If you’re like me, your favorite books tend to be clustered on one shelf (or bookcase, depending on number). What if they could be inset in your coffee table?
That’s the idea behind Lisa Finster’s customized book tables. See here.
Cool as it is, I guess her customer’s know far neater people than I know. No spills. No hors d’oeuvres bobbles.
Still, it fascinates me in a morbid what-does-red-wine-do-to-archival-paper way.
–SueBE
Setting isn't just where but when. Spring? Summer? Winter?
I’ve been doing a lot of reading online, mostly short stories. And I’m seeing the same thing again and again.
No setting.
Maybe the author let’s me know that the characters are in Tennessee. Or Kentucky. Maybe the fact is even revealed that they are on a college campus, but one setting element is left out time and time again.
What is it? The time.
I have no idea when these stories are set.
I suspect that the authors are doing this in an attempt to make them feel timeless, but it isn’t working. The biggest reason that it isn’t working is that I’m consciously looking for a year because the stories feel dated.
Part of it is the characters’ names. Gut instinct tells me that these are people I could have gone to school with because everyone has names like Dan, Chas, or Jane. There’s not a Caitlyn or Jessica among them. Incidentally? I know college age people names Caitlyn and Jessica.
But I suspect its more than just the names. In my mind, the boys have one slim legged jeans and polos. The girls? Enormous glasses, not the sleek, rectangular frames of today.
And there is nothing wrong with setting a story when you were a teen. Just make sure that its clear that that is what you are doing. You don’t want the editor or the reader to think that you’re doing a bad job setting a story in the here (Missouri) and now (2012).
–SueBE
Su Blackwell is an amazing paper artist who creates a variety of 3-D sculptures, often out of second hand books. Check out the portfolio on her site. That’s what this post was going to focus on until I watched this video made by Crabtree and Evelyne. The company approached Blackwell to do a job for them and also made this video. It describes how she goes to first additions for inspiration only (she does not craft with first editions), the basic inspiration for a piece, how long it takes her to make a sculpture, and the actual process.
It is fairly easy to see the backbone that the book itself forms in Blackwell’s work, how she draws on something pre-existing and uses it as a platform for a new creation.
Does this make you think about your own work any differently?
–SueBE
Yesterday morning, the American Library Association announced the winners of their coveted medals. Unlike some years, I’m happy to say that I’ve already read some of them (I’ll color these red and will also link to reviews of written).
Without further ado:
The Newbery Medal:
Dead End in Norvelt by Jack Gantos (Farrar Straus Giroux). Still waiting for my copy to come in!
Newbery Honor Books:
Inside Out & Back Again by Thanhha Lai (HarperCollins Children’s Books)
Breaking Stalin’s Nose by Eugene Yelchin (Henry Holt and Company, LLC)
Caldecott Medal:
A Ball for Daisy by Chris Raschka (Schwartz & Wade Books)
Caldecott Honor Books:
Blackout by John Rocco (Hyperion Books)
Grandpa Green by Lane Smith (Roaring Brook Press) Link to review
Me … Jane by Patrick McDonnell (Little, Brown and Company)
Michael L. Printz Award for excellence in literature written for young adults:
Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley (Atheneum)
Printz Honor Books:
Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler, art by Maira Kalman (Little, Brown and Company)
The Returning by Christine Hinwood (Dial Books)
Jasper Jones by Craig Silvey (Alfred A. Knopf)
The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater (Scholastic Press)
Coretta Scott King (Author) Book Award:
Kadir Nelson for Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans (Balzer + Bray).
King Honor Recipients:
Eloise Greenfield for The Great Migration: Journey to the North,” illustrated by Jan Spivey Gilchrist (Amistad)
Patricia C. McKissack for Never Forgotten, illustrated by Leo and Diane Dillon (Schwartz & Wade Books)
Coretta Scott King (Illustrator) Book Award:
Shane W. Evans, illustrator and author for Underground: Finding the Light to Freedom (Neal Porter Book).
King Honor Book:
Kadir Nelson for Heart and Soul: The Story of America and African Americans (Balzer + Bray).
Schneider Family Book Award for middle schoolers:
Close to famous by Joan Bauer (Viking)
Wonderstruck: A Novel in Words and Pictures by Brian Selznick (Scholastic Press).
