mitali's fire escape

First, California. Next, My Winter Retreat.

2009-11-19T11:00:00.000-05:00

I'm heading to Southern California today for CSLA's annual convention. I'll be presenting "Books Between Cultures" on Friday from 2:15-3:15, and then signing in the exhibit hall from 3:30 to 4:30. On Sunday, I'll be at the Author Brunch listening to Bruce Hale's speech and schmoozing with librarians. If you're there in real life, come find me, and I'll be sharing news from the conference virtually on twitter using hashtag #csla2009.

After that, I begin my winter retreat, backing away from the internet to create space for writing and the holiday season. I'll be lightly involved via social media and commenting on other blogs, but won't return to the Fire Escape until 1/11. It's cold out here anyway, right? Enjoy the quieter winter season, and I'll see you out here again in 2010. Peace be with you.

Thanksgiving From The Margins

2009-11-18T13:56:00.004-05:00

Thanksgiving is my favorite North American holiday by far. It doesn't make new or poor Americans feel as left out as some of the other festival days. During winter break, why did the fat dude in red bring presents for everybody in my class except me?

Duck For Turkey Day, a new picture book from Albert Whitman & Co by Jacqueline Jules, illustrated by Kathryn Mitter, tells the story of Tuyet, a Vietnamese-American girl who worries about eating duck on "Turkey Day." A chorus of classmates reassures Tuyet at the end of the book, describing a diversity of food eaten at their tables as they too celebrated America's day of gratitude with their families.

The book is wonderful choice for classrooms and families this Thanksgiving. School Library Journal says, "This sweet tale is written in straightforward prose and provides a brief glimpse of another culture. Mitter's bright illustrations accented with cozy details draw readers into Tuyet's happy home and enhance the story's heartwarming message."

Even as I enjoy Thanksgiving as the ultimate immigrant holiday, I'm aware of the festival's mixed messages. In The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, as I shared last Thanksgiving, Sherman Alexie's protagonist illuminates how strange Thanksgiving is for descendants of America's only non-immigrants:

I always think it's funny when Indians celebrate Thanksgiving. I mean, sure, the Indians and Pilgrims were best friends during that First Thanksgiving, but a few years later, the Pilgrims were shooting Indians.

So I'm never quite sure why we eat turkey like everybody else.

"Hey, Dad," I said. "What do Indians have to be so thankful for?"

"We should give thanks that they didn't kill all of us."

We laughed like crazy. It was a good day. Dad was sober. Mom was getting ready to nap. Grandma was already napping.

(Source: Debbie Reese, American Indians in Children's Literature)

To find books and resources recommended by Indians about Thanksgiving, visit Oyate, "a Native organization working to see that our lives and histories are portrayed honestly, and so that all people will know our stories belong to us." I've included them below.

Deconstructing the Myths of “The First Thanksgiving” (short version)
[view] | [download]

Deconstructing the Myths of “The First Thanksgiving” (long version)
[view] | [download]

Recommended books from an Indian perspective
[view] | [download]

Primary sources from a colonialist perspective
[view] |[download]

Wordle Your Brand

2009-11-17T12:52:00.002-05:00

Not sure how to describe your blog's "brand" or "niche"? I do an occasional check on search terms or keywords using free tools like statcounter or google analytics. For fun, you can also create a wordle to get a quick snapshot of your blog's brand. Here's one generated for Books With Flair, for example:

Pretty much sums up what I'm up to over at that blog, right?

Could A Story Help This Happen?

2009-11-16T10:27:00.000-05:00

I'm bullish on the power of story to inspire and revolutionize acts of justice and peace. So when I read about something as exciting as Bishop Desmond Tutu's simple yet powerful plan of universal birth registration, my mind begins to whirl around plot possibilities. A dystopian YA novel about teens with lost identities? A picture book featuring one of these children to show how important a birth certificate can be? As you watch the video below, what stories come to mind for you?

15 New YA Books Featuring Forgiveness

2009-11-13T19:20:00.003-05:00

I put out a call for books published in 2009 that underline the theme of forgiveness, and received several responses in the YA category, listed below in alphabetical order by author's last name.

Thanks to everybody who contributed; if you don't see your suggestion, it's probably because the book wasn't released in 2009. Let me know if I've missed something.

I'm still collecting titles on the theme for tweens and kids, so feel free to add those in the comments, and don't forget to check the list of books honored by the Jane Addams Peace Association.

Note: I haven't read most of these titles yet, so am relying on annotations provided by the publishers. Looking forward to some great reads.

1. Freeze Frame by Heidi Ayarbe

No matter how many times Kyle rewrites the scene, he can't get it right. He tries it in the style of Hitchcock, Tarantino, Eastwood, all of his favorite directors—but regardless of the style, he can't remember what happened that day in the shed. The day Jason died. And until he can, there is one question that keeps haunting Kyle: Did he kill his best friend on purpose?

