Wow—it has been a LONG time since I updated this blog. I intended to get back to it when school began in September, but I was in the midst of finishing Thickety 3 and that, along with the usual start-of-school craziness, pushed this blog to the bottom of my to-do list. Things are a little more stable now, however, so hopefully I’ll be able to share some ideas with more regularity.
As a teacher, one thing I try to do is make those “necessary evil” skills somewhat more palatable. For example, I teach my students to re-state questions by asking them to create imaginary answers to ridiculous queries. If you’re interested, the link to that lesson—and a worksheet—can be found here:
Another skill I’ve found that my students need to work on is answering multistep questions, a perennial favorite of standardized exams. You know, the kind of question that seems to exist purely for the reason of cruelly fooling 8-year-old children? Here’s an example:
In the story “Baby Sister’s New Shoelaces,” Nicole learns a valuable lesson.
What lesson does she learn?
Do you think she’ll treat her baby sister differently from now on?
Have you ever learned a shoelace-related lesson in your life?
As you can see, that is three freaking questions, and many children will gleefully answer the first part and, in the process of formulating their answer, forget that the other two questions exist. It would, of course, make sense to split up the three questions with answer blanks so that this doesn’t happen, but we all know that’s not how standardized exams roll.
(“Why the heck not?” is a perfectly reasonable question; “Because they are evil, soul-crushing tests manufactured by malevolent trolls” is my not-so-reasonable response.)
Anyway, there are several very good techniques for tackling this type of question
Crossing out each question as you answer it.
Numbering bullet points so you remember to answer each one.
Teaching students to proofread questions before they proofread
I think any of these approaches would definitely work, but I also like my students to practice answering multistep questions with purely imaginative responses (just like my restating the answer activity). There often isn’t enough time for creative writing in the day, and this is my way of cheating. (“Yes, they’re using their imagination, but they’re really practicing for exams.” Wink, wink, nudge, nudge.)
I hope the attached worksheet can be of some use to you. This is a repeatable activity, so after the initial introduction just change the questions and it can be used as a writing center. Also, more advanced writers often enjoy making up their own questions!
…While I don’t necessarily miss being a child, I miss being a child reader. I still treasure books, of course, but my enjoyment of them is somewhat hampered by an understanding of their origins, the knowledge that books are written by talented men and women who love to tell stories but also need to earn a living. This inevitable realization—that the once mysterious workings of the world are composed of mere practicalities—is one of the true curses of adulthood. As a child, the thought that an author was paid for his or her work never occurred to me; books were simply truths that fell from the sky, as mysterious as ancient doors leading to far-off kingdoms…
As a follow-up our review of The Thickety, J.A. White has graciously agreed to an interview with This Dark Matter because Randi stalked him on Twitter…
…White has been a storyteller from the get-go. He first told stories about the pandas on his bedroom wallpaper, and in middle school he published his own stories, mimeographing them for the benefit of classmates. He read voraciously—Isaac Asimov, Harlan Ellison, and Stephen King—and favorite books included Madeleine L’Engle’s A Wrinkle in Time and Ray Bradbury’s Something Wicked This Way Comes. He was so enamored of Lloyd Alexander’s Chronicles of Prydain that he never read the final book (The High King), because “once I read it, the story would be over. I may read it on my deathbed…”
Reading, for little me, was more akin to an actual experience than a recreational activity. I didn’t read about Narnia; I visited Narnia. The lessons I learned there felt as real and substantial as lessons learned in real life, possibly even more substantial for a daydreamy kid with his nose perpetually stuck in a book…
I couldn’t believe how fast this story is. It is like action on every page and I felt like I was actually in the book with Kara as she was bringing the book to life and as she started seeing Grace for what she was and the power they both had…The book ended with a major cliffhanger and totally left me wanting to read more…
I met Paul Durham, the author I would be touring with that day, for breakfast, and we instantly hit it off. Paul, a former lawyer and author of the excellent middle-grade novel THE LUCK UGLIES, lives up in New Hampshire with his wife and two daughters. He’s laid back, funny, and an all around good guy. He also writes in a refurbished chicken coop, which is ridiculously cool.
