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Howdy, Campers--and Happy Poetry Friday (original poem and PF link below)!

This is the last of our series about punctuation and related topics. Bobbi started us off with For the Love of Comma (her post was mentioned in Quercus), Esther offers A New Mark of Punctuation (sort of)...,Carla illustrates her point with specific examples from her books in How You Tell the Story Makes a Difference, and Mary Ann pleads, Can We Give the Exclamation Point a Rest?

When my son was four, he was lying on the floor leisurely looking at a book one morning when I rushed in. "C'mon, honey--we've gotta go!"

"Okay, Mommy," he said marking his page, "lemme put it on pause."

Don't you love that?

Put it on pause.  Commas, line breaks and periods give pause; they remind us to breathe. Like Bobbi, I love commas.  My summer present to you: three things about commas to make you smile:

from signals.com

(Mom loved it.)

2) When my son was in elementary school, I read poetry to his class once a week.  I was trying to be like my teacher, Myra Cohn Livingston: I wanted to share poetry with no strings attached.  As I read, they listened, just listened.  Nothing was expected of them.  I read every poem twice.

At the end of each year, I gave them each a collection of the poems they loved; in third grade, this was one of their favs (make sure to take a big breath before attempting to read it aloud!):

Call the Periods
Call the Commas
By Kalli Dakos

Call the doctors Call the nurses Give me a breath of
air I’ve been reading all your stories but the periods
aren’t there Call the policemen Call the traffic guards
Give me a STOP sign quick Your sentences are running
when they need a walking stick Call the commas Call
the question marks Give me a single clue Tell me
where to breathe with a punctuation mark or two

From If You're Not Here, Please Raise Your Hand; Poems about School by Kalli Dakos, illustrated by Brian Karas (Simon and Schuster Books for Young Readers, 1995) 

3) We're told so much about the health benefits of deep breathing; of taking time to slow down. Remember to Breathe, they say.

And just think: as writers, with our very own fingers, we have magic power. Add a comma, push the pause button.

Applause for the Pause
by April Halprin Wayland

A comma,
a breaking line
a period.

A day off,
a week away
summer.

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Hooray for good news! After 2 1/2 grueling years, our son is cancer free! My husband retires today! And I have a new book! The padded board book edition of Baby Says "Moo!" is here, and you could win an autographed copy for you or your favorite baby.

You can read more about Baby Says "Moo!" in this interview with the VCFA Launchpad, the Vermont College of Fine Arts MFA in Writing for Children and Young Adults blog. Enter below to win an autographed copy. The giveaway runs through June 22. We'll announce the winner on June 26. Good luck!

Today's Poetry Friday Roundup is at Jama's Alphabet Soup. Enjoy!

JoAnn Early Macken

a Rafflecopter giveaway

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The International Reading Association (IRA) has declared Sept. 5-9, 2011 to be "Revision Week." Visit the IRA's Engage: Teacher to Teacher Blog this week to read/hear comments about revision from several well-known children's authors, including Cynthia Lord and Kate Messner.

Classroom teachers often tell me that one of their greatest challenges is helping students understand that a first draft is only the first step in the writing process. And many adult writers also dread the "R" word: Revision. Yet, as Kate Messner says today on the Engage: Teacher to Teacher Blog: “Revision is where writing really happens.”
(In the audio interview, Messner also talks about making time to write while working full-time and raising a family.)

One of the best ways I've found to help writers of all ages appreciate the benefit (and necessity) of revision is a bit of "show and tell." I "show" the drafts of my novel Rosa, Sola with all the post-it notes from my editor and I "tell" about how that feedback helped me polish that story. You can see some photos of one of my drafts and read a bit about that process in this post from last year.

For both young students and adult writers, it's often difficult to look at our own work objectively. Below is a revised version of the Writing Workout I shared last year. (Yes, even blog posts and writing exercises get better with revision!) The Workout is intended as a way to help trick ourselves into reading our work as though it were written by someone else.     

Speaking of revision, the next session of my Craft & Critique Workshop, which is held in Oak Brook, IL, begins on Tuesday, Sept. 27. That class is ALL about revision. For more information, see my website. If you don't live in the Chicago area and are looking for some feedback on your writing, check out the Blogosphere Buzz below for help finding a critique partner.

In addition to Revision Week, this is the third annual Random Acts of Publicity week, a chance to celebrate and publicize the work of our fellow authors. I'd like to take this opportunity to remind you that THREE of the TeachingAuthors have new books out this year. If you're new to our blog, please read these posts to learn all about them: JoAnn Early Macken's Baby Says "Moo!", Mary Ann Rodman's Camp K-9, and Esther Hershenhorn's Little Illinois.
 
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Wow! What a wonderful, creative variety of learning games our readers have played with children!

Several games, such as Toni's "What's in the Box?" and Moonduster's anonymous stories and poems, involve guessing. Playful quizzes and card games are part of the learning fun for LadyD's piano students.

RambleSAHM's game teaches colors. Carla's Wizard of Oz game teaches both colors and counting. Having fun with the alphabet is the goal for Margo's clay letter creation, Cindy's word creation game, and Looking for the Write Words's "A: My Name is Amanda" game. (I remember that one!)

