Look at what I just picked up from Elisabeth Bird’s Blog. Congratulations to all the winners.
THE SOCIETY OF CHILDREN’S BOOK WRITERS AND ILLUSTRATORS ANNOUNCES THE WINNERS AND HONOREES OF THE 2009 GOLDEN KITE AWARDS
The Golden Kite Award is the only award presented to children’s book authors and artists by their peers.
Golden Kite Award Winners:
Fiction: DOWN SAND MOUNTAIN by Steve Watkins Candlewick Press
Nonfiction: A LIFE IN THE WILD: GEORGE SCHALLER’S STRUGGLE TO SAVE THE LAST GREAT BEASTS by Pamela S. Turner Farrar, Straus and Giroux Picture Book Text: A VISITOR FOR BEAR by Bonny Becker, illustrated by Kady MacDonald Denton Candlewick Press
Picture Book Illustration: LAST NIGHT Illustrated and written by Hyewon Yum Farrar, Straus and Giroux
Golden Kite Honor Recipients:
Fiction: THE ADORATION OF JENNA FOX by Mary E. Pearson Henry Holt Books for Young Readers
Nonfiction: THE MYSTERIOUS UNIVERSE: SUPERNOVAE, DARK ENERGY, AND BLACK HOLES by Ellen Jackson; photographed and illustrated by Nic Bishop Houghton Mifflin
Picture Book Text: BEFORE JOHN WAS A JAZZ GIANT by Carole Boston Weatherford, illustrated by Sean Qualls Henry Holt Books for Young Readers Picture Book Illustration: I LOVE MY NEW TOY Illustrated and written by Mo Willems Hyperion
I’m constantly impressed by creative uses of blogs, social networking sites and the internet in general. And when they’re combined with a terrific cause, like literacy, well then WOOT! WOOT!
“Within the kidlitosphere, the children’s literature bloggers comprise and reach a very broad audience. One of the group’s greatest assets is its collective, community-minded approach to sharing information and ideas. Through events like blog tours, authors and illustrators have had wonderful opportunities to share their story and their craft. Given the success of tours for “producers,” what about an event for and by the people who create and engage their readers: teachers, librarians, parents, and people passionate about literacy?
Voila! Share a Story – Shape a Future is just that event. This is an ensemble effort not only to celebrate reading among those of us who already love books, but to encourage each other to reach beyond ourselves and do it in a way that we are neither judging nor instructing others. This is a venue for communicating practical, useable, everyday ideas.
The event begins March 9, 2009 and lasts one week. Each day we will have a group of bloggers sharing ideas around a specific theme. There are a number of book giveaways and free downloads that will be announced by the various hosts as we get closer to the kickoff.”
I’ve looked at the daily agenda and it’s impressive. If you can’t commit to the whole week, stop on by anyway. Each day introduces different topics with different hosts. And the line-up is fabulous.
What a find!! Here it is, all in one place. Amber Naslund so generously offers a complete guide to most of our favorite networking sites including Twitter in her Social Media Starter Kit.
I can only imagine the time put into establishing the authentic voices in these novels. The narrators’ fluency in their historical languages leave readers completely transported.
I say bravo and thank you to both authors for their intense dedication to their craft. And I’m delighted it’s paid off so well.
As a subscriber, I just received an e-mail informing me that tomorrow is the last day of publication for Colorado’s Rocky Mountain News. This tabloid format newspaper has been my breakfast read since I moved here in 1981. But on a more poignant note, The Rocky is where I garnered my first clips. So long dear friend. Beginning this weekend, The Denver Post will be substituted. I’ll be looking for many of my favorite Rocky writers in the Post. Hope to find you all there.
I’ve been listening to Ann M. Martin’sHERE TODAY on CD and I’m been intrigued by how Martin develops the status quo in her story yet also drops hints as to the story problem. For example, in the opening pages, when Doris, the MC’s mom, begins her supermarket sweep one of the onlookers remarks “She’s just so … so cheap.” At that point my ears perked up and I began to suspect that Doris Dingman was different. Now I’m curious to find out how this wacky mom is going to play into our MC’s problem. I’m drawn into the story.
I’m experimenting, in my own novels, with establishing the status quo and at the same time pulling my readers into my story. Sometimes we can follow Ann M. Martin’s pattern and drop hints to an eventual problem and other times we might jump directly into the problem to set the story in motion. In that case, we might have to rely on flashbacks or other tools to allude to “how things were” before the catalyst. Either way, we need to establish what’s different or why the story starts now.
So how do you do it? Do you open your story with normal? Do you drop hints of problems to come? Or do you jump right into the main story problem? Do you use flashbacks? I’d love to hear your thoughts on establishing status quo and pulling in your readers right from the start.