Little and Big Detail

Springtime is my favorite season, and wildflowers are a major attraction here in beautiful western Montana.  The parade has begun, starting with buttercups in March and continuing through a roadside trio of larkspur, star flower, and biscuit root—purple, white, and yellow, a combo that would make a beautiful flag.

I’m celebrating the season by taking a class in wildflower journalling, both because I love the flowers and because I am not fundamentally a detail person.  A class like this, where I’m sketching the plants to document them, forces me to switch into the often neglected detail mode.  And I know, as a writer, that details are critical in bringing my writing to life.  Details help the reader ‘see’ what you’re writing about and can jump start a movie in the brain that will carry your reader seamlessly through your work.  This principle can be used to lead a reader through a sequence of ideas or information to a conclusion every bit as well as to carry the reader along through an exciting fiction story.

While pondering these thoughts as I climbed a trail up the mountain we live on, I noticed delicate yellow-flowered Arnica plants blooming in the dappled shade I leaned over and focused in on a single plant with my camera to document it for my wildflower project.  Further up the slope, I saw an image that epitomized Arnica’s habitat preference—an oval of tall pines created a shady spot decorated by a patch of Arnica, its borders sketched by the shade of the trees.  I suddenly realized that two kinds of detail exist, small detail and big detail.  Small detail would encompass the minute features of each plant, while big detail consisted of larger but still specific features such as the way the plants are growing in the shady patch among the pines.

When we writers wish to create images for our readers, we may move from small detail to big detail, or vice versa, depending on where we’re going with our words.  Here’s the masterful nonfiction introduction from my friend Jeanette Ingold’s Montana Book Award Honor Book novel, “The Big Burn” that moves through many small details, then widens to the big picture:

The wildfires had been burning for weeks.

They’d been born of sparks thrown from steam-driven trains and from the machinery of backcountry logging.  They’d started in the working fires of homesteaders and miners and in the campfires of hobos and in the trash-burning fires of construction camps and saloon towns.  They’d begun when lightning had coursed down from an uneasy summer sky to ignite the towering snags of dry forests.

The wildfires lay behind a brown haze that was beginning to shroud mountaintops and drift like dirty fog through the forests of the Idaho panhandle.  Though no one then knew it, they were fires that would join ranks and run in a vast wall of flame.

When they did, it would be called the big blowup, the great burn, the Big Burn.

At this point, we know we have to read on—we couldn’t stop.

  We know that detail can draw us into a piece of writing, but it can do more.  Here’s an example of how simple detail can inspire the reader’s imagination, from another award winner by a friend, Peggy Christian’s “If You Find a Rock:”

Then again,

you might find a rock

with a stripe running

all the way around it.

Trace the line

with your finger—

it must circle all the way.

you have a wishing rock,

and you whisper

what you want

before you throw it.

If you get stuck in your writing and feel you’re not drawing your readers in with your prose, think about finding a way to use a telling detail to start that inner ‘movie’ going and widen your perspective from there.  Or, if the goal is to have your readers focus on the small details, start with the big and gradually work down to the small.

Wrapping It Up

There is a time to begin finishing every book. Sometimes it feels as though that phase may never come. But it does. And there is work to be done. Careful, meticulous, try-not-to-miss-any-detail kind of work. That is what I am doing now for my forthcoming COURAGE HAS NO COLOR. The process for a nonfiction book includes a lot of details that may surprise some people. Here are some of the things I do as the author to tie up any loose ends as we head into this final phase:

Make sure I have ordered every photo at a high-enough resolution to reproduce well in the book (tricky with archival WWII photos, and I do this with the help of the brill designer on the book).

Write the photo credits, making sure to check them against the most final layouts so all page references are credit, and cross-reference them against my photo source charts that I create.

Tally up my photo costs and make sure I haven’t gone over budget. And if I have, come up with a solution as to how to deal with this issue.

Compile all the source notes for any quote in the book. (This is a biggie—I think the source notes in Courage are ten manuscript pages, single spaced!)

Make sure that the Bibliography I created while writing the book is complete and up-to-date (i.e. I haven’t forgotten to include any books or articles or documentaries I may have used in the last few months).

Check all the captions I have written against the information in the text to make sure I haven’t inadvertently contradicted myself with any facts; in other words, check and re-check my research. Do this process again, checking any official information I may or may not have received with each photo. Note: sometimes my research turns up errors in official information and I get to correct it--very satisfying!

Re-read the acknowledgments and make sure I haven’t left any out. These omissions generally fall into two categories—people who have contributed something in the last stretch of the process so it’s new information and people who deserve such a big thank-you I assumed they were already in there!

Go over the layout issues with my editor and designer for tweaking of things like half and full title page, dedication, headers or footers, and any back matter issues that arise.

And last but not least—read through the text again in hopes of catching a glaring typo that has been hiding in plain sight this whole time! (Note: I just found one of those, so this is a really important step.)

All of these things actually come before I will have a chance to carefully read the final layouts—these steps are to ensure that everything MAKES it into the final layouts! There is a certain satisfaction that comes from tying up all the loose ends and seeing a manuscript transform into a BOOK.

