Ancient Themes

Recently, I had the pleasure of hearing Sebastian Junger speak as part of the Portland Arts and Lectures series.  Junger is the author of several nonfiction titles, including The Perfect Storm. 

On this particular evening, he spoke about war.  Between 2007-2008, Junger and photographer Tim Hetherington embedded with an American infantry platoon in the Korangal Valley in Afghanistan, during a period of intense fighting.  (In addition to his book War, Junger and Hetherington made the documentary “Restrepo” about the soldiers’ experiences during that time.) 

During his lecture, he posed the question, Why do we read books and watch movies about war?  After all (and here I am paraphrasing—Mr. Junger is far more eloquent), war is awful—full of pain and suffering, senseless death and destruction.  So why would we sit in a comfortable chair and ‘go there,’ willingly?

We go, Junger says, because war taps into our most basic emotions, the most ancient themes of human existence—themes such as loyalty, courage, love, betrayal, fear, cowardice, and heroism.  We go because we are hungry to connect with those emotions—hungry to better understand those themes—through story.  And so, we will spend $12 to sit through a movie, or spend many, many hours reading a book, about war.

Theme is something I think about a lot when looking at a piece of writing (be it mine or someone else’s.)  Theme is the ‘so what?’ of a story, the ‘why should I care?’  Theme is the bigger, more universal truth that the story dramatizes.  Theme is what resonates long after you have shut a book and put it back on your shelf.  We speak of themes a lot when discussing novels.  I believe, however, that themes are an integral part of nonfiction writing, as well.

The best nonfiction deepens our understanding of the world.  And when we are lucky, our understanding of ourselves in the process.

Jan Interviews Bravo's Andy Cohen

Andy Cohen is Bravo TV’s executive vice-president of programming and development and the mastermind of such hits as Top Chef and the Real Housewives franchise. He also hosts a fast-moving, outspoken talk show Watch What Happens. What is wonderful about Andy is that, despite his success and friendships with “stars,” he is still the same funny, friendly kid who hung out at our house in St. Louis with our daughter Jackie, loves his family (especially his Mom), and keeps up with all of us. Andy grew up knowing he was gay and keeping it a secret until his senior year at college. His new memoir Most Talkative: Stories from the front lines of pop culture tells that story, but also chronicles his meteoric rise in the world of T.V.

As a student at Boston University, Andy began to follow his dream to be a journalist. A hilarious chapter describes a hard won interview for the school newspaper with his all time idol Susan Lucci. Most Talkative gives a candid, inside view of life in television, as well as a poignant and often funny account of his life as a teenager in the Midwest. Several of us, including Sue Macy, Karen Romano Young, Cheryl Harness, Susan E. Goodman, and Gretchen Woelfle, have written posts about the need for nonfiction books for kids about growing up gay in America. I hope Andy Cohen’s memoir will fill this gap.

Jan: The text reads just the way you talk- funny, honest, anecdotal and fast-moving. Most Talkative is an apt title. How did you come to it?

Andy: I WAS VOTED MOST TALKATIVE IN HIGH SCHOOL AND IT SEEMED SUCH AN APT TITLE WHEN I LOOKED BACK AT MY LIFE AND HOW MY MOUTH HAS NOT ONLY GOTTEN ME IN A TREMENDOUS AMOUNT OF TROUBLE OVER THE YEARS, BUT HAS ALSO HELPED ME ACHIEVE MY PROFESSIONAL DREAMS.

Jan: Your descriptions of growing up in St. Louis were so vivid and immediate. Did you keep a journal all those years?

Andy: I KEPT JOURNALS FROM 1987 THROUGH '98, SO THIS WAS AFTER I'D GRADUATED HIGH SCHOOL BUT CERTAINLY DURING THE PERIOD WHEN I WAS WRESTLING WITH COMING OUT OF THE CLOSET AND THEN THE AFTERMATH OF THAT DECISION. THE JOURNALS WERE PAINFUL TO READ - AS THEY ALL CAN BE - BUT PROVIDED ME WITH SOME VERY SPECIFIC DETAILS ABOUT MY FEARS ABOUT COMING OUT, AS WELL AS SOME HILARIOUS COLOR COMMENTARY DURING MY TIME AT CBS NEWS.
Jan: You are a people person. You are known as a TV talk show host and you appear as a guest on other interview shows. As a writer myself, I know how much alone time it takes to write a book. Was writing the memoir difficult for you to do in terms of time, concentration, or the writing process?

