I Call Dibs!

by Laura Gehl

Dibs, written by Laura Gehl and illustrated by Marcin Piwowarski, is the story of two brothers. Julian calls “dibs” so frequently that his baby brother Clancy ends up saying “dibs” as his very first word. Things get out of control when Clancy starts calling dibs on a bakery, an airplane, and even the White House! But when Clancy gets trapped in space, it is Julian who needs to harness the power of dibs to rescue his little brother.

 After reading Dibs out loud, try these writing activities with your students:

1. If you could call dibs on ANYTHING, the way Clancy does, what would you call dibs on? Why?

2. Julian gets frustrated when Clancy doesn’t follow the “rules” of Dibs. Even though these rules are not written down, most kids know you can call dibs on the biggest cookie but not on a whole bakery. You can call dibs on sitting in the window seat in an airplane, but you can’t call dibs on a whole airplane. Think about rules in your life. What rules at home or school do you wish you could break? What rules do you wish other people followed? Do you have a sibling, cousin, or friend who breaks rules? How do you feel about that when it happens?

3. Some kids who read the book Dibs already know the expression “calling dibs,” and some kids have never heard the expression before. Make a list of expressions that you know. Which of these expressions do you actually use when you talk to your friends?

4. Look at your list of expressions that you know from #3. Can you imagine how a kid could take one of those expressions too far, the way Clancy takes dibs too far in the book Dibs? How could you turn that into a story? For example, think about the expression “An apple a day keeps the doctor away.” What if a kid decided that she would eat ten apples—or a hundred apples—or a thousand apples—every day so that she would never, ever get sick? And then she ate so many apples that it actually made her sick! Or maybe she turned into an apple and then her grandma wanted to turn her into apple pie! Take one of the expressions from your list and write a story in which a kid takes the expression too far.

  

Bio: Laura Gehl is the author of picture books including One Big Pair of Underwear (Charlotte Zolotow Highly Commended Title, International Literacy Association Honor Book, Booklist Books for Youth Editors’ Choice); Hare and Tortoise Race Across Israel, And Then Another Sheep Turned Up, and Koala Challah (all PJ Library selections); the Peep and Egg series (Parents’ Choice Recommendation, Amazon Editors’ Pick, Children’s Choice Book Award Finalist); My Pillow Keeps Moving (Junior Library Guild selection, NYPL Best Books of 2018 selection); and I Got a Chicken for my Birthday (Kirkus Best Picture Books of 2018 selection). 2019 releases include Except When They Don’t (Little Bee), Dibs! (Lerner), Juniper Kai: Super Spy (Two Lions); Judge Juliette (Sterling); Always Looking Up: A Story of Astronomer Nancy Grace Roman (Whitman); and the Baby Scientist series (HarperCollins). Laura lives in Chevy Chase, Maryland, with her husband and four children.  Visit her online at www.lauragehl.com.

Tell Me a Tattoo Story

by Laura Gehl

Tell Me a Tattoo Story, by Alison McGhee, illustrated by Eliza Wheeler, features a young boy who learns about his father’s life through the stories behind each of his father’s tattoos.

The We Need Diverse Books campaign has raised awareness about the importance of kids seeing themselves, and their families, in books.  While we may first think about racial, ethnic, religious, and cultural diversity, there are other types of diversity too.  Many students in your class may have parents who have tattoos, and this book celebrates those parents in a beautiful way.

Tell Me a Tattoo Story makes an excellent writing prompt for your classroom.  After you read the book aloud, here are a few ways to use this picture book with your students:

1.    Ask each student to draw a tattoo.  It can be simple—like a cat, or a single word—or more complicated.  On a separate piece of paper, ask students to write down the story behind their tattoos.  Whose tattoo is it?  And why did the person decide to get that tattoo?  Perhaps it is the story of how a lonely man found a cat and adopted it, and then got a tattoo to show his love for his pet.  Or perhaps it is the story of a little girl who desperately wanted a pet cat but could never have one due to allergies…so she got a cat tattoo when she grew up.

2.    After each student completes his or her own tattoo story, collect the tattoo drawings, shuffle them, and give each student a new drawing to think about. Ask students to make up stories behind the unfamiliar tattoos that they have received.  When all students are finished, you may wish to hold up a picture of a tattoo and have both students who wrote about that tattoo (the original artist and the second recipient) share their stories, then discuss similarities and differences.

3.    The father’s tattoos in this book are his way of telling his life story.  What are other creative ways that a parent could tell his or her life story to a son or daughter?  Make a list individually or as a class.

4.    Ask each student to think of an important event in his or her own life.  What tattoo would be appropriate to represent that event?   

5.    Would your students want to get a tattoo if their parents permitted it?  Why or why not?   

  

www.LauraGehl.com

Write your own WOW story

Guest Post by Mary Amato

In my latest book, Our Teacher is a Vampire and Other (Not) True Stories, the kids in Mrs. Penrose’s classroom get advice from their favorite author about how to write a great story. The author teaches them a simple process that she calls writing a WOW story. 

I developed the idea of the WOW story after reading Aristotle in graduate school. WOW is my easy way of remembering what the wise philosopher had to say about what makes stories work. WOW stories have three parts: a main character who wants something, an obstacle that gets in the way, and a win by the main character at the end. Here’s an example.

Want: A cat wants a saucer of milk.

Obstacle: A dog gets in the way.

Win: The cat sings the dog a lullabye; the dog falls asleep; and the cat wins by getting the milk.

Want to write a WOW story of your own? To write this story, think about what kind of personality traits your cat and dog might have. Is your cat shy or sassy? Is your dog grumpy or mean? Do your characters talk? What do their voices sound like? Think about where the story takes place. Inside a cozy house? In a scary, dark alley? Close your eyes and imagine the story like a little movie in your mind. Then open your eyes and try to write it.

You can also come up with your own ideas for WOW stories.

Make a Wow Book

In Our Teacher is a Vampire and Other (Not) True Stories, students write WOW stories and make them into books over their spring break. You can make a book, too. You will need sheets of blank paper of any size and a stapler.

Fold a few pages of paper in half so that it looks like a book and staple it twice on the outside along the fold line. (If your paper is wider than 3 inches, you’ll need a long-arm stapler to reach the fold line.)

To make your WOW book have a special look and feel, use one sheet of thicker, colored paper on top for the cover. After you fold it, put black masking tape on the fold to make a decorative reinforcement. Then you can staple it on the outside of your book along the fold line.

 Write your title on the front and your WOW story inside.

BIO: Mary Amato is an award-winning children’s and YA book author, poet, playwright, and songwriter. Her books have been translated into foreign languages, optioned for television, produced onstage, and have won the children’s choice awards in Ohio, Minnesota, Utah, and Arizona. She teaches popular workshops on writing and the creative process around the country. Visit her online at www.maryamato.com

Writing Connections with Brian Selznick

by Mary Quattlebaum

Brian Selznick is acclaimed for his distinctive, detailed artwork and his innovative books.  I talked with him recently, in conjunction with an interactive exhibit of his work and just before his amazing 2015 Arbuthnot Honor Lecture at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Library in Washington, DC. Click here for the video of the Arbuthnot Lecture, “Love Is a Dangerous Angel: Thoughts on Queerness and Family in Children’s Books” (you can fast forward to minute 38 for Selznick’s opening) and here for the KidsPost/Washington Post article on his books and the exhibit.

Below are a few writing prompts for the classroom or for individual writers ages 8 and up.

Writing About Wonders:  A Cabinet of Wonders figures prominently in Wonderstruck (Scholastic, 2011).

Classroom Discussion: Ask students to bring in a natural wonder (intriguing seashell, fossil, unusual rock, etc.).  Research cabinets of wonders and have class (in entirety or in small groups) work together to create their own “cabinet” or display.

Classroom Writing: (Nonfiction/Captions) Assign one child to each item and have him/her research and write a short nonfiction description of it (to include 3 facts).  (Creative) Youngsters might also be encouraged to find or write a poem about one of the natural wonders in the display.

Sharing:  Mount the display, with captions, and give youngsters a chance to share more information or ask questions of one another.  What was their favorite piece in their cabinet—and why?

Related Projects:  This approach could be adapted to other classroom or family projects.  For example, rather than finding objects, people might assemble photographs of family members and/or pets or take photographs of treasured family objects and then write short captions for a scrapbook.  (This might be something especially enjoyable to do, as an entire family, during the summer.)

www.maryquattlebaum.com

  

Writing Connections with Rita Williams-Garcia

by Mary Quattlebaum

Rita Williams-Garcia includes family secrets, sibling dynamics, and the rural South in her novel Gone Crazy in Alabama (HarperCollins, 2015, ages 8-12).  I talked with Rita recently about this third and final book in her historical series about three sisters—Delphine, Vonetta, and Fern Gaither—growing up in the late 1960s.  

Click here for the KidsPost/Washington Post interview.

Below are a few writing prompts for the classroom or for individual writers ages 8 and up.

Family Tales:  The book revolves around the sisters’ discovery of secrets that have affected their family for several generations.

Classroom Discussion:  Ask students to find an old family photo, keepsake, or heirloom at home or at an older relative’s house.  Have kids brainstorm and prepare questions in class and then interview several family members about that object and ask them to jot down the different answers.  Did they think of more questions based on the answers they received?  What family member seemed to know the most?  Why?  What did students learn about the object and/or the family member doing this?  What was a big surprise?

Classroom Writing:  Ask students to write down a description and brief history of this object and to give a sense of how they feel about it.  They also might share their writing/interview responses with a few family members (siblings, a parent, a different, older relative) and then talk about their relatives’ reactions in class.

SOCIAL JUSTICE/ANIMAL RIGHTS:  The novel deals with the sexism and racism of the times in thought-provoking, nuanced ways.  It is also one of the few novels with a young character who actively protests what she sees as the inhumane treatment of animals.  

Classroom Discussion:  How does Fern make her views known and how does she stage her protests?  How do others react?  Ask your students to list, as a group, some injustices they see in this country and in the wider world.  Does each kid have a cause that he or she feels strongly about?  Like Fern, how might students help to create change in a peaceful manner?   

Classroom Writing:  Have them choose a cause and develop a campaign/do some things (either individually or in small groups) to deepen school or public awareness and possibly lead to positive change.

 www.maryquattlebaum.com