BOOK BLAST GIVE-AWAY

Only three more weeks to enter the contest!


If you know of a deserving library, school, community or family that could truly benefit from fifteen donated books, please help us spread the word. We've estimated the books are valued at $250!



I.N.K.’s Spectacular Fifteen Book Blast Give-away.

It's a nonfiction give-away contest of gigantic proportions!

To support the children's nonfiction community, our fifteen published authors have each agreed to DONATE A SIGNED COPY OF ONE OF THEIR BOOKS. That's FIFTEEN books all to ONE LUCKY WINNER.

Fabulous Books in our give-away by our wonderful I.N.K. bloggers include:

Jennifer Armstrong's title of the winner’s choice
Don Brown's title of the winner’s choice
Vicki Cobb's WE DARE YOU! HUNDRED’S OF SCIENCE BETS, CHALLENGES, AND EXPERIMENTS YOU CAN DO AT HOME (Skyhorse Publishing, 2008)
Sneed Collard's REIGN OF THE SEA DRAGONS (CHARLESBRIDGE, 2008)
Susan E. Goodman's SEE HOW THEY RUN.CAMPAIGN DREAMS, ELECTION SCHEMES, AND THE RACE FOR THE WHITE HOUSE (Bloomsbury, 2008)
Jan Greenberg’s SIDE BY SIDE: NEW POEMS INSPIRED BY ART FROM AROUND THE WORLD (Abrams, 2008)
Steve Jenkins’s SISTERS AND BROTHERS:SIBLING RELATIONSHIPS IN THE ANIMAL WORLD (written with Robin Page)(Houghton Mifflin, 2008)
Kathleen Krull's THE ROAD TO OZ. TWISTS,TURNS, BUMPS, AND TRIUMPHS IN THE LIFE OF L. FRANK BAUM. (Knopf, 2008) or any other title of the winner's choice
Loreen Leedy's MISSING MATH. A NUMBER MYSTERY (Marshall Cavendish, 2008)
Sue Macy's SWIFTER, HIGHER, STRONGER. A PHOTOGRAPHIC HISTORY OF THE SUMMER OLYMPICS (National Geographic, 2008 Edition)
April Pulley Sayre's TROUT ARE MADE OF TREES (Charlesbridge, 2008)
David Schwartz's WHERE IN THE WILD? CAMOUFLAGED CREATURES CONCEALED. . . AND REVEALED (Tricycle Press, 2007)
Tanya Lee Stone's ELIZABETH LEADS THE WAY. ELIZABETH CADY STANTON AND THE RIGHT TO VOTE (Henry Holt, 2008)
Gretchen Woelfle's JEANNETTE RANKIN. POLITICAL PIONEER (Calkins Creek, 2007)
Karen Romano Young's ACROSS THE WIDE OCEAN. THE WHY, HOW, AND WHERE OF NAVIGATION FOR HUMANS AND ANIMALS AT SEA. (Harpercollins, 2007)

We'd love to hear from teachers, librarians, homeschoolers, writers, or anyone else from across the country who is promoting nonfiction.

Here are the rules. Each entry must consist of two parts:

1. In one sentence or less, tell us why you read the I.N.K. blog.

2. In as much space as you need, describe what you've done to support and encourage nonfiction in your classroom, library, home, or community. Photos are a plus.

We will select the winner based on the strongest, most original and all encompassing approach to getting nonfiction noticed.

All entries should be submitted by email to: interestingnonfictionforkids at gmail dot com. We will send you an email letting you know we’ve received your entry.

Entering the contest implies your consent to use the contents of your entry on our blog for promotional purposes.

The deadline to enter is Friday, September 5th. The winner will be announced on the I.N.K. blog.

Good Luck to everyone!

August: Month of Rags and Riches

August: The Month of Rags and Riches

Just reading over the wonderful recent blogs on I.N.K., I admit I am intimidated even starting this one. At the moment, August heat has sucked all inspiration from my constantly-dwindling supply of blain—I mean, brain—cells. But while Montana’s long—and I mean LONG—summer days and heat often do inflict a summer malaise on yours truly, that’s not why August is such a tough month. August is tough because:

a) no one pays writers in the summertime and
b) by August, one’s savings account has usually evaporated

I used to think this happened only to me, but talking with a number of other writers, it’s a phenomenon that affects many of us. Why? For me, most of my royalties come in April, right about the time when school visits are also winding up. As if by some evil conspiracy, most editors also go on vacation (or, at least, it seems that way) so very little happens in the way of new contracts and advances in the summer. What’s a writer to do? Buy canned goods in spring? Tell the kids to forage in the woods for their meals (assuring them that summer is the time of abundance)? Tell your in-laws that unless they pay your mortgage, their grandchildren will be out on the streets?

