End of Year School visit

On Friday I traveled the 144 miles to Bloomington Illinois to meet with freshmen at Bloomington High School. I was invited by Keran Johnson, the school's retiring Library Media Specialist (she's in full countdown mode).  We met last fall when I spoke at the Illinois School Library Media Association in Springfield, and she mentioned how much she wanted an author visit at her school before she left. Over the months we corresponded, trying to find some way to make it happen. At times we almost gave up, but miracles can happen. I guess we have to thank the snow gods, thanks to the need for snow days to make up for closings during the horrific winter, school did NOT end on May 23, the originally scheduled date.  So at the last minute, they were able to fit an author visit in the school year.

While I did not know that my day would begin with the first period class at 7:30 (I am so not a morning person) I got there and got to work.  I actually got there the night before. The drive took about three hours (2 1/2 according to Mapquest, but they did not include the construction slowdown in I55) Keran put me up overnight in her lovely home, and treated me to dinner. Then it was rise and shine and face the students.

The teachers and I

During the day I faced five classes from two English teachers, along with some kids who got passes to attend one of my session.  The groups listened attentively (OK as attentively as kids who really wanted summer vacation to begin already) could.  I talked about writing, and the author's responsibility to craft a story that reaches out and grabs a reader and sucks them in.  And about the readers bill of rights, most especially the right to stop reading any story that bores them.  I admit to valuing that right just as much as I value the right to read anything, the right to reread and the right to skip pages.  I talk to lots of reluctant readers, and I think many of them are or become reluctant because they don't realize they have the right to dislike things other like, that right to read anything they like, and the all-important right to not finish if they are not hooked.

The school put together a poster for me to advertise my school visit. I loved it and just wished I could take it home with me. None of the students, and it was a culturally diverse group, had any issue with the faces on the cover. Kids really don't seem to be put off by that, although publishers and booksellers seem to think only white faces on a cover will sell. Learning that my 2014 release, Minority of One, featured a black gay teen, perked up their interest. And when they asked me about my work in progress and I mentioned the heroine of that book is going to be bi-sexual, several of them wanted to see it NOW! (Sorry, it's just started so they have to wait until at least 2015).   I also shared lunch with some eager future authors, and we discussed the writing process.

Like the group I spoke to a few weeks ago in New Orleans, these kids were interested in multicultural books.  We talked about crafting believable and likeable characters, which is where I start my stories. I read the beginning pages of Pull, my first published YA novel, and of one of my short stories and watched them perk up and tell me to keep going. I left the teachers with a list of book choices the kids could start with in deciding on a summer read for the contest, but reminded each student it was up to them to find the book that best appealed to them. Describe your likes to a librarian. Or maybe pick a book off the shelves at random. Read chapter one. If it doesn't appeal to you, don't try to force yourself to read it. Toss it and find something else. 

All of this was to prepare to set them a challenge. Summer is a time when many kids want to do anything except read. I challenged them to go out and find something, fiction, poetry, an anthology, non-fiction, memoir, even fan fiction or magazines. Something they will feel so strongly about they will want to come back and recommend it to their friends. Because if they do, they will win prizes that include t-shirts. There is no requirement they read a specific book (I was pleased that several of them inquired about my books) or that it be fiction (non-fiction, graphic novels, memoir etc work just fine). This is not a replacement for any summer reading set by their teacher.  But it is incentive for the eager readers, an inducement to reluctant readers, and a hope that some of them will find that maybe reading isn't all that bad after all and share that with their friends.

Over the summer and the beginning of the fall years, these freshmen kids (now sophomores) will enter their recommendations int he school system. They have to add in a blurb about why this story was recommended. And then, they have to get their friends to vote on the best recommendation. The library will collect the votes, and I will send prizes to the top three. I am looking forward to hearing from the teachers and sending out prize packages.

And happy retirement, Keran.
 
I teach online classes for writers, give workshops on reluctant readers and writing, and presentations to schools and libraries. If you are interested in a school, library or conference visit, use my contact page to send me an email

Empowering the Voice of the Black Male in Children’s and Teen Lit - NCAAL 2013

I spoke at the 8th National Conference of African American Librarians on August 8, 2013. The topic was Empowering the Voice of the Black Male in Children’s and Teen Lit. [Click here to read the YALSA Hub post about the conference] At one point we had a discussion on the role of non-fiction. One librarian spoke of a young man who only wanted to read about cars. Not fiction about cars or anything else. There was not a lot of time to talk about this issue during the 45 minute session, but I have some additional thoughts here.