Andy: WRITING THIS BOOK WAS SUCH A CHALLENGING AND ENERGIZING EXPERIENCE. I HAVE NEVER FELT MORE ACCOMPLISHED ABOUT ANYTHING I'VE DONE IN MY LIFE THAN I DO ABOUT THE BOOK. I AM VERY DEADLINE ORIENTED, AND I HAD A TIGHT, ESSENTIALLY FOUR MONTH DEADLINE FOR THIS ENTIRE BOOK TO BE WRITTEN AND EDITED. (I STARTED IN LATE AUGUST AND IT WAS DUE JAN 1.) PLUS I HAVE TWO JOBS (EVP OF DEVELOPMENT AND PRODUCTION AT BRAVO AS WELL AS HOSTING 'WWHL'). I CAN'T BELIEVE I DID IT BUT I SPENT EVERY MINUTE THAT I WASN'T WORKING - AND MOST ESPECIALLY EVERY SINGLE WEEKEND NONSTOP - WRITING NEW PAGES AND EMAILING CHAPTERS IN VARIOUS STAGES OF EDIT BACK AND FORTH TO MY PHENOMINAL EDITOR AT HOLT, GILLIAN BLAKE. I ALSO SPENT 30-60 MINUTES DAILY ON THE PHONE WITH GILLIAN, USUALLY FIRST THING IN THE MORNING, TALKING ABOUT EVERYTHING RELATED TO THE BOOK - NEW IDEAS, THEMES THAT WE WERE SEEING ABOUT MY LIFE, DIFFERENT WAYS TO TELL MY STORY, HOW TO CONNECT THE PUZZLE PIECES OF MY LIFE IN A WAY THAT WAS FUN FOR THE READER. THE TWO THINGS IN MY FAVOR WERE THAT I KNEW EXACTLY WHAT STORIES I WANTED TO TELL, AND I FEEL CONFIDENT WITH MY VOICE AS A WRITER, AND I'M NOT AFRAID TO WRITE. I JUST KNEW I HAD TO GET IT DONE, THAT I HAD TO BE HAPPY WITH IT, AND THAT I WOULD SUCCEED. AND I DID!

Jan: The reason I wanted to interview you for I.N.K. about Most Talkative is that I think this is a crossover book. It will appeal to adults but junior high and high school kids will find it interesting, amusing and moving, as well. What is the most significant message you might hope kids will get from reading your book?

Andy: I THINK THE BIGGEST MESSAGE, WHETHER IT'S SAID DIRECTLY OR JUST INFERRED, IS TO BE YOURSELF AND FOLLOW YOUR PASSION. I HAVE BEEN LUCKY ENOUGH TO KNOW FROM A YOUNG AGE THAT I WANTED TO WORK IN TV, AND THIS IS ON ONE HAND A HOW-TO OF HOW I DID THAT, BUT ALSO A ROAD MAP OF MISTAKES I MADE ALONG THE WAY. I WAS ALWAYS A BIT FEARLESS, FOR BETTER OR WORSE, AND THAT SEEMS TO HAVE WORKED FOR ME. I HOPE PEOPLE FIND IT FUN AND FUNNY, AND ALSO REALIZE IT TAKES A LOT OF HARD WORK AND CONFIDENCE TO GET WHERE YOU WANT TO BE.

Jan: Writing a memoir can be a tricky business. I don’t mean the kind of exaggeration and outright lying that sometimes occurs in so-called memoirs. I’m talking about the challenge to make the work authentic, as well as compelling. Reading Andy’s memoir, I couldn’t help noting that even when the writer tries to give an honest account of events in his/her life, memory can be an unreliable witness. Several of the incidents he describes I am familiar with, but, from my point of view, they happened quite differently. To read about myself from Andy’s perspective was difficult. I wanted to shout, ”Hey wait a minute. It didn’t happen this way.” That said, Most Talkative is engaging and heartfelt, a fun read that offers many insights, not only for Andy’s many fans but also for young readers.

Notes From the Field

I've been away on a speaking jag recently and not near my computer (and thus out of touch -- not that anyone noticed, of course). Two of the places I spoke at were the Pennsylvania School Librarian Association in Hershey and IRA in Chicago. I went asking how the changes in the CC would alter their respective worlds and came away without much information. Yes, numerous publishers, packages, and whatevers had signs up saying they already produced materials compatable with the changes, knew everything that would be happening regarding the CC, and inviting folk to chat them up. And I did meet a few people who were very enthusiastic and knowledgeable about the changes. Susan Bartle, who oversees scads of libraries in NY, was particularly eloquent on the subject (and set a record for purchasing somewhere between 40 and 60 of my Scholastic books to give to various librarians she works with!!!). But what about the rank and file librarians and teachers?*
   * Most had a wait and see approach. No one had yet told them specifically what would be happening, so they were moving forward cautiously, essentially expecting a change but not initiating one on their own. One teacher did say she was moving the teaching of nonfiction from the end of her school year to the beginning (which I saw as an amazing and positive move). Others cited budget cuts as a problem (they couldn't just revamp what they do without a certain amount of expense and administrative review, so, while positive about the chnages and hoping they come about, they were sitting tight). *
   * What was heartening was the interest in how we put our books together. At IRA I was on a panel with Sneed Collard III, who spoke eloquently and with great authority about his work and it's use in the classroom; my talk was much more anecdotal in nature. But I think it fair to say that we both wanted to communicate a similar message -- that we do more than simply provide information in our texts, that they are works of art where we think about, worry over, re-work and fret about every word we write, every image and caption, everything. Of course, neither of us said that "work of art" phrase; we just painted a picture of how we work and hoped the audience would make that connection (and, in some small way, understand that what we do is as creative as, say, writing a novel). Maybe I should have been bolder and just said it or suggested it. I'm not sure. I'm not big on self-promotion so that sort of proclamation seems a bit unseemly to me. What was interesting and positve were the many librarians and teachers who came up to me and asked nuts and bolts questions (where do I get ideas, how long does the research take, where do you find information, etc.) so they could go back to tell their kids. The world is changing, sometimes startlingly quickly, sometimes grindingly slowly, but at the center is an interest in our process. And that I find very comforting.*
*
   P.S. Sorry, I couldn't figure out how to create paragraphs.