As appealing as these ideas are, I’ve found that none of them are very effective. About the only thing writers can do is try to diversify so that not all of our payments come at the same time. In addition to my novels and science books, for instance, I’ve been writing a series of “American Heroes” biographies for Benchmark Publishing the past few years. These are nice because I can plan them so that I am usually getting a few paychecks in the summer. I also work with enough different publishers that, by the luck of the draw, a couple of them pay me royalties at the end of June. Still, these do not usually amount to serious mortgage money. About all most of us can do is try to plan ahead, not buy too many toys in the spring, and hang on until the writing weather improves in the fall.

Ironically, though summer leaves me cash-poor, it makes up for it by providing my richest writing time. With school out, I find myself at home a lot more, and with a big enough chunk of time to tackle one or two large projects. Just yesterday, I finished the first draft of a new novel. Before that, I made serious headway on a book about the environment for older readers. Best of all, I still have about six weeks left to write before a busy fall travel season.

So, every August, while I am lamenting the dwindling number of digits in my checking out, I remind myself that this is my time to explore new territory, break new ground, and enjoy the real riches that the writing life offers.

A Weighty Consideration

It’s August and I am submitting Blog Light. Light because it’s a short entry, but it's still a weighty consideration.

Several years ago I was at my desk, struggling to find a simple way to explain a complex idea. Frankly I can’t remember what it was, hopefully something terribly hard like gravity or relativity or, worse, the electoral college. I was tired and discouraged and tempted to go “encyclopedic,” just put down the facts in as simple a way as possible and be done with it. But then I had an amazing thought: There was a chance that whatever I wrote could be a child’s first encounter with that fact or idea. If it was presented not only clearly, but interestingly and even magically, it could make a real impact. Needless to say, I worked harder.

Since then I try to keep this realization in mind for almost any subject matter. I think about the possibility that what I’m saying could help a kid understand or put a name to what he is feeling. It could open up a new part of the world or give a child a new way to see a part of the world she already knew. It could create a lifelong interest. It can help someone learn to see the magic in the everyday.

What a responsibility. What an opportunity.

* * * * * * * *

And here is a notice for teachers and librarians who live close enough to the Boston/Cambridge area. I’m involved in a program you might be interested in.

On September 17th, Lesley University is hosting See How They Run: Teaching the 2008 Election to Growing Voters. I am talking about my book (See How They Run: Campaign Dreams, Election Schemes, and the Race to the White House) and how it can be used in the classroom. Dr. Jo-Anne Hart, who also teaches at Lesley in the School of Education, will discuss the “Growing Voters” curriculum she has designed for grades 1-12. There will also be facilitated breakout sessions for participants to exchange ideas with others who work with similarly aged students.

September 17th, 4:30-8 p.m. at Lesley University, University Hall, 1815 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02138 (parking in back). Admission is $10, but that includes the cost of handouts and a boxed dinner. Reservations are required and seating limited, so those interested should contact Beth LeBeau at 617-349-8624 or mlebeau3@lesley.edu.

Small World

There is a common — and inaccurate — belief that humans represent the apex of animal evolution. A typical representation of this anthropocentric bias is a diagram that shows a progression of animals: amphibian climbing from the water, dinosaur, bird, early mammal, ape, primitive man, and finally Homo sapiens.

Rather than thinking of ourselves as the tip-top point of the tree of life, it’s more accurate to imagine that we occupy a twig somewhere one of the many branches of a bush.

