April Carnival of Children's Literature & Writing news

Once a month, a blogger volunteers gather links from other bloggers in the Kidlithosphere. Links to their best/ most interesting post/ or simply a fun thing they wrote about during this month. It's called the Carnival of Children's Literature and as of today, the April Carnival is UP at the Forwords blog . Go. Click on the link here and enjoy the variety you find there.

In other news, the revision of my (short) novel is inching along.
For this first run through I'll simply respond to the 5 critiques it received last month. Then I'll have to run through it again, adding some of the background information they requested -- trying NOT to let those places become Info-Dumps that stop the action -- but trying to work the information gently in here and there.

One shocker was the information Emily Jenkins gave me -- my novel was too short. Her examples of other young novels were eye-opening:
Junie B. Jones is 5,500 words.
Ivy and Bean is 7,000.
Clementine is 10,000.
In March, my 'novel' was only 4000 words long.
At present, only half-revised, it is now 5000 words long -- so, I'm getting there.
Onward! Back to the revision.

Okay,
take 10-year old to sleepover Birthday party.
Go shop at the Pennsylvania Deutch Market.
THEN, back to the revision.
-wendieO

Writing Week -- Tuesday

I've been on vacation and busy, busy. (with time out to be sick, then busy busy again.)
It's another one of those 'vacation weeks' where I move from my day job to my writing job.

So far I've managed to collate all the comments I got on my dog story that I took to the Novel Writing Workshop last month. It's amazing that so many different eyes caught the very same things. It's also amazing that the very same parts of the story that some people loved -- others hated and wanted removed.
I'll have to decide what advice to follow.

Almost everyone had suggestions for expanding the story -- which is good because it has to grow from 4000 words to 6000 or 8000.

Wednesday = revision time.
(Plus a bit of housework = spring cleaning)
Thursday, repeat.
Friday, repeat.
-wendieO

Sunday Funnies

This is too good not to share.
I was doing my evening reading of agent's blogs when I discovered that Agent Kristin of Pub Rants had a fun link on her blog. Click on over to Hyperbole and a Half and enjoy Alot.
-WendieO

Get a free Critique of your writing

Today is EARTH DAY
Today is also the celebration of the first Blogiversary of TeachingAuthors.com! This blog is run by a group six children's book authors who also teach writing. Once you get to their site, you'll recognize that they are some of your favorite authors.
* April Halprin Wayland
* Carmela Martino
* Esther Hershenhorn
* Jeanne Marie Grunwell Ford
* JoAnn Early Macken
* Mary Ann Rodman

As a thank-you gift to their readers, they're offering a special "choose your own critique" giveaway.
Yea!

Readers can enter to win a critique of one of the following:
a picture book manuscript,
nonfiction piece,
synopsis,
novel opening (about 10 pages or your first chapter,
short story,
or poetry.

For details, click on Teaching Authors.
-wendieO

Nonfiction Monday -- poetry -- Bee-bim Bop!

Bee-bim Bop! by Linda Sue Park. Illustrated by Ho Baek Lee. NY: Clarion Books, 2005. Still available in paperback. Hardback is OP.

I know that you all know that Linda Sue Park is an award-winning author of novels, but how many of you know that she's a poet, too? Nearly everything she writes mentions food. However,this book is all about her favorite dish -- Bee-bim Bop.

"Hurry, Mama, hurry
Gotta chop chop chop!
Hungry -- very hungry
for some BEE-BIM BOP!

Bee-bim is the name of a popular Korean food
and Bop means RICE.
Bee-bim also means "Mix/ mix."
So the whole name of the dish means "lets mix/ mix other foods (chopped cooked meat, sprouts, stir-fried veggies, scrambled egg patties) with rice and EAT!"

"Time for Bee-bim Bop!"

Instructions are in the back for parents and children to create this meal.

Another poetry book by Linda Sue Park is Tap Dancing on the Roof: Sijo (Poems), also published by Clarion.

More Nonfiction Monday messages can be found at the blog, Wrapped in Foil.
-wendieO

iPad + Children's Books

When I gave my lecture at the end of my Picture Book semester at Vermont College of Fine Arts, I concluded my talk about the history of Picture Book Biographies by saying that the new MP3 players dedicated to one book (Playaways) were good -- but would even better would be if they could show the pictures of the picture book biography along with the story.

Now -- here comes the iPad which will do just that -- in a larger, readable format.

We now have actual electronic lap books that parents can share with their children, sitting side-by-side, just like the traditional picture books. For more about this development, I direct you to this article in Publisher's Weekly.
(I don't know how long these links to articles in magazines are active, but this is what I read today.)
-wendieO

Nonfiction Monday -- Nature's Paintbox

Nature's Paintbox, a Seasonal Gallery of Art and Verse by Patricia Thomas. Illustrated by Craig Orback. Minneapolis, MN: Millbrook Press, 2007.

This is one of those WoW books, whose illustrations take the statements in the poem and fly with it.

Nature's Paintbox. I love, love, love books that move around the calendar year. This book of poetry compares seasons to various styles of art. (Remember -- poetry is in the nonfiction collection in the library.)

"Winter is done in pen and ink... black and white."
And it is -- lovely pen and ink drawings with only faint bits of colors inserted by photoshop. (Hey, I'm not that smart. I didn't figure that out myself. It's all explained at the back of the book.)

"And then...
Nature draws
SPRING
in pastel chalk,..."
warm as sunshine colors... blurry, furry, ...fresh green-fuzzy, baby leaf, baby fern colors....
Even the words of this poem change from the crisp, clean winter words to warm, soft, bilowy springtime words.

And then... Nature paints SUMMER
in watercolors ....

But for my favorite season,
"Nature works
AUTUMN in oils..."

Lovely lucious words
lovely lucious artwork.
enjoy.

More Nonfiction Monday posts are located today at the blog, Shelf-Employed.
-wendieO