Schneider Family Book Award for teen readers:
The Running Dream by Wendelin Van Draanen (Alfred A. Knopf)
Margaret A. Edwards Award:
To Susan Cooper whose books include Over Sea, Under Stone; The Dark Is Rising; Greenwitch; The Grey King; and Silver on the Tree.
Mildred L. Batchelder Award:
Soldier Bear by Bibi Dumon Tak, illustrated by Philip Hopman, translated by Laura Watkinson (Eerdmans Books for Young Readers.
Batchelder Honor Book:
The Lily Pond by Annika Thor, and translated by Linda Schenck (Delacorte Press).
Pura Belpré (Illustrator) Award:
Diego Rivera: His World and Ours illustrated by Duncan Tonatiuh (Abrams Books for Young Readers).
Belpré Illustrator Honor Books:
The Cazuela that the Farm Maiden Stirred illustrated by Rafael López, written by Samantha R. Vamos (Charlesbridge)
Marisol McDonald Doesn’t Match /Marisol McDonald no combina illustrated by Sara Palacios, written by Monica Brown (Children’s Book Press)
Pura Belpré (Author) Award:
Under the Mesquite by Guadalupe Garcia McCall (Lee and Low Books Inc.)
Belpré Author Honor Books:
Hurricane Dancers: The First Caribbean Pirate Shipwreck by Margarita Engle (Henry Holt)
Maximilian and the Mystery of the Guardian Angel: A Bilingual Lucha Libre Thriller by Xavier Garza (Cinco Puntos Press).
Robert F. Sibert Informational Book Award:
Balloons over Broadway: The True Story of the Puppeteer of Macy’s Parade by Melissa Sweet (Houghton Mifflin Books for Children).
Sibert Honor Books:
Black & White: The Confrontation between Reverend Fred L. Shuttlesworth and Eugene ‘Bull’ Connor by Larry Dane Brimner (Calkins Creek)
Drawing from Memory by Allen Say (Scholastic Press)
The Elephant Scientist by Caitlin O’Connell and Donna M. Jackson, photographs by Caitlin O’Connell and Timothy Rodwell (Houghton Mifflin Books for Children).
Witches!: The Absolutely True Tale of Disaster in Salem, written and illustrated by Rosalyn Schanzer (National Geographic Society).
Stonewall Book Award -Mike Morgan & Larry Romans Children’s & Young Adult Literature Award:
Putting Makeup on the Fat Boy by Bil Wright (Simon & Schuster BFYR).
Stonewall Honor Books:
a + e 4ever by Ilike Merey (Lethe Press, Inc.)
Money Boy by Paul Yee (Groundwood Books)
Pink by Lili Wilkinson (HarperTeen)
with or without you by Brian Farrey (Simon Pulse).
Theodor Seuss Geisel Award:
Tales for Very Picky Eaters by Josh Schneider (Clarion Books).
Geisel Honor Books:
I Broke My Trunk by Mo Willems (Hyperion Books for Children)
I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen (Candlewick Press)
See Me Run by Paul Meisel (Holiday House).
William C. Morris Award:
Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley (Atheneum Books for Young Readers).
William C. Morris Honors:
Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson (Greenwillow Books) Link to review
Paper Covers Rock by Jenny Hubbard (Delacorte Press)
Under the Mesquite by Guadalupe Garcia McCall (Lee and Low Books)
Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys (Philomel Books)
YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults:
The Notorious Benedict Arnold: A True Story of Adventure, Heroism & Treachery by Steve Sheinkin (Flash Point/Roaring Brook Press).
YALSA Award for Excellence in Nonfiction for Young Adults Honors:
Sugar Changed the World: A Story of Magic, Spice, Slavery, Freedom and Science by Marc Aronson and Marina Budhos (Clarion Books)
Bootleg: Murder, Moonshine, and the Lawless Years of Prohibition by Karen Blumenthal (Flash Point/Roaring Brook Press)
Wheels of Change: How Women Rode the Bicycle to Freedom (With a Few Flat Tires Along the Way) by Sue Macy (National Geographic Children’s Books)
Music Was It: Young Leonard Bernstein by Susan Goldman Rubin (Charlesbridge).