The real winners in the game of life-on-earth are, without a doubt, bacteria. True, it’s hard to fully appreciate organisms that are too small to see, but a few statistics make the point. Bacteria, or something very much like them, have lived on earth for some four billion years. They are found in rock as much as a mile below the surface (it’s possible that subterranean bacteria comprise the majority of the planet’s biomass); in clouds; in solid ice; in deep-sea hydrothermal vent water hotter than 220° F; in the radioactive water in nuclear reactor cores — almost everywhere. And they live in these places in unimaginable numbers. A gram of soil in our backyards may contain well over one billion bacteria. Our bodies, by cell count, are mostly bacteria. They outnumber our own (very) roughly 50 trillion cells by ten to one. Without bacteria, the biosphere would immediately – and perhaps totally — collapse. If humans were to vanish tomorrow, we’d hardly be missed.

What’s the point of all this? In part, it’s to point out that we tend to see the world in human-scale terms. Bacteria, fungi, protozoans and other microscopic organisms are much more important in our lives than large African predators, as fascinating as they may be. And don’t even get me started on parasites.

Is there a book here? Almost certainly. Will I write it? I have no idea. But if I don’t (or even if I do), someone else should. I look forward to reading it . . .

BOOK BLAST GIVE-AWAY!

If you know of a deserving library, school, community or family that could truly benefit from fifteen donated books, please help us spread the word. We've estimated the books are valued at $250!



I.N.K.’s Spectacular Fifteen Book Blast Give-away.

It's a nonfiction give-away contest of gigantic proportions!

To support the children's nonfiction community, our fifteen published authors have each agreed to DONATE A SIGNED COPY OF ONE OF THEIR BOOKS. That's FIFTEEN books all to ONE LUCKY WINNER.

Fabulous Books in our give-away by our wonderful I.N.K. bloggers include:

Jennifer Armstrong's title of the winner’s choice
Don Brown's title of the winner’s choice
Vicki Cobb's WE DARE YOU! HUNDRED’S OF SCIENCE BETS, CHALLENGES, AND EXPERIMENTS YOU CAN DO AT HOME (Skyhorse Publishing, 2008)
Sneed Collard's title of the winner’s choice
Susan E. Goodman's SEE HOW THEY RUN.CAMPAIGN DREAMS, ELECTION SCHEMES, AND THE RACE FOR THE WHITE HOUSE (Bloomsbury, 2008)
Jan Greenberg’s SIDE BY SIDE: NEW POEMS INSPIRED BY ART FROM AROUND THE WORLD (Abrams, 2008)
Steve Jenkins’s SISTERS AND BROTHERS:SIBLING RELATIONSHIPS IN THE ANIMAL WORLD (written with Robin Page)(Houghton Mifflin, 2008)
Kathleen Krull's THE ROAD TO OZ. TWISTS,TURNS, BUMPS, AND TRIUMPHS IN THE LIFE OF L. FRANK BAUM. (Knopf, 2008) or any other title of the winner's choice
Loreen Leedy's MISSING MATH. A NUMBER MYSTERY (Marshall Cavendish, 2008)
Sue Macy's SWIFTER, HIGHER, STRONGER. A PHOTOGRAPHIC HISTORY OF THE SUMMER OLYMPICS (National Geographic, 2008 Edition)
April Pulley Sayre's TROUT ARE MADE OF TREES (Charlesbridge, 2008)
David Schwartz's WHERE IN THE WILD? CAMOUFLAGED CREATURES CONCEALED. . . AND REVEALED (Tricycle Press, 2007)
Tanya Lee Stone's ELIZABETH LEADS THE WAY. ELIZABETH CADY STANTON AND THE RIGHT TO VOTE (Henry Holt, 2008)
Gretchen Woelfle's JEANNETTE RANKIN. POLITICAL PIONEER (Calkins Creek, 2007)
Karen Romano Young's ACROSS THE WIDE OCEAN. THE WHY, HOW, AND WHERE OF NAVIGATION FOR HUMANS AND ANIMALS AT SEA. (Harpercollins, 2007)

We'd love to hear from teachers, librarians, homeschoolers, writers, or anyone else from across the country who is promoting nonfiction.

Here are the rules. Each entry must consist of two parts:

1. In one sentence or less, tell us why you read the I.N.K. blog.

2. In as much space as you need, describe what you've done to support and encourage nonfiction in your classroom, library, home, or community. Photos are a plus.

We will select the winner based on the strongest, most original and all encompassing approach to getting nonfiction noticed.

