5 Comments on ALA in Pictures, last added: 7/3/2010
Operation Yes won an Audie last night! I had zip to do with the audio book production (other than, ahem, writing the "script") but I'm happy the terrific work by narrator Jessica Almasy (who handled the huge cast of Operation Yes beautifully) and the Audible.com team was recognized. Also, grateful to my agent, the always wonderful Tina Wexler, for negotiating the audio rights in the first place.
Here's the slate of Children's/YA awards:
CHILDREN’S TITLES FOR AGES UP TO 8 For excellence in narration, direction, engineering, mix, and abridgment (when applicable) of a children’s audiobook. Audiobooks accompanied by book product are accepted in this category: Louise, the Adventures of a Chicken by Kate DiCamillo, narrated by Barbara Rosenblat (Live Oak Media)
CHILDREN’S TITLES FOR AGES 8-12 For excellence in narration, direction, engineering, mix, and abridgment (when applicable) of a children’s audiobook for middle readers: Operation Yes by Sara Holmes, narrated by Jessica Almasy (Audible, Inc.)
TEEN For excellence in narration, direction, engineering, mix, and abridgment (when applicable) of a young adult audiobook: Peace, Locomotion by Jacqueline Woodson, narrated by Dion Graham (Brilliance Audio)
Oh, and I'm excited to see that Connie Willis's intelligent and amusing story, Bellwether, won in the Science Fiction category.
The full list is here.
You can listen to a sample of the Operation Yes audio book at the Audible.com site.
  Hi Sara, thanks for stopping by. Can you tell us a little about yourself?
Hi Shelli, I'm the author of two middle grade novels, LETTERS FROM RAPUNZEL, which is about a real girl who writes letters as if she were Rapunzel locked in a tower, and OPERATION YES, which was released last fall from Arthur A. Levine Books/Scholastic.
OPERATION YES has little green army men on the cover, and yes, it's about military families,  but it was also recently named as one of Booklist's Top Ten Arts Books for 2009. I'm tickled that I managed to write a book about two important influences in my life: being part of an Air Force family and my secret history as a high school theater geek.
A lot of authors do blogs but your blog seems to focuses more on Poetry, which is a great blog niche. Was that a conscious decision or did it just evolve?
I jumped into the blog world on a Poetry Friday with a post called Enter (in which I confessed to my fear of that awful exam word: "begin.") Poetry continues to be one of my favorite ways to enter into and connect with the larger online community. Anyone can play! Poetry is a language; when we speak it, it's hard to stay solitary.
On a related note, I was surprised to learn that my Poetry Friday posts helped confirm my editor's interest in acquiring Operation Yes---even though the book is not poetry. She wrote about the decision process at Scholastic's On Our Minds blog; it's a fantastic window into how editors might look at an author's online presence.
Speaking of online, a coupe months ago, you and your editor, Cheryl Klein, did a live twitter chat together. How did you come up with the idea ?
Cheryl was active on Twitter before I was. She inspired me to open an account and try the crazy thing, and then to go one step further and attempt a chat in real time. Both of us thought the improvisational theater angle of Operation Yes was a great fit for t
Miss me? I'm over at the Arlington Library's teen blog, talking improv and all things drama. While you're there, check out their posts for drama week, including a great one on how to score cheap theater tickets as a student. They have a Facebook fan page, too!
Thank you, librarian of awesomeness, Nico Piro, for hosting me!
My time at the Virginia Festival of the Book started with a Friday afternoon school visit to the Wildcats of Walton Middle. I was the only thing standing between at least a hundred sixth-graders and their weekend. Good thing I had prepared an action-filled presentation:
It was my first time giving this new talk, so of course, I learned a few things.
1) Always give out pencils for participation and correct answers. I started this on a whim, when one bright kid could identify the F-15C in this picture from only the twin tails in the background of the bottom right photo in this slide:
I also gave out pencils to those kids who helped me act out the rowing/jody call scene from Operation Yes, which culminated in the entire amphitheater yelling at me to:
I did give them ten, of course, much to the back row's astonishment (several of them stood up to see.)
