The last time I posted I was on my way to Chicago for the One Book Two Villages Program (hence known as OBTV), hosted annually by the Winnetka-Northfield Public Library System. Each year, two thematically related books...one for children, one for adults...are selected for citywide reading in Winnetka and Northfield. This year, my middle grade historical fiction
Yankee Girl was chosen as the children's book.
I was thrilled to have my "first born" book so honored, and doubly so when I learned that the adult selection was Kathryn Stockett's
The Help (the first time I have been associated in any way with a New York Times bestseller!) Not only do both of our books take place in Civil Rights-Era Jackson, Mississippi, but both of us claim Jackson as our hometown. (Kathryn was really born there; I just sort of adopted it.)
If knowing that your adult counterpart is a bestseller was not intimidating enough, I
really felt out-of-my-league when I learned that my predecessors in the program include Laurie Halse Anderson, Pam Munoz Ryan and Deborah Ellis!
Luckily, I didn't come upon that information until after the first day of the program. By that time I already knew that the readers and librarians of Winnetka-Northfield Public are the best. I have never had more fun on a multo-day school/library presentation. Because this program has existed for seven years, the whole three days were smooth, glitch-less and stress free for me.
I visited two schools, Skokie and Sunset Ridge Schools, where I talked about the Civl Rights Movement, and the background of
Yankee Girl. Snaps all around to the teachers and librarians at those two schools who made sure their students read
YG before my visit. One of the schools even conducted book discussion groups for
YG before I arrived. As a result of the pre-planning, the students were ready to ask me insightful and cogent questions. When you have been doing school visits as long as I have for YG,after awhile you
know you have been asked
every conceivable question. . .
twice! These students questions
I had never considered, and found themes and nuances I was unaware of. . .and I w
All right I'm not
really fishing, although given the amount of rain we've had in my neck of the woods, I could probably fish off my backporch. I am in Winnetka, Illinois for a couple of days of school visits, library programs and a book signing, which is just as much fun as fishing. I hope to see some of you who live in the area. (
http://www.onebooktwovillages.org/kidsummary/?bookid=60741095 ) Tell me you read Teaching Authors so I will know who you are. The next time I write, I hope I will have some pictures and stories to share with you.
Remember, you have until 11 pm Tuesday to enter
both of our giveaways; the one for Irene Latham's book,
Leaving Gee's Bend, the other for the free critique. See
Esther's last post for details regarding the book giveaway. And
Carmela's post for the critique information.
My suitcase is packed and ready to go. All I have to do is turn off the computer....
Mary Ann Rodman
This week
Teaching Authors will celebrate it's first Blogiversary! (I would insert a quick verse of "Happy Birthday", but that would require copyright permission.) So, minus the song, I have the pleasure of kicking off Blogiversary Week. (And yes, that's my eighth birthday...no permissions needed.)
I am not one to "Wow. A year already? How time flies." For me, time doesn't so much fly a Concorde, but like a crop duster, puttering low over the fields, with frequent stops for fuel. Very frequent stops. This year has seemed exceptionally long for me, partly due to my eye surgery last June. I was working with one eye for what seemed like months. (It was a convenient excuse for my numerous typos.)
What has this year meant to me? Well, without getting all "Miss American Farewell Speech," I can say that this year has been a blessing. Meeting new writers and teachers (and sometimes even in person!) gives me the one thing that all writers (teaching or otherwise) crave...the feeling that we are not all alone. We spend so much time in isolation with our chosen instrument of writing, living in our heads even in the presence of others, we forget that what we create in solitude is read by other people. Sometimes lots of them!
I still have that solitary confinement feeling as I try to wrestle two novels into shape, but when I sit down to write my blog, I have this wonderful sense of being surrounded by all of you. I can see you...even without the old Romper Room Magic Mirror (extremely dated Boomer reference). I see you with your coffee cups, stacks of "urgent" paperwork from the Central Office, reading us as a guilty pleasure, all the while feeling as if you should be doing something important. I see you too, you stay-at-home parents who have wedged reading this blog between play dates or homeschooling lessons or magically concocting an item that your child remembers at 10 pm he needs by tomorrow morning. (Slight digression...the worst case scenario I've heard was a mom who sculpted a boars head out of SPAM. Don't ask me why.) That all of you teachers and writers have found the time to visit with us on line is a humbling sort of honor. Please don't stop.
My secret guilty pleasure (which when you read this will no longer be a secret) is checking the blog stats a couple of times a week, to see where our readers are located. I know that you are from Alaska and Australia and Belgium. I know that there is a big bunch of faithful readers from the Midwest. It's a real mindblower for me, to know that someone on the other side of the world might read what we Teaching Authors have to say. In return, we are thrilled to hear from all of you, no matter where you live. We are all in this teaching-writing thing together. Writing and teaching are the hardest and most rewarding job you will ever have, whether you are in Topeka or Timbuktu. We look forward to many more Blogiversaries...as long as we keep hearing from you.
OK, altogether everybody, a chorus of "It's a Small World After All." Wait no. Those pesky copyrights again. Well just imagine I am dumping a cybershower of balloons on you right now, wherever you are. And in the words of the Great Maurice Sendak, "Let the wild rumpus begin!"
Out and Abo
What a lovely report, Mary Ann. I'm glad they treated you so well in Winnetcka--YANKEE GIRL is a marvelous book.
It was great catching up with you in person!
I second Marti's comment: it was great catching up with you in person, learning about your writing projects and your swell visit, despite the Yankee-cold temperatures.
Thanks for sharing the photos and the experience.
It sounded like you had a great time. Love to be with young writers and reads that know what a book is about and are reading for enjoyment not because they're forced to to make a grade.
Esther...no apologies necessary for the "Yankee cold" air. The day in question I had just finished the adult luncheon and was wrapped in the afterglow of the experience. Again, these adults, mostly moms of the students I had already addressed, had read YANKEE GRIL. It is such a gift to be to talk about your book when the audience has already read it! (An experience that has happened maybe two or three other times in six years!)
Stable Granny--I just finished reading Elizabeth Bluemle's SLJ blog about passionate teaching, and how much passion goes out of the experience when teacher's are required to "teach to the test." I AM passionate about sharing books and writing with students, but it is also good that the topics of my middle grade novels are included in the middle grade curriculum (Civil Rights Era and WWII).)
I have sometimes encountered teachers who were just itching to get bak to class, because the kids weren't "learning" anything" by listening to me (aka..My book wasn't in the bibliography in their social studies book). What made this school visit so special is that the through the efforts and enthusiasm of the teachers and librarians those students were pumped to the max abut YG before I ever set foot in Illinois.
Their excitement encouraged me to give even more in the presentations and Q & A. Those were some smart teachers who saw an opportunity to enrich their curriculum as well as encourage their students to delve deeper into history NOT in the curriculum. Those students were reading on, not because of a test, or extra-credit for reading X number of books for X number of grade points, but because passion for a book or subject can do nothing but build.
There is no review, no award, that will drive a kid to a book faster than the words "My friend said this was the best book ever!"
Yay for Yankee Girl and our very own Mary Ann!!!!!!