All entries should be submitted by email to: interestingnonfictionforkids at gmail dot com. We will send you an email letting you know we’ve received your entry.

Entering the contest implies your consent to use the contents of your entry on our blog for promotional purposes.

The deadline to enter is Friday, September 5th. The winner will be announced on the I.N.K. blog.

Good Luck to everyone!

Toot, Toot

We don't toot our own horns very often around here. Yes, here comes the but. BUT there are two special events, starting today and in November, that happen to be the subject of two extraordinarily good books by two of our writers.

Today, 08-08-08, good fortune brings us the start of the Summer Olympics. Sue Macy has a totally engrossing book, newly rereleased, called SWIFTER, HIGHER, STRONGER. A PHOTOGRAPHIC HISTORY OF THE SUMMER OLYMPICS. National Geographic knows how to produce nonfiction at its best, interweaving photos and text in just the right combination. Sue tells some wonderful history of the Olympics, including some controversies and heroes we might have never known.

As Levar Burton would say, you don't have to take my word for it. Here's what SLJ had to say:
read great review


11.04.08 is rapidly approaching and before it does you'll want to get the children in your life a copy of Susan E. Goodman's new book SEE HOW THEY RUN. Your kids will finally understand how the election process works and then they can explain it to you. Susan does manage to do the seemingly impossible and explain the electoral college process and even hanging chads.

Again, here's the SLJ review:
read great review


So toot, toot to our I.N.K. writers for writing informative, timely nonfiction that can be appreciated by a wide audience.

Do you, our readers, have anything you've read recently you'd like to toot about?

I have one. I was lucky enough to get a review copy of Jessica Loy's WHEN I GROW UP. A YOUNG PERSON'S GUIDE TO INTERESTING AND UNUSUAL OCCUPATIONS (HOLT, 2008). This is a fascinating read where we are introduced to inspirational career choices beyond the standard doctors and lawyers; here we meet a guitar maker, lobster fisherman, and game designer among others. I found four or five possible paths to pursue when I grow up.

What are the good nonfiction reads you've discovered this summer? Go ahead, give a toot.

P.S. The comments feature through a reader is unfortunately still not working. Please come directly to the blog (http://www.inkrethink.blogspot.com) to comment.

Dark Subjects

As young writers we are taught “write what you know.” But when I became a writer, I found myself much more interested in what I didn’t know. I can think of nothing more exhilarating then tackling a subject that is as far from my life as possible, and then, go on a spectacular treasure hunt for facts and ideas.

I write a lot about dark subjects for young adults. Many nonfiction writers are drawn to tough themes as a way to go beyond the sound bites, the headlines, and the slogans that make up much of our lives. “An eye for an eye....” “Do the crime, do the time.” “Just say ‘no””. Life is more complicated than what these and other sayings imply.

There are a range of ways a writer can go beyond slogans. What works for me is writing books based on interviews. I find it fascinating to interview an individual and then write personal accounts from my subject’s point of view. From these accounts, along with additional background material, I try to shape a coherent story. The final narratives are usually reviewed by my subjects to be certain there are no mistakes. I’ve been doing this for years and no one has ever asked me to change an idea or statement so that he will look good. This method can be used with just about any nonfiction, including biography, current events, and even history.

Interviews work particularly well when facing dark subjects, such as boy soldiers, Nazi youths, or teenagers on death row. Nevertheless, dark subjects can be difficult on many levels.
It can be difficult for the people interviewed in the book. They reveal their lives and bare their souls. Ishmael Beah’s intimate memoir, A Long Way Gone: Memoirs of a Boy Soldier, is a comparable case in point. Ishmael’s personal experience during a very brutal time in his country’s history is a clear example of how events affect an individual’s life. He is able to describe the brutal war in Sierra Leone in a way that statistics, and even photographs of thousands of nameless dead, do not.

It can be difficult for the writer who has to maintain objectivity. Susan Campbell Bartoletti has talked about making tough decisions while writing her fascinating book, Hitler Youth: Growing Up in Hitler's Shadow. Susan interviewed people who had participated in the Hitler youth program before and during WW II. They described the idolization, the camaraderie, and the conformity that helped Hitler come to power. Very few analyses beat the power of those testimonies.