Happy National Bike Month!

Cornelia Neal, of the Office of Transportation of the Royal Netherlands Embassy in Washington, D.C., was so determined to give her son the experience of riding his bike to school despite the stream of cars on the capital’s roadways that she came up with a creative solution. She regularly piled her son and his bike into her car, drove him to a park en route, dropped him off to cycle across the park, and then picked him up and drove him the rest of the way to school. Neal grew up in the bike-friendly Netherlands, where, she says, “Every kid goes to school on a bike.” She wanted her son to have the same experience, despite his living in Washington.

Neal told her story as a panelist at the first-ever National Women Cycling Forum in Washington on March 20. The purpose of the forum was to explore ways to encourage more women in the United States to ride bicycles. (A 2009 study by the Association of Pedestrian and Bicycle Professionals showed that only 24 percent of bike trips in this country are taken by women, compared with 55 percent of the bike trips in the Netherlands.) I was honored to be invited to start things off by highlighting the impact of cycling on women during the 1890s bicycle revolution.

I bring this up now because May is National Bike Month, so designated by the League of American Wheelmen (now the League of American Bicyclists) in 1956. This year, specific dates within the month are designated as the first-ever Bike to School Day (May 9), Bike to Work Week (May 14-18), and Bike to Work Day (May 18). Internet resources abound in support of these efforts, making it possible to map the best cycling routes, enter to win contests (with prizes such as bike racks for your school), and register or find events in your community.

On Bike to Work Day, I’ll be in Washington, DC, where the publisher of Wheels of Change, National Geographic, will be one of the “pit stops” for the 11,000 or more area cyclists expected to take part. It will be fun to be involved in this celebration of the bicycle, some 120 years after the two-wheeler first took America by storm. Today, more and more communities are developing the infrastructure to promote safe cycling and more people are turning to the bicycle as an economical, ecological, and healthy means of transportation. I admit that I have a particular affection for this durable, revolutionary invention of the Gilded Age, and I’m glad to see that its place in society continues to grow.

Happy National Bike Month! Now get out and ride!

There's a Sea-Change Coming to Education

One person I’ve gotten to know well and admire this year is Dr. Myra Zarnowski, Professor of Children’s Literature at Queens College School of Education, part of the City University of NY.  Myra specializes in teaching undergraduate and graduate students how to teach nonfiction literature in the classroom.  She has studied the books written by iNK authors and she is an expert on the Common Core Standards, now the new educational objectives adopted by 47 states.  Recently she gave a webinar for Capstone,a leading educational publisher, with Marc Aronson and Mary Ann Cappiello about how to meet Common Core Standards using  various strategies and children’s nonfiction.  Usually Myra interviews authors (including moi) but today, I thought I’d turn the tables and interview her.

Myra, Can you explain, in a nutshell, what the Common Core Standards are about and how they will change the educational culture in this country?

The stated goal of the CCSS is to prepare students to be college and career ready. To get the skills they need, students in every grade will be spending more time reading nonfiction literature and thoughtfully responding to it—50% of all reading in elementary school and 70% in high school. That’s the exciting part.  Nonfiction is going to be central to much of what we do. Teachers at all levels will be using more nonfiction, and they will be using it to study selected topics in depth. It is our green light to dig deeply into topics in math, science, and history. We’ll be doing some close reading--comparing, integrating, synthesizing, and evaluating books and related materials. We’ll be looking at the craft of writing as well as the content.  Above all, we’ll be supporting students as they develop their own evidence-based ideas.

What are some of the problems teachers articulate about using children’s nonfiction in the classroom?

The biggest problem teachers talk about is that they don’t know nonfiction books.  As they strive to provide a better balance between fiction and nonfiction in their classes, teachers will be on the lookout for quality nonfiction.  That means that we all have to do our part to help teachers find the books they need. The curriculum isn’t going away. Teachers will still be teaching math, science, and social studies. So what they need is a means of finding nonfiction literature that can enhance what they are already doing.  They also need to understand the wide range of formats offered by nonfiction literature and its unique features. The iNK website is clearly a major “go-to” place to find this information.