2. Crazy Beautiful by Lauren Baratz-Logsted

In an explosion of his own making, Lucius blew his arms off. Now he has hooks. He chose hooks because they were cheaper. He chose hooks because he wouldn’t outgrow them so quickly. He chose hooks so that everyone would know he was different, so he would scare even himself. Then he meets Aurora. The hooks don’t scare her. They don’t keep her away. In fact, they don’t make any difference at all to her. But to Lucius, they mean everything. They remind him of the beast he is inside. Perhaps Aurora is his Beauty, destined to set his soul free from its suffering. Or maybe she’s just a girl who needs love just like he does.

3. Fat Cat by Robin Brande

You are what you eat . . . . Cat smart, sassy, and funny—but thin, she’s not. Until her class science project. That’s when she winds up doing an experiment—on herself. Before she knows it, Cat is living—and eating—like the hominids, our earliest human ancestors. True, no chips or TV is a bummer and no car is a pain, but healthful eating and walking everywhere do have their benefits. As the pounds drop off, the guys pile on. All this newfound male attention is enough to drive a girl crazy! If only she weren’t too busy hating Matt McKinney to notice. . . .

4. Hate List by Jennifer Brown

Five months ago, Valerie Leftman's boyfriend, Nick, opened fire on their school cafeteria. Shot trying to stop him, Valerie inadvertently saved the life of a classmate, but was implicated in the shootings because of the list she helped create. A list of people and things she and Nick hated. The list he used to pick his targets. Now, after a summer of seclusion, Val is forced to confront her guilt as she returns to school to complete her senior year. Haunted by the memory of the boyfriend she still loves and navigating rocky relationships with her family, former friends and the girl whose life she saved, Val must come to grips with the tragedy that took place and her role in it, in order to make amends and move on with her life.

5. Mare's War by Tanita S. Davis

Octavia and Tali are dreading the road trip their parents are forcing them to take with their grandmother over the summer. After all, Mare isn’t your typical grandmother. She drives a red sports car, wears stiletto shoes, flippy wigs, and push-up bras, and insists that she’s too young to be called Grandma. But somewhere on the road, Octavia and Tali discover there’s more to Mare than what you see. She was once a willful teenager who escaped her less-than-perfect life in the deep South and lied about her age to join the African American battalion of the Women’s Army Corps during World War II.

6. If I Stay by Gayle Forman

In a single moment, everything changes. Seventeen year-old Mia has no memory of the accident; she can only recall riding along the snow-wet Oregon road with her family. Then, in a blink, she finds herself watching as her own damaged body is taken from the wreck ...

7. Nothing But Ghosts by Beth Kephart

Ever since her mother passed away, Katie's been alone in her too-big house with her genius dad, who restores old paintings for a living. Katie takes a summer job at a garden estate, where, with the help of two brothers and a glamorous librarian, she soon becomes embroiled in decoding a mystery. There are secrets and shadows at the heart of Nothing but Ghosts: symbols hidden in a time-darkened painting, and surprises behind a locked bedroom door. But most of all, this is a love story—the story of a girl who learns about love while also learning to live with her own ghosts.

8. Girl on the Other Side by Deborah Kerbel

Tabby Freeman and Lora Froggett go to the same school, but they live in totally opposite worlds. Tabby is rich, pretty, and the most popular girl in her class. But behind closed doors, her 'perfect' life is rapidly coming apart at the seams. On the other side, Lora is smart, timid, and the constant target of bullies. While struggling to survive the piranha-infested halls of her school, she becomes increasingly nervous that somebody might discover the unbearable truth about what's been happening to her family. Despite their differences, Tabby and Lora have something in common - they're both harboring dark secrets and a lot of pain.

9. Surviving the Angel of Death by Eva Kor and Lisa Rojany Buccieri

Eva Mozes Kor was 10 years old when she arrived in Auschwitz. While her parents and two older sisters were taken to the gas chambers, she and her twin, Miriam, were herded into the care of the man known as the Angel of Death, Dr. Josef Mengele. Mengele's twins were granted the privileges of keeping their own clothes and hair, but they were also subjected to sadistic medical experiments and forced to fight daily for their own survival, as most of the twins died as a result of the experiements or from the disease and hunger pervasive in the camp. In a narrative told with emotion and restraint, readers will learn of a child's endurance and survival in the face of truly extraordinary evil. The book also includes an epilogue on Eva's recovery from this experience and her remarkable decision to publicly forgive the Nazis.

10. Pop by Gordon Korman

When Marcus moves to a new town in the dead of summer, he doesn't know a soul. While practicing football for impending tryouts, he strikes up an unlikely friendship with an older man. Charlie is a charismatic prankster—and the best football player Marcus has ever seen. He can't believe his good luck when he finds out that Charlie is actually Charlie Popovich, or "the King of Pop," as he had been nicknamed during his career as an NFL linebacker. But that's not all. There is a secret about Charlie that his family is desperate to hide. When Marcus begins school, he meets the starting quarterback on the team: Troy Popovich. Right from the beginning, Marcus and Troy disagree—about football, about Troy's ex-girlfriend, Alyssa, but most of all about what's good for Charlie. Marcus is betting that he knows what's best for the King of Pop. And he is willing to risk everything to help his friend.

