WRITER RADAR WITH JACK GANTOS

by Jacqueline Jules

In a new book, Writing Radar: Using Your Journal To Snoop Out and Craft Great Stories, Jack Gantos shares more than classic tips for writing a great beginning, middle, and end. He shares his own passion to become a published author. Do you have students who dream about seeing their own books on library shelves? If so, give them Writing Radar. Give them the opportunity to hear Gantos describe in emotional detail the moment he placed his hand in the exact spot where a fiction book written by an author named “Gantos” would be shelved.  

Fans of the Joey Pigza books will enjoy the story of how Gantos met the student who inspired the character of Joey at an author visit. Gantos has lectured in dozens of schools about the craft of writing. He shares those lessons in Writing Radar along with many short writing examples teachers could use as models in the classroom. Gantos uses anecdotes from his childhood to demonstrate how everyday experiences make excellent writing material. “The Cool-Air Chair” is a brief story of how Gantos liked to read with the refrigerator door open because it was the coolest place in his Florida home without air-conditioning. Examining how Gantos makes a fairly mundane activity into a very amusing story should help your students discover the stories in their own lives. The book is peppered with such stories and many chapters can stand alone as a read aloud, making Writing Radar a great text to use periodically throughout the year.

In a chapter called, “Breaking It Down,” Gantos provides a step-by-step guide to the elements of storytelling. Writing and reading teachers could use this as a model for studying character, setting, problem, action, etc.  

Finally, Gantos nudges the young writer to simply get moving—to write. In his most important writing tip, he says: “Don’t be that writer who waits all day for the perfect first sentence, or you will grow old while learning to hate yourself and writing.” Gantos cautions young writers not to expect creative thoughts to line up neatly “like a long string of dominoes standing on end and all the writer has to do is push the first one over.” He accurately describes the messy process of creating story while brimming with excitement for the craft. Writer Radar is an excellent resource for the classroom and all those who love writing.

www.jacquelinejules.com

Story Scenes: Just One Thing

by Nancy Viau

Anthony Pantaloni needs Just One Thing!—one thing he does well, one thing that will replace the Antsy Pants nickname he got tagged with the first day of fifth grade, one GOOD thing he can “own” before moving up to middle school next year. Every kid in Carpenter Elementary has something: Marcus is Mr. Athletic, Alexis is Smart Aleck, Bethany has her horse obsession, and even Cory can stake a claim as being the toughest kid in the whole school. Ant tries lots of things but – KA-BOOM! – nothing sticks! It doesn’t help that there are obstacles along the way—a baton-twirling teacher, an annoying cousin, and Dad’s new girlfriend to name a few.

“With tons of humor and lots of heart, this story jabs into the core of middle grade insanity and the question of whether or not a kid can ever make it out with even a little bit of self-esteem intact.” ~ T. Drecker (Bookworm for Kids) Discussion Guide for Teachers:

Follow-up Activity:

Fold an 8 ½ x 11 plain piece paper in half long end to long end.

Fold it again. And once more.

Open sheet to find 8 blocks.

Place paper on desk horizontally so that there are 4 blocks are across the top and 4 at the bottom.

In the corners, number the blocks left to right so that #5 is the first number on the second row.

Write KA-BOOM! somewhere on block #6.

Students get together in pairs, and interview each other using the following questions:

What kinds of activities/sports/hobbies do you do well?

What activities /sports/hobbies do you wish you did well?

In terms of activities/sports/hobbies, what frustrates you?

If you’ve found your One Thing, what is it? Is that working out for you? How?

If you could change your One Thing, what would it be?

Next, using the divided paper, each student creates a visual representation of another student’s journey in finding his/her One Thing. Using the interview answers above as a guide, they write a scene (like a mini-story) in 8 blocks. Each block is illustrated and supported by minimal text. As for the climax, that occurs on block #6 where KA-BOOM! is written. Here, the writer shows the turn of events that leads to a final outcome on block #8. Students can base their story scenes on entirely on the interview and write a factual account, or use the answers for inspiration only and write absolute fiction.

BIO: Nancy Viau no longer worries about finding her One Thing for she has found quite a few things she loves, like being a mom, writing, traveling, and working as a librarian assistant. She is the author of the picture books City Street Beat, Look What I Can Do! and Storm Song, and an additional middle-grade novel, Samantha Hansen Has Rocks in Her Head. Nancy grew up in the suburbs of Philadelphia, PA and now resides in South Jersey. 

Vist Nancy at www.NancyViau.com  

www.KidLitAuthorsClub.com or Twitter: @NancyViau1

LOTTERY WRITING PROMPTS

by Jacqueline Jules

Recently, I enjoyed Tammar Stein’s young adult novel, Spoils. When the book begins, Leni is a week away from her 18^th birthday and the right to spend her million dollar trust fund as she chooses. Her father won the lottery seven years before and she is the only family member left with money from the big event. Leni’s parents spent their lottery winnings on a lavish lifestyle that has left them broke and living in a mansion, cringing at calls from creditors. Leni is emotionally torn. She feels she has a responsibility to her parents to help them financially but she would rather donate her money to a worthy cause. Leni’s dilemma would make a fascinating writing prompt for middle or high school students.  With last month's  1.4 billion dollar PowerBall, many students have already considered what they might do with a lottery win, making this writing prompt an attractive one for reluctant writers.

