OKAY FOR NOW by Gary Schmidt

 I rarely read a book during the day—unless I am close to the last page and I HAVE TO KNOW. Well, it's 10:30 AM and I just read the last word and stroked the cover of Okay For Now by Gary Schmidt. It is a sequel to Gary Schmidt's, Wednesday Wars. 

  I had a love/hate reaction for the first third of Okay for Now, mainly because of the father. He was such a jerk. As the story progressed, I remembered why Gary Schmidt is an award-winning writer. I loved this book. The plot has so many layers and yet they meld into a story that drifts into your thoughts through the day, as if the characters are your friends, and their pain is your pain.

  If you have read it, I’d love to talk about it. If you haven’t, please read and let me know what you think.
  I’ll be reading it again sometime—after I listen to the audio, probably more than once. :-)

  

The Hunger Games

  I've been meaning to read the series, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, but have kept putting the books back on my shelf, knowing I would not be satisfied once I started until I turned the last page. My students have been insistent on me reading the books so I allowed myself to start the first one in the series as soon as school was finished for the year.
  A few days later I am finished and I now understand why it was almost impossible for my students to put their bookmark between the pages when it was time to start a lesson.
 This book is a great example of how a talented writer can take a gruesome topic and spin a story that pulls you into the characters' lives where you have no choice but to long for them to be triumphant.
  Although it is difficult, I won't let myself start the next book in the series for a while. After all, I do need to write my own blockbuster best seller.

My Own Book Challenge

I am always encouraging new writers to READ children's books--if they want to be better writers. I was just browsing through some blogs and found one called, "Home Girl's Book Blog". Basically it seems to be full of different challenges to the blog's readers. One of the challenges is to read 100 books in a year. I think I read more than 100 books a year so I am going to make my own personal challenge. I know what books I have read this summer because I always keep those books separate so I can share them with my students. So, my personal challenge is to document the books I read for a year. My challenge is going to be from June 1, 2010 to May 31, 2011.

Should we challenge one another? Let's see who can read the most books during these 12 months. Mine are listed on the left side of my blog.
Happy reading!

Read, Read, Read

A few days ago, I spoke at the SCBWI-Tulsa, Oklahoma monthly meeting called Schmooze. The main message I was conveying was that a serious writer has to be a serious reader. Often when I make this statement to newbies in the children's writing world, they say, I am so busy, I don't have time to read. In my opinion, you can't afford NOT to read if you want to be the kind of writer you are hoping to be. Not only will it help you see different styles of writing, it will make you aware of the kinds of stories in the current market.

I believe a good place to start would be with the award winning books like Newbery and Caldecott. Do a search on your computer to find a list of present and past winners. The winners are chosen by a committee of adults. However, if you want to get a more accurate picture of what books kids like, I'd go to the state awards. I am most familiar with the Oklahoma Sequoyah and the Missouri Mark Twain Book Awards. Books for these awards are nominated by librarians then three lists are compiled: children's, intermediate, and high school. Before 2010, there were only two categories (children and young adult). Students read the books and vote. Did you catch that? Kids choose who gets the award that year. Here is a link that gives a list of the various state awards: www.cynthialeitichsmith.com/lit_resources/awards/stateawards.html

So start reading!