It can be difficult for teachers and librarians who have to deal with the politics of a controversial book. They are on the front lines. They must balance a heavy work load, the possible wrath of their community, and the possible loss for simply standing up for the First Amendment. By the way, we authors do what we can to support them.

It can be difficult for the reader who may have never before had to confront the world that they find in a particular book. A few days ago my book, No Choirboy: Murder, Violence, and Teenagers on Death Row, was published. Readers, especially those who have not been exposed to maximum security prisons and Texas’s death row, have already told me about strong, emotional reactions that they’ve experienced while reading the book. Perhaps this is because the stories, written in their voices, are very personal, raw, and current. It’s not history. It’s happening right now. How about this slogan: “If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem.” Now, that’s a saying I can get my teeth into. But it’s still a slogan.

If dark subjects are so difficult for everyone concerned, why are some us drawn to them? Why do we write about civil rights, human rights, famine, strikes, black lists, torture, and death?
There was something about teenagers on death row that called to me. It demanded to be heard. I absolutely had to write this book.Why? I haven’t a clue.

Does anyone out there in cyberspace have the answers?
Susan Kuklin

First Class Travel on Other People's $$

Did you know that a book contract can be the equivalent of a free ticket to an exotic location? The inspiration for that discovery occurred as the result of a trip to Alaska in 1987. I had been invited there back when they had money for an “Authors to Alaska” program. In the course of my travels, I was introduced to Alaskan artist, Barbara Lavallee, and decided it would be fun to work with her. I created a series entitled “Imagine Living Here.” The first book was This Place is Cold about Barbara’s home state (which I had traveled all over). The second book was to be This Place is Dry about the Sonoran Desert of Arizona. To plan the trip I called the Arizona tourism people, asking them what we should see there. Lo and behold, they offered us discounted hotel rates since we were doing public relations about the state. Aha! This was the first glimmer of how to see the world without breaking the bank.

There is no substitute for a nonfiction author than first-hand experience. You have to be there to know how a place feels, and smells, and tastes. You discover delightful details that add credibility to the work. Cowboys wear chaps on the desert to protect them from the Jumping Cholla cactus spines. Llamas on the altiplano of Peru wear colorful tassels in their ears like earrings. Why? Because it’s an open range and each rancher brands his own llamas with a particular color.

The farther we went, the more freebies we got. Over the years I worked with tourism agencies for Brazil, Japan, Australia, Uganda, Kenya, Turkey. Barbara and I cruised the Amazon, trekked Machu Picchu, snorkeled on the Great Barrier Reef, did game drives on the Masai Mara, explored the caves of Cappadocia, to name a few of our adventures. Despite the fact that we live 4000 miles apart, we became very close friends. A broken tooth in Cuzco, pneumonia in Rio, a back spasm in Australia, were great bonding opportunities. Our products: This Place is High (Andes), This Place is Wet (Amazon Rain Forest), This Place is Lonely (Australia), This Place is Crowded (Japan), This Place is Wild (East Africa). Each book is a narrative about a location as seen through the eyes of an author and artist.

These trips required extensive planning, working months ahead of the actual travel dates. At first, I had to submit a letters from my publisher proving that we had an assignment. For later trips, I could show books. All countries gave us something, although some were more generous than others (Australia was the most generous). While traveling we took hundreds of photos, and hours of audio-taped interviews. I avidly collected literature from everyone I met. As Barbara later said about the trips, “We ate dessert first!” After we got back, there was the hard work of organizing the material into something coherent and meaningful. It helped to have a thesis for each book, going into the project. I have a number of friends who do travel writing but they have to write about particular travel experiences and the places are preselected. Not many children’s book authors approach these tourism people but they certainly rose to the occasion for us. Although much of the trips were “comped” additional expenses were also tax write-offs. So if you’re not rich, it pays to be smart!

I.N.K. Reminder

We don't back to school until after Labor Day in the New York area. We've heard that many of you in other parts of the country are not so lucky and will be heading back in the next week or so.

We want to encourage all of the wonderful teachers and school librarians to rethink how you will use nonfiction this school year. Please enter our contest so we can share your innovative approaches with everyone.

We'd love for the $250 worth of books to go somewhere they will be read and used over and over again. We are trying to reach out to as many people as possible. If any school librarians can post our contest info. on the LM_NET, we'd appreciate it.