First, reading non-fiction, manuals and magazines is reading and all reading will help with vocabulary growth, reading speed and comprehension. The Common Core empahsizes non-fiction for a reason.

However, fiction gives something non-fiction cannot. The right story in the right hands at the right time gives readers the feeling that someone understands them, that they are not alone. 
Here are some ideas that might help that young man, and others, take a second look at reading in general and fiction in particular.

1. Short stories - quick reads that can help the reader regain a feeling of enjoyment in reading and a sense of mastery by finishing something quickly and easy.
2. Books in verse. With most, readers can open it to almost any page and find a new verse, each of which can be considered it's own story about his relationships with parents and peers.
   
3. Audio books. Listening can be a stepping stone. Hearing a story read can help kids return back to the younger days when they loved the idea of a story. Listening to stories read aloud is not just for preschoolers. I love my audio books!
4. Better still, solicit male volunteers, teachers, staff, parents, community members, to read aloud to kids. A surprising number will say yes. With only ten you have a reader/role model each month. Help the boys see that reading is too a masculine activity, not something just for girls.  
5. Poetry slams. I have found many boys interested in their own poetry/lyrics, and those of peers. I recently judged a poetry contest and gave a workshop on the use of  free verse to high school students. One young man in the workshop only because the teacher had the entire class come in perked up as he listened. By the end he came up to me as other students were filing out and told me he understood one of the poems. He also  said that while he hadn't entered the poetry contest this year, he was already planning for next year.
6. Give them a book of their own, to keep. Kids who own a book are more likely to read it.
7. Have them write, whatever they want, their own stories, or song lyrics, or instruction manuals. 
8. My daughter's school not only had the kids write, they had the results bound and put int he school library for anyone to check out.
9. Most of all, learn about the kid's issues, interests, problems and recommend a book to him or her that matches them.

"That's my life in that book." I have heard teen readers say that. When they see themselves, and their friends and family, they see the world, develop empathy, and come back for more.

These are my ideas. If you have any more, please add a comment and share them with others.

Book Review - As fast As Words Could Fly

As Fast as Words Could Fly by Pamela M. Tuck

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Somebody’s got to make a change.

This is the theme brought to life in As Fast As Words Could Fly, a MG picture book about fourteen-year-old Mason Steele, his family, the American Civil Rights movement, and a typewriter. The art beautiful, realistic, the perfect complement to the simple, heartfelt story. The story begins by showing a handsome, well-groomed, baseball and football loving young man bent over his studies. I wanted him for my son. Seriously. On every page we see Mason's world, loving parents, anxiety, and the power of change.

Mason helps his father’s civil rights group. His skill with pencil and paper helps him create business letters used to advance the cause. The group gives him a manual typewriter (the pictures really help since too few people today even remember those things, much less have seen one). He teaches himself to type over the summer and his words and abilities expand.

Life changes when school resumes. Mason's efforts have helped the civil rights group desegregate the local school. Instead of the daily thirteen mile trip to the black school, Mason and his brothers begin the even harder journey to the formerly all-white school. At first the bus driver refuses to stop to pick them up. When they get to school, they are met at the door by officials who do not want them to enter. White students, even the few who had been friendly before, now shun the black boys. But Mason excels in typing class, earning a job with the school librarian (does anyone remember actual card catalogues) and the right to represent his school at a typing tournament where he wins because he remembers where he came from. The pictures show the stunned surprise on the faces of the other competitors. No one cheers for Mason. But his words speak for him, "loud and clear."

In the end we feel hopeful for Mason and for his family's future. And we know that future will involve writing. The book includes an author's note about her father and his own life during this time period, her inspiration for the book.


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Reluctant Readers and the Rotary

And the 5th test- Will it be FUN?

Today, after one of 2013's few (and worst) snowstorms, I was up at six am and out the door into a road IDOT had not yet cleared because of a commitment I made months ago.  It seemed safe back then to schedule my visit to talk to the Sunrise Rotary club of Mt. Prospect/Arlington Heights near the end of February. Even if I was due to speak at 7:30. In the morning. After all, we had 50 degrees in January.

