Letters to the Author

Today I'm over at the Spellbinders Blog talking about the "Letter to the Author" project I conducted with freshman and sophomores at the high school where I work as a speech-language pathologist. I'm offering more suggestions about connecting readers with authors, but first you may want to visit last month's article where I offered several tips on how to brainstorm letter content with students and incorporate goals and objectives into the letter writing process. A copy of that article may be found here.

As a follow up to last months letter writing project, today I will be discussing additional tips for connecting authors and readers. Here is tip #1. The other four tips may be found at Spellbinders.

1. Connect with authors through books and websites like  Dear Teen Me. While serving on a panel at the Montgomery Book Festival in February, I met co-panelist E. Kristin Anderson and fell in love with the book she edited with Miranda Kenneally entitled Dear Teen Me. The book contains letters by various authors to their teen selves and includes entries by Ellen Hopkins, Lauren Oliver, Carrie Jones and Cynthia Leitich Smith. The various authors cover a wide range of topics including finding true love, discovering the true meaning of friendship, as well as surviving physical abuse, body issues, and bullying. The stories are sometimes funny and sometimes sad, but always close to the heart. I highly recommend this book as well as the website Dear Teen Me for connecting readers and authors.

While we anxiously awaited Cynthia's response to our letters, we read her excerpt from Dear Teen Me. Learning about Cynthia's experience of break up, heart break, and the girl bully who tormented, but ultimately admitted that she admired Cynthia, made it that much more meaningful when we received Cynthia's response to our student letters. She answered individual questions within a group letter and I made copies to hand out to all the students so they could follow along as I read the letter aloud in class.

For other helpful tips on connecting young readers with authors, go to Spellbinders.

"Get Real" Author Panel

I just can't say enough great things about the Montgomery Book Festival. It was such an honor to be invited to this event coordinated by the awesome librarian duo of Tabatha Perry and Natasha Benway. Over 1,000 teens attended in addition to numerous parents, teachers, and other adults.

I served on a panel called "Get Real." It was all about contemporary fiction. My fellow panelists were delightful, funny, and warm. My three comrades were E. Kristin Anderson, Bettina Restepo, and Anita Bunkley. I have already shared an excerpt from E. Kristin Anderson's book, Dear Teen Me, with my high school students. The book is compiled of a series of letters from authors to their teen selves and includes contributions by best-selling authors Ellen Hopkins and Cynthia Leitich Smith.

Bettina Restrepo discussed her first novel, Illegal. It's the story of Nora, a fifteen-year-old girl, whose father leaves Mexico in search of work. When his letters and money stop coming, Nora and her mother make a dangerous border crossing to search for him in Texas. Bettina tackles a tough, but very important topic which all of us who live in border states like New Mexico and Texas are painfully concerned about.

Anita Bunkley was the most seasoned author on our panel. She's published numerous books including Emily: The Yellow Rose and she won a Career Achievement Award in African American Fiction from Romantic Times Magazine.

Zombies - Texas Style

On February 2, I went to The Woodlands near Houston, Texas for the Montgomery Book Festival.  Author Jonathan Maberry was one of the keynote speakers, and in honor of his Rot and Ruin series members of the Zombie Walk were on hand for photographs. These zoms may look terrifying, but they're all heart. The Zombie Walk has nine different events currently scheduled for 2013 to raise money for local children's charities.


Speaking of Zombies and Jonathan Maberry, he is awesome and so are his books. I had the chance to talk with him at the Friday night author social prior to the festival. He is a fellow Crowe's Nester, meaning that he and I both share the fabulous Sara Crowe as an agent. Check out her wonderful industry blog at the Crowe's Nest.

I'm currently reading Rot and Ruin and can't wait to share it with my students. I wrote a spoof of his series to the tune of Jingle Bells. It's called Have a Very Zombie Christmas and several members of SCBWI helped me sing it during our Holiday party in December. Jonathan's take on zombies is intelligent as well as philosophical, with a little bit of zen sprinkled into the mix.

I met so many wonderful authors at the festival. Here is Kendare Blake holding my new copy of Anna Dressed in Blood. When I'm finished with zombies I plan to tackle the unusual romance of Cas Lowood, teenage ghost hunter, and Anna, the murderous spectre who kills everyone who enters her Victorian home, but for some unknown reason spares the life of Cas.

The festival was also an opportunity to catch up with old friends. I was delighted to deliver a pile of letters from my high school students to Cynthia Leitich Smith. Two of my English classes read her graphic novel, Tantalize, last fall and they have been asking about the sequel, Blessed, ever since. The letter writing project was so successful, the classroom teacher and I plan to duplicate it. For details on how to get the most out of a "Letter to the Author" project, visit my article on the Author/Reader Connection in this week's issue of Spellbinders.

I must commend the coordinators of the event, Montgomery County Librarians, Tabatha Perry and Natasha Benway. They were meticulous down to the last detail and even went so far as to make sure I had sugar free dark chocolate in my goody bag upon check-in at the hotel. I'm currently on a sugar free diet. Thanks again to everyone who helped to make this such a magical (and spooky) event.

My Dog Ate My Library Book - No Really, It's True

This is the look of shame that belongs to Maya, my nine year old boxer, the naughty canine who left teeth marks in SHIVER. 

We took the kids on a ski vacation during winter break and had a friend come to the house to watch her. Was Maya appreciative that we hired someone to feed her three times a day and walk her so she wouldn't be exposed to all those yelping dogs and the kennel cough that left her hacking like a chain smoker the last time she stayed at Petsmart?

No! She repaid me by munching on my library book. 

I do think it's noteworthy that the book SHIVER by Maggie Stiefvater is about a teenage boy who is a werewolf. If I give Maya the benefit of the doubt, maybe she read the reviews and just wanted to take a peek inside.

The only thing more embarrassing than being fifteen years old and having to tell your librarian that your dog ate your book is to be an adult who works at the school. I did mention that I had ordered a fresh, new, unchewed copy which I would deliver as soon as it came in.

I adored this book. The writing was so beautiful and lyric and the plight of Sam, the boy who fights to stay human for Grace, the girl he loves, was so compelling that as soon as I read the last page, I turned back to Chapter One and started reading it all over again.

Then it was time to leave for Colorado.

On the bright side, I now own a copy of SHIVER. Even if it is slightly damaged. And now I may reread it as many times as I want.

Do Fiction and Non-Fiction Share a Common Core?

YALSA PANEL

Today I'm over at the Spellbinders Blog talking about the YALSA (Young Adult Library Services Association) Literature Symposium in St. Louis. The authors on our panel discussed the types of non-fiction sources that we use while working on our novels and made several suggestions for incorporating non-fiction into the reading of fiction in the classroom. The Common  Core Standards put a much greater emphasis on non-fiction, but there are many ways to use non-fiction to extend the reading of novels and short-stories. For a full discussion, head over to the Spellbinders Blog.

SCBWI Holiday Party

On Tuesday, December 11, SCBWI authors, friends, families and librarians gathered at Alamosa Books. Here is a wonderful display of local author's books:

As promised, I sang Christmas Carol Spoofs based on young adult novels. Several local authors, as well as random people from the audience helped sing. There were also several wonderful kids who volunteered to play bells and other instruments. I'm the one in the jester's hat.

To find the last song in my three-part holiday series, head on over to Spellbinders.

It's called A VERY FROSTY KISS, MISS or Edward the Vampire.

The Night Before Christmas

Take Me There is being featured over at A Book Lover's Review. There is an excerpt from the novel that occurs on Christmas Eve as well as an opportunity to win an autographed copy of the book. Head on over and check it out!