In any case, pencils seemed a small thank you to those sixth-graders who were willing to play along.
2) Make sure your slides are in order. I had two slides of the jody call switched, which threw one part of my jody call rhyme off. I wish my lovely proofreaders from Arthur Levine Books could've helped me with my slides! Ah, well. Fixed now.
3) Q &A is always both predictable and surprising. Some kid will always ask if you are rich. Just say no and move on. On the other hand, if the whole amphitheater laughs when you tell them your idea for your next middle grade book, it's a good day. :)
5) Sixth-graders really are fabulous, even at 3:00 PM on a Frida
"And the audience, which filled almost all the seats in the room, loved it. “That was awesome!” cried out one audience member over the applause as one of the scenes ended. And many of the audience members checked out some of the featured books."
Oh, my gosh. I love this article about teen theater in libraries so much!
I'm not a teacher, so why is it that creative teachers make me soooo happy? And why do articles like Kate Messner's piece in School Library Journal about using Twitter in the classroom make me want to borrow a few eager students for the day just to try out her list of ideas?
I think it's partly because she's so darn organized about it---offering a sample proposal to bring to the administration for approval, a list of Twitter resources, and several concrete examples of how her students benefitted from their use of a new technology. She makes me feel---despite the fact that I have no teaching experience, that I don't know the first thing about school policies, that I don't even have any students, for pity's sake! --- that I could do it too. Which, I guess, is the secret weapon of all great teachers. They inspire us to imagine what we could be.
Disclaimer: Kate opens the article with a story about her class participating in my Twitter chat with editor Cheryl Klein about the creation of OPERATION YES. I'm thrilled about that, but even without my book being mentioned, it would be a fantastic article. Go read!
Today, I had time to answer a letter from a young reader of Operation Yes. I choose a fun notecard with artwork by Brian Selznick (purchased as part of a set at the last SCBWI conference.) I hand wrote my thoughts inside, and added an Operation Yes postcard signed with a silver pen (which shows up on the shiny black surface.) Then, I hand addressed the envelope, selected a Homer Simpson stamp and walked the letter to my mailbox. Joy!!! I'm grateful, so grateful, to be small potatoes and have the time to do this. I'll be on break for Thanksgiving week, but if you're feeling grateful because you're a small potato too, please leave your reasons in the comment section. I'll have time to read each and every one. Yay!
A young reader
Skippyjon Jones!
Yes, Judy signed each book this elaborately...plus, she was gracious and funny. Also, she kept sending her long line of customers my way, telling them that OPERATION YES was great. (Thanks, Judy! Thanks, Skippyjon!)
I was invited to participate in an event next Tuesday at the National Press Club. Kidlitosphere, I will be eclipsed by the dazzling star power of my fellow attendees (Jim Lehrer!) but I swear to shine a favorable light on kids' books and introduce a few pundits, pols and legends to your charms. (I wonder if I should mention that I worked on my school's newspaper staff?)
Other children's and YA writers who will be there include: Judy Schachner (Skippyjon, Lost in Spice) P.F. McKinley (Alexander the Salamander and The Challenge) Katherine Marsh (The Night Tourist; The Twilight Prisoner) Maggie Stiefvater (Shiver) Laura Krauss Melmed (My Love Will Be with You) Pamela Duncan Edwards (Jack and Jill's Treehouse) Here's the press release. If you live near D.C., come see me! Admission is only $5.00 and all proceeds go to charity. Top pols, pundits and cultural legends at National Press Club Book Fair & Authors’ Night
Honorary Chairwoman Alma Powell
WASHINGTON (September 2009) -- Join Chris Matthews, Rod Blagojevich, Tom Ridge, Gwen Ifill, David Pogue, KRS-One and Kinky Friedman among 75 top authors at the National Press Club’s 32nd Annual Book Fair & Authors’ Night.
One of the capital’s premier literary events, the annual fair draws the nation’s notable authors to the historic Press Club in downtown Washington.