Another problem is envisioning what teaching will be like as we incorporate the CCSS. There will be changes in how we teach as we focus on meeting these new standards. The standards call for finding key ideas and details, examining the craft and structure of nonfiction, and integrating knowledge and ideas from several sources. We will be doing this at all grade levels, K-12. For many of us, that will mean rethinking and redesigning what we do.  I think these changes will be exciting and productive, but like any change it will take getting used to.

Finally, some teachers think that nonfiction is too hard for their students. That’s because we have a history of believing that narrative is easier to understand than information. That’s wrong on two counts. First, nonfiction is as understandable as fiction. Second, much nonfiction is narrative. It tells a story, but the story must be true. Even nonfiction that doesn’t tell a story is understandable when it is well written and has quality features like descriptive details, clear organization, an enthusiastic voice, and an appealing design. We teachers need to “jump in” and start using quality nonfiction and simply watch our students’ reactions.

What are some of your favorite strategies using our books?  Can you give some specific example from iNK authors?

Don’t get me started! Here’s a sampling of strategies I use:

1. This year I am working with 5 first grade teachers to study animal size and shape. What better way to begin than using Steve Jenkins’ books What Can You Do With a Tail Like This? and Actual Size. We used the first book to tap into how the author structured the information. We constructed a “Question-Answer-Detail” (QAD) chart to collect information about how animals use their noses, tails, eyes, feet, and mouths. The author so clearly organized the information that collecting this information was easy. Then it was available to use for other purposes.

We used both books as the basis for a bunch of math activities. We made a Venn diagram comparing similarities and difference between the ways in which humans and animals use their noses, ears, eyes, feet, and mouths. We made up math problems based on animals’ weights and lengths and constructed graphs. We even made riddles about animals.

2.       I always use Andrea Warren’s books—especially Orphan Train Rider: One Boy’s True Story—to show my college students how an author can provide background information and create strong feelings of empathy and emotion in readers. This book about how Lee Nailling and his brother  were placed in an orphanage and later rode the orphan train to find homes in Texas truly grabs not only my undergrads who are about to become teachers, it grabs their students as well. The structure is very supportive of young learners. One chapter tells the specific story of Lee Nailling, and the next chapter gives historical background information. The chapters alternate throughout the book. At the end of the book, you are both informed and emotionally hooked on this topic!

I use Orphan Train Rider as a basis of literature circles. I divide my students into groups of four or five to discuss the book. They each try out a discussion role: Big Idea Booster (the reader reports on the main idea), Fantastic Fact Finder (the reader tells about interesting facts and why she selected them), Photo Picker (the reader selects and discusses several photos), Setting Spotter (the reader discusses descriptions of time and place), and Discussion Director (the reader raises question she wants to discuss). By participating in a literature circle, my students experience what they can then do with their students.

3. I use two books by different authors—for example, The Remarkable Benjamin Franklin by Cheryl Harness and How Ben Franklin Stole the Lightening by Rosalyn Schanzer—to show how different authors deal with the same subject. This strategy is helps students see that different historical accounts are really different.

What do you see is the role of the school media specialist in helping teachers?

The role of the school media specialist is crucial. Teachers and librarians are natural allies and need to work together as we figure out how to incorporate the CCSS. Each person brings a different set of skills to the table. Media specialists know about nonfiction books and a range of supporting materials like primary source documents that we need to develop quality instruction.  They are experts at finding the material we need. Media specialists can play a central role in helping us put together lessons and units. Teachers, in turn, know their students—their strengths, needs, and strong interests. They also know the curriculum they need to teach. Together teachers and media specialists are a strong team.

Do you have any suggestions for us authors about our roles in this transition?

Authors can really help us during this time of transition and beyond. A major contribution authors can make is by being more transparent about the processes you use to write your books. Even though I know that you are constantly researching; thinking; and sifting and shaping information, most students who read your books don’t. You can help us by unpacking your process of writing.  How do you find the topics you write about? What makes you passionate about a topic? What do you do to investigate?  Once you find your information, how do you shape it? Do you work with an editor? How?  It would be great if we could learn more about your decision making.

Authors can also tell us more about their books. Specifically, since we are going to be looking at key ideas and details, craft and structure, and integration of ideas, it would help if you could discuss those features specifically in terms of your books. We are also going to be having our students consider an author’s point of view. How is your point of view revealed in your books? We are going to be doing more informative and argumentative writing. Tell us how you introduce ideas and concepts to your readers. Tell us how you make claims and write original interpretations and then back them up with evidence. This would really be helpful.

We are trying to help students communicate clearly. Since that is what you do, we are really interested in knowing how you do it.  Many of you give us this information in author’s notes. Keep on doing this. It’s extraordinarily helpful. 

IF YOU ARE NOT A PICTURE BOOK JUNKIE FREAKAZOID LIKE ME, DON’T READ THIS ARTICLE. REALLY.

Oh.  Hello, remaining freakazoids.
 