And a snowstorm today.

The good news is, I found the place. The better news, I got there alive and without an accident, because near misses do not count, even when an attempt to stop sends you sliding halfway into another lane and leaves you (and probably the other driver too) on the verge of a heart attack.

Breakfast was great, the company was wonderful, and I got to talk on one of my favorite subject, how we adults can help bring reluctant readers back to books. I say back, because almost all preschoolers love books. But somehow, by adolescence, an alarming number get branded as reluctant or at-risk readers. I shared statistics with the Rotarians, along with suggestions for ways to reverse this, including modeling reading to adolescents and teens; allowing some "non traditional" reading material including graphic novels, and audio books; and encouraging then to write (almost everyone wants to tell a story, especially when it won't be graded!!)

Because of the topic, I had a representative from a local adult literacy group in the audience, and several teachers. I gave away complimentary copies of both Pull and Die Trying to them. The adult literacy specialist present thought the short stories in Die Trying would appeal to her readers.

Best of all, they are talking about having me back again. Next time in the fall.

I would love to hear if any of you have experiences with reluctant readers, or ideas about turning them on to books.

Why I write

Being God comes out Feb 1. The book represents my commitment to writing quality books designed to attract both eager and the reluctant teen readers.

Especially the kids known as reluctant readers.

I truly believe that most kids who are reluctant do not deserve that name. They are just kids who have not yet found the right book for them.  How many of us eagerly sit down to read a book on a subject we have no interest in, or maybe one written in a foreign language that we have yet to learn?  I know, because I tried, and that experience helped awaken me to some of the issues with so-called reluctant readers.

A few years ago I was very eager to read a book written in French.  This book has never been translated into English. Hundreds of pages of a totally foreign language. But as a long time fan of the Angelique series (I am a long-term member of the Friends of Angelique), I was desperate to read the untranslated Angelique in Quebec. All 826 pages of it. 

So I tried the mission impossible thing and set down to teach myself to read French. It's the kind of thing that can give someone new insights.

I managed to stumble through the book, and it was worth the effort. But, the experience showed me just how daunting reading can be to a reluctant reader handed something above his or her grade level and then given an assignment and a deadline.  Had I not been desperate to complete the series I would easily have given up a dozen times. The sight of the book still intimidates me (it is the biggest thing on my bookshelf).

So I write for teens who need to have the joy of a good book awakened. I expect them to be reluctant, so I give them openings designed to hook harder than the average. I give them short chapters, so they have natural points where they can put the book down and still feel they have accomplished something. I add in lures, devices to make them want to come back. Or, better still, to make them decide to read just one more chapter (only a few pages, after all) before they stop.

The reluctant reader remains an under served population. They don't want books, so publishers and authors can't expect to get rich from courting them. But they need books, so I keep writing with them in mind. Books take us places movies and video games cannot. The let us experience moral dilemmas and other people's lives from the safety of our home. They help the development of conscious, compassion and self-esteem.  I talk at teacher and librarian conferences, and the professionals all agree on the importance of these benefits, and want more ways to give them to reluctant and at-risk readers.

People ask me why I write Young Adult. What more do I have to say?

Being God is the second book in the Farrington series. Coming from allthecolorsoflove on Feb 1, 2013.

Making books accessible

Last week I read a post on the Ruby Slippered Sisterhood blog about the need to make books more accessible to people with visual impairments. The post featured a disheartening description of what one reader once had to do to get a book in a format he could read.  Thank heavens for eReaders that can change fonts, and text-to-speach devices, as well as audiobooks.  But there is a need for more. That's where Bookshare comes in.  This organization makes books available in accessible format to visually impaired readers all around the world.

After looking into this organization, I have decided to sign the Publisher's Letter of Consent to allow Bookshare to put every allthecolorsoflove book in their collection.  Under the copyright law, books can be made available to people with qualifying disabilities without permission, but Bookshare works with authors and publishers, as well as educators and private citizens willing to donate copies, to make high quality books available to their members. And I understand getting a membership in Bookshare is strenuous, requiring proof of disability. 

My mission is to reach reluctant readers. But I also want to reach eager readers, especially those who have difficulty finding books they are able to read. So I will be doing what I can to work with the staff to make sure my books are adaptable to the needs of the disable.

