Tales from the Rushmore Kid

Happy Halloween

As it is for most kids, Halloween was one of my favorite holidays when I was growing up. Dressing up, getting free candy and carving pumpkins... What could be better than that? All I needed was a pair of good shoes to cover the miles. I only stopped between houses to gobble up a few choice goodies. I still love to put on a costume and go trick-or-treating with the kids. And I still gobble up my favorite candy all night long.

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!

A School Visit Nugget: Meeting Speaking & Listening Standards - Barbara Jean Hicks

 from the teaching files of
Barbara Jean Hicks

One of the ways I’ve addressed state standards for speaking and listening in my school visits, especially with upper elementary and middle school kids, is to have student volunteers do a Readers’ Theatre presentation of one of my books. I have the required number of scripts available with the readers’ parts printed in different colors, making it easy for each reader to know when it’s his or her turn.

Katherine House - Writing Tip of the Day

Katherine House has written a great nonfiction book, Lighthouses for Kids, which includes stories about many U.S. lighthouses, fun facts and activities such as tying a bowline. It is a wonderful book for kids. I've asked Katherine to give us a Writing Tip of the Day.

Panning for Gold with Barbara Jean Hicks - Peter P. Jacobi

 from the collected notes of
Barbara Jean Hicks

Peter P. Jacobi is professor emeritus of journalism at Indiana University. His guidebooks on writing magazine articles, news stories and feature articles are standard reference sources for journalists. If you’ve never heard Peter speak, it’s worth the price of admission just to hear his resonant baritone fill a room.

In his keynote address at the Highlights Writers Workshop at Chautauqua last summer, Peter dipped into The Wonderful Wizard of Oz for inspiration.

The Silence of Murder - Dandi Daley Mackall

My good buddy, prolific writer Dandi Daley Mackall, has a new YA novel coming out this fall. It is a murder mystery. I have interviewed Dandi before but I had new questions about her writing a mystery.

You have written so many YA novels; what inspired you write a murder mystery?

I LOVE mysteries! That’s what I read every night before I fall asleep. I’ve toyed with “mini-mysteries” before—one mystery in a series with 8 books, like Midnight Mystery in Winnie the Horse Gentler. But a murder mystery, with court scenes and courtroom antics and testimonies—that was a different arena.

A School Visit Nugget: Content & Theme - Barbara Jean Hicks

from the teaching files of Barbara Jean Hicks

For nonfiction authors, focusing on content that relates to subjects such as science or social studies is a no-brainer. But many picture books and children's/YA novels, too, can have science and social studies curriculum tie-ins.

In addition, picture books and novels are likely to have themes appropriate to the emotional and social development of children and teens. Social/emotional growth is as much a part of the educational process as intellectual growth, and teachers and administrators welcome assemblies that address important issues in this area.

Think about your book as a pick for a children's or teen's book club, for example. What questions do you raise that you want your readers to think about and discuss?

Illustrator Wednesday - Kidlitosphere

Today I am hosting Illustrator Wednesday in the kidlitosphere. Kidlit bloggers will be leaving comments relating to kidlit illustrations, with links to their own blog posts. Check back and see where it takes you!

My contribution is this illustration I use for the icon of Illustration Wednesday. It is an illustration I did years ago for a Writer's Day contest. It didn't win, but it still brings me joy to look at it and think about how much I love children's literature.

Jay Asher - The Future of Us

I have known Jay Asher for many years. He is in my SCBWI region and I watched him go from winning writing contests to publishing his wildly successful first novel Thirteen Reasons Why.  Jay collaborated with Carolynn Mackler for his second book, The Future of Us, and it's getting rave reviews. I asked Jay to talk about the collaboration process.

A Nugget from One Writer’s Beginnings - Barbara Jean Hicks

from the bookshelf of
Barbara Jean Hicks

The marvelous writing memoir of southern novelist and short story author Eudora Welty (1909-2001), published in 1984 by Harvard University Press, is a treasure trove for a working writer.

One Writer’s Beginnings is based on a set of lectures Welty delivered at Harvard in 1983, ten years after winning the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction for her novel The Optimist’s Daughter. Here’s one passage I especially resonated with:

Book Blips - Class of 2k11 - The Faerie Ring - Kiki Hamilton

This book blip is my cup of tea,  a fantasy with a British twist.  Here is the summary and inspiration for THE FAERIE RING:  Tor Books / Macmillan   October  2011

London, December 1871
 
Orphaned and picking pockets in London’s Charing Cross station to support not only herself but her ‘family’ of orphans, sixteen year-old Tiki steals the Queen’s ring and thinks she’s solved  their problems. That is, until Rieker, a pickpocket from the North End, suspects her in the theft and tells her that the ring is really a reservoir that holds a truce between the British and Faerie courts.