Have A Blast With Beep And Bob!

guest blog by Jonathan Roth

Bob is an ordinary kid who finds himself having to go to school in the most terrifying place he can imagine: outer space! Luckily he makes friends with a lost little alien named Beep, and together they face all the usual school challenges (tests, too much homework, bullies) and the not-so-usual (lack of gravity, black holes, giant space spiders). You can read all about their adventures (Bob keeps a journal and Beep draws the pictures) and use the following prompts to create your own!

Writing Prompts:

In a few words or paragraphs or pages, complete the following:

“I was just accepted to go to school that’s located _____________ miles away, somewhere near ________________________ but I’m super nervous to go there because ___________________________.”

“Don’t be mad, but I just let an alien into the school and it___________.”

“You’re never going to believe this, but we just went on a field trip to _________ and just when I thought it couldn’t get any worse ____________________.”

“I once traveled to the future for a day and to my great surprise _____________________.”

“Whatever you do, don’t push the red button because it ___________________!”

“I just found a special spray that cures me of my biggest fears, which are ______________ but the spray also gives me strange side effects such as ______________.”

“My Emergency Space Pack is full of such helpful items as ___________________ but also has some pretty useless things like _______________________.”

“Oh, no, I forget the password that disables the Self-Destruct Button I just accidentally pushed, but I know it’s one of my twenty favorite things, which are _________________ and _____.”

“I just read the entire BEEP AND BOB series, which was pretty good, but I have an idea for an even better series which is about ___________________.”

Illustration Prompts:

Beep is a cute alien, but there are some aliens Bob hasn’t met. So Bob will know who to look out for, please draw:

Squeep, who’s even cuter than Beep

and Klob, who’s super scary.

Know any other aliens? Draw them too!

I hope you have fun with your writing and illustrating. The main thing to remember is that you can always, always improve with practice. And being creative can be a blast!

http://beepandbob.com/

Writing Connections with Jennifer Allison

by Mary Quattlebaum

Writing and reading are new challenges for second and third graders, and Jennifer Allison motivates kids to tackle them with her rambunctious new Iggy Loomis chapter-book series.  Short chapters, a fast-paced plot, and Mike Moran’s zany illustrations playfully engage young readers even as they help hone reading skills—and perhaps even inspire kids to write/draw their own superhero adventures.  Jennifer shares her writing process and a classroom writing prompt for Iggy Loomis: Superkid in Training (Dial, 2013), the first book in the series. Check iggyloomis.com for additional activities.

Welcome, Jennifer!  As you know, my family members are big fans of your Gilda Joyce mystery series for ages 10 and up.  Iggy is a departure from these mysteries.   What inspired you to write a chapter book?

I have three kids in elementary school (boy-girl twins who are first graders and also a 4^th

grader), and I was inspired to write a book that all three of them would want to read.

The combination of real-life problems (how to deal with difficult friends and siblings) and science fiction (secret alien technology and curiosity about other worlds) was inspired by the way ordinary life, imaginative adventures, and ridiculous mishaps all blend together in the daily lives of young kids. Quite a few funny details in Iggy Loomis began with me jotting down a note about something one of my kids actually said or did.

How do you see the illustrations enhancing the text & what were some of the

challenges you faced in writing this chapter book?  

In a nutshell, I was reminded that just because a book is “easy to read” does not mean that it was easy to write!

The narrator of Iggy Loomis: Superkid in Training is Daniel Loomis (Iggy’s older brother), who’s approximately nine years old, although I never reveal his exact age. His voice is sometimes challenging for me because Daniel is far less verbal than a teen like Gilda Joyce, who is a self-described “preternaturally gifted” writer. Writing from Daniel Loomis’s perspective pushes me to think visually and to reveal character traits through actions. The verbal limitations of a less-than-bookish elementary school narrator also make Mike Moran’s illustrations crucial to the book – not just as fun enhancements to the text, but to show the reader the range of emotions Daniel, his little brother Iggy, and best friend Alistair experience.

Another challenge for me was the very streamlined form of this humor/adventure genre for elementary school readers: it’s more linear and pared-down than the structure of the Gilda Joyce books, which include several subplots and an exploration of the inner lives of multiple characters. I naively assumed that writing in a very spare form would make my task as a writer easier, but I was wrong. My editor at Penguin, Lucia Monfried, was crucial when it came to helping me refocus my first drafts of Iggy Loomis on only the most essential story elements.

What was your greatest joy?