Also among the 75 authors scheduled to appear are Jim Lehrer, Grant Wahl, Isabel Gillies, Richard Wolffe, Julia Quinn, Pamela Newkirk, C. David Heymann, Jeff Sharlet, Leslie Sanchez, James Reston Jr., Deborah Tannen, Dwayne Betts and Christopher Andersen.
The Book Fair & Authors’ Night promises a robust crowd of booklovers, journalists and politicos seeking the latest titles across the genres – from cookbooks and children’s stories to history, sports, memoirs and mysteries _ and a chance to mingle with the nation’s best authors.
0 Comments on I'm not a Pol, Pundit, OR a Cultural Legend, and yet. . . as of 1/1/1900
Six things from my book signing at Hooray for Books!, a wonderful independent children's book store in Alexandria, Virginia:
1) People showed up! You may laugh at my anxiety, but authors fear the unattended book signing like they used to fear searching for a friendly lunch table on the first day of a new middle school. I was grateful to see tons of familiar faces, friends who waved and hugged and bought books and laughed at the right places during the reading. Thank you, thank you. 2) The people who couldn't show up still ordered books! Yup. I had a large basket of pre-ordered copies to sign, and as I went through them, I kept breaking into a big, goofy smile at the sight of each name. What fun that faraway friends went the extra mile to support the signing. Big hugs to each of you. 3) I did a craft project for the signing! (Those of you who know me are fainting.) It could hardly be featured on Etsy, but I made a collage of pictures of military families. You can see it beside me in this picture. Having who I wrote the book for next to me helped me focus. How could I be nervous when military kids are kind and brave each day? 4) I brought props! Here's a close up of my table: ---little green army men, of course, guarding the book of LGM photos that my agent, Tina Wexler, gave me as a publication gift ---a REMOVE BEFORE FLIGHT tag ---a container of folded paper stars like the ones Gari makes in the book (My daughter made these particular ones. They were passed from hand to hand and oohed and ahhhed over.) ---the fabulous teacher's guide written for me by Natalie Lorenzi, who was in attendance. (Yay, Natalie!) ---other books about military families, including
0 Comments on Six Things for a Signing as of 1/1/1900
Hey, there. I'm deep in revisions, so if you think I'm ignoring this blog, you're right. I get to a certain point in the heavy lifting where I become completely obsessed, and do nothing but write and eat soup (or cereal.)
Meanwhile, if you'd like something more interesting to read, check out my new teacher's guide for Operation Yes, written by talented teacher and former military kid, Natalie Lorenzi. You can can download it here or use the link in this blog's side bar or try viewing it at my new teachers page at the Operation Yes site. (If you have any ideas for items to add to that teachers page, please let me know.)
Here's a sneak preview of two of the fun imrov activities that Natalie created for the guide:
FLYING FARMER:
In the spirit of the Flying Farmer, set up an obstacle course with students, chairs, tables, and low objects (such as blocks) on the floor.
One student is the Flying Farmer and must make it from one side of the stage to another while blindfolded. (You may use two X’s formed with tape on the floor for starting and ending points.)
An “air traffic controller” gives directions. If the pilot brushes or touches an object more than twice, the airplane goes down and the game starts over. You can set a time limit when the airplane will “run out of fuel.”
GOOD ADVICE:
Miss Loupe’s new 6th grade students could use some advice from Bo, Gari, and the rest of the Ugly Couch Players.
Brainstorm a list of “school” words—school supplies, teachers, objects found in school etc. Write the names of each object on an index card, and put the cards in a bag. Students go to the front of the class in pairs and draw one card each from the bag. Each pair must offer a one-line pearl of wisdom for next year’s students.
Rules:
1. One student begins the sentence, using the word on the card he or she drew from the bag.
2. The second student must complete the sentence using the other word drawn from the bag. The advice may be wacky, but it must make grammatical sense.
Example: If the following words are drawn from the bag: paper clip, water fountain... Student 1 might begin with: “Never use a paper clip...”
and Student 2 might finish: “...to fish your gum out of the drain in the water fountain.”