11. Twenty Boy Summer by Sarah Ockler

According to her best friend Frankie, twenty days in Zanzibar Bay is the perfect opportunity to have a summer fling, and if they meet one boy ever day, there's a pretty good chance Anna will find her first summer romance. Anna lightheartedly agrees to the game, but there's something she hasn't told Frankie—she's already had that kind of romance, and it was with Frankie's older brother, Matt, just before his tragic death one year ago.

12. Sometimes We're Always Real Same-Same by Mattox Roesch

Cesar leaves his gangbanging life behind in Los Angeles to help his mother reconnect with her estranged family in rural Alaska, where she hopes they both can get a fresh start. When Cesar arrives, he meets his college dropout cousin, Go-Boy, who believes he's part of a good world conspiracy and who bets Cesar he will stay in Alaska for a year.

13. Bait by Alex Sanchez

When a guy in his class looks at him funny, Diego punches him in the face, and ends up on probation. At first he wants nothing to do with his probation officer. But as Diego starts to open up, he begins to realize that Mr. Vidas is the first person in his life who ever really wanted to listen to him. With Vidas's help, Diego begins to make real progress in controlling his anger. He even opens up enough to tell Vidas about the shark tooth that his stepfather gave him that he uses to cut himself. But only if Diego can find the courage to trust Vidas with the darkest secrets from his past will he be able to heal completely.

14. The Uninvited by Tim Wynne-Jones

Mimi Shapiro had a disturbing freshman year at NYU, thanks to a foolish affair with a professor who still haunts her caller ID. So when her artist father, Marc, offers the use of his remote Canadian cottage, she’s glad to hop in her Mini Cooper and drive up north. The house is fairy-tale quaint, and the key is hidden right where her dad said it would be, so she’s shocked to fi nd someone already living there — Jay, a young musician, who is equally startled to meet Mimi and immediately accuses her of leaving strange and threatening tokens inside: a dead bird, a snakeskin, a cricket sound track embedded in his latest composition. But Mimi has just arrived, so who is responsible? And more alarmingly, what does the intruder want?

15. Once Was Lost by Sara Zarr

Samara Taylor used to believe in miracles. She used to believe in a lot of things. As a pastor's kid, it's hard not to buy in to the idea of the perfect family, a loving God, and amazing grace. But lately, Sam has a lot of reason to doubt. Her mother lands in rehab after a DUI and her father seems more interested in his congregation than his family. When a young girl in her small town is kidnapped, the local tragedy overlaps with Sam's personal one, and the already-worn thread of faith holding her together begins to unravel.

Kid/YA Books About Forgiveness

2009-11-10T10:54:00.003-05:00

My grandfather died a bitter man. He never recovered from the commandeering of our family jute farm in Bangladesh, hating that he'd had to resettle in Kolkata as a dependent, almost penniless old man.

Two generations removed from that loss, I have the freedom and distance to reflect on the shadow of unforgiveness in our family. I've shared the story of a meaningful visit I made to our ancestral property, when two white doves appeared out of nowhere to rest on the doorway of the house. (I was so stunned, I took a photo so I wouldn't think I was dreaming.) One of the reasons I wrote BAMBOO PEOPLE was to explore the possibility and process of forgiveness.

I've been reading stories posted at The Forgiveness Project — stories of those who've suffered deeply and yet managed to forgive the person who caused that suffering. And what about the other side? How does it work for the perpetrator? Declan Kavanagh's poem "What Kept Us Apart" as featured in this video sheds light on how it is to live with blood on your hands (scroll forward to 6:13 if you're short on time).

As the year comes to a close, I want to compile a list of novels published in 2009 for children and teenagers that illuminate the difficult task of restorative justice and forgiveness. Any suggestions? Please leave them in the comments.

Curators of YA Lit Keep Us Up-To-Date

2009-11-09T11:30:00.003-05:00

In a hurry to find new stories for teenagers? Trying to discover what's hot off the presses? To save time, tune into lists generated by a few excellent curators of young adult literature:

Poetry Friday: Naomi Shihab Nye

2009-11-06T17:47:00.001-05:00

Here's the brilliant Naomi Shihab Nye reading four of her poems, "Please Describe How You Became a Writer," "Fresh," "During a War," and "Truth Serum," at the Dodge Poetry Festival on 9/27/08:

The Poetry Friday round up this week is at Wild Rose Reader.

But What About Your Writing, Mitali?

2009-11-05T18:12:00.000-05:00

I've been doing a ton of author visits this fall, for which I'm grateful, and also enjoying several new adventures with social media. But what's been happening with my primary vocation, you might be wondering? Inquiring Fire Escape visitors deserve to know.

With Bamboo People in the copy-editing stage, I'm getting ready for a Fall 2010 release from Charlesbridge by reserving a domain name and gathering resources (it's not pretty yet, but it's a start.) Can't wait to see the finished cover art, which I'll be posting there and here soon.