Ginny, our media guide that day, took us to two schools in the New Bedford area. Doing a shorter version of my presentation was a nice change of pace, and it was fun to play off Paul when we were answering student questions. Paul is an engaging speaker with all sorts of tricks up his sleeves, such as writing on bananas and making kids wear crazy masks. It makes a lot more sense when you see it!
Our bookstore engagement that evening was at Wellesley Books, where Paul and I chatted about our lives, writing, and inspirations. Allison, one of the booksellers there, asked us to discuss our favorite deleted scene from our respective novels. What a good question! (Quick answer: THE THICKETY was originally written in an omniscient voice, jumping from character to character, before I realized that would make it far too long. I miss the scenes written from Grace’s point-of-view.)
Paul Durham and I at Wellesley Books.
I spent that evening walking around New Bedford. It was once a major whaling village, and as I was staying right by the water I took some time to check out the ships and narrow cobblestone streets. As it grew dark I was reminded of another coastal town, this one from the H.P. Lovecraft story “The Shadow over Innsmouth,” but that’s probably just me. (I’m sure there are no cults that worship ancient underwater sea creatures in New Bedford. Probably.)
In front of the New Bedford Whaling Museum. Not at all a totem to Cthulhu.Anyone who enters the Boston area is legally obligated to purchase clam chowder.
The next day Ginny drove me all the way from New Bedford to Cohasset, a little over an hour. Although I was pretty drained by this point in the tour, I really enjoyed the scenic drive past thick foliage and cranberry bogs, as well as our pleasant conversation about books and family. When we arrived in Cohasset I snagged coffee at Marylou’s, which proudly announced, via a bright pink sign, that it had the “BEST COFFEE IN TOWN.” (It was the only coffee I drank in Cohasset, so I have no point of comparison, but it was way better than Starbucks!)
The first school I spoke at was Inly School. The path to the office was lined with colorful cow statues, so I immediately knew I would like this place—and I wasn’t disappointed. However, the librarian at Inly School, Shelley Sommer, did a much better job writing about my visit there than I ever could, so though I’ve already tweeted it I’ll re-include her post here:
After Inly School we journeyed to Buttonwood Books and Toys, where I did some shopping (they give visiting authors a free book—so cool!—but as they have a great selection I couldn’t settle on just one for my kids). I also picked up a copy of THE COLD SONG by Linn Ullmann, a Norwegian thriller that is also an IndieNext pick. How could I resist?
Ginny and I enjoyed sandwiches in the back room (with cranberry sauce, a local thing that I felt was a definite improvement over the usual condiments). Afterwards, we headed over to Hingham Middle School, which was a blast! The kids were incredibly enthusiastic, cheering and applauding throughout my presentation. The fact that they were on the verge of a long Memorial Day weekend might have had something to do with that. One student, who had done his research on my website, asked me the level of my Skyrim character…and shook his head sadly at my pathetic answer. Another student asked me for the name of my favorite horror movie. I started saying the real answer—SUSPIRIA—but then scrambled for something relatively more kid friendly and came up with UGETSU, the great Japanese ghost story.
Here are the FINAL tallies for “Which is scarier?”—along with my choices:
abandoned hospitals (7) vs. abandoned amusement parks (2), 1 tie. I have always had a thing for abandoned amusement parks, and I feel like there is a story there somewhere, waiting to be told.
spiders (5) vs. cockroaches (5). It ends in a tie! I’m not particularly frightened of either one of these—spiders eat other insects, which is why I try to let them do their thing, and cockroaches are pretty gross, but not really scary. Millipedes, on the other hand…I hate millipedes.
creepy children (8) vs. dolls (2). I think I’m going to write a story about a creepy child carrying a doll. It will be the scariest story ever written.
clowns (8) vs. the dark (2). I was really surprised by this one! I don’t find clowns particularly scary at all, just kind of sad. Mimes, on the other hand…
In conclusion, when my next novel is published, you’ll know where I got the idea. It’s called CLOWNS AND CREEPY CHILDREN IN THE COCKROACH-INFESTED SPIDER HOSPITAL. NY Times Bestseller Listhere I come!