Check out these blockbuster award-winning best-selling top-flight PICTURE BOOKS for short people:  Don’t let the Pigeon Drive the Bus is funny. So are Knuffle Bunny, The Stinky Cheese Man and other Fairly Stupid Tales, The Stupids Step Out, The Beast of Monsieur Racine, I Want My Hat Back, and Everything on It. Those 3 miniature females named Olivia, Madeline, and Eloise are funny too.  And Click, Clack, Moo, Joseph had a Little Overcoat, Frog and Toad are Friends, It Could Always be Worse, and everything Dr. Seuss ever wrote in his entire life are even funnier.  

 
Funny is fun.  I love funny…..who doesn’t?  But do you notice something weird about this list? Of course you do.  These hilarious picture book blockbusters are all FICTION! I know there must be funny blockbuster roll-on-the-floor-laughing nonfiction picture books out there, but where ARE they? 

 
Well, let me see….John, Paul, George & Ben is funny, and at the end it tells you which parts were fiction and which parts were nonfiction.  Does that count?  So You Want to Be President? is funny too.  Can you guys think of any other hilarious blockbuster nonfiction picture books that I left out?  I hope so. True stuff doesn’t have to be all solemn and serious and sedate, you know.

 So let's make this post short and sweet.  Of course the truth ain't always funny; far from it. And of course picture books don’t always have to be funny either, any more than they have to be all pompous and self-important. But funny stuff is all around us everywhere we look.  It's good for our health.  I even think the daily news is funny after I stop crying about it.  (Or maybe all the stuff they say in the news is fictional anyway.)  Oh well.  Funny can work in nonfiction.  I'm sure of it.  So why not write more of it? 

 
Well truth be told, I personally try to plunk funny pictures and stories into my books all the time, and so do some of our other INK authors, even when our main topics are serious.  A little humor that just so happens to be true can bring real people and events to life, and lots of famous people in books had a great sense of humor or had funny things happen to them.   But a little humor may not be enough.  I’m seriously contemplating making a 100% funny nonfiction picture book so that I can be seriously funny if that's possible....who can say?  And what it will be about I have no idea. I can't wait!!!

One LIne & More - In Two Parts

Part I - One Line

In the early 1700's, Richard "Beau" Nash, a professional gambler, dandy, and all-around bon vivant, left London and moved to Bath. He was instrumental in turning the city into a sixteenth century East Hampton, where A-list society folks, including the royals, could party the night away. At one point Nash was appointed "Master of Ceremonies," whatever that means, and he went about laying down pretty strict rules for social engagement. 

I learned about Nash last month while on a city walking tour in Bath, still a prosperous spa town known for its Roman bath and Jane Austen. Our guide, a local woman with infinite energy and charm, was chockablock filled with information about the scandalous lives of its leading citizens, especially "Beau" Nash.  

Bath, The Circus

At one point she explained it was Nash who established the custom that a gentlemen must walk on the street side of ladies so that oncoming carriages splashing about the mud and garbage would not soil their elaborate gowns. I had no idea that this custom started in Bath. But now that I do, it absolutely has to go into my new book. 

           For the last two years or so I've been working on a YA book that gives voice to transgender teenagers. Is this burying the lead or what? The working title is Ze. "Ze" is a neutral pronoun for he/she/him/her. The teens featured are cool, hip, anguished, triumphant, and all-around awesome. I can't wait for you to meet them.

            In one paragraph of her chapter, Christina, a trans female, talks about going on a first date with a straight man. She thought it weird that he insisted on walking on the street side of the sidewalk. Defiantly, she'd edge over to the curb every time they turned a corner. He'd walk around her. She'd step back sashaying to his right. He'd take her arm and lead her back to the left. "So annoying," she told me. I don't think this relationship ever went forward – only side-to-side.  

            "Why did he do that?" she asked during one of our interviews. I explained the custom, not yet knowing about Nash. I didn't include this story in my draft because Christina's chapter was already too long and there were other, better things to write. 

            Now I want the paragraph back - if only to add one line about Richard "Beau" Nash to the endnotes. Just one little ole line! Pretty nuts, huh?

I like sprinkling a literary or historical reference here and there to text and photographs. They are my secrets that no one really notices, or at least, comments on. But for me it gives subconscious weight to the reportage form of writing I favor. At least I like to think this is true.
            In order to include this "sprinkle" in an endnote, though, the fact needs authentication. My Bath lady's comment might not be correct. I thought the "man-to-street-side" custom came about much earlier, and that it not only included soil from the street, but "night soil" thrown from protruding second-story windows. Wasn't this an Elizabethan custom? 

            The search began: First, make it easy and go to Wikipedia. The origin of the custom is not dated there. I punched in "Richard Nash." The practice is not attributed to him. I wanted this factoid so badly! [For dramatic effect pout and stamp your foot now.]