On a side note, to all of you who read our blog through a reader: we are aware of the problem with the posting a comment function. We're trying to fix it. We are waiting for blogger to help us do us. Until then, please come directly to the blog (http://www.inkrethink.blogspot.com/) to share your thoughts and join in the discussion.

What I'm Researching Right Now

Remember the disgusting, voracious insectile aliens from the "Alien" movies -- and how their blood was a kind of corrosive slime that burned holes into whatever it touched? Turns out that -- well, I'm getting ahead of myself. Let me answer the question in my title. What I'm researching right now: Caves.

Here's the wildest info I've come across. Just within the last two decades, speleologists (cave scientists) have discovered a new form of life in some very unusual caves. There are a few caves with a highly sulfuric ecosystem -- the sulfuric acid is so concentrated, in fact, that it's close to battery acid. Cavers have to wear protective clothing to keep from being burned, and respirators so they aren't killed by poisonous sulfur gas. (What nervous twitches the families of these scientists must have!)

So, we have a highly toxic environment in these caves, too toxic for most known life forms. And yet there are microbes that dwell and thrive in these conditions. Generically they are called extremophiles. Some of these microbes form a kind of slimy matrix to live in, and threads of this slime hang like rubbery stalactites from the walls and ceilings. Called "snotties" (for obvious reasons) these microbes are giving scientists some new clues to possible life beyond our earthly boundary. Talk about thinking outside the box.

So, what am I doing with this information? I don't know yet. That's the great thing about being a writer. I'm just following an intriguing trail to see where it takes me. At the moment my trail is leading me deep into a rather terrifying cave. If I don't make it back out ... send help!

BOOK BLAST GIVE-AWAY!

If you know of a deserving library, school, community or family that could truly benefit from fifteen donated books, please help us spread the word. We've estimated the books are valued at $250!

Get your entries in early. We'd like to share some of the innovative ways people are encouraging children's nonfiction throughout the month of August.

We also have all of the information available on a PDF flyer. If you'd like to receive the information as an attachment that you can email, just send us a quick email at interestingnonfictionforkids at gmail dot com.



I.N.K.’s Spectacular Fifteen Book Blast Give-away.

It's a nonfiction give-away contest of gigantic proportions!

To support the children's nonfiction community, our fifteen published authors have each agreed to DONATE A SIGNED COPY OF ONE OF THEIR BOOKS. That's FIFTEEN books all to ONE LUCKY WINNER.

Fabulous Books in our give-away by our wonderful I.N.K. bloggers include:

Jennifer Armstrong's title of the winner’s choice
Don Brown's title of the winner’s choice
Vicki Cobb's WE DARE YOU! HUNDRED’S OF SCIENCE BETS, CHALLENGES, AND EXPERIMENTS YOU CAN DO AT HOME (Skyhorse Publishing, 2008)
Sneed Collard's title of the winner’s choice
Susan E. Goodman's SEE HOW THEY RUN.CAMPAIGN DREAMS, ELECTION SCHEMES, AND THE RACE FOR THE WHITE HOUSE (Bloomsbury, 2008)
Jan Greenberg’s SIDE BY SIDE: NEW POEMS INSPIRED BY ART FROM AROUND THE WORLD (Abrams, 2008)
Steve Jenkins’s SISTERS AND BROTHERS:SIBLING RELATIONSHIPS IN THE ANIMAL WORLD (written with Robin Page)(Houghton Mifflin, 2008)
Kathleen Krull's THE ROAD TO OZ. TWISTS,TURNS, BUMPS, AND TRIUMPHS IN THE LIFE OF L. FRANK BAUM. (Knopf, 2008) or any other title of the winner's choice
Loreen Leedy's MISSING MATH. A NUMBER MYSTERY (Marshall Cavendish, 2008)
Sue Macy's SWIFTER, HIGHER, STRONGER. A PHOTOGRAPHIC HISTORY OF THE SUMMER OLYMPICS (National Geographic, 2008 Edition)
April Pulley Sayre's TROUT ARE MADE OF TREES (Charlesbridge, 2008)
David Schwartz's WHERE IN THE WILD? CAMOUFLAGED CREATURES CONCEALED. . . AND REVEALED (Tricycle Press, 2007)
Tanya Lee Stone's ELIZABETH LEADS THE WAY. ELIZABETH CADY STANTON AND THE RIGHT TO VOTE (Henry Holt, 2008)
Gretchen Woelfle's JEANNETTE RANKIN. POLITICAL PIONEER (Calkins Creek, 2007)
Karen Romano Young's ACROSS THE WIDE OCEAN. THE WHY, HOW, AND WHERE OF NAVIGATION FOR HUMANS AND ANIMALS AT SEA. (Harpercollins, 2007)