The topic of my next book…

…can be found within this photograph:

Artist rendering of Milky Way Galaxy, credit NASA/JPL-Caltech

In case you were wondering if the setting is the past, present, or future…

Google Image search, click image for results page

…it's set in the present, kind of. Well, it's in an imaginary land, but it applies to now, and to the future, too.

Will there be puppies!?!

Click image to view more puppies. Note non-puppy stowaway above.

Sadly, no.

Does it have anything to do with you?

Tag Galaxy search on People, click image to visit site

You do it every day, and so does everyone else.

Oops, looks like our time is up. I'll have to finish this up in a future post.

Thanks for playing!

Loreen

My Blog

Telling Truths

I was on a short writing retreat last week--a time and place away from news and social networking and daily obligations. Yes, heaven. But two news items snuck into the idyll: the death of Maurice Sendak and President Obama's announcement coming out in favor of gay marriage. I cried and sighed and smiled;  both of these events revolve around children and telling truths.


Maurice Sendak, though he wrote fiction, was a master truth-teller. I would like to take out that "though" because of course we tell truth when we write fiction as well as non-fiction, but sometimes the "outside" world forgets that. But when I say he was a master Truth-Teller, I mean Truth with a capital T. And Teller with a capital T.  He was not afraid to hit the tough subjects when he was writing and drawing for kids--death, AIDS, fear, anger, homosexuality, the Holocaust, love. Because he knew that kids want and crave and need the truth. About everything.


On this little retreat one night as we cooked dinner, the talk turned to sex (education), as it often does when five mothers are together, especially mothers whose kids span the ages--twenties to teens to twos. When did you tell, how did you tell, what should I say? And the overwhelming answer was: tell the truth. And also, get Robie Harris to help you.


People who write for children are devotees of telling the truth, and we learned from people like Robie and Maurice Sendak. I was so sad that Sendak died, but so happy that he lived. And wrote and drew. And told the truth. His books made a huge impression on our sons and lines from all of them are part of our family lexicon. "I don't care."  "Let the wild rumpus begin!" And for some reason, especially, "Milk for the morning cake." (Why don't we have cake for breakfast, though?!)  If you haven't read the obituary in the New York Times, treat yourself to it. Margalit Fox wrote one of the most wonderful obituaries I've ever read. I think Sendak would be pleased. I understand his NPR interview is great, too.  I haven't listened to it yet. I hear one needs a lot of tissues.


When I read that President Obama finally came out in favor of gay marriage, I sighed, "Oh good." My friend in the room below me said, "I know." (Thin walls.) That was all we said at that moment (we were writing) but she knew what I was talking about and I knew what her reaction was.   


President Obama finally came out in favor of gay marriage, it is said, not because of his Veep's declaration or because of the North Carolina embarrassment, but because of his daughters. Apparently they told him that love between two people is love between two people. They should be able to get married. Who knows? Maybe they had been telling him that for a long time. Maybe he had been telling them that. (We can only hope.) But it's the truth and it seems they told him it was time to Tell the Truth. It so often takes children to lead the way to the truth. Because they just seem to be unafraid of it.  Up to a certain age they don't have the defenses and the filters and the biases that adults have. We who write for and teach children know this.


In 1969, E.B. White told George Plimpton and Frank H. Crowther in a  Paris Review interview, "Anyone who writes down to children is simply wasting his time. You have to write up, not down. Children are demanding. They are the most attentive, curious, eager, observant, sensitive, quick, and generally congenial readers on earth. They accept, almost without question, anything you present them with, as long as it is presented honestly, fearlessly, and clearly."


He goes on to say that "Some writers for children deliberately avoid using words they think a child doesn't know. This emasculates the prose and, I suspect, bores the reader. Children are game for anything. I throw them hard words, and they backhand them over the net. They love words that give them a hard time, provided they are in a context that absorbs their attention."


Master Truth Tellers deserve all the respect, adulation and thanks we can give them. Most of the great ones, like White and Sendak, were actually humble. Maurice Sendak knew that children often ate his work. He loved that. They read it, they loved it, they ate it. Fine with him. But those who write for children are also proud of it. Sendak did not love when people disrespected him or the genre. And yet he didn't think he was changing the world (I disagree). He told Vanity Fair in an interview last August,  “A woman came up to me the other day and said, ‘You’re the kiddie-book man!’ I wanted to kill her.”


E.B. White said in that same Paris Review interview,  back in 1969, "A writer must reflect and interpret his society, his world. He must also provide inspiration and guidance and challenge." 


I would say that goes double and triple for those of us who write for kids. Because kids demand and deserve the truth. Give it to them and they will lead the way. 

Five Finger Frustration

What is the sound of one hand typing? 

Plunk, plunk…plunk……………plunk…oops, backspace.

What is the sound of two hands typing?

In my case, it’s been:  Ouch!  Ouch!  Ouch! Then, after a while, a retreat downstairs to the couch.