Hey! I thought of a good one: Never use a paperclip. . . . to eat soup. See you guys on Poetry Friday!
(all images courtesy of my multi-talented agent, Tina Wexler)
Today's the last day to enter a jody call in the comments here or here in order to win a signed copy of Operation Yes. What the heck---you can even enter on this post (but read the rules first.) And remember, this is for fun---people sweat to jody calls, not dress up in tuxedos and read them with a sonorous voice at Carnegie Hall. So take a chance, let go of your "indoor voice," and see what happens when you tap your inner drill sergeant. To inspire you, I present the current butt-kicking fabulous entries (including one from my mom who felt bad that there weren't more entries.... way to go, MOM!)
I DON'T KNOW BUT I'VE BEEN TOLD
CHILDREN'S BOOKS ARE GOOD AS GOLD
AUTHORS POUND OUT PLOT AND THEME
LETS THOSE CHILDREN LEARN AND DREAM
SOUND OFF!
CHILD-REN'S
SOUND OFF!
WRI-TERS
CHILDREN'S WRITERS!
SOUND OFF!
I DON'T KNOW BUT I'VE BEEN TOLD
READING BOOKS WILL HELP YOU GROW
C'MON KIDS AND DREAM WITH ME
EXPLORE YOUR POSSIBILITIES!
SOUND OFF!
DREAM BIG
SOUND OFF!
LET'S READ!
DREAM BIG - LET'S READ!
SOUND OFF!
I DON’T KNOW BUT IT’S BEEN SAID
TO BE REAL SMART, BE WELL READ.
IMAGINE WHY I SCRATCHED MY HEAD
WHEN MY SON ASKED WHY AUTHORS WERE DEAD?!
L’ENGLE, TOLKIEN, AND BURNETT.
C.S. LEWIS? WE HAVE THE SET.
A QUICK SEARCH AND HE FELT BETTER
@BEVERLYCLEARY IS NOW ON TWITTER.
LIBRARIES, INDIES, AND COFFEE SHOPS
ARE WRITERS’ FAVORITE PIT STOPS.
BUT THANKS TO THOSE WHO BLOG AND TWEET
THEIR READERS RECEIVE A GENUINE TREAT!
I DON'T KNOW, BUT IT'S BEEN SAID
CHILDREN'S BOOKS ARE READ IN BED,
ON THE COUCH WITH JAM AND BREAD,
ANYWHERE FROM A TO ZED.
I DO KNOW, IT'S SAFE TO SAY
SARA'S BOOKS ARE A-OK,
POS-I-TIVE-LY MAKE MY DAY,
NEW ONE'S COMING-SHOUT HOORAY!
---Mary Lewis
Reading Rocks!
I don’t know, but I’ve been told
a good book’s worth more than gold.
At the book store you can find
stories--almost any kind.
Special books can take you far,
check out Where the Wild Things Are.
Charlotte’s Web or Dr. Seuss,
Nate the Great or Mother Goose
Harry Potter, Junie B.,
Goodnight Moon, The Giving Tree
Books can take you any place--
countries, worlds, or outer space.
They say that when you're reading
The real world disappears
So I'm grabbing Judy Blume
Cause I've got dishes out my ears
And if I read some L'Engle
There's no dust upon my shelves
And if I read some Rowling
I'll get help from three house elves
The laundry's getting moldy
The vacuum might be broke
But Octavian's escaping
Wimpy Kid just told a joke
My own kid's done with school
Let the wild rumpus start
We'll order out for dinner
Pumpkin juice and treacle tart
Oh Lord, I want to read
My house has gone to seed
Please, Lord, I want to read
nowwwwwww.
I'm showing off my dance moves at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast today.
P.S. If you're not interested in that, go anyway to hear about Tanita's love of the Houston airport. Or to hear Adrienne admit a fear of power tools. Or Jules reveal her favorite librarian swear.
P.P.S. Yes, all of these links lead to the same interview. What are you still doing here?
Twitter.com
Hashtag: #YESChat
Questions answered at the end of the chat
How to win a signed copy of Operation Yes
revealed at the end of the chat!
