New lists to increase our To Be Read (TBR) pile

Hi everyone!

Here in Texas, it's an exciting time because the new Bluebonnet list for 2015-2016 is out. The list is recommended reading targeted toward 3-6th graders and put together by the Texas Library Association (TLA). To be honest, the timing of the lists always confuses me a bit, because at most schools, kids are still trying to read the 2014-2015 selections. While I understand that the lists come out in November for the following year, since most Bluebonnet programs are done at schools, I've always thought a list that coincides with the school year would be a little less confusing. Regardless of all of that, on with the list!

First, let me give a big hooray(!) because one of my favorite books I read this year is on the list: The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom by Christopher Healy. In fact, I enjoyed the book so much that I chose it for my latest book trailer project. This time for it's for my Youth Programs class. Here's the link to the trailer: https://animoto.com/play/w1FyPpv1KtApB9C0t9h1ng or hopefully it will play here:

To my surprise, that is the only book on the list I've read so far. Although, quite a few have been on my bed stand for a while - so now I will have the motivation to move them up the pile.

Here's the selections this year:

The Night Gardener by Jonathan Auxier
The Great American Dust Bowl by Don Brown
The Right Word: Roget and His Thesaurus by Jen Bryant
The Misadventures of Salem Hyde: Book One: Spelling Trouble by Frank Cammuso
Always, Abigail by Nancy Cavanaugh
Emily's Blue Period by Cathleen Daly
Saving Lucas Biggs by Marisa de los Santos and David Teague
Sky Jumpers by Peggy Eddleman
The Vanishing Coin by Kate Egan and magician Mike Lane
The Scraps Book: Notes from a Colorful Life by Lois Ehlert
Mountain Dog by Margarita Engle
Grandfather Gandhi by Arun Gandhi and Bethany Hegedus
The Hero's Guide to Saving Your Kingdom by Christopher Healy
When the Beat Was Born: DJ Kool Herc and the Creation of Hip Hop by Laban Carrick Hill
Zane and the Hurricane: A Story of Katrina by Rodman Philbrick
Quinny & Hopper by Adriana Brad Schanen
The Lost Planet by Rachel Searles
Rutherford B., Who Was He?: Poems About Our Presidents by Marilyn Singer
Separate Is Never Equal: Sylvia Mendez and her Family's Fight for Desegregation by Duncan Tonatiuh
The Ghosts of Tupelo Landing by Sheila Turnage

Here is the link to the official Texas Bluebonnet list:
http://www.txla.org/sites/tla/files/groups/TBA/docs/TBA-15-16.pdf

What do you think of the list? I'm seeing a few more historical-based titles, which should make great tie-ins with other classroom subjects, especially social studies, art, and music. Some repeat performers as well, The Ghosts of Tupelo Landing is the follow-up to Three Times Lucky by Sheila Turnage. Marilyn Singer was also on the list for her creative poetry book Mirror Mirror, so I look forward to seeing her poetic take on the Presidents.

Enjoy!

Bonjour!

Bonjour everyone!

I just returned from Paris and had a lovely time. This trip was for training for Girl Scouts, and I was lucky to meet so many nice ladies who are working hard to make sure their troops have great international experiences.

Since Veteran's Day was approaching, there was quite a bit of focus on the trip about World War II and the Nazi occupation of France. I was so grateful that I had recently read Code Name Verity (which is about spies during WWII). There were so many references that I understood (even French words that I knew the meaning!) because I had read that historical novel. Places, dates, and events had much more meaning to me because I remembered them from the book. And that was a fiction book! It helped emphasize to me the ways that fiction can be used to help bring history to life, as well as nonfiction or textbooks.

My parents listened to the book Unbroken: A World War II Story of Survival, Resilience, and Redemption by Laura Hillenbrand on a car trip a few weeks back. When we went to the air show recently, my mom commented that seeing the historical fighter planes and re-enactments was especially meaningful since they had just listened to that novel.

The first time I went to Paris, a friend recommended a collection of short stories, Paris in Mind, edited by Jennifer Lee. It was great to experience Paris through many different eyes, as well as my own. In fact, at one point on the trip, I sat on a blanket in the grassy area below the Eiffel Tower and read the book and people watched. What a wonderful memory!

I just love examples of how reading and literature can enhance our experiences. While reading is generally a solitary activity (although can easily be shared with audiobooks), it can open us up to the world in so many different ways.

November SCBWI Houston Book Reports (and I'm in the newspaper!)

Hi everyone,

First, let me give a big thanks to Melissa Buron for using some of our Blog Hop tour from this summer for an article in one of the local Houston area newspapers.

Here's the link if you want to check it out: http://www.houstoninnerloopernewspaper.com/page12.htm

Thanks Melissa for my 15 minutes of fame!

Here are my book report titles from this month's SCBWI meeting. Check them out and let me know what you think!

Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein (YA)
Disney-Hyperion ISBN 9781423152194

Absolutely Almost by Lisa Graff (MG/Upper Elementary)
Philomel ISBN 9780399164057

Dog Days of School by Kelly Dipucchio, Illustrated by Brian Biggs
Disney-Hyperion ISBN 9780786854936

Pig and Small by Alex Latimer
Peachtree Publishers ISBN 9781561457977

Happy Halloween! Any Nanowrimo or PiBoIdMo participants out there?

Just a quick note to say Happy Halloween to everyone! We really enjoy Halloween in our family and are looking forward to trick-or-treating tonight. We get A LOT of kids in our neighborhood so it always makes for a busy night.

I'm rethinking my blog post schedule. I'd like to keep it up on a regular basis, discussing either book, writing or library-related issues. So my goal is to blog at least once a week, with Wednesday being my target day to put up a new post.

Speaking of goals, tomorrow is November 1st, which means the kick-off of such writing challenges as Nanowrimo (National Novel Writing Month) and PiBoIdMo (Picture Book Idea Month). I'm signing up for both! Graduate school and extracurricular activities have kept me so busy that I haven't taken much time to focus on my writing, so I'm hoping these challenges will do the trick. If you're on the fence about participating, give it a try! Last year I did a modified Nano challenge, where I just focused on a certain word count a day. This year I'm going to try and actually hit the 50,000 words, but we will see how that goes.

I appreciate those of y'all who are still checking in every once in a while to see what is going on here on my blog.

Happy Halloween everyone!

Benefits of Uninterrupted Reading Time and Silent Reading Parties

Hi all,

For my Library Information Sources and Services class, we have to comment about current events relating to the library world. I found this article about the benefits of slow reading and the advent of Silent Reading Parties.  I thought the effect of technology on our brain and reading patterns was really interesting, and the silent reading events sounded like so much fun and something that libraries could easily host. So I wanted to share my post with y'all as well. Maybe you'll find a Silent Reading Party somewhere near you and take part - or at least use this as an excuse not to feel guilty about time spent curled up with a good book!

Here's my post:

A recent Wall Street Journal article pointed out the benefits of a sustained, silent reading time - not just for kids in Elementary school - but for adults as well. The article goes into detail about how the advent of technology, texts, twitter, and screen reading has changed the way our brains focus and read text. "Screens have changed our reading patterns from the linear, left-to-right sequence of years past to a wild skimming and skipping pattern as we hunt for important words and information. One 2006 study of the eye movements of 232 people looking at Web pages found they read in an "F" pattern, scanning all the way across the top line of the text but only halfway across the next few lines, eventually sliding their eyes down the left side of the page in a vertical movement toward the bottom. None of this is good for our ability to comprehend deeply, scientists say" (Whalen "Read Slowly to Benefit Your Brain and Cut Stress"). Over time, researchers fear that this type of reading may impact our ability to comprehend complicated texts or contemplate new concepts. In addition, fewer people are scheduling uninterrupted reading time - without the distraction of incoming texts, pausing to check emails or other modern-day distractions. 

In reaction to this lack of reading time, some groups around the world have starting hosting Silent Reading Parties. At these events, often hosted at a bar or coffee shop, people bring a book (or e-book, as long as its internet connectivity is turned off) and sit around and read uninterrupted, but together. After about an hour or more, the readers then spend some time socializing with each other (Whalen "No Devices, No Talking"). 

So how does this relate to libraries? My first thought, when I saw a video interview with the Wall Street Journal reporter who wrote the article, was "Libraries could do this!" Libraries seem like a natural choice to host Silent Reading Events - we can even supply the books. Some modern libraries even have coffee shops connected to them, which could enhance the social gathering aspect of the event. I particularly like the idea of hosting one of these types of events at college libraries. As academic reference librarians, we could provide the information to the students about the benefits of uninterrupted reading time - and then offer them an opportunity to try it out. Even when helping them with their research, reference librarians can point out the difference between skimming material to find out if it is pertinent to their subject,  and the next step: slowly, silently reading the material to comprehend and apply what is being explained. It seems an important skill to point out, especially with today's millenial generation which has grown up with much shorter bursts of information bombarding them all the time.

I personally think one of these silent reading parties sounds like a refreshing break from the hustle and bustle of every day life. To relax uninterrupted with a book sounds like a true luxury. How nice to learn that it is also beneficial for our brains!

Whalen, Jeanne . "No Devices, No Talking... Just Silence and Reading ."Lunch Break with Tanya Rivero. Wall Street Journal Live. WSJ Live, New York : 15 Sept. 2014. Online. http://lisnews.org/no_devices_no_talkingjust_silence_and_reading

Whalen, Jeanne . "Read Slowly to Benefit your Brain and Cut Stress." Wall Street Journal [New York] 16 Sept. 2014, sec. Life & Culture: n. pag. Wall Street Journal Online. Web. 17 Sept. 2014. http://online.wsj.com/articles/read-slowly-to-benefit-your-brain-and-cut-stress-1410823086

October SCBWI Houston Book Reports

Hello everyone!