I'm almost done with a chapter book called Tiger Magic that was commissioned by a doll company. It's a set in the Sundarbans of West Bengal and features the endangered Bengal Tiger, one of my favorite creatures on the planet. More on that to come.

On December 1st, I'll be retreating a bit from the virtual world and beginning a new novel. Can't say much about it, but I've been scribbling ideas longhand in a journal, giving my imagination time and space to meditate on the story. It's exciting to be in the conception phase again after a few years.

In the meantime, if you're wondering what Bamboo People is about, read on ...

Bang! A side door bursts open.

Soldiers pour into the room. They’re shouting and waving rifles.

I shield my head with my arms. It was a lie! I think, my mind racing.

Girls and boys alike are screaming. The soldiers prod and herd some of us together and push the rest apart as if we’re cows or goats.

Their leader, though, is a middle-aged man. He’s moving slowly, intently, not dashing around like the others. “Take the boys only, Win Min,” I overhear him telling a tall, gangly soldier. “Make them obey.”

Chiko isn’t a fighter by nature. He’s a book-loving Burmese boy whose father, a doctor, is in prison for resisting the government. Tu Reh, on the other hand, wants to fight for freedom after watching Burmese soldiers destroy his Karenni family's home and bamboo fields. Timidity becomes courage and anger becomes compassion as each boy is changed by unlikely friendships formed under extreme circumstances.

This coming-of-age novel takes place against the political and military backdrop of modern-day Burma. Narrated by two teenagers on opposing sides of the conflict between the Burmese government and the Karenni, one of the many ethnic minorities in Burma, Bamboo People explores the nature of violence, power, and prejudice.

ALA Midwinter Kid/YA Lit Tweetup

2009-11-03T09:22:00.004-05:00

Coming to Boston for the ALA Midwinter conference? If you're a tweeting librarian, author, illustrator, publisher, agent, editor, reviewer, blogger, or anyone interested in children's and YA lit, join us on January 16, 2010 from 4-6 in the Birch Bar at Boston's Westin Waterfront Hotel.

The brilliant Deborah Sloan found a venue that's connected to the Conference Center so we won't have to don winter woolies. We'll chat about books, share program ideas, see old friends, and, if you've been tweeting a while, finally meet the people you've been re-tweeting, listing, and following.

Can you come if you're not on Twitter? Well, if you're reading this blog, you're online, so it'll take about two minutes to sign up for twitter. Here's a newbie's guide to get you started. Do a search for #alatweetup to find news and updates about the event, and if you tweet about it, use that hashtag at the end of your tweet so we can discover you.

Here's a description of the successful BEA tweetup from the LA Times, if you're curious about what our event might be like, but we won't have (1) loud, hip music, (2) free vodka (ours is a cash bar) or (3) great swag and fancy giveaways. Your presence is our swag. Unless, of course, you want to get your swagger on by doling out cool stuff -- if so, contact Deborah or me. We will have a book swap, so authors, illustrators, and publishers, bring a copy of your book(s) to display and share.

Invite your friends, but our capacity is 150, so register here and save your spot. How many good things in life are free? Thankfully, congenial company in the world of Kid/YA books is still one of them.

Surfing Outside Your Zone

2009-11-02T11:30:00.005-05:00

One of the many gifts of new media is an increased democracy in the public square (with thanks to our public libraries, who fight to narrow the digital divide). In her School Library Journal cover story about blogs, Betsy Bird quotes editor Cheryl Klein: “Book blogs have created community—a place where we adults who take children's literature seriously can discuss it seriously and at length, in a forum open to the whole Internet.”

Virtually, as in life, it may be easier to commune with people with whom we have quite a bit in common. The challenge is to tune into voices we might not otherwise hear, listening and learning from people who aren't "like us" at first blush. Good blogs help us cross borders, and sometimes take us to uncomfortable places where we either change our convictions or deepen them through discourse and dialogue.

Since I don't know how you define your "comfort zone" in the realm of Kid/YA literature, here are a few options to get you thinking:

If you're a woman and typically only read books about girls, peruse Guys Lit Wire.

Live in a mostly white community? Delve into Reading in Color, Crazy Quilts, or Color Online.

If you've never had to think about what it's like to grow up as an American Indian, tune into American Indians in Children's Literature.

Wondering what it's like to be a Latino writer in the world of North American literature? Read La Bloga.

Don't have any conservative white friends who home school? Consider Semicolon's take on literature.

And so on ....

BOOKS WITH FLAIR: Personalized Kid/YA Gifts

2009-10-30T13:40:00.021-04:00

Note: BOOKS WITH FLAIR is up and running since I first posted this. Check it out!

Kid/YA Authors and illustrators! If your local independent bookseller carries your traditionally published books, ask if they'll gift-wrap and ship personalized copies as presents.

Here's my idea: if they agree, we'll list our books by suggested age and genre. Customers will call in (and pay for) an order to the bookstore along with the request for a signed and/or personalized copy. Bookstores will either send signed stock or, if we're open to personalizing, will let us know about orders so we can scoot over there and inscribe to particular young readers by name before they gift wrap and ship the books.