About six weeks ago, I had a bad car accident and broke all the bones in my left forearm and carpel (I guess I now have my own version of carpel tunnel syndrome). I feel lucky I wasn’t hurt more severely and that I’m right handed.  Two operations and several casts later, I’m slowly on the mend.

So how has this affected my writing?  Well, I’m glad I could confine what little writing I did in the early days to email.  Back then, painkillers and only one useful hand made the keyboard feel like a wilderness to be conquered. I am a touch typist and have found that using one hunt-and-peck forefinger means a lot more hunting and less pecking than I imagined. My fingers know the keys much better than my visual memory does.  It doesn’t help that my emotional attachment to a decade-old keyboard means many of the letter symbols have worn off the keys.

Yes, I know that I can just compose longhand, the way I used to hammer out all my articles when I first started my career as a magazine writer.  But technology changed a long time ago.  I made the switch and my brain has too.  I am so used to my hands being able to keep up with my thoughts that I’m no longer trained to hold the upcoming words --long phrases or a word picture--in my mind for that length of time.  Tap, tap, tapping of the forefinger creates the same problem.  

Dragon, the voice recognition software?  Thought about it, bought it, returned it unwrapped.  Maybe it would have been a godsend for email.  But, for me, there are essential components to thoughtful writing it just wouldn’t satisfy.  The process isn’t all that different, but dictation feels distracting, moor less, as if the words I really want, their order and the meaning I want to make of them could just float away. When typing, words and ideas go from the mind through the hands, then via the eyes back to the brain to continue the process.  Mind, hands, eyes—three parts, each with its own job to do, which includes freeing the others to do theirs.

I know Steven Hawking has managed just fine using a different system.  And, he’s hardly the only one.  If my injury had been worse or permanent, I would work to rewire my creative circuitry.  Seems a little daunting, though.  So, even though I’ve given serious thought to a book I’m gearing up to refashion, something tells me it will stay on simmer until my cast comes off.

Julia Child for Kids - Serious AND Funny

"True stuff doesn't have to be all solemn and serious and sedate," wrote Roz in her post last week about humor in nonfiction picture books. If ever there was a biographical subject who was NOT solemn and sedate, it was Julia Child, who would have turned 100 this year. Serious is another matter, however.

Fun in the kitchen

On TV, Julia had a natural, relaxed attitude that belied her seriousness about French cooking. Of crucial importance were fresh, high-quality ingredients, prepared with classic techniques that had been developed over centuries. Fortunately, Julia's serious approach was always tempered by an earthy sense of humor. At heart an educator, she knew that learning goes down easiest when you're having fun. Above all, she would say, are the pleasures of sharing a delicious meal with family and friends. For Julia, relationships came first.

In my new picture book, Minette's Feast: The Delicious Story of Julia Child and Her Cat (Abrams), all these facets of America's most beloved chef and cookbook author are on the table. The challenge for me as an author was to find the right balance of seriousness and playfulness, and to do it in a way that kids would enjoy.

Flowers for Julia Child's
80th birthday party,
complete with kitchen whisk.

A Julia fan since childhood, I'd wanted to write a book about her ever since we met when I designed the flowers for her 80^th birthday party, at the Rainbow Room in New York. But I struggled to find a way to make the subject child-friendly. Would six-year-olds really be interested in fancy French food?

Then I learned that Julia got her first cat, Minette, when she and her husband Paul lived in Paris in the late 1940's. This fortunate French feline ate meals lovingly prepared by the future Queen of Cuisine. In return, Minette brought Julia little tokens of affection—in the form of fresh-caught mice!

This contrast in taste provides tension in the plot of Minette's Feast. As Julia's studies at the Cordon Bleu progressed, she whipped up ever-more enticing meals for Minette. The question is, could Julia's concoctions ever compete with live mouse?

Julia Child famously loved to eat, and her cat did, too. But they had different ideas about what kind of food was most appealing. Since Julia wrote about Minette in her letters and memoir, I was able to find plenty of primary source material and luscious quotes for my picture book. Then I played with language as Julia played with ingredients, mixing and experimenting until I had just the right recipe of words. And Amy Bates' scrumptious illustrations bring Julia, Paul and Minette to vibrant life.

"And so Julia and Paul adopted Minette, a mischievous, energetic poussiequette with a lovely, speckled coat.
Or, shall we say, Minette adopted Julia and Paul." Illustration © Amy Bates 2012. 

"She frisked and flounced, darted and batted.
She tiptoed and hopped, danced and pranced.
She jumped and rolled, curled and stretched, raced
and ran, gurgled and purred.
And then she licked herself all over and took a nice long nap."
  Illustration © Amy Bates 2012.  

After the kitchen shortcuts of the 1950's (casserole with canned cream of mushroom soup, anyone?), Julia Child was a breath of fresh air. As we celebrate the 100^th anniversary of her birth in this era of fast food, it's important to share with kids the serious things Julia taught us about food, as well as the humor she brought to all her endeavors.

Julia and Paul Child in the tub.
Valentine's Day card, 1956.

Teachers can use Minette's Feast to introduce students to Julia Child, for units on picture book biography and nonfiction writing, and also to spark classroom discussion and activities around food and cooking.

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!!!