Conversation will be archived
One more amazing thing: Cheryl just posted an essay at the Scholastic On Our Minds blog. She tells how reading an author's blog---yes, this blog you're reading now---helped her acquire Operation Yes. (I'm suddenly terrified in hindsight!)
I know other authors eat starred reviews for breakfast. But this is my first ever. And it's from the American Library Association, who made it possible for me to be a writer in the first place, by supporting the place where as a child, I checked out and read my weight in library books each week. (Okay, MORE than my weight, probably. No one ever actually used a scale. If I could carry them up the winding steps from the children's room and out the front door of the Lawson McGhee Public Library in Knoxville, TN, I was golden.)
In this era of tough choices, when more and more libraries and librarians are struggling for funding and their proper place at the heart of every community, I would like say: Libraries and librarians change lives. They changed me. I'm forever grateful.
Take one class of seemingly ordinary sixth-graders in a rundown school just outside a North Carolina military base, add a new teacher with a love for both improvisational theater and a big brother stationed in Afghanistan, then truck in a shy new student whose single mom has just been dispatched to Iraq. The result is the most buoyant example of ensemble work since E. L. Konigsburg’s The View from Saturday (1996) and the best of Gregory Maguire’s Hamlet Chronicles. Bringing Second City techniques to classroom instruction, Miss Loupe wins over her initially reluctant students so thoroughly that when devastating news comes that her brother has gone missing, the young folk band together in an effort to give something back—not just to Miss Loupe, but to all who are or have loved ones in the armed forces. The result? A triumphant performance that puts on display not only a diverse array of individual talents, but no fewer than 100,000 little plastic soldiers. Flicking among points of view with increasing speed, Holmes tracks the blossoming of Bo Whaley, an often-in-trouble kinetic learner who takes to improv like a duck to water; his just-arrived cousin Gari (who will without doubt grow up to be a professional campaign manager); and a supporting cast of gently caricatured classmates, parents, and faculty. Though only a small part is actually written as a script, the entire tale is purest stagecraft: quick, funny, sad, full of heart, and irresistibly absorbing. For another modern-day homefront story, see the starred review of Julia Keller’s Back Home. — John Peters
It's not even 9:00 here, and I've already had enough good news to call it a day.
First up, the teacher in Operation Yes, Miss Loupe, is now one of A Year of Reading's 100 Cool Teachers! Read the blog post in which she's nominated, and then go look at t he whole list. Here's a preview of what A Year of Reading so generously said: "This is a fabulous book that sheds light on a culture that has been ignored in children's literature -- the culture of military families, military bases, military schools. This is a must-read. You will laugh, you will cry, and your heart will fill with gratitude and understanding, in a way that it perhaps has not before, for all those who serve for a greater cause."I'm honored and delighted, because A Year of Reading is the creative outlet for two real-life Cool Teachers (and authors) themselves, Franki and Mary Lee, who not only serve in their classrooms, but in the wider Kidlitosphere too.
Secondly, the audio version of Operation Yes is now available for download at Audible.com, read by the talented Jessica Almasy, who won an Audie last year for her reading of Sara Pennypacker's Clementine. You can read a fascinating interview with Jessica about her work here. A snippet: Sometimes--I am just articulating this as I write this--- I am thinking (and I use that in the most blood and gutsy sense of the word)—I am thinking about how the character sees from his eye sockets. So as to determine how the voice comes out. Or how tall he is. This reminds me of the Balinese mask work I did with a Dutchman in college.
Practice also helps—doing pieces of text aloud before the session. Somehow I have a major block against doing this that much—there is always something so different that happens when I am in the actual recording session. The book energy takes prominence so it’s different from just trying it out on the subway etc. But yes, I would say, practice.
I think it, for me, is like a interior skull cabinet of file shuffling. The rearrangement of thin and energized sound lenses.
And above all, the power of whatever it is that is bigger than all of us where the stories come in.Yes! Yes! Yes! Okay, now to live up to this good news by working hard the rest of the day . . .