Looks like I’ve still got a lot of reading to do! Which is your favorite so far? I’d have to go with Carson’s Girl of Fire and Thorns.
–SueBE
With all of the work that I did on pitches and cleaning up my office, I’m surprised I made my word count. But I did! 6044 out of 6000 words. Let’s assume that I can manage it this week too.
Weekly Goals (these are my must-dos for the week):
Goals with Deadlines: Nary a one, folks. But I’m working on getting more (see the goals below).
Non-Deadline Goals (obviously, these are the ones I’m having troubles getting to and I’m going to start trying to get one done a week):
–SueBE
I hope that everyone can stand another post on book trailers. Most book trailers focus entirely on the book itself. Or on the author. But here are three that manage to do something a little different.
The first is for a picture book called A Dog Is a Dog. For the most part, this focuses on the book, but it does so in a way that pulls the reader in. How? By asking a question that you soooo want to answer. Take a look to see how they did it . . .
In the second trailer, the focus shifts just a bit more. The picture book is called Blackout and while the video shows illustrations from the book, the video shows so much more. It includes cameos with actual New Yorkers telling what they were doing when the power went out.
The third trailer takes yet another step back. The picture book is Prairie Storms by my friend Darcy Pattison. Darcy did her research and found that the most frequently forwarded videos are humorous. Her book is about how animals survive harsh prairie weather. Not so funny. So she made a humorous video pitting a bison on ice against a vintage skating video. Take a look.
Consider these three approaches and your WIP. Which would be most effective for you?
–SueBE
Ask me about research. Ask me about plot. Ask me about character. But please, please, please don’t ask me about voice. I freeze up every time.
This makes yesterday’s post on The Muffin that much more surprising because I wrote about voice. No, I don’t feel like I have all of the answers but I do feel like I’m gaining a bit of insight here and there.
We’ll see if I can put this insight to work toward the end of the week when I get back into my middle grade novel.
–SueBE
Books are mischievous. They encourage us to think instead of just go with the flow. And this is what they do when you aren’t looking:
Thanks to agent Janet Reid who pointed this fun video out on her blog.
–SueBE
Our children need your help!
Carl Harvey, the 2011-2012 President of the American Association of School Librarians, is attempting to get a petition before the Obama administration. In short, the petition is to “ensure that every child in America has access to an effective school library program” (longer explanation in Harvey’s own words follows).
For this petition to be viewed by White House staff, Harvey needs 25,000 signatures no later than February 4, 2012. As I am writing this, he has 8,501 signatures. Please help him succeed!
To sign the petition, click here. It will take you to We The People, a site specifically designed to get petitions before the President and his staff. Please, please, please take the time to do this. Yes, you have to register. Yes, the software is wonky. But do you really want to live in a country run by people who grew up without solid school library programs. Think about it.
Here is the longer explanation of what Harvey is doing, in his own words:
“We petition the obama administration to: Ensure that every child in America has access to an effective school library program. Every child in America deserves access to an effective school library program. We ask that the reauthorization of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act (ESEA) provide dedicated funding to help support effective school library programs. Such action will ensure more students have access to the resources and tools that constitute a 21st century learning environment. Reductions in school library programs are creating an ‘access gap’ between schools in wealthier communities versus those where there are high levels of poverty. All students should have an equal opportunity to acquire the skills necessary to learn, to participate, and to compete in today’s world.”
I’ve signed. Have you?
–SueBE
I
‘d like to say that in five days, I managed to make my six thousand word goal. I’d like that, but it isn’t going to happen. One of the things that I was working on last week was a proposal for 4 children’s cookbooks. Lot’s of brainstorming and not so much writing on that one so I only made it to 5811 words. Ah, well. I guess we’ll just have to see what I get done this week.
My son is home today. I thought I’d get this written before he emerged. After all, he was supposed to be getting dressed but it sounded like a herd of elephants jumping around in his room. And then the door opened and out he came fully dressed. Go figure. But he’s helping me with the cookbook proposals so I guess I’ll keep him.
Weekly Goals (these are my must-dos for the week):
Goals with Deadlines:
Non-Deadline Goals (obviously, these are the ones I’m having troubles getting to and I’m going to start trying to get one done a week):
–SueBE
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