Find out more here. I'm open to ideas!

Straight Talk on Tough Times For Writers

2009-10-29T14:03:00.005-04:00

A trio of agents were tweeting yesterday about how tough it's been to find a market for a good story. I chimed in (of course) to ask Colleen Lindsay, Elana Roth, and Lauren Macleod a few questions.

I thought it might be helpful to share their answers here, along with some input from Nancy Mercado, executive editor of Roaring Brook Press, and few other authors as well (my tweets are in red, and I edited the conversation slightly to make it more blog-friendly).

It all started with Colleen sharing a link to a blog post from another agent ...

Colleen: Agent Kristin Nelson with a harsh reality of today's market. Books that would have sold in about two weeks last year are being lovingly rejected right and left. It is un-fun.

Elana: I'm getting those same responses on things that would have easily sold a year ago. Ain't it grand?

We want to hear about the exceptions, too. Tell us about new books that are encouraging risky business.

Elana: I don't know. I've passed some of the world's nicest rejection letters to authors pretty frequently lately. It's sad.

Colleen: I'm not seeing any right now, to be quite honest. How about you, Lauren?

Lauren: Sadly, I've also been getting lots of praise-filled rejections for beautiful, well-written books.

Elana: I've learned my lesson taking on projects where I didn't get that tingly feeling but thought it could work.

Colleen: I'm doing the same. Much much much pickier about who I sign on, and they must be able to take editorial direction.

But wait! Agent Mary Kole says, "Editors are salivating to buy and publish amazing stories." What (if anything) can agents offer to reduce risk and nudge a publisher to the tipping point?

Lauren: Ain't that the question! A perfect book ready to go to press?

Colleen: Offer a manuscript that is beyond amazing, and needs very little work. Ah, but there's the rub: the vast majority of projects simply aren't as amazing as they need to be these days to get published. And these days, I wouldn't take on a client who needed that much work anyway. I no longer have the time to play editor.

Elana: I've been choosier and then still do the editorial work to get it as perfect as I can. Speaking of what I want in clients, I blogged about it yesterday.

Lauren: I still do editing, but I have to really, really, really love the book before I'll take it on. On the fence now equals no, more than before.

Colleen: In the old days, editors had time and manpower to work with an author on revising a not-quite-there manuscript. Not any more.

Nancy: I think it depends on what you mean by not-quite-there. Most of the novels I sign up go through at least 3 or 4 revisions. I'd say in kids' publishing extensive editing is the norm.

Colleen: Do you find that you do more fine-tuning of manuscripts, or tearing apart structure and story lines?

Nancy: I'd say it's working on structure and story for the first two or three drafts, then fine tuning for the last two.

Any editors getting a reputation for taking risks and having vision?

Lauren: It seems like Flux is doing some cool things, but I don't have first hand experience.

Elana: They do, but they also have a slightly less risky business model/advance set-up. Which...definitely has its positives.

Lauren: But they are also new, so they don't have as much choice -- they have to take more editorial risks.

Elana: I do think what you (Nancy) are doing is more and more rare in publishing, though. It's wonderful, but rare!

Nancy: Thanks, but I find that hard to believe. I know so many editors in this industry who do the same. I've seen amazing edit letters in the printer at every company I've worked for.

Elana: I've had great editors for my clients, but you took a risk on something knowing how much work it needed. You're a rarity for me.

Do you encourage a writer to pay for professional editing before querying? I fear this on behalf of broke writers.

Colleen: Ethically, I can't encourage my clients to use a professional editor. But there are some very good ones out there.

Elana: Ditto. I both support freelance editors and am wary when queriers say they've used them. It's a tough call.

Lauren: I don't know if you need a professional editor as much as you need a great friend/critique partner.

Colleen: A GOOD professional developmental or line edit is going to cost a writer a couple thousand dollars, just as an FYI.

For Kid/YA books, here's a summary of freelance professional editors -- check out their sites to find out more about prices. For more agent chat on twitter, follow #askagent or #allaboutagents.

Writers, it's like we've got a tough teacher who gives us Cs when we used to earn As. Tight times should make our writing shine.

Christine Marciniak: That's a good way of looking at it. But it makes it seem like the grading curve changed in the middle of the course.

Susan Marie Swanson: I don't know--seems to me that we've got the tough teacher who now has bigger class, new administration, more stress.

Maybe @SCBWI wants to offer the fee for a topnotch professional editor as an award for emerging Kid/YA writers? I'd donate.

Susan: Wouldn't this be an endorsement of a particular business model on part of SCBWI, whereby authors shoulder even more expense?

Bonnie Adamson: Also, the Namelos model (a firm started by Stephen Roxburgh, formerly of Front Street) of paid book prep is getting dangerously close to self-publishing, yes?

So what do you think?

(1) Is a professional critique before querying worth it?

(2) As Bonnie suggests, when does this process shift into the realm of self-publishing?

(3) How do you feel about authors bearing more of the risk (and up-front cost) of publishing than we used to?