After more Googling I came up with one site that stated “man-walks-to-the-street side” started in the eighteenth century. Hmmm, Nash moved to Bath in 1705. Getting warmer? But then, a second site reported the custom in the sixteenth century. A third site had it in medieval times. I asked a very close friend who is an eminent medieval scholar. "I don't know and I don't care," he said laughing at me. Laughing! [Note to eminent medieval scholar: I told you I'd quote you here and I know you are laughing again.]  

            I vaguely remembered something in an old college book about the life and times of Shakespeare that may have mentioned this. I dug deep into the second layer of books in the shelves. New York apartments never have enough shelf space so we double layer our books. Eyes tearing from dust, I came up empty.

Tip: Take Claritin before pulling out very old textbooks. 

More Google: "Men walk on the right of ladies" - couldn't find anything about Nash, but I did learn where to buy the good walking shoes. 
More Google: "Rules of Etiquette" - this Victorian site is fun to read, even though it has nothing to do with Nash or transgender teenagers. 

           After spending hours, days, I could not find Richard "Beau" Nash escorting "ladies" while walking on the street side of the sidewalk. By now I have serious doubts this custom even existed.

            But look what was learned from the search: serious shoes, Victorian etiquette, and more. It reminded me of graduate school when it was deliciously easy to lose oneself in Dewey Decimal cards, eagerly moving curious fingers amongst the 3 x 5 cards surrounding the card needed to write a paper.
             My deadline is fast approaching and the Nash obsession has definitely gotten out of hand. One line, that has nothing to do with transgender teenagers, for an endnote, for a paragraph that will probably never make it in the text. 

            Don't you just love nonfiction? 

Part II - & More

Today begins PEN American Center's World Voices festival in New York City. It runs through May 6. Susanna Reich, INKer and chair of the YA/Children's committee, sent this list of children and YA author-related events.


Monday, April 30, 7:30, all along the High Line in NYC, A Parade of Bibliomorphic Puppets, Illuminated Objects, and Projections. If you are in town, this should be great fun. Bring kids! 

Friday, May 4, 6:30 p.m. Debby Dahl Edwardson will be take part in "A Literary Safari," at Westbeth Center for the Arts, 57 Bethune Street.

Saturday, May 5, 3:00 p.m. Brian Selznick will be "In Conversation" with David Levithan, at The New School, Tishman Auditorium, 66 West 12th Street.

Saturday, May 5, 5:30 p.m. Ruta Sepetys and Patricia McCormick will participate with Arn Chorn-Pond and Wojciech Jagielski in a "Children's Rights" panel moderated by Janne Teller at Cooper Union, at the Frederick P. Rose Auditorium, 41 Cooper Square.

The Festival will host more than 100 authors from around the world for a week of amazing events. For more information, please visit Pen's Website.

Lessons Learned - Author Presentations

This week, I was schooled by a third grader.

I’m in the middle of an art lesson. Bryson says loudly, “No, dude. The planet.” I stop and look over at him. Then, I get the joke. They got me. All the boys are on the floor laughing. I’ve lost them, again.

Thanks to my magazine articles and an upcoming nonfiction book, I’ve been getting requests to talk to local classrooms. What am I going to say? How can I keep them interested in all the knowledge that I want to share? Is there any thing I can do to prevent losing them?

I’ve created and presented Art Appreciation lessons for over 12 years. I’ve created and taught several After School Enrichment classes for the past 6 years. Most cases, the teacher or a mom helper has been in the room. I’ve taught for an after-school Art program for almost two years - teaching at several schools each week and subbing all around the western Chicago suburbs. In those classes, it’s just me. I’ve had my share of challenges. After one class, a teacher walked by as I was putting up the artwork and said, “That must be Michael’s.” I said, “Yes, it is. Are you his teacher?” She responded, “Yup, and good luck with that.” The class was full of Michaels. 

This week, I discovered several websites and blogs filled with information on how to give classroom presentations. Children’s book authors and illustrators are so giving of their time and expertise. The town I live in has hosted several Author festivals. I was fortunate to be able to sit in on many classroom presentations; even made a few author friends through the years, too. When possible, I watched presentations in my own child’s class - my own personal focus group. (One very popular author totally “bombed” according to my son, an eight grade student at the time. The author’s talk was geared for elementary school students not middle schoolers... or, at least, we thought third graders might have laughed at the jokes.) I’ve been a guest at several career days, talking to several eight-grade classes at a time - always an attentive and engaging audience.

Other lessons I have learned:

• When the power goes out in the building, the whole class screams. (I thought turning the lights out quieted them.) 
• When one student has to sharpen a pencil, the whole class does, too. (Yes, my pencil box has all sharpened pencils.)
• When one student has to go to the bathroom, the whole class does, too. 
• When one student asks to hand out papers, the whole class does, too. 
• When Gracie jumps up and down and shouts “Mrs. Lewis, Mrs. Lewis, Mrs. Lewis”, she’s going to say, “I like pumpkin pie... and lemon pie... and strawberry pie...” 
• If there is any way they can glimpse at your lesson, they will see it - and tell the class what you are going to teach before you start. 
• If one child asks to erase the board, they’re all going to drop everything and race up to help. 
• And, finally, there’s always one child who you think is going to be handful who winds up totally surprising you - and that makes you smile all the way home. 