Thank you to all who entered! And now for our winner: Dara will receive an autographed copy of Baby Says "Moo!" Dara's game helped a grandson with his pronunciation. Congratulations, Dara! I hope you enjoy the book!

JoAnn Early Macken

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I celebrate March 4th every year. To me, it feels like the true beginning of spring. March forth! Read all about it in this post I wrote last year.

Besides being my favorite date, today is the final day of Baby Says, “Moo!” Week at Teaching Authors.com—but the Book Giveaway continues! To celebrate the publication of my new rhyming picture book, we’re giving away an autographed copy. Entry details below!

As my contribution to the picture book topic the other Teaching Authors have already addressed, I’m sharing some lessons I learned by looking back at the writing and publishing process for each of my five picture books. I’ve posted one each day this week.

Baby Says “Moo!” (Disney-Hyperion Books, illustrated by David Walker) is a cumulative story with the most complex structure I’ve ever attempted. Baby's parents, in an effort to teach animal sounds, ask, "Baby, what do birds say?", "Baby, what do cats say?", and so on, and Baby answers, "Moo!" Each time Baby's parents provide the correct answer, all the previously encountered animals are repeated. In reverse order. In rhyming stanzas.

Before she offered a contract, my editor asked me to make the story flow in a more logical way by reconsidering the order in which the animals appeared. I agonized. I tried to get away with a moderate revision because I was afraid to attempt what I knew would be a really difficult process. I finally had to give in, tear the whole thing apart, and start over.

What surprised me was that the process—like solving an elaborate puzzle—was not only challenging but also tons of fun! The final version was much more satisfying and well worth the effort.

Lesson #5: Don’t be afraid to work hard.

I’ve been inspired by all the different approaches to writing picture books described in this series of Teaching Author posts. I hope some of our comments are helpful to you, too. Maybe the most important things to remember are that we each have our own way of working and that each book might require a unique approach. Discovering the method that works is a necessary and exciting part of the process.

Baby Says “Moo!” Giveaway

To enter the drawing for an autographed copy of Baby Says “Moo!”, follow these steps:

1. Post a comment on any post this week and tell us about a learning game you’ve played with children. Enter only once, please!

2. Include your contact information in your comment. If you are not a blogger or your e-mail address is not accessible from your online profile, provide a valid e-mail address in your comment. Feel free to disguise your address by spelling out portions, such as [at] and [dot].

3. Post your comment by 11 p.m. (CST) Monday, March 7, 2011.

The winner:
• must have a mailing address in the United States.
• will be determined using the random number generator at Random.org.
• will be announced on Tuesday, March 8.
• automatically grants us permission to post his or her name on our Teaching Authors web site.
• will also be notified by e-mail.
• must respond to the notification e-mail and provide a mailing address within 72 hours, or the prize will be forfeited and an alternate winner will be chosen.

Good luck!
JoAnn Early Macken Display Comments Add a Comment

It's Baby Says, “Moo!” Week at Teaching Authors.com! To celebrate the publication of my new rhyming picture book (Today's the day!), we’re giving away an autographed copy. Entry details below!

As my contribution to the picture book topic the other Teaching Authors have already addressed, I’m sharing some lessons I learned by looking back at the writing and publishing process for each of my five picture books. I’ll post one each day this week.

Sing-Along Song, my second picture book, was inspired mostly by our son Jimmy’s habit of singing all day long. But lots of other memories and emotions went into my writing, too. After a difficult winter of loss and heartache, I felt renewed by spring. A Quaker hymn called “How Can I Keep from Singing?” expressed something like what I wanted to say. I also remembered scenes from my childhood, favorite sayings from my sisters, and most of all, the importance of family.

Lesson #2: Use everything. Don’t save an idea, a quote, or even a word to use later. Pour it all in. You will find more.

Now for the book giveaway!

Kirkus says, “Macken carefully structures a seemingly simple picture book about a baby learning animal sounds—or in this case stuck on the popular bovine one—using simple rhyming text, a progressive repetition of previously encountered creatures and the harmonious refrain of, ‘Baby says, “Moo!’”

When I first considered the idea of a baby answering questions about animal sounds, I thought it might be funny if the baby got the answers wrong. One day while I walked the dog, it occurred to me that Baby could give the same answer to every question. I'd wanted to try writing a cumulative story for ages, and the simple concept seemed a good match for that goal. I also knew from the start that Baby had to be right at the end.

To enter the drawing for an autographed copy of Baby Says “Moo!”, follow these steps:

1. Post a comment on any post this week and tell us about a learning game you’ve played with children. Enter only once, please!

2. Include your contact information in your comment. If you are not a blogger or your e-mail address is not accessible from your online profile, provide a valid e-mail address in your comment. Feel free to disguise your address by spelling out portions, such as [at] and [dot].

3. Post your comment by 11 p.m. (CST) Monday, March 7, 2011.

The winner:
• must have a mailing address in the United States.
• will be chosen using the random number generator at Random.org.
• will be announced on Tuesday, March 8.
• automatically grants us permission to post his or her name on our Teaching Authors web site.
• will also be notified by e-mail.
• must respond to the notification e-mail and provide a mailing address within 72 hours, or the prize will be forfeited and an alternate winner will be chosen.

Good luck!
JoAnn Early Macken