YALSA Conf report - FANDOM

I first heard of the world of fandom two years ago, but did not think much about it until this session. The world has existed for a long time. Many teens have grown up in a remix culture. A world where they have been able to build an AU or alternate universe where they change the words, outcomes, characters, etc. at will, for as long as they have been reading. AU - alternate universe, is part of the fandom vocabulary.  Yes, this world has its own language, a big part of it's community aspect that draws followers in. Including crossover, where two different worlds/books are are intermingled in one story.


Tumblr has become the de facto one-stop home for fandom. In addition to the ever popular transformations of Twilight and Harry Potter, there are fandoms for books as well as TV shows, movies, and musical groups. This includes classics such as Sherlock Holmes, Twelfth Night, Othello, Don Quixote, Jane Eyre, and Turn of the Screw. Fan created work includes art, prose and poetry. It is a community with people writing, editing and reading.

All of which makes fandom a low-pressure platform for teen writers and readers.

The original source work is considered the "cannon" - unchangeable. Fans take the cannon and apply their individual interpretations. As long as fandom is "non economic" the courts tend to keep distant fro what is considered transformative work, protected under copyright "fair use" clauses. Aside from a few early legal incidents, fandom and the publishing world exist in a state of detente.  The law has not been fully tested yet; almost no on wants to find out what the courts would say if a case went the distance. In some cases publishers are embracing fandom and even hosting fan contests.  They have gone from trying to do "cease and desist" and getting fan sites shut down, to "how can we participate and grow the fan base?"

People read fan created work for different reasons than they read commercial fiction. Many people love a good AU - alternative universe where their favorite characters strive. Fandom is easily read on the phone and in short spurts. Most who write fandom are in it "for the love of the game." In the process, they learn that anyone can create, and that can be good and empowering for teens. One fan was quoted as saying, "when the spirit moves you, you create, even if its a 500 word dribble about werewolves in space."  Another mentioned that while maybe 90% of the works are awful (bad grammar, tons of exposition, no plot), 10% is "worth dying for." I couldn't help thinking of the potential this media has for enticing reluctant readers, enticing them to get interested enough that they go seek out the cannon and possibly become writers themselves.

I said I had not heard of fandom before, but the more I learned, the more I realized I have participated in the practices since my own teen years. Just not in a community. My head is filled with my own favorite characters in an AU I created. It's a crossover since I just keep putting new characters into the same universe and watching them live their new lives. I understand the joy of a good ship, putting together coupes from different eras, books, genres, and letting them find true love.

Attracting Reluctant Readers

On Thursday, 10-18-12, I will be presenting the first of two workshops at the Ohio Educational Library Media Association. I will be talking on a subject close to my heart, reaching out to reluctant readers. Advertisers and Marketeers know it’s easier and less costly to retain an existing customer than to win back a lost one. And young people are customers for reading and education.

Why do I care? 

 Because we as educators, librarians, concerned parents and as writers need to consider more than just the needs of the avid reader. I met a girl who informed me she reads a book a day. Maybe an exaggeration, but she’s the reader we all love. A member of her schools reading club, purchases lots of books, reads above grade level – a future leader. But what about others? We all develop at different rates, and reading at "grade level" may put too much pressure on some developing brains. And once a child gets behind, when they read one or two grades below their peers, reading aloud, in class can cause such fear and embarrassment that they turn away from books.

Try it yourself. Pick a language you don’t know and pick up a book and see how much joy you get out of stumbling through it. Get a feel for what it could mean to a struggling student when we say "Just try harder," or "Reading is fun," or the really great line, "Lose yourself in a book."

Is it really surprising so many struggling kids decide they hate reading? 

Human beings did not evolve for reading, the way we did for seeing and speaking. Instead, pars of the brain have learned to adapt and achieve that skill.  Sometimes things go wrong. We recognize that and call it a learning disability and work on strategies to help readers over come the problem. But sometimes things take a little longer, and our race to push and put every student at grade level or above can end up having a detrimental effect on someone who matures just a little bit more slowly. 

If we can catch them before they accept the label "Reluctant Reader," before they convince themselves they hate books, then we have a chance. And they have opportunity to achieve their potential.  If I take my car to work and someone else decides to ride their bike (GO GREEN!!) but we both get their on time, they don't fail going to work. I will be talking about ways to keep kids from feeling like failures just because they take a little longer to reach the goal of reading proficiently.