Would love to hear from other seasoned veterans of author presentations. Any interesting stories or humorous antidotes that you would like to share? I need help. I need to be prepared for the Brysons, Michaels, and Gracies.

While telling a friend about my trying day, I said, “The entire class was driving me nuts.” Argh. Another word to delete out of my brain. Wish me luck.

The Math Behind Poetry

Consider a series of names. 

Of fruit. 

And the few words that rhyme with those fruit. 

Or rhyme with some kind of descriptive about fruit.

Now consider which fruit names bounce and bump against each other in a tongue-pleasing way. 

Next consider which fruit are in season. In. The. Same. Month.

And can be sourced by someone in a town with no Whole Foods.

Consider which fruit happen to be in season and available in the many weeks a certain person struggling with permutations is off speaking at ALA, a conference, or photographing whales in Canada. (Totally worth it for the whales!)

Now, try to take the picture in between the moments when other people are buying fruit for the shocking purpose of actually eating it. Do not interrupt the commerce of the kind fruit and vegetable vendors who put up with your crazy ways even back during the Rah, Rah, Radishes adventure. 

If you’ve had to buy an entire case of cactus, calling all over town, or found longyans in Ohio, or lychee in Chicago, in Chinatown, make sure the photo is good. Because you might not get that chance again. 

Make sure that the fruit all looks fresh.

If it is a slice of watermelon, dab it often because it will soon begin to sweat and melt like a beauty pageant contestant under hot lights. 

Oh, sweet little fruities. 

Now, retake some of the photos because you and the editor have suddenly decided to shift a word, which has knocked out another stanza, which has caused a cascade of unforeseen PERMUTATIONS. 

Permutations = a poet’s daily life.  Because April is poetry month and I'm in the blog therapy over whether or not I might actually be a poet (see Katie Davis's blog tomorrow, April 27th.) it seems a good time to understand choice and variability and order. Poetry is math. Poetry is permutations. 

For some of the permutations, I have stories of misadventures and photos. For instance, we did not call the book Paw Paw Pomegranate, as my husband suggested, because of the photo below. I had to do a conference and when I returned all the wild Paw Paw gatherers in Michigan could only find this...um...sad looking, though surely delicious example of the fruit. 

Paw paw not looking like a cover fruit. Sorry!

The best part of the book was that it gave me to poke into places I’ve never been. I was a culinary tourist in my own town, and every other town I visited last year. While in New Orleans for ALA I heard of a far off market, the Vietnamese market, and got a taxi to take me there. Loree Griffin Burns, a nonfiction author adventurer I’d just met, came along for moral support. Oh, how exotic we were...to find such a place tucked away where no one would know it existed. (It is awesome. The seeds of many of the fruits and veggies were originally brought to Louisiana by Vietnamese refugees in the 1970s and now a huge urban farm has been created to sell the vegetables to major New Orleans restaurants. Yes, I am pondering doing a book just about that.)

When we showed up to our secret spot after the $50 taxi ride with a doubtful driver, we found an entire television crew was set up and rolling to shoot a segment for Travel Channel “Bizarre Foods” episode with Andrew Zimmern. Scoop! While we watched, he tasted breadfruit. While rolling, he reached behind the camera and handed me a slice of breadfruit to taste. Here I was preparing to be the photographer but I ended up having to sign a photo waiver for his crew. Ooh, turnabout! No, I did not make the show. But you can see the priest and breadfruit tasting scene in one of his New Orleans shows.  None of my many photos from there made the book. But it was fun.

How New Orleans Vietnamese Market looks
 before you wipe your glasses (and camera)

Camera now wiped after emerging from air conditioning

Bizarre Foods crew got there first. Scoop!

Andrew Zimmern of Bizarre Foods tasting breadfruit

whole breadfruit

The bonus of this crazy exercise in permutations? There’s a lot of leftover material. Oh, sad and soggy stanzas. Oh the fruit parties I had to throw with all the leftovers from shoots and from buying produce from the grocers and farmers. Oh, and Go, Go, Grapes: a Fruit Chant is coming out May 22nd. Yippee!

Yeah, I was finally done with permutations. That’s what I thought on Dec 24th of last year when for the first time in two years I went to the Farmer’s Market without my camera. Ah! How relaxing just to buy vegetables. Uh oh. Saw some hickory nuts and fava beans and had an idea. An hour later, I was at it again. Soon after, it was under contract.

Permutations.  Here we go again!

Report from London 2: Being an Account of the London Book Fair in General and the State of Children’s Nonfiction in Particular

I went to the London Book Fair last week, the UK’s equivalent of BEA.  Some things were the same – cavernous convention halls, loads of booths and meeting areas, crowds of people, and a full calendar of interviews and panel discussions. 

