally publish her book, No Monkeys, No Chocolate.  It was a fabulous way to show students and beginning authors that effortless writing takes an enormous amount of steps and work.

Now, she has given us 11 ways to help educators.

The Illustrator's Side of the Story

Today I’m giving my slot to Sarah S. Brannen, the uber-talented illustrator of Feathers: Not Just for Flying.

Birds and feathers go together, like trees and leaves, like stars and the sky.”

It had me at hello. I read the first sentence of the manuscript that would become Feathers: Not Just for Flying, and I wanted to illustrate it more than any book that had come my way before. I love drawing natural things like rocks, moss, bones, or feathers, but I hadn’t yet had the opportunity to illustrate the things I do best in a children’s book.

Several years went by before I was able to start; Melissa had to finish the book and get a contract for it, and the publisher, Charlesbridge, had to find me—I was eagerly waiting to be found—and spend some more time finalizing details. At last, in the fall of 2011, it was time to start sketching.

Although I had been wanting to illustrate this book for years, once I read the manuscript over a few times, I realized that it was going to be an unusual challenge. Each bird discussed had two separate pieces of text, which had to be presented separately. I was convinced that I couldn’t illustrate a book about feathers without drawing actual feathers, but because of the text, it was clear that each illustration would also need to show the bird doing the action described.

And I wanted to add another set of illustrations. The similes in the book compare feathers to blankets, cushions, matador capes, fishing sinkers, etc.; I felt that it would be necessary to illustrate some of the things a young child might not be familiar with, like a matador.

So each spread had five different elements; ten, in the cases of spreads that showed a different bird on each page. I couldn’t think of how to pull it all together in a coherent design. I went for a walk, as I always do when I have a tough problem to solve. I wish I could explain how I came to the idea of a trompe l’oeil scrapbook, but the idea just burst into my head full-formed, as I walked along North Road near my house.

Actually, my first idea was that each page would be the drawer in a curio cabinet, laid out like a collection, with the words written on a background, cut out of “magazines,” scribbled on sketchbook “pages,” etc. Then the main illustration could also look like it was a photo, or a piece of art, and the feather could lie on top.

Everyone liked the idea, although it eventually changed from a cabinet into a scrapbook.

I did a lot of research to find images of birds doing the things discussed in the text. I had been picking up feathers for over three years, hoping against hope that I would someday illustrate this book. I had to spend a lot of time identifying them, and figure out how to get feathers from some of the more unusual birds. A rosy-faced lovebird owner in Iceland sent me some feathers from her pet. A scientist in New York and a nature photographer in Australia sent me high-resolution photos of the club-winged manakin and the sandgrouse, respectively. The red-tailed hawk was easy… I was mowing the lawn one day and found a wing feather in the grass next to my house.

After all the research, the art went quickly and it was a delight. I loved drawing the feathers.

Along the way, someone mentioned to me that it was illegal to possess wild bird feathers. I didn’t believe them. But I told Melissa, and we looked into it, and discovered that under the terms of the 1918 Migratory Bird Treaty, it is illegal to possess feathers from a long list of native American birds. (It is legal to possess feathers of non-native species like peacocks, lovebirds, and mute swans; domestic fowl like turkeys are also okay).

I learned to draw feathers where I found them, and I’ve actually done a series of drawings of feathers on rocks, or sand, which turned out to add an interesting layer to the art.

However, the whole idea of the book was to encourage children to make a scrapbook of natural things, to study and learn. Obviously we couldn’t recommend that children engage in an illegal activity! The publisher talked to the Department of Fish and Wildlife and was told that although enforcing this aspect of the act was not a high priority, that it is illegal to possess the feathers of any bird on the list.

It may sound absurd, but when the law was enacted, many species were threatened by the fashion of wearing bird wings and feathers in hats, and egg collecting was very popular. Although picking up a feather a bird has dropped doesn’t harm the bird, there is no way to prove where you got a feather once it’s in your possession. So it does make sense, once you think about it.