From the moment I received my book tour itinerary, I have expected Cincinnati to be the worst day of my tour. This has nothing to do with Cincinnati itself. In fact, I don’t know anything about Cincinnati, other than the Reds and WKRP are there. But the way my schedule shook out on that particular day was brutal. I left my Chicago hotel room at 4:30AM for my flight (luckily it was the airport hotel, so I just had to wheel my luggage through some moderately creepy tunnels to get there). However, my flight to Boston was due to depart that same night at 8:15; I would wake up in Chicago, spend the day in Cincinnati, and sleep in New Bedford, Massachusetts.
At the airport, a nice dude at the baggage check counter, seeing my schedule, suggested that I send my luggage straight through from Chicago to Boston, bypassing Cincinnati altogether. This meant I wouldn’t have to go through the hassle of baggage claim and checking my bag all over again, but the idea of all my clothes going AWOL for day made me nervous. This might have had something to do with the way the conversation played out:
ME: Wow, send it straight to Boston, huh? That sounds great! You can do that?
NICE DUDE: Um…sure. Yeah. We can do that.
ME: So I’ll just leave my bag here and pick it up in Boston?
NICE DUDE: Yeah. I think. It might get there before you, though. So if you can’t find it on the baggage carousel…just ask around.
ME: Ask…around?
NICE DUDE: I’m sure it’ll be somewhere.
For the rest of the day, I was concerned that the clothes currently on my back would be the ones I wore for the remainder of the tour. Promise I’ll get back to that story at the end of this post…
I met Annette, my media escort for the day, at the airport. She could not have been sweeter. As an introduction, she even gave me a little care package filled with chocolate and other goodies. This would be a harbinger of things to come: people in Cincinnati are ridiculously, improbably, unnaturally NICE. This phenomenon continued as we arrived at Sts. Peter and Paul Academy, where I met Kelly and Dave from JosephBeth Booksellers. They were both the absolute coolest, and despite my increasingly comatose state I could see that it was going to be a fun day.
As I did my presentation in the cafeteria, I grew worried that the students were bored or disinterested, because they just stared at me the whole time without making a sound. Then I started worrying that there was something on my face and they were just too polite to say anything; remaining silent might have been the only way they could restrain themselves from bursting into hysterical laughter. (Sleep deprivation does funny things.) It was only at the end, as I answered the students’ thoughtful questions, that I realized they had been totally invested in what I was saying and were just preternaturally well behaved. And their questions! Whoa! So smart! Even the teachers got into it, asking me about themes and my writing process and all manner of things that kept me on my toes.
“Which is scarier?” results…
abandoned hospitals vs. abandoned amusement parks (abandoned hospitals)
spiders vs. cockroaches (spiders)
dolls vs. creepy children (creepy children)
the dark vs. clowns (the dark—first time winner!)
After the presentation we went to JosephBeth Booksellers—what an amazing bookstore! It’s HUGE, but it also feels cozy and welcoming, a neat trick to pull off. Kelly and Molly–queen of the children’s department and another stellar example of Cincinnati friendliness–had tag-teamed to make THE THICKETY the Kids’ Book of the Month for May. Pretty sweet!
With Annette and Molly at JosephBeth BooksellersWith Kelly and Molly
We had lunch at the cute café attached to the bookstore (turkey sandwich, much laughter) and then, as there was still time before my next school visit, I did what comes naturally and shopped for books. On the plane ride I had read THE DINNER by Herbert Koch—which was unsettling in the best way possible—but now I was looking for something a little lighter. I decided on MR. PENUMBRA’S 24-HOUR BOOKSTORE by Robin Sloan. It sounded kind of quirky, but more importantly it had been recommended by a member of the staff, which is always the way to go at independent bookstores.
My second presentation that day was to an adorable group of third graders at the Cincinnati Public Library, a building larger than most malls and/or airport terminals. It was HUGE! Being in front of a group of third graders was pretty comfortable for me (being a third-grade teacher and all) but it did make me miss my students.
At the Cincinnati Public Library
In the “Which is scarier?” survey, my library group picked hospitals, cockroaches, creepy children, and clowns, bringing the current totals to:
abandoned hospitals (4) vs. abandoned amusement parks (1), 1 tie
spiders (3) vs. cockroaches (3)—this one’s close!
creepy children (5) vs. dolls (1)
clowns (5) vs. the dark (1)
Holding a box o’ Thicketies. Too…many…pages…Signing books with Kelly at Cincinnati Public Library.
