End of publishing?

Remember the records? Some people still have them and play them in their hi-fi. Remember the tapes? I still have many of mine and I play them in my 1997 car tape player. Now we have CDs. And the records are coming back!

The first program I saw on TV was in black and white. We put a plastic sheet on the screen that had green at the bottom to show the green grass, pink in the middle to show faces, and blue at the top to show the sky. After that, technology has advanced faster than I have grown older. How, I wonder, did we live without computers and cell phones? They are so convenient!

We won't be able to stop this trend, and we should embrace it. How great it is that books have been on tape and CDs! Why not online? That is, as long as it is legal. (I, along everyone else, am a victim of Goggle.) I don't like reading a story online. If online, I prefer to print it, then read it. But young people have been raised with computers. Some of my students compose better stories in the computer than by hand (as you know my first drafts are always done by hand.) Some readers may prefer stories online. As long as we have readers, let's give them all formats.

I doubt books will disappear. Besides, I have so much faith in the youth. Here is a poem that says it better than I can. Please watch it until it ends. It will surprise you and it will warm your heart.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Weq_sHxghcg

We'll miss you, Sid

Last week I learned the sad news that children's author, screenwriter, and magician, Sid Fleischman passed away at his home in California. He was 90 years old.

My first encounter with Sid's work was in the late 1960's when I stumbled across MR. MYSTERIOUS AND COMPANY when I was in elementary school. It's the tale of family traveling by covered wagon to California in 1884, performing magic shows at the small towns they visit along the way. It was funny, filled with adventure, and gave glimpses into the workings of magicians. I loved it! Scenes from that book have remained vivid in my memory for forty years.

In 1987, Sid Fleischman won the Newbery medal for THE WHIPPING BOY. By now I was an elementary school teacher myself, and found this book to be a fast-paced, fun read-aloud to share with my class.

Jump ahead almost twenty more years. Now it's 2005. I'm sitting at the front table at the Los Angeles SCBWI conference. I'm about to receive the SCBWI Humor Award for my first novel. And the namesake of the award, as well as the presenter, is none other than Sid Fleischman himself. Receiving this award from Sid's hands was one of the highlights of my career.

Sid was a prolific writer with a list of more than 50 books, including a biography of Charlie Chaplin which will be published this summer. But he was more than a great writer. He was warm and friendly and gracious, and encouraging to newly and not-yet-published writers. He was an entertaining speaker who had excellent writing advice. He was a true gentleman, and I feel very fortunate for my encounters with him, both in person, and through his books.

If you haven't read one of his books recently, treat yourself and check one out. Thanks for the rollicking tales you have left us, Sid, and thanks for inspiring so many writers.

2011 Washington Evergreen YA Book Award

Got some good news today and just had to share the short-list for this award.

The Compound by S.A. Bodeen
Graceling by Kristin Cashore
The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
Lock and Key by Sarah Dessen
Little Brother by Cory Doctorow
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
The Last Exit to Normal by Michael Harmon
The Adoration of Jenna Fox by Mary E. Pearson
Knucklead: Tall Tales and Mostly True Stories of Growing Up Scieszka featuring Jon Scieszka
Sweethearts by Sara Zarr

I lived in Washington when I wrote The Compound, so this is pretty cool.

Stephanie

The Day After the Conference

I could not have written this post two days ago or even last night, but today--a day after the first SCBWI conference I have planned as the MD/DE/WV Regional Advisor--I can breathe a big sigh of relief and think of it as a success. The theme was "Creating Diversity in Children's Literature."

Of course there were glitches, including a last minute change of venue (to my house!) for the speaker dinner Friday night, a few audio visual problems, and too much light to see the powerpoint presentations properly. But the attendees were patient, understanding, and complimentary, our critiquers were thorough and helpful, and our speakers carried the day.

In the photo of the final Q & A panel above from left to right are author Linda Trice ("Building Blocks: First Steps Toward a Writing Career), keynote author Carole Boston Weatherford ("Genre-bending Children's Books"), author Mary Quattlebaum ("Catch an Editor's Eye, an Agent's Ear, and a Reader's Heart), illustrator/author/art director Christy Hale ("Creating a Space for Everyone"), Tricycle Press editor Abigail Samoun ("Tell Me a Story: Lessons from Five Masters of Plot"), and agent Mark McVeigh ("Cracking the Agent Code: How to Get an Agent's Attention in a Letter").