(4) Are there creative, entrepreneurial options writers might pursue, given that the publishing industry is questioning the future of the printed book as the public's preferred, primary vehicle of story?

Tomás Rivera Mexican American Children's Book Award

2009-10-28T08:31:00.004-04:00

Unlike some ethnic book awards, the Rivera Award doesn't depend on the race of the author. It's given annually "to the author/illustrator of the most distinguished book for children and young adults that authentically reflects the lives and experiences of Mexican Americans in the United States."

This year, two books tied for the top honor (descriptions quoted verbatim from the official Rivera Award site):

The Holy Tortilla and a Pot of Beans
by Carmen Tafolla

In this wonderfully creative collection of sixteen short stories, Tafolla brings to life the bilingual/bicultural world of the Texas-Mexico border. As in her previous works, Tafolla celebrates the resilient human spirit of her characters amidst the prejudice and hypocrisy, the faith and magic, and the family, and community that are part of this world. The stories are poignant, even tragic, and they are funny, filled with humor. Tafolla’s energy is felt throughout. As Carmen herself says, “ It’s about those things that are really holy and miraculous, but it’s also about those very common, underappreciated blessings, like a homemade pot of beans.”

He Forgot to Say Goodbye
by Benjamin Alire Sáenz

In this carefully crafted novel, two high school boys develop an unlikely friendship despite their different upbringings. Ramiro Lopez has been raised in the Mexican American working class barrio of El Paso where his brother is lured into the world of drugs, while White Jake Upthegrove has lived in the rich West Side and has a problem managing his anger. Both boys have not known their fathers who abandoned their families early. Ramiro and Jake both come to enjoy and respect the loyal friendship of Alejandra a third strong teenager in this contemporary setting.

Mitali of Orchard House

2009-10-27T16:39:00.006-04:00

What is it about dead authors' desks that I love? A highlight of my trip to France a few years ago was seeing firsthand where Victor Hugo stood to write, overlooking an archetypal Parisian square.

And some of you might remember my trek to Green Gables last summer, where I delved into all things L.M. Montgomery, relishing the view from the room where she wrote. (THE BLYTHES ARE QUOTED, her last book about Anne, releases today, by the way.)

Today I took my beloved visiting mother-in-law to Orchard House, where we joined a group of high school English students on a tour of Louisa May Alcott's domain.

After moving twenty-two times in nearly thirty years, the Alcotts settled from 1858-1877 in Orchard House, which dates to circa 1690-1720.

The prolific Ms. Alcott wrote for fourteen hours at a stretch, switching to her left hand when her right one grew tired, and completed the first half of LITTLE WOMEN in two months during 1868. Alcott, unlike the other L.M., was prescient enough to secure a royalty for that bestseller instead of the flat fee given to Montgomery.

Louisa's father, Bronson Alcott, built a shelf desk in her bedroom overlooking the tall elms and apple trees surrounding their house.

College Days

2009-10-22T09:33:00.001-04:00

I'm flying to California for a "big" college reunion, so I won't be back on the Fire Escape until next Wednesday. I'll probably be tweeting a bit, but for now it's time to meander down memory lane.

I'm picturing the 17-year-old version of me standing in the dorm parking lot on the first day watching my parents' taillights disappear. I remember thinking: Now how am I supposed to kiss them good night?

What I didn't know is that over the next four years I'd find a faith that changed me, meet the man I'd marry, and start to see a bridge between two growing interests: stories and justice.

See you next week!

Thank You Love Notes

2009-10-20T08:05:00.005-04:00

... from 8th graders who have participated in a writing workshop are a good way to commemorate The National Day of Writing today (kindly remember that these are all "sic"):

"You've shown me what it is to be an author, and, who knows, I might possibly be your competition one day."

"After meeting you last week I have been totally craving Sweet Tarts."

"I loved how you gave your impression of your parents. It cranked me up."

"Never had I heard an author speak of dating trouble and video games. You helped me realize that not all authors are these stiff hard working people."

"When I wrote my paragraph, I read it over. I was so excited that it was better than my normal writing. I wanted you to read it out loud to my group members. People would overlook me in the option list of 'who wrote this' because it was 'too good' for my writing."

"Why is reading a book so special? You brought the answer out to me: Reading engages you by involving all five human senses. It's why your stomach growls when the character goes to a king's feat or why you walk the streets of an imaginary world while sitting on a bed grasping a book."

Ah, yes. Now that's why I love writing for middle-schoolers.

All Things Kidlitospheric

2009-10-16T08:29:00.005-04:00

I don't get lonely on the Fire Escape. How could I, when I'm surrounded by a host of supportive bloggers who love books for kids and teens? If you haven't been introduced to the Kidlitosphere yet, this is a good time to start. What does this virtual community offer?