We'd love to hear from teachers, librarians, homeschoolers, writers, or anyone else from across the country who is promoting nonfiction.

Here are the rules. Each entry must consist of two parts:

1. In one sentence or less, tell us why you read the I.N.K. blog.

2. In as much space as you need, describe what you've done to support and encourage nonfiction in your classroom, library, home, or community. Photos are a plus.

We will select the winner based on the strongest, most original and all encompassing approach to getting nonfiction noticed.

All entries should be submitted by email to: interestingnonfictionforkids at gmail dot com. We will send you an email letting you know we’ve received your entry.

Entering the contest implies your consent to use the contents of your entry on our blog for promotional purposes.

The deadline to enter is Friday, September 5th. The winner will be announced on the I.N.K. blog.

Good Luck to everyone!

Let the Games Begin

I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait for the Summer Olympics to get underway next Friday. Of course, I may have more invested in them than the average fan. I’ve written two books on the Olympic Games (Swifter, Higher, Stronger, about the Summer Games, and Freeze Frame, about the Winter Games), and most of my books focus on sports. But it’s not just the athletic competitions that fascinate me. It’s also the personal stories of the athletes, the stories that exemplify the interaction of sports and society and the impact of the Olympics beyond scores and finishing times.

One such story that already has surfaced involves Dana Hussein Abdul-Razzaq, an Iraqi sprinter who seemed to lose her opportunity to race when the International Olympic Committee (IOC) suspended Iraq’s National Olympic Committee due to interference by the Iraqi government. A Shiite athlete with a Sunni coach, Hussein is a symbol of unity in a divided land. As the only woman on the Iraqi team, she is also an example of the triumph of drive and dedication over a society’s oppressive rules and unsettled political climate. Fortunately, negotiations last Tuesday between Iraq and the IOC cleared the way for Hussein and one teammate to compete in Beijing. The truce came too late for five other Iraqi athletes in sports whose registration deadlines already had passed.

You can bet I’ll be watching the women’s sprints to see how Hussein does. I’ll also be watching swimmer Michael Phelps, who most certainly will break the record for the highest cumulative total of gold medals won at the Summer Games, which is nine. He already has six from 2004. Phelps also has a shot at beating Mark Spitz’s record for the most gold medals at a single Games, which is seven. His teammate, Dara Torres, has a golden opportunity to make a splash by winning a gold medal at the ripe old age of 41. She wouldn’t be the oldest female gold medalist—that was 53-year-old Sybil “Queenie” Newall of Great Britain, who took the gold in archery in 1908. But Torres already has nine Olympic medals (four gold, one silver, and four bronze). Adding anything to that total would be icing on the cake for her and an inspiration to all of us over-40 (and over-50) gym rats.

Each of these athletes would be a terrific subject for a kids' biography that explores the factors which drove them to excel. A different kind of book could be written about one of my favorite Olympians, the perennial silver medalist Shirley Babashoff. A swimmer at the 1972 and 1976 Olympics, Babashoff netted a total of two gold medals and six silvers. In 1976 alone, she came in second four times to East German women. To Babashoff, the extraordinary improvement in the Germans’ times, added to their surprisingly masculine appearance, suggested that they were enhancing their performances with steroids. And she said so to anyone who would listen. Her complaints earned Babashoff a nickname—“Surly Shirley”—and no end of criticism in the press. Years later, when the Berlin Wall fell and the records of East Germany’s widespread doping became public, Babashoff was vindicated. But the IOC never stripped the East Germans of their medals and Babashoff never received upgrades in the races she should have won. Her story would be a great jumping-off point for a book on doping in sports.

I'm looking forward to seeing what other interesting developments will materialize in Beijing this month.