I owe heaps of thanks to my hardworking and supportive planning committee: Asst. RA Laura Shovan, Susan Detwiler, Naomi Milliner, Sue Poduska, Mary Bowman-Kruhm, and Lois Szymanski.

P.S. I'm hoping to get each one of our "potatoes" as conference speakers over the next couple of years--if not all together, then one by one!

Teens Read Too!

Visit me today over at Teens Read Too Book Club, where I'm the featured author. Post a comment and you can win a signed ARC of The Gardener or a signed copy of The Compound. Go check it out:

http://trtbookclub.blogspot.com/2010/03/visit-with-sa-bodeen.html



Stephanie

Is today Firday?

It is not that I forget to blog on Thursdays but that I forget what day it is. Besides, I caught that cold that lingers, making my mind foggy.

I am blogging today, Friday, to give two thumbs up to three organizations:

Oregon Literary Arts:

It's Arts & Lectures series is bringing to Portland Edwidge Danticat (April 22) and Isabel Allende (May 11). I am hoping to be able to interview Allende so I can write a book about her.

Nothing better than sitting at a bus and reading poetry from the well-known to students. This Literary Arts program is called Poetry in Motion.

My biographies of César Chávez and Diego Rivera have been finalists of Oregon Book awards. If you are a finalist, you go on tour in Oregon to talk about your books. This year I went to the Oregon Coast.

I have applied to Literary Arts' Fellowship many times. I had no luck, until this year. The money will allow me to go to Málaga, Barcelona, and Paris to research Picasso.

But to me the best program of Literary Arts is Writers in the Schools. It places writers in high schools for students write. At the end of the year the students read their work at a cafe and some get published in an anthology. Actually, if their works get published they get to read it in places such as Powell's City of Books.

For more information visit: http://www.literary-arts.org/


Whidbey Island MFA Program:

This is a low-residency program, meaning that you go to Whidbey Island,Washington for ten days in August and ten days in January and the rest of the semester is online. The program teaches most genres. Students are required to take courses outside of their genre. For a writer of books for children this is ideal because poetry, short-fiction, and non-fiction are important in our field. I actually sat in a poetry craft class taught by Carolyn Wright, and boy, did I learn!

Each afternoon during the residencies we have famous authors speak. Virginia Euwer Wolff will be one of them in August.

This program is so nurturing that its alumni can't stay away. The faculty is planning a course on teaching writing just for them.

For more information visit: www.writeonwhidbey.org/mfa



Multnomah County Library:

It's 13th Annual Children's Author Lecture is bringing us Jane Yolen on April 12.

For more information visit: www.multcolib.org/kids/lecture

1 + 1 =5...really!

What a happy day it was last week when I found a package on my front porch containing a hardcover copy of my next book
1 + 1 = 5 and Other Unlikely Additions. And what a long wait it has been!

It was over seven years ago when I began to brainstorm all the different sums you could get when you added 1 + 1:

1 set of triplets + 1 set of twins = 5 babies
1 octopus + 1 starfish = 13 arms
1 decade + 1 century = 110 years

It was a fun puzzle (and I love puzzles), but I didn't know what to do with the ideas, so I let them sit. And they sat in my legal pad for years, until I happened to stumble upon them again. They still held my interest so I decided to put them into a book dummy. I knew illustrations would be important in conveying the concept, so I created a fully illustrated black and white dummy which I sent to several publishers.

I was pleased as punch when Meredith Mundy at Sterling sent me an email saying she was very interested in the story. Although she chose Brenda Sexton (who did a beautiful job!) to be the illustrator, I did have a lot of input into the final illustrations, the most I've ever had for any of my books. And after a few more years of waiting, an actual book appeared at my house.

The waiting isn't entirely over yet; the books won't appear on bookshelves until this summer, but for now, 1 long stretch of waiting + 1 small package= 1 very happy author!