Comprehensive list of bloggers who love Kid/YA books, including group blogs.
A list of authors and illustrators who blog with up-to-date links.
Monthly carnivals of children's literature with links to great blog posts.
Poetry Fridays, a weekly assortment of poetry-themed musings and original content.
Nonfiction Mondays, giving bloggers a chance to share nonfiction books for children and teens.
An annual in real life conference for "movers and shakers in the kidlit community." If you're not in the D.C. area this Saturday, October 17, you may track the conference via twitter by searching for #kidlitcon. (That's what I'll be doing, since I don't have Hermione's time turner.)
A series of book awards called Cybils given by children’s and young adult book bloggers with only two criteria: literary merit and kid appeal.

Support, encouragement, buzz about books on the margins .. the list of benefits goes on, so don't miss out because the kidlitosphere is taking a leading role in our fast-changing industry.

Don't You Love My Job?

2009-10-14T15:31:00.000-04:00

After a leaf-peeping morning drive to Willard School in Concord, Massachusetts, an author presentation, and a writing workshop, I was done by noon today. That gave me plenty of time to ramble around a famous pond in the vicinity (can you name it?):

Five Facebook Foibles

2009-10-13T09:45:00.005-04:00

Interested in using this social media tool professionally as well as personally? Here are five errors to avoid when using Facebook:

mistake #1: sending blank friend requests to professional contacts

Don't put the onus on the friendee to investigate whether or not you're a stalker. Send a line of introduction with your request explaining how and why the two of you should be connected.

mistake #2: underutilizing the bio and information boxes

Use these to introduce yourself as a writer, librarian, bookseller, editor, teacher, or general book aficionado, especially if you set your default profile privacy for basic information to "everyone." Meticulously avoid spelling and grammar mistakes in these two boxes and try to make them interesting and easy to read. By all means link to your professional website, Facebook fan page (more on this in a minute), twitter feed, and/or blog.

mistake #3: lumping all your friends into the same list

When Facebook upgraded their list function a few months ago, they kept me on the site. I took the time to divide my friends into lists like "bookish folk" or "churchy peeps" or "millennials" (between the ages of 14-21), and again into regions. I'm now able to direct a link or a status update to a particular list, which doubles the power of this tool for me professionally.

My millennials, for example, will get the free slurpee day announcement, my college buddies know I'm going to the reunion, and if I'm launching a new book in Seattle, I can target bookish people in that area with the invitation. I still send certain links and status updates to everybody, but there are times when I want to be discerning and avoid clogging my friends' news feed with stuff they don't care about.

mistake #4: being too "humble" to set up a fan page

In an over-the-top celebraholic culture, Facebook chose an unfortunate moniker for these pages, but I recommend that serious writers and illustrators set up fan pages. If you're a private person, you can reserve your personal Facebook page for real friends and family and shift your working life to the more public fan page venue. Think of it as your "professional" page instead of your "fan" page if that helps you get over the humility hurdle.

Even if you're not as private a person, a fan page is a good idea because it's an appropriate place for young people to connect with adults on Facebook. Educators use them to avoid the trap of getting too personal with their students. Booksellers can connect with customers, librarians with patrons, and authors with readers. You can link to your fan page from your personal page, and once you get 100 fans, register a personal url that's more user-friendly.

What do you post on your fan page? Status updates about your work are perfectly appropriate here. I import my blog posts to my fan page instead of into my personal FB page, for example, so I don't inundate my cousins in Calcutta with even more about me, me, me as a writer through my personal news feed. If a friend or relative subscribes to my author fan page, I figure they're signing up for news and updates about my books as well as access to my blog posts.

mistake #5: not customizing your privacy settings

This tip is last but perhaps most important. You must be a ruthless tamer of Facebook or it will run amok.

Customize your privacy settings.

Choose what people see in your profile, decide where and how you show up in searches, be in charge of what's published in your news feed and to your wall, and control each attention-grabbing application or game you use within Facebook. No offense, but I don't want to know your score in Mafia Wars, although it might interest a particular subset of your friends.

How to do this? In the top blue bar of your Facebook page, click on "Settings" and then second from the bottom you'll see "Privacy." You should be able to take it from there.

In short, if you're trying to use Facebook professionally, take a bit of time and learn how to use it well. As with all social media, your goal is to connect with others and express your voice and vision authentically. It can be a tremendous professional tool if used sparingly and smartly.

Questions? Leave them in the comments or email me.

Note: If you're a published author or illustrator of books for children and teenagers in the Boston area, you may sign up for the NESCBWI Salon on Managing Your Online Presence, Saturday, November 14, 2009, from 10:00 - 2:30, in Acton. I'm co-leading it with marketing maven Deborah Sloan.

Diary Entry on Skin Color: May 17, 1977

2009-10-12T14:06:00.005-04:00

Would somebody please interpret this journal rumination from the fourteen-year-old version of me, remembering that I was in an almost all-white high school?

It's clear that I was procrastinating my algebra by writing in my diary about an unrequited crush, but what exactly did I mean by "I wish I could hide behind my skin color more often, instead of cowering nakedly in front of it"?