I was nervous about making my flight after my JosephBeth event, since we were cutting things kind of close schedule-wise. Annette drove like a champion, however, and I was in plenty of time. (The fact that there was NO LINE at security helped a lot.) Since I had some extra time at the gate I figured I would check on my bag’s status. I didn’t think the woman at the counter would be able to help me, but I decided to try anyway—and lo and behold, she found my bag…which was still in Cincinnati. She asked, “Would you like this to come to Boston with you?” to which I replied, “That would be swell.”
During my flight to Chicago I was able to finish Paul Durham’s THE LUCK UGLIES, which is a great new middle-grade novel. Although technically it falls into the fantasy genre, I think of it more as a “swashbuckling adventure with monsters,” despite its notable lack of swashes and buckles. It definitely made the time just vanish—and when you get right down to it, isn’t that the best compliment you can pay a book?
Our first stop was Puffer School in Downers Grove. The librarian, Ms. Box, showed me her wall of fame: dozens of photographs of all the famous writers she has met over the years. Although I am hardly in that category, I got to take a photo with Ms. Box, and after some fancy lamination I’ll be on the wall of fame as well! (Federal law 732.A7 mandates that anything hanging on a school wall must be laminated.)
An incredibly well spoken boy named Jake introduced me to the students. His speech was hilarious; he had done his homework via my website, and while he agrees that THE EMPIRE STRIKES BACK is an awesome movie, he couldn’t resist taking a dig at my beloved Mets. Actually, I think his speech was more entertaining than my presentation! Nothing will check your ego more than be completely upstaged by an elementary school student.
Here are the “Which is scarier?” tallies for Puffin School:
abandoned hospitals vs. abandoned amusement parks (abandoned hospitals)
spiders vs. cockroaches (spiders)
dolls vs. creepy children (creepy children)
the dark vs. clowns (clowns)
I’m still a little surprised that more kids are choosing creepy children as opposed to dolls. I suppose they’ve never read the short story “Prey” by Richard Matheson, or seen the filmed version in the TV movie Trilogy of Terror. That would change their minds quickly, I think.
My media escort for the day, Bill Young, took me to a beautiful local bookstore/café in St. Charles called Town House books. After that it was off to Lincoln School. Ms. Dainko, the librarian there, had done an amazing job decorating the library window for my appearance! The school itself was so incredible! The front part of the school is very sleek and modern, but this was a later addition to the school; once you cross beneath this stunning archway you are in the older, original building (which of course I prefer, as the chance of ghosts rises exponentially). Each room has these beautiful, recessed shelves, and the kindergarten room even has a small pond with tiny fish! After following Ms. Dainko through a labyrinthine series of passageways, I found myself in a first grade classroom, which is where I gave my presentation to a large group of upper-elementary students.
Here were their answers to “Which is scarier?”:
Abandoned hospitals vs. abandoned amusement parks (hospitals)
Spiders vs. cockroaches (cockroaches)
Dolls vs. creepy children (creepy children again—have all these kids recently watched THE SHINING or something?)
The dark vs. clowns (big surprise—clowns)
Here are the totals so far:
abandoned hospitals (2) vs. abandoned amusement parks (1), 1 tie
spiders (2) vs. cockroaches (2)
creepy children (3) vs. dolls (1)
clowns (4) vs. the dark (0)
After Bill took me to a scrumptious dinner of hot dogs and beefsteaks, I attended an event at Anderson’s Bookshop. It’s located in Naperville, an idyllic suburb that looks like it has been time warped from the 1950s—save, perhaps, the Apple Store and Starbucks. (I actually didn’t see a Starbucks, but I’m going to play the odds and assume we just didn’t drive past it.) I really loved the town, and wished I could have spent more time there. The other thing I really loved—and that came as a complete surprise—was that Anderson’s lets their visiting authors choose any book in the store as a parting gift. Thank you!! Tons of food and now free books! This writing gig keeps getting better and better!
I picked THAT IS NOT A GOOD IDEA! by Mo Willems, because Colin and Logan love his books!