I hope that y'all are doing well. We had an informative and hands-on meeting with speaker Elizabeth White-Olsen from Writespace Houston. They offer a range of writing classes at affordable prices. I've taken two so far and enjoyed them both. Check out their website for more details.

Here are this month's recommended reading titles from our Houston SCBWI meeting.

Elizabeth, Queen of the Seas by Lynne Cox and illustrated by Brian Floca. (PB)
Schwartz & Wade ISBN 9780375858888

The 14th Goldfish by Jennifer L. Holm (MG)
Random House Books for Young Readers ISBN 9780375870644

Screaming at the Ump by Audrey Vernick (MG)
Clarion Books ISBN 9780544252080

Enjoy!

Writing Process Blog Tour

Hello everyone!

I'm honored that the lovely and talented Melissa Buron asked me to participate in the Writing Process Blog Tour. Melissa was one of wonderful writers who participated in the Summer Reading and Writing challenge. She is a busy lady! You can check out her writing process blog hop post at www.melissaburon.wordpress.com. Now - onto my answers:

What am I working on?

I am currently focusing on a middle grade novel. I also have several picture books that are works-in-progress that I revisit frequently (usually when I’m stuck on the middle grade novel!).

How does my work differ from others of its genre?

I really, really love dialogue. That’s my favorite thing to write. So a lot of my manuscripts, even my picture books, are dialogue-driven. I especially love books with dialogue directly aimed at the reader. It’s something that I’m working on currently with one of my picture books. It’s so much fun!

Why do I write what I do?

I like to challenge myself with different formats. Sometimes I’m not sure if that’s a good or bad thing - because it’s definitely challenging! So a project often comes to mind because I enjoy books with a certain style of writing, and wonder if I can pull it off. For example, my current middle grade novel has five first person points of view. I decided to write it that way because I personally like books with several points of view. Have I succeeded with it? I’m not sure. I’ll let you know when I finish! It’s entirely possibly that I’ll end up rewriting the whole thing in third person or from just one character’s point of view, but I wanted to give it a try. Another love of mine is epistolary novels (novels written as letters, or these days, even e-mails back and forth). So I’m thinking my next project will be in an epistolary format - I just have to figure out what the story will be!

For my picture books projects, I may focus on different things - like I want to write a book under 200 words, or with an unreliable narrator, or in rhyme, etc. For me, experimenting with styles is part of the fun of the writing process.

How does my writing process work?

It varies depending on whether it is summer or the school year, but overall the processes are generally the same. I do my best writing if I can get the main chunk of it in as soon as I get the kids off to school or before they wake up in the summer. I try to get in 500 words in that first session. Then, during the day, I’ve really been working on taking advantage of shorter spurts of time as well. I’ve started carrying my laptop and/or a notebook with me all the time to try and squeeze in writing whenever I get a chance. This year I have kids in four different levels of school: college, high school, middle school, and elementary school. As you can imagine, I spend a lot of time at a variety of different activities. So while I’m waiting at cross country, gymnastics, baseball, track, swimming, carpool line, etc. I try to write. Sometimes I feel a little anti-social if there are other parents around who would like to chat, so I try to balance my times of being social with times of hiding in my car to write. I’ve found that I can usually get a surprising amount of progress even in those stolen moments of time.

I usually write at home, but I’m also a big fan of writing at the library. It helps me sometimes to get out, so I don’t feel guilty about the never-ending list of things that need to be done around the house. When I first started writing and the kids didn’t have as many evening activities, I used to go to the library every Monday night to write while my husband took care of the kids. That’s where I really started on my writing journey and wrote my very first picture book manuscripts. I loved that uninterrupted writing time, and was so grateful that my whole family supported my writing efforts. I’d love to add that evening writing time once a week back to my schedule - but we’ll have to see how this school year’s activities and my graduate school classes pan out. I think I’ll probably still be typing away in my car for years to come!

Thanks for joining me! Next on the list is the creative and crafty author Rebecca Nolen. I met Rebecca through SCBWI and really enjoy her company. Here's a little more about her: 

Rebecca Nolen was born and raised in Houston, TX, back when it felt like a small town and Foley's had an animated display windows at Christmas. In childhood, she rode her bike up and down trails and caught horney toads and snakes with her brothers. She developed a love for reading. After reading the Nancy Drew series, she would sneak read Alfred Hitchcock magazine, and horror comics until she discovered Author Conan Doyle and Egdar Allen Poe. In tenth grade she read all of Charles Dickens and Robert B. Costain. Now she usually reads British Murder/Mysteries and suspense and children's books. That love of books naturally created a desire to write. She has two published novels, Deadly Thyme a psychological suspense set in Britain, and The Dry a middle-grade dark historical fantasy.

You can find Rebecca at www.rebeccanolen.com. She should have her Blog Hop post up within the next week, so check back often!

Enjoy!