A few weeks ago, we launched Iggy Loomis with a pajama party for kids at a wonderful independent bookstore in Chicago called The Book Cellar. There aren’t many bookstore owners who will personally make “bug Jell-O” for a children’s book event, and Suzy Takacs did just that in an effort to get kids thinking about the insect theme of the story.

We planned the bookstore event as a “birthday party” for a new storybook character (Iggy Loomis), and the store was packed with a somewhat zany crowd of sugar-fueled kids ranging from 1^st graders through 4^th graders. I loved how, when I started reading from the book, they all fell completely silent – on the edge of their seats and genuinely listening to this story about a boy whose little brother gets mysterious superpowers. This was also the first book event that included my own three children and lots of their classmates as participants. I will always remember the end of the party: my younger son Marcus came up to me and asked if I would please also sign his book. He took his copy of Iggy Loomis everywhere for the next week “because I love it so much!”

Wow, it’s lovely to be able to inspire your own kids to read and write!  Do you have a writing prompt or suggestion that might connect with the book?  

Iggy Loomis: Superkid in Training is a humorous science fiction book that introduces several “real world” science concepts including the study of insects and DNA. The website www.iggyloomis.com includes a list of suggested nonfiction resources for kids who want to learn more about science. The website also includes a complete classroom discussion guide and a list of interdisciplinary projects that will engage visual and experiential learners. Here’s one project that teachers can find on the website:

Paint Your Own Planet! How do you imagine Alistair’s home planet (Planet Blaron) looks? Draw or paint your vision of Alistair’s home planet. Write a paragraph explaining the choices you made (details of the landscape, color choices, etc.) based on details from the text of Iggy Loomis and/or research about planets in distant galaxies.

I love that this prompt includes writing and drawing since kids this age seem to enjoy and get so much from doing their own visuals.  What are you working on now?

I’m currently finishing the second book in the Iggy Loomis series entitled A Hagfish Called Shirley. Kids interested in unusual sea creatures and weird pets should add the next Iggy Loomis book to their reading lists!

This sounds like so much fun, Jennifer!  I’m going to add it to my reading list.  Thanks for joining us at Pencil Tips. 

www.maryquattlebaum.com

PLOTTING A VIDEO GAME

by Pam Smallcomb

As the mom of three boys, I know that getting a boy to read a book can sometimes be a challenge. Getting some boys to write, well, it might be easier to just go outside and move a mountain. I have found one topic that has never failed to excite interest when I talk to boys: gaming. I’ll go out on a limb here and say that most boys over the age of six are well versed in the gaming culture. They not only know the games out there, but are playing a good deal of them in their spare time.

So how can you translate this excitement for gaming into a writing experience, while limiting explosions, weaponry and other assorted violence?

How about having them design a game setting? Defining the setting as a stand-alone task has its advantages. It takes the narrator/character out of the writing (and the weapon temporarily out of his hands). By focusing the writing on describing the world of their imaginary game, they will learn the valuable skill of creating a story ‘bible.’ There are many appealing aspects to video games. Their scenes are richly landscaped. There are distinct cultures and hierarchies. Different realms operate by different rules. Just ask anyone who plays WOW (World of Warcraft, for the uninitiated).

Some questions to ask your students about their gaming environment could include:

Will there be any environmental obstacles that your characters will have to overcome?

What kind of lives do the different characters live (different professions, etc.)?

Do the characters live in different realms? What are they?

Are there any traditions? Taboos?

If I were to walk into a market or meeting place within your game setting, what sounds would I hear? What would people be eating?

What does it look like (the actual landscape)?

Where are we in time?

Do they have any magic? How does it work?

What scientific gizmos do they have? For example, can they teleport?

Within every game, there are groups of characters, or ‘tribes’ that need defining. Some questions about the general characters that inhabit the different gaming realms could be:

What do the different groups of characters look like? What is their temperament?

Any monsters among them? What kind?

Are some characters  ‘more equal’ than others?

Are there grudges and prejudices among the different characters?

What skills are valued?

Are there rules that must be obeyed?

Are there boons to secure? Missions or quests to complete?

And the one they will like best: How do they protect and defend themselves?

Once the general game setting has been written, you can then ask your students to continue their gaming ‘bible’ and define the specific characters who will take the lead in their game, and of course, describe the point (or story) of their game.

As the student defines his gaming world, hopefully the story of the game will become clearer. If this sounds like the steps you would take to plot a fantasy or a science fiction novel, that’s because it’s very similar. But the good news is, your gamer doesn’t have to know that.

http://www.pamsmallcomb.com/index.html