Fire Escape Fall Mini-Hiatus

2009-09-29T08:09:00.005-04:00

October is a busy author visit month, so I'm on the road for the next couple of weeks and back on the Fire Escape 10/13. I'll be micro-blogging throughout my travels via twitter, so you may track me there if you'd like, but here's my in-real-life schedule:

Wyoming Library Association pre-conference (9/30)
Monarch Middle School, Superior, CO (10/1)
Massachusetts School Library Association Conference (10/4)
Loudoun County Schools and Library, Virginia (10/5-6)
Montgomery County Educational Media Specialist Association (MCEMSA), Maryland (10/7)
Devotion School, Brookline, MA (10/9)
Willard School, Concord, MA (10/15-16)

Come say hello in person if you're able!

Even More Feasting and Books

2009-09-28T15:15:00.000-04:00

Somehow I scored an invite to a lunch celebration at the Boston Public Library for THE DAY OF THE PELICAN, Katherine Paterson's new novel from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt about a Muslim Albanian family who begin their new life in a small Vermont town.

I've learned not to ask too many questions about how or why I'm at special events like these. I just show up, eat, make merry, and of course share my pictures with you here on the Fire Escape.

Stopped to savor the view from the steps of
the Boston Public Library at noon today

Name that New England indie children's bookseller

Roger Sutton of the Horn Book (far right) pretends
not to notice the iPhone aimed in his direction

unbeatable lunchtime swag —
thanks, houghton mifflin harcourt!

Consumerism and the YA Novel

2009-09-24T08:05:00.003-04:00

I remember loving A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN partly because times were tight in my own immigrant family. I also might have connected our loss of property and wealth in Bengal with the Alcotts' downturn in LITTLE WOMEN, as Laurel Snyder points out in an invigorating discussion about YA books and socioeconomic class moderated by Colleen Mondor at Chasing Ray.

But North American culture has gone crazy since I was young. We adults whine about the culture's obsession with sex and violence and ignore how societal greed, consumerism, and materialism is trashing the millennial generation (and us.) "Stuff" defines teens now more than it ever did when most of us were that age. It's a rare young person who can resist the pressure of the brand.

As I watched a couple of episodes of "My Super Sweet Sixteen" on MTV with my teens, for example, I wondered how "poor" kids celebrating that milestone birthday processed the excesses on that show.

Which brings us to the authorial dilemma of either reflecting and repeating something that's unhealthy or destructive in the culture OR trying in some way to unmask and even redeem it. On the one hand we run the risk of condoning or even contributing to the suffering and on the other we might become didactic. But given the desperate state of our society and money, how we portray class, wealth, and poverty in our books is well worth considering.

Because a story is powerful, right? A single book can change or conserve a good or bad cultural practice. Like UNCLE TOM'S CABIN, it can actually revolutionize an entire society. That's why writers are in prison and books are banned. I love how Nadine Gordimer put it in her 1991 Nobel acceptance speech:

"... For this aesthetic venture of ours becomes subversive when the shameful secrets of our times are explored deeply, with the artist's rebellious integrity to the state of being manifest in life around her or him ..."

Maybe you're thinking, hey, it's just chick lit. Teen chick lit. It's like cotton candy for the soul. Do I have to be subversive or revolutionary? No, but consumerism, materialism, and even greed are sly masters. If you're not purposefully resisting them, you might be inadvertently campaigning on their behalf.

Photo courtesy of ATIS547 via Creative Commons.

Boston Kid Lit Pie Night Redux

2009-09-23T08:30:00.005-04:00

We schmoozed. We ate pie. We lifted our forks in the direction of the NY Kid Lit Drinks Night, where a Boston Cream Pie was being consumed in our honor. But best of all, we talked and celebrated Kid/YA Lit.

The Venue: Pie Bakery and Cafe, Newton Centre, MA

It was quiet until ...

... 40 or so Kid/YA book aficionados showed up

The conversation sparkled ...

... and Deborah Sloan said the pie was pretty good, too.

We tried an L.M. Montgomery postcard puzzle icebreaker, where each participant got a quarter of one of Montgomery's book covers. During the evening, the goal was to discover the people clutching the other three quarters and introduce yourself.

Thanks to the reassembled-with-tape cards, here's the list of attendees in no particular order (If I'm missing you, or spelled your name wrong, please add or fix in the comments and I'll update.)

Shoshana Flax
Emilie Boon
Anne Handley
Karen Jo Shapiro
Bev Chapman
Melissa Stewart
Katie Bayerl
Alyssa Pusey
Suchitra Mumford
Robert Guthrie
Kathleen Benner Duble
Margaret Muirhead
Donna Spurlock
Maria Gianferrari
Karen Day
Kim Ablon Whitney
Larry from Rhode Island
Kara Schaff Dean
Laya Steinberg
Ellen Nichols
Jessica Dubois
Brittany Schlorff
Anna Staniszewski
Nandini Bajpai
John Bell
Emily from NESCBWI
Anne Broyles
Deborah Sloan
Janet Costa Bates
Livia Blackburne
Kate Narita
Amy Greenwald
Ammi-Joan Paquette
Lauren Macleod
Karen Kosko
Mara Berkeley
Anindita Basu Sempere
Mitali Perkins