Callin' out around the world
Are you ready for a brand new beat?
Summer's MY BOOK's here and the time is right
For dancin' in the streets
They're dancin' in Chicago
Down in New Orleans
Up in New York City . . .
Okay, maybe not.
Book launches aren't like that. Except in my wildest dreams where the Big Cruise Boat of Beloved Authors crashes into the world's largest children's bookstore, and in true cartoon dream fashion, all the characters spill out of the pages to party down with the root-beer swilling, funky-shoed writers, all day and into the Owl Moon night.
Instead, I'm here at my desk, wearing my YES wristband
and smiling in the quiet of the morning.
It's a good day.
And it's going to get even nicer, because I'm going to give away one of those YES wristbands and a signed copy of Operation Yes.
All you have to do is visit my new website: www.operationyesbook.com and leave a comment on any post or picture. (If you have trouble leaving a comment there, just come back to Read*Write*Believe and leave your thoughts here. I'll still count you in.) Deadline to enter is this Friday (by midnight wherever you live.)
Okay, now . . . let's dance!
Stand by for a book launch tomorrow!
It won't be an ear-splitting roar over in two seconds---more like a gathering of excitement over the next few weeks---but I'll be adding content to my Operation Yes book site, giving away signed copies and other prizes, and participating in a Twitter Book Party. A spectacular teacher's guide for Operation Yes is in the works, written and designed by the talented Natalie Lorenzi. And Cheryl and I are cooking up some crazy jody call contest . . . (!!!)
That's right. I'm unplugging. Just for July. Then I'll be back---refreshed, full of news and ready to launch a new blog devoted to Operation Yes. Oooh, I'm excited about my plans for this blog: Interviews! Contests! An inside look at military life! Kids doing great things! Theater games! Fun! Yes. Yes. Yes!
Meanwhile, there's a little bit about the book on my main website.
It's a scramble around here. My tasks:
1) Reading classic middle grade fiction, both for fun and to prep for MG Book #3, which has its own notebook, but not its own title or much else yet. Latest titles: What Would Joey Do? The Wolves of Willoughby Chase (a re-read which may spur me to re-read all of Aiken in one gothic gulp.)
"It's a horrible place! But don't let anyone hear you say so! The school is full of tale bearers. Everyone is always hungry---and Mrs. Brisket rewards anyone who carries her a tale against another person. She gives them a bit of cheese. She has a big laundry basket in her room full of bits of cheese, ready cut up."
2) Preparing to host Poetry Friday this week. This was the kick in the pants I needed to write a new poem and practice the "just get something on paper" I've been preaching to those who've asked me about writing lately. The biggest writing sin? Ignoring the impulse to write. Second biggest? Judging what you've got before you've got it. Train yourself not to cringe. ;)
3) Completing an author bio/publicity questionnaire for Scholastic, which involved tracking down contact info and forcing myself into marketing mode. Actively ignoring the fact that ARCs of Operation Yes have been sighted and in some cases, read. (Why, oh why, do I always suddenly realize with a stab of terror how public my work is?) Which relates to the next item....
4) Brainstorming ideas to pre-write posts for the Operation Yes blog I'll be launching in September---I want it to be a place for teachers and kids to find out more about military families, improvisational theater, cool kid projects, and the story behind the book. Also, prizes!
5) Keeping my senior on track to graduate. Today, his car wouldn't start and he didn't have lunch money. But I think the ten lines of iambic pentameter he wrote for AP Lit last night were in his fist as I dropped him off. (He said "fare thee well" as he left, so something is soaking in.) Maybe I should put out a laundry basket of cheese, both for him and me.
6) Oh, and I almost forgot: for the Bridgett Zinn benefit auction, I bid on and won a custom teacher's guide for Operation Yes, prepared by Natalie Lorenzi. She and I have been emailing back and forth to start that project rolling. Whee!
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0 Comments on National Press Club Book Fair and Authors Night as of 1/1/1900
This is so great. I feel like cheering. Really. That had to feel good. Woot! What a great bunch of students.
Fantastic. This post makes me smile, too.