But some things were different.  Every year a foreign country is featured and this year it was China and a group of 21 government-approved writers. Chinese publishers abounded, along with various exhibits including one that explained how the Chinese had developed movable (clay) type long before Gutenberg. This being England, there had been numerous op-eds in the newspapers protesting the focus on China since its censorship ministry is alive and well. 

Another difference: though I picked up a lovely carrier bag at the entrance, expecting to fill it with the usual freebies found at US book fairs, there were none!  No free pens and bookmarks, no ARCs (advanced reading copies,) not even any Hershey’s kisses in fishbowls.

CHILDREN’S NONFICTION – US v UK

I was pleased to find a full complement of panels on children’s literature, including one titled The World Into Words: Why Reading Nonfiction is Vital to Children. [Note to London Book Fair organizers: Children’s lit is a hot topic! Don’t put us in the smallest meeting room next year. We overflowed the room and much of the corridor outside.] 

Nicola Davies and Vivian French, both prolific nonfiction authors, were moderated by Jake Hope, Reading Coordinator for the Lancashire County Council. He began by asking why they were drawn to writing nonfiction. 

Viv French discussed her desire to share information about what she finds exciting. She praised her grandfather for answering all her myriad questions when she was a child, and in fact brings such a grandfather into her book T.Rex.  For French, the best books come from a passion to answer questions and to lead readers to more exploration.

Nicola Davies wants to share her life-centering passion for the natural world. She writes to excite her readers and to engage them in a dialogue with the world: to be in the moment, watching, and making connections.  For Davies, Story is a carrier bag for information.  Story makes that information easy to remember and makes connections between a child’s inner and outer worlds. The information is a rope that you pay out gradually to readers with pacing, tension, and drama. A prime example is her award-winning Ice Bear.

Davies has found a prejudice against this sort of narrative nonfiction from teachers and librarians.  They want information books without the narrative. Both French and Davies praised their UK publisher, Walker Books (owner of Candlewick) for being a champion of their kind of narrative nonfiction. Each author had a name for straight ‘information books.’ Davies called them “tile-grouting books” where a photo – the tile – dominates the page with bits of caption and text – the grout – surrounding it.  French called them “gobbet books” with no story. [gobbet, according to the Cambridge dictionary means “a small piece or lump of something, especially food.”]

As in the US, UK teachers are forced to teach to tests these days. (The UK has a national curriculum.) Davies lamented that because of this, children often don’t get the chance to read for pleasure, and teachers can’t engage them in open-ended learning. All this makes publishers more cautious about publishing narrative nonfiction.

FINAL SCORE: US 3 – UK 0

Davies and French agreed that things were better in the US.

1) While we complain about the lack of children’s books reviews in the press, they say it’s much worse in the UK and that nonfiction books never get reviewed. 

2) They praised all the nonfiction awards given in the US, because they have none in the UK. Davies rallied the troops, asking nonfiction authors to demand more publicity.

3) The authors perceive that American teachers are more open to their kind of books than UK teachers, but partly blamed that on UK teacher education courses. They pleaded for more time allotted to children’s literature in teacher training classes, which they believe happens in the US.

NEW TECHNOLOGY: NO TWISTED KNICKERS, PLEASE

French and Davies both love new technology. Viv French writes for very young readers and savors the prospects of add-ons to her books. Nicola Davies herself indulges in all forms of communication – books, i-Pad, kindle. “Don’t get your knickers in a twist about technology,” she warned booklovers. 

Technology can encourage reading. 

Things aren’t sorted out yet, and the next few years will be like a washing machine tumble, but we will figure out how to combine quality material with new technologies, keeping an authorial voice in the mix. And kids need to watch television and use the internet, because that’s the modern world. French saw an ideal future where kids read books for concentrated information, then go to the internet for further research.

 

Moderator Jake Hope, discussed budget cuts in schools and loss of school libraries. He encouraged schools to work with public libraries, and proposed bringing together librarians, teachers, parents, publishers, and authors to address the issues of libraries, schools, kids, curricula, and books. Davies described the merging of library and school services and fabulous reading programs in her home in Denbighshire, North Wales. French praised her new local Edinburgh, Scotland library which offers the interaction between books and computers that she favors.

Last words from Viv French: write letters to newspapers to demand more reviews of nonfiction children’s books.

Nicola Davies: keep libraries open and support children’s reading for pleasure.

MISCELLANEOUS QUOTES HEARD RECENTLY

David Hockney: “What technology needs is imaginative mad people to start using it.”

Howard Jacobson, winner of the 2011 Booker Prize: “Literature is the solvent of ideology, so never ban anything.”

Jacobson again: “What we think is very boring. People are banal in what they think. Only in art are we truly interesting. Literature dramatizes: that’s why I attach so much importance to it.”

Banner ad on London buses: "Some people are gay. Get over it."