Ultimately, it was decided to remove the tape which showed the feathers being mounted in the book. The scrapbook look remains, and the illustrations of the feathers accompany the illustrations rather than being intrinsically part of them. We had a slight story idea that was cut—there had been an illustration of a child holding the scrapbook on the original title page, and it was dropped.

It was a long, labor-intensive, complicated process, and the book was published over five years after I first saw the manuscript and fell in love with it. I’m very proud of how it turned out, and I can’t wait to share it with the world.

 

Out and About with INK Authors

NEW BOOKS

BEYOND MAGENTA: TRANSGENDER TEENS SPEAK OUT by Susan Kuklin (Candlewick)

FEATHERS: NOT JUST FOR FLYING, by Melissa Stewart, ill. by Sarah S. Brannen (Charlesbridge)

MUMBET’S DECLARATION OF INDEPENDENCE by Gretchen Woelfle, ill. by Alix Delinois (Carolrhoda)

AWARDS

Sibert Honor Book

Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan, The Mad Potter: George E. Ohr, Eccentric Genius

Finalists for the Cook Prize for the Best STEM Picture Book:

Deborah Heiligman, The Boy Who Loved Math

Melissa Stewart, No Monkeys, No Chocolate

Finalist YALSA award for Excellence in NF for YA

Tanya Lee Stone, Courage Has No Color: The True Story of the Triple Nickles, America’s First Black Paratroopers

ALA Notable Books 2014

Jan Greenberg and Sandra Jordan, The Mad Potter: George E. Ohr, Eccentric Genius

Deborah Heiligman, The Boy Who Loved Math: The Improbable Life of Paul Erdös

Elizabeth Rusch, Eruption!:  Volcanoes and the Science of Saving Lives

April Pulley Sayre, ill. Steve Jenkins, Eat Like a Bear

Steve Sheinkin, Lincoln's Grave Robbers

Tanya Lee Stone, Courage Has No Color: The True Story of the Triple Nickles, America's First Black Paratroopers

  

EVENTS

Friday, February 7, Cheryl Harness will be speaking on “Creating Books for Young TimeTravelers” in Denver at the Colorado Council of the International Reading Association.

Saturday, February 8, Kelly Hall Milner, along with Kathleen Krull and Cindy Jenson-Elliott will address “Nonfiction v Common Core” at the California School Library Association Conference in San Diego.

Same day, same place, Gretchen Woelfle and Alexis O’Neill will talk about “Turning History into Story.”

Common Core Care Package: 10 Ways Authors Can Help Educators

Common Core is in the news almost daily. A lot of people don’t like the new standards, or at least the standardized testing that comes along with them. But the fact is that CCSS has been adopted by most of America, so teachers have to address the new standards regardless of the political frenzy swirling all around them.

So the best thing we can do as authors of both fiction and nonfiction is help them. Throughout October, INK bloggers wrote posts about the new standards and many of us suggested ideas for using our books and/or books we admire to support the standards.

Today, I thought I’d share some general strategies for authors who would like to guide educators in using their books to meet the Common Core standards. I'm not sure any author would have time to do them all, but pick one or two and dig in. It will make a difference.

1. Write discussion questions that help students identify a book’s main idea and key details.

Jane Yolen and Heidi Stemple

 

 

2. Develop a teacher’s guide with activities that help students build vocabulary; understand connections and relationships between key ideas, events, or individuals in a book; and examine a book’s structure.

David La Rochelle

3. Offer writers’ workshops that focus on such topics as structure, voice, and word choice.

Barbara O'Connor

4. Write blog posts that describe your intentions as you wrote a specific book.



Jeannine Atkins

 

5. Write blog posts, create videos, or develop school visit programs that deconstruct specific aspects of your writing and/or illustrating process.

Lita Judge

6. If you write picture books or photo-illustrated books, write blog posts, create videos, or develop school visits or classroom materials that highlight the connection between pictures and words in your books.

Steve Jenkins

7. Speak at local and national conferences for teachers and librarians about specific aspects of writing craft.

 

8. Develop worksheets and visual aids that educators can use to teach specific aspects of writing craft.

 

9. Create lists of fiction and nonfiction titles that have a connection to your book, so students can compare the texts.

 

10. Provide links to related media on your website, so students can compare them to your book.

Loree Griffin Burns

Do you have other ideas about how authors can help educators address the goals of Common Core? I’d love to hear them. If we all work together, we can give teachers the tools they need to thrive in the age of Common Core.

 

Nonfiction, November, New England

Autumn in New England. The words conjure images of colorful foliage, frost-covered fields, and pumpkins. But this year autumn is extra special for New Englanders who are passionate about children’s books because two of the biggest conferences of the year are taking place here.

This is the first time AASL—the American Association of School Librarians—has ever held its bi-annual conference in New England. It will take place at the Connecticut Convention Center, and many of us INKers will be presenting. Here’s a run down:

Friday, November 15, 8:00 a.m. - 9:15 a.m.
Authors Who Skype
With rising travel costs and shrinking budgets, schools are experimenting with ways to connect authors through Skype and other video conferencing.

Presenter(s):
Laura Given, Moderator
Laurel Snyder, Author
Jarrett Krosoczka, Author
Melissa Stewart, Author
A.S. King, Author
Vicki Cobb, Author

Friday, November 15, 1:00 p.m. - 2:15 p.m. Exploring Scientists at Work
Join authors, a science teacher, and an editor to discuss—with a special emphasis on meeting the new CCSS—how stories about scientists at work can meet the needs of children, school librarians, and teachers. Participants are encouraged to come prepared to share their own ideas too.

Presenter(s):
Vicki Cobb, Moderator
Pamela S. Turner, Author
Loree Griffin Burns, Author
Rebecca Johnson, Author
Carol Hinz, Editor
Jill Zangerl, Science Teacher

Friday, November 15, 1:00 p.m. - 2:15 p.m.
The New Nonfiction: Using Award-Winning Children's Books to Support CCSS
Author-educator Melissa Stewart will introduce a broad range of recently published children's nonfiction books that combine engaging text with innovative art and design in ways that delight—as well as inform—young readers. These titles have been paired with fun, effective activities and teaching strategies that directly address the goals of CCSS RIT #1–9. Attendees go home with a handout that lists more than 70 award-winning titles and with a flashdrive full of CCSS-related teaching ideas.

Presenter(s):
Melissa Stewart, Children's Book Author 

Saturday, November 16, 8:00 a.m. - 9:15 a.m.
Nonfiction and the CCSS
Authors of nonfiction discuss how adoption of the CCSS has impacted their creative process—or has it?

Presenter(s):
Daryl Grabarek, Moderator
Steve Sheinkin, Author
Meghan McCarthy, Author
Tonya Bolden, Author
Robert Burliegh, Author

 

Saturday, November 16, 10:15 a.m. - 11:30 a.m.
Biographies through Picture Books: A Focus on the CCSS 
Picture-book biographies draw readers into exploring a slice of history. Through both words and images, authors can share primary sources with young audiences.

Presenter(s):
Mary Ann Cappiello, Moderator
Melissa Sweet, Author
Jennifer Bryant, Author
Doreen Rappaport, Author
Matt Tavaras, Author
Andrea Davis Pinkney, Author

All of the authors will be signing books at their publishers’ booths and/or the AASL Authors’ Alley.

 

Just one week later, NCTE—the National Council of Teachers of English—will hold their annual conference at the Hynes Convention Center in Boston. And once again, INKers will be there in full force.

Pre-NCTE Event
Thursday, November 21, 7:00 p.m.
Evelyn M. Finnegan Children's Literature Lecture
Marrian Theater, Lesley University Doble Campus,34 Mellen St., Cambridge, MA 02138

Friday, November 22, 11:00 AM - 12:15 PM

Passion! Plot! Primary Sources!
Three notable authors of nonfiction for young readers (ages 6-young adult) reveal their secrets for bringing history to life, sharing methods teachers can use to enhance their students’ writing skills while addressing Common Core principles. Two teachers of children’s literature moderate and offer criteria for selecting stellar nonfiction

Presenter(s): 
Sandip LeeAnne Wilson, Husson University, Bangor, Maine
Marfe Ferguson Delano, Author
Marc Tyler Nobleman, Author
Rosalyn Schanzer, Author-Illustrator
Sue Parsons, Oklahoma State University, Stillwater

Friday, November 22, 12:30-1:45 PM

Hidden Pleasures: (Re)defining Nonfiction

Authors Marc Aronson, Deborah Heiligman, Steve Sheinkin, and Tanya Lee Stone highlight the hidden or dismissed pleasures of nonfiction: pleasures of telling story, revealing history, exposing new knowledge; pleasures of shaping narrative, unveiling lives, discovering images, experimenting with form. Teacher Erica Shipow accents the pleasures of reading and learning with nonfiction.

Presenter(s):
William Kemp, New York University, New York
Mark Aronson, Author/Rutgers University
Deborah Heiligman, Author

Steve Sheinkin, Author
Erica Shipow, Boston Collegiate Charter School

Tanya Lee Stone, Author

Cathryn Mercier, Center for the Study of Children's Literature

 

Saturday, November 23, Elementary Section Luncheon, 12:30-2:30

Redefining Literacy

Presenter(s):
Steve Jenkins, Author-Illustrator

During this luncheon, an author is seated at each table. Barbara Kerley, Elizabeth Rusch, and Melissa Stewart will be among the authors present.

Saturday, November 23, 4:15-5:30 PM
Reflecting on the Writing Process: Orbis Pictus Authors Share Their Journeys Authors of the Orbis Pictus award and honor books for 2013 will each share their writing journey and craft used in the creation of their nonfiction works. This session will provide participants with knowledge of the research and writing processes used in writing nonfiction. Information from this session may be used with students in classrooms.

Presenter(s):
Lisa Morris-Wilkey, Casa Grande Union High School, Arizona
Deborah Thompson, The College of New Jersey, Ewing
Fran Wilson, Madeira City Schools, Cincinnati, Ohio
Loree Griffin Burns, Author

Gerard DuBois, Author
Barbara Kerley, Author
Cynthia Levinson, Author 
Elizabeth Rusch, Author
Leda Schubert, Author

Sunday, November 24, 8:30-9:45 AM

Framing Facts: How Nonfiction Writers are (Re)Inventing Structure
Award-winning children’s nonfiction authors Leslie Bulion, Cynthia Levinson, Susan E. Goodman, Steve Sheinkin, and Melissa Stewart discuss the critical role of structure in their own writing across nonfiction genres, and its application to Common Core and NCTE/IRA Standards. Questions and dialogue with audience included.

Presenter(s): 
Leslie Bulion, Author

Susan E. Goodman, Author
Cynthia Levinson, Author
Steve Sheinkin, Author
Melissa Stewart, Author

All of the authors will be signing books at their publishers’ booths and/or Anderson’s Bookstore.

Each year, the Assembly on Literature for Adolescents of the NCTE (ALAN) has a post-conference event, and this year it includes a nonfiction panel that you won’t want to miss.

Tuesday, November 26, 9:10 – 9:45 AM      

Nonfiction Panel

Presenter(s): 
Anne McLeod, Moderator

Blaine Harden, Author

Beth Kephart, Author

Tanya Lee Stone, Author

Last, but not least, there is one big November conference that apparently didn’t get the memo that the nation’s kidlit lovers should head eat this year. NCSS—the National Council of Social Studies—will take place at the Cervantes Convention Center in St. Louis.

We are very proud that our own Ann Bausum will be honored with the 2013 Carter G. Woodson Award. She and the two honor winners will be speaking here:

Saturday, November 23, 2013, 2:45 p.m.

2013 Carter G. Woodson Award and Honor Books Author Panel
Room 260

What a great month November will be!

Common Core: Main Points & Key Ideas

Since reading standards can be such a drag, I’ve come up with some easy-to-read tables that make them seem almost friendly. Here’s an example:

Key Ideas and Details #1
Kindergarten	Grade 1	Grade 2
With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a text.	Ask and answer questions about key details in a text.	Ask and answer such questions to demonstrate understanding of key details in a text.
Grade 3	Grade 4	Grade 5
Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers.	Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.	Quote accurately from a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.

Key Ideas and Details #2
Kindergarten	Grade 1	Grade 2
With prompting and support, identify the main topic and retell key details of a text.	Identify the main topic and retell key details of a text.	Identify the main topic of a multi-paragraph text as well as the focus of specific paragraphs within the text.
Grade 3	Grade 4	Grade 5
Determine the main idea of a text; recount the key details and explain how they support the main idea.	Determine the main idea of a text and explain how it is supported by key details; summarize the text.	Determine two or more main ideas of a text and explain how they are supported by key details; summarize the text.

You can find similar tables for the other K-5 Reading Informational Text (RI) standards on my pinterest page. I like them because they show how skills scaffold from one grade level to the next.

The tables above highlight the first two Common Core for ELA RI standards. Basically, they say that after reading a nonfiction book, your kiddos should be able to identify the main topic and key details in of the text.

This certainly isn’t a new idea. In fact, it’s pretty basic. What’s the point of reading if you don’t understand or remember the content? But as we know, this isn’t always easy for kids, especially beginning readers.

One great way to help students build their fluency and comprehension is Reading Buddies. You can find a comprehensive article about the benefits of programs with multi-age reading partners here, but here's my special twist: Instead of using books at the younger child’s reading level, use books with layered text.

 

The simpler text is perfect for the young child, and the more complex text will challenge the older child. So both students are learning. And after they finish reading a spread, they can discuss the art and content—a practice that will certainly address CCSS for ELA RI #1 and #2.

My new book No Monkeys, No Chocolate is perfect for this kind of Reading Buddies program. Here are some other books with layered text. They are also good choices for a Reading Buddies program in which both students participate fully.

Actual Size by Steve Jenkins

Beaks by Sneed B. Collard (illus. by Robin Brickman)

The Bumblebee Queen by April Pulley Sayre (illus Patricia J. Wynne)

A Butterfly is Patient by Diana Hutts Aston (illus. Sylvia Long)

An Egg is Quiet by Diana Hutts Aston (illus. Sylvia Long)

Here Come the Humpbacks! by April Pulley Sayre (illus. Jamie Hogan)

Meet the Howlers by April Pulley Sayre (illus. Woody Miller)

Move! by Steve Jenkins & Robin Page

My First Day by Steve Jenkins & Robin Page

A Place for Bats by Melissa Stewart (illus by Higgins Bond)

A Place for Birds by Melissa Stewart (illus by Higgins Bond)

A Place for Butterflies by Melissa Stewart (illus by Higgins Bond)

A Place for Fish by Melissa Stewart (illus by Higgins Bond)

A Place for Frogs by Melissa Stewart (illus by Higgins Bond)

A Place for Turtles by Melissa Stewart (illus by Higgins Bond)

Prehistoric Actual Size by Steve Jenkins

A Rock Is Lively by Diana Hutts Aston (illus. Sylvia Long)

A Seed is Sleepy by Diana Hutts Aston (illus. Sylvia Long)

Snowflake Bentley by Jacqueline Briggs Martin (illus. by Mary Azarian)

What Do You Do with a Tail Like This? by Steve Jenkins & Robin Page

When the Wolves Returned  by Dorothy Hinshaw Patent (photos Dan and Cassie Hartman)

Wings by Sneed B. Collard (illus. by Robin Brickman)