What would you do if you won the lottery?

Would you spend it only on yourself and/or your family?

What items would you buy?

Would you travel?

Would you make investments? How would you choose what companies to invest in?

Would you try to help others? If so, would you choose individuals or an organized charity?

Ask your students to do a freewrite about winning the lottery, recording every fun fantasy they have. Then ask them to revise after digging a little deeper with research into some of the issues mentioned in Spoils, such as how 70 % of lottery winners are broke after a few years. How friends, relatives, and strangers hound them for money. How many end up living much worse lives than before. Time Magazine ran an article January 12, 2016, “Here’s How Winning the Lottery Makes You Miserable.”  On the same day, The Daily News ran “Curse of the lottery: Tragic stories of bigjackpot winners.”

Warning: Some of these news stories on winning the lottery are not for the faint-hearted. However, asking your students to write about the consequence of having a dream come true could produce some provocative narratives and spark interest from middle schoolers and high schoolers who never enjoyed writing before.

www.jacquelinejules.com

HOME ALONE: THE ART OF SHORT STORY

by Jacqueline Jules

While picture books are always great writing models, short stories can be very effective, too, especially for the middle and high school classroom. Gary Soto’s classic Baseball in April contains eleven stories of adolescence. The collection portrays Hispanic characters in California dealing with universal themes of friendship, family relationships, and self-confidence.

“Growing Up” has a particularly compelling plot of a tenth grade girl who gets her wish of staying home from a family vacation. Yet while her family is away, she worries and regrets her decision. “Growing Up” should strike a chord with middle and upper grade students through its emotional center and imagined scenario of staying behind with your friends while your family travels. Ask your students to write about why they might want to be excused from a trip and if being mature means separating yourself from your family. What would they do at home on their own? Would their parents trust them to obey the rules? How would they feel about being separated from their parents for the first time? After responding in personal narratives, students could then go on to create a fictional character staying home from a family vacation.

Some students might want to make a comparison to the popular movie, Home Alone. A humorous approach is just as acceptable as a serious one, especially since in both the movie and Gary Soto’s story, family relationships and maturity are explored.

“Barbie” in Baseball in April should also resonant with students. This tale revolves around the acquisition of a longed-for doll with a disastrous result. Students should find plenty of inspiration to write about a time when they finally received an object they wanted only to have it ruined. Like the other short stories in this collection, “Barbie” is a great example of a clear beginning, middle, and end.  

Short stories are a unique art form in that they establish a fully drawn character with a specific problem that is resolved in a few pages. Young writers often run into trouble when attempting fiction. They envision themselves writing a novel with hundreds of pages. But before you can tell a long story, you need to be able to effectively tell a short one. Reading and responding to short stories will help young writers strengthen their skills.     

www.jacquelinejules.com 

Writing Connections with Origami Yoda

by Mary Quattlebaum

Three childhood passions—drawing, origami and writing—come together for author/illustrator Tom Angleberger in his Origami Yoda series.  I had a chance to talk with Tom recently about the wildly popular seven-book series. These books make strong models for classroom writing and can jumpstart playful exercises.  Tom shared his thoughts and process, and below I offer a few writing exercises connected to the last book in the series, Emperor Pickletine Rides the Bus (Abrams, 2014, ages 8-12).  As Origami Yoda, the wise finger puppet, might say:  “Write you must.”

*  MAKING UP WORDS:  The middle-school characters in Emperor Pickletine Rides the Bus use a made-up word, “stooky,” which means “cool” or “awesome.”  Classroom Writing:  Have students separate into five or so groups.  Each group must make up three words, with one meaning “cool,” the second, “stupid,” and the third, “angry.”  How might the made-up words sound like what it means?  Or reflect something that seems representative of that word?  (For example, the made-up word “volnormous” might mean “very angry.”  Ask students to write their made-up words in a sentence or paragraph and/or use it conversation at some point during the day or at home.  What was their listeners’ reactions?   

*  PERCEPTION AND VOICE: The book is a wonderful example of multi-voiced narration.  Many young characters contribute and each voice is different.  Tom says that each book presents it own challenges and that a particular challenge for him with Origami Yoda was crafting girl voices.  “I had never worked with girl narrators before,” he said.  “I had to work hard to make their voices and thoughts seem believable.”

Classroom Discussion:  Ask students to look carefully at a few simultaneous chapters.  How does each character see a certain situation differently?  Also, what makes Tommy sound like Tommy?  Or Sara like Sara?  What makes each voice unique?  (Students might look at vocabulary, sentence structure, words frequently used by that character, character’s overall attitude towards things.)

Classroom Writing:  Have students put Harvey and Tommy (or Harvey and Sara) in a museum they have visited.  How does Harvey look at this thing (a sculpture, a dinosaur model, a historic airplane)?  Now, describe it in Harvey’s voice.  How about Tommy or Sara?

* SNACK FOOD FIGURES:  In the book, the characters make Star Wars figures from snack foods.  Students might do this for homework, take a photo, and post it on Tom’s origamiyoda.com website.  Or they might eat their creation, as Dwight does with his fruit roll-up creation Fruitigami Yoda.

* MORE “STOOKY” DETAILS ABOUT TOM:  Click here for my interview in KidsPost section of the Washington